Effectiveness and safety of combining pharmacopuncture therapy and acupotomy for treating patients with degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis: A pragmatic, assessor-blinded, randomized, controlled trial.

Background: In the clinical practice of Korean Medicine, pharmacopuncture therapy and acupotomy (PA) are being increasingly explored as potential treatment options for degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of combining PA with conventional Korean Medicine treatment (CKMT) in patients with degenerative LSS.

Methods: A pragmatic, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled trial was conducted with 104 participants aged 40-75 years diagnosed with degenerative LSS.

Comparative Effectiveness of Continuous Intra-Operative Suprascapular Nerve Block (CI-SSNB) with and Without Intravenous Patient-Controlled Analgesia (IV-PCA) on Acute Post-Arthroscopy Pain: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) is commonly used for pain control following arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (ARCR), but its use is limited by adverse effects such as nausea and vomiting. The suprascapular nerve block (SSNB) has emerged as an effective regional analgesic alternative. This retrospective cohort study aimed to compare the analgesic efficacy and safety of continuous intra-operative suprascapular nerve block (CI-SSNB) alone versus CI-SSNB combined with fentanyl-based IV-PCA (CI-SSNB + IV-PCA).

Research trends in generative artificial intelligence in nursing: a scoping review.

Purpose: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has yet to be comprehensively analyzed in the nursing literature. This study aimed to identify research trends in generative AI within the nursing field through a scoping review and propose strategies for its effective utilization in nursing.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted following Arksey and O'Malley's six-stage framework.

Feasibility study for dose calculation with a radiation treatment planning system using a fixed-size electron cone applicator for small electron fields.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of radiation treatment planning using a commercial treatment planning system (TPS) for small fixed-size electron cone electron applicators not natively supported by the TPS.

Methods: Dosimetric characteristics, including beam profiles and output factors (OFs), were compared between a 6 MeV electron beam collimated by a small fixed-size electron cone applicator and a cerrobend cutout-based general applicator. Measurements were performed using a micro-diamond detector in a water phantom for field sizes of 2, 3, 4, and 5 cm.

Large-Scale Profiling of Coding and Long Noncoding Transcriptomes in the Hippocampus of Mice Acutely Exposed to Vaporized CBD or THC.

Cannabis vaping, particularly involving cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), rapidly delivers highly concentrated cannabinoids to the brain, potentially affecting the hippocampus. This study examined differential expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and mRNAs in the hippocampus after acute exposure to vaporized CBD or THC. Male ICR mice were exposed to vaporized CBD or THC (50 mg, n = 5/group), and hippocampal tissues were collected at 1, 3, and 14 days post-exposure.

Development of in-house software to process real-time cine magnetic resonance images acquired during 1.5 T MR-guided radiation therapy.

This study aimed to develop and publicly release an in-house software package that converts the binary file format of 2D cine magnetic resonance (MR) images acquired through the Treatment Session Manager (TSM) of MOSAIQ on the Elekta Unity (Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden) into standard readable data formats. The software was developed using MATLAB (MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA) and includes an automatic image-sorting algorithm to classify the images into coronal, sagittal, and axial planes. To verify the geometric accuracy of the converted images, they were acquired from an MRgRT motion management QA phantom, both with and without motion.

Effect of Nursing Managers' Ethical Leadership on Clinical Nurse Empowerment, Performance, and Organizational Commitment.

Background: Effective leadership by nursing unit managers can empower nurses, which is known to positively affect their performance and organizational commitment. However, a paucity of studies has investigated the mediating role of empowerment on the relationship between ethical leadership and the performance and organizational commitment of nurses.

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate empowerment as a mediator between the ethical leadership of nursing managers and the professional performance and organizational commitment of clinical nurses.

Analysis of visual opsin gene expression in Japanese eels upon sexual maturation and exposure to different wavelengths of light.

Fish inhabiting diverse photic environments, from the deep sea to shallow freshwater, offer a valuable model for studying visual receptor characteristics and spectral adaptation mechanisms. This study investigated changes in visual opsin transcript levels in Japanese eels (Anguilla japonica) during sexual development and exposure to light conditions simulating their life cycle. Tissue-specific expression analysis revealed the predominance of four opsin genes (dso, fwo, rh2, and sws2) in the eyes.

Deep-learning-based linac beam modelling with sparse beam data measurements.

This paper introduces linac beam modelling network (LBMnet), a deep-learning-based approach for efficient linac beam modelling, generating percentage depth dose (PDD) and beam profiles by predicting beam data from sparse single-field measurements, thereby enhancing beam modelling efficiency in radiation therapy. The LBMnet model, based on an auto-encoder architecture, was trained on a limited dataset obtained from three Elekta Versa HD™ linacs during commissioning and annual quality assurance processes. The dataset included PDDs and beam profiles across field sizes (1 × 1-40 × 40 cm) of 6 MV x-ray beams.

Crystal Structure and Functional Characterization of YjgK From Salmonella Typhimurium.

The YhcH/YjgK/YiaL (DUF386) family, widely conserved across bacterial species, is involved in essential cellular processes yet remains poorly characterized. YjgK from Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium has drawn attention because of its potential role in biofilm formation associated with metal homeostasis, which may be critical for bacterial survival. In this study, we report the crystal structure of YjgK at 1.

Intraoperative visualization of feline liposarcoma using short-wave infrared fluorescence imaging and indocyanine green.

A 9-year-old domestic short hair cat presented with a firm thoracic mass suspected to be a lipoma. Preoperative indocyanine green was administered intravenously at a dose of 5 mg/kg for short-wave infrared fluorescence imaging. Intraoperatively, a plaque-like lipoma overlaid a subjacent mass that exhibited strong fluorescence.

Malignant Hepatocellular Neoplasm, not Otherwise Specified, Displays Poorer Chemoresponsiveness and Postoperative Prognosis than Hepatoblastoma.

Purpose: Malignant hepatocellular neoplasm, not otherwise specified (HCN-NOS) is a provisional diagnostic entity, characterised by intermediate or a combination of hepatoblastoma and paediatric hepatocellular carcinoma (p-HCC) features. We compared the characteristics of HCN-NOS with hepatoblastoma and p-HCC.

Materials And Methods: The records of 148 paediatric patients diagnosed with hepatocellular malignancy after resection were retrieved from the institutional database.

The Korean Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (KSMBS) Position Statement on Female Candidates of Reproductive Age for Metabolic Bariatric Surgery.

Obesity has emerged as a major global health issue. The ratio of male to female patients undergoing metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS) is 1:3.5.

Body Composition Changes and Catch-up Growth in Pre-pubertal Children with Short Stature: A Longitudinal Retrospective Cross-sectional Cohort Study.

Objective: Predicting whether children with pre-pubertal short stature will achieve catch-up growth to a normal height or remain short remains a clinical challenge. As body composition plays a vital role in growth, this study aimed to compare longitudinal body composition changes in children with short stature who either achieved normal height by the onset of the growth spurt or remained short.

Methods: This longitudinal retrospective cross-sectional cohort study analyzed anthropometric and body composition data of children aged 8 and 12 years, allowing for both longitudinal tracking and cross-sectional comparisons.

Prefrontal meta-control incorporating mental simulation enhances the adaptivity of reinforcement learning agents in dynamic environments.

Introduction: Recent advances in computational neuroscience highlight the significance of prefrontal cortical meta-control mechanisms in facilitating flexible and adaptive human behavior. In addition, hippocampal function, particularly mental simulation capacity, proves essential in this adaptive process. Rooted from these neuroscientific insights, we present , a novel neuroscience-inspired reinforcement learning architecture that demonstrates rapid adaptation to environmental dynamics whilst managing variable goal states and state-transition uncertainties.

Precision medicine approach for in vitro modeling and computational screening of anti-epileptic drugs in pediatric epilepsy patients with SCN2A (R1629L) mutation.

This study aimed to develop personalized anti-epileptic drugs for pediatric patients with an SCN2A (R1629L) mutation, which is unresponsive to conventional sodium channel blockers. The mutation was identified using genomic DNA sequencing, and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were differentiated into the neuronal network to mimic seizure activity. A total of 1.

Maximum admittance method for cerebrovascular outlet boundary conditions and importance of stenosis severity as a dominant factor on hemodynamics.

In this study, we propose the maximum admittance method based on an analytical solution of two-element Windkessel model to generate pressure waveforms for imposing outlet boundary conditions in blood flow simulations in the absence of in vivo pressure data. The lumped parameters of the Windkessel model, which were not calibrated from the in vivo pressure, were determined to maximize peripheral admittance. By applying the pressure waveforms at outlet boundaries, hemodynamic characteristics of human cerebrovascular networks, including stenotic middle cerebral arteries (MCAs), were investigated through transient flow simulations.

Height estimation in children and adolescents using body composition big data: Machine-learning and explainable artificial intelligence approach.

Objective: To develop an accurate and interpretable height estimation model for children and adolescents using body composition variables and explainable artificial intelligence approaches.

Methods: A light gradient boosting method was employed on a dataset of 278,301 measurements from 54,374 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years. The model incorporated anthropometric and body composition measures.

Comparison of adult height prediction using bone age and body composition for growth assessment in Korean children.

To compare adult height (AH) predictions using body composition-based biological age with those derived from bone age in Korean children. A multicenter, assessor-blinded, prospective study was conducted with 80 healthy children aged 7-13 years. Participants were assessed using two methods: the traditional Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) bone age method and a model based on artificial intelligence (AI), incorporating body composition metrics such as BMI, fat-free mass, and muscle mass through bioelectrical impedance analysis.

Position and velocity controls in children and adults during a wrist tracking task.

Children's motor control skills develop with age, but it is unclear when the development begins and ends. To identify those critical points, we conducted a wrist tracking task and examined position and velocity controls in children and adults. The task consisted of a visible circular orbit, a target rotating at a constant speed of 0.

Korean Red Ginseng Marc-Derived Gintonin Improves Alzheimer's Cognitive Dysfunction by Upregulating LPAR1.

Ginseng is a well-established functional food for brain health. However, its active ingredients have not yet been identified. Gintonin is a promising compound isolated from white/red ginseng.

Development and external validation of a machine learning model to predict the initial dose of vancomycin for targeting an area under the concentration-time curve of 400-600 mg∙h/L.

Purpose: To develop and validate a novel artificial intelligence model for predicting the initial empiric dose of vancomycin, with the aim of achieving an area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) of 400-600 mg∙h/L, using individual clinical data.

Methods: Machine learning models were developed and validated internally and externally using data from adult patients who received intravenous vancomycin treatment between November 2020 and June 2023, using records from July to September 2023, sourced from two hospitals. This study included 205, 44, and 35 patients in the training, internal validation, and external validation sets, respectively.

MiCML: a causal machine learning cloud platform for the analysis of treatment effects using microbiome profiles.

Background: The treatment effects are heterogenous across patients due to the differences in their microbiomes, which in turn implies that we can enhance the treatment effect by manipulating the patient's microbiome profile. Then, the coadministration of microbiome-based dietary supplements/therapeutics along with the primary treatment has been the subject of intensive investigation. However, for this, we first need to comprehend which microbes help (or prevent) the treatment to cure the patient's disease.

Abdominal synthetic CT generation for MR-only radiotherapy using structure-conserving loss and transformer-based cycle-GAN.

Purpose: Recent deep-learning based synthetic computed tomography (sCT) generation using magnetic resonance (MR) images have shown promising results. However, generating sCT for the abdominal region poses challenges due to the patient motion, including respiration and peristalsis. To address these challenges, this study investigated an unsupervised learning approach using a transformer-based cycle-GAN with structure-preserving loss for abdominal cancer patients.

Clinical Characteristics of and Treatment Pattern for EGFR-Amplified Colorectal Cancer.

Purpose: To compare clinicopathologic features and clinical outcomes of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) based on EGFR amplification status.

Materials And Methods: Patients with mCRC who underwent next-generation sequencing using a targeted 244-gene panel from 2016 to 2021 were identified and screened for EGFR copy numbers. Cases with at least 5 copies were reviewed for tumor purity adjustment, and those with an adjusted copy number of ≥6 were defined as EGFR-amplified (EGFR amp+).