Correlations between histopathologic and dermoscopic findings in Korean actinic keratosis

Skin biopsy for AK diagnosis is usually performed on only a limited part of the whole lesion. Therefore, a clinical diagnosis is important. According to a study, there is no significant correlation between histopathological and clinical classification system. We examined the correlation between microscopic information and dermoscopic findings to deduce if dermoscopic information reflects histopathologic grade severity. Forty seven patients with histologically confirmed AK were enrolled and positive ratio of red pseudonetwork, rosette, red background and targetoid signs, white‐to‐yellow scale, white structureless area, and pigmentation from dermoscopic findings were investigated. Furthermore, viable epidermal thickness, vessel lumen dimensions, existence and thickness of ortho‐ and parakeratosis, degree of sola elastosis, flag sign existence, and Roewert‐Huber classification were measured as histologic findings. Red background did not show a significant correlation with vascular dimension or viable epidermal thickness. When targetoid sign was present, vascular dimension was significantly larger but showed no correlation with viable epidermal thickness, parakeratosis or orthokeratosis. Solar elastosis level was significantly higher when white‐to‐yellow scale was present. According to Spearman's correlation analysis, ortho/parakeratotic thickness showed correlations with each other. The negative correlation between viable epidermal thickness and vascular dimension was also shown. Roewert‐Huber histologic AK classification showed no correlation with any factors we checked. Factors considered to be characteristic features of AK in dermoscopy seemed unassociated with histologic AK classification and additional research is needed to determine degree of dysplasia of AK lesions using dermoscopy.     

Enhanced antimicrobial activity of nisin-loaded liposomal nanoparticles against foodborne pathogens

This study was designed to evaluate the prolonged antimicrobial stability of nisin-loaded liposome (LipoN) nanoparticles against Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. The sizes of bare liposomes and LipoN were uniformly distributed between 114 and 125 nm. The nanoparticles were homogeneously dispersed in water with less than 0.2 of polydispersity index. The zeta potential value of LipoN was +17.1 mV due to the positive charged nisin, attaining 70% of loading efficiency. The minimum inhibitory concentration of LipoN against L. monocytogenes and S. aureus was 320 international unit/mL. The LipoN significantly enhanced the antimicrobial stability in brain heart infusion agar compared to free nisin. The numbers of L. monocytogenes and S. aureus exposed to LipoN were effectively reduced by more than 6 log colony-forming unit/mL after 48 and 72 h of incubation, respectively. These results provide useful information for the development of antimicrobial delivery system to improve food safety.     

Gallic Acid Grafted Chitosan Has Enhanced Oxidative Stability in Bulk Oils

Gallic acid (GA) was grafted in chitosan and the effects of GA grafted chitosan (GA‐g‐CS) on the oxidative stability in bulk oil was tested at 60 and 140 °C. To text oxidative stability in oils, headspace oxygen content, conjugated dienoic acid (CDA) value, p‐anisidine value (p‐AV), and acid value were determined. Chitosan itself did not show antioxidative or prooxidative effects in oils at 60 °C. However, GA‐g‐CS and GA acted as antioxidants at 60 °C. At 140 °C heating with moisture supplied condition, different results were observed. GA‐g‐CS acted as antioxidants based on the results of CDA and p‐AV. However, chitosan showed the highest oxidative stability based on results of acid value and brown color formation at 140 °C. This could be due to reduction of moisture content by chitosan. GA was continuously released from GA‐g‐CS in bulk oil. This might have provided extra antioxidant activities to oils.     

Constituents isolated from Glehnia littoralis suppress proliferations of human cancer cells and MMP expression in HT1080 cells

Crude extract and solvent-partitioned fraction of Glehnia littoralis were found to possess different anti-proliferative effects against AGS, HT1080 and U937 human cancer cells. The crude extracts and solvent fractions dose-dependently inhibited cell proliferation. Especially, n-hexane and 85% aqueous MeOH fractions exhibited comparatively higher anti-proliferative effects and reduced expressions of Bcl-2, COX-2 and iNOS genes. Systematic separation of all solvent fractions by chromatographic methods led to the isolation of three glucopyranosides, four furanocoumarins and two polyacetylenic alcohols. All the nine compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory effects against both proliferation of human cancer cells and expressions of MMP-2 and -9 in HT1080 cells. Two polyacetylenic alcohols exerted the highest inhibitory activity against both human cancer cell lines, and MMP-2 and -9. These results suggest that G. littoralis may possibly be used as a valuable chemopreventive agent or food supplement for reducing cancer risk.     

Viscous flow of a Newtonian fluid in a curved channel with flexible moving porous walls

We consider flow of a viscous Newtonian fluid in a curved channel with moving porous walls; the upper wall is flexible and its position in unknown a priori. This work is motivated from a papermaking application namely roll forming. We solve the leading order terms in equations of motion using perturbation methods and present analytical expressions for the variation in channel size, pressure, and viscous shear. The stability of the solution is also examined and we report the conditions for marginal stability.     

Isolation and characterization of Cronobacter from desiccated foods in Korea

A total of 115 desiccated food samples, including agricultural and marine products, were investigated for the presence of Cronobacter. Cronobacter species were characterized with biochemical tests. Antibiotic resistance was assessed with the disk diffusion method, and the molecular subtypes of Cronobacter isolates were identified using an automated repetitive sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) system. A total of 18 (15.7%) Cronobacter strains were isolated from 115 desiccated food products. Fifteen Cronobacter isolates were C. sakazakii (13%), followed by 2 C. dublinensis (1.7%), and 1 C. universalis (0.9%). The most common antibiotic resistance of Cronobacter observed was against cephalothin (77.8%) followed by ampicillin (5.6%). With exception of 2 strains, all Cronobacter strains isolated from different sources were successfully differentiated by using the automated rep-PCR system, indicating that it can be used for the purpose of contamination or outbreak source tracking of the bacteria.     

Comparison of free amino acid,carbohydrates concentrations in Korean edible and medicinal mushrooms

Ten popular species of both edible and medicinal Korean mushrooms were analysed for their free amino acids and disaccharides. The average total free amino acid concentration was 120.79 mg g⁻¹ in edible mushrooms and 61.47 mg g⁻¹ in medicinal mushrooms, respectively. The average total of free amino acids for all mushrooms, edible mushrooms and medicinal mushrooms was 91.13 mg g⁻¹. Agaricus blazei (227.00 mg g⁻¹) showed the highest concentration of total free amino acids; on the other hand, Inonotus obliquus (2.00 mg g⁻¹) showed the lowest concentration among the 10 species of mushrooms. The average total carbohydrates concentration was 46.67 mg g⁻¹ in the 10 species of mushrooms, where the edible mushrooms contained 66.68 mg g⁻¹ and the medicinal mushrooms contained 26.65 mg g⁻¹. The carbohydrates constituents of the 10 mushroom species were mainly mannose (36.23%), glucose (34.70%), and xylose (16.83%).     

Determination of twisting angle of electrospun nanofiber bundle for continuous electrospinning system

Electrospinning continuously produced twisted nanofibers with a convergence coil and a rotating ring collector. The positively charged nozzle was used in the electrospinning process to deposit electrospun fibers of polyacrylonitrile onto a rotating ring collector. By withdrawing the electrospun fibers from the rotating ring collector, it was possible to spin the electrospun fibers yarn. In this study, theoretical approaches and numerical simulations were used to determine the twisting angle of the yarn. Using the equations developed in this study, we performed numerical simulations and compared the experimental results with the numerical simulation results. Mechanical properties of the fiber bundle were analyzed for twisting angle. It was confirmed the relationship among the winding drum, the ring collector, and flux of the fibers mass per time during electrospinning in the developed system. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45528.     

High thermal conductivity of spark plasma sintered silicon carbide ceramics with yttria and scandia

A fully dense SiC ceramic with a room‐temperature thermal conductivity of 262 W·(m·K)^?1 was obtained via spark plasma sintering β‐SiC powder containing 0.79 vol% Y₂O₃‐Sc₂O₃. High‐resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed two different SiC‐SiC boundaries, that is, amorphous and clean boundaries, in addition to a fully crystallized junction phase. A high thermal conductivity was attributed to a low lattice oxygen content and the presence of clean SiC‐SiC boundaries.