Prospective study on resting state functional connectivity in adolescents with major depressive disorder after antidepressant treatment.

Recent advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have resulted in many studies on resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in depressed patients. Previous studies have shown alterations between multiple brain areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and basal ganglia, but there are very few prospective studies with a longitudinal design on adolescent depression patients. We therefore investigated the change in positive rsFC in a homogeneous drug-naïve adolescent group after 12 weeks of antidepressant treatment. Functional neuroimaging data were collected and analyzed from 32 patients and 27 healthy controls. Based on previous literature, the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insula, hippocampus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were selected as seed regions. Seed-to-voxel analyses were performed between pre- and post-treatment states as well as between the patients and controls at baseline. The positive rsFC between the right DLPFC and the left putamen/right frontal operculum were shown to be higher in patients than in the controls. The positive rsFC between the left DLPFC and left putamen/left lingual gyrus was also higher in the patients than in the controls. The positive rsFC between the right dorsal ACC and the left precentral gyrus had reduced after the 12-week antidepressant treatment. Regions involved in the frontolimbic circuit showed changes in the positive rsFC in the depressed adolescents as compared to in the healthy controls. There were also significant changes in the positive rsFC after 12-weeks of antidepressant treatment. The involved regions were associated with emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, impulse control, and visual processing.

Highly efficient evaporative cooling by all-day water evaporation using hierarchically porous biomass.

We developed a 3D solar steam generator with the highest evaporation rate reported so far using a carbonized luffa sponge (CLS). The luffa sponge consisted of entangled fibers with a hierarchically porous structure; macropores between fibers, micro-sized pores in the fiber-thickness direction, and microchannels in the fiber-length direction. This structure remained after carbonization and played an important role in water transport. When the CLS was placed in the water, the microchannels in the fiber-length direction transported water to the top surface of the CLS by capillary action, and the micro-sized pores in the fiber-thickness direction delivered water to the entire fiber surface. The water evaporation rate under 1-sun illumination was 3.7 kg/m2/h, which increased to 14.5 kg/m2/h under 2 m/s wind that corresponded to the highest evaporation rate ever reported under the same condition. The high evaporation performance of the CLS was attributed to its hierarchically porous structure. In addition, it was found that the air temperature dropped by 3.6 °C when the wind passed through the CLS because of the absorption of the latent heat of vaporization. The heat absorbed by the CLS during water evaporation was calculated to be 9.7 kW/m2 under 1-sun illumination and 2 m/s wind, which was 10 times higher than the solar energy irradiated on the same area (1 kW/m2).

Prospective study on microstructure in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode major depressive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent mental disorders during adolescence, and early diagnosis and treatment are important. We aimed to characterize the microstructure of the brain in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode MDD. METHODS: Patients with MDD (N = 31) and healthy controls (N = 27) participated in this study and severity of depressive symptoms, duration of untreated depressive episode, demographic data, and diffuse tensor imaging data were collected. A comparative analysis of patients and healthy controls was performed, and the effect of medication on the brain`s integrity was investigated through comparison before and after 3 months of treatment in the patient group. Tract-based spatial statistics was used for diffusion tensor image analysis. RESULTS: In the patient group, functional anisotropy (FA) values were significantly higher at the genu of the corpus callosum, body of the corpus callosum, and right anterior corona radiata than in healthy controls. After 3 months of treatment, FA values were significantly decreased in the left anterior limb of the internal capsule, left posterior limb of the internal capsule, and left superior longitudinal fasciculus. LIMITATIONS: The sample size is relatively small and 3-month treatment period was relatively short. CONCLUSION: FA values of patients with MDD were increased compared to healthy controls and decreased after treatment. These results suggested that pharmacological treatments in the early stages of MDD might restore the brain`s integrity.

Prospective study on cytokine levels in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode major depressive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that depression is correlated with immune-inflammatory responses, and efforts have been made to identify the relationships between depression and inflammatory markers. This study investigated the level of cytokines before and after treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode MDD and compared them with the levels in healthy adolescents. The relationship between cytokine levels and the severity of depressive symptoms was also examined. METHODS: Twenty-five adolescents with MDD and 25 healthy controls aged 13 to 18 years were included in the study. Blood samples were obtained, and depression severity was assessed twice in the MDD group before and after treatment and once in the healthy group. RESULTS: When compared with healthy controls, adolescents with MDD had lower levels of interleukin 2 (IL-2), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and IL-10 before treatment and higher levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, and IL-10 after treatment. In addition, the IFN-γ levels correlated with depressive severity scores in both the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). The IL-10 level correlated with depressive severity only on the HDRS. LIMITATIONS: The sample size was small, and the 12-week follow-up time after treatment was relatively short. CONCLUSION: IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-10 levels in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode MDD differed from those in healthy controls. The levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, and IL-10 were altered after antidepressant treatment. Further, the IFN-γ and IL-10 levels correlated with the severity of depressive symptoms.

Antagonistic Bacillus species as a biological control of ginseng root rot caused by Fusarium cf. incarnatum.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to develop a biocontrol system for ginseng root rot caused by Fusarium cf. incarnatum. METHODS: In total, 392 bacteria isolated from ginseng roots and various soils were screened for their antifungal activity against the fungal pathogen, and a bacterial isolate (B2-5) was selected as a promising candidate for the biocontrol because of the strong antagonistic activity of the bacterial cell suspension and culture filtrate against pathogen. RESULTS: The bacterial isolate B2-5 displayed an enhanced inhibitory activity against the pathogen mycelial growth with a temperature increase to 25°C, produced no pectinase (related to root rotting) and no critical rot symptoms at low [10(6) colony-forming units (CFU)/mL] and high (10(8) CFU/mL) inoculum concentrations. In pot experiments, pretreatment with the bacterial isolate in the presumed optimal time for disease control reduced disease severity significantly with a higher control efficacy at an inoculum concentration of 10(6) CFU/mL than at 10(8) CFU/mL. The establishment and colonization ability of the bacterial isolates on the ginseng rhizosphere appeared to be higher when both the bacterial isolate and the pathogen were coinoculated than when the bacterial isolate was inoculated alone, suggesting its target-oriented biocontrol activity against the pathogen. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the pathogen hyphae were twisted and shriveled by the bacterial treatment, which may be a symptom of direct damage by antifungal substances. CONCLUSION: All of these results suggest that the bacterial isolate has good potential as a microbial agent for the biocontrol of the ginseng root rot caused by F. cf. incarnatum.

An Optimal Cure Process to Minimize Residual Void and Optical Birefringence for a LED Silicone Encapsulant.

Silicone resin has recently attracted great attention as a high-power Light Emitting Diode (LED) encapsulant material due to its good thermal stability and optical properties. In general, the abrupt curing reaction of the silicone resin for the LED encapsulant during the curing process induces reduction in the mechanical and optical properties of the LED product due to the generation of residual void and moisture, birefringence, and residual stress in the final formation. In order to prevent such an abrupt curing reaction, the reduction of residual void and birefringence of the silicone resin was observed through experimentation by introducing the multi-step cure processes, while the residual stress was calculated by conducting finite element analysis that coupled the heat of cure reaction and cure shrinkage. The results of experiment and analysis showed that it was during the three-step curing process that the residual void, birefringence, and residual stress reduced the most in similar tendency. Through such experimentation and finite element analysis, the study was able to confirm that the optimization of the LED encapsulant packaging process was possible.