Perspective of the Human Body in Sasang Constitutional Medicine

The Sasang constitutional medicine (SCM), a medical tradition originating from Korea, is distinguished from the traditional Chinese medicine in its philosophical background, theoretical development and especially, the fundamental rationale that analyzes the structure and function of the human body within a quadrifocal scheme. In SCM, the structure of the body is comprehended within the Sasang quadrifocal scheme, and the function of the body is understood within the context of the energy–fluid metabolism and the water–food metabolism controlled by the four main organs (lung, spleen, liver and kidney). Also, the concept of Seong–Jeong is used to explain the structural and functional variations between different constitutional types that arise from the constitutional variations in organ system scheme, which are in turn caused by deviations in the constitutional Seong–Jeong. Therefore, understanding the SCM perspective of the human body is essential in order to fully appreciate the advantages of the constitutional typological system (which focuses on individual idiosyncrasies) found in SCM

Nonoperative Korean Medicine Combination Therapy for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Retrospective Case-Series Study

This is a retrospective case series exploring the therapeutic benefits and harm of nonoperative Korean medicine combination therapy for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). The medical records of a total of 33 LSS patients, who were treated as inpatients at Mokhuri Neck and Back Hospital, Republic of Korea, from November 2010 to January 2012, were reviewed first and telephone survey on these patients was conducted after one year. Body acupuncture, pharmacoacupuncture, Chuna, and oral administration of herbal medicines were offered to all patients. A Visual analogue scale (VAS) of pain and the walking duration without pain were used to assess the patients during the approximately 1-month treatment period. The average VAS score of pain and the walking duration improved significantly; the VAS score decreased from 9 (SD, 1.15) to 2.75 (2.22) (p<0.01), and the walking duration increased from 5.5 (6.66) to 16.75 (13.00) minutes (p<0.01). No adverse event was reported during the treatment. In addition, the decreased pain level and improved function continued for over one year. Although we did not find definitive evidence, the study results suggest that KM combination therapy may be beneficial for decreasing pain and improving function in LSS patients and may produce comparatively few adverse events

Primary transcriptome and translatome analysis determines transcriptional and translational regulatory elements encoded in the Streptomyces clavuligerus genome

Determining transcriptional and translational regulatory elements in GC-rich Streptomyces genomes is essential to elucidating the complex regulatory networks that govern secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) expression. However, information about such regulatory elements has been limited for Streptomyces genomes. To address this limitation, a high-quality genome sequence of β-lactam antibiotic-producing Streptomyces clavuligerus ATCC 27 064 is completed, which contains 7163 newly annotated genes. This provides a fundamental reference genome sequence to integrate multiple genome-scale data types, including dRNA-Seq, RNA-Seq and ribosome profiling. Data integration results in the precise determination of 2659 transcription start sites which reveal transcriptional and translational regulatory elements, including -10 and -35 promoter components specific to sigma (σ) factors, and 5'-untranslated region as a determinant for translation efficiency regulation. Particularly, sequence analysis of a wide diversity of the -35 components enables us to predict potential σ-factor regulons, along with various spacer lengths between the -10 and -35 elements. At last, the primary transcriptome landscape of the β-lactam biosynthetic pathway is analyzed, suggesting temporal changes in metabolism for the synthesis of secondary metabolites driven by transcriptional regulation. This comprehensive genetic information provides a versatile genetic resource for rational engineering of secondary metabolite BGCs in Streptomyces

Life Extension of Aged Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement through Remodeling Index–Based Analysis

As jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCP) age in South Korea, the cost of pavement maintenance is increasing annually. To extend the life of jointed concrete pavements through preventive maintenance, this study used 2017 pavement management system data to analyze the effects of traffic volume, alkali&ndash;silica reaction (ASR) grade, age, smoothness, and damaged area on the remodeling index (RMI&mdash;a measure of expressway pavement condition). In addition, this study evaluates the final RMI as well as the corresponding pavement condition and change in RMI value after conducting preventive maintenance in lieu of resurfacing or overlaying. The results demonstrated that the effect of ASR grade increased as the RMI forecast year increased and that change in surface distress (△SD) increased with age (most intensively when the pavement was 15&ndash;20 years of age). Moreover, change in international roughness index (△IRI) increased with age and traffic volume (similarly within 15&ndash;20 years of pavement age). Hence, preventive maintenance is a must for sections with high traffic volume and age even if the RMI is low. Finally, performing repairs through preventive maintenance decreases the number of expressway sections requiring resurfacing and overlaying, thus extending the life of the concrete pavement

Life Extension of Aged Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement through Remodeling Index–Based Analysis

As jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCP) age in South Korea, the cost of pavement maintenance is increasing annually. To extend the life of jointed concrete pavements through preventive maintenance, this study used 2017 pavement management system data to analyze the effects of traffic volume, alkali–silica reaction (ASR) grade, age, smoothness, and damaged area on the remodeling index (RMI—a measure of expressway pavement condition). In addition, this study evaluates the final RMI as well as the corresponding pavement condition and change in RMI value after conducting preventive maintenance in lieu of resurfacing or overlaying. The results demonstrated that the effect of ASR grade increased as the RMI forecast year increased and that change in surface distress (△SD) increased with age (most intensively when the pavement was 15–20 years of age). Moreover, change in international roughness index (△IRI) increased with age and traffic volume (similarly within 15–20 years of pavement age). Hence, preventive maintenance is a must for sections with high traffic volume and age even if the RMI is low. Finally, performing repairs through preventive maintenance decreases the number of expressway sections requiring resurfacing and overlaying, thus extending the life of the concrete pavement

Biomimetic 2D-Ni(Co,Fe)P/1D-WOx nanocoral reef electrocatalysts for efficient water splitting

The design of efficient nanostructured electrocatalysts is highly desirable for promoting the hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions (HER/OER), which are key processes of ecofriendly H-2 production in water splitting systems. In this study, we present novel biomimetic hierarchical nanocoral reef materials as efficient and durable electrocatalysts for alkaline water splitting. Our nanocoral reef catalyst has a unique structure consisting of Ni(Co,Fe)P nanosheet (NS) algae and WOx nanowire (NW) corals. The WOx NW corals effectively transport charges (e(-)/h(+)) to the Ni(Co,Fe)P NS algae through a 1D directional structure. The ultrathin 2D Ni(Co,Fe)P NS algae grown on the WOx NW corals provide an abundance of active sites for splitting water molecules into H-2 and O-2. As a result, our hierarchical 2D-NS/1D-NW-structured NiCoP-WOx (HER) and NiFeP-WOx (OER) catalysts demonstrate excellent activities, requiring low overpotentials of 49 and 270 mV, respectively, to generate a current density of 10 mA cm(-2). Additionally, they exhibit high electrochemical stability for over 60 h in 1 M KOH. In addition, the overall water splitting (OWS) system, NiCoP-WOx(HER)||NiFeP-WOx(OER) requires a cell voltage of 1.51 V to generate a current density of 10 mA cm(-2). This value is very low compared to other reported transition metal phosphides. The biomimetic engineering presented in the current study provides not only efficient electrocatalysts but also a promising, useful strategy to develop functional 1D/2D hierarchical materials for advanced energy applications.11Nsciescopu

Sparse tangent portfolio selection via semi-definite relaxation

The high-cardinality of mean-variance portfolios is a concern in practice because it increases transaction costs and management fees. Therefore, we propose a method to resolve the cardinality problem by applying the semi-definite relaxation method to a cardinality constrained optimal tangent portfolio selection model. We find that the relaxed model becomes a semi-definite programming problem that is efficiently solved with existing optimization solvers. Numerical analyses with historical stock returns confirm that the proposed relaxed model effectively constructs sparse tangent portfolios. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserve

Sparse and robust portfolio selection via semi-definite relaxation

In investment management, especially for automated investment services, it is critical for portfolios to have a manageable number of assets and robust performance. First, portfolios should not contain too many assets in order to reduce the management fees, transaction costs, and taxes. Second, portfolios should be robust as investment environments change rapidly. In this study, therefore, we propose two convex portfolio selection models that provide portfolios that are sparse and robust. We first perform semi-definite relaxation to develop a sparse mean-variance portfolio selection model, and further extend the model by using L2-norm regularization and worst-case optimization to formulate two sparse and robust portfolio selection models. Empirical analyses with historical stock returns demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed models in forming sparse and robust portfolios