Unusual spin pseudogap behavior in the spin web lattice Cu3TeO6 probed by 125Te nuclear magnetic resonance

We present a 125Te nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study in the three-dimensional spin web lattice Cu3TeO6 which harbors topological magnons. The 125Te NMR spectra and the Knight-shift K as a function of temperature show a drastic change at TS∼40K much lower than the Néel ordering temperature TN∼61K, providing evidence for the first-order structural phase transition within the magnetically ordered state. Most remarkably, the temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation rate T−11 unravels spin-gap-like magnetic excitations, which sharply sets in at T∗∼75K, the temperature well above TN. The spin-gap behavior may be understood by weakly dispersive optical magnon branches of high-energy spin excitations originating from the unique corner-sharing Cu hexagon spin-1/2 network with low coordination number

Establishment of particulate matter-induced lung injury model in mouse

Background Particulate matter (PM) is one of the principal causes of human respiratory disabilities resulting from air pollution. Animal models have been applied to discover preventive and therapeutic drugs for lung diseases caused by PM. However, the induced severity of lung injury in animal models using PM varies from study to study due to disparities in the preparation of PM, and the route and number of PM administrations. In this study, we established an in vivo model to evaluate PM-induced lung injury in mice. Results PM dispersion was prepared using SRM2975. Reactive oxygen species were increased in MLE 12 cells exposed to this PM dispersion. In vivo studies were conducted in the PM single challenge model, PM multiple challenge model, and PM challenge with ovalbumin-induced asthma using the PM dispersion. No histopathological changes were observed in lung tissues after a single injection of PM, whereas mild to moderate lung inflammation was obtained in the lungs of mice exposed to PM three times. However, fibrotic changes were barely seen, even though transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies revealed the presence of PM particles in the alveolar macrophages and alveolar capillaries. In the OVA-PM model, peribronchial inflammation and mucous hypersecretion were more severe in the OVA+PM group than the OVA group. Serum IgE levels tended to increase in OVA+PM group than in OVA group. Conclusions In this study, we established a PM-induced lung injury model to examine the lung damage induced by PM. Based on our results, repeated exposures of PM are necessary to induce lung inflammation by PM alone. PM challenge, in the presence of underlying diseases such as asthma, can also be an appropriate model for studying the health effect of PM.This research was supported by Univera Co., Ltd., as one of the CAP projects and Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2020R1A6A1A03043708)

Odour identification test and its relation to cardiac 123I‐metaiodobenzylguanidine in patients with drug induced parkinsonism

We investigated olfactory function and its relation to cardiac 123I‐metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) uptake in 15 patients with drug induced parkinsonism (DIP). The mean Cross Cultural Smell Identification (CCSI) score was significantly greater in patients with DIP than in those with Parkinson's disease (PD: 6.9 (1.6) vs 4.4 (2.2); p<0.001); however, the mean CCSI score in patients with DIP was not significantly different from controls. One patient with DIP, whose CCSI score was significantly reduced, also exhibited decreased cardiac MIBG uptake. DIP patients with CCSI scores within the normal range had normal cardiac MIBG uptake. Our study suggests that an olfactory function test may be a useful tool for detecting DIP unrelated to PD and for identifying patients with DIP who have subclinical PD

Risk factors for osteonecrosis of the femoral head in brain tumor patients receiving corticosteroid after surgery.

PurposeNon-traumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a plausible complication in brain tumor patients. Frequent use of corticosteroid therapy, chemotherapy, and oxidative stress for managing brain tumors may be associated with the development of ONFH. However, there is little knowledge on the prevalence and risk factors of ONFH from brain tumor. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of ONFH in patients with primary brain tumors.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study included data from consecutive patients between December 2005 and August 2016 from a tertiary university hospital in South Korea. A total of 73 cases of ONFH were identified among 10,674 primary brain tumor patients. After excluding subjects (25 out of 73) with missing data, history of alcohol consumption or smoking, history of femoral bone trauma or surgery, comorbidities such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), sickle cell disease, cancer patients other than brain tumor, and previous diagnosis of contralateral ONFH, we performed a 1:2 propensity score-matched, case-control study (ONFH group, 48; control group, 96). Risk factors of ONFH in primary brain tumor were evaluated by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.ResultsThe prevalence of ONFH in patients with surgical resection of primary brain tumor was 683.9 per 100,000 persons (73 of 10,674). In this cohort, 55 of 74 patients (74.3%) underwent THA for ONFH treatment. We found that diabetes was an independent factor associated with an increased risk of ONFH in primary brain tumor patients (OR = 7.201, 95% CI, 1.349-38.453, p = 0.021). There was a significant difference in univariate analysis, including panhypopituitarism (OR = 4.394, 95% CI, 1.794-11.008, p = 0.002), supratentorial location of brain tumor (OR = 2.616, 95% CI, 1.245-5.499, p = 0.011), and chemotherapy (OR = 2.867, 95% CI, 1.018-8.069, p = 0.046).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that the prevalence of ONFH after surgical resection of primary brain tumor was 0.68%. Diabetes was an independent risk factor for developing ONFH, whereas corticosteroid dose was not. Routine screening for brain tumor-associated ONFH is not recommended; however, a high index of clinical suspicion in these patients at risk may allow for early intervention and preservation of the joints

Transcriptome Analysis and Metabolic Profiling of Lycoris Radiata

Lycoris radiata belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family and is a bulbous plant native to South Korea, China, and Japan. Galantamine, a representative alkaloid of Amaryllidaceae plants, including L. radiata, exhibits selective and dominant acetylcholinesterase inhibition. In spite of the economic and officinal importance of L. radiata, the molecular biological and biochemical information on L. radiata is relatively deficient. Therefore, this study provides functional information of L. radiata, describe galantamine biosynthesis in the various organs, and provide transcriptomic and metabolic datasets to support elucidation of galantamine biosynthesis pathway in future studies. The results of studies conducted in duplicate revealed the presence of a total of 325,609 and 404,019 unigenes, acquired from 9,913,869,968 and 10,162,653,038 raw reads, respectively, after trimming the raw reads using CutAdapt, assembly using Trinity package, and clustering using CD-Hit-EST. All of the assembled unigenes were aligned to the public databases, including National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) non-redundant protein (NR) and nucleotide (Nt) database, SWISS-PROT (UniProt) protein sequence data bank, The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR), the Swiss-Prot protein database, Gene Ontology (GO), and Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG) database to predict potential genes and provide their functional information. Based on our transcriptome data and published literatures, eight full-length cDNA clones encoding LrPAL2, LrPAL3, LrC4H2, LrC3H, LrTYDC2, LrNNR, LrN4OMT, and LrCYP96T genes, involved in galantamine biosynthesis, were identified in L. radiata. In order to investigate galantamine biosynthesis in different plant parts of L. radiata grown in a growth chamber, gene expression levels were measured through quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis using these identified genes and galantamine levels were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The qRT-PCR data revealed high expression levels of LrNNR, LrN4OMT, and LrCYP96T in the bulbs, and, as expected, we observed higher amounts of galantamine in the bulbs than in the root and leaves. Additionally, a total of 40 hydrophilic metabolites were detected in the different organs using gas-chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry. In particular, a strong positive correlation between galantamine and sucrose, which provides energy for the secondary metabolite biosynthesis, was observed

Dynamic Energy Exchange Modelling for a Plastic-Covered Multi-Span Greenhouse Utilizing a Thermal Effluent from Power Plant

To utilize the energy in the thermal effluent, many attempts have been made to use the thermal effluent for agricultural facilities such as greenhouses. As the first step, it is important to estimate the energy loads of the greenhouse for deciding a suitable scale for the heating and cooling. Then, it is available to estimate the energy efficiency of the thermal effluent heat pump system installed in the greenhouse. Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to design and validate an energy model of the experimental greenhouse growing Irwin mangoes and to estimate the annual and maximum energy loads using building energy simulation (BES). Field experiments were conducted in a multi-span plastic-covered greenhouse growing Irwin mangoes to measure the internal environments of the greenhouse and crop characteristics. The energy exchange model of the greenhouse considering crop, cladding, heat pump was developed using BES. The BES model was validated using the data measured at field experiments. The designed model was found to be able to provide satisfactory estimates of the changes of the internal air temperature of the greenhouse (R2 = 0.94 and d = 0.97). The hourly energy loads computed by using the validated model were used to analyse the periodic and maximum energy loads according to the growth stage of the cultivated crops. Finally, the energy costs were compared according to the type of energy source based on the calculated annual energy loads. The average energy cost when using the thermal effluent—heat pump system was found to be 68.21% lower than that when a kerosene boiler was used