Effect of Various Toothpaste Tablets on Gloss and Surface Roughness of Resin-based Composite Materials.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of various toothpaste tablets on gloss and surface roughness of resin-based composite. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Sixty-four resin-based composite specimens were divided into four groups of 16 specimens each. Gloss and roughness were measured before and after simulated brushing with three types of toothpaste tablets and one conventional toothpaste: CT: Chewtab Toothpaste Tablets; AT: Anticavity Toothpaste Tablets; HC: Charcoal Toothpaste Tablets; CP: Cavity Protection toothpaste. The Kruskal-- Wallis procedure was performed to compare the differences by groups. Post-hoc comparisons were conducted with Bonferroni corrections (α=0.05). RESULTS: There was a significant drop in gloss for all groups. CT and AT maintained the highest gloss with means of 81.6 GU and 74.1 GU, respectively. The lowest gloss of 24.5 GU was observed for HC. There was a significant increase in roughness for all groups except for CT. CT had the lowest roughness with a mean of 0.034 µm, while HC had the highest roughness with a mean of 0.074 µm. There was a significant correlation between post-brushing gloss and post-brushing roughness (p<0.001, r=-0.884). CONCLUSION: Chewtab Toothpaste Tablets had the least effect on gloss and roughness, while Charcoal Toothpaste Tablets had the most negative effect on the surface properties of resin-based composites.

How Neighborhood Structural and Individual Characteristics Affect Frailty Progression: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.

OBJECTIVES: (1) To characterize the average trajectories of frailty over time in Chinese community-dwelling older adults; (2) To assess the effects of neighborhood structural and individual characteristics on frailty progression. DESIGN: A nationally representative prospective cohort study. SETTING: Communities in 28 provinces, China. PARTICIPANTS: 6238 respondents aged 60 and above in 447 communities from four waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. MEASUREMENTS: Frailty was measured using the 61-item Frailty Index (FI). RESULTS: The trajectory of FI was nonlinear, with an average growth rate of 0.025 that significantly slows down at the rate of 0.002 per year. Older, male, and uninsured respondents showed faster rates of growth in FI over time than younger, female, and insured counterparts. Respondents living in neighborhoods with a higher percentage of the older population and rural villages showed slower rates of growth in FI over time. CONCLUSION: Expanding health insurance coverage and keeping a high clustering of the elderly in neighborhoods may be the potential strategies for population-level frailty prevention and interventions.

Planar Spin Glass with Topologically Protected Mazes in the Liquid Crystal Targeting for Reconfigurable Micro Security Media.

The planar spin glass pattern is widely known for its inherent randomness, resulting from the geometrical frustration. As such, developing physical unclonable functions (PUFs)-which operate with device randomness-with planar spin glass patterns is a promising candidate for an advanced security systems in the upcoming digitalized society. Despite their inherent randomness, traditional magnetic spin glass patterns pose considerable obstacles in detection, making it challenging to achieve authentication in security systems. This necessitates the development of facilely observable mimetic patterns with similar randomness to overcome these challenges. Here, a straightforward approach is introduced using a topologically protected maze pattern in the chiral liquid crystals (LCs). This maze exhibits a comparable level of randomness to magnetic spin glass and can be reliably identified through the combination of optical microscopy with machine learning-based object detection techniques. The "information" embedded in the maze can be reconstructed through thermal phase transitions of the LCs in tens of seconds. Furthermore, incorporating various elements can enhance the optical PUF, resulting in a multi-factor security medium. It is expected that this security medium, based on microscopically controlled and macroscopically uncontrolled topologically protected structures, may be utilized as a next-generation security system.

Association of Left Vertebral Artery Hypoplasia with Posterior Circulation Stroke and the Functional Outcome of Patients with Atrial Fibrillation-Related Cardioembolic Stroke.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A cardiogenic embolus could reach the posterior circulation through the right vertebral artery because of a relatively larger diameter in cases of left vertebral artery hypoplasia. Hence, we investigated whether left vertebral artery hypoplasia is associated with cardiac embolisms with atrial fibrillation in the posterior circulation and its functional outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this monocentric retrospective study, patients with acute cardioembolic stroke with atrial fibrillation were enrolled and underwent CT or neck MRA, which visualized the aortic arch and subclavian arteries. The laterality and size of vertebral artery hypoplasia were recorded. Posterior circulation stroke, basilar artery occlusion, and the functional outcomes after 3 months were investigated. RESULTS: This study included 407 patients; the patients with left vertebral artery hypoplasia experienced a higher rate of posterior circulation stroke (19 versus 73; 42.2% versus 20.2%; P = .001) and basilar artery occlusion (5 versus 10; 11.1% versus 2.8%; P = .005) than the patients without left vertebral artery hypoplasia. Multivariate analysis revealed that left vertebral artery hypoplasia showed an association with lower odds of achieving a good functional outcome 3 months after the stroke (OR = 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2-0.9; P = .027). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with cardioembolic stroke and left vertebral artery hypoplasia had posterior circulation stroke, basilar artery occlusion, and poor functional outcomes after 3 months.

Synthesis of MAPbBr3 -Polymer Composite Films by Photolysis of DMF: Toward Transparent and Flexible Optical Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) with Hierarchical Multilevel Complexity.

Physical entities with inherent randomness have been investigated as anti-counterfeiting labels based on physical unclonable functions (PUFs). Herein, a transparent and flexible optical PUF label associated with multilevel complexity is demonstrated by taking advantage of the optical properties of hierarchical morphologies of the composite film composed of metal halide perovskite nanoparticles (MAPbBr3 NPs) and the intrinsic spinodal-decomposition-like phase separation of polymer blend (PMMA/PS blend). Due to the combinatorial effects of the photolysis synthesis of MAPbBr3 and the thermodynamic instability of the PMMA/PS blend, randomized patterns emerge at two-level scales. These patterns are intrinsically non-deterministic, and therefore, the PUF labels from the multilevel random patterns are challenging to replicate. This is mainly attributed to random spot patterns (higher-level patterns) confined within intricate bicontinuous patterns (lower-level patterns).

Artificial primary-miRNAs as a platform for simultaneous delivery of siRNA and antisense oligonucleotide for multimodal gene regulation.

Self-assembled nucleic acid nanostructures have been widely explored for gene therapy applications due to their unique advantages. Their roles are not limited to offer intracellular delivery platforms but additionally provide a biological function to induce targeted gene regulation. Here, we report a self-assembled artificial primary-miRNA (pri-miRNA) for achieving simultaneous multimodal gene regulation. Artificial pri-miRNAs are designed to play a role as substrate RNAs to recruit and interact with Drosha/DGCR8 (Microprocessor). Incorporation of functional RNA motifs and site-specific chemical modification of the primary miRNA are utilized for the biogenesis of two individual gene-regulating oligonucleotides. Once they are cleaved by the endogenous Drosha/DGCR8 complex, basal strands and pre-miRNA can be generated inside of cells. In this study, we integrated basal strands with either SMN2 ASO or anti-miR21 to induce multimodal gene regulation. Microprocessing and subsequent gene regulation were first evaluated by measuring the activity of reporter pre-miRNA. Chemical modification on the primary miRNA was optimized through a series of in vitro Drosha cleavage tests and targeted gene silencing in cells. Primary miRNA with the basal ASO or anti-miR strands showed a successful in vitro activity and resulted in simultaneous multimodal gene regulation in cells. Artificial primary miRNA may offer synergistic therapeutic effects for treating various diseases, including spinal muscular atrophy and cancer.

Tooth Color Change and Erosion: Hydrogen Peroxide Versus Non-peroxide Whitening Strips.

AIM: The study evaluated the efficacy and potential erosion of non-peroxide strips compared to hydrogen peroxide (HP) whitening strips (WSs). METHODS: Color evaluation samples (N=64) were distributed into four groups and treated according to manufacturer's directions. NC: Negative control treated with water; BT: Non-peroxide Brilliant Dissolving Strips; FM: Non-peroxide Fancymay Teeth WSs; WS: Crest 3D Brilliance HP White Strips. A contact-type spectrophotometer was used to measure color at baseline (T1), 1-day posttreatment (T2), and 1-week posttreatment (T3). Teeth were cut to a rectangular block for micro-CT erosion assessment. The samples (N=30) were divided into five groups. In addition to the four groups for color assessment, a positive control (PC) treated with 0.25% citric acid was added. The samples were scanned, reconstructed, and measured for erosion depth using a micro-CT analysis program software. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine differences in color change and erosion depth among the groups. Tests of hypotheses were two-sided with an alpha level of 0.05. RESULTS: The mean ΔE*ab at 1-day/1-week posttreatment were 2.4/2.5, 2.8/2.9, 2.8/3.2, and 8.6/11.0 for NC, BT, FM, and WS, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference for ΔE*ab at 1-day and 1-week posttreatment (p<0.001). Group WS had the highest color change, while the other three groups did not differ from each other (p>0.05). Mean erosion depths in microns were 0.52, 0.58, 0.42, 0.49, and 29.55 for NC, BT, FM, WS, and PC, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference among the groups (p=0.004). Group PC had the greatest erosion, while the other groups had negligible erosion that did not differ from each other (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Peroxide WSs had superior whitening efficacy compared to non-peroxide strips. None of the tested products compromised tooth structure integrity through enamel erosion.

Carotid Plaque Composition Assessed by CT Predicts Subsequent Cardiovascular Events among Subjects with Carotid Stenosis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Currently, the characteristics of carotid plaques are considered important factors for identifying subjects at high risk of stroke. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that carotid plaque composition assessed by CTA is associated with an increased risk of future major adverse cardiovascular events among asymptomatic subjects with moderate-to-severe carotid artery stenosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This single-center, retrospective cohort study included 194 carotid plaques from 176 asymptomatic subjects with moderate-to-severe carotid artery stenosis. The association of CTA-determined plaque composition with the risk of subsequent adverse cardiovascular events was analyzed. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 41 months, the adverse cardiovascular event incidence among 194 carotid plaques was 19.6%. There were significant differences in plaque Hounsfield units (P < .001) and spotty calcium presence (P < .001) between carotid plaques from subjects with and without subsequent adverse cardiovascular events. Multivariable analysis revealed carotid plaque Hounsfield unit density (P < .001) and spotty calcium (P < .001) as independent predictors of subsequent adverse cardiovascular events. In association with moderate carotid artery stenosis, the plaque Hounsfield unit values were significantly lower among carotid plaques from subjects who experienced subsequent adverse cardiovascular events (P = .002), strokes (P = .01), and cardiovascular deaths (P = .04); the presence of spotty calcium was significantly associated with the occurrence of adverse cardiovascular events (P = .001), acute coronary syndrome (P = .01), and cardiovascular death (P = .04). CONCLUSIONS: Carotid plaque Hounsfield unit density and spotty calcium were independent predictors of a greater risk of adverse cardiovascular event occurrence.

Lead-free MCP to improve coincidence time resolution and reduce MCP direct interactions.

Achieving direct imaging of the annihilation position of a positron on an event-by-event basis using an ultrafast detector would have a great impact on the field of nuclear medicine. Cherenkov emission is the most attractive physical phenomenon for realizing such an ultrafast timing performance. Moreover, a microchannel-plate photomultiplier tube (MCP-PMT) is one of the most promising photodetectors for fully exploiting the fast timing properties of Cherenkov emission owing to its excellent single photon time resolution of 25 ps full width at half maximum (FWHM). However, as the MCP structure generally contains a lead compound, the gamma rays frequently and directly interact with the MCP, resulting in the degradation of its timing performance and generation of undesirable side peaks in its coincidence timing histogram. To overcome this problem, we have developed a new MCP-PMT based on an MCP consisting of borosilicate glass, thus drastically reducing the probability of the photoelectric effect occurring in the MCP. To evaluate its insensitivity to gamma rays and its timing performance, a coincidence experiment was performed and showed that the probability of direct interactions was reduced by a factor of 3.4. Moreover, a coincidence time resolution of 35.4 ± 0.4 ps FWHM, which is equivalent to a position resolution of 5.31 mm, was obtained without any pulse height/area cut, improving to 28.7 ± 3.0 ps when selecting on the highest amplitude events by careful optimization of the voltage divider circuit of the new MCP-PMT. The timing performance of this new MCP-PMT presents an important step toward making direct imaging possible.

FAX-RIC enables robust profiling of dynamic RNP complex formation in multicellular organisms in vivo.

RNA-protein interaction is central to post-transcriptional gene regulation. Identification of RNA-binding proteins relies mainly on UV-induced crosslinking (UVX) followed by the enrichment of RNA-protein conjugates and LC-MS/MS analysis. However, UVX has limited applicability in tissues of multicellular organisms due to its low penetration depth. Here, we introduce formaldehyde crosslinking (FAX) as an alternative chemical crosslinking for RNA interactome capture (RIC). Mild FAX captures RNA-protein interaction with high specificity and efficiency in cell culture. Unlike UVX-RIC, FAX-RIC robustly detects proteins that bind to structured RNAs or uracil-poor RNAs (e.g. AGO1, STAU1, UPF1, NCBP2, EIF4E, YTHDF proteins and PABP), broadening the coverage. Applied to Xenopus laevis oocytes and embryos, FAX-RIC provided comprehensive and unbiased RNA interactome, revealing dynamic remodeling of RNA-protein complexes. Notably, translation machinery changes during oocyte-to-embryo transition, for instance, from canonical eIF4E to noncanonical eIF4E3. Furthermore, using Mus musculus liver, we demonstrate that FAX-RIC is applicable to mammalian tissue samples. Taken together, we report that FAX can extend the RNA interactome profiling into multicellular organisms.

Feasibility Study for an Automated Engineering Change Process.

Engineering change is a significant cost sink in many projects. While avoiding and mitigating the risk of change is the ideal approach, mistakes and improvements are recognized inevitably as more is learned over time about the quality of the decisions made in a product's design. This paper presents a feasibility and performance analysis of automating engineering change requests to demonstrate the promise for increasing speed, efficiency, and effectiveness of product-lifecycle-wide engineering-change-request processes. To explore this idea, a comparatively simple case study is examined both to mimic the reduced set of alterable aspects of a typical change request and to highlight the need of appropriate search algorithms as brute force methods quickly prohibitively resource intensive. Although such cases may seem trivial for human agents, with the volume of expected change requests in a typical facility, the potential opportunity gain by eliminating or reducing the amount of human effort in low level change requests accumulate into significant returns for industry on time and money. Within this work, the genetic algorithm is selected to demonstrate feasibility due to its broad scope of applicability and low barriers to deployment. Future refinement of this or other sophisticated algorithms leveraging the nature of the standard representations and qualities of alterable design features could produce tools with strong implications for process efficiency and industry competitiveness in the execution of its projects.

COVID-19 health system response monitor: Republic of Korea

The COVID-19 Health System Response Monitor presents findings from a systematic approach to collect and synthesize up-to-date information on Singapore’s policy response to the COVID-19 outbreak. This publication is part of the APO’s COVID-19 HSRM series which presents detailed information on country-specific responses to COVID-19, to facilitate easy comparisons of health systems and public health, and policy responses to COVID-19. It also aims to strengthen evidence on the global response to the pandemic and allow for easy comparison of activities at national and sub-national levels. The series is updated to reflect changes in the health systems and policies to the COVID-19 response.

ERH facilitates microRNA maturation through the interaction with the N-terminus of DGCR8.

The microprocessor complex cleaves the primary transcript of microRNA (pri-miRNA) to initiate miRNA maturation. Microprocessor is known to consist of RNase III DROSHA and dsRNA-binding DGCR8. Here, we identify Enhancer of Rudimentary Homolog (ERH) as a new component of Microprocessor. Through a crystal structure and biochemical experiments, we reveal that ERH uses its hydrophobic groove to bind to a conserved region in the N-terminus of DGCR8, in a 2:2 stoichiometry. Knock-down of ERH or deletion of the DGCR8 N-terminus results in a reduced processing of suboptimal pri-miRNAs in polycistronic miRNA clusters. ERH increases the processing of suboptimal pri-miR-451 in a manner dependent on its neighboring pri-miR-144. Thus, the ERH dimer may mediate 'cluster assistance' in which Microprocessor is loaded onto a poor substrate with help from a high-affinity substrate in the same cluster. Our study reveals a role of ERH in the miRNA biogenesis pathway.

Chemical RNA digestion enables robust RNA-binding site mapping at single amino acid resolution.

RNA-binding sites (RBSs) can be identified by liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry analyses of the protein-RNA conjugates created by crosslinking, but RBS mapping remains highly challenging due to the complexity of the formed RNA adducts. Here, we introduce RBS-ID, a method that uses hydrofluoride to fully cleave RNA into mono-nucleosides, thereby minimizing the search space to drastically enhance coverage and to reach single amino acid resolution. Moreover, the simple mono-nucleoside adducts offer a confident and quantitative measure of direct RNA-protein interaction. Using RBS-ID, we profiled ~2,000 human RBSs and probed Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 to discover residues important for genome editing.

Subnanosecond phase transition dynamics in laser-shocked iron.

Iron is one of the most studied chemical elements due to its sociotechnological and planetary importance; hence, understanding its structural transition dynamics is of vital interest. By combining a short pulse optical laser and an ultrashort free electron laser pulse, we have observed the subnanosecond structural dynamics of iron from high-quality x-ray diffraction data measured at 50-ps intervals up to 2500 ps. We unequivocally identify a three-wave structure during the initial compression and a two-wave structure during the decaying shock, involving all of the known structural types of iron (α-, γ-, and ε-phase). In the final stage, negative lattice pressures are generated by the propagation of rarefaction waves, leading to the formation of expanded phases and the recovery of γ-phase. Our observations demonstrate the unique capability of measuring the atomistic evolution during the entire lattice compression and release processes at unprecedented time and strain rate.

3D-Printed Sugar Scaffold for High-Precision and Highly Sensitive Active and Passive Wearable Sensors.

In this study, a pairing of a previously unidentified 3D printing technique and soft materials is introduced in order to achieve not only high-resolution printed features and flexibility of the 3D-printed materials, but also its light-weight and electrical conductivity. Using the developed technique and materials, high-precision and highly sensitive patient-specific wearable active or passive devices are fabricated for personalized health monitoring. The fabricated biosensors show low density and substantial flexibility because of 3D microcellular network-type interconnected conductive materials that are readily printed using an inkjet head. Using high-resolution 3D scanned body-shape data, on-demand personalized wearable sensors made of the 3D-printed soft and conductive materials are fabricated. These sensors successfully detect both actively changing body strain signals and passively changing signals such as electromyography (EMG), electrodermal activity (EDA), and electroencephalogram EEG. The accurately tailored subject-specific shape of the developed sensors exhibits higher sensitivity and faster real-time sensing performances in the monitoring of rapidly changing human body signals. The newly developed 3D printing technique and materials can be widely applied to various types of wearable, flexible, and light-weight biosensors for use in a variety of inexpensive on-demand and personalized point-of-care diagnostics.

Prognostic Utility of Troponin I and N Terminal-ProBNP among Patients with Heart Failure due to Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy and Important Correlations.

BACKGROUND: Heart Failure (HF) is accompanied by a high cost of care and gloomy prognosis despite recent advances in its management. Therefore, efforts to minimize HF rehospitalizations is a major focus of several studies. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 140 patients 18 years and above who had baseline clinical parameters, echocardiography, NT-ProBNP, troponin I and other laboratory parameters following a 3-year electronic medical record review. Patients with coronary artery disease, preserved ejection fraction, pulmonary embolism, cancer, and end-stage renal disease were excluded. RESULTS: Of the 140 patients admitted with HF with reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF) secondary to non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, 15 were re-hospitalized within 30 days of discharge while 42 were rehospitalized within 6 months after discharge for decompensated HF. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) cutoff points were obtained for NT-ProBNP at 5178 pg/ml and serum troponin I at 0.045 ng/ml. After Cox regression analysis, patients with HFrEF who had higher hemoglobin levels had reduced odds of re-hospitalization (p = 0.007) within 30 days after discharge. NT-ProBNP and troponin I were independent predictors of re-hospitalization at 6 months after discharge (p = 0.047 and p = 0.02), respectively, after Cox regression analysis. CONCLUSION: Troponin I and NT-ProBNP at admission are the best predictors of re-hospitalization 6 months after discharge among patients with HFrEF. Hemoglobin is the only predictor of 30 -day rehospitalization among HFrEF patients in this study. High-risk patients may require aggressive therapy to improve outcomes.

Divide and conquer: A perspective on biochips for single-cell and rare-molecule analysis by next-generation sequencing.

Recent advances in biochip technologies that connect next-generation sequencing (NGS) to real-world problems have facilitated breakthroughs in science and medicine. Because biochip technologies are themselves used in sequencing technologies, the main strengths of biochips lie in their scalability and throughput. Through the advantages of biochips, NGS has facilitated groundbreaking scientific discoveries and technical breakthroughs in medicine. However, all current NGS platforms require nucleic acids to be prepared in a certain range of concentrations, making it difficult to analyze biological systems of interest. In particular, many of the most interesting questions in biology and medicine, including single-cell and rare-molecule analysis, require strategic preparation of biological samples in order to be answered. Answering these questions is important because each cell is different and exists in a complex biological system. Therefore, biochip platforms for single-cell or rare-molecule analyses by NGS, which allow convenient preparation of nucleic acids from biological systems, have been developed. Utilizing the advantages of miniaturizing reaction volumes of biological samples, biochip technologies have been applied to diverse fields, from single-cell analysis to liquid biopsy. From this perspective, here, we first review current state-of-the-art biochip technologies, divided into two broad categories: microfluidic- and micromanipulation-based methods. Then, we provide insights into how future biochip systems will aid some of the most important biological and medical applications that require NGS. Based on current and future biochip technologies, we envision that NGS will come ever closer to solving more real-world scientific and medical problems.

Identifying key gait features associated with the radiological grade of knee osteoarthritis.

PURPOSE: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is characterized by pain and decreased gait function. This study assessed key features that can be used as mechanical biomarkers for KOA severity and progression. The identified features were validated statistically and were further examined by developing a classification model based on a machine-learning algorithm. METHODS: The study included 227 volunteers with various grades of KOA. The severity of KOA was graded using the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) system. A total of 165 features were extracted from the gait data. The key features were selected using neighborhood component analysis. The selected features were validated using the t-test. Then, the features were examined by building a classification model using a random forest algorithm. RESULTS: Twenty features were identified that could discriminate the grade of KOA, including nine features extracted from the knee joint, seven from the hip, two from the ankle and two from the spatiotemporal gait parameters. The t-test showed that some features differed significantly between health and sever group, while some were significantly different among the severe group, and others were significantly different for all KL grades. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for classification were 0.974, 0.992, 0.845, 0.894, and 0.905 for KL grades 0 through 4, respectively. CONCLUSION: Key gait features reflecting the grade of KOA were identified. The results of the statistical analysis and machine-learning algorithm show that the features can discriminate the severity of disease according to the KL grade.