Diffusion tensor imaging of the brain in children with sensory processing disorder: A review.

Sensory processing disorder (SPD) is a clinical condition characterized by difficulties in the neurological processes of registering, discriminating, organizing, and responding to various sensory sensations. This study aimed to review the association between impaired white matter (WM) tract structure and neurofunctional deficits in children with SPD using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). A comprehensive literature search was conducted using the online databases Google Scholar and PubMed (from 2010 to July 2023), resulting in the selection of nine relevant studies. Findings revealed that the splenium of the corpus callosum (SCC), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), posterior corona radiata (PCR), and posterior thalamic radiation (PTR) exhibited reduced microstructural integrity, strongly associated with SPD. Specifically, auditory over-responsivity, a subtype of SPD, was linked to impaired integrity of the PCR, PTR, anterior corona radiata, and SLF. Tactile over-responsivity (TOR) was correlated with markers of decreased integrity in the SCC, superior corona radiata, and left PTR. Among the DTI parameters, decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) emerged as the most reliable factor for identifying SPD, followed by increased radial diffusivity (RD) and mean diffusivity (MD). Notably, significant correlations were observed between with auditory over-responsivity and TOR with the DTI parameters (positive for FA and negative for RD and MD). Overall, this review confirms the impaired integrity of specific WM tracts in children with SPD and establishes correlations between DTI parameters and neurobehavioral deficits associated with the disorder. The insights gained from this review contribute to a better understanding of SPD and hold clinical implications for its diagnosis and treatment.

Cancer risk associated with the use of valsartan in Korea: A nationwide cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Despite valsartan's widespread use, few studies have explored its potential carcinogenicity. We evaluated the association between valsartan and cancer. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from 2002 to 2015 gathered from the National Health Insurance database. Patients with hypertension aged ≥ 30 who used valsartan or other angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) were included. Eligible patients were those with no prior history of the use of any ARBs, diagnosis of cancer, or organ transplantation in the 4 years predating their first use of the drugs of interest. The primary and secondary outcomes included the occurrence of all cancers and site-specific solid cancers, respectively. After applying propensity score (PS) matching, Cox regression was used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: A total of 1,550,734 individuals were identified as new users of valsartan or other ARBs. Of the 153,047 valsartan users, 16,047 were diagnosed with cancer. No increased risk of overall cancer was observed in valsartan users as compared to other ARB users (aHR = 1.00; 95 % CI, 0.98-1.02). Valsartan was, however, associated with a slightly elevated risk of liver (aHR = 1.09; 95 % CI, 1.01-1.16) and kidney cancer (aHR = 1.11; 95 % CI, 1.02-1.22). CONCLUSION: Compared with other ARBs, valsartan did not increase the risk of overall cancer. A slightly increased risk for some solid cancers was associated with valsartan use, though the absolute rate difference was small.

Signal detection of botulinum toxin type A (BoNT/A) using the Korea Adverse Event Reporting System Database, 1999 - 2016.

OBJECTIVE: To detect signals of potential adverse events (AEs) after botulinum toxin (BTX) treatment using the Korea Institute of Drug Safety & Risk Management-Korea adverse event reporting system database (KIDS-KD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The individual case safety reports (ICSRs) submitted to KIDS-KD from 1999 to 2016 were analyzed. To detect safety signals, disproportionality analysis was introduced, and the three indices (proportional reporting ratio (PRR), reporting odds ratio (ROR), and information component (IC)) were calculated based on the reported preferred terms (WHO-ART, preferred term (PT)). The signals detected were compared with drug labels from Korea and the USA. RESULTS: A total of 5,896 AE reports were collected in January 1999 - December 2016 in the Korea Adverse Event Reporting System (KAERS) databases. Among the total of 103,785 drug-AE pairs, 1,413 were attributed to BTX. The disproportionality analysis produced 44 PTs as safety signals and detected 7 unlabeled PTs that were not listed on the labels. After matching for age and sex (1 : 2), the adjusted ROR of ineffective medicine and depression in BTX was 21.60 (95% confidence interval (CI), 19.12 - 24.41) and 6.02 (95% CI, 3.41 - 10.64) respectively. CONCLUSION: The number of AE reports after BTX has increased, the majority of which were from females. Safety signals such as "medicine ineffective" and "concentration impaired" may be due to increasing off-label use, which warrants long-term surveillance, especially among females after BTX injection.

Nanosilica-Confined Synthesis of Orthogonally Active Catalytic Metal Nanocrystals in the Compartmentalized Carbon Framework.

Multifunctionalized porous catalytic nanoarchitectures are highly desirable for a variety of chemical transformations; however, selective installation of different catalysts with spatial and functional precision working synergistically and predictably, is highly challenging. Here, a synthetic strategy is developed toward the customizable combination of orthogonally reactive metal nanocrystals within interconnected carbon-cavities as a compartmentalized framework by employing aminated-silica-directed thermal solid-state nanoconfined synthesis of metal nanocrystals and endotemplating concomitant carbonization-mediated interlocking, as key processes. The main advantage of the strategy is the facility to choose any combination of metals, which can be further employed according to the desired application. The strategically synthesized compartmentalized multifunctional catalytic architectures of Pd-Pt@Com-CF regulate the O2 -mediated selective cascade oxidation reaction converting alcohol to acid with high yield and selectivity; and another Pt-Ir@Com-CF platform is demonstrated as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction/evolution reactions.

Universal Approach toward Hysteresis-Free Perovskite Solar Cell via Defect Engineering.

Organic-inorganic halide perovskite is believed to be a potential candidate for high efficiency solar cells because power conversion efficiency (PCE) was certified to be more than 22%. Nevertheless, mismatch of PCE due to current density (J)-voltage (V) hysteresis in perovskite solar cells is an obstacle to overcome. There has been much lively debate on the origin of J-V hysteresis; however, effective methodology to solve the hysteric problem has not been developed. Here we report a universal approach for hysteresis-free perovskite solar cells via defect engineering. A severe hysteresis observed from the normal mesoscopic structure employing TiO2 and spiro-MeOTAD is almost removed or does not exist upon doping the pure perovskites, CH3NH3PbI3 and HC(NH2)2PbI3, and the mixed cation/anion perovskites, FA0.85MA0.15PbI2.55Br0.45 and FA0.85MA0.1Cs0.05PbI2.7Br0.3, with potassium iodide. Substantial reductions in low-frequency capacitance and bulk trap density are measured from the KI-doped perovskite, which is indicative of trap-hysteresis correlation. A series of experiments with alkali metal iodides of LiI, NaI, KI, RbI and CsI reveals that potassium ion is the right element for hysteresis-free perovskite. Theoretical studies suggest that the atomistic origin of the hysteresis of perovskite solar cells is not the migration of iodide vacancy but results from the formation of iodide Frenkel defect. Potassium ion is able to prevent the formation of Frenkel defect since K+ energetically prefers the interstitial site. A complete removal of hysteresis is more pronounced at mixed perovskite system as compared to pure perovskites, which is explained by lower formation energy of K interstitial (-0.65 V for CH3NH3PbI3 vs -1.17 V for mixed perovskite). The developed KI doping methodology is universally adapted for hysteresis-free perovskite regardless of perovskite composition and device structure.

Intriguing Indium-salen Complexes as Multicolor Luminophores.

The series of novel salen-based indium complexes (3-tBu-5-R-salen)In-Me (3-tBu-5-R-salen = N,N'-bis(2-oxy-3-tert-butyl-5-R-salicylidene)-1,2-diaminoethane, R = H (1), tBu (2), Br (3), Ph (4), OMe (5), NMe2 (6)) and [(3-tBu-5-NMe3-salen)In-Me](OTf)2 (7; OTf = CF3SO3-) have been synthesized and fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. All indium complexes 1-7 are highly stable in air and even aqueous solutions. The solid-state structures for 3-5, which were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray analysis, exhibit square-pyramidal geometries around the indium center. Both the UV/vis absorption and PL spectra of 1-7 exhibit significant intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) transitions based on the salen moieties with systematically bathochromic shifts, which depend on the introduction of various kinds of substituents. Consequently, the emission spectra of these complexes cover almost the entire visible region (λem = 455-622 nm).

Establishment of in vitro test system for the evaluation of the estrogenic activities of natural products.

In order to evaluate estrogenic compounds in natural products, an in vitro detection system was established. For this system, the human breast cancer cell line MCF7 was stably transfected using an estrogen responsive chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter plasmid yielding MCF7/pDsCAT-ERE119-Ad2MLP cells. To test the estrogenic responsiveness of this in vitro assay system, MCF7/pDsCAT-ERE119-Ad2MLP cells were treated with various concentrations of 17beta-estradiol. Treatments of 10(-8) to 10(-12) M 17beta-estradiol revealed significant concentration dependent estrogenic activities compared with ethanol. We used in vitro assay system to detect estrogenic effects in Puerariae radix and Ginseng radix Rubra extracts. Treatment of 500 and 50 microg/ml of Puerariae radix extracts increased the transcriptional activity approximately 4- and 1.5-fold, respectively, compared with the ethanol treatment. Treatment of 500, 50, and 5 microg/ml of Ginseng radix Rubra extracts increased the transcriptional activity approximately 3.2-, 2.7-, and 1.4-fold, respectively, compared with the ethanol treatment. These observations suggest that Puerariae radix and Ginseng radix Rubra extracts have effective estrogenic actions and that they could be developed as estrogenic supplements.