A Systemic Immune Inflammation Index and PD-L1 (SP142) Expression as a Potential Combined Biomarker of the Clinical Benefit of Chemo-Immunotherapy in Extensive-Stage Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

Background: No studies have identified combined biomarkers that may be more reasonable for the assessment of current chemo-immunotherapy in patients with extensive stage small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). Methods: This study was conducted to investigate a combined biomarker with prognostic or predictive value in ES-SCLC. We determined the best independent prognostic biomarker among the four complete blood-count-derived inflammatory biomarkers (CBC-IBs). Subsequently, we analyzed the prognostic or predictive value of combining this independent CBC-IB with PD-L1 (SP142) expression. We prospectively assessed the SP142 analyses in tumor samples at diagnosis. Results: All in all, 55 patients with ES-SCLC were classified into four groups according to the systemic immune inflammation index (SII) (low/high) and SP142 (positive/negative). The best survival was observed in the low-SII/ SP142-positive group, whereas the worst survival was observed in the high-SII/SP142-negative group (p = 0.002). The combined SII-SP142 biomarker was better for predicting both survival and disease progression in patients with ES-SCLC. Conclusions: The combined SII-SP142 biomarker can be readily and universally obtained at a low cost in clinical practice, without requiring advanced genomics technology or specialized expertise. Although further studies are needed to confirm that the combined SII-SP142 biomarker is widely applicable, it should help clinicians to identify the best patients for combined chemotherapy with atezolizumab in ES-SCLC.

Trends in Regional Disparity in Cardiovascular Mortality in Korea, 1983-2019.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Despite remarkable reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, the burden has remained the leading cause of death. Since little research has focused on regional disparity in CVD mortality, this study aims to investigate its spatiotemporal trends in Korea from 1983 to 2019. METHODS: Using the causes of death statistics in Korea, we analyzed the geographic variation in deaths from CVDs from 1983 to 2019. The sex and age-standardized mortality rate was calculated according to the 17 administrative regions. The analyses include all diseases of the circulatory system (International Classification of Diseases-10 codes, I00-I99), along with the following 6 subcategories which were not mutually exclusive: total heart disease (I00-I13 and I20-I51), hypertensive heart disease (I10-I13), ischemic heart disease (I20-I25), myocardial infarction (I21-I23), heart failure (I50), and cerebrovascular disease (I60-I69). RESULTS: Overall, heart failure death rate increased across all regions, and other CVD death rates showed a decreasing trend. Regional disparity in mortality was substantial in the early 1980s but converged over time. In all types of cardiovascular mortality, Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam remained the highest, although they showed a downward trend like other regions. Jeju continued to have a relatively low CVD mortality rate. CONCLUSIONS: The regional disparity substantially decreased compared to the 1980s. However, the relatively high burden of CVD mortality in the southeastern region has not been fully resolved.

Korea Heart Disease Fact Sheet 2020: Analysis of Nationwide Data.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. To provide an overview of the temporal trends in the burden of CVD, the Korean Society of Cardiology has published the Korea Heart Disease Fact Sheet in 2020. METHODS: We analyzed anonymized data of the Causes of Death Statistics, National Health Insurance Claims Database, and Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to assess mortality, hospitalizations, and risk factors for CVD. RESULTS: The CVD mortality decreased until 2010, then steadily increased up to 123 per 100,000 persons in 2018. Since 2002, the number and rate of CVD hospitalization have continued to grow. In 2018, approximately 12.1 million Korean adults had hypertension, 4.3 million had diabetes, 8.7 million had hypercholesterolemia, 14.9 million had obesity, and 8.8 million were currently smoking. The number of risk factors increased markedly with older age; 58.4% of adults age ≥70 years had ≥2 risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: CVD mortality and hospitalization have gradually increased in the last decade, and a substantially high proportion of adults were carrying more than 1 cardiovascular risk factor in 2018. With the rapid population aging, a continued increase in CVD appears inevitable in Korea. Concerted and sustained approaches are essential to achieve early prevention and reduce the burden of CVD.

Dyslipidemia Fact Sheets in Korea 2020: an Analysis of Nationwide Population-based Data.

OBJECTIVE: The Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis (KSoLA) has published the Dyslipidemia Fact Sheets in Korea 2020 to provide an overview of magnitude and management status of dyslipidemia and their recent trends therein. METHODS: The Fact Sheets were based on the analyses of Korean adults aged 20 years or older of the 2007-2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) and the 2002-2018 National Health Insurance Big Data (NHI-BD). RESULTS: Between 2007 and 2018, the crude prevalence of hypercholesterolemia increased from 9.0% to 20.7%. During the same period, its management rate also improved yet remained unsatisfactory. In 2018, the prevalence of dyslipidemia was 45.6% in men and 31.3% in women, which increased with older age and presence of metabolic abnormalities. Indeed, the number of people diagnosed with dyslipidemia has increased nearly 8-fold from 1.5 million in 2002 to 11.6 million in 2018; alongside, the number of people receiving pharmacological treatment for dyslipidemia has also risen. Of the 7.7 million people treated for dyslipidemia in 2018, statin accounted for the majority (91.8%) of lipid-lowering drug prescriptions, followed by ezetimibe (14.6%), fibrate (8.5%), and omega-3 acid (5.9%). The most frequently used combination therapy was statin plus ezetimibe, accounting for 72% of dual therapy prescriptions. CONCLUSION: Dyslipidemia continues to impose a substantial disease burden in Korea. Both healthcare practitioners and patients need to actively adopt guideline-recommended lifestyle modification and pharmacological treatment for comprehensive, timely, and sustained management.

Thirty-six Year Trends in Mortality from Diseases of Circulatory System in Korea.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Understanding the trends in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality is important for developing burden reduction strategies. Based on the Cause of Death Statistics, we examined the changing patterns of CVD mortality in Korea between 1983 and 2018. METHODS: Causes of death were coded according to the International Classification of Disease, 10th revision. Deaths from all diseases of circulatory system (I00-I99) and the following 6 subcategories were analyzed: total heart diseases (I00-I13 and I20-I51), hypertensive heart diseases (I10-I13), ischemic heart diseases (I20-I25), myocardial infarction (I21-I23), heart failure (I50), and cerebrovascular diseases (I60-I69). Crude, age-standardized, and age-stratified rates were calculated to assess temporal trends in CVD mortality. RESULTS: The number of deaths and crude mortality rate for all diseases of circulatory system increased recently mainly due to the population ageing. Specifically, total heart diseases showed increasing trend, whereas cerebrovascular diseases showed decreasing trend. Between 1983 and 2018, age-standardized mortality rates significantly declined for all diseases of circulatory system, total heart diseases, hypertensive heart diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases. Age-standardized mortality rates for ischemic heart diseases and myocardial infarction peaked in the early 2000s then decreased thereafter. However, age-standardized mortality rate for heart failure rapidly increased, especially in recent years. CONCLUSIONS: CVD mortality in Korea has remarkably decreased over the last 36 years. However, the recent rise in the absolute number of deaths from heart diseases, especially from heart failure, calls for attention in prevention and management of CVD and its sequelae.

Korea hypertension fact sheet 2020: analysis of nationwide population-based data.

BACKGROUND: The Korean Society of Hypertension has published the Korea Hypertension Fact Sheet 2020 to provide an overview of the magnitude and management status of hypertension and their recent trends. METHODS: The Fact Sheets were based on the analyses of Korean adults aged 20 years or older of the 2007-2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) and the 2002-2018 National Health Insurance Big Data (NHI-BD). RESULTS: Currently, the population average of systolic/diastolic blood pressure was 118/76 mmHg in Korean adults aged 20 years or older showing little change in the recent decade. However, the number of people with hypertension increased steadily, exceeding 12.0 million. Indeed, the number of people diagnosed with hypertension increased from 3.0 million in 2002 to 9.7 million in 2018. During the same period, the number of people using antihypertensive medication increased from 2.5 million to 9.0 million, and the number of people adherent to treatment increased from 0.6 million to 6.5 million. Hypertension awareness, treatment, and control rates increased rapidly until 2007, but showed plateaued thereafter. In 2018, the awareness, treatment, and control rates of hypertension among all adults were 67, 63, and 47%, respectively. However, the awareness and treatment rates were only 17 and 14% among adults aged 20 to 39 years old with hypertension. Among patients treated for hypertension, 61% of them were also using glucose-lowering or lipid-lowering drugs. Among antihypertensive prescriptions, 41% of the patients received monotherapy, 43% received dual therapy, and 16% received triple or more therapy. The most commonly prescribed antihypertensive medication was angiotensin receptor blockers, followed by calcium channel blockers and diuretics. CONCLUSION: To achieve further improvement in management of hypertension, we need to encourage awareness and treatment in young adults. It is required to develop tailored prevention and management strategies that are appropriate for and inclusive of various demographics.

Causal Attributions and Quality of Life of Korean Breast Cancer Survivors.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was threefold: to explore the causal attributions of breast cancer, examine underlying factors of the attributes, and determine their relationship to quality of life among Korean breast cancer survivors. METHODS: The study used a descriptive correlational design, which included quantitative survey questionnaires and an open-ended question to complement the study. Three hundred and three breast cancer survivors were recruited from two university hospitals in South Korea, between January and April 2018. The causal attributions were explored using the Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised and an open-ended question. The survivors' quality of life was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy for Breast Cancer. The quantitative analysis was performed using the SPSS 25.0 software package; the ATLAS.ti 8 software was used for thematic analysis. RESULTS: Quantitative and qualitative data of 321 and 238 breast cancer survivors, respectively, were analyzed. "Stress and worry" and "diet or eating habits" were believed to be the two most likely causes of breast cancer. Eleven new causal attributes emerged from the analysis. Being diagnosed with breast cancer at an older age (p < .05), having received chemotherapy (p < .05), and holding nonbehavioral causal attributes (p < .001), were significantly related to lower quality of life. CONCLUSION: There were differences between the survivors' beliefs on their causes of disease, and causal factors available from the literature. As the survivors' causal attributes were significantly related to their quality of life, healthcare providers should individually assess and incorporate these attributes into their care.

Comparison of Computed Tomography-based Abdominal Adiposity Indexes as Predictors of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Among Middle-aged Korean Men and Women.

OBJECTIVES: We compared the associations of 3 computed tomography (CT)-based abdominal adiposity indexes with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among middle-aged Korean men and women. METHODS: The participants were 1366 men and 2480 women community-dwellers aged 30-64 years. Three abdominal adiposity indexes-visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous fat area (SFA), and visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio (VSR)-were calculated from abdominal CT scans. NAFLD was determined by calculating the Liver Fat Score from comorbidities and blood tests. An NAFLD prediction model that included waist circumference (WC) as a measure of abdominal adiposity was designated as the base model, to which VFA, SFA, and VSR were added in turn. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), and net reclassification improvement (NRI) were calculated to quantify the additional predictive value of VFA, SFA, and VSR relative to WC. RESULTS: VFA and VSR were positively associated with NAFLD in both genders. SFA was not significantly associated with NAFLD in men, but it was negatively associated in women. When VFA, SFA, and VSR were added to the WC-based NAFLD prediction model, the AUC improved by 0.013 (p<0.001), 0.001 (p=0.434), and 0.009 (p=0.007) in men and by 0.044 (p<0.001), 0.017 (p<0.001), and 0.046 (p<0.001) in women, respectively. The IDI and NRI were increased the most by VFA in men and VSR in women. CONCLUSIONS: Using CT-based abdominal adiposity indexes in addition to WC may improve the detection of NAFLD. The best predictive indicators were VFA in men and VSR in women.

Association of habitual alcohol use on risk-taking behaviors while using a car: The Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009-2013.

BACKGROUND: Using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Korean revised version (AUDIT-KR), we examined the association between habitual alcohol use and risk-taking behaviors among car users. METHODS: We used the data of 15,043 car users aged 20 years or older from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) conducted between 2009 and 2013. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the associations between alcohol use and risk-taking behaviors (i.e., driving under the influence of alcohol, riding in a car being driven under the influence, not wearing a seat belt while driving, not wearing a seat belt in the passenger seat), while adjusting for individual-level covariates. RESULTS: Compared to low-risk drinkers, high-risk drinkers (adjusted odds ratio [Adj.OR] 2.18, 95 % CI 1.96-2.42) and intermediate-risk drinkers (Adj.OR 1.39, 95 % CI 1.26-1.54) had higher odds of risk-taking behaviors while using a car. Stratifying by sociodemographic variables (i.e., sex, age, and region) led to differences in the relationship between alcohol-drinking level and risk-taking behaviors. Furthermore, alcohol-drinking level had significant positive associations with most of risk-taking behaviors, especially driving under the influence of alcohol and using a car with a drunken driver. CONCLUSION: Car users with high levels of alcohol consumption are more likely to be involved in risk-taking behaviors, especially in driving under the influence of alcohol. While causal relations cannot be established due to the nature of the cross-sectional design, it is possible that individuals' habitual alcohol consumption level can influence their risk-taking behaviors while using a car.

Prevalence of and factors related with abnormal fundoscopic findings among the elderly population in a rural community in South Korea.

We aimed to report the results of fundus photography ophthalmic examinations among older adults in a rural community in South Korea. We used data from the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project cohort study, which was designed to examine the entire population of individuals aged 60 years or older and their spouses living in a rural Village K of Ganghwa Island, South Korea. At baseline, a total of 860 people was targeted as the study population. From December 2011 to January 2019, five health examinations were conducted, including baseline and follow-up tests. During the fifth wave of the study, we performed fundus photography to assess eye health. Ophthalmic and physical examinations were conducted for 387 people who participated in the fifth wave by trained researchers. Systemic factors were evaluated via blood and diagnostic tests. After excluding eight people who did not undergo follow-up fundoscopy, a total of 379 participants was included for analysis. We classified the participants into two groups with either no (zero) or one or more suspicious ophthalmic diseases. The abnormalities included media opacity, suspected glaucoma, and suspicion of retinal disease as diagnosed by a trained specialist. We further categorized ophthalmic conditions as clinically insignificant, follow-up needed, semi-urgent, and urgent conditions. We included 379 participants, of which 225 (59.4%) were women. The mean age of the participants was 76.4 ± 6.2 years. Among all participants, 81% (n=307) had one or more abnormalities on fundus screening. Older age, living alone, high blood pressure, and high fasting insulin were associated with an increased risk of having ≥ one eye disease. In terms of triage, 3.7% (n= 14) of the observed conditions were urgent, and 25.9% (n= 98) were semi-urgent. Therefore, we documented fundoscopy results among the elderly population in a rural community in South Korea. Elderly people living alone were more likely to have eye disease. Policies to improve eye health are needed to prevent vision loss in this population.

Illness perception and sense of well-being in breast cancer patients.

PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to explore breast cancer patients' illness perception, its relationship to perceived sense of well-being, and the role of perceived social support. METHODS: Women with diagnosed breast cancer were recruited from the two university hospitals in South Korea between January and April 2018. The questionnaires included the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R) and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy for Breast cancer (FACT-B). A total of 321 participants' data was analyzed using descriptive analyses, multiple regression, and structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Negative illness perception was greater in participants currently receiving chemotherapy (p=0.044) or had received chemotherapy in the past (p=0.006). Positive illness perception was lower in older participants (p=0.001) or those who had received chemotherapy (p=0.018). Negative illness perception had a direct effect on a low sense of well-being (p<0.001). Perceived social support had a significant mediation effect on the relationship between negative/positive illness perception and sense of well-being (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Significant relationships between illness perception and sense of well-being were observed in breast cancer patients. Strengthening patients' perceived social support would be helpful in improving their sense of well-being.

Rational evolution of the cofactor-binding site of cytochrome P450 reductase yields variants with increased activity towards specific cytochrome P450 enzymes.

NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) is the natural redox partner of microsomal cytochrome P450 enzymes. CPR shows a stringent preference for NADPH over the less expensive cofactor, NADH, economically limiting its use as a biocatalyst. The complexity of cofactor-linked CPR protein dynamics and the incomplete understanding of the interaction of CPR with both cofactors and electron acceptors present challenges for the successful rational engineering of a CPR with enhanced activity with NADH. Here, we report a rational evolution approach to enhance the activity of CPR with NADH, in which mutations were introduced into the NADPH-binding flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) domain. Multiple CPR mutants that used NADH more effectively than the wild-type CPR in the reduction of the surrogate electron acceptor, cytochrome c were found. However, most were inactive in supporting P450 activity, arguing against the use of cytochrome c as a surrogate electron acceptor. Unexpectedly, several mutants showed significantly improved activity towards CYP2C9 (mutant 1-014) and/or CYP2A6 (mutants 1-014, 1-015, 1-053 and 1-077) using NADPH, even though the mutations were introduced at locations remote from the putative CPR-P450 interaction face. Therefore, mutations at sites in the FAD domain of CPR may be promising future engineering targets to enhance P450-mediated substrate turnover. ENZYMES: NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase - EC 1.6.2.4; cytochrome P450 - EC 1.14.14.1.

Recombinant expression and characterization of Lucilia cuprina CYP6G3: Activity and binding properties toward multiple pesticides.

The Australian sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina, is a primary cause of sheep flystrike and a major agricultural pest. Cytochrome P450 enzymes have been implicated in the resistance of L. cuprina to several classes of insecticides. In particular, CYP6G3 is a L. cuprina homologue of Drosophila melanogaster CYP6G1, a P450 known to confer multi-pesticide resistance. To investigate the basis of resistance, a bicistronic Escherichia coli expression system was developed to co-express active L. cuprina CYP6G3 and house fly (Musca domestica) P450 reductase. Recombinant CYP6G3 showed activity towards the high-throughput screening substrates, 7-ethoxycoumarin and p-nitroanisole, but not towards p-nitrophenol, coumarin, 7-benzyloxyresorufin, or seven different luciferin derivatives (P450-Glo™ substrates). The addition of house fly cytochrome b5 enhanced the kcat for p-nitroanisole dealkylation approximately two fold (17.8 ± 0.5 vs 9.6 ± 0.2 min-1) with little effect on KM (13 ± 1 vs 10 ± 1 µM). Inhibition studies and difference spectroscopy revealed that the organochlorine compounds, DDT and endosulfan, and the organophosphate pesticides, malathion and chlorfenvinphos, bind to the active site of CYP6G3. All four pesticides showed type I binding spectra with spectral dissociation constants in the micromolar range suggesting that they may be substrates of CYP6G3. While no significant inhibition was seen with the organophosphate, diazinon, or the neonicotinoid, imidacloprid, diazinon showed weak binding in spectral assays, with a Kd value of 23 ± 3 µM CYP6G3 metabolised diazinon to the diazoxon and hydroxydiazinon metabolites and imidacloprid to the 5-hydroxy and olefin metabolites, consistent with a proposed role of CYP6G enzymes in metabolism of phosphorothioate and neonicotinoid insecticides in other species.

Clinical implication of discrepancies between surgical and pathologic diagnoses of acute appendicitis.

PURPOSE: The postoperative treatment after appendectomy is usually decided on the basis of the surgeons' intraoperative findings. Comparatively, the pathologic diagnosis of appendicitis is confirmed several days after the surgery; therefore, it usually does not affect the postoperative treatment strategy. The aim of this study was to investigate the discrepancies between the surgical and pathologic diagnoses of appendicitis and to identify their clinical implication. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was performed in 1,817 patients who underwent 3-port laparoscopic appendectomy for the final diagnosis of appendicitis. The clinical variables that could estimate the severity of appendicitis and the intensity of postoperative treatment were analyzed and compared according to the surgical and pathologic diagnoses. RESULTS: Of 1,321 cases of surgically simple appendicitis, 254 (29.3%) were pathologically complicated appendicitis. On the other hand, 221 of 496 cases (44.5%) of surgically complicated appendicitis were pathologically simple. Neither the surgical nor the pathologic diagnosis of appendicitis affected the development of postoperative intra-abdominal abscess (P = 0.079 for surgical diagnosis; P = 0.288 for pathologic diagnosis); however, the surgical diagnosis showed more correlation with the severity of disease and the intensity of the treatment pathway than did the pathologic diagnosis. CONCLUSION: There were discrepancies between the surgeons' intraoperative assessment and the pathologists' final histologic diagnosis of appendicitis. The surgeon's classification might be more predictive of the outcome than the pathologist's because only the surgeon's findings are available immediately after surgery.

Single-incision endoscopic thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid cancer: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Recently, we have reported single incision endoscopic thyroidectomy using an axillary approach with gas inflation (SIET) in cases with benign thyroid tumors to reduce post-operative pain and invasiveness of the conventional endoscopic thyroidectomy. The aim of this study was to present our experiences with SIET for papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). METHODS: Patients who were diagnosed with histologically papillary thyroid carcinoma (≤1 cm) with single, unilateral, and intra-thyroidal lesion and without clinical lymph node metastasis were included. We analyzed clinico-pathological characteristics, surgical outcomes, and oncologic adequacy of the SIET procedure. RESULTS: Between January 2011 and July 2012, a total of 75 patients underwent hemi-thyroidectomy with ipsilateral central lymph node dissection via SIET. The mean tumor size was 0.5 cm and 4.1 ± 2.43 central lymph nodes were removed. Of the patients, 98.3% were satisfied with their surgical wound post-operatively and no critical post-operative complications occurred during the study, except for one case of post-operative bleeding. There was one case of disease recurrence, which occurred in the contra-lateral cervical lymph node region 6 months after SIET. This patient underwent completion thyroidectomy with selective neck dissection. CONCLUSION: The SIET is a safe and acceptable procedure for PTC with a reduced dissection field, less post-operative pain, and more cosmetic satisfaction than conventional endoscopic thyroid surgery.

Single-incision endoscopic thyroidectomy by the axillary approach with gas inflation for the benign thyroid tumor: retrospective analysis for a single surgeon's experience.

BACKGROUND: Trans-axillary endoscopic thyroid surgery offers the advantage of a good cosmetic outcome; however, it requires a wider dissection field compared to the other endoscopic approaches or open surgery. Therefore, it might cause severe postoperative pain occasionally. To reduce the dissection field required, we perform trans-axillary single-incision endoscopic thyroidectomy (SIET) with gas inflation. The aim of this study was to present a single surgeon's experience with SIET and to investigate the learning curve of SIET. METHODS: Between June 2009 and September 2014, a total of 105 patients who underwent hemithyroidectomy for benign thyroid tumor via an SIET procedure were included in the present study. All of the procedures were performed by the same surgeon. Each patient's operative outcomes were collected and retrospectively analyzed. The cumulative summation (CUSUM) analysis was used to assess the learning curve of SIET. RESULTS: No mortality or serious morbidity was observed during the study period. The adverse postoperative outcomes included wound hematoma (2 cases; 1.9 %), transient skin paresthesia (5 cases; 4.76 %), transient voice change (5 cases; 4.76 %), skin pigmentation (1 case; 0.9 %), and fibrous band of wound (1 case; 0.9 %). The overall mean operative time was 105 min, and the mean operative time in the experienced phase was 95 min. CUSUM analysis showed a decreasing trend at the 35th patient, suggesting that more than 35 cases were needed for the surgeon to gain proficiency. In 76.19 % of the cases, patients showed extreme satisfaction with the cosmetic results. CONCLUSION: Our results showed reasonable surgical outcomes compared to previous studies on endoscopic thyroidectomy. The SIET procedure is safe and feasible for benign thyroid tumors and has an acceptable learning curve for surgeons who are proficient in conventional endoscopic thyroidectomy.

Sunlight-switchable light shutter fabricated using liquid crystals doped with push-pull azobenzene.

We propose a sunlight-switchable light shutter using liquid crystal/polymer composite doped with push-pull azobenzene. The proposed light shutter is switchable between the translucent and transparent states by application of an electric field or by UV irradiation. Switching by UV irradiation is based on the change of the liquid crystal (LC) clearing point by the photo-isomerization effect of push-pull azobenzene. Under sunlight, the light shutter can be switched from the translucent to the transparent state by the nematic-isotropic phase transition of the LC domains triggered by trans-cis photo-isomerization of the push-pull azobenzene molecules. When the amount of sunlight is low because of cloud cover or when there is no sunlight at sunset, the light shutter rapidly relaxes from its transparent state back to its initial translucent state by the isotropic-nematic phase transition induced by cis-trans back-isomerization of the push-pull azobenzene molecules.

Multiple post-domestication origins of kabuli chickpea through allelic variation in a diversification-associated transcription factor.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is among the founder crops domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. One of two major forms of chickpea, the so-called kabuli type, has white flowers and light-colored seed coats, properties not known to exist in the wild progenitor. The origin of the kabuli form has been enigmatic. We genotyped a collection of wild and cultivated chickpea genotypes with 538 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and examined patterns of molecular diversity relative to geographical sources and market types. In addition, we examined sequence and expression variation in candidate anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway genes. A reduction in genetic diversity and extensive genetic admixture distinguish cultivated chickpea from its wild progenitor species. Among germplasm, the kabuli form is polyphyletic. We identified a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor at chickpea's B locus that conditions flower and seed colors, orthologous to Mendel's A gene of garden pea, whose loss of function is associated invariantly with the kabuli type of chickpea. From the polyphyletic distribution of the kabuli form in germplasm, an absence of nested variation within the bHLH gene and invariant association of loss of function of bHLH among the kabuli type, we conclude that the kabuli form arose multiple times during the phase of phenotypic diversification after initial domestication of cultivated chickpea.

A pigeonpea gene confers resistance to Asian soybean rust in soybean.

Asian soybean rust (ASR), caused by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi, is one of the most economically important crop diseases, but is only treatable with fungicides, which are becoming less effective owing to the emergence of fungicide resistance. There are no commercial soybean cultivars with durable resistance to P. pachyrhizi, and although soybean resistance loci have been mapped, no resistance genes have been cloned. We report the cloning of a P. pachyrhizi resistance gene CcRpp1 (Cajanus cajan Resistance against Phakopsora pachyrhizi 1) from pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) and show that CcRpp1 confers full resistance to P. pachyrhizi in soybean. Our findings show that legume species related to soybean such as pigeonpea, cowpea, common bean and others could provide a valuable and diverse pool of resistance traits for crop improvement.