This study aimed to characterize the association between paranoid ideation without psychosis (PIP) and suicide attempts in a general population. A total of 12,532 adults were randomly selected as the study sample through one-person-per-household method. Subjects completed a face-to-face interview. Among 12,532 subjects, 471 (3.76%) met criteria for the PIP group. The PIP group was younger with more divorced/widowed/separated and lower income than the non-PIP group. The PIP group showed more than fivefold higher lifetime suicide attempt (LSA) rates and ninefold multiple attempt rates than the non-PIP group. Among PIP symptoms, “spouse was being unfaithful” showed the strongest association with LSA (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 4.49; 95% confidence interval, 2.95-6.85). Major depressive disorder (MDD) in combination with PIP was associated with a higher risk of LSA (AOR, 15.39; 95% confidence interval, 9.63-24.59) compared with subjects without MDD or PIP. In conclusion, PIP, especially “doubting spouse,” was significantly associated with LSA. PIP in combination with comorbid MDD showed higher risk of LSA than subjects without PIP or MDD.

Several studies on the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are being conducted, and various drugs are being tried; however, the results have not been uniform. Steroids have been widely used in the treatment of COVID-19, but their effects are controversial. As immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory agents, steroids are considered to reduce lung damage by regulating various inflammatory responses. We report a case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 pneumonia manifesting as a cryptogenic organizing pneumonia-like reaction and discuss its treatment, clinical course, and favorable outcomes after steroid administration.

Background: The influences of demographics, culture, language, and environmental changes on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores are considerable.

Methods: Using a sample of 7452 healthy, community-dwelling elderly Koreans, aged 55 to 94 years, who participated in the four ongoing geriatric cohorts in Korea, we investigated demographic influences on MMSE scores and derived normative data for this population. Geropsychiatrists strictly excluded subjects with cognitive disorders according to the protocol of the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Packet (CERAD-K) Clinical Assessment Battery (CERAD-K-C).

Results: Education (standardized β = 0.463), age (standardized β = −0.303), and gender (standardized β = −0.057) had significant effects on MMSE scores (p < 0.001). The score of MMSE increase 0.379 point per 1-year education, decrease 0.188 per 1-year older, and decrease 0.491 in women compared to men. Education explained 30.4% of the scores’ total variance, which was much larger than the variances explained by age (8.4%) or gender (0.3%). Accordingly, we present normative data for the MMSE stratified by education (0, 1–3, 4–6, 7–9, 10–12, and ≥ 13 years), age (60–69, 70–79, and 80–89 years), and gender.

Conclusions: We provide contemporary education-, age-, and gender-stratified norms for the MMSE, derived from a large, community-dwelling elderly Korean population sample, which could be useful in evaluating individual MMSE scores.

This paper presents a new approach to the management of the environmental map for mobile robots in dynamic environments. The environmental map is built of primitive features, such as lines, points, and even circles, extracted from ambiguous data captured by the robot's sonar sensor ring. The feature map must be managed because the indoor surroundings where mobile robots operate are continuously changing due to nonstationary objects, such as wastebaskets, tables, and people. The features are processed by trimming, division, or removal, depending on the dynamic circumstances. All processing refers to the occupancy probabilities of grid squares generated for the map features. The occupancy probabilities of the squares are updated using the Bayesian updating model with the sonar sensor data. Experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.

We report on the basic characteristics and gas sensing operation of density controlled single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) thin films on poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) substrates The vacuum filteration and PDMS mold transfer method allowed the density of SWCNT distributed to have non-local uniformity. The optical transparency of the SWCNT thin films was inversely proportional to SWCNT density and conductivity. The flexible SWCNT thin film showed high mechanical stability with negligible change in conductance after being bent by 180o. We evaluated its gas sensing operation depending on SWCNT density and bias voltage. It was shown that lower SWCNT density thin films had higher sensitivity to NH3 gas, which may be due to higher exposed surface area for lower density SWCNT thin films. Also, we found that lower bias voltage devices showed faster recovery times. The results show that vacuum filteration and mold transfer method produced flexible SWCNT thin films that have stable mechanical and electrical characteristics and also stable gas sensing capabilities making them applicable to future flexible integrated sensors.

In this investigation, 22 cloned male piglets were obtained by male fetal fibroblast-cell-derived nuclear transfer. Eighteen of the cloned animals died. The two cell lines did not differ significantly with regard to efficiency of live piglet production. The gross anatomy of the testes of male piglets that died was normal. However, one piglet displayed Leydig cell hypoplasia (LCH). No anatomical defects were detected in the testes of other cloned male piglets. TUNEL analysis of the testis with LCH revealed significant apoptosis in the Leydig cells, while apoptosis was rarely detected in Sertoli cells and spermatogonia. In contrast, testes from the remaining 17 piglets that died appeared normal in size, and their Sertoli and Leydig cell numbers were comparable to those in control piglet testes. Although cloned piglets were derived from fibroblasts obtained from the same fetus, phenotypic instability between cells used for the production of somatic cell cloned piglets suggests that abnormalities in male cloned piglets are caused not by technical problems and/or reprogramming effects, but rather by epigenetically and/or genetically damaged cell-specific effects.

We have previously shown that extracellular fluid (ECF) is translocated by atrial contraction. Following on from this finding we have proposed a two-step sequential mechanism for the regulation of stretch-activated secretion of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP): myocytic release of ANP into the surrounding paracellular space followed by the translocation of ECF with the released ANP into the bloodstream. This latter step is induced by atrial contraction, and is therefore controlled by atrial workload. However, the mechanism that regulates the changes in translocation of the ECF has not been defined. To define the relationship between the atrial workload, ECF translocation, size of the extracellular space (ECS) and ANP secretion, experiments have been performed in isolated perfused beating rabbit atria. Atrial workload, transendocardial translocation of the ECF and the secretion of ANP were quantified. Changes in the size of the atrium and the ECS were determined by a newly developed methodology in the beating atria. Atrial workload determined the translocation of the ECF and released ANP with waning of the translocation at higher myocardial workloads. Atrial workload inversely determined the size of the atrium and the ECS. The latter directly determined the translocation of the ECF in terms of atrial workload. From these data we suggest that the size of the ECS is an intimate modulator of the translocation of the ECF and released ANP, and that the phenomenon of waning of the transendocardial translocation that appeared at higher atrial workloads is closely related to the shrinkage of the ECS. Experimental Physiology (2002) 87.2, 185-194.

RF MEMS(Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System) switch technology is one of powerful solution for future RF systems. This technology provides low insertion loss, High linearity and broad bandwidth. Wide driving membrane used MEMS switch can reduce driving voltage but it is easy to bend because of the stress gradient. In order to solve this problem we fabricated Au cantilever in various sputtering condition and various substrate materials. As a result of this experiment, we fabricated cantilever which was bent within 1 um, with 2 um thickness and 340 um length. We applied this condition to RF MEMS switch and we fabricated switch membrane within 1 um bend, under 10MPa stress gradient.