Effects of early menarche on physical and psychosocial health problems in adolescent girls and adult women

The menarcheal age of Korean women has been rapidly decreasing for the last 50 years, and the average menarcheal age of women born in the 1990s is approaching 12.6 years. In addition, interest in early puberty has been increasing recently owing to the rapid increase in precocious puberty. Generally, out of concern for short stature and early menarche, idiopathic central precocious puberty in female adolescents is treated with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs. Studies to date have described the association between early menarche and psychosocial problems such as delinquency and risky sexual behavior, as well as physical health problems such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and breast cancer throughout the lifespan of women. However, the pathophysiological mechanism underlying this association has not been clarified thus far. In this article, we review and discuss the existing literature to describe the current understanding of the effects of early menarche on the physical and psychosocial health of adolescent girls and adult women

Three-dimensional flow phenomena in a wire-wrapped 37-pin fuel bundle for SFR

AbstractThree-dimensional flow phenomena in a wire-wrapped 37-pin fuel assembly mock-up of a Japanese loop-type sodium-cooled fast reactor, Monju, were investigated with a numerical analysis using a general-purpose commercial computational fluid dynamics code, CFX. Complicated and vortical flow phenomena in the wire-wrapped 37-pin fuel assembly were captured by a Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes flow simulation using a shear stress transport turbulence model. The main purpose of the current study is to understand the three-dimensional complex flow phenomena in a wire-wrapped fuel assembly to support the license issue for the core design. Computational fluid dynamics results show good agreement with friction factor correlation models. The secondary flow in the corner and edge subchannels is much stronger than that in an interior subchannel. The axial velocity averaged in the corner and edge subchannels is higher than that averaged in the interior subchannels. Three-dimensional multiscale vortex structures start to be formed by an interaction between secondary flows around each wire-wrapped pin. Behavior of the large-scale vortex structures in the corner and edge subchannels is closely related to the relative position between the hexagonal duct wall and the helically wrapped wire spacer. The small-scale vortex is axially developed in the interior subchannels. Furthermore, a driving force on each wire spacer surface is closely related to the relative position between the hexagonal duct wall and the wire spacer

A case of primary psoas abscess presenting as buttock abscess

Buttock abscess is a rare clinical manifestation from unusual extrapelvic extension of psoas abscess. A 48-year-old woman presented with painful swelling of the buttock with a sense of local heat. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large subfascial abscess over the glutei muscles and was traced into the intraabdominal cavity over the iliac wing to the psoas muscle. Both the psoas abscess and the buttock abscess were evacuated via separate approaches. Empirical antibiotic therapy was delivered for 3 weeks. After 6 months, no evidence of recurrence was found. Psoas abscess could be included in the differential diagnosis of buttock abscess

A Possible Approach to Site-Specific Insertion of Two Different Unnatural Amino Acids into Proteins in Mammalian Cells via Nonsense Suppression

AbstractThe site-specific insertion of an unnatural amino acid into proteins in vivo via nonsense suppression has resulted in major advances in recent years. The ability to incorporate two different unnatural amino acids in vivo would greatly increase the scope and impact of unnatural amino acid mutagenesis. Here, we show the concomitant suppression of an amber and an ochre codon in a single mRNA in mammalian cells by importing a mixture of aminoacylated amber and ochre suppressor tRNAs. This result provides a possible approach to site-specific insertion of two different unnatural amino acids into any protein of interest in mammalian cells. To our knowledge, this result also represents the only demonstration of concomitant suppression of two different termination codons in a single gene in vivo

Maximized performance of dye solar cells on plastic: a combined theoretical and experimental optimization approach

We demonstrate that a combined optimization approach based on the sequential alternation of theoretical analysis and experimental realization gives rise to plastic supported dye solar cells for which both light harvesting efficiency and electron collection are maximized. Rationalized configurations with optimized light trapping and charge extraction are realized to achieve photoanodes on plastic prepared at low temperature, showing a power conversion efficiency of 8.55% and a short circuit photocurrent of 16.11 mA cm 2, unprecedented for plastic based dye solar cell devices. Furthermore, the corresponding fully flexible designs present stable mechanical properties after several bending cycles, displaying 7.79% power conversion efficiency, an average broadband internal quantum efficiency above 90%, and a short circuit photocurrent of 15.94 mA cm 2, which is the largest reported value for bendable cells of this sort to dateEuropean Union 307081, 622533Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MAT2014-54852-R, MAT2011–2359

Surgical repair of descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm involving the distal arch: Open proximal anastomosis under deep hypothermia versus arch clamping technique

BackgroundSurgical repair of a descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (DTA/TAAA) involving the distal arch is challenging and requires either deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) or crossclamping of the distal arch. The aim of this study was to compare these 2 techniques in the treatment of DTA/TAAA involving the distal arch.MethodsFrom 1994 to 2012, 298 patients underwent open repair of DTA/TAAA through a left thoracotomy. One hundred seventy-four patients with distal arch involvement who were suitable for either DHCA (n = 81) or arch clamping (AC; n = 93), were analyzed. In-hospital outcomes were compared using propensity scores and inverse-probability-of-treatment weighting adjustment to reduce treatment selection bias.ResultsEarly mortality was 11.1% in the DHCA group and 8.6% in the AC group (P = .58). Major adverse outcomes included stroke in 16 patients (9.2%), low cardiac output syndrome in 15 (8.6%), paraplegia in 10 (5.7%), and multiorgan failure in 10 (5.7%). After adjustment, patients who underwent DHCA were at similar risk of death (odds ratio [OR], 1.14; P = .80) and permanent neurologic injury (OR, 0.95; P = .92) to those who underwent AC. Although prolonged ventilator support (>24 hours) was more frequent with DHCA than with AC (OR, 2.60; P = .003), DHCA showed a tendency to lower the risk of paraplegia (OR, 0.15; P = .057).ConclusionsCompared with AC, DHCA did not increase postoperative mortality and morbidity, except for prolonged ventilator support. However, DHCA may offer superior spinal cord protection to AC during repair of DTA/TAAA involving the distal arch

Two adolescent patients with coexistent Graves' disease and Moyamoya disease in Korea

Moyamoya disease is a cerebrovascular condition that results in the narrowing of the vessels of the circle of Willis and collateral vessel formation at the base of the brain. Although relationships between Graves' disease and cerebrovascular accidents in Moyamoya disease are obscure, the coexistence of the two diseases is noteworthy. Moyamoya disease has been rarely reported in adolescent patients with thyrotoxicosis. Recently, we encountered two adolescent Korean patients with Moyamoya disease associated with Graves' disease who presented with episodic right-sided hemiparesis and syncope. These two girls who had Graves' disease had no history of other diseases or head trauma. A thyroid function test revealed a euthyroid state and a high thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor antibody titer at that time. The patients were diagnosed with Moyamoya disease based on brain magnetic resonance angiography and cerebral four-vessel angiography. The patients underwent cranial revascularization by encephalo-duroarterio-synangiosis as soon as a diagnosis was made, which resulted in successful symptom resolution. They fared well and had no additional neurological symptoms as of their last follow-up visits. Here, we report these two cases of confirmed Moyamoya disease complicated by Graves' disease with a review of the literature, and discuss the possible association between the two diseases. To our knowledge, this is the first report in South Korea on Moyamoya disease associated with Graves' disease in adolescents with a euthyroid

Development of Tibiofemoral Angle in Korean Children

This study was performed to identify the chronological changes of the knee angle or the tibiofemoral angles in normal healthy Korean children. Full-length anteroposterior view standing radiographs of 818 limbs of 452 Korean children were analyzed. The overall patterns of the chronological changes in the knee angle were similar to those described previously in western or Asian children, but the knee angle development was delayed, i.e., genu varum before 1 yr, neutral at 1.5 yr, increasing genu valgum with maximum a value of 7.8° at 4 yr, followed by a gradual decrease to approximately 5-6° of genu valgum of the adult level at 7 to 8 yr of age. These normative data on chronological changes of knee angles should be taken into consideration when evaluating lower limb alignment in children