Summary Objectives:  We investigated the association between metabolic syndrome (MS) and health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) assessed using generalised and obesity‐specific QOL instruments. Methods:  We recruited 456 outpatients [age: 19–81 years, body mass index (BMI): 16.3–36.7 kg/m2] in the primary care division from 12 general hospitals in Korea. HRQOL was measured using EuroQol comprising the health states descriptive system (EQ‐5D) and visual analogue scale (EQ‐VAS) as a general instrument. The Korean Obesity‐related QOL scale (KOQOL) composed of six domains was used as a disease‐specific QOL instrument. MS was defined on the basis of International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria with Korean‐specific waist circumference cutoffs (men: 90 cm, women: 85 cm). Results:  Subjects with MS displayed significantly higher impairment of EQ‐5D and KOQOL. Binary logistic regression analysis of MS patients with controls for age, gender, smoking, alcohol, exercise, education, income, marital status and medication history disclosed odds ratio (OR) values of 2.13 (1.33–3.41) for impaired total KOQOL, 2.07 (1.31–3.27) for impaired physical health, 1.63 (1.03–2.60) for impaired work‐related health, 2.42 (1.45–4.04) for impaired routine life, 2.08 (1.27–3.40) for impaired sexual life and 2.56 (1.59–4.11) for diet distress. Among the EQ‐5D dimensions, only pain/discomfort displayed a significantly increased OR of 1.60 (1.01–2.56) in MS group. Conclusions:  Subjects with MS displayed a significantly impaired HRQOL compared with those without MS. MS and HRQOL were more strongly associated in obesity‐specific QOL than in generalised QOL.

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Multi-valued logic gates, which can handle quaternary numbers as inputs, are developed by exploiting the ballistic transport properties of quantum point contacts in series. The principle of a logic gate that finds the minimum of two quaternary number inputs is demonstrated. The device is scalable to allow multiple inputs, which makes it possible to find the minimum of multiple inputs in a single gate operation. Also, the principle of a half-adder for quaternary number inputs is demonstrated. First, an adder that adds up two quaternary numbers and outputs the sum of inputs is demonstrated. Second, a device to express the sum of the adder into two quaternary digits [Carry (first digit) and Sum (second digit)] is demonstrated. All the logic gates presented in this paper can in principle be extended to allow decimal number inputs with high quality QPCs.

PF ADA levels, nodular lung lesions, and loculated pleural effusion may help differentiate TPE from PPE in patients with PF showing non-lymphocytic predominance and ADA levels ≥40 U/L.