Clothing insulation and temperature, layer and mass of clothing under comfortable environmental conditions

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between the microclimate temperature and clothing insulation (Icl) under comfortable environmental conditions. In total, 20 subjects (13 women, 7 men) took part in this study. Four environmental temperatures were chosen: 14??C (to represent March/April), 25??C (May/June), 29??C (July/August), and 23??C (September/October). Wind speed (0.14ms-1) and humidity (45%) were held constant. Clothing microclimate temperatures were measured at the chest (Tchest) and on the interscapular region (Tscapular). Clothing temperature of the innermost layer (Tinnermost) was measured on this layer 30 mm above the centre of the left breast. Subjects were free to choose the clothing that offered them thermal comfort under each environmental condition. We found the following results. 1) All clothing factors except the number of lower clothing layers (Llower), showed differences between the different environmental conditions (P<0.05). The ranges of Tchest were 31.6 to 33.5??C and 32.2 to 33.4??C in Tscapular. The range of Tinnermost was 28.6 to 32.0??C. The range of the upper clothing layers (Lupper) and total clothing mass (Mtotal) was 1.1 to 3.2 layers and 473 to 1659 g respectively. The range of Icl was 0.78 to 2.10 clo. 2) Post hoc analyses showed that analysis of Tinnermost produced the same results as for that of Icl. Likewise, the analysis of Lupper produced the same result as the analysis of the number of total layers (Ltotal) within an outfit. 3) Air temperature (ta) had positive relationships with Tchest and Tscapular and with Tinnermost but had inverse correlations with Icl, Mtotal, Lupper and Ltotal. Tchest, Tscapular, and Tinnermost increased as ta rose. 4) Icl had inverse relationships with Tchest and Tinnermost, but positive relationships with Mtotal, Lupper and Ltotal. Icl could be estimated by Mtotal, Lupper, and Tscapular using a multivariate linear regression model. 5) Lupper had positive relationships with Icl and Mtotal, but Llower did not. Subjects hardly changed Llower under environmental comfort conditions between March and October. This indicates that each of the Tchest, Mtotal, and Lupper was a factor in predicting Icl. Tinnermost might also be a more influential factor than the clothing microclimate temperature.open1

Towards Visible Light Hydrogen Generation: Quantum Dot-Sensitization via Efficient Light Harvesting of Hybrid-TiO2

We report pronounced enhancement of photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation of a quantum dot-sensitized hybrid-TiO2 (QD/H-TiO2) electrode that is composed of a mesoporous TiO2 layer sandwiched by a double sided energy harvesting layer consisting of a surface-textured TiO2 inverse opals layer on the bottom and a patterned mesoporous TiO2 layer on the top. CdSe/H-TiO2 exhibits a maximum photocurrent density of similar to 16.2 mA/cm(2), which is 35% higher than that of the optimized control sample (CdSe/P25), achieved by matching of the bandgap of quantum dot-sensitization with the wavelength where light harvesting of H-TiO2 is observed. Furthermore, CdSe/H-TiO2 under filtered exposure conditions recorded current density of similar to 14.2 mA/cm(2), the greatest value in the visible range. The excellent performance of the quantum dot-sensitized H-TiO2 suggests that alteration of the photoelectrodes to suitable nanostructures with excellent light absorption may offer optimal strategies for attaining maximum efficiency in a variety of photoconversion systems.open3

Clinical significance of soft markers in second trimester ultrasonography for pregnant Korean women: a multicenter study and literature review

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical significance of soft markers for aneuploidy screening in Korean women. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 5,428 singleton pregnant women who underwent sonography during the second trimester at seven institutions in South Korea. We evaluated the prevalence of the following soft markers: intracardiac echogenic focus, choroid plexus cysts, pyelectasis, echogenic bowel, and mild ventriculomegaly. We developed best-fitted regression equations for the fetal femur and humerus length using our data and defined a short femur and humerus as both long bones below the fifth centile. The results of genetic testing and postnatal outcomes were investigated in patients who had been diagnosed with aforementioned soft markers. RESULTS: The median maternal age of our study population was 33 years, and the median gestational age at the time of ultrasonographic examination was 21 weeks. We detected soft markers in 10.0% (n=540) of fetuses: 9.3% (n=504) were isolated cases and 0.7% (n=36) of cases had two or more markers. We identified only two aneuploides (trisomy 18, 46,XX,t[8;10][q22.1;p13]), of which one was clinically significant. We presented the neonatal outcomes of the fetuses with the respective soft markers. Preterm delivery, low birth weight, and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) were significantly more common in women with a shortened fetal femur (P<0.001, all). However, the presence of a shortened fetal humerus was not associated with those outcomes excluding SGA. CONCLUSION: Soft markers in second-trimester ultrasonography have limited use in screening for fetal aneuploidy in Korean women. However, these markers can be used as a screening tool for adverse outcomes other than chromosomal abnormality

Randomized, Controlled, Multi-center Trial: Comparing the Safety and Efficacy of DA-9701 and Itopride Hydrochloride in Patients With Functional Dyspepsia.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Therapies of functional dyspepsia (FD) are limited. DA-9701 is a novel prokinetic agent formulated with Pharbitis semen and Corydalis Tuber. We aimed to assess the efficacy of DA-9701 compared with itopride in FD patients. METHODS: Patients with FD randomly received either itopride 50 mg or DA-9701 30 mg t.i.d after a 2-week baseline period. After 4 weeks of treatment, 2 primary efficacy endpoints were analyzed: the change from baseline in composite score of the 8 dyspep-tic symptoms and the overall treatment effect. Impact on patients' quality of life was assessed using the Nepean Dyspepsia Index (NDI) questionnaire. RESULTS: We randomly assigned 464 patients with 455 having outcome data. The difference of the composite score change of the 8 symptoms between the 2 groups was 0.62, indicating that DA-9701 was not inferior to itopride. The overall treatment effect response rate was not different between the groups. When responder was defined as ≥ 5 of the 7 Likert scale, responder rates were 37% of DA-9701 and 36% of itopride group. Patients receiving DA-9701 experienced similar mean percentage of days with adequate relief during the 4-week treatment period compared with those receiving itopride (56.8% vs 59.1%). Both drugs increased the NDI score of 5 domains without any difference in change of the NDI score between the groups. The safety profile of both drugs was comparable. CONCLUSIONS: DA-9701 significantly improves symptoms in patients with FD. DA-9701 showed non-inferior efficacy to itopride with com-parable safety

Transition between Two Regimes Describing Internal Fluctuation of DNA in a Nanochannel

We measure the thermal fluctuation of the internal segments of a piece of DNA confined in a nanochannel about 50100 nm wide. This local thermodynamic property is key to accurate measurement of distances in genomic analysis. For DNA in 100 nm channels, we observe a critical length scale 10 m for the mean extension of internal segments, below which the de Gennes' theory describes the fluctuations with no fitting parameters, and above which the fluctuation data falls into Odijk's deflection theory regime. By analyzing the probability distributions of the extensions of the internal segments, we infer that folded structures of length 150250 nm, separated by 10 m exist in the confined DNA during the transition between the two regimes. For 50 nm channels we find that the fluctuation is significantly reduced since the Odijk regime appears earlier. This is critical for genomic analysis. We further propose a more detailed theory based on small fluctuations and incorporating the effects of confinement to explicitly calculate the statistical properties of the internal fluctuations. Our theory is applicable to polymers with heterogeneous mechanical properties confined in non-uniform channels. We show that existing theories for the end-to-end extension/fluctuation of polymers can be used to study the internal fluctuations only when the contour length of the polymer is many times larger than its persistence length. Finally, our results suggest that introducing nicks in the DNA will not change its fluctuation behavior when the nick density is below 1 nick per kbp DNA

Addition of Cervical Elastography May Increase Preterm Delivery Prediction Performance in Pregnant Women with Short Cervix: a Prospective Study

BACKGROUND: We investigated whether there is a difference in elastographic parameters between pregnancies with and without spontaneous preterm delivery (sPTD) in women with a short cervix (</= 25 mm), and examined the ability of elastographic parameters to predict sPTD in those women. METHODS: E-Cervix(TM) (WS80A: Samsung Medison, Seoul, Korea) elastography was used to examine the cervical strain. Elastographic parameters were compared between pregnancies with and without sPTD. Diagnostic performance of elastographic parameters to predict sPTD </= 37 weeks, both alone and in combination with other parameters, was compared with that of cervical length (CL) using area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analysis. RESULTS: A total of 130 women were included. Median gestational age (GA) at examination was 24.4 weeks (interquartile range, 21.4-28.9), and the prevalence of sPTD was 20.0% (26/130). Both the elastographic parameters and CL did not show statistical difference between those with and without sPTD. However, when only patients with CL >/= 1.5 cm (n = 110) were included in the analysis, there was a significant difference between two groups in elasticity contrast index (ECI) within 0.5/1.0/1.5 cm from the cervical canal (P /= 1.5 cm, the combination of parameters (CL + pre-pregnancy body mass index + GA at exam + ECI within 0.5/1.0/1.5 cm) showed a significantly higher AUC than CL alone (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: An addition of cervical elastography may improve the ability to predict sPTD in women with a short CL between 1.5 and 2.5 cm

AXR1-ECR1 and AXL1-ECR1 heterodimeric RUB-activating enzymes diverge in function in Arabidopsis thaliana

RELATED TO UBIQUITIN (RUB) modification of CULLIN (CUL) subunits of the CUL-RING ubiquitin E3 ligase (CRL) superfamily regulates CRL ubiquitylation activity. RUB modification requires E1 and E2 enzymes that are analogous to, but distinct from, those activities required for UBIQUITIN (UBQ) attachment. Gene duplications are widespread in angiosperms, and in line with this observation, components of the RUB conjugation pathway are found in multiples in Arabidopsis. To further examine the extent of redundancy within the RUB pathway, we undertook biochemical and genetic characterizations of one such duplication event- the duplication of the genes encoding a subunit of the RUB E1 into AUXIN RESISTANT1 (AXR1) and AXR1-LIKE1 (AXL1). In vitro, the two proteins have similar abilities to function with E1 C-TERMINAL-RELATED1 (ECR1) in catalyzing RUB1 activation and RUB1-ECR1 thioester formation. Using mass spectrometry, endogenous AXR1 and AXL1 proteins were found in complex with 3HA-RUB1, suggesting that AXR1 and AXL1 exist in parallel RUB E1 complexes in Arabidopsis. In contrast, AXR1 and AXL1 differ in ability to correct phenotypic defects in axr1-30, a severe loss-of-function AXR1 mutant, when the respective coding sequences are expressed from the same promoter, suggesting differential in vivo functions. These results suggest that while both proteins function in the RUB pathway and are biochemically similar in RUB-ECR1 thioester formation, they are not functionally equivalent

Transcriptomic Analysis of Toxoplasma Development Reveals Many Novel Functions and Structures Specific to Sporozoites and Oocysts

Sexual reproduction of Toxoplasma gondii occurs exclusively within enterocytes of the definitive felid host. The resulting immature oocysts are excreted into the environment during defecation, where in the days following, they undergo a complex developmental process. Within each oocyst, this culminates in the generation of two sporocysts, each containing 4 sporozoites. A single felid host is capable of shedding millions of oocysts, which can survive for years in the environment, are resistant to most methods of microbial inactivation during water-treatment and are capable of producing infection in warm-blooded hosts at doses as low as 1–10 ingested oocysts. Despite its extremely interesting developmental biology and crucial role in initiating an infection, almost nothing is known about the oocyst stage beyond morphological descriptions. Here, we present a complete transcriptomic analysis of the oocyst from beginning to end of its development. In addition, and to identify genes whose expression is unique to this developmental form, we compared the transcriptomes of developing oocysts with those of in vitro-derived tachyzoites and in vivo-derived bradyzoites. Our results reveal many genes whose expression is specifically up- or down-regulated in different developmental stages, including many genes that are likely critical to oocyst development, wall formation, resistance to environmental destruction and sporozoite infectivity. Of special note is the up-regulation of genes that appear “off” in tachyzoites and bradyzoites but that encode homologues of proteins known to serve key functions in those asexual stages, including a novel pairing of sporozoite-specific paralogues of AMA1 and RON2, two proteins that have recently been shown to form a crucial bridge during tachyzoite invasion of host cells. This work provides the first in-depth insight into the development and functioning of one of the most important but least studied stages in the Toxoplasma life cycle

Korea Seroprevalence Study of Monitoring of SARS-COV-2 Antibody Retention and Transmission (K-SEROSMART): findings from national representative sample

OBJECTIVES: We estimated the population prevalence of antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), including unreported infections, through a Korea Seroprevalence Study of Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Retention and Transmission (K-SEROSMART) in 258 communities throughout Korea. METHODS: In August 2022, a survey was conducted among 10,000 household members aged 5 years and older, in households selected through two stage probability random sampling. During face-to-face household interviews, participants self-reported their health status, COVID-19 diagnosis and vaccination history, and general characteristics. Subsequently, participants visited a community health center or medical clinic for blood sampling. Blood samples were analyzed for the presence of antibodies to spike proteins (anti-S) and antibodies to nucleocapsid proteins (anti-N) SARS-CoV-2 proteins using an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. To estimate the population prevalence, the PROC SURVEYMEANS statistical procedure was employed, with weighting to reflect demographic data from July 2022. RESULTS: In total, 9,945 individuals from 5,041 households were surveyed across 258 communities, representing all basic local governments in Korea. The overall population-adjusted prevalence rates of anti-S and anti-N were 97.6% and 57.1%, respectively. Since the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has reported a cumulative incidence of confirmed cases of 37.8% through July 31, 2022, the proportion of unreported infections among all COVID-19 infection was suggested to be 33.9%. CONCLUSIONS: The K-SEROSMART represents the first nationwide, community-based seroepidemiologic survey of COVID-19, confirming that most individuals possess antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and that a significant number of unreported cases existed. Furthermore, this study lays the foundation for a surveillance system to continuously monitor transmission at the community level and the response to COVID-19