Lateralized displays reveal the perceptual locus of the syllable transposition effect in Korean.

Studies of letter transposition effects in alphabetic scripts provide compelling evidence that letter position is encoded flexibly during reading, potentially during an early, perceptual stage of visual word recognition. Recent studies additionally suggest similar flexibility in the spatial encoding of syllabic information in the Korean Hangul script. With the present research, we conducted two experiments to investigate the locus of this syllabic transposition effect. In Experiment 1, lexical decisions for foveal stimulus presentations were less accurate and slower for four-syllable nonwords created by transposing two syllables in a base word as compared to control nonwords, replicating prior evidence for a transposed syllable effect in Korean word recognition. In Experiment 2, the same stimuli were presented to the right and left visual hemifields (i.e., RVF and LVF), which project both unilaterally and contralaterally to each participant's left and right cerebral hemisphere (i.e., LH and RH) respectively, using lateralized stimulus displays. Lexical decisions revealed a syllable transposition effect in the accuracy and latency of lexical decisions for both RVF and LVF presentations. However, response times for correct responses were longer in the LVF, and therefore the RH, as compared to the RVF/LH. As the LVF/RH appears to be selectively sensitive to the visual-perceptual attributes of words, the findings suggest that this syllable transposition effect partly finds its locus within a perceptual stage of processing. We discuss these findings in relation to current models of the spatial encoding of orthographic information during visual word recognition and accounts of visual word recognition in Korean.

Ligand-Assisted Direct Lithography of Upconverting and Avalanching Nanoparticles for Nonlinear Photonics.

Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) exhibit unique nonlinear optical properties that can be harnessed in microscopy, sensing, and photonics. However, forming high-resolution nano- and micropatterns of UCNPs with large packing fractions is still challenging. Additionally, there is limited understanding of how nanoparticle patterning chemistries are affected by the particle size. Here, we explore direct patterning chemistries for 6-18 nm Tm3+-, Yb3+/Tm3+-, and Yb3+/Er3+-based UCNPs using ligands that form either new ionic linkages or covalent bonds between UCNPs under ultraviolet (UV), electron-beam (e-beam), and near-infrared (NIR) exposure. We study the effect of UCNP size on these patterning approaches and find that 6 nm UCNPs can be patterned with compact ionic-based ligands. In contrast, patterning larger UCNPs requires long-chain, cross-linkable ligands that provide sufficient interparticle spacing to prevent irreversible aggregation upon film casting. Compared to approaches that use a cross-linkable liquid monomer, our patterning method limits the cross-linking reaction to the ligands bound on UCNPs deposited as a thin film. This highly localized photo-/electron-initiated chemistry enables the fabrication of densely packed UCNP patterns with high resolutions (∼1 µm with UV and NIR exposure; <100 nm with e-beam). Our upconversion NIR lithography approach demonstrates the potential to use inexpensive continuous-wave lasers for high-resolution 2D and 3D lithography of colloidal materials. The deposited UCNP patterns retain their upconverting, avalanching, and photoswitching behaviors, which can be exploited in patterned optical devices for next-generation UCNP applications.

Aging disrupts spatiotemporal regulation of germline stem cells and niche integrity.

A major factor driving stem cell decline is stem cell niche aging, but its molecular mechanism remains elusive. We use the Caenorhabditis elegans distal tip cell (DTC), the mesenchymal niche that employs Notch signaling to regulate germline stem cells (GSCs), as an in vivo niche aging model and delineate the molecular details of the DTC/niche aging process. Here, we demonstrate that a drastic decrease in C. elegans germline fecundity, which begins even in early adulthood, is mainly due to an age-induced disruption in spatial regulation of Notch-dependent transcription in the germline combined with a moderate reduction in Notch transcription at both tissue and cellular levels. Consequently, the Notch-responsive GSC pool shifts from the distal end of the gonad to a more proximal region, disrupting the distal-to-proximal germline polarity. We find that this GSC pool shift is due to a dislocation of the DTC/niche nucleus, which is associated with age-induced changes in the structure and morphology of the DTC/niche. Our findings reveal a critical link between physiological changes in the aging niche, their consequences in stem cell regulation, and germline tissue functions.

A Generalized Approach to Photon Avalanche Upconversion in Luminescent Nanocrystals.

Photon avalanching nanoparticles (ANPs) exhibit extremely nonlinear upconverted emission valuable for subdiffraction imaging, nanoscale sensing, and optical computing. Avalanching has been demonstrated with Tm3+-, Pr3+-, or Nd3+-doped nanocrystals, but their emission is limited to a few wavelengths and materials. Here, we utilize Gd3+-assisted energy migration to tune the emission wavelengths of Tm3+-sensitized ANPs and generate highly nonlinear emission from Eu3+, Tb3+, Ho3+, and Er3+ ions. The upconversion intensities of these spectrally discrete ANPs scale with nonlinearity factor s = 10-17 under 1064 nm excitation at power densities as low as 7 kW cm-2. This strategy for imprinting avalanche behavior on remote emitters can be extended to fluorophores adjacent to ANPs, as we demonstrate with CdS/CdSe/CdS core/shell/shell quantum dots. ANPs with rationally designed energy transfer networks provide the means to transform conventional linear emitters into a highly nonlinear ones, expanding the use of photon avalanching in biological, chemical, and photonic applications.

Indefinite and bidirectional near-infrared nanocrystal photoswitching.

Materials whose luminescence can be switched by optical stimulation drive technologies ranging from superresolution imaging1-4, nanophotonics5, and optical data storage6,7, to targeted pharmacology, optogenetics, and chemical reactivity8. These photoswitchable probes, including organic fluorophores and proteins, can be prone to photodegradation and often operate in the ultraviolet or visible spectral regions. Colloidal inorganic nanoparticles6,9 can offer improved stability, but the ability to switch emission bidirectionally, particularly with near-infrared (NIR) light, has not, to our knowledge, been reported in such systems. Here, we present two-way, NIR photoswitching of avalanching nanoparticles (ANPs), showing full optical control of upconverted emission using phototriggers in the NIR-I and NIR-II spectral regions useful for subsurface imaging. Employing single-step photodarkening10-13 and photobrightening12,14-16, we demonstrate indefinite photoswitching of individual nanoparticles (more than 1,000 cycles over 7 h) in ambient or aqueous conditions without measurable photodegradation. Critical steps of the photoswitching mechanism are elucidated by modelling and by measuring the photon avalanche properties of single ANPs in both bright and dark states. Unlimited, reversible photoswitching of ANPs enables indefinitely rewritable two-dimensional and three-dimensional multilevel optical patterning of ANPs, as well as optical nanoscopy with sub-Å localization superresolution that allows us to distinguish individual ANPs within tightly packed clusters.

Photodarkening, Photobrightening, and the Role of Color Centers in Emerging Applications of Lanthanide-Based Upconverting Nanomaterials.

Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) compose a class of luminescent materials that utilize the unique wavelength-converting properties of lanthanide (Ln) ions for light-harvesting applications, photonics technologies, and biological imaging and sensing experiments. Recent advances in UCNP design have shed light on the properties of local color centers, both intrinsic and controllably induced, within these materials and their potential influence on UCNP photophysics. In this review, we describe fundamental studies of color centers in Ln-based materials, including research into their origins and their roles in observed photodarkening and photobrightening mechanisms. We place particular focus on the new functionalities that are enabled by harnessing the properties of color centers within Ln-doped nanocrystals, illustrated through applications in afterglow-based bioimaging, X-ray detection, all-inorganic nanocrystal photoswitching, and fully rewritable optical patterning and memory.

Evaluation of Garlic Juice Processing Waste Supplementation in Juvenile Black Rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii) Diets on Growth Performance, Antioxidant and Digestive Enzyme Activity, Growth- and Antioxidant-Related Gene Expression, and Disease Resistance against Streptococcus iniae.

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of various dietary levels of garlic juice processing waste (GJPW) on the growth, feed utilization, digestive and antioxidant enzyme activity, growth- and antioxidant-related gene expression, and resistance to Streptococcus iniae infection of juvenile black rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii). A total of 450 juvenile rockfish were randomly distributed into 30 L rectangular tanks (30 fish per tank). Five experimental diets were prepared in triplicate. The fish were fed experimental diets supplemented with GJPW at concentrations of 0 (GJPW0, control), 2.5 (GJPW2.5), 5 (GJPW5), 7.5 (GJPW7.5), and 10 g kg-1 (GJPW10) diet. All of the GJPW-supplemented treatments (2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 g kg-1) significantly enhanced weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed efficiency (FE), protein efficiency ratio (PER), and digestive enzyme activity (amylase, trypsin, and lipase). A decreasing trend was seen in plasma aspartate aminotransferase (ALT), alanine aminotransferase (AST), and glucose (GLU) content with increasing dietary levels of GJPW. In contrast, plasma lysozyme and antioxidant enzyme activities were significantly increased with increasing dietary GJPW levels. Furthermore, GJPW administration significantly upregulated the expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione S-transferase (GST) in the liver of rockfish. A challenge test with S. iniae showed significantly higher resistance in the GJPW-supplemented treatments than in the control. In short, dietary supplementation GJPW enhanced growth performance and antioxidant response in juvenile black rockfish, with suitable effects in fish fed with 2.5 g kg-1 GJPW for 8 weeks.

Initial experience of a deep learning application for the differentiation of Kikuchi-Fujimoto's disease from tuberculous lymphadenitis on neck CECT.

Neck contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) is a routine tool used to evaluate patients with cervical lymphadenopathy. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to classify Kikuchi-Fujimoto's disease (KD) and cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis (CTL) on neck CECT in patients with benign cervical lymphadenopathy. A retrospective analysis of consecutive patients with biopsy-confirmed KD and CTL in a single center, from January 2012 to June 2020 was performed. This study included 198 patients of whom 125 patients (mean age, 25.1 years ± 8.7, 31 men) had KD and 73 patients (mean age, 41.0 years ± 16.8, 34 men) had CTL. A neuroradiologist manually labelled the enlarged lymph nodes on the CECT images. Using these labels as the reference standard, a CNNs was developed to classify the findings as KD or CTL. The CT images were divided into training (70%), validation (10%), and test (20%) subsets. As a supervised augmentation method, the Cut&Remain method was applied to improve performance. The best area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for classifying KD from CTL for the test set was 0.91. This study shows that the differentiation of KD from CTL on neck CECT using a CNNs is feasible with high diagnostic performance.

The examination of the visual-perceptual locus in hemispheric laterality of the word length effect using Korean visual word.

Greater word length effects have been reported when a word was presented in the left visual field (LVF) than when presented in the right visual field (RVF). The current study employed 2 experiments to examine the visual-perceptual loci of asymmetric word length effect while testing the physical and linguistic length effects and the effect of visual angle increase at the RVF. Experiment 1 showed significant effects on the number of strokes in both VHFs (visual half fields) with the added significance of the number of syllables in the LVF, suggesting both parafoveal fields were affected by the physical length factors in contrast with the linguistic length factors, inducing asymmetric word length effects in the symmetrically presented word recognition in parafoveal vision. Experiment 2 widened the visual angle of the RVF presentation to test the differential effects of the visual-perceptual difficulty across the VHFs. It showed successful interruption at the RVF word recognition and comparable word length effects between the LVF and RVF. Therefore, this study suggests that the asymmetric word length effects in the parafoveal word recognition are attributable to the greater visual-perceptual difficulty at the LVF than at the RVF.

Image-Based Single-Molecule Analysis of Notch-Dependent Transcription in Its Natural Context.

Notch signaling is crucial to animal development and homeostasis. Notch triggers the transcription of its target genes, which produce diverse outcomes depending on context. The high resolution and spatially precise assessment of Notch-dependent transcription is essential for understanding how Notch operates normally in its native context in vivo and how Notch defects lead to pathogenesis. Here we present biological and computational methods to assess Notch-dependent transcriptional activation in stem cells within their niche, focusing on germline stem cells in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Specifically, we describe visualization of single RNAs in fixed gonads using single-molecule RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (smFISH), live imaging of transcriptional bursting in the intact organism using the MS2 system, and custom-made MATLAB codes, implementing new image processing algorithms to capture the spatiotemporal patterns of Notch-dependent transcriptional activation. These methods allow a powerful analysis of in vivo transcriptional activation and its dynamics in a whole tissue. Our methods can be adapted to essentially any tissue or cell type for any transcript.

Notch-dependent DNA cis-regulatory elements and their dose-dependent control of C. elegans stem cell self-renewal.

A long-standing biological question is how DNA cis-regulatory elements shape transcriptional patterns during metazoan development. Reporter constructs, cell culture assays and computational modeling have made major contributions to answering this question, but analysis of elements in their natural context is an important complement. Here, we mutate Notch-dependent LAG-1 binding sites (LBSs) in the endogenous Caenorhabditis elegans sygl-1 gene, which encodes a key stem cell regulator, and analyze the consequences on sygl-1 expression (nascent transcripts, mRNA, protein) and stem cell maintenance. Mutation of one LBS in a three-element cluster approximately halved both expression and stem cell pool size, whereas mutation of two LBSs essentially abolished them. Heterozygous LBS mutant clusters provided intermediate values. Our results lead to two major conclusions. First, both LBS number and configuration impact cluster activity: LBSs act additively in trans and synergistically in cis. Second, the SYGL-1 gradient promotes self-renewal above its functional threshold and triggers differentiation below the threshold. Our approach of coupling CRISPR/Cas9 LBS mutations with effects on both molecular and biological readouts establishes a powerful model for in vivo analyses of DNA cis-regulatory elements.

Dietary Supplementation with Ginger (Zingiber officinale) Residue from Juice Extraction Improves Juvenile Black Rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii) Growth Performance, Antioxidant Enzyme Activity and Resistance to Streptococcus iniae Infection.

Plant-derived feed additives provide cost effective and environmentally friendly alternatives to antibiotics for improving fish performance in aquaculture. An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary ginger residue from juice extraction (GRJE) on juvenile black rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii) growth performance, antioxidant enzyme activities, and resistance to Streptococcus iniae infection. Juvenile rockfish (n = 450; initial weight = 2.2 ± 0.01 g) were randomly distributed into 30 L rectangular tanks (30 fish per tank). Five experimental diets with GRJE concentrations of 0% (control), 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1% were prepared in triplicate. Three groups of fish were randomly assigned to each diet and fed to apparent satiation twice daily. After the feeding trial, fish were challenged with S. iniae, and cumulative survival was observed for six days. Growth parameters, feed efficiency, and the protein efficiency ratio showed a quadratic correlation with the GRJE concentration in the fish diet. Proximate composition and plasma chemistry were not significantly affected. Plasma lysozyme, superoxide dismutase, glutathione, and catalase activities linearly increased with increasing GRJE supplementation levels. Moreover, survival in the S. iniae challenge test was significantly higher in fish fed diets supplemented with 0.75-1% GRJE. Our findings demonstrated that 0.75% GRJE dietary supplementation enhanced the growth performance, antioxidant activity, and disease resistance of juvenile black rockfish with no adverse effects.

Seismic Behavior of Existing Reinforced Concrete Columns with Non-Seismic Details under Low Axial Loads.

Reinforced concrete (RC) columns of old existing buildings are vulnerable to earthquakes because the hoops comprising their transverse reinforcement are widely spaced and anchored using 90° hooks. This study extensively evaluated the seismic behavior of RC columns with such non-seismic details. Experiments were conducted by applying lateral cyclic loads to five full-scale column specimens with various transverse reinforcement details subjected to low axial loads. The experimental results demonstrated that the internal transverse crosstie had a significant confinement effect in the non-seismic detailed columns with 90° hoop anchor hooks. In addition, the lateral load-drift relationships, ductilities, and energy dissipation capabilities of the columns were not significantly affected by the hoop spacing or anchor hook angle when a low axial load was applied up to a drift ratio of 3.5% before failure. The evaluation model based on ASCE/SEI 41-17 was then shown to approximate the initial stiffness, maximum strength, and post-peak strength reduction behavior of the non-seismically reinforced column. This study was based on the experimental behavior of single column members, and it needs to be extended to research on frame structures in which columns are connected to beams and slabs.

A case series of flight attendants at risk of COVID-19 in South Korea in 2020.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has infected many individuals worldwide. Individuals in contact with unspecified people during their work, may be at risk of occupational exposure. On June 22, 2020, 1,435 overseas patients were identified in the Republic of Korea. Considering the influx of overseas patients, aircraft-mediated COVID-19 transmission is a major concern. CASE PRESENTATION: We presented two flight attendants diagnosed with COVID-19 who shared the crew's resting area and ground transportation, and discussed the risks experienced by flight attendants. CONCLUSIONS: Biosafety guidelines for cabin crews should be intensified, and their COVID-19 risks must be further investigated. Policymakers must consider comprehensive surveillance systems for workers with high risks of occupational exposures and transmissions, such as flight attendants.

Digital health care and arrhythmia: a case of WPW syndrome in South Korea, 2020.

BACKGROUND: The digital health care field is expanding from the daily monitoring of chronic diseases to the detection of acute diseases, such as arrhythmia. Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, a congenital cardiac disorder due to accessory pathways, causes tachycardia, syncope, and even sudden death. CASE PRESENTATION: We presented a 26-year-old female office worker with WPW syndrome managing the disease with a wearable device and discussed its significance in occupational medicine. After reviewing the worker's electrocardiogram results, symptoms, and pulse rate records extracted from the wearable device, we referred the worker to a cardiologist for further evaluations such as electrophysiology study. The worker monitors her symptom recurrence with the wearable device following successful radiofrequency catheter ablation of the bypass tract. CONCLUSIONS: A case of an office worker with WPW syndrome managing the disease using a smart watch is presented. Further research is required to ensure its scientific validity, and we suggest policymakers promptly introduce digital health care to occupational environments.

Long QT Syndrome KCNH2 Variant Induces hERG1a/1b Subunit Imbalance in Patient-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes.

[Figure: see text].

Electronic Control of Hot Electron Transport Using Modified Schottky Barriers in Metal-Semiconductor Nanodiodes.

Hot electron flux, generated by both incident light energy and the heat of the catalytic reaction, is a major element for energy conversion at the surface. Controlling hot electron flux in a reversible manner is extremely important for achieving high energy conversion efficiency. Here we demonstrate that hot electron flux can be controlled by tuning the Schottky barrier height. This phenomenon was monitored by using a Schottky nanodiode composed of a metal-semiconductor. The formation of a Schottky barrier at a nanometer scale inevitably accompanies an intrinsic image potential between the metal-semiconductor junction, which lowers the effective Schottky barrier height. When a reverse bias is applied to the nanodiode, an additional image potential participates in a secondary barrier lowering, leading to the increased hot electron flow. Besides, a decrease of tunneling width results in facile electron transport through the barrier. The increased hot electron flux by the chemical reaction (chemicurrent) and by the photon absorption (photocurrent) indicates hot electrons are captured more effectively by modifying the Schottky barrier. This study can shed light on a quantitative understanding and application of charge behavior at metal-semiconductor interfaces, in solar energy conversion, or in a catalytic reaction.

Manipulation of hot electron flow on plasmonic nanodiodes fabricated by nanosphere lithography.

Energy conversion to generate hot electrons through the excitation of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in metallic nanostructures is an emerging strategy in photovoltaics and photocatalytic devices. Important factors for surface plasmon and hot electron generation are the size, shape, and materials of plasmonic metal nanostructures, which affect LSPR excitation, absorbance, and hot electron collection. Here, we fabricated the ordered structure of metal-semiconductor plasmonic nanodiodes using nanosphere lithography and reactive ion etching. Two types of hole-shaped plasmonic nanostructures with the hole diameter of 280 and 115 nm were fabricated on Au/TiO2Schottky diodes. We show that hot electron flow can be manipulated by changing the size of plasmonic nanostructures on the Schottky diode. We show that the short-circuit photocurrent changes and the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency results exhibit the peak shift depending on the structures. These phenomena are explicitly observed with finite difference time domain simulations. The capability of tuning the morphology of plasmonic nanostructure on the Schottky diode can give rise to new possibilities in controlling hot electron generation and developing novel hot-electron-based energy conversion devices.

Giant nonlinear optical responses from photon-avalanching nanoparticles.

Avalanche phenomena use steeply nonlinear dynamics to generate disproportionately large responses from small perturbations, and are found in a multitude of events and materials1. Photon avalanching enables technologies such as optical phase-conjugate imaging2, infrared quantum counting3 and efficient upconverted lasing4-6. However, the photon-avalanching mechanism underlying these optical applications has been observed only in bulk materials and aggregates6,7, limiting its utility and impact. Here we report the realization of photon avalanching at room temperature in single nanostructures-small, Tm3+-doped upconverting nanocrystals-and demonstrate their use in super-resolution imaging in near-infrared spectral windows of maximal biological transparency. Avalanching nanoparticles (ANPs) can be pumped by continuous-wave lasers, and exhibit all of the defining features of photon avalanching, including clear excitation-power thresholds, exceptionally long rise time at threshold, and a dominant excited-state absorption that is more than 10,000 times larger than ground-state absorption. Beyond the avalanching threshold, ANP emission scales nonlinearly with the 26th power of the pump intensity, owing to induced positive optical feedback in each nanocrystal. This enables the experimental realization of photon-avalanche single-beam super-resolution imaging7 with sub-70-nanometre spatial resolution, achieved by using only simple scanning confocal microscopy and without any computational analysis. Pairing their steep nonlinearity with existing super-resolution techniques and computational methods8-10, ANPs enable imaging with higher resolution and at excitation intensities about 100 times lower than other probes. The low photon-avalanching threshold and excellent photostability of ANPs also suggest their utility in a diverse array of applications, including sub-wavelength imaging7,11,12 and optical and environmental sensing13-15.

Detection of pneumoperitoneum in the abdominal radiograph images using artificial neural networks.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to detect pneumoperitoneum in abdominal radiographs for the first time. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This approach applied a novel deep-learning algorithm, a simple ANN training process without employing a convolution neural network (CNN), and also used a widely utilized deep-learning method, ResNet-50, for comparison. RESULTS: By applying ResNet-50 to abdominal radiographs, we obtained an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.916 and an accuracy of 85.0 % with a sensitivity of 85.7 % and a predictive value of the negative tests (NPV) of 91.7 %. Compared with the most commonly applied deep-learning methods such as a CNN, our novel approach used extremely small ANN structures and a simple ANN training process. The diagnostic performance of our approach, with a sensitivity of 88.6 % and NPV of 91.3 %, was compared decently with that of ResNet-50. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study showed that ANN-based computer-assisted diagnostics can be used to accurately detect pneumoperitoneum in abdominal radiographs, reduce the time delay in diagnosing urgent diseases such as pneumoperitoneum, and increase the effectiveness of clinical practice and patient care.