Pattern Visibility Enhancement by the Hybrimer Index-Matching Inter Layer in Oxide/Metal/Oxide-Structured Transparent Conductive Electrode on Flexible Polyethylene Terephthalate Substrates.

For this study, we fabricated transparent Mn-doped tin oxide (MTO)/Ag/MTO films with refractive index-matching layer on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The hybrimer indexmatching layer containing TIP (Titanium isopropoxide) in hydroxy terminated PDMS (PDMS-OH) matrix was placed between the MTO/Ag/MTO multilayer and PET substrate. MTO and Ag were deposited by using RF/DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature, whereas a hybrimer mixture was spin-coated on the PET substrate after adjusting the molar ratios between the TIP and PDMS-OH. Pattern visibility was examined by comparing the differences in the reflectance and transmittance of MTO/Ag/MTO multilayer films before and after placing the hybrimer index-matching layer. As the PDMS-OH concentration increased, the reflectance difference at the wavelength of 550 nm (ΔR550nm) showed a tendency of decreasing from 0.66% to 0.53%. The index-matched MTO/Ag/MTO multilayer films showed the highest transmittance (>86% at 550 nm) at a molar ratio of 1:4.

Oxygen Concentration Dependence of the Optical and Electrical Properties of Mn-Doped Tin Oxide Thin Films Deposited on a Polyethylene Terephthalate Substrate.

Mn (2.59 wt.%)-doped tin oxide (MTO) was deposited on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate using RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Oxygen was introduced during the sputtering process to prevent the reduction of transmittance and the formation of nonstoichiometric compositions. The dependence of the optical and electrical properties of MTO thin films on the O2/(Ar+O2) ratio was systematically investigated. The transmittance of the MTO single layer (24 nm) at 550 nm gradually increased from 85.9% to 88.2% with an increase of the O2/(Ar+O2) ratio from 0% to 7.9%. The optical band gap was also affected by the O2/(Ar+O2) ratio, varying from 3.30 to 3.64 eV. The MTO film deposited at an O2/(Ar+O2) ratio of 2.7% showed the minimum resistivity (0.03 Ω·cm). The XPS spectra indicated that the SnO2 thin films become almost stoichiometric as the O2/(Ar+O2) ratio increased. Thus, this sputtering process can be used to prepare flexible MTO films with a wider optical band gap, improved transmittance, and decreased resistivity.

Manganese-Doped Tin Oxide for Highly Flexible and Transparent Multilayer Electrodes with Index-Matching Layers.

We fabricated transparent Mn (2.59 wt.%)-doped tin oxide (MTO)/Ag/MTO films with refractive index-matching layers (IMLs) on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. To reduce refractive index-mismatching, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and MTO layers were inserted between the MTO/Ag/MTO multilayer film and the PET substrate. MTO and Ag were deposited by RF/DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature, whereas spin-coating was used to deposit PDMS at various dilution ratios in hexane. In this study, pattern visibility was examined by comparing the differences in the color and reflectance of oxide/metal/oxide multilayers before and after adding the PDMS and MTO IMLs. In addition, the effects of the PDMS dilution ratio on the electrical and optical characteristics were also investigated. The MTO/Ag/MTO/PDMS/MTO multilayer films showed high transmittance (>86% at 550 nm) except at the dilution ratio of 1:50. As the PDMS dilution ratio increased from 1:50 to 1:200, the reflectance difference (ΔR) increased from 0.08% to 0.35% and the color difference (Δb*) increased from 0.31 to 1.23. The maximum resistance changes of the multilayer films were 0.126% and 0.124% after outer and inner bending, respectively, for 10,000 cycles with a radius of curvature of 4 mm.

A Rho-Associated Coiled-Coil Containing Kinase Inhibitor, Y-27632, Improves Viability of Dissociated Single Cells, Efficiency of Colony Formation, and Cryopreservation in Porcine Pluripotent Stem Cells.

The establishment of porcine epiblast stem cells (pEpiSCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (piPSCs) derived from diametrical derivations is of great importance in developing biomedical models. However, pEpiSCs and piPSCs have been technically much harder to culture than mouse embryonic stem cells, showing problematic properties such as spontaneous differentiation and apoptosis after cryopreservation. Therefore, we demonstrated that Y-27632 as a Rho-associated coiled-coil containing kinase inhibitor could prevent dissociated pEpiSCs and piPSCs from undesirable differentiation and apoptosis in cryopreservation protocols. pEpiSC 2, 8 lines, Sendai virus-induced pluripotent stem cells (Sev-iPSCs), and lentivirus-induced pluripotent stem cells were cultured with 10 µM Y-27632 before collecting dissociated cells retrieved from colonies using various enzymes. Dissociated single cells were transferred into freezing mediums (open pulled straw vitrification, STEM-CELLBANKER® (SCB), 10% dimethylsulfoxide in serum) for cryopreservation. The rates of viability and colony formation obtained from dissociated porcine stem cells after freezing/thawing were examined in the presence of Y-27632. The characteristics of pluripotency and in vitro differentiation were also examined in these stem cells treated with Y-27632 after cryopreservation. As a result, the viability and efficiency of colony formation of dissociated pEpiSCs (2, 8 lines) and Sev-iPSCs treated with 10 µM Y-27632 using the SCB cryopreservation protocol were significantly increased when compared with those of nontreated Y-27632 (p < 0.05). Pluripotency genes (OCT-3/4, NANOG, and SOX2) were positively expressed in Y-27632-treated porcine pluripotent stem cells. Also, in vitro differentiation of these stem cells was successfully induced in the presence of 10 µM Y-27632. These results indicated that treatment of Y-27632 for single-cell dissociation and the SCB cryopreservation protocol could facilitate handling porcine pluripotent stem cells and provide the widespread use of these stem cells.

Clinical and Laboratory Findings of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection.

There is a paucity of data regarding the differentiating characteristics of patients with laboratory-confirmed and those negative for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in South Korea. This hospital-based retrospective study compared MERS-CoV-positive and MERS-CoV-negative patients. A total of seven positive patients and 55 negative patients with a median age of 43 years (P = 0.845) were included. No statistical differences were observed with respect to their sex and the presence of comorbidities. At the time of admission, headache (28.6% vs. 3.6%; odds ratio [OR], 10.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22-92.27), myalgia (57.1% vs. 9.1%; OR, 13.33; 95% CI, 2.30-77.24), and diarrhea (57.1% vs. 14.5%; OR, 7.83; 95% CI, 1.47-41.79) were common among MERS-CoV-positive patients. MERS-CoV-positive patients were more likely to have a low platelet count (164 ± 76.57 vs. 240 ± 79.87) and eosinophil (0.27 ± 0.43 vs. 2.13 ± 2.01; P = 0.003). Chest radiography with diffuse bronchopneumonia was more frequent in MERS-CoV-positive patients than in negative patients (100% vs. 62.5%; P = 0.491). The symptoms of headache, myalgia, and diarrhea, as well as laboratory characteristics, including low platelet counts and eosinophil, and chest X-ray showing diffuse bronchopneumonia might enhance the ability to detect patients in South Korea infected with MERS-CoV.

A novel polymer inclusion membrane based method for continuous clean-up of thiocyanate from gold mine tailings water.

Thiocyanate is present in gold mine tailings waters in concentrations up to 1000mgL-1 and this has a serious environmental impact by not allowing water reuse in the flotation of gold ore. This significantly increases the consumption of fresh water and the amount of wastewater discharged in tailings dams. At the same time thiocyanate in tailings waters often leads to groundwater contamination. A novel continuous membrane-based method for the complete clean-up of thiocyanate in concentrations as high as 1000mgL-1 from its aqueous solutions has been developed. It employs a flat sheet polymer inclusion membrane (PIM) of composition 70wt% PVC, 20wt% Aliquat 336 and 10wt% 1-tetradecanol which separates counter-current streams of a feed thiocyanate solution and a 1M NaNO3 receiving solution. The PIM-based system has been operated continuously for 45days with 99% separation efficiency. The volume of the receiving solution has been drastically reduced by recirculating it and continuously removing thiocyanate by precipitating it with in-situ generated Cu(I). The newly developed PIM-based thiocyanate clean-up method is environmentally friendly in terms of reagent use and inexpensive with respect to both equipment and running costs.

The Study on the Lives and Health Conditions of Internees in Santo Thomas Camp of Philippines - Based on McAnlis's The War in Manila (1941-1945).

When Japan invaded the Philippines, two missionary dentists (Dr. McAnlis and Dr. Boots) who were forced to leave Korea were captured and interned in the Santo Thomas camp in Manila. Japan continued to bombard and plunder the Philippines in the wake of the Pacific War following the Great East Asia policy, leading to serious inflation and material deficiency. More than 4,000 Allied citizens held in Santo Thomas camp without basic food and shelter. Santo Thomas Camp was equipped with the systems of the Japanese military medical officers and Western doctors of captivity based on the Geneva Conventions(1929). However, it was an unsanitary environment in a dense space, so it could not prevent endemic diseases such as dysentery and dengue fever. With the expansion of the war in Japan, prisoners in the Shanghai and Philippine prisons were not provided with medicines, cures and food for healing diseases. In May 1944, the Japanese military ordered the prisoners to reduce their ration. The war starting in September 1944, internees received 1000 kcal of food per day, and since January 1945, they received less than 800 kcal of food. This was the lowest level of food rationing in Japan's civilian prison camps. They suffered beriberi from malnutrition, and other endemic diseases. An averaged 24 kg was lost by adult men due to food shortages, and 10 percent of the 390 deaths were directly attributable to starvation. The doctors demanded food increases. The Japanese Military forced the prisoner to worship the emperor and doctors not to record malnourishment as the cause of death. During the period, the prisoners suffered from psychosomatic symptoms such as headache, diarrhea, acute inflammation, excessive smoking, and alcoholism also occurred. Thus, the San Thomas camp had many difficulties in terms of nutrition, hygiene and medical care. The Japanese military had unethical and careless medical practices in the absence of medicines. Dr. McAnlis and missionary doctors handled a lot of patients focusing mainly on examination, emergency treatment and provided the medical services needed by Philippines and foreigners as well as prisoners. Through out the war in the Great East Asia, the prisoners of Santo Thomas camp died of disease and starvation due to inhumane Japanese Policy. Appropriate dietary prescriptions and nutritional supplements are areas of medical care that treat patients' malnutrition and disease. It is also necessary to continue research because it is a responsibility related to the professionalism and ethics of medical professionals to urge them to observe the Geneva Convention.

Evaluation of a Rapid Molecular Drug-Susceptibility Test for Tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND: Fluoroquinolones and second-line injectable drugs are the backbone of treatment regimens for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and resistance to these drugs defines extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. We assessed the accuracy of an automated, cartridge-based molecular assay for the detection, directly from sputum specimens, of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with resistance to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and isoniazid. METHODS: We conducted a prospective diagnostic accuracy study to compare the investigational assay against phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing and DNA sequencing among adults in China and South Korea who had symptoms of tuberculosis. The Xpert MTB/RIF assay and sputum culture were performed. M. tuberculosis isolates underwent phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing and DNA sequencing of the genes katG, gyrA, gyrB, and rrs and of the eis and inhA promoter regions. RESULTS: Among the 308 participants who were culture-positive for M. tuberculosis, when phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing was used as the reference standard, the sensitivities of the investigational assay for detecting resistance were 83.3% for isoniazid (95% confidence interval [CI], 77.1 to 88.5), 88.4% for ofloxacin (95% CI, 80.2 to 94.1), 87.6% for moxifloxacin at a critical concentration of 0.5 µg per milliliter (95% CI, 79.0 to 93.7), 96.2% for moxifloxacin at a critical concentration of 2.0 µg per milliliter (95% CI, 87.0 to 99.5), 71.4% for kanamycin (95% CI, 56.7 to 83.4), and 70.7% for amikacin (95% CI, 54.5 to 83.9). The specificity of the assay for the detection of phenotypic resistance was 94.3% or greater for all drugs except moxifloxacin at a critical concentration of 2.0 µg per milliliter (specificity, 84.0% [95% CI, 78.9 to 88.3]). When DNA sequencing was used as the reference standard, the sensitivities of the investigational assay for detecting mutations associated with resistance were 98.1% for isoniazid (95% CI, 94.4 to 99.6), 95.8% for fluoroquinolones (95% CI, 89.6 to 98.8), 92.7% for kanamycin (95% CI, 80.1 to 98.5), and 96.8% for amikacin (95% CI, 83.3 to 99.9), and the specificity for all drugs was 99.6% (95% CI, 97.9 to 100) or greater. CONCLUSIONS: This investigational assay accurately detected M. tuberculosis mutations associated with resistance to isoniazid, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides and holds promise as a rapid point-of-care test to guide therapeutic decisions for patients with tuberculosis. (Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02251327 .).

[Missionary Medicine of Canadian Presbytery and Korean Doctors under Japanese Occupation--focusing Sung-jin and Ham-heung].

In East Asia during the second half of the 19th century, overseas mission work by Protestant churches thrived. Missionaries built schools and hospitals and effectively used them for evangelism. In the 20th century when Social Gospel Movement was expanding, medical work has been recognized as a significant mission service in and by itself. This article reviewed the construction and characteristics of missions work conducted by Canadian Presbytery; missionary doctors and Korean doctors who worked at the mission hospitals; why the missionary medical work had to stop; and career paths taken by Korean doctors upon liberation from Japanese occupation. The Canadian Presbytery missionaries, unlike other denomination missionaries, were rather critical of Imperial Japan, but supportive towards Koreans. This could have stemmed from the reflection of their own experience of once a colony of British Empire and also their value system that promotes egalitarian, democratic and progressive theology. The Sung-jin and Ham-heung Mission Bases were a community, interacting organically as a 'Triangle of Church, School and Hospital.' The missionaries mobilized the graduates from Christian schools and organized a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). Some of the graduates were trained to become medical doctors or assistants and worked at mission hospitals. Missionary doctors' approaches to balancing evangelism and medical practice varied. For example, Robert Grieson went through confusion and struggled to balance conflicting roles as a pastor for evangelism and also as a physician. Kate McMillan, on the other hand, had less burden for evangelism than Grieson, and focused on medical work by taking advantage of the opportunity that, as a woman, she can easily approach Korean women. Still another case was Florence Murray who practised evangelism within the hospital setting, and successfully carried out the role as a hospital administrator, going beyond 'women's work' as McMillan did. Korean doctors and assistants who worked at the mission hospitals had seen the spread of Protestantism in their youth; had received modern education; had experienced the fall of own country in 1910 and nationwide protest against Japan in 1919. The majority of them were graduates of Severance Medical College, the hub of missionary medicine at the time. After the resignation from the mission hospitals, 80 percent of them became self-employed general practitioners. The operations of the mission hospitals began to contract in 1930 due to tightened control by Imperial Japan. Shrine worship imposed on Christians caused internal conflict and division among missionaries and brought about changes in the form and contents of the mission organization. The incidence of the assault of Dr. Grieson brought about the dissolution of Sung-jin mission base and the interruption of the operation of Je-dong Hospital. As the Pacific War expanded, missionaries were driven out of Korea and returned home. In conclusion, the missions work by Canadian Presbytery missionaries had greatly impacted Protestantism in Korea. The characteristics of Canadian Presbytery were manifested in their support of Korean nationalism movement, openness for Social Gospel, and maintaining equal footing with Korean Christians. Specifically we note the influence of these characteristics in Chosun doctors who had worked in the mission hospitals. They operated their own hospitals or clinics in a manner similar to the mission hospitals by providing treatment for poor patients free of charge or for a nominal fee and treating the patients in a kind and humanistic way. After the 1945 Liberation, Korean doctors'career paths split into two directions. most of them defected to South Korea and chose the path to work as general practitioners. A few of them remained in North Korea and became educator of new doctors. It is meaningful that former doctors of Canadian missionary hosptal became dean of 2 medical colleges among 3 of all in early North Korea. This article does not cover the comparative analysis of the medical work by the missionaries of Canadian Presbytery and other denominations. It is desirable to include this analysis of the contents and the comparison in a future study of Korean doctors who participated in the mission hospitals, by denomination and by geographical region.

[Formation of medical education in North Korea: 1945-1948].

This study focuses on the formation of medical education in North Korea from 1945 to 1948 in terms of the centralization of medical education, and on the process and significance of the systemization of medical education. Doctors of the past trained under the Japanese colonial system lived and worked as liberalists. More than half of these doctors who were in North Korea defected to South Korea after the country was liberated. Thus the North Korean regime faced the urgent task of cultivating new doctors who would 'serve the state and people.' Since the autumn of 1945, right after national liberation, Local People's Committees organized and implemented medical education autonomously. Following the establishment of the Provisional People's Committee of North Korea, democratic reform was launched, leading to the centralized administration of education. Consequently, medical educational institutions were realigned, with some elevated to medical colleges and others shut down. The North Korean state criticised the liberalistic attitude of doctors and the bureaucratic style of health administration, and tried to reform their political consciousness through political inculcation programs. The state also grant doctors living and housing privileges, which show its endeavor to build 'state medicine'. By 1947, a medical education system was established in which the education administration was put in charge of training new doctors while the health administration was put in charge of nurturing and retraining health workers. In this way, the state was the principal agent that actively established a centralized administrative system in the process of the formation of medical education in North Korea following national liberation. Another agent was deeply involved in this process - the faculty that was directly in charge of educating the new doctors. Studying the medical faculty remains another research task for the future. By exploring how the knowledge, generational experience, socio-political consciousness and world views adopted by these teachers during the colonial era were manifested in their pedagogy after national liberation will shed more light on the 'prototype' of North Korean medical education.

Link between change in cognition and left ventricular function following cardiac resynchronization therapy.

PURPOSE: In patients with heart failure, reduced cardiac ejection fraction has been associated with impaired cognition. Improving cardiac function may have beneficial effects on cognition; however, no controlled intervention studies have examined this possibility. Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is one intervention that has been shown to increase cardiac function. The goals of the current study were to (1) evaluate neuropsychological performance before and 3 months after crt and (2) examine follow-up neuropsychological performance of patients classified on the basis of extent of improved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with moderate to severe heart failure completed a neuropsychological assessment, 6-minute walk test, and transthoracic echocardiography before and 3 months after CRT. Patients were classified on the basis of improvement in LVEF. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant effect of improvement in LVEF on change in cognition (Wilks Λ, P = .031). RESULTS: Patients with improved LVEF demonstrated significant increases on measures of executive functioning (F = 8.57, P = .007) and visuospatial function (F = 7.52, P = .011) and less decline on global cognition (F = 5.73, P = .024) than those without LVEF improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide preliminary evidence that improved LVEF in response to CRT is associated with enhanced cognitive outcomes within 3 months of CRT. Patients with improved LVEF showed better outcomes on measures of executive functioning, global cognition, and visuospatial functioning. Future, controlled, large-scale trials will be necessary to determine whether there is an underlying causal relationship linking increase in LVEF and cognition.