Progenitors of Type Ib and Ic supernovae (SNe) are stripped envelope stars and provide important clues on the mass-loss history of massive stars. Direct observations of the progenitors before the supernova explosion would provide strong constraints on the exact nature of SN Ib/Ic progenitors. Given that stripped envelope massive stars can have an optically thick wind as in the case of Wolf-Rayet stars, the influence of the wind on the observational properties needs to be properly considered to correctly infer progenitor properties from pre-SN observations. Non-LTE stellar atmosphere models indicate that the optical brightness could be greatly enhanced with an optically thick wind because of lifting-up of the photosphere from the stellar surface to the wind matter, and line and free-free emissions. So far, only a limited number of SN Ib/Ic progenitor candidates have been reported, including iPTF13bvn, SN 2017ein and SN 2019yvr. We argue that these three candidates are a biased sample, being unusually bright in the optical compared to what is expected from typical SN Ib/Ic progenitors, and that mass-loss enhancement during the final evolutionary stage can explain their optical properties.

Bloodstream infection (BSI) occurred in 21 of 121 patients (17%) receiving venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation within the median time of 6 days after initiation (interquartile range, 4–19 days). Longer duration of arterial catheterization and more blood transfusions were independently associated with BSI, which is associated with poor clinical outcomes.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;1–4

The NaLa(MoO4)2:Yb3+/Er3+ phosphor is synthesized through hydrothermal method with the further calcinations. The intense green upconversion (UC) emission is observed when it is excited by 980 nm pump power. Then we investigate the mechanism of UC emission based on the power dependent upconversion luminescence (UCL) spectra. Temperature sensing performance based on the Stark levels (2H11/2/4S3/2) of Er3+ is estimated through investigating temperature-dependent UCL spectra from 298 K to 573 K. And the maximum value of sensor sensitivity based on FIR is approximately 0.00474 K−1. Moreover, the variations of UCL intensities from 2H11/2/4S3/2 → 4I15/2 transitions have been monitored with increasing pump power, which suggests that the pump energy can be absorbed by sample and heat it. In addition, the internal temperature of materials can be estimated by FIR technique. All the experimental results indicate that the phosphor has good potential in optical temperature sensing and optical heating.

Genetic variation in wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. and Zucc.) is a valuable resource for crop improvement efforts. Soybean is believed to have originated from China, Korea, and Japan, but little is known about the diversity or evolution of Korean wild soybean. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the genetic diversity and population structure of 733 G. soja accessions collected in Korea using 21 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The SSR loci produced 539 alleles (25.7 per locus) with a mean genetic diversity of 0.882 in these accessions. Rare alleles, those with a frequency of less than 5%, represented 75% of the total number. This collection was divided into two populations based on the principal coordinate analysis. Accessions from population 1 were distributed throughout the country, whereas most of the accessions from population 2 were distributed on the western side of the Taebaek and Sobaek mountains. The Korean G. soja collection evaluated in this study should provide useful background information for allele mining approach and breeding programmes to introgress alleles into the cultivated soybean (G. max (L). Merr.) from wild soybean.

Background: Mortality associated with depression may be influenced by severity of depression and gender. We investigated the differential impacts on all-cause mortality of late-life depression by the type of depression (major depressive disorder, MDD; minor depressive disorder, MnDD; subsyndromal depression, SSD) and gender after adjusting comorbid conditions in the randomly sampled elderly.

Methods: One thousand community-dwelling elderly individuals were enrolled. Standardized face-to-face clinical interviews, neurological examination, and physical examination were conducted to diagnose depressive disorders and comorbid cognitive disorders. Depressive disorders were diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) criteria and SSD to study-specific operational criteria. Five-year survivals were compared between groups using Cox proportional hazards models.

Results: By the end of 2010, 174 subjects (17.4%) died. Depressive disorder (p = 0.001) and its interaction term with gender (p < 0.001) were significant in predicting five-year survival. MDD was an independent risk factor for mortality in men (hazard ratio = 3.65, 95% confidence interval = 1.67–7.96) whereas MnDD and SSD were not when other risk factors were adjusted.

Conclusions: MDD may directly confer the risk of mortality in elderly men whereas non-major depression may be just an indicator of increased mortality in both genders.

Through a polyethylene-glycol-assisted hydrothermal method, a series of potassium fluoride (KF)–Yttrium (III) fluoride (YF3) system materials have been synthesized. By controlling the reactant ratios of KF: rare earth ions (RE3+), the hydrothermal temperatures, and the pH values of the prepared solutions, the final products can evolve among the orthorhombic phase of YF3 and/or the tetragonal phase of potassium triyttrium decafluoride (KY3F10) and/or the cubic phase of potassium yttrium tetrafluoride (KYF4). The final products are characterized by the x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, the field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images, the energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) patterns, the photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and the luminescent dynamic decay curves. The XRD patterns of the samples suggest the phase evolution of the final products. The FE-SEM images and the EDS patterns prove that. Europium ion (Eu3+) acting as a probe, its PL spectra and the luminescent decay curves all put together prove the phase evolution of the final products. The research can be extended to study the other KF–REF3 system materials.

Based on a citric acid-assisted hydrothermal method, series of Ce3+/Tb3+ activated fluorides have been synthesized. By controlling the amount of KNO3, the final products evolve from the Ce3+/Tb3+ codoped orthorhombic phase GdF3 to the Ce3+/Tb3+ codoped cubic phase KGdF4. The concentration of Ce3+ has great effects on the crystalline phases and the morphologies of final products. The Ce3+ concentration dependent samples illustrate the appearance of the hexagonal phase solid solution CeF3–GdF3–TbF3 in the final products. When the Ce3+ concentration is 20 mol%, the sample Ce20 presents the hexagonal phase CeF3 but the diffraction peaks move to higher degree. The x-ray diffraction patterns suggest the phase evolution of final products, the field emission scanning electron microscopy images present the variation in morphology of samples, and the photoluminescence excitation and emission spectra as well as the luminescent dynamic curves illustrate the optical properties of samples.

Background: Agraphia in Korean patients may be different from agraphia in other patients who use alphabetical writing systems due to the “visuoconstructional script” characteristics of the Korean writing system, Hangul. Patients with early onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) have a severe degree of hypometabolism in the parietal area, which is known to be involved in processing visuospatial function. Thus, we explored the diverse error patterns manifested in writing single syllables in Korean patients with EOAD.

Methods: A study sample of 35 patients with EOAD and 18 healthy controls (HC) performed a Hangul writing task. We analyzed the erroneous responses of the subjects according to visuoconstructional and linguistic characteristics. In addition, we evaluated the relationship between Hangul writing and the neuropsychological variables as well as the severity of dementia.

Results: When comparing the total number of erroneous responses between EOAD and HC groups, the performances of EOAD patients were significantly worse than those of HC. EOAD patients demonstrated visuoconstructional errors even in the early stages of the disease. Severity of dementia and multiple cognitive domains such as attention, language, immediate memory, and frontal executive functions significantly correlated with the performance of Hangul writing.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that patients with EOAD exhibit not only linguistic errors but also visuoconstructional manifestations of agraphia, which are associated with cognitive impairments in the multiple domains.

Rodents respond to a chronic high-fat diet (HFD) in two ways: some readily become obese (obesity prone, OP) and others do not (obesity resistant, OR). Although several hypotheses have been proposed, the mechanisms underlying the inter-individual susceptibility to diet-induced obesity remain to be fully defined. In the present study, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) combined with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight MS was carried out for identification of differentially expressed liver proteins in OP and OR rats fed a HFD, in an attempt to discover marker proteins involved in susceptibility and/or resistance to obesity in rat liver. The 2-DE analysis demonstrated that forty spots from 380 visualised spots were differentially regulated between the groups. Among these forty spots, twelve were differentially expressed proteins between OP and OR rats, reaching statistical significance. Of these, five proteins have already been linked to obesity; however, seven proteins involved in obesity susceptibility or resistance were identified for the first time in the present study. In order to validate the proteomic results and gain insight into the metabolic changes between the OP and OR groups, we further confirmed the expression pattern of some proteins of interest by Western blot analysis. Combined results of proteomic analysis with Western blot analysis revealed that reduced lipogenesis and increased fat oxidation were achieved in the livers of OR rats. In conclusion, the present proteomic study is an important advance over the previous steps required for identification of OP and OR rats, and should prove valuable in the search for the pathogenesis of obesity in humans.

Nanoparticles of Cd1–xCuxS (x = 0–0.15) were synthesized by chemical coprecipitation using thiophenol as a capping agent. The x-ray diffraction patterns reveal that the pure and doped CdS nanoparticles are single phase with cubic zinc blende structure. The transmission electron microscopy shows the average size of the nanoparticles is about 8.5 nm. Optical absorption spectra indicate the energy gap decreases with increasing Cu2+ concentration. The broad emission peak around 520 nm is completely quenched with increasing Cu2+ content. The electron spin resonance analysis also confirms the Cu (II) ion to be doped substitutionally in CdS nanoparticles and the Lande factor of all the samples with sharp resonance is g = 2.0.

Objectives: Recent concerns have been raised for the safety after drug-eluting stents (DES) implantation compared with the use of bare-metal stents (BMS) in patients with ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI). The objective of this study was to estimate the relative impact of DES versus BMS on mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), target vessel revascularization (TVR), and stent thrombosis (ST) in STEMI patients by performing comprehensive meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies.

Methods: We performed an electronic search and manual search of studies presented through September 2009, without language restrictions. An approach of “using systematic reviews” was used. Two independent reviewers extracted prespecified data from each study. A random-effects model was used to combine trials and to perform stratified analyses based on study designs and the duration of follow-up.

Results: Fourteen RCTs were identified (N = 7,654). Compared with BMS, DES significantly reduced TVR (risk ratio [RR], 0.48; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.41–0.56) and MI (RR, 0.77; 95 percent CI, 0.61–0.97), without increasing mortality (RR, 0.88; 95 percent CI, 0.70–1.10) and ST (RR, 0.93; 95 percent CI, 0.72–1.21). Among 35 observational studies (N = 44,849), the use of DES was associated with a significant reduction in mortality (RR, 0.85; 95 percent CI, 0.79–0.91) and TVR (RR, 0.61; 95 percent CI, 0.48–0.77). MI and ST were significantly lower in the DES group within 1-year follow-up, but there were no differences within 2 years of follow-up. There was no evidence of statistical heterogeneity and publication bias.

Conclusions: These data in aggregate suggest that using DES in STEMI patients is safe and efficacious, but there are differences between RCT and observational data comparing DES and BMS.

The incubation-limitation hypothesis suggests that clutch size in some birds is limited by incubation capacity. However, this remains disputed amongst ornithologists. This study aimed to test whether incubation capacity limits the maximum clutch size to two eggs in south polar skuas (Catharacta maccormicki Saunders) by comparing the egg and nest temperatures as well as hatchability between two-egg and three-egg clutches. Although the vast majority of clutches contained one or two eggs, four naturally occurring three-egg clutches were found at Barton Peninsula, King George Island over three breeding seasons (2004–2005, 2005–2006 and 2006–2007). Regardless of clutch size, all incubating parents exhibited two discernible brood patches. The mean egg and nest temperatures of the three-egg clutches were significantly lower than were those of the two-egg clutches. The accumulated time that egg temperature decreased below 30°C in three-egg clutches was approximately eight times longer than that in two-egg clutches. The hatchability of natural one-egg (89.5%) and two-egg clutches (95.4%) were significantly higher than that of the three-egg clutches, which was zero. Our results suggest that the maximum clutch size in south polar skuas is probably restricted by incubation capacity.

The microstructural evolution and interfacial reactions of fluxless-bonded, Au-20wt%Sn/Cu solder joint were investigated during reflow and aging. After reflowing at 310 °C, only one thick and irregularly shaped ζ(Cu) layer was formed at the interface. After the prolonged reflow reaction, the AuCu layer was formed between the ζ(Cu) layer and the Cu substrate. During reflowing, the Cu substrate reacted primarily with the ζ-phase in the solder matrix. The solid-state interfacial reaction was much faster at 250 °C than at 150 °C. After aging at 250 °C for 100 h, thick ζ(Cu), AuCu and AuCu3 IMC layers were formed at the interface. The formation of the AuCu3 intermetallic compound (IMC) was caused by Cu enrichment at the AuCu/Cu layer interface. After aging for 500 h, cracks were observed inside the interfacial AuCu layer. The study results clearly demonstrate the need for an alternative surface finish on Cu, to ensure the high temperature reliability of the Au-20Sn/Cu solder joint.