A study on the social phenomenon and perception of sports sexual violence through big data analysis of social media

Background: With the recent exposure of the violence and sexual violence suffered by the Olympic gold medalist speed skater, Suk-hee Shim, the closed culture of Korean sports circles has surfaced once again. This study aims to analyze what knowledge system, meaning or policy agenda is indicated by the Korean public’s social perception of policies on sports sexual violence. Research method: Data associated with ‘sports sexual violence’ were collected through Textom from social media of the nation’s major portal sites (Naver and Daum) from January 8, 2018 to May 31, 2019. Textom was also utilized for data refinement and matrix creation. Semantic network analysis and its results were visualized using the NetDraw network visualization tool in UCINET 6. Results: The key words – ‘sports circles’, ‘eradication’, ‘measure’, ‘violence’, ‘Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism/MCST’, and ‘National Human Rights Commission of Korea’ – showed a high frequency and centrality. In particular, from the words ‘sports circles’, ‘eradication’, ‘measure’, ‘National Human Rights Commission of Korea’ and ‘research’, it was shown that tackling the causes of sports-related sexual violence and setting up response measures for eradication and prevention are important. Second, using CONCOR analysis of sports sexual violence, eight clusters were formed: Group 1: Background of establishing a dedicated organization, Group 2: Government response, Group 3: Installment of National Human Rights Commission, Group 4: Corruption in ice sports, Group 5: Government commitment, Group 6: An expanded investigation into the sports circles, Group 7: Accusation, Group 8: Basic rights. Conclusions: The public perception is that, given the number of cases of sexual violence that have occurred in the sports community, and the inadequate responses to addressing these crimes, sports circles have lost their capacity for self-regulation. This requires a comprehensive inspection of the sports community. Moreover, it was revealed that the public requests that the government should take the initiative to provide fundamental measures to protect the human rights of victims through the operation of a dedicated body, such as the National Human Rights Commission. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2020;34(Special issue-3):28-39] Keywords: Sports sexual violence, semantic network analysis, social media, perceptio

Semantic network analysis of conflict in Korean society regarding the WHO classification of gaming disorder (disease code 6C51)

Background: In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO), in its 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), classified ‘gaming disorder’ as a disease. As a result, countries are witnessing conflicts among stakeholders with regard to the introduction of the classification. The objective of this analysis is to identify trends of coverage made by major media outlets in Korea concerning the controversy over the introduction of ‘gaming disorder’ like a disease and, through such an analysis, examine how social perceptions have been formulated in Korea. Methods: Semantic network analysis was deployed to examine the semantic structure of messages delivered by the media. The analysis was conducted to identify what semantic structure and issues were pursued by the media with regard to the introduction of ‘gaming disorder’ as a disease in the context of social debates, by looking at the prominent of words in messages delivered by news media, and the interactive structure among these words. Results: In terms of their prevalence, the main keywords in major media reports were ‘addiction’, ‘WHO’, ‘classification’, ‘industry’, ‘code’, ‘domestic’, ‘objection’, ‘gaming industry’, ‘introduce’, ‘gaming disorder’, and ‘Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism/MCST’. The structural characteristics of the entire network of media reports were formed around keywords such as ‘addiction’, ‘WHO’, ‘classification’, ‘objection’, ‘industry’, ‘code’, ‘mental disorder’, and ‘backlash’. Words with high eigenvector centrality were ‘addiction’, ‘WHO’, ‘classification’, ‘industry’, ‘domestic’, ‘code’, ‘objection’, ‘introduce’, ‘controversy’, and ‘Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism/MCST’. Following CONCOR analysis, a total of four clusters were formed: Cluster 1 for objection, Cluster 2 for consent, Cluster 3 for expected problems, and Cluster 4 for factors for efforts towards conflict resolution. Conclusions: This research explored social perceptions in Korea regarding the issue of the WHO introducing gaming disorder as a disease, by identifying trends of the media coverage through a semantic network analysis of the media’s asymmetrical data. Through this, despite the inevitable introduction of the system to promote public health, it was shown that there is a sharp conflict between the medical and the game industry and related public organizations in Korea. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2020;34(Special issue-3):67-77] Keywords: Gaming disorder, disease code 6C51, conflicts, media reports, semantic network analysi

CVD elaboration of nanostructured TiO2-Ag thin films with efficient antibacterial properties

Nanostructured TiO2-Ag composite coatings are deposited by direct liquid injection metal-organic (DLI-MO) CVD at 683K in a one-step process. Silver pivalate (AgPiv) and titanium tetra-iso-propoxide (TTIP) are used as Ag and Ti molecular precursors, respectively. Metallic silver nanoparticles are co-deposited with anatase TiO2 on stainless steel, glass, and silicon wafers. The silver particles are uniformly embedded in the oxide matrix through the entire film thickness. The influence of the growth conditions, including injection parameters, is investigated on the chemical, physical, and structural characteristics of the coatings as well as on their anti-bacterial activities. The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is employed for anti-bacterial tests. The films are bactericidal, according to the JIS Z 2801 standard test performed in the dark, when they contain less than 1 at.-% of silver. UnderUVirradiation they exhibit a photocatalytic activity which decays by increasing the silver content. As a result of this dual functionality, the TiO2-Ag nanocomposite coatings show promising potentialities as long-term anti-bacterial surfaces since selfcleaning can be achieved periodically under UV light in order to maintain an efficient anti-bacterial activity in the dark or in visible light

A case of nearly complete response in hepatocellular carcinoma with disseminated lung metastasis by combination therapy of nivolumab and ipilimumab after treatment failure of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab

Recently, the efficacy of immuno-oncologic agents for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been proven in several trials. In particular, atezolizumab with bevacizumab (AteBeva), as a first-line therapy for advanced HCC, has shown tremendous advances in the IMBrave150 study. However, second or third-line therapy after treatment failure with AteBeva has not been firmly established. Moreover, clinicians have continued their attempts at multidisciplinary treatment that includes other systemic therapy and radiotherapy (RT). Here, we report a case that showed a near complete response (CR) of lung metastasis to nivolumab with ipilimumab therapy after achieving a near CR of intrahepatic tumor using sorafenib and RT in a patient with advanced HCC who had experienced treatment failure of AteBeva

Comment on "Amplified emission and lasing in photonic time crystals"

Lyubarov et al. (Research Articles, 22 July 2022, p. 425) claim that the spontaneous emission rate of an atom vanishes at the momentum gap edges of photonic Floquet media. We show that their theoretical prediction is based on assumptions that result in misleading interpretations on the spontaneous emission rate in photonic Floquet media

Differential microRNA expression signatures and cell type-specific association with Taxol resistance in ovarian cancer cells

Paclitaxel (Taxol) resistance remains a major obstacle for the successful treatment of ovarian cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have oncogenic and tumor suppressor activity and are associated with poor prognosis phenotypes. miRNA screenings for this drug resistance are needed to estimate the prognosis of the disease and find better drug targets. miRNAs that were differentially expressed in Taxol-resistant ovarian cancer cells, compared with Taxol-sensitive cells, were screened by Illumina Human MicroRNA Expression BeadChips. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to identify target genes of selected miRNAs. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was applied to identify dysregulated miRNAs in ovarian cancer patients using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. A total of 82 miRNAs were identified in ovarian carcinoma cells compared to normal ovarian cells. miR-141, miR-106a, miR-200c, miR-96, and miR-378 were overexpressed, and miR-411, miR-432, miR-494, miR-409-3p, and miR-655 were underexpressed in ovarian cancer cells. Seventeen miRNAs were overexpressed in Taxol-resistant cells, including miR-663, miR-622, and HS_188. Underexpressed miRNAs in Taxol-sensitive cells included miR-497, miR-187, miR-195, and miR-107. We further showed miR-663 and miR-622 as significant prognosis markers of the chemo-resistant patient group. In particular, the downregulation of the two miRNAs was associated with better survival, perhaps increasing the sensitivity of cancer cells to Taxol. In the chemo-sensitive patient group, only miR-647 could be a prognosis marker. These miRNAs inhibit several interacting genes of p53 networks, especially in TUOS-3 and TUOS-4, and showed cell line-specific inhibition effects. Taken together, the data indicate that the three miRNAs are closely associated with Taxol resistance and potentially better prognosis factors. Our results suggest that these miRNAs were successfully and reliably identified and would be used in the development of miRNA therapies in treating ovarian cancer

An Arrhythmia Classification-Guided Segmentation Model for Electrocardiogram Delineation

Accurate delineation of key waveforms in an ECG is a critical initial step in extracting relevant features to support the diagnosis and treatment of heart conditions. Although deep learning based methods using a segmentation model to locate P, QRS and T waves have shown promising results, their ability to handle signals exhibiting arrhythmia remains unclear. In this study, we propose a novel approach that leverages a deep learning model to accurately delineate signals with a wide range of arrhythmia. Our approach involves training a segmentation model using a hybrid loss function that combines segmentation with the task of arrhythmia classification. In addition, we use a diverse training set containing various arrhythmia types, enabling our model to handle a wide range of challenging cases. Experimental results show that our model accurately delineates signals with a broad range of abnormal rhythm types, and the combined training with classification guidance can effectively reduce false positive P wave predictions, particularly during atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter. Furthermore, our proposed method shows competitive performance with previous delineation algorithms on the Lobachevsky University Database (LUDB)

Non-sexually related acute genital ulcers in a pubertal girl

Acute genital ulcers (AGU), also known as acute vulvar ulcers or Lipschütz ulcers, is an uncommon, non-sexually transmitted condition characterized by the sudden onset of painful necrotic ulcerations of the vulva or lower vagina. Their aetiology and pathogenesis are still unknown. They may be preceded by influenza-like symptoms, such as fever, headache or respiratory symptoms. We presented a case of pubertal girl with multiple painful ulcers on the vulva who visited our hospital. Other causes of vulvar ulcers were excluded by history taking, laboratory tests, and skin biopsy. We presented a case report of pubertal girl with non-sexually related AGU