BACKGROUND: The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling is critical for the maintenance and differentiation of neurogenesis, and conceivably for many other brain developmental processes. However, in vivo studies of mTOR functions in the brain are often hampered due to the essential role of the associated signaling in brain development. METHODS: We monitored the long- and short-term effects of mTOR signaling regulation on cerebral organoids growth, differentiation and function using an mTOR inhibitor (everolimus) and an mTOR activator (MHY1485). RESULTS: Short-term treatment with MHY1485 induced faster organoid growth and differentiation, while long-term treatment induced the maturation of cerebral organoids. CONCLUSION These data suggest that the optimal activity of mTOR is crucial in maintaining normal brain development, and its role is not confined to the early neurogenic phase of brain development.

Background: Since the declaration of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, COVID-19 has affected the responses of emergency medical service (EMS) systems to cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on EMS responses to and outcomes of adult OHCA in an area of South Korea. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of adult OHCA patients attended by EMS providers comparing the EMS responses to and outcomes of adult OHCA during the COVID-19 pandemic to those during the pre-COVID-19 period. Propensity score matching was used to compare the survival rates, and logistic regression analysis was used to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the survival of OHCA patients. Results: A total of 891 patients in the pre-COVID-19 group and 1,063 patients in the COVID-19 group were included in the final analysis. During the COVID-19 period, the EMS call time was shifted to a later time period (16:00–24:00, P < 0.001), and the presence of an initial shockable rhythm was increased (pre-COVID-19 vs. COVID-19, 7.97% vs. 11.95%, P = 0.004). The number of tracheal intubations decreased (5.27% vs. 1.22%, P < 0.001), and the use of mechanical chest compression devices (30.53% vs. 44.59%, P < 0.001) and EMS response time (median [quartile 1-quartile 3], 7 [5–10] vs. 8 [6–11], P < 0.001) increased. After propensity score matching, the survival at admission rate (22.52% vs. 18.24%, P = 0.025), survival to discharge rate (7.77% vs. 5.52%, P = 0.056), and favorable neurological outcome (5.97% vs. 3.49%, P < 0.001) decreased. In the propensity score matching analysis of the impact of COVID-19, odds ratios of 0.768 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.592–0.995) for survival at admission and 0.693 (95% CI, 0.446–1.077) for survival to discharge were found. Conclusion During the COVID-19 period, there were significant changes in the EMS responses to OHCA. These changes are considered to be partly due to social distancing measures. As a result, the proportion of patients with an initial shockable rhythm in the COVID-19 period was greater than that in the pre-COVID-19 period, but the final survival rate and favorable neurological outcome were lower.

Background: Since the declaration of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, COVID-19 has affected the responses of emergency medical service (EMS) systems to cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on EMS responses to and outcomes of adult OHCA in an area of South Korea. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of adult OHCA patients attended by EMS providers comparing the EMS responses to and outcomes of adult OHCA during the COVID-19 pandemic to those during the pre-COVID-19 period. Propensity score matching was used to compare the survival rates, and logistic regression analysis was used to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the survival of OHCA patients. Results: A total of 891 patients in the pre-COVID-19 group and 1,063 patients in the COVID-19 group were included in the final analysis. During the COVID-19 period, the EMS call time was shifted to a later time period (16:00–24:00, P < 0.001), and the presence of an initial shockable rhythm was increased (pre-COVID-19 vs. COVID-19, 7.97% vs. 11.95%, P = 0.004). The number of tracheal intubations decreased (5.27% vs. 1.22%, P < 0.001), and the use of mechanical chest compression devices (30.53% vs. 44.59%, P < 0.001) and EMS response time (median [quartile 1-quartile 3], 7 [5–10] vs. 8 [6–11], P < 0.001) increased. After propensity score matching, the survival at admission rate (22.52% vs. 18.24%, P = 0.025), survival to discharge rate (7.77% vs. 5.52%, P = 0.056), and favorable neurological outcome (5.97% vs. 3.49%, P < 0.001) decreased. In the propensity score matching analysis of the impact of COVID-19, odds ratios of 0.768 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.592–0.995) for survival at admission and 0.693 (95% CI, 0.446–1.077) for survival to discharge were found. Conclusion During the COVID-19 period, there were significant changes in the EMS responses to OHCA. These changes are considered to be partly due to social distancing measures. As a result, the proportion of patients with an initial shockable rhythm in the COVID-19 period was greater than that in the pre-COVID-19 period, but the final survival rate and favorable neurological outcome were lower.

Until now microsatellite (MS) have been a popular choice of markers for parentage verification. Recently many countries have moved or are in process of moving from MS markers to single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for parentage testing. FAO-ISAG has also come up with a panel of 200 SNPs to replace the use of MS markers in parentage verification. However, in many countries most of the animals were genotyped by MS markers till now and the sudden shift to SNP markers will render the data of those animals useless. As National Institute of Animal Science in South Korea plans to move from standard ISAG recommended MS markers to SNPs, it faces the dilemma of exclusion of old animals that were genotyped by MS markers. Thus to facilitate this shift from MS to SNPs, such that the existing animals with MS data could still be used for parentage verification, this study was performed. In the current study we performed imputation of MS markers from the SNPs in the 500-kb region of the MS marker on either side. This method will provide an easy option for the labs to combine the data from the old and the current set of animals. It will be a cost efficient replacement of genotyping with the additional markers. We used 1,480 Hanwoo animals with both the MS data and SNP data to impute in the validation animals. We also compared the imputation accuracy between BovineSNP50 and BovineHD BeadChip. In our study the genotype concordance of 40% and 43% was observed in the BovineSNP50 and BovineHD BeadChip respectively.
Animals ; Cattle ; Genotype ; Korea* ; Methods ; Microsatellite Repeats* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide