The historiography of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots have several trajectories within the history of Los Angeles that reshape the contours of the transnational turn in the humanities. The riots move the discursive framework towards a comparative scope that allows for an overlap of the structures of migration, inequality, and globalization. The state of emergency that framed the riots exposes the ideological state apparatus within multiple levels of hegemony. This dissertation synthesizes the event, the art objects, and the Kunstwollen that are intertwined to produce art historical research. A foundational understanding of the visual culture and the riots provide a clear subtext to the political and economic genealogy of art objects in this dissertation. The overarching argument in my dissertation is that art practice yields a particular kind of knowledge production. The rhetorical positions articulated by Korean American artists about the L.A. riots elucidates localized geopolitical struggles. Instead of a biographical survey of one artist, the analysis of multiple artists centered around one event propels art historical analysis towards a transdisciplinary approach that extends the hermeneutics of art practice towards cultural geography, critical media studies and epistemology. My work intervenes the rhetoric of the necessary third to fourth generation gap for the kind of assimilation and development of identity formation that should not be unilaterally assumed and applied to all immigrant histories. Rather than regurgitating a multicultural thesis, my framework uses the arguments made visual in the artwork that de-romanticizes the story of migration. Therefore my analysis of the artworks elucidates alternative approaches to Korean American history

Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) are a mucosal immune barrier essential to coordinate host-microbe crosstalk. Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory syndrome with dysfunction in multiple organs including the intestine whose epithelial barrier is deregulated. Thus, IECs are a main contributor to intestinal permeability and inflammation in sepsis. Exosomes emerge as a mediator of intercellular and inter-organic communications. Recently, IEC-derived exosomes and their cargoes, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), in sepsis were shown to regulate the expression of proinflammatory mediators in the inflamed gut tissues. It is a compelling hypothesis that these IEC exosomes exhibit their dynamic activity to deliver their functional miRNA cargoes to immune cells in local and distant organs to regulate proinflammatory responses and alleviate tissue injury. Also, epithelial tight junction (TJ) proteins are downregulated on gut inflammation. Some of the IEC miRNAs were reported to deteriorate the epithelial integrity by diminishing TJ expressions in intestines during sepsis and aging. Thus, it is worth revisiting and discussing the diverse functions of IEC exosomes and miRNAs in reshaping inflammations. This review includes both iterative and hypothetical statements based on current knowledge in this field.

Cadmium is a known renal toxin. The cytotoxic effect of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) was evaluated on renal inner medullary collecting duct cells (mIMCD3). The 24 hr LC50 value for CdCl2 in mIMCD3 cells was 40 µM. The present study showed that mIMCD3 cells were sensitive to CdCl2 exposure.

AIMS: It is not known whether the machine-smoked nicotine yield of usual brand of cigarette smoked is associated with the chances of success of quit attempts. This study aimed to assess this association. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Republic of Korea. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 16 808 male smokers registered for the Quitline between 7 April 2006 and 31 December 2013. Of these, 13 176 participants who were > 19 years of age and provided data on their demographic characteristics, smoking-related behaviors, nicotine dependence, tobacco brands used and self-efficacy were included in this study. MEASUREMENTS: Machine-smoked nicotine yield was based on information provided by tobacco companies on cigarette packages that smokers reported as their usual brand. Ultra-low nicotine yield was defined as ≤ 0.1 mg machine-smoked nicotine yield per cigarette, whereas higher nicotine yield was defined as > 0.1 mg machine-smoked nicotine yield. Participant personal information and self-reported continuous abstinence at 1-month, 6-month and 1-year follow-up were recorded in electronic databases. FINDINGS: Continuous abstinence rates in the ultra-low nicotine yield versus higher nicotine yield groups were, respectively, 40.7 versus 34.6% at 1 month [odds ratio (OR) = 1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.12-1.33], 22.7 versus 18.8% at 6 months (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.08-1.32) and 19.5 versus 16.6% (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.10-1.29) at 1 year. The association between ultra-low nicotine yield cigarette smoking and successful quitting was stronger among the smokers with higher cigarette dependence. CONCLUSIONS: Male smokers who use the Korean Quitline are more likely to quit successfully if they smoke ultra-low nicotine yield cigarettes than if they smoke higher nicotine yield cigarettes.

Ionomer thin-films (i.e., 20–100 nm) on supports serve as model systems to understand ionomer-catalyst interfacial behavior as well as the confinement-driven deviation in properties from bulk membranes. While ionomer thin-films have been examined for proton exchange ionomers, the thin-film properties of anion exchange ionomers (AEIs) remain largely unexplored. More importantly, delineating the convoluted impact of chemistry and confinement on thin-film morphology and hydration is of interest to advancing the field on functional ionic interfaces. In this work, these aspects are studied by using AEIs of different backbones (perfluorinated, aliphatic, and aromatic) and side chains (various lengths, and single versus dual functional groups). Quartz-crystal microbalance and spectroscopic ellipsometry are used to analyze density and coupled with calculated free volume fraction of thin-films to provide insights on their gas transport properties. AEI side-chain's chemical character plays a key role in how confinement modulates hydration (in thin-film versus bulk). The results elucidate the effects of backbone, side-chain chemistry versus anion/cation type in the confinement-driven changes in thin-film morphology and swelling. This study also provides new insights for tuning AEI transport functionalities at interfaces via chemistry, which can benefit the design and development of electrode-ionomers for alkaline membrane-based energy systems.

Background

Bright-blood and black-blood cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) techniques are frequently employed together during a clinical exam because of their complementary features. While valuable, existing black-blood CMR approaches are flow dependent and prone to failure. We aim to assess the effectiveness and reliability of ferumoxytol enhanced (FE) Half-Fourier Single-shot Turbo Spin-echo (HASTE) imaging without magnetization preparation pulses to yield uniform intra-luminal blood signal suppression by comparing FE-HASTE with pre-ferumoxytol HASTE imaging.

Methods

This study was IRB-approved and HIPAA compliant. Consecutive patients who were referred for FE-CMR between June 2013 and February 2017 were enrolled. Qualitative image scores reflecting the degree and reliability of blood signal suppression were based on a 3-point Likert scale, with 3 reflecting perfect suppression. For quantitative evaluation, homogeneity indices (defined as standard deviation of the left atrial signal intensity) and signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) for vascular lumens and cardiac chambers were measured.

Results

Of the 340 unique patients who underwent FE-CMR, HASTE was performed in 257. Ninety-three patients had both pre-ferumoxytol HASTE and FE-HASTE, and were included in this analysis. Qualitative image scores reflecting the degree and reliability of blood signal suppression were significantly higher for FE-HASTE images (2.9 [IQR 2.8-3.0] vs 1.8 [IQR 1.6-2.1], p < 0.001). Inter-reader agreement was moderate (k = 0.50, 95% CI 0.45-0.55). Blood signal suppression was more complete on FE-HASTE images than on pre-ferumoxytol HASTE, as indicated by lower mean homogeneity indices (24.5 [IQR 18.0-32.8] vs 108.0 [IQR 65.0-170.4], p < 0.001) and lower blood pool SNR for all regions (5.6 [IQR 3.2-10.0] vs 21.5 [IQR 12.5-39.4], p < 0.001).

Conclusion

FE-HASTE black-blood imaging offers an effective, reliable, and simple approach for flow independent blood signal suppression. The technique holds promise as a fast and routine complement to bright-blood cardiovascular imaging with ferumoxytol.

Aims

It is not known whether the machine-smoked nicotine yield of usual brand of cigarette smoked is associated with the chances of success of quit attempts. This study aimed to assess this association.

Design

Prospective study.

Setting

Republic of Korea.

Participants

A total of 16 808 male smokers registered for the Quitline between 7 April 2006 and 31 December 2013. Of these, 13 176 participants who were > 19 years of age and provided data on their demographic characteristics, smoking-related behaviors, nicotine dependence, tobacco brands used and self-efficacy were included in this study.

Measurements

Machine-smoked nicotine yield was based on information provided by tobacco companies on cigarette packages that smokers reported as their usual brand. Ultra-low nicotine yield was defined as ≤ 0.1 mg machine-smoked nicotine yield per cigarette, whereas higher nicotine yield was defined as > 0.1 mg machine-smoked nicotine yield. Participant personal information and self-reported continuous abstinence at 1-month, 6-month and 1-year follow-up were recorded in electronic databases.

Findings

Continuous abstinence rates in the ultra-low nicotine yield versus higher nicotine yield groups were, respectively, 40.7 versus 34.6% at 1 month [odds ratio (OR) = 1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.12-1.33], 22.7 versus 18.8% at 6 months (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.08-1.32) and 19.5 versus 16.6% (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.10-1.29) at 1 year. The association between ultra-low nicotine yield cigarette smoking and successful quitting was stronger among the smokers with higher cigarette dependence.

Conclusions

Male smokers who use the Korean Quitline are more likely to quit successfully if they smoke ultra-low nicotine yield cigarettes than if they smoke higher nicotine yield cigarettes.

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) use ion-selective membranes for transporting ionic species while separating the positive and negative electrolytes. In this paper, we report phosphoric acid doped polybenzimidazole (PBI) membranes that yield high ionic selectivity and conductivity in VRFBs. The phosphoric acid pre-treatment swells the PBI matrix irreversibly and increases its sulfuric acid doping in VRFB electrolytes. The pre-treated membranes show comparable area resistance with Nafion-212 with better selectivity towards vanadium ions. A low resistance was obtained with a reduced membrane thickness, which can reduce the overall cost of materials. The VRFB using an optimized phosphoric acid pre-treated PBI membrane demonstrates coulombic, voltage, and energy efficiencies of 99.7, 90.3, and 90.0%, respectively, at 40 mA cm−2 while achieving ∼40% higher discharge capacity compared to Nafion-212. Furthermore, the VRFB cell shows excellent cycling stability, i.e., only 6.8% or 0.068% per cycle capacity decay for 100 cycles while maintaining coulombic efficiency at >99.9% (98.5% coulombic efficiency for Nafion-212 with a capacity decay of 0.42% per cycle) proving the effectiveness of pre-treatment of phosphoric acid on PBI membranes.

Contact between β-cells is necessary for their normal function. Identification of the proteins mediating the effects of β-cell-to-β-cell contact is a necessary step toward gaining a full understanding of the determinants of β-cell function and insulin secretion. The secretory machinery of the β-cells is nearly identical to that of central nervous system (CNS) synapses, and we hypothesize that the transcellular protein interactions that drive maturation of the two secretory machineries upon contact of one cell (or neural process) with another are also highly similar. Two such transcellular interactions, important for both synaptic and β-cell function, have been identified: EphA/ephrin-A and neuroligin/neurexin. Here, we tested the role of another synaptic cleft protein, CADM1, in insulinoma cells and in rat and human islet β-cells. We found that CADM1 is a predominant CADM isoform in β-cells. In INS-1 cells and primary β-cells, CADM1 constrains insulin secretion, and its expression decreases after prolonged glucose stimulation. Using a coculture model, we found that CADM1 also influences insulin secretion in a transcellular manner. We asked whether extracellular CADM1 interactions exert their influence via the same mechanisms by which they influence neurotransmitter exocytosis. Our results suggest that, as in the CNS, CADM1 interactions drive exocytic site assembly and promote actin network formation. These results support the broader hypothesis that the effects of cell-cell contact on β-cell maturation and function are mediated by the same extracellular protein interactions that drive the formation of the presynaptic exocytic machinery. These interactions may be therapeutic targets for reversing β-cell dysfunction in diabetes.