A Clinical Study of the Pulse Wave Characteristics at the Three Pulse Diagnosis Positions of Chon, Gwan and Cheok

In this work, we analyze the baseline, signal strength, aortic augmentation index (AIx), radial AIx, time to reflection and P_T2 at Chon, Gwan, and Cheok, which are the three pulse diagnosis positions in Oriental medicine. For the pulse measurement, we used the SphygmoCor apparatus, which has been widely used for the evaluation of the arterial stiffness at the aorta. By two-way repeated measures analysis of variance, we tested two independent measurements for repeatability and investigated their mean differences among Chon, Gwan and Cheok. To characterize further the parameters that were shown to be different between each palpation position, we carried out Duncan's test for the multiple comparisons. The baseline and signal strength were statistically different (P < .05) among Chon, Gwan and Cheok, respectively, which supports the major hypothesis of Oriental medicine that all of the three palpation positions contain different clinical information. On the other hand, aortic AIx and time to reflection were found to be statistically different between Chon and the others, and radial AIx and P_T2 did not show any difference between pulse positions. In the clinical sense, however, the aortic AIx at each palpation position was found to fall within the 90% confidence interval of normal arterial compliance. The results of the multiple comparisons indicate that the parameters of arterial stiffness were independent of the palpation positions. This work is the first attempt to characterize quantitatively the pulse signals at Chon, Gwan and Cheok with some relevant parameters extracted from the SphygmoCor apparatus

Use of the Putamen/Caudate Volume Ratio for Early Differentiation between Parkinsonian Variant of Multiple System Atrophy and Parkinson Disease

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Neuropathological studies have demonstrated that multiple system atrophy (MSA) produces selective atrophy of the putamen with sparing of the caudate nucleus, while both structures are spared in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study we evaluated the clinical efficacy of using putaminal atrophy in brain MRI to differentiate MSA and PD. METHODS: We measured the putamen/caudate volume ratio on brain MRI in 24 patients with MSA and 21 patients with PD. Two clinicians who were blinded to the patients' diagnoses and to each other's assessments measured the volume ratio using a computer program. RESULTS: The measured volume ratios of the two investigators were highly correlated (r=0.72, p<0.0001). The volume ratio was significantly lower in MSA (1.29+/-0.28) than PD (1.91+/-0.29, p<0.0001). Setting an arbitrary cutoff ratio of 1.6 resulted in about 90% of patients with MSA falling into the group with a lower ratio, whereas more than 80% of patients with PD belonged to the other group. CONCLUSIONS: The present results demonstrate that putaminal atrophy in MSA as measured on brain MRI represents an effective tool for differentiating MSA from PD.ope

Towards 5D Grand Unification without SUSY Flavor Problem

We consider the renormalization group approach to the SUSY flavor problem in the supersymmetric SU(5) model with one extra dimension. In higher dimensional SUSY gauge theories, it has been recently shown that power corrections due to the Kaluza-Klein states of gauge fields run the soft masses generated at the orbifold fixed point to flavor conserving values in the infra-red limit. In models with GUT breaking at the brane where the GUT scale can be larger than the compactification scale, we show that the addition of a bulk Higgs multiplet, which is necessary for the successful unification, is compatible with the flavor universality achieved at the compactification scale.Comment: JHEP style file of 35 pages with 3 figures, Version to appear in JHE

In-rich InGaN/GaN quantum wells grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

Growth mechanism of In-rich InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) was investigated. First, we examined the initial stage of InN growth on GaN template considering strain-relieving mechanisms such as defect generation, islanding, and alloy formation at 730 degrees C. It was found that, instead of formation of InN layer, defective In-rich InGaN layer with thickness fluctuations was formed to relieve large lattice mismatch over 10% between InN and GaN. By introducing growth interruption (GI) before GaN capping at the same temperature, however, atomically flat InGaN/GaN interfaces were observed, and the quality of In-rich InGaN layer was greatly improved. We found that decomposition and mass transport processes during GI in InGaN layer are responsible for this phenomenon. There exists severe decomposition in InGaN layer during GI, and a 1-nm-thick InGaN layer remained after GI due to stronger bond strength near the InGaN/GaN interface. It was observed that the mass transport processes actively occurred during GI in InGaN layer above 730 degrees C so that defect annihilation in InGaN layer was greatly enhanced. Finally, based on these experimental results, we propose the growth mechanism of In-rich InGaN/GaN QWs using GI.open9

Tibiofemoral osteoarthritis affects quality of life and function in elderly Koreans, with women more adversely affected than men

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of knee osteoarthritis(OA) in East Asia is as common for men and even higher for women than that reported in the Caucasian population. Since both population aging and economic growth have taken place at a much faster pace in Asian countries, such as South Korea, one would expect knee OA to become a major public health problem. However, few studies have examined the influence of knee OA on the quality of life (QoL) and physical function in Asia. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to investigate the influence of knee osteoarthritis (OA) on the quality of life (QoL), function and lower extremity physical performance and the gender difference in its influence in elderly community residents in Korea.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Participants were from the population-based Hallym Aging Study (HAS). The mean age of the 504 study subjects was 70.2 years and 274 (54%) were women. Demographic information was obtained by questionnaire, and radiographic evaluations consisted of weight-bearing semi-flexed knee radiographs. Self-reported QoL and function were assessed using Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) Index and Short Form 12-item (SF-12). Performance-based lower extremity function was assessed using the tests consisting of standing balance, usual walk and chair stands. The odds ratios(ORs) for belonging to the worst quartile of WOMAC and physical performance test were calculated by logistic regression analysis in radiographic knee OA compared to non-OA after adjustment of confounders. Scores for SF-12 items were analyzed using general linear models and means adjusted for age, BMI and OA severity were compared.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Subjects with radiographic knee OA had significantly increased OR for belonging to the worst WOMAC quartile(for pain, 2.13,95% confidence interval[CI], 1.33-3.40, for stiffness, 2.94,95% CI,1.78-4.86, and for function, 2.97, 95% CI,1.83-4.81) and significantly worse SF-12 scores compared to non-OA after adjustment of age, BMI and sex. Women had worse WOMAC and SF-12 scores compared to men, regardless of the presence of radiographic knee OA after adjustment of age, BMI and OA severity. OA subjects had significantly worse performance score for usual walk and chair stands compared to non-OA subjects, but the ORs were no more significant after adjustment of sex.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Knee OA negatively affects the QoL and physical function in both genders, but women are more adversely affected than men.</p

Pumpless, selective docking of yeast cells inside a microfluidic channel induced by receding meniscus

We present a simple cell docking method induced by receding meniscus to capture non-adherent yeast cells onto microwells inside a microfluidic channel. Microwells were fabricated either by capillary moulding of UV curable polyurethane acrylate (PUA) onto glass substrate or direct replica moulding of poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS). A cell suspension of the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was introduced into the microfluidic channel by surface tension driven capillary flow and a receding meniscus was subsequently generated by evaporation. As the meniscus progressed, one to multiple yeast cells were spontaneously captured onto microwells by lateral capillary force created at the bottom of the meniscus. Using this cell-based platform, we observed the response of yeast cells upon stimulation by a mating pheromone (alpha-factor) by monitoring the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) with time. It was observed that alpha-factor triggered the expression of GFP at 60 min after stimulation and the fluorescence intensity was sustained for an additional 60 min without changes.This work was supported by the Micro Thermal System Research Center of Seoul National University and the Ministry of Science and Technology through Bio Tool R&D Project for Cell Research. This work was also supported in part by the SRC program of MOST/KOSEF (R11-2005-009-02004-0) to S.-H. P

Melatonin receptor 1 B polymorphisms associated with the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Backgrounds</p> <p>Two SNPs in <it>melatonin receptor 1B </it>gene, <it>rs10830963 </it>and <it>rs1387153 </it>showed significant associations with fasting plasma glucose levels and the risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in previous studies. Since T2DM and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) share similar characteristics, we suspected that the two genetic polymorphisms in <it>MTNR1B </it>may be associated with GDM, and conducted association studies between the polymorphisms and the disease. Furthermore, we also examined genetic effects of the two polymorphisms with various diabetes-related phenotypes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 1,918 subjects (928 GDM patients and 990 controls) were used for the study. Two <it>MTNR1B </it>polymorphisms were genotyped using TaqMan assay. The allele distributions of SNPs were evaluated by <it>x</it>²models calculating odds ratios (ORs), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and corresponding <it>P </it>values. Multiple regressions were used for association analyses of GDM-related traits. Finally, conditional analyses were also performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found significant associations between the two genetic variants and GDM, <it>rs10830963</it>, with a corrected <it>P </it>value of 0.0001, and <it>rs1387153</it>, with the corrected <it>P </it>value of 0.0008. In addition, we also found that the two SNPs were associated with various phenotypes such as homeostasis model assessment of beta-cell function and fasting glucose levels. Further conditional analyses results suggested that <it>rs10830963 </it>might be more likely functional in case/control analysis, although not clear in GDM-related phenotype analyses.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There have been studies that found associations between genetic variants of other genes and GDM, this is the first study that found significant associations between SNPs of <it>MTNR1B </it>and GDM. The genetic effects of two SNPs identified in this study would be helpful in understanding the insight of GDM and other diabetes-related disorders.</p

Interference phenomena in the photon production between two oscillating walls

We study the photon production in a 1D cavity whose left and right walls oscillate with the frequency $\Omega_{L}$ and $\Omega_{R}$, respectively. For $\Omega_{L} \neq \Omega_{R},$ the number of generated photons by the parametric resonance is the sum of the photon numbers produced when the left and the right wall oscillates separately. But for $\Omega_{L} = \Omega_{R}$, the interference term proportional to $\cos \phi$ is found additionally, where $\phi$ is the phase difference between two oscillations of the walls.Comment: 7 pages, RevTeX, no figures, a sign error correcte

Impact of mental disorders on the risk of atrial fibrillation in patients with diabetes mellitus:a nationwide population-based study

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether mental disorders are an independent risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with diabetes. We aimed to investigate whether patients with diabetes who have mental disorders have an increased risk for AF. METHODS: Using the Korea National Health Insurance Service database, we enrolled 2,512,690 patients diagnosed with diabetes without AF between 2009 and 2012. We assessed five mental disorders: depression, insomnia, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Newly diagnosed AF was identified during the follow-up period, and multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: Among the 2,512,690 patients (mean age 57.2 ± 12.3 years; 60.1% men), 828,929 (33.0%) had mental disorders. Among the five mental disorders, anxiety (68.1%) was the most common, followed by insomnia (40.0%). During a median follow-up duration of 7.1 years, new-onset AF was diagnosed in 79,525 patients (4.66 per 1,000 person-years). Patients with diabetes who had mental disorders showed a higher risk for AF (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17–1.21; p-value < 0.001). Depression, insomnia, and anxiety were significantly associated with higher risk for AF (adjusted HR [95% CI]: 1.15 [1.12–1.17], 1.15 [1.13–1.18], and 1.19 [1.67–1.21], respectively; all p-values < 0.001), whereas bipolar disorder and schizophrenia were not. CONCLUSIONS: Mental disorders, especially depression, insomnia, and anxiety, were associated with an increased risk for AF in patients with diabetes. Greater awareness with a prompt diagnosis of AF should be considered for patients with both DM and mental disorders. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12933-022-01682-7