The effect of high-speed power training on physical frailty in older adults: Effect of a visual-guided exercise program in South Korean rural areas

Objective. Exercise has been shown to be an effective intervention; the difficulty still lies in providing exercise programs to the older adults in rural areas. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of a 12-week exercise program provided with visual guidelines (prerecorded video) on frailty among older adults in rural areas. Methods. Fifty participants (71.7 ± 4.9 years) from 5 different rural areas were recruited and divided into two groups: the exercise group (EX, n = 24 (male: 8, female: 18)) and the control group (CON, n = 26 (male: 7, female: 17)). With the commencement of the exercise intervention, a prerecorded high-speed power training program for frail older adults was distributed to the EX group. A new prerecorded exercise program was delivered to the EX group every 4 weeks. Frailty status was diagnosed with Fried’s criteria before and after the intervention. Muscle strength was measured in the upper and lower limb strength (hand-grip strength and leg extension and flexion), and physical function was measured using a short physical performance battery and gait speed. Fasting blood was collected before and after the intervention and analyzed for blood lipid profile. Results. After 12 weeks of the intervention period, a significant difference in frailty status () and score () favoring the EX group was observed. Physical functions (gait speed () and time for sit to stand ()) were significantly improved in the EX group with a significant increase in knee extensor strength (). A significant difference in serum high-density lipoprotein levels favoring the EX group () was also observed. Conclusions. This study confirmed the positive effect of a visual-guided exercise program on older adults’ residents in rural areas and provided alternative methods to effectively provide exercise program for the older adults with limited resources

Correlations between clinical features and MRI findings in early adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: a retrospective observational study

Abstract Background This retrospective study investigated the association between clinical features and MRI findings in patients with early adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder. Methods The study included 29 patients with early adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder. The clinical diagnostic criteria were significantly restricted passive range of motion (ROM) and a symptom duration of up to 9 months. Various measurements related to adhesive capsulitis, including humeral and glenoid capsular thickness in the axillary recess, maximal axillary capsular thickness, coracohumeral ligament thickness, and anterior capsular thickness were measured on MRI. Abnormal humeral and glenoid capsular hyperintensity in the axillary recess, abnormal hyperintensity in the rotator interval, and obliteration of the subcoracoid fat triangle were also evaluated. Correlations between MRI findings and clinical features, including limited ROM, pain, and symptom duration were sought. Results Maximal axillary and humeralcapsular thickness measured on MRI were negatively correlated with ROM for internal rotation. Also, hyperintensity in axillary recess and glenoidcapule were correlated with ROM for abduction. Humeralcapsular hyperintensity was correlated with ROM for forward flexion. There were no MRI findings that showed correlations with ROM for external rotation and severity of pain. The hyperintensity in the humeral capsule among MRI findings was only correlated with duration of symptoms. Conclusions MRI can be useful for assessment of several measures of clinical impairment in patients with adhesive capsulitis. Thickening and hyperintensity of the joint capsule in the axillary recess on MRI is associated with limited ROM and duration of symptoms

Properties of Central Caustics in Planetary Microlensing

To maximize the number of planet detections, current microlensing follow-up observations are focusing on high-magnification events which have a higher chance of being perturbed by central caustics. In this paper, we investigate the properties of central caustics and the perturbations induced by them. We derive analytic expressions of the location, size, and shape of the central caustic as a function of the star-planet separation, $s$, and the planet/star mass ratio, $q$, under the planetary perturbative approximation and compare the results with those based on numerical computations. While it has been known that the size of the planetary caustic is \propto \sqrt{q}, we find from this work that the dependence of the size of the central caustic on $q$ is linear, i.e., \propto q, implying that the central caustic shrinks much more rapidly with the decrease of $q$ compared to the planetary caustic. The central-caustic size depends also on the star-planet separation. If the size of the caustic is defined as the separation between the two cusps on the star-planet axis (horizontal width), we find that the dependence of the central-caustic size on the separation is \propto (s+1/s). While the size of the central caustic depends both on $s$ and q, its shape defined as the vertical/horizontal width ratio, R_c, is solely dependent on the planetary separation and we derive an analytic relation between R_c and s. Due to the smaller size of the central caustic combined with much more rapid decrease of its size with the decrease of q, the effect of finite source size on the perturbation induced by the central caustic is much more severe than the effect on the perturbation induced by the planetary caustic. Abridged.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, ApJ accepte

Role of Matrix Metalloproteinase 3-mediated alpha-Synuclein Cleavage in Dopaminergic Cell Death

Evidence suggests that the C-terminal truncation of alpha-synuclein is equally important as aggregation of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson disease (PD). Our previous results showed that an endopeptidase, matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP3), was induced and activated in dopaminergic (DA) cells upon stress conditions. Here, we report that MMP3 cleaved alpha-synuclein in vitro and in vivo and that alpha-synuclein and MMP3 were co-localized in Lewy bodies (LB) in the postmortem brains of PD patients. Incubation of alpha-synuclein with the catalytic domain of MMP3 (cMMP3) resulted in generation of several peptides, and the peptide profiles of WT alpha-synuclein (WTsyn) and A53T mutant (A53Tsyn) were different. Combined analysis using mass spectrometry and N-terminal determination revealed that MMP3 generated C-terminally truncated peptides of amino acids 1-78, 1-91, and 1-93 and that A53Tsyn produced significantly higher quantities of these peptides. Similar sizes of peptides were detected in N27 DA cells under oxidative stress and RNA interference to knock down MMP3-attenuated peptide generation. Co-overexpression of cMMP3 with either WTsyn or A53Tsyn led to a reduction in Triton X-100-insoluble aggregates and an increase in protofibril-like small aggregates. In addition, overexpression of the 1-93-amino acid peptide in the substantia nigra led to DA neuronal loss without LB-like aggregate formation. The results strongly indicate that MMP3 digestion of alpha-synuclein in DA neurons plays a pivotal role in the progression of PD through modulation of alpha-synuclein in aggregation, LB formation, and neurotoxicity

Realization of giant magnetoelectricity in helimagnets

We show that low field magnetoelectric (ME) properties of helimagnets Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2(Fe1-xAlx)12O22 can be efficiently tailored by Al-substitution level. As x increases, the critical magnetic field for switching electric polarization is systematically reduced from ~1 T down to ~1 mT, and the ME susceptibility is greatly enhanced to reach a giant value of 2.0 x 10^4 ps/m at an optimum x = 0.08. We find that control of nontrivial orbital moment in the octahedral Fe sites through the Al-substitution is crucial for fine tuning of magnetic anisotropy and obtaining the conspicuously improved ME characteristics

Characteristics of gate-all-around silicon nanowire field effect transistors with asymmetric channel width and source/drain doping concentration

We performed 3D simulations to demonstrate structural effects in sub-20 nm gate-all-around silicon nanowire field effect transistors having asymmetric channel width along the channel direction. We analyzed the differences in the electrical and physical properties for various slopes of the channel width in asymmetric silicon nanowire field effect transistors (SNWFETs) and compared them to symmetrical SNWFETs with uniform channel width. In the same manner, the effects of the individual doping concentration at the source and drain also have been investigated. For various structural conditions, the current and switching characteristics are seriously affected. The differences attributed to the doping levels and geometric conditions are due to the electric field and electron density profile. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4745858]ope

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Glycosylated Macrolactam Analogues of the Macrolide Antibiotic YC‐17

YC‐17 is a 12‐membered ring macrolide antibiotic produced from Streptomyces venezuelae ATCC 15439 and is composed of the polyketide macrolactone 10‐deoxymethynolide appended with D‐desosamine. In order to develop structurally diverse macrolactam analogues of YC‐17 with improved therapeutic potential, a combined approach involving chemical synthesis and engineered cell‐based biotransformation was employed. Eight new antibacterial macrolactam analogues of YC‐17 were generated by supplying a novel chemically synthesized macrolactam aglycone to S. venezuelae mutants harboring plasmids capable of synthesizing several unnatural sugars for subsequent glycosylation. Some YC‐17 macrolactam analogues were active against erythromycin‐resistant bacterial pathogens and displayed improved metabolic stability in vitro. The enhanced therapeutic potential demonstrated by these glycosylated macrolactam analogues reveals the unique potential of chemoenzymatic synthesis in antibiotic drug discovery and development.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113147/1/adsc_201500250_sm_miscellaneous_information.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113147/2/2697_ftp.pd

Small anisotropy of the lower critical field and s±s_\pm-wave two-gap feature in single crystal LiFeAs

The in- and out-of-plane lower critical fields and magnetic penetration depths for LiFeAs were examined. The anisotropy ratio $\gamma_{H_{c1}}(0)$ is smaller than the expected theoretical value, and increased slightly with increasing temperature from 0.6$T_c$ to $T_c$. This small degree of anisotropy was numerically confirmed by considering electron correlation effect. The temperature dependence of the penetration depths followed a power law($\sim$$T^n$) below 0.3$T_c$, with $n$$>$3.5 for both $\lambda_{ab}$ and $\lambda_c$. Based on theoretical studies of iron-based superconductors, these results suggest that the superconductivity of LiFeAs can be represented by an extended $s_\pm$-wave due to weak impurity scattering effect. And the magnitudes of the two gaps were also evaluted by fitting the superfluid density for both the in- and out-of-plane to the two-gap model. The estimated values for the two gaps are consistent with the results of angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy and specific heat experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

All-inkjet-printed thin-film transistors: manufacturing process reliability by root cause analysis

We report on the detailed electrical investigation of all-inkjet-printed thin-film transistor (TFT) arrays focusing on TFT failures and their origins. The TFT arrays were manufactured on flexible polymer substrates in ambient condition without the need for cleanroom environment or inert atmosphere and at a maximum temperature of 150 degrees C. Alternative manufacturing processes for electronic devices such as inkjet printing suffer from lower accuracy compared to traditional microelectronic manufacturing methods. Furthermore, usually printing methods do not allow the manufacturing of electronic devices with high yield (high number of functional devices). In general, the manufacturing yield is much lower compared to the established conventional manufacturing methods based on lithography. Thus, the focus of this contribution is set on a comprehensive analysis of defective TFTs printed by inkjet technology. Based on root cause analysis, we present the defects by developing failure categories and discuss the reasons for the defects. This procedure identifies failure origins and allows the optimization of the manufacturing resulting finally to a yield improvement

Surface alignment, anchoring transitions, optical properties, and topological defects in the thermotropic nematic phase of organo-siloxane tetrapodes

We address the status of oxadiazole mesogens, C7 and C12, reported to show the biaxial nematic phase, by exploring material aspects (chemical stability, surface anchoring, optical and dielectric properties, topological defects) linked to the type of nematic order. We demonstrate that the isogyres splitting in conoscopic patterns of homeotropic state depends on sample thickness and is associated with variations of molecular tilt along the normal to substrates. We observe isolated topological point defects (boojums and hedgehogs), as well as nonsingular “escaped” disclinations pertinent only to the uniaxial nematic order. Our conclusion is that C7 and C12 feature only a uniaxial nematic phase and the apparent biaxiality is caused by surface effects