Neuro-ophthalmologic symptoms after coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: There have been several studies on inflammatory ophthalmic diseases; however, few studies have reported neuro-ophthalmological symptoms, such as diplopia and ocular motor nerve palsy, after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Therefore, this study aimed to report neuro-ophthalmological symptoms in patients after COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS: This was a retrospective study based on the medical records of 10 patients who visited our ophthalmology clinic in 2021 with symptoms, such as diplopia (nine patients) and decreased visual acuity (one patient), and showed findings, such as ocular motor nerve palsy, after vaccination against COVID-19. RESULTS: One patient had third nerve palsy, two had sixth nerve palsy, and five had fourth nerve palsy. One patient complained of subjective binocular diplopia but all test results were normal. One patient presented with decreased visual acuity accompanied by a sudden increase in intraocular pressure and orbital cellulitis in the other eye. The symptoms improved gradually in most patients. Compared with previous studies, this study reported three cases of antiplatelet therapy that was initiated due to the older age of the patients and underlying diseases. CONCLUSION: As COVID-19 vaccines can cause neuro-ophthalmological diseases, such as ocular motor nerve palsy, patients' age and underlying diseases should be considered while administering them.

Heart and Lung Sound Measurement Using an Esophageal Stethoscope with Adaptive Noise Cancellation.

In surgeries where general anesthesia is required, the auscultation of heart and lung sounds is essential to provide information on the patient's cardiorespiratory system. Heart and lung sounds can be recorded using an esophageal stethoscope; however, there is huge background noise when this device is used in an operating room. In this study, a digital esophageal stethoscope system was designed. A 3D-printed case filled with Polydimethylsiloxane material was designed to hold two electret-type microphones. One of the microphones was placed inside the printed case to collect the heart and lung sound signals coming out from the patient through the esophageal catheter, the other was mounted on the surface of the case to collect the operating room sounds. A developed adaptive noise canceling algorithm was implemented to remove the operating room noise corrupted with the main heart and lung sound signals and the output signal was displayed on software application developed especially for this study. Using the designed case, the noise level of the signal was reduced to some extent, and by adding the adaptive filter, further noise reduction was achieved. The designed system is lightweight and can provide noise-free heart and lung sound signals.

FBG-referenced interrogating system using a double-ring erbium-doped fiber laser for high power and broadband.

In this study, a double-ring erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser with an optical switch and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-referenced interrogating system was developed and demonstrated. This double-ring configuration can achieve high power amplified spontaneous emission, enabling laser oscillation even within the L-band. The output range and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the double-ring EDF laser were measured to be 1512-1610 nm and 55 dB. In addition, the interrogating system using FBGs for reference resulted in precision improvement of ∼25 pm over those achieved in previous studies, reaching a precision of about 7 pm. The high power, broad tuning range, and sufficiently high precision of the proposed interrogating system make it promising for use in FBG-based sensing applications.

Position Tracking Techniques Using Multiple Receivers for Anti-Drone Systems.

The need for drone traffic control management has emerged as the demand for drones increased. Particularly, in order to control unauthorized drones, the systems to detect and track drones have to be developed. In this paper, we propose the drone position tracking system using multiple Bluetooth low energy (BLE) receivers. The proposed system first estimates the target's location, which consists of the distance and angle, while using the received signal strength indication (RSSI) signals at four BLE receivers and gradually tracks the target based on the estimated distance and angle. We propose two tracking algorithms, depending on the estimation method and also apply the memory process, improving the tracking performance by using stored previous movement information. We evaluate the proposed system's performance in terms of the average number of movements that are required to track and the tracking success rate.

Wearable Hand Module and Real-Time Tracking Algorithms for Measuring Finger Joint Angles of Different Hand Sizes with High Accuracy using FBG Strain Sensor.

This paper presents a wearable hand module which was made of five fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensor and algorithms to achieve high accuracy even when worn on different hand sizes of users. For real-time calculation with high accuracy, FBG strain sensors move continuously according to the size of the hand and the bending of the joint. Representatively, four algorithms were proposed; point strain (PTS), area summation (AREA), proportional summation (PS), and PS/interference (PS/I or PS/I_α). For more accurate and efficient assessments, 3D printed hand replica with different finger sizes was adopted and quantitative evaluations were performed for index~little fingers (77 to 117 mm) and thumb (68~78 mm). For index~little fingers, the optimized algorithms were PS and PS/I_α. For thumb, the optimized algorithms were PS/I_α and AREA. The average error angle of the wearable hand module was observed to be 0.47 ± 2.51° and mean absolute error (MAE) was achieved at 1.63 ± 1.97°. These results showed that more accurate hand modules than other glove modules applied to different hand sizes can be manufactured using FBG strain sensors which move continuously and algorithms for tracking this movable FBG sensors.

Effects of Sous-vide Cooking Temperature on Triceps Brachii of Black Goats.

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of sous-vide cooking temperature on the triceps brachii of black goats. Triceps brachii of black goats (12 months) were sous-vide cooked at 55°C, 60°C, and 65°C. The samples were examined for color, scanning electron microscope photographs, sarcomere length, fiber cross-sectional area, cooking yield, shear force, sensory evaluation, and aromatic profile. The results showed that CIE a*, CIE b*, and chroma increased with increasing sous-vide cooking temperature. However, the cooking yield significantly decreased with increasing sous-vide cooking temperature, and the shear forces of the 60°C and 65°C samples showed no significant differences. For sensory evaluation, the 60°C sample showed the highest scores for flavor, texture, and off-flavor. Furthermore, the 60°C sample showed the significantly lowest value of octadienone (aroma characteristics of metallic) intensity (p<0.05). Therefore, sous-vide cooking of triceps brachii of black goats at 60°C is effective in reducing off-flavor and improving tenderness.

Industrial Research and Development on the Production Process and Quality of Cultured Meat Hold Significant Value: A Review.

Cultured meat has been gaining popularity as a solution to the increasing problem of food insecurity. Although research on cultured meat started later compared to other alternative meats, the industry is growing rapidly every year, with developed products evaluated as being most similar to conventional meat. Studies on cultured meat production techniques, such as culturing new animal cells and developing medium sera and scaffolds, are being conducted intensively and diversely. However, active in-depth research on the quality characteristics of cultured meat, including studies on the sensory and storage properties that directly influence consumer preferences, is still lacking. Additionally, studies on the combination or ratio of fat cells to muscle cells and on the improvement of microbiota, protein degradation, and fatty acid degradation remain to be conducted. By actively investigating these research topics, we aim to verify the quality and safety of cultured meats, ultimately improving the consumer preference for cultured meat products.

Correlations between heart sound components and hemodynamic variables.

Although the esophageal stethoscope is used for continuous auscultation during general anesthesia, few studies have investigated phonocardiographic data as a continuous hemodynamic index. In this study, we aimed to induce hemodynamic variations and clarify the relationship between the heart sounds and hemodynamic variables through an experimental animal study. Changes in the cardiac contractility and vascular resistance were induced in anesthetized pigs by administering dobutamine, esmolol, phenylephrine, and nicardipine. In addition, a decrease in cardiac output was induced by restricting the venous return by clamping the inferior vena cava (IVC). The relationship between the hemodynamic changes and changes in the heart sound indices was analyzed. Experimental data from eight pigs were analyzed. The mean values of the correlation coefficients of changes in S1 amplitude (ΔS1amp) with systolic blood pressure (ΔSBP), pulse pressure (ΔPP), and ΔdP/dt during dobutamine administration were 0.94, 0.96, and 0.96, respectively. The mean values of the correlation coefficients of ΔS1amp with ΔSBP, ΔPP, and ΔdP/dt during esmolol administration were 0.80, 0.82, and 0.86, respectively. The hemodynamic changes caused by the administration of phenylephrine and nicardipine did not correlate significantly with changes in the heart rate. The S1 amplitude of the heart sound was significantly correlated with the hemodynamic changes caused by the changes in cardiac contractility but not with the variations in the vascular resistance. Heart sounds can potentially provide a non-invasive monitoring method to differentiate the cause of hemodynamic variations.

Physicochemical Properties of Black Korean Goat Meat with Various Slaughter Ages.

This study was conducted to analyze the physicochemical properties of black goat meat according to the slaughter age (3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 36 months). The moisture content tended to decrease, whereas the fat content, pH, and free amino acid composition tended to increase with increasing slaughter age. The collagen content increased significantly with the increasing slaughter age (p < 0.05). The cooking yield showed a tendency to increase up to 12 months of age, and there was no significant difference after 12 months of age. In all mineral contents, the sample for 12 months of age showed higher values than the others. Considering fatty acid composition, the saturated fatty acid content of the 12-month sample had a lower value than the other samples. However, the unsaturated fatty acid of the 12-month sample had higher values than the other samples. Therefore, the best slaughter age for black goats occurs at 12 months of age when nutrition is excellent.

Tablet-Based Wearable Patch Sensor Design for Continuous Cardiovascular System Monitoring in Postoperative Settings.

Meticulous monitoring for cardiovascular systems is important for postoperative patients in postanesthesia or the intensive care unit. The continuous auscultation of heart and lung sounds can provide a valuable information for patient safety. Although numerous research projects have proposed the design of continuous cardiopulmonary monitoring devices, they primarily focused on the auscultation of heart and lung sounds and mostly served as screening tools. However, there is a lack of devices that could continuously display and monitor the derived cardiopulmonary parameters. This study presents a novel approach to address this need by proposing a bedside monitoring system that utilizes a lightweight and wearable patch sensor for continuous cardiovascular system monitoring. The heart and lung sounds were collected using a chest stethoscope and microphones, and a developed adaptive noise cancellation algorithm was implemented to remove the background noise corrupted with those sounds. Additionally, a short-distance ECG signal was acquired using electrodes and a high precision analog front end. A high-speed processing microcontroller was used to allow real-time data acquisition, processing, and display. A dedicated tablet-based software was developed to display the acquired signal waveforms and the processed cardiovascular parameters. A significant contribution of this work is the seamless integration of continuous auscultation and ECG signal acquisition, thereby enabling the real-time monitoring of cardiovascular parameters. The wearability and lightweight design of the system were achieved through the use of rigid-flex PCBs, which ensured patient comfort and ease of use. The system provides a high-quality signal acquisition and real-time monitoring of the cardiovascular parameters, thus proving its potential as a health monitoring tool.

Injection-on-Skin Granular Adhesive for Interactive Human-Machine Interface.

Realization of interactive human-machine interfaces (iHMI) is improved with development of soft tissue-like strain sensors beyond hard robotic exosuits, potentially allowing cognitive behavior therapy and physical rehabilitation for patients with brain disorders. Here, this study reports on a strain-sensitive granular adhesive inspired by the core-shell architectures of natural basil seeds for iHMI as well as human-metaverse interfacing. The granular adhesive sensor consists of easily fragmented hydropellets as a core and tissue-adhesive catecholamine layers as a shell, satisfying great on-skin injectability, ionic-electrical conductivity, and sensitive resistance changes through reversible yet robust cohesion among the hydropellets. Particularly, it is found that the ionic-electrical self-doping of the catecholamine shell on hydrosurfaces leads to a compact ion density of the materials. Based on these physical and electrical properties of the sensor, it is demonstrated that successful iHMI integration with a robot arm in both real and virtual environments enables robotic control by finger gesture and haptic feedback. This study expresses benefits of using granular hydrogel-based strain sensors for implementing on-skin writable bioelectronics and their bridging into the metaverse world.

Molecular Rationale for the Design of Instantaneous, Strain-Tolerant Polymeric Adhesive in a Stretchable Underwater Human-Machine Interface.

Strain-tolerant reversible adhesion under harsh mechanical deformation is important for realizing long-lasting polymeric adhesives. Despite recent advances, cohesive failure within adhesives remains a critical problem that must be solved to achieve adhesion that is robust against humidity, heat, and mechanical stress. Here, we report a molecular rationale for designing an instantaneous polymeric adhesive with high strain tolerance (termed as iPASTE) even in a stretchable human-machine interface. The iPASTE consists of two biocompatible and eco-friendly polymers, linearly oligomerized green tea extracts, and poly(ethylene glycol) for densely assembled networks via dynamic and reversible hydrogen bonds. Other than the typical approach containing nanoclay or branched adhesive precursors, the linear configuration and conformation of such polymer chains within iPASTE lead to strong and moisture-resistant cohesion/adhesion. Based on the strain-tolerant adhesion of iPASTE, it was demonstrated that a subaqueous interactive human-machine interface integrated with a robot arm and a gold nanomembrane strain-sensitive electronic skin can precisely capture a slithery artificial fish by using finger gesture recognition.

Effects of Using Soybean Protein Emulsion as a Meat Substitute for Chicken Breast on Physicochemical Properties of Vienna Sausage.

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of using emulsion manufactured with soybeans (ES) to substitute chicken breast in Vienna sausages. Four types of Vienna sausages (S1: 10% ES and 50% chicken, S2: 20% ES and 40% chicken, S3: 30% ES and 30% chicken, and S4: 40% ES and 20% chicken) for this study were made. The pH, color, proximate composition, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), microphotographs, cooking yields, and texture profile analysis of sausages were examined. The pH value of uncooked and cooked sausages increased significantly with increasing ES content (p<0.05). The crude protein contents of S2, S3, and S4 were significantly higher than that of the control (p<0.05). Furthermore, the SDS-PAGE results showed that α-conglycinin, ß-conglycinin, and the acidic subunit of glycinin all increased with increasing ES content. Microphotographs revealed that increasing the ES content decreased the size of fat globules. The cooking yields of samples increased significantly with increasing ES content (p<0.05). The hardness values of ES treated samples were significantly lower than that of the control (p<0.05). Therefore, 30% substitute of chicken breast with ES can improve the quality and structure of Vienna sausage, without inducing critical defects.

Changes in Physico-Chemical and Storage Properties of Dry-Aged Beef Loin Using Electric Field Refrigeration System.

The aim of this study is to establish the dry aging period of beef loin in an electric field refrigeration system. Beef loins (Korea quality grade 2) were dry aged at 0, -1, and -2 °C temperature in an electric field refrigeration system (air velocity, 5 ± 2 m/s) and aging stopped as the value of TPC reached 7 log CFU/g. Samples were examined by aging yield, trimming yield, pH, color, water holding capacity (WHC), cooking yield, shear force, total plate count (TPC), 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and volatile basic nitrogen (VBN). The results for aging yield, trimming yield, redness, yellowness, and chroma decreased with increasing the dry aging period. Contrariwise, those for pH, lightness, hue angle, WHC, and cooking yield increased with the dry aging period. In shear force, the lowest value occurred at four weeks at all temperatures. The results for TPC, TBARS, and VBN increased with aging period, and VBN at 6 weeks at 0 °C and 9 weeks at -1 °C exceed the standard value (20 mg/100 g), while dry aging temperature had an effect on physico-chemical and storage properties by lower temperatures showed slower progress. Therefore, dry aging on an electric field refrigerate system can be used until 4 weeks at 0 °C, 8 weeks at -1 °C, and 10 weeks at -2 °C. However, considering physico-chemical properties, 4 weeks at every temperature is suitable for manufacturing soft dry-aged beef loin.

Soft Stretchable Conductive Carboxymethylcellulose Hydrogels for Wearable Sensors.

Hydrogels that have a capability to provide mechanical modulus matching between time-dynamic curvilinear tissues and bioelectronic devices have been considered tissue-interfacing ionic materials for stably sensing physiological signals and delivering feedback actuation in skin-inspired healthcare systems. These functionalities are totally different from those of elastomers with low ionic conductivity and higher stiffness. Despite such remarkable progress, their low conductivity remains limited in transporting electrical charges to internal or external terminals without undesired information loss, potentially leading to an unstable biotic-abiotic interfaces in the wearable electronics. Here, we report a soft stretchable conductive hydrogel composite consisting of alginate, carboxymethyl cellulose, polyacrylamide, and silver flakes. This composite was fabricated via sol-gel transition. In particular, the phase stability and low dynamic modulus rates of the conductive hydrogel were confirmed through an oscillatory rheological characterization. In addition, our conductive hydrogel showed maximal tensile strain (≈400%), a low deformations of cyclic loading (over 100 times), low resistance (≈8.4 Ω), and a high gauge factor (≈241). These stable electrical and mechanical properties allowed our composite hydrogel to fully support the operation of a light-emitting diode demonstration under mechanical deformation. Based on such durable performance, we successfully measured the electromyogram signals without electrical malfunction even in various motions.

Balanced Coexistence of Reversible and Irreversible Covalent Bonds in a Conductive Triple Polymeric Network Enables Stretchable Hydrogels with High Toughness and Adhesiveness.

The application of soft hydrogels to stretchable devices has attracted increasing attention in deformable bioelectronics owing to their unique characteristic, "modulus matching between materials and organs". Despite considerable progress, their low toughness, low conductivity, and absence of tissue adhesiveness remain substantial challenges associated with unstable skin-interfacing, where body movements undesirably disturb electrical signal acquisitions. Herein, we report a material design of a highly tough strain-dissipative and skin-adhesive conducting hydrogel fabricated through a facile one-step sol-gel transition and its application to an interactive human-machine interface. The hydrogel comprises a triple polymeric network where irreversible amide linkage of polyacrylamide with alginate and dynamic covalent bonds entailing conjugated polymer chains of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-co-(3-thienylboronic acid) are simultaneously capable of high stretchability (1300% strain), efficient strain dissipation (36,209 J/m2), low electrical resistance (590 Ω), and even robust skin adhesiveness (35.0 ± 5.6 kPa). Based on such decent characteristics, the hydrogel was utilized as a multifunctional layer for successfully performing either electrophysiological cardiac/muscular on-skin sensors or an interactive stretchable human-machine interface.

Stretchable and Self-Healable Graphene-Polymer Conductive Composite for Wearable EMG Sensor.

In bioelectronics, stretchable and self-healable electrodes can reliably measure electrophysiological signals from the human body because they have good modulus matching with tissue and high durability. In particular, the polymer-graphene composite has advantages when it is used as an electrode for bioelectronic sensor devices. However, it has previously been reported that external stimuli such as heat or light are required for the self-healing process of polymer/graphene composites. In this study, we optimized a conducting composite by mixing a self-healing polymer (SHP) and graphene. The composite materials can not only self-heal without external stimulation but also have rapid electrical recovery from repeated mechanical damage such as scratches. In addition, they had stable electrical endurance even when the cyclic test was performed over 200 cycles at 50% strain, so they can be useful for a bioelectronic sensor device with high durability. Finally, we measured the electromyogram signals caused by the movement of arm muscles using our composite, and the measured data were transmitted to a microcontroller to successfully control the movement of the robot's hand.

Stretchable colour-sensitive quantum dot nanocomposites for shape-tunable multiplexed phototransistor arrays.

High-performance photodetecting materials with intrinsic stretchability and colour sensitivity are key requirements for the development of shape-tunable phototransistor arrays. Another challenge is the proper compensation of optical aberrations and noises generated by mechanical deformation and fatigue accumulation in a shape-tunable phototransistor array. Here we report rational material design and device fabrication strategies for an intrinsically stretchable, multispectral and multiplexed 5 × 5 × 3 phototransistor array. Specifically, a unique spatial distribution of size-tuned quantum dots, blended in a semiconducting polymer within an elastomeric matrix, was formed owing to surface energy mismatch, leading to highly efficient charge transfer. Such intrinsically stretchable quantum-dot-based semiconducting nanocomposites enable the shape-tunable and colour-sensitive capabilities of the phototransistor array. We use a deep neural network algorithm for compensating optical aberrations and noises, which aids the precise detection of specific colour patterns (for example, red, green and blue patterns) both under its flat state and hemispherically curved state (radius of curvature of 18.4 mm).

Quality properties of whole milk powder on chicken breast emulsion-type sausage.

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of whole milk powder (WMP) as heterologous proteins on chicken breast emulsion-type sausages. The quality properties of WMP on such chicken breast emulsion-type sausages were investigated by measuring the proximate composition, pH, color, cooking yield, protein solubility, and by applying other methods, such as texture profile analysis (TPA), microphotograph, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and electronic nose. The crude fat, protein, and ash contents of 15% WMP samples were significantly higher than the control samples (p < 0.05). The redness of the cooked samples significantly increased with an increase in the WMP contents (p < 0.05). The cooking yield of WMP treated samples was significantly higher than the control sample (p < 0.05). Additionally, the hardness, gumminess, and chewiness of WMP treated samples were significantly higher than the control sample (p < 0.05). The sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins of samples containing 15% WMP were significantly higher than the control samples (p < 0.05). The result of SDS-PAGE showed that the C protein, sarcoplasmic protein, actin, and tropomyosin increased with an increase in the WMP contents. The principal component analysis plot of WMP-treated samples was clearly different from that of the control samples. Based on these results, it was predicted that WMP could be useful as heterologous protein on emulsion-type sausage.

Skin-like Transparent Polymer-Hydrogel Hybrid Pressure Sensor with Pyramid Microstructures.

Soft biomimetic electronic devices primarily comprise an electronic skin (e-skin) capable of implementing various wearable/implantable applications such as soft human-machine interfaces, epidermal healthcare systems, and neuroprosthetics owing to its high mechanical flexibility, tissue conformability, and multifunctionality. The conformal contact of the e-skin with living tissues enables more precise analyses of physiological signals, even in the long term, as compared to rigid electronic devices. In this regard, e-skin can be considered as a promising formfactor for developing highly sensitive and transparent pressure sensors. Specifically, to minimize the modulus mismatch at the biotic-abiotic interface, transparent-conductive hydrogels have been used as electrodes with exceptional pressing durability. However, critical issues such as dehydration and low compatibility with elastomers remain a challenge. In this paper, we propose a skin-like transparent polymer-hydrogel hybrid pressure sensor (HPS) with microstructures based on the polyacrylamide/sodium-alginate hydrogel and p-PVDF-HFP-DBP polymer. The encapsulated HPS achieves conformal contact with skin due to its intrinsically stretchable, highly transparent, widely sensitive, and anti-dehydrative properties. We believe that the HPS is a promising candidate for a robust transparent epidermal stretchable-skin device.