Evaporative cooling for low-cost monitoring of flow of cerebrospinal fluid through shunts in patients with hydrocephalus.

Hydrocephalus, a neurological disorder caused by an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain, manifests in symptoms such as headaches, blurred vision, and balance issues. While ventriculoperitoneal shunting is a common treatment, it has high failure rates, especially in pediatric patients. Recent progress in continuous, non-invasive monitoring using skin-mounted sensors based on anemometric techniques and transient plane source methods offer significant promise.

Successful Treatment of Growing Skull Fracture That Developed Only 3 Weeks After Injury: A Case Report.

A growing skull fracture (GSF) is a fracture that gradually widens as the arachnoid membrane or brain parenchyma herniates into the fractured space in a skull fracture accompanied by dural injury. GSF has a good prognosis if diagnosed early and treated surgically. However, it is generally a chronic complication with low incidence, making diagnosis difficult.

The Efficacy of Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment by Neurotrauma Specialists.

Objective: Since the establishment of Regional Trauma Centers (RTCs) in Korea, significant efforts have been made to improve the quality of care for patients with trauma. Simultaneously, the Department of Neurosurgery assigned neurotrauma specialists to RTCs to provide specialized care to patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this study, we sought to determine whether neurotrauma specialists, compared to general neurosurgeons, could make a significant difference in treatment outcomes of patients with TBI.

Anticoagulation and Antiplatelet Agent Resumption Timing following Traumatic Brain Injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major global health concern. Due to the increase in TBI incidence and the aging population, an increasing number of patients with TBI are taking antithrombotic agents for their underlying disease. When TBI occurs in patients with these diseases, there is a conflict between the disease, which requires an antithrombotic effect, and the neurosurgeon, who must minimize intracranial hemorrhage.

High-Performance Indoor Perovskite Solar Cells by Self-Suppression of Intrinsic Defects via a Facile Solvent-Engineering Strategy.

Lead halide perovskite solar cells have been emerging as very promising candidates for applications in indoor photovoltaics. To maximize their indoor performance, it is of critical importance to suppress intrinsic defects of the perovskite active layer. Herein, a facile solvent-engineering strategy is developed for effective suppression of both surface and bulk defects in lead halide perovskite indoor solar cells, leading to a high efficiency of 35.

Dual functional WO/BiVO heterostructures for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting and glycerol degradation.

Dual functional heterojunctions of tungsten oxide and bismuth vanadate (WO/BiVO) photoanodes are developed and their applications in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting and mineralization of glycerol are demonstrated. The thin-film WO/BiVO photoelectrode was fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method. The morphology, chemical composition, crystalline structure, chemical state, and optical absorption properties of the WO/BiVO photoelectrodes were characterized systematically.

National Follow-up Survey of Preventable Trauma Death Rate in Korea.

Background: The preventable trauma death rate survey is a basic tool for the quality management of trauma treatment because it is a method that can intuitively evaluate the level of national trauma treatment. We conducted this study as a national biennial follow-up survey project and report the results of the review of the 2019 trauma death data in Korea.

Methods: From January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, of a total of 8,482 trauma deaths throughout the country, 1,692 were sampled from 279 emergency medical institutions in Korea.

Controllable Acceleration and Deceleration of Charge Carrier Transport in Metal-Halide Perovskite Single-Crystal by Cs-Cation Induced Bandgap Engineering.

Charge carrier transport in materials is of essential importance for photovoltaic and photonic applications. Here, the authors demonstrate a controllable acceleration or deceleration of charge carrier transport in specially structured metal-alloy perovskite (MACs)PbI (MA= CH NH ) single-crystals with a gradient composition of CsPbI /(MA Cs )PbI /MAPbI . Depending on the Cs-cation distribution in the structure and therefore the energy band alignment, two different effects are demonstrated: i) significant acceleration of electron transport across the depth driven by the gradient band alignment and suppression of electron-hole recombination, benefiting for photovoltaic and detector applications; and ii) decelerated electron transport and thus improved radiative carrier recombination and emission efficiency, highly beneficial for light and display applications.

Surface plasmon-driven photoelectrochemical water splitting of a Ag/TiO nanoplate photoanode.

A silver/titanium dioxide nanoplate (Ag/TiO NP) photoelectrode was designed and fabricated from vertically aligned TiO nanoplates (NP) decorated with silver nanoparticles (NPs) through a simple hydrothermal synthesis and electrodeposition route. The electrodeposition times of Ag NPs on the TiO NP were crucial for surface plasmon-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting performance. The Ag/TiO NP at the optimal deposition time of 5 min with a Ag element content of 0.

Self-Plugging Microneedle (SPM) for Intravitreal Drug Delivery.

Intravitreal injection (IVI) is a common technology which is used to treat ophthalmic diseases inside eyeballs by delivering various drugs into the vitreous cavity using hypodermic needles. However, in some cases, there are possible side effects such as ocular tissue damage due to repeated injection or eyeball infection through the hole created during the needle retraction process. The best scenario of IVI is a one-time injection of drugs without needle retraction, keeping the system of the eyeball closed.

Nanosphere Lithography: A Versatile Approach to Develop Transparent Conductive Films for Optoelectronic Applications.

Transparent conductive films (TCFs) are irreplaceable components in most optoelectronic applications such as solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, sensors, smart windows, and bioelectronics. The shortcomings of existing traditional transparent conductors demand the development of new material systems that are both transparent and electrically conductive, with variable functionality to meet the requirements of new generation optoelectronic devices. In this respect, TCFs with periodic or irregular nanomesh structures have recently emerged as promising candidates, which possess superior mechanical properties in comparison with conventional metal oxide TCFs.

National trauma system establishment based on implementation of regional trauma centers improves outcomes of trauma care: A follow-up observational study in South Korea.

Although South Korea is a high-income country, its trauma system is comparable to low- and middle-income countries with high preventable trauma death rates of more than 30%. Since 2012, South Korea has established a national trauma system based on the implementation of regional trauma centers and improvement of the transfer system; this study aimed to evaluate its effectiveness. We compared the national preventable trauma death rates, transfer patterns, and outcomes between 2015 and 2017.

Inner Ear Symptoms Are Prevalent in Patients with High Head Abbreviated Injury Scale Scores after Blunt Head Trauma.

Introduction: The purpose of this article was to determine the prevalence of inner ear symptoms in patients with blunt head trauma and to explore whether the severity of head trauma was associated with the incidence of such symptoms.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 56 patients admitted with blunt head trauma who underwent audiovestibular evaluation within 1 month after injury. Two scales were used to measure the severity of trauma; these were the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and the Head Abbreviated Injury Scale (H-AIS).

Coal beneficiation technology to reduce hazardous heavy metals in fly ash.

Fly ash emitted from the coal-fired power plant is the major contributor of the outdoor airborne particulate matters (PMs). Coal beneficiation, an industrial process to improve the quality of raw coal by removing ash-bearing components, can be a cost-effective sustainable and clean technology to reduce the emission of hazardous trace metals. As the removal efficiency of mineral matters and heavy metals within the coal is depend highly on the raw coal and the employed beneficiation process, a wide range of case studies at laboratory- and industrial-scale, published in the last 20 years, are reviewed in this study.

Periodic nanostructures: preparation, properties and applications.

Periodic nanostructures, a group of nanomaterials consisting of single or multiple nano units/components periodically arranged into ordered patterns (e.g., vertical and lateral superlattices), have attracted tremendous attention in recent years due to their extraordinary physical and chemical properties that offer a huge potential for a multitude of applications in energy conversion, electronic and optoelectronic applications.

Efficient and Rapid Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange Dye Using Al/ZnO Nanoparticles.

ZnO and Aluminum doped ZnO nanoparticles (Al/ZnO NPs) were successfully synthesized by the sol-gel method. Together with the effect of calcination temperatures (200, 300 and 400 °C) and Al dosage (1%, 3%, 5% and 10%) on structural, morphological and optical properties of Al/ZnO NPs, their photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye was investigated. The calcination temperatures at 200, 300 and 400 °C in forming structure of ZnO NPs led to spherical nanoparticle, nanorod and nanoflake structures with a well-crystalline hexagonal wurtzite, respectively.

Impacts of Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Outbreaks in Korea: Level 1 Trauma Center Data of Domestic Incidents and Intentional Injury.

Objectives: As a protective measure to slow down the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 in Korea, social distancing was implemented from February 29, 2020. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of domestic incidents and intentional injury during March 2020 when social distancing was in effect.

Methods: There were 12,638 patients who visited the Level 1 trauma center of Chungnam province with injuries from domestic incidents, familial discord, and intentional injury.

Photosynthetic Nanomaterial Hybrids for Bioelectricity and Renewable Energy Systems.

Harvesting solar energy in the form of electricity from the photosynthesis of plants, algal cells, and bacteria has been researched as the most environment-friendly renewable energy technology in the last decade. The primary challenge has been the engineering of electrochemical interfacing with photosynthetic apparatuses, organelles, or whole cells. However, with the aid of low-dimensional nanomaterials, there have been many advances, including enhanced photon absorption, increased generation of photosynthetic electrons (PEs), and more efficient transfer of PEs to electrodes.

Treatment Experiences of Traumatic Brain Injury Patients using Doctor-Helicopter Emergency Medical Service: Early Data in a Regional Trauma Center.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the results of doctor helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients and to understand the effect and improvement of doctor HEMS.

Methods: We included TBI patients transferred by doctor HEMS of our hospital between February 2016 and December 2017. Basic characteristics, HEMS data, treatment and results data were analyzed retrospectively.

Bifunctional photoelectrochemical process for humic acid degradation and hydrogen production using multi-layered p-type CuO photoelectrodes with plasmonic Au@TiO.

Bifunctional photoelectrochemical (PEC) process for simultaneous hydrogen production and mineralisation of humic acid in water using TiO-1 wt% Au@TiO/AlO/CuO multi-layered p-type photoelectrodes is demonstrated. The newly designed bifunctional PEC system leads to a high degradation efficiency of dissolved humic compounds, the target pollutant, by up to 87% during 2 h reaction time. Simultaneously, humic acid is also served as a sacrificial electron donor in the proposed system, contributing to a high photocurrent density of the multi-layered p-type CuO photoelectrodes up to -6.