Quantitative agreement of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions for domain-wall motion and spin-wave propagation

The magnetic exchange interaction is the one of the key factors governing the basic characteristics of magnetic systems. Unlike the symmetric nature of the Heisenberg exchange interaction, the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) generates an antisymmetric exchange interaction which offers challenging opportunities in spintronics with intriguing antisymmetric phenomena. The role of the DMI, however, is still being debated, largely because distinct strengths of DMI have been measured for different magnetic objects, particularly chiral magnetic domain walls (DWs) and non-reciprocal spin waves (SWs). In this paper, we show that, after careful data analysis, both the DWs and SWs experience the same strength of DMI. This was confirmed by spin-torque efficiency measurement for the DWs, and Brillouin light scattering measurement for the SWs. This observation, therefore, indicates the unique role of the DMI on the magnetic DW and SW dynamics and also guarantees the compatibility of several DMI-measurement schemes recently proposed.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure

Expression of Heat Shock Proteins and Cytokines in Response to Ethanol Induced Damage in the Small Intestine of ICR Mice

Background/AimsEthanol administration causes intestinal epithelial cell damage by increasing intestinal permeability and the translocation of endotoxins from intestinal bacterial flora. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are associated with recovery and protection from cell damage. The aim of the current study was to investigate differences in the expression of HSPs in the small intestine and the biochemical changes attributable to ethanol-induced intestinal damage.MethodsEthanol (20%) was injected intraperitoneally (2.75 g/kg, 5.5 g/kg, 8.25 g/kg) in ICR mice and the same volume of saline was administered to controls. After 1 hour, the proximal, middle, and distal segments were taken from the small intestine and the degree of damage was analyzed. In each segment, the expression of HSPs was analyzed by western blotting. The expression of inflammatory mediators including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and antioxidant enzyme such as glutathione-S-transferase were compared using real-time polymerase chain reaction assays.ResultsIn the control group, HSP70 increased in all segments of small intestine. Additionally, increases in the expression of HSP40 and HSP90 in the distal regions and an increase in HSP32 in the middle regions were observed. After ethanol treatment, greater histological damage was observed in the distal small intestine and significant decreases in HSPs were observed generally. Increased expression of IL-1β, TNF-α, and COX-2 was observed in small intestinal tissues exposed to ethanol-induced damage. However, there was no significant difference in the expression of an antioxidant enzyme.ConclusionsSignificant differences in the expression of HSPs in different intestinal regions were observed. These differences may have been attributable to the distribution of intestinal bacteria

Pre-Operative Prediction of Advanced Prostatic Cancer Using Clinical Decision Support Systems: Accuracy Comparison between Support Vector Machine and Artificial Neural Network

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to develop support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN) models for the pre-operative prediction of advanced prostate cancer by using the parameters acquired from transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided prostate biopsies, and to compare the accuracies between the two models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five hundred thirty-two consecutive patients who underwent prostate biopsies and prostatectomies for prostate cancer were divided into the training and test groups (n = 300 versus n = 232). From the data in the training group, two clinical decision support systems (CDSSs-[SVM and ANN]) were constructed with input (age, prostate specific antigen level, digital rectal examination, and five biopsy parameters) and output data (the probability for advanced prostate cancer [> pT3a]). From the data of the test group, the accuracy of output data was evaluated. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) were calculated to summarize the overall performances, and a comparison of the ROC curves was performed (p < 0.05). RESULTS: The AUC of SVM and ANN is 0.805 and 0.719, respectively (p = 0.020), in the pre-operative prediction of advanced prostate cancer. CONCLUSION: The performance of SVM is superior to ANN in the pre-operative prediction of advanced prostate cancer.ope

The Effect of Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism on Lipid Levels in Korean Adults

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) on lipid levels in Korean adults and to investigate the interactions between these polymorphisms and environmental factors in determining lipid levels. We performed a cross-sectional study of 1,900 subjects (668 men and 1,232 women; 45-74 yr old) in Namwon, Korea, in 2004. APOE polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme analysis. Carriers of the APOE*E2 (E2) allele had significantly lower total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations than did carriers of the APOE*E3 (E3) or APOE*E4 (E4) alleles, regardless of gender. The APOE allele type had significant effect on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglyceride levels in women, but not in men. The effect of APOE allele type on HDL-C levels was modified by age in women. In addition, in men, the effect of APOE allele type on triglyceride levels was modified by smoking. These findings highlight the important effect of gene-environment interactions on lipid levels

Korean Brain Rehabilitation Registry for Rehabilitation of Persons with Brain Disorders: Annual Report in 2009

This first annual report provides a description of patients discharged from rehabilitation facilities in Korea based on secondary data analysis of Korean Brain Rehabilitation Registry V1.0 subscribed in 2009. The analysis included 1,697 records of patients with brain disorders including stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain tumor and other disorders from 24 rehabilitation facilities across Korea. The data comprised 1,380 cases of stroke, 104 cases of brain injury, 55 cases of brain tumor, and 58 cases of other brain diseases. The functional status of each patient was measured using the Korean version of the Modified Barthel Index (KMBI). The average change in the KMBI score was 15.9 for all patients in the inpatient rehabilitation facility. The average length of stay for inpatient rehabilitation was 36.9 days. The transfer rates to other hospitals were high, being 62.4% when all patients were considered. Patients with brain disorders of Korea in 2009 and measurable functional improvement was observed in patients. However, relatively high percentages of patients were not discharged to the community after inpatient rehabilitation. Based on the results of this study, consecutive reports of the status of rehabilitation need to be conducted in order to provide useful information to many practitioners

Long-term survival benefits of intrathecal autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (Neuronata-R®: lenzumestrocel) treatment in ALS: Propensity-score-matched control, surveillance study

ObjectiveNeuronata-R® (lenzumestrocel) is an autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (BM-MSC) product, which was conditionally approved by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (KMFDS, Republic of Korea) in 2013 for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the long-term survival benefits of treatment with intrathecal lenzumestrocel.MethodsA total of 157 participants who received lenzumestrocel and whose symptom duration was less than 2 years were included in the analysis (BM-MSC group). The survival data of placebo participants from the Pooled-Resource Open-Access ALS Clinical Trials (PROACT) database were used as the external control, and propensity score matching (PSM) was used to reduce confounding biases in baseline characteristics. Adverse events were recorded during the entire follow-up period after the first treatment.ResultsSurvival probability was significantly higher in the BM-MSC group compared to the external control group from the PROACT database (log-rank, p &lt; 0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis showed a significantly lower hazard ratio for death in the BM-MSC group and indicated that multiple injections were more effective. Additionally, there were no serious adverse drug reactions found during the safety assessment, lasting a year after the first administration.ConclusionThe results of the present study showed that lenzumestrocel treatment had a long-term survival benefit in real-world ALS patients

3,4,5-Trihydroxycinnamic Acid Inhibits LPS-Induced iNOS Expression by Suppressing NF-κB Activation in BV2 Microglial Cells

Although various derivatives of caffeic acid have been reported to possess a wide variety of biological activities such as neuronal protection against excitotoxicity and anti-inflammatory property, the biological activity of 3,4,5-trihydroxycinnamic acid (THC), a derivative of hydroxycinnamic acids, has not been clearly examined. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of THC on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV2 microglial cells. THC significantly suppressed LPS-induced excessive production of nitric oxide (NO) and expression of iNOS, which is responsible for the production of iNOS. THC also suppressed LPS-induced overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β and TNF-α in BV2 microgilal cells. Furthermore, THC significantly suppressed LPS-induced degradation of IκB, which retains NF-κB in the cytoplasm. Therefore, THC attenuated nuclear translocation of NF-κB, a major pro-inflammatory transcription factor. Taken together, the present study for the first time demonstrates that THC exhibits anti-inflammatory activity through the suppression of NF-κB transcriptional activation in LPS-stimulated BV2 microglial cells