Korea University

Organoids as advanced three-dimensional models for studying brain development, neurodegeneration, and translational therapeutics

Abstract Organoids are stem cell-derived three-dimensional (3D) multicellular constructs that recapitulate key cytoarchitectural, molecular, and functional properties of their tissue of origin. Two fundamentally distinct strategies govern their generation: unguided approaches, wh...

Innovation adoption across regions: psychological openness and the early diffusion of digital platforms

Early regional adoption is crucial for platform-enabled innovations because their viability depends on enough people within a region adopting them to generate network effects. Existing research on regional innovation diffusion explains early adoption largely through demographic,...

Interpretable water and agricultural land cover in urban landscapes using CNN–ViT framework with Grad-CAM for agricultural sustainability

Abstract Accurate land-use and land-cover classification in hyper-arid environments is challenging because several surface types can exhibit overlapping spectral and spatial characteristics in Landsat imagery. These surfaces include water, irrigated agriculture, moist soil, barre...

Development and Preclinical Evaluation of Novel STK3/4 Inhibitors with Anti-Obesity Potential

Background: Obesity is associated with impaired adipocyte metabolism driven in part by mitochondrial dysfunction.Serine/ threonine-protein kinase 3 (STK3) and STK4 promote mitophagy, leading to reduced mitochondrial mass in adipose tissue.Thus, inhibition of STK3/4 represents a p...

Stress-induced eIF2α phosphorylation promotes tumor metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract Stress granules (SGs) are non-membranous protein–RNA aggregates that form in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells under various stress conditions. In normal cells, SGs mitigate stress-induced damage by arresting translation. SGs have also been implicated in cancer cell tumor...

Manganese-modified biochar enhances white-rot fungi-mediated lignocellulose humification: insights from molecular transformation and multi-omics analyses

Humic substance formation is essential for soil health, yet natural humification is slow, and synthetic production is often inefficient. White-rot fungi (WRF)-mediated lignocellulose humification shows potential but is limited by slow substrate degradation. Given the high biocata...

Radiologic capsular abnormalities on shoulder MRI: associations with rotator cuff and biceps tendon tears and implications for the diagnosis of adhesive capsulitis

Capsular abnormality on shoulder MRI may suggest adhesive capsulitis, but similar findings can occur in patients with other shoulder pathologies such as rotator cuff tears. This study investigated the clinical and imaging factors associated with radiologic capsular abnormality (R...

SLC39-driven zinc influx orchestrates pleiotropic tumor–immune system cross-talk to establish immune suppression in colorectal cancer

Tumor metabolic programs shape immune evasion; however, the mechanism by which nutrient-transport systems rewire tumor-immune cell interactions remains unknown. We integrated bulk multi-omics, single-cell transcriptomics, spatial profiling, and functional assays for colorectal ca...

Judging ratio increases and decreases: ignoring asymmetric sensitivity

People frequently judge the consequences of percentage increases and decreases in ratios, such as changes in speed, productivity, and energy efficiency. Prior research has shown that people often treat nonlinear ratio relationships as linear. The current research examines an impo...

Charting the life of Billboard hits through memory, turnover and predictability

Abstract Rankings shape the visibility and success of cultural products, yet their temporal dynamics remain underexplored when comparing distinct ranked objects within the same domain. Here, we use nearly seven decades of Billboard Hot 100 songs and six decades of Billboard 200 a...

Stereotactic body radiation therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: 2026 expert consensus-based practical recommendation of the Korean Liver Cancer Association

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is a noninvasive, high-precision radiation technique that delivers a high dose to the tumor in a limited number of fractions, typically five or fewer, and is increasingly used as a curative-intent option for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC...

A heat-network diagnostic framework for climate-responsive land-use planning: long-term evidence from the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Extreme heat poses a critical challenge for urban land-use planning, yet most urban heat island studies remain focused on static hotspot mapping with limited planning integration. This study develops a structured heat-network diagnostic framework to examine how land-use change an...

Behavioural and contextual drivers of agri-environmental schemes adoption among large-scale farms in Czechia

Agriculture substantially contributes to environmental and climate change, with agri-environmental schemes (AES) often used to reduce the associated impacts. In the EU, they are publicly funded, voluntary and incentivised through financial payments, but they can encounter resista...

The double barrier: coronavirus disease 2019 and cervical cancer screening disparities among women with disabilities in South Korea: a nationwide cohort study

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to healthcare systems, potentially exacerbating pre-existing health disparities. Women with disabilities face structural barriers to healthcare that may be intensified during public health crises....

Classification of real plastic waste using machine learning-assisted laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Plastic type classification using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was evaluated using actual waste samples under non-optimized experimental conditions designed to approximate laser-sample variability encountered in industrial operation. The study addresses challenges...

Clinical Outcomes of Semi-Occlusive Dressing for Allen Type III Fingertip Injuries

Background/Objectives: Local flap coverage is still widely regarded as the treatment of choice for Allen type III fingertip injuries, and outcome data for conservative treatment remain limited. We evaluated the outcomes of semi-occlusive dressing for Allen type III fingertip inju...

Bridging the Phenomenological Gap: Body Mapping as an Art-Based Reflection on Nursing Students’ Moral Distress and Embodied Empathy During Simulation

The primary objective of this qualitative study was to explore the phenomenological experiences of nursing students following a high-fidelity labor and delivery simulation, utilizing body mapping as an art-based reflective intervention. While simulation education bridges theoreti...

The “wow” effect in metaverse luxury consumption: an appraisal-based explanation of emotional arousal and exploratory motivation

Purpose This study examines how key experiential elements, telepresence, social interaction, immersion, realism and augmented reality elicit the “wow” effect (a strong emotional response) and, in turn, shape willingness to purchase luxury goods. Design/methodology/approach A ques...

Comparison of Uncovered and Covered Biliary SEMS for the Salvage of Obstructed SEMS: A Multicenter Retrospective Propensity Score–Weighted Study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Recurrent biliary obstruction (RBO) is common after uncovered self-expandable metal stent (UCSEMS) placement in unresectable distal malignant biliary obstruction. We compared stent patency, clinical outcomes, and RBO patterns between fully covered (FCSEMSs) a...

Trastuzumab plus nivolumab with gemcitabine and cisplatin as first-line therapy for HER2-positive unresectable biliary tract cancer: a phase 1b/2 trial

Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are associated with poor outcomes despite recent incorporation of immune checkpoint inhibitors into first-line chemotherapy. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression or amplification defines a therapeutically targetable subset of...