The harmony of ink and printing method is of importance in producing on-demand droplets and jets of ink. Many factors including the material properties, the processing conditions, and the nozzle geometry affect the printing quality. In electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing where droplets or jets are generated by the electrostatic force, the physical as well as the electrical properties of the fluid should be taken into account to achieve the desired performance. In this study, a systematic approach was suggested for finding the processing windows of the EHD printing. Six dimensionless parameters were organized and applied to the printing system of ethanol/terpineol mixtures. On the basis of the correlation of the dimensionless voltage and the charge relaxation length, the jet diameter of cone-jet mode was characterized, and the semicone angle was compared with the theoretical Taylor angle. In addition, the ratio of electric normal force and electric tangential force on the charged surface of the Taylor cone was recommended as a parameter that determines the degree of cone-jet stability. The cone-jet became more stable as this ratio got smaller. This approach was a systematic and effective way of obtaining the Taylor cone of the cone-jet mode and evaluating the jetting stability. The control of the inks with optimized experimental parameters by this method will improve the jetting performance in EHD inkjet printing.

Stable drop jettability is mandatory for a successful, technical scale inkjet printing, and accordingly, this aspect has attracted much attention in fundamental and applied research. Previous studies were mainly focused on Newtonian fluids or polymer solutions. Here, we have investigated the drop jetting for zinc oxide (ZnO) particulate suspensions. Generally, the inverse Ohnesorge number Z = Oh–1, which relates viscous forces to inertia and surface tension, is sufficient to predict the jettability of single phase fluids. For the inkjet printer setup used here, jetting was possible for Newtonian fluids with 2.5 < Z < 26, but in the identical Z-range, nonjetting and nozzle clogging occurred for certain suspensions. A so-called ring-slit device, which allows for simultaneous formation and detection of aggregates in strongly converging flow fields, and single particle detecting techniques, which allow for an accurate determination of the number and size of micrometer-sized aggregates in suspensions of nanoparticles, were used to study this phenomenon. Nozzle clogging is induced by heterocoagulation of micrometer-sized aggregates and ZnO nanoparticles in the elongational flow field at the nozzle exit. Clogging may occur even if the size of these aggregates is well below the nozzle diameter and their concentration is on the order of only a few hundred parts per million (ppm). Accordingly, increased colloidal stability of nanoparticles and reduced aggregate concentration result in better drop jettability. Also, a nozzle design resulting in a shorter exposure time of the ink to elongational flow and an increased flow velocity helps to avoid nozzle clogging.

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of consuming dairy yogurt containing Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei (L. paracasei), Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis (B. lactis) and heat-treated Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) on immune function. A randomized, open-label, placebo-controlled study was conducted on 200 nondiabetic subjects. Over a twelve-week period, the test group consumed dairy yogurt containing probiotics each day, whereas the placebo group consumed milk. Natural killer (NK) cell activity, interleukin (IL)-12 and immunoglobulin (Ig) G1 levels were significantly increased in the test group at twelve weeks compared to baseline. Additionally, the test group had significantly greater increases in serum NK cell activity and interferon (IFN)-γ and IgG1 than placebo group. Daily consumption of dairy yogurt containing L. paracasei, B. lactis and heat-treated L. plantarum could be an effective option to improve immune function by enhancing NK cell function and IFN-γ concentration (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03051425).

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) catalyze the formation of fatty acid hydroperoxides involved in responses to stresses. This study examines the expression of a non-traditional dual positional specific maize LOX in response to wounding or methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Full-length maize LOX cDNA was expressed in Escherichia coli, and recombinant LOX was purified and characterized enzymatically. RP-HPLC and GC-MS analysis showed that the purified LOX converts alpha-linolenic acid into 13-hydroperoxylinolenic acid and 9-hydroperoxylinolenic acid in a 6:4 ratio. LOX mRNA accumulated rapidly and transiently in response to wounding reaching a peak of expression about 3 h after wounding. This increase followed an initial increase in endogenous jasmonic acid (JA) 1 h after wounding (JA burst). However, the expression of LOX induced by MeJA lasted longer than the expression induced by wounding, and the MeJA-induced expression seemed to be biphasic pattern composed of early and late phases. The expression of LOX in the presence of inhibitors of JA biosynthesis was not completely inhibited, but delayed in wound response and the expression period was shortened in MeJA response. These results suggest that wound-responsive JA burst may trigger the early phase of LOX expression which facilitates biosynthesis of endogenous JA through its 13-LOX activity, and subsequently leads to the activation of the late phase LOX expression in MeJA-treated maize seedlings. Implications of dual positional specificity of maize LOX in the observed expression kinetics are discussed.

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BackgroundThe vulnerability approach suggests that disasters such as epidemics have different effects according not only to physical vulnerability but also to economic class (status). This paper examines the effect of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome epidemic on the labor market to investigate whether vulnerable groups become more vulnerable due to an interaction between the socio-economic structure and physical risk.MethodsThis paper examines the effect of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome epidemic on the labor market by considering unemployment status, job status, working hours, reason for unemployment and underemployment status. In particular, the study investigates whether the U-shaped curve becomes a J-shaped curve due to the interaction between medical vulnerability and labor market vulnerability after an outbreak, assuming that the relative vulnerability in the labor market by age shows a U curve with peaks for the young group and middle aged and old aged groups using the Economically Active Population Survey. We use the difference in difference approach and also conduct a falsification check and robustness check.ResultsThe results suggest that older workers faced a higher possibility of unemployment after the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak. In particular, they experienced higher involuntary unemployment and underemployment status as well as decreased working hours. It was confirmed that the relative vulnerability of the labor market for older workers was higher than for the other age groups after the epidemic outbreak due to the double whammy of vulnerability in the medical and labor market. The vulnerability in the young group partially increased compared to the 30s and 40s age groups due to their relative vulnerability in the labor market despite being healthy. We find that assuming the relative vulnerability in the existing labor market shows a U shape with age increase, the U-shaped curve became J-shaped after the outbreak.ConclusionsDisasters like epidemics can occur unexpectedly and affect certain groups more than other. Therefore, medical protection should be enhanced for groups vulnerable to disease and economic measures are also required for the protection of their livelihoods in the labor market to prevent unemployment stemming from inequality.

BackgroundVisceral fat accumulation in overweight status has been resulted in changes of fatty acid profiles. The fatty acids profiles can be altered by fatty acid desaturase; the activity of which is highly associated with obesity and other metabolic diseases. We hypothesized that fatty acid composition, desaturase activity, and accumulation of visceral fat are interrelated. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between increased visceral fat area and alterations in plasma fatty acid profile in overweight subjects with different amounts of visceral fat.MethodsHealthy overweight subjects (25.0 kg/m2 ≤ BMI < 30 kg/m2, n=232) were classified into lower (T1), middle (T2), and upper tertiles (T3) according to L4 visceral fat area (T1: <71.8 cm2, T2: 71.8 cm2–99.6 cm2, T3: >99.6 cm2).ResultsThe T3 group showed higher amounts of cis-10-heptadecenoic acid and activity of C16 Δ9-desaturase and C18 Δ9-desaturase and lower activity of Δ5-desaturase than the T1 group. Additionally, the T3 group showed higher amounts of saturated fatty acids, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, monounsaturated fatty acids, palmitoleic acid, oleic acid, n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid, dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, arachidonic acid, n-3 PUFAs, and docosapentaenoic acid than the T1 and T2 groups.ConclusionsThis study indicates that greater than a certain area (>99.6 cm2) of visceral fat is needed to observe altered levels of individual fatty acid species and desaturase activities. The results suggest that increased activity of C16 Δ9-desaturase and C18 Δ9-desaturase in parallel with decreased Δ5-desaturase activity may be a causative factor in disturbed fatty acid metabolism.

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