Exploring Perceived Barriers to Physical Activity in Korean Older Patients with Hypertension: Photovoice Inquiry.

This study attempted to explore the barriers to physical activity of older patients with Hypertension. It aimed to provide robust evidence produced through their eyes. First, through the data analysis of the accelerometer and the decision of the research team, 10 out of the 30 applicants were invited to participate in a photovoice study. Photovoice is one example of participatory action research. Photovoice participants can communicate their unique experiences through photographs, providing a highly realistic and authentic perspective that is not possible to be understood with traditional qualitative research. This study inductively identified four main themes; health illiteracy, distortion of health information, fear of physical activity, and rejection of any life changes. Based on a specific understanding of the population's perception of physical activity, this study attempted to provide evidence of why many elderly Korean patients with Hypertension stay inactive.

Understanding the Life, Pain, and Barriers to Physical Activity in Korean Patients with Panic Disorder: Photovoice Inquiry.

PURPOSE: This study attempted to understand the life, pain, and barriers to physical activity in the daily life of patients with panic disorder (PD). It aimed to provide specific evidence to promote physical activity for patients, suggesting that suitable physical activity strategies for patients with PD would be of value. METHODS: Seven patients were invited to participate in a photovoice study. Photovoice is one example of participatory action research. RESULTS: This study inductively identified two main themes: the life and pain of patients with PD and perceived barriers to participate in physical activity by patients with panic disorder. CONCLUSION: Based on a specific understanding of the population, this study attempted to provide evidence why patients with panic disorder need appropriate physical-activity-promoting strategies.

The Associations between Physical Fitness, Complex vs Simple Movement, and Academic Achievement in a Cohort of Fourth Graders.

This study analyzed the correlation between elementary school students' body composition, physical activity, physical fitness, movement ability, and academic achievement. Movements ranged from simple actions to complex movements requiring executive functioning. In total, 110 fourth graders (60 boys, 50 girls) participated in this experiment. Body composition (BMI, % of body fat), physical activity (pedometer), physical fitness (muscular strength, endurance, power, flexibility, and VO2max), and complex movement abilities (Illinois Agility test, soda pop hand test, and soda pop foot test) were measured. Regression modeling of body composition and fitness/activity variables was able to account for 30.5% of the variation of total academic scores in females, but only 4.3% in males. No individual tests were reliably correlated with multiple academic outcomes in males. However, hand and foot soda pop times, as well as Illinois Agility scores, were repeatedly correlated with academic outcomes in females, each correlating with 4 of the 6 academic scores. Body composition and physical activity level did not correlate with academic achievement, and simple physical fitness showed a low correlation with academic achievement in both boys and girls. On the other hand, complex, cognitively demanding movements such as the Illinois Agility, soda pop hand, and soda pop foot tests had consistent correlations with academic achievement in girls, but not in boys.

A study on artificial rare earth (RE2O3) based neutron absorber.

A new concept of a neutron absorption material (i.e., an artificial rare earth compound) was introduced for criticality control in a spent fuel storage system. In particular, spent nuclear fuels were considered as a potential source of rare earth elements because the nuclear fission of uranium produces a full range of nuclides. It was also found that an artificial rare earth compound (RE2O3) as a High-Level Waste (HLW) was naturally extracted from pyroprocessing technology developed for recovering uranium and transuranic elements (TRU) from spent fuels. In this study, various characteristics (e.g., activity, neutron absorption cross-section) were analyzed for validating the application possibility of this waste compound as a neutron absorption material. As a result, the artificial rare earth compound had a higher neutron absorption probability in the entire energy range, and it can be used for maintaining sub-criticality for more than 40 years on the basis of the neutron absorption capability of Boral™. Therefore, this approach is expected to vastly improve the efficiency of radioactive waste management by simultaneously keeping HLW and spent nuclear fuel in a restricted space.

Smurf2 induces degradation of GSK-3beta and upregulates beta-catenin in chondrocytes: a potential mechanism for Smurf2-induced degeneration of articular cartilage.

We have previously demonstrated that Smurf2 is highly expressed in human osteoarthritis (OA) tissue, and overexpression of Smurf2 under the control of the type II collagen promoter (Col2a1) induces an OA-like phenotype in aged Col2a1-Smurf2 transgenic mice, suggesting that Smurf2 is located upstream of a signal cascade which initiates OA development. However, the factors downstream of Smurf2 in this signal cascade and how Smurf2-induced OA is initiated are largely unknown. In this study, we further characterized the phenotypic changes in Col2a1-Smurf2 transgenic and WT articular cartilage from the postnatal stage to adulthood. We found that the articular cartilage degeneration occurring at the cartilage surface in 6 month-old Col2a1-Smurf2 transgenic mice progressed from an expanded hypertrophic domain in the basal layer of the deep articular cartilage at 2.5 weeks of age, which may lead to an accelerated calcification and ectopic ossification of this region at 1 month of age, and aggregation and maturation of articular chondrocytes in the middle and deep zones at 2 months and 4.5 months of age, respectively. Furthermore, we discovered that ectopically expressed Smurf2 interacted with GSK-3beta and induced its ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation, and hence upregulated beta-catenin in Col2a1-Smurf2 transgenic chondrocytes ex vivo. It is therefore likely that Smurf2-mediated upregulation of beta-catenin through induction of proteasomal degradation of GSK-beta in chondrocytes may activate articular chondrocyte maturation and associated alteration of gene expression, the early events of OA.

Optimized therapeutic neutron beam for accelerator-based BNCT by analyzing the neutron angular distribution from (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction.

Perpendicular neutrons (i.e., solid angle bin of 50-150 degrees ) among ones generated from (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction were used to produce an optimized therapeutic neutron beam for accelerator-based BNCT. A new beam port assembly was also designed to shape the fast neutrons into epithermal ones and to reduce unnecessary radiation including gammas. As a result of a simulation, it is found that a tumor at a depth of 60mm from the head skin could be treated within 5 minutes, if a typical tumor is assumed to be taken about 20RBEGy for therapeutic treatment. It is, thus, expected that the neutrons emitted into the solid angle bin of 50-150 degrees from (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction are very effective in producing epithermal neutron beams for BNCT.