Background and Objectives The Chronic Otitis Media Questionnaire-12 (COMQ-12) was developed in the United Kingdom to assess disease specific Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of chronic otitis media (COM) patients. We assessed the validity of Korean version of COMQ-12 (K-COMQ-12) and its correlation with the disease activity of COM classified according to the type of surgery. Materials and Method We translated the original COMQ-12 into Korean and also performed a back-translation of the translated text into English. Enrolled were 106 COM patients and 106 healthy subjects. Cronbach alpha was used to evaluate internal consistency, and factor analysis was performed to prove reliability. We compared K-COMQ-12 scores between normal subjects and COM patients to assess validity. The scores were also compared by dividing groups according to disease activity of COM. Results Cronbach's alpha showed good internal consistency (0.939). There was a significant difference in K-COMQ-12 scores between healthy subjects (1.99±4.34) and COM patients (22.69±12.41). Also, scores go higher as the disease activity of COM increased. A cutoff score of 6 of K-COMQ-12 sets 0.915 of sensitivity and 0.934 of specificity. Conclusion The K-COMQ-12 is a reliable and valid tool to assess HRQoL in patients with COM. The K-COMQ-12 could be also used as an objective tool that reflects the disease activity of COM.

Lung resident neutrophils need to be tightly regulated to avoid degranulation-and cytokine-associated damage to fragile alveolar structures that can lead to fatal outcomes. Here we show that lung neutrophils (LNs) express distinct surface proteins and genes that definitely distinguish LNs from bone marrow and blood neutrophils. Functionally, LNs show impaired migratory activity toward chemoattractants and produce high levels of IL-6 at steady state and low levels of TNF-α in response to LPS challenge. Treating bone marrow neutrophils with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid or prostaglandin E2 induces LN-associated characteristics including the expression of transglutaminase 2 (Tgm2) and reduced production of inflammatory cytokines upon LPS challenge. Neutrophils from Tgm2-/- mice release high levels of inflammatory cytokines in response to LPS. Lung damage is significantly exacerbated in Tgm2-/- mice in an LPS-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome model. Collectively, we demonstrate that prostaglandin E2 is a key factor for the generation of LNs with unique immune suppressive characteristics, acting through protein kinase A and Tgm2, and LNs play essential roles in the protection of the lungs against pathogenic inflammation.

We demonstrate plasma-treated Ag nanowires (NWs) as flexible transparent electrode materials with enhanced long-term stability against oxidation even in a high humidity environment (80% humidity, 20 °C). Through a simple fluorocarbon (C4F8 or C4F6) plasma treatment method, a CxFy protective polymer was sufficiently cross-linked and attached on the surface of the AgNWs strongly and uniformly. Even though C4F8 and C4F6 activate differently on the AgNW surface due to the different dissociated radicals formed in the plasma, it was found that the CxFy protective polymers obtained by both chemicals work similarly as a protective layer for transparent conductive electrodes; a nearly constant sheet resistance ratio (Rs/Ro) of 1.6 was found for AgNWs treated with C4F8 and C4F6 plasmas, while the AgNWs without the plasma treatment exhibited a ratio of 176.2 after 36 days in a harsh environment. It is believed that the fluorocarbon plasma treatment can be used as a key method for ensuring long-term oxidation stability in numerous electronic applications including flexible solar cells utilizing various types of metallic nanowires.

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To reduce interconnect resistance and capacitance (RC) time delay of semiconductor integrated circuit, the dielectric material with more porosity is used in recent interconnection for lower dielectric constant. However, it is difficult to use highly porous low-k dielectric materials at the narrow pitch because it is easily damaged during the plasma etching processes. In this study, as one of the plasma induced damage reduction methods in the etching of porous low-k dielectric using C4F8-based gases, RF pulsed plasma methods have been investigated by using a dual frequency capacitively coupled plasma etch system. RF pulsed plasmas generated higher carbon-rich radicals in the plasma and less charging effect on the dielectric material surface compared to continuous wave plasmas and, therefore, showed a reduced damaged layer compared to the conventional continuous wave plasma etching. Porous SiCOH dielectric with a patterned TiN hard mask was etched using the RF pulsed plasmas and the results showed more anisotropic etching profiles with less sidewall damages. Therefore, it is believed that the RF pulsed plasma etching process of ultra low-k dielectric materials can improve the RC delay related with plasma damage for the next interconnect technology.

We demonstrate frequency-triggered internal circuit transition in high-performance organic light-emitting diodes. The blue fluorescent light-emitting devices are fabricated based on a stable and efficient host-dopant materials system. Broad-band impedance spectroscopy...