Erratum: Peduncular Hallucinosis 7 Months After Pontine Hemorrhage With Hypertrophic Olivary Degeneration: A Case Report.

[This corrects the article e31 in vol. 15, PMID: 36742085.].

Urodynamic Study in Multiple System Atrophy: A Retrospective Observational Study.

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of neurogenic bladder in patients with multiple systemic atrophy and distinguish between cerebellar and parkinsonian-type urodynamic patterns. We reviewed 19 patients diagnosed with multiple systemic atrophy with low urinary tract symptoms who underwent an urodynamic study at Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital between March 2010 and February 2022. This study did not account for the differences observed between the multiple system atrophy subtypes in the voiding phase. Urodynamic study is an effective tool to understand the complicated bladder pattern in patients with multiple system atrophy.

Feasibility of dance therapy using telerehabilitation on trunk control and balance training in patients with stroke: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: This randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate the effects of dance therapy using telerehabilitation on trunk control and balance training in patients with stroke and compare them with the effects of conventional treatment. METHODS: We enrolled 17 patients with subacute or chronic stroke who were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. In addition to conventional physical therapy, the experimental group (n = 9) participated in 40-minute, non-face-to-face, dance-therapy sessions and the control group (n = 8) received conventional physical therapy. The primary outcome measures were the Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS) scores to assess trunk control and balance function between the 2 groups as a measure of change from baseline to after the intervention. RESULTS: We found that the TIS scores of the patients in the experimental group significantly improved (P = .017). The TIS results indicated non-inferiority within a predefined margin for dance therapy using telerehabilitation (difference = -0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -2.21 to 0.50). CONCLUSION: Dance therapy using telerehabilitation significantly improved the TIS scores in the experimental group and was not inferior to conventional rehabilitation treatment when compared in a non-inferiority test. The remote dance program may therefore have similar effects to those of conventional treatment regarding trunk-control improvement in patients with stroke.

Etiologic Factors of Rotator Cuff Disease in Elderly: Modifiable Factors in Addition to Known Demographic Factors.

With the aging society, musculoskeletal degenerative diseases are becoming a burden on society, and rotator cuff disease is one of these degenerative diseases. The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence of shoulder osteoarthritis and the etiologic factors of rotator cuff disease in the Korean elderly population. A total of 102 patients performing ultrasonography were recruited, and their demographic factors were analyzed. As functional factors, visual analog scale and the peak torque of external and internal rotators of the shoulder using an isokinetic dynamometer were measured. As an anatomical factor, the acromiohumeral distance in the plain radiograph of the glenohumeral anterior-posterior view was used. There were more female patients (65.7%) than male patients (34.3%). The age range with the highest number of respondents was 50-59 years old. The mean visual analogue score was 4.09 (Min 1 to Max 9). Age and dominant hand side factors appear to be the crucial etiologic factors of the presence and severity of rotator cuff disease. The lower net value of the external rotator strength is weakly related to the presence of rotator cuff disease after adjusting for age, and this is the only modifiable factor in the study.

Peduncular Hallucinosis 7 Months After Pontine Hemorrhage With Hypertrophic Olivary Degeneration: A Case Report.

Peduncular hallucinosis is a rare type of hallucination, wherein patients see colorful and vivid images. It usually appears after damage to the midbrain, pons, or thalamus. We report the case of a 56-year-old man with peduncular hallucinosis after conservative care for spontaneous pontine hemorrhage, 7 months prior to presentation. He was treated with atypical antipsychotics, which resolved the symptoms. We suggest that it is important to consider peduncular hallucinosis in patients after injuries in subcortical areas and the brainstem. Additionally, we found changes in the hypertrophic olivary degeneration using magnetic resonance imaging, and we suggest the possibility of their correlation with peduncular hallucinosis.

Decursin Alleviates Mechanical Allodynia in a Paclitaxel-Induced Neuropathic Pain Mouse Model.

Chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (CINP) is a severe adverse effect of platinum- and taxane-derived anticancer drugs. The pathophysiology of CINP includes damage to neuronal networks and dysregulation of signal transduction due to abnormal Ca2+ levels. Therefore, methods that aid the recovery of neuronal networks could represent a potential treatment for CINP. We developed a mouse model of paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy, representing CINP, to examine whether intrathecal injection of decursin could be effective in treating CINP. We found that decursin reduced capsaicin-induced intracellular Ca2+ levels in F11 cells and stimulated neurite outgrowth in a concentration-dependent manner. Decursin directly reduced mechanical allodynia, and this improvement was even greater with a higher frequency of injections. Subsequently, we investigated whether decursin interacts with the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1). The web server SwissTargetPrediction predicted that TRPV1 is one of the target proteins that may enable the effective treatment of CINP. Furthermore, we discovered that decursin acts as a TRPV1 antagonist. Therefore, we demonstrated that decursin may be an important compound for the treatment of paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain that functions via TRPV1 inhibition and recovery of damaged neuronal networks.

Organophosphate flame retardants and plasticizers in sediment and bivalves along the Korean coast: Occurrence, geographical distribution, and a potential for bioaccumulation.

Environmental contamination by organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) and plasticizers are environmental concerns. In this study, 18 OPFRs were analyzed in sediment and bivalves collected from 50 locations along the Korean coast to assess occurrence, geographical distribution, contamination source, and bioaccumulation potential. Tris(1-chloro-2-propanyl) phosphate (TCPP) and tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP) were highly detected (>80%) OPFRs in sediment and bivalves. Total concentrations of OPFRs and plasticizers in sediment and bivalves ranged from 2.18 to 347 ng/g dry weight and from 6.12 to 206 ng/g dry weight, respectively, which were within the ranges reported for previous studies. Sedimentary organic carbon was a primary factor governing the OPFR distribution. Concentrations of OPFRs and plasticizers in sediments from harbor zones were significantly higher than non-harbor zones, indicating that shipping activity is a contamination source of OPFRs and plasticizers in coastal environments. Biota-sediment accumulation factors <1 for several OPFRs indicated limited potential for bioaccumulation.

Real-time tracking of single-molecule collagenase on native collagen and partially structured collagen-mimic substrates.

The dynamic interactions of an individual matrix metalloproteinase-1 were imaged and monitored in the presence of either triple-helical or non-triple-helical, partially structured collagen-mimic substrates. The enzyme exhibited ten-fold increased catalytic turnover rates with the structurally modified substrate by skipping the triple-helix unwinding step during the catalytic pathway.

Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) in water and sediment: Occurrence, distribution, and hotspots of contamination of Lake Shihwa, Korea.

Contamination by organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) is an emerging concern in aquatic environments. Concentrations of 18 OPFRs were measured in water and sediments collected from the artificial Lake Shihwa. OPFR concentrations in sediments measured in this study were the highest reported worldwide, implying severe OPFR contamination. The highest concentrations of OPFRs were found in creeks taken near industrial complexes, and OPFR concentrations decreased with increasing distance from creeks to inshore or offshore lake waters. On-going OPFR contamination by wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharge was evidenced by the clear decrease in OPFRs in water samples collected moving away from WWTP outfall. TBEP and TEP were dominant in water samples, while TDCPP and TCPP were dominant in sediment samples. Differences in contamination profiles with sample matrices are likely due to hydrophobicity of individual OPFRs. Non-parametric multidimensional scaling ordination showed that OPFR contamination was affected by pollution inflow and proximity to industrial complexes.

Analysis of bacterial FAMEs using gas chromatography - vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy for the identification and discrimination of bacteria.

The identification of microorganisms is very important in different fields and alternative methods are necessary for a rapid and simple identification. The use of fatty acids for bacterial identification is gaining attention as phenotypic characteristics are reflective of the genotype and are more easily analyzed. In this work, gas chromatography-vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy (GC-VUV) was used to determine bacteria fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), to identify and discriminate different environmental bacteria based on their fatty acid profile. Microorganisms were grown in agar and their fatty acids extracted, saponified, and esterified before analysis. Unique FAME profiles were obtained for each microorganism mainly composed of branched, cyclopropane, hydroxy, saturated, and unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters. S. maltophilia showed a higher diversity of fatty acids while Bacillus species showed higher complexity in terms of branched-chain FAMEs, with several iso and anteiso forms. 12 different bacteria genera and 15 species were successfully differentiated based on their fatty acid profiles after performing PCA and cluster analysis. Some difficult to differentiate species, such as Bacillus sp., which are genetically very similar, were differentiated with the developed method.

Percolation in spatial evolutionary prisoner's dilemma game on two-dimensional lattices.

We study the spatial evolutionary prisoner's dilemma game with updates of imitation max on triangular, hexagonal, and square lattices. We use the weak prisoner's dilemma game with a single parameter b. Due to the competition between the temptation value b and the coordination number z of the base lattice, a greater variety of percolation properties is expected to occur on the lattice with the larger z. From the numerical analysis, we find six different regimes on the triangular lattice (z=6). Regardless of the initial densities of cooperators and defectors, cooperators always percolate in the steady state in two regimes for small b. In these two regimes, defectors do not percolate. In two regimes for the intermediate value of b, both cooperators and defectors undergo percolation transitions. The defector always percolates in two regimes for large b. On the hexagonal lattice (z=3), there exist two distinctive regimes. For small b, both the cooperators and the defectors undergo percolation transitions while only defectors always percolate for large b. On the square lattice (z=4), there exist three regimes. Combining with the finite-size scaling analyses, we show that all the observed percolation transitions belong to the universality class of the random percolation. We also show how the detailed growth mechanism of cooperator and defector clusters decides each regime.

Suppression of Mammary Carcinogenesis Through Early Exposure to Dietary Lipotropes Occurs Primarily In Utero.

The study determined whether feeding during lactation affects the suppressive effect of maternal dietary lipotropes (i.e., methionine, choline, folate, and vitamin B12) on mammary carcinogenesis. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated to the control diet during pregnancy and lactation (CC), lipotropes-fortified diet during pregnancy (LC), lipotropes-fortified diet during pregnancy plus lactation (LL), or lipotropes-fortified diet during lactation (CL). Randomly selected female offspring from each group were injected intraperitoneally with 50 mg/kg body weight of N-nitroso-N-methylurea at 50 days of age to induce mammary tumors. The LC and LL diets significantly increased tumor latency and survival (P < 0.05). Tumor volumes were significantly suppressed in LC and LL offspring as compared with the CC and CL pups (3759.1 ± 563.0 and 3603.7 ± 526.1 vs. 7465.0 ± 941.1 and 5219.3 ± 759.8 mm(3), respectively; P < 0.05). Both LC and LL lowered tumor multiplicity as compared with CC and CL (P < 0.05). The LC and LL diets repressed transcription of histone deacetylase (HDAC) 1 as well as total HDAC enzyme activity as compared with CC and CL diets (P < 0.05). Data suggest that the tumor suppressive effect of maternal dietary lipotropes is primarily in utero and may be linked to regulation of proteins involved in chromatin remodeling.

Dimensional dependence of phase transitions in explosive percolation.

To understand the dependence of phase-transition natures in explosive percolations on space dimensions, the number n(cut) of cutting bonds (sites) and the fractal dimension d(CSC) of the critical spanning cluster (CSC) for the six different models introduced in Phys. Rev. E 86, 051126 (2012) are studied on two- and three-dimensional lattices. It is found that n(cut)(L→∞)=1 for the intrabond-enhanced models and the site models on the two-dimensional square lattice with lattice size L. In contrast, n(cut) for the intrabond-suppressed models scales as n(cut)≃L(d(cut)) with d(cut)=1. d(CSC)=2.00(1) is obtained for the intrabond-enhanced models and the site models, while d(CSC)=1.96(1)(<2) is obtained for the intrabond-suppressed models in two dimensions (2D). These results strongly support that the intrabond-enhanced models and the site models undergo the discontinuous transition in 2D, while the intrabond-suppressed models do the continuous transition in 2D. On the three-dimensional cubic lattice, we find that d(cut)>0 and d(CSC)=2.8(1)(<3) for all six models, which indicates that the models undergo the continuous transition. Based on the finite-size scaling analyses of mean cluster size and order parameter, all six models in 3D show nearly the same critical phenomena within numerical errors.

Pubertal supplementation of lipotropes in female rats reduces mammary cancer risk by suppressing histone deacetylase 1.

PURPOSE: The time from puberty to the first pregnancy is known to be important for a woman's life-time breast cancer risk. Recent studies suggest that epigenetic mechanisms may involve pubertal maturation processes, which can affect the risk of breast cancer in later life. Epigenetic alterations are related to lipotropes (methionine, choline, folate, and vitamin B12), which are methyl donors and cofactors. However, the effects of pubertal supplementation of lipotropes in breast cancer remain largely unknown. METHODS: Twenty female Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 6 weeks, were divided into two groups and fed a normal control diet or a lipotrope-fortified diet formulated to provide five times basal levels of lipotropes during puberty. All rats were injected intraperitoneally with N-nitroso-N-methylurea at 50 days of age to induce mammary tumors. RESULTS: Tumor multiplicity and tumor volume decreased significantly as a result of lipotrope supplementation. Interestingly, quantitative RT-PCR revealed significantly decreased expression of histone deacetylase 1 (Hdac1) and DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) genes in tumor tissues of the rats supplemented with lipotrope-fortified diet, suggesting that reduced risk of breast cancer can be attributed, at least in part, to decreased expression of these two genes. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that supplementation of lipotrope-fortified diet during puberty suppresses tumor growth, potentially through down-regulating Hdac1 and Dnmt1 gene expression. Our findings suggest that pubertal methyl diet plays an important role in the etiology of breast cancer, and further studies are warranted to develop preventative strategies against breast cancer.

Classification of transport backbones of complex networks.

Transport properties in random and scale-free (SF) networks are studied by analyzing the betweenness centrality (BC) distribution P(B) in the minimum spanning trees (MSTs) and infinite incipient percolation clusters (IIPCs) of the networks. It is found that P(B) in MSTs scales as P(B)∼B(-δ). The obtained values of δ are classified into two different categories, δ≃1.6 and δ≃2.0. Using the mapping between BC and the branch size of tree structures, it is proved that δ in MSTs which are close to critical trees is 1.6. In contrast, δ in MSTs which are supercritical trees is shown to be 2.0. We also find δ=1.5 in IIPCs, which is a natural result because IIPC is physically critical. Based on the results in MSTs, a physical reason why δ≥2 in the original networks is suggested.

Bond-site duality and nature of the explosive-percolation phase transition on a two-dimensional lattice.

To establish the bond-site duality of explosive percolations in two dimensions, the site and bond explosive-percolation models are carefully defined on a square lattice. By studying the cluster distribution function and the behavior of the second largest cluster, it is shown that the duality in which the transition is discontinuous exists for the pairs of the site model and the corresponding bond model which relatively enhances the intrabond occupation. In contrast the intrabond-suppressed models which have no corresponding site models undergo a continuous transition and satisfy the normal scaling ansatz as ordinary percolation.

Explosive site percolation with a product rule.

We study the site percolation under Achlioptas process with a product rule in a two-dimensional square lattice. From the measurement of the cluster size distribution P(s), we find that P(s) has a very robust power-law regime followed by a stable hump near the transition threshold. Based on the careful analysis on the PP(s) distribution, we show that the transition should be discontinuous. The existence of the hysteresis loop in order parameter also verifies that the transition is discontinuous in two dimensions. Moreover, we also show that the transition nature from the product rule is not the same as that from a sum rule in two dimensions.

Bimolecular chemical reactions on weighted complex networks.

We investigate the kinetics of bimolecular chemical reactions A+A→0 and A+B→0 on weighted scale-free networks (WSFNs) with degree distribution P(k)∼k^{-γ} . On WSFNs, a weight w{ij} is assigned to the link between node i and j . We consider the symmetric weight given as w{ij}=(k{i}k{j})^{µ} , where k{i} and k{j} are the degree of node i and j . The hopping probability T{ij} of a particle from node i to j is then given as T{ij}∝(k{i}k{j})^{µ} . From a mean-field analysis, we analytically show in the thermodynamic limit that the kinetics of A+A→0 and A+B→0 are identical and there exist two crossover µ values, µ{1c}=γ-2 and µ{2c}=(γ-3)/2 . The density of particles ρ(t) algebraically decays in time t as t^{-α} with α=1 for µ<µ{2c} and α=(µ+1)/(γ-µ-2) for µ{2c}≤µ<µ{1c} . For µ≥µ{1c} , ρ decays exponentially. With the mean-field rate equation for ρ(t) , we also analytically show that the kinetics on the WSFNs is mapped onto that on unweighted SFNs with P(k)∼k^{-γ^{'}} with γ^{'}=(µ+γ)/(µ+1) .