Ewha Womans University

Native tissues exhibit hierarchical structures of anisotropically arranged extracellular matrix that dynamically regulate stem cells and tissue function. However, neither multiscale nano‐anisotropy nor dynamic anisotropy control have been reported. In this study, spherical or rod‐shaped gold small‐nanomaterials (at integrin receptor‐scale; tens of nanometers) are coupled to the surface of spherical or rod‐shaped magnetic large‐nanomaterials (at focal adhesion complex‐scale; hundreds of nanometers), with both showing constant surface areas at each respective scale. Each hierarchical nanocomposite is flexibly conjugated to the substrate material surface at constant densities, resulting in dual‐scale liganded nano‐anisotropies. Increasing the aspect ratio of liganded nanomaterials at the hundreds of nanometer‐scale dominantly promotes integrin recruitment, focal adhesion, mechanotransduction, and differentiation of stem cells over that at the tens of nanometer‐scale. Such scale‐specific liganded nano‐anisotropy effects on stem cell regulation are temporally regulated both in vitro and in vivo by physically raising or lowering hierarchical nanocomposites to respectively inhibit or stimulate stem cell adhesion and differentiation on curved surfaces by modulating cell membrane bending. Such unprecedented “dynamic dual‐scale ligand anisotropy” can be independently engineered regarding material scales, anisotropies, and ligands to elucidate scale‐specific dynamic cell‐material interactions and allow for multimodal stem cell regulation to enhance tissue‐regenerative therapy.

Purpose This study explored recent trends in the fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) intervention among breast cancer survivors (BCSs) from January 2020 to December 2024 to provide up-to-date evidence that can guide future care improvements. Methods A systematic review was conducted using a predefined search strategy for studies published in RISS, DBPIA, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science up to December 5, 2024. The titles and abstracts were screened, and full-text reviews and data extraction were completed. Data extracted included participant characteristics, intervention details, and outcomes. The study quality was assessed using Cochrane RoB 2.0 and ROBINS-I tools. Results This review analyzed 12 FCR intervention programs involving 895 BCSs. Various interventions, including cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness therapy, were implemented. Programs differed in frequency, duration, and delivery mode, with six delivered online and six offline. The follow-up period ranged from 4 to 24 weeks. Ten studies reported significantly lower FCR in the intervention groups than in the control groups, with FCR scores reducing over time relative to baseline. Conclusions This review demonstrated the effectiveness of psychological interventions in reducing FCR and highlights the need for tailored, adaptable approaches incorporating online and offline delivery methods. Healthcare providers play a crucial role in delivering these interventions, and adequate training in evidence-based strategies is essential for optimizing outcomes. Standardized protocols and structured follow-up strategies are necessary for sustaining long-term benefits. Future research should explore long-term impacts and establish adherence criteria to optimize intervention feasibility. Implications for cancer survivors. Established and non-traditional interventions, including CBT, mindfulness-based interventions, ACT, and CALM, can help BCSs manage FCR. Interventions delivered through online and offline formats improve accessibility, while structured follow-up strategies enhance adherence and support long-term benefits. Survivor-centered care through tailored strategies can sustain long-term outcomes.

Quantitative measurement of protein–protein interactions (PPIs) within living cells is vital for understanding their cellular functions at the molecular level and for applications in synthetic biology, protein engineering, and drug discovery. Although several techniques have been developed to measure PPI strength in vitro, direct measurement of PPI strength within living bacterial cells remains challenging. Here, a method for quantitatively measuring PPIs by determining the dissociation constant (Kd) in living E. coli using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), a technique termed KD‐FRET, is reported. It is found that the direct excitation of the acceptor fluorophore among spectral crosstalks primarily results in non‐interacting pairs exhibiting an apparent Kd, leading to false‐positive signals. KD‐FRET proves highly effective in quantifying various PPI Kd values, including both heterologous and homologous pairs. Moreover, KD‐FRET enables the quantification of Kd for interaction pairs that are unmeasurable in vitro owing to their instability under standard buffer conditions. KD‐FRET is successfully applied in the development of a novel synthetic biology tool to enhance naringenin production in E. coli and lycopene production in S. cerevisiae by precisely engineering metabolic pathway. These results demonstrate the potential of KD‐FRET as a powerful tool for studying PPIs in their native cellular environments.

Objective Little is known about the actual practice of self-prescription among physicians, especially with regard to potentially habit-forming drugs. This study was conducted to provide a description of self-prescription of opioids, sedative-hypnotics, and other psychotropic medications among all physicians in South Korea. Methods The self-prescription data on physicians from 2020 to 2023 were obtained from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The prevalence of self-prescription and the average number of pills of self-prescribed potentially habit-forming drugs were presented in comparison with the prescription of these drugs among the general population. Results The total number of practicing physicians in Korea ranged from 110,492 in 2020 to 118,951 in 2023. About seven percent of practicing physicians self-prescribed opioids, sedative-hypnotics, or other potentially habit-forming drugs, which was less than one fifth the proportion of prescription of these types of drugs among the general population. Zolpidem was the most commonly self-prescribed medication, with other sedatives, anxiolytics, and appetite suppressants also being frequently self-prescribed. Although the prevalence of self-prescription among physicians was lower than the prevalence of similar prescriptions in the general population, the number of pills of these medications per physician who self-prescribed was higher than that prescribed in the general population. Conclusions Despite lower prevalence of self-prescription of opioids, sedative-hypnotics, and other potentially habit-forming drugs compared to prescriptions of these medications given out to the general population, the higher number of units of these self-prescribed drugs compared to prescriptions among the general population suggests that self-prescribing could be associated with utilization of more potentially habit-forming drugs than necessary, at least for some physicians. If these results are confirmed, closer monitoring of such self-prescribing habits among physicians in South Korea may be needed.

This study examines the relationship between food insecurity and multiple chronic diseases among Korean older adults with disabilities while identifying sociodemographic and disability‐related characteristics associated with both conditions. Using data from the 2020 Disability Life Panel Survey of Korea, which included 2161 disabled individuals aged 60 or older, we conducted frequency analysis, chi‐square tests, and multinomial logistic regression. The analysis revealed that 24.85% faced high food insecurity risk and 45.49% had multiple chronic diseases. Those at high risk for both conditions were more likely to be female, less educated, unemployed, and in low‐income households. Even after controlling for sociodemographic and disability‐related factors, those at a higher risk of food insecurity were significantly more likely to have multiple chronic diseases. This result indicates that food security can play a protective role in reducing the risk of multiple chronic diseases. These insights may assist in developing targeted prevention strategies and health policies for older adults with disabilities, emphasizing the importance of food security interventions in chronic disease management.

Nature typically creates white and black structural coloration through disordered, dense assemblies of scatterers and absorbers that scatter and absorb light uniformly across the visible range, respectively. However, this approach conflicts with structural coloration designs for vibrant hues, which use ordered and uniform nanostructures. This structural discrepancy presents a challenge when trying to incorporate white and black alongside other colors in dynamic structural colors. Herein, a dynamic reflective coloration strategy is demonstrated, capable of switching between white, black, and other hues from ordered nanostructures. This is accomplished by exploiting reversible Cu electrodeposition within the slits of a nanograting and observing its cross‐polarized reflection, resolving colors from the grating birefringence. By electrochemically modulating the Cu thickness, birefringence is selectively activated, mixed, and eliminated from photonic (Rayleigh‐Wood) and near‐plasmonic resonances, producing blue, orange, white, and black colors. These results offer a pathway to dynamic white and black structural coloration compatible with ordered nanostructures.

A voluminous literature focuses on the associations between social capital and its potential health benefits. Against this backdrop, our study investigates the downside of interpersonal connectedness, i.e., social negativity and its relationship to negative affect. Based on multilevel analysis of the International Social Survey Programme (2017) data consisting of 31,967 individuals nested across 28 low- and high-income countries, we find significant associations between negative social ties and two measures of negative affect: loneliness and depression. We also hypothesize and test two cross-level interactions. First, we anticipate that the focal link between social negativity and the outcome is stronger (weaker) in individualist (collectivist) cultures characterized by the independent (interdependent) self-construal. Second, we also investigate whether the magnitude of this relationship becomes diminished in cultures that rank higher on Hofstede’s power distance index. Results from alternative model specifications provide robust evidence supporting the moderating role of macro cultural dimensions.

The increasing prevalence of multimorbidity and the co-occurrence of multiple chronic diseases presents a measurable challenge to public health, impacting healthcare strategies and planning. This study aimed to explore disease patterns and temporal clustering using data from South Korea’s National Health Insurance Service, spanning 2002–2019. The dataset included approximately 1 million individuals, focusing on those with at least two chronic diseases while excluding individuals who died within five years of follow-up. We analyzed 126 non-communicable diseases, considering only those with a prevalence above 1%, and applied a wash-out period to determine incidence. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) were used to identify disease clustering over time. Participants were divided into four groups: men and women in their 50 s and 60 s. EFA identified five patterns in men in their 50 s and seven in their 60 s, while four patterns emerged in women in their 50 s and five in their 60 s. NMF identified 10 clusters for men in their 50 s, 15 in their 60 s, and 16 clusters for women in both age groups. Our study confirms established comorbidity patterns and reveals previously unrecognized clusters, providing data-driven insights into multimorbidity mechanisms and supporting evidence-based healthcare strategies.

The standard semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation for quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP) problems generally cannot obtain an exact optimal solution. However, if the optimal solution of the SDP relaxation is of rank-1, then that of QCQP can be constructed. Cosse and Demanet (Found Comput Math 21:891–940, 2021) employed this condition for a rank-one matrix completion problem using the sum-of-squares (SOS) relaxation, which is the dual of the Lasserre’s relaxation. In this paper, we analyze the conditions under which the SOS relaxation provides an exact solution to the rank-one matrix completion problem. In particular, our focus is on obtaining the rank-$(N-1)$ dual variable matrix of dimension N, a condition satisfied when the coefficient matrix of the objective function in the SOS relaxation problem exhibits an arrowhead structure. We relax the assumption of the explicit chain structure in Cosse and Demanet (Found Comput Math 21:891–940, 2021), and derive a weaker condition for the SDP relaxation to yield an exact solution compared to the explicit chain structure. We also present a numerical algorithm to find the coefficient matrix with the arrowhead structure, and numerical experiments illustrate the validity of the proposed algorithm.

The complex interaction of spin, valley and lattice degrees of freedom allows natural materials to create exotic topological phenomena. The interplay between topological wave materials and hydrodynamics could offer promising opportunities for visualizing topological physics and manipulating bioparticle unconventionally. Here we present topological acoustofluidic chips to illustrate the complex interaction between elastic valley spin and nonlinear fluid dynamics. We created valley streaming vortices and chiral swirling patterns for backward-immune particle transport. Using tracer particles, we observed arrays of clockwise and anticlockwise valley vortices due to an increase in elastic spin density. Moreover, we discovered exotic topological pressure wells in fluids, creating nanoscale trapping fields for manipulating DNA molecules. We also found a 93.2% modulation in the bandwidth of edge states, dependent on the orientation of the substrate’s crystallographic structure. Our study sets the stage for uncovering topological acoustofluidic phenomena and visualizing elastic valley spin, revealing the potential for topological-material applications in life sciences.

As social networks and related data processes have grown exponentially in complexity, the efficient resolution of combinatorial optimization problems has become increasingly crucial. Recent advancements in probabilistic computing approaches have demonstrated significant potential for addressing these problems more efficiently than conventional deterministic computing methods. In this study, we demonstrate a highly durable probabilistic bit (p‐bit) device utilizing two‐dimensional materials, specifically hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) and tin disulfide (SnS2) nanosheets. By leveraging the inherently stochastic nature of electron trapping and detrapping at the h‐BN/SnS2 interface, the device achieves durable probabilistic fluctuations over 10⁸ cycles with minimal energy consumption. To mitigate the static power consumption, we integrated an active switch in series with a p‐bit device, replacing conventional resistors. Furthermore, employing the pulse width as the control variable for probabilistic switching significantly enhances noise immunity. We demonstrate the practical application of the proposed p‐bit device in implementing invertible Boolean logic gates and subsequent integer factorization, highlighting its potential for solving complex combinatorial optimization problems and extending its applicability to real‐world scenarios such as cryptographic systems. image

Multilayer transition metal dichalcogenides (ML‐TMDs) with commensurate, incommensurate, and reconstructed structures, have emerged as a class of 2D materials with unique properties that differ significantly from their monolayer counterparts. While previous research has focused on monolayers, the discovery of various novel properties has sparked interest in multilayers with diverse structures engineered through stacking. These materials are characterized by interactions between layers and exhibit remarkable tunability in their structural, optical, and electronic behaviors depending on stacking order, twist angle, and interlayer coupling. This review provides an overview of ML‐TMDs and explores their properties such as electronic band structure, optical responses, ferroelectricity, and anomalous Hall effect. Various synthetic methods employed to fabricate ML‐TMDs, including mechanical stacking and chemical vapor deposition techniques, with an emphasis on achieving precise control of the twist angles and layer configurations, are discussed. This study further explores potential applications of ML‐TMDs in nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and quantum devices, where their unique properties can be harnessed for next‐generation technologies. The critical role played by these materials in the development of future electronic and quantum devices is highlighted.

Multiple enzymatic biotransformation of methanol into ethanolamine via formaldehyde and glycolaldehyde was investigated. After discovery of an amine transaminase (ATA), the transamination reaction was connected to condensation of formaldehyde into glycolaldehyde. The ATA from Silicibacter pomeroyi (SpATA), which showed broad substrate spectrum from C4 to C14 aliphatic aldehydes, was able to catalyze the transamination of glycolaldehyde into ethanolamine. The kinetic studies revealed that KM, kcat, and kcat/KM values for glycolaldehyde were 4.3 mM, 2.4 s−1, and 0.56 mM−1 s−1, respectively. The cascade transformation of methanol into ethanolamine via formaldehyde and glycolaldehyde by the isolated alcohol oxidase from Hypoxylon sp., glyoxylate carboligase from Escherichia coli, and the recombinant E. coli cells expressing the SpATA led to production of ethanolamine to a bioconversion of 42%. This study will contribute to valorization of C1 chemicals into industrially relevant multi-carbon products.

In this article, I revisit radical, cultural, and lesbian feminist manifestos from the 1960s and 1970s, such as Shulamith Firestone’s The dialectic of sex , the Radicalesbians’ “The woman-identified woman,” and “The fourth world manifesto” by Barbara Burris et al. I highlight a historical and political shift from the nonlinear temporality of the feminist revolution to the spatiality of women’s culture. This shift, overlapping with what feminist historian Alice Echols describes as “an eclipse of radical feminism” by cultural feminism, is symptomatic and indicative of an agential crisis emerging from the utopian drive of radical feminism. The failure or indefinite postponement of the feminist revolution pushed radical feminism toward the spatial politics of separatism, in which cultural and lesbian feminists found temporary yet sustainable refuge from a patriarchal society. The cultural feminist politics of the women’s space offered a utopian refuge for radical feminists whose desire for feminist revolution did not materialize. However, it initiated feminist hostility against transwomen, establishing a historical presage of the contemporary anti-trans feminist movement. In revisiting textual remnants of feminist history, this article critically intervenes with contemporary anti-trans feminist discourse that politically appropriates the cultural legacies of radical feminism in its essentialist tropes of “real women.”