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The increasing recidivism rate of sex offenders indicates potential problems in existing recidivism programs. The present study was conducted to determine whether the polygraph examination is a useful technique to obtain a sex offender's concealed past sexual history. We collected fifty-two sex offenders' data and analyzed it. Among the 52 participants, the court ordered 26 sex offenders to take the psychiatric evaluation and the polygraph test. The other half were prisoners at the hospital who were currently undergoing treatment. The participants in the polygraph group disclosed more deviant sexual behaviors and paraphilia interests/behaviors than the comparison group. Thus, the polygraph examination is a powerful tool that can encourage sex offenders to disclose hidden information to help create suitable psychological therapy programs for preventing recidivism in the future.

Background Placement of interradicular orthodontic miniscrews poses a potential risk of root damage, including superficial root contact and root fracture. This case report describes the iatrogenic root-injured tooth movement of a 27-year-old male with skeletal Class III malocclusion as nonsurgical orthodontic treatment. Case presentation An orthodontic miniscrew between the mandibular right first and second molars perforated the distal root of the mandibular first molar. A root fracture was discovered 4 months after miniscrew placement. Owing to the potential risk of ankylosis related to surgical intervention, a direct orthodontic distalizing force was applied towards the fractured distal root segment without additional treatment, resulting in considerable movement of the fractured tooth with maintaining tooth vitality. However, gradual root resorption of a fractured tooth with a separate root segment was observed. The mandibular arch distalization of skeletal Class III malocclusion was successfully performed and retained for 3 years 8 months with stable occlusion. Conclusions This case reveals a clinical remedy when root movement of a tooth with root fracture is indicated. The use of extra-alveolar miniscrews or miniplates can be considered for mandibular arch distalization to prevent potential root injuries caused by miniscrew placement. Clinical trial number Not applicable.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239046.].[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239046.].

The increasing recidivism rate of sex offenders indicates potential problems in existing recidivism programs. The present study was conducted to determine whether the polygraph examination is a useful technique to obtain a sex offender's concealed past sexual history. We collected fifty-two sex offenders' data and analyzed it. Among the 52 participants, the court ordered 26 sex offenders to take the psychiatric evaluation and the polygraph test. The other half were prisoners at the hospital who were currently undergoing treatment. The participants in the polygraph group disclosed more deviant sexual behaviors and paraphilia interests/behaviors than the comparison group. Thus, the polygraph examination is a powerful tool that can encourage sex offenders to disclose hidden information to help create suitable psychological therapy programs for preventing recidivism in the future.

N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a known carcinogenic agent, was recently detected in some products of ranitidine. Several studies have investigated the detectability of NDMA, in drugs and their risks. However, only a few epidemiological studies have evaluated cancer risk from the use of such individual drugs. This study investigates the risk of cancer in ranitidine users. We conducted an observational population-based cohort study using the Health Insurance Review and Assessment databases, which contain information about the use of medicines in South Korea. The primary study cohort consisted of ranitidine users (n = 88,416). For controls, we enrolled users of famotidine, another H2-receptor antagonist in which no NDMA has been detected. A 4:1 matched cohort was constructed to compare cancer outcomes of the two groups. Our matched cohort comprised of 40,488 ranitidine users and 10,122 famotidine users. There was no statistical difference in the overall cancer risk between the ranitidine and famotidine groups (7.45% vs. 7.56%, HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.91–1.07, p = 0.716). Additionally, no significant differences were observed in the analysis of 11 single cancer outcomes. We found no evidence that exposure to NDMA through ranitidine increases the risk of cancer.

Renewable biofuel represents one of the answers to solving the energy crisis and climate change problems. Butanol produced naturally by clostridia has superior liquid fuel characteristics and thus has the potential to replace gasoline. Due to the lack of efficient genetic manipulation tools, however, clostridial strain improvement has been slower than improvement of other microorganisms. Furthermore, fermentation coproducing various by-products requires costly downstream processing for butanol purification. Here, we report the results of enzyme engineering of aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase (AAD) to increase butanol selectivity. A metabolically engineered Clostridium acetobutylicum strain expressing the engineered aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase gene was capable of producing butanol at a high level of selectivity. Butanol production by Clostridium acetobutylicum is accompanied by coproduction of acetone and ethanol, which reduces the yield of butanol and increases the production cost. Here, we report development of several clostridial aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase (AAD) variants showing increased butanol selectivity by a series of design and analysis procedures, including random mutagenesis, substrate specificity feature analysis, and structure-based butanol selectivity design. The butanol/ethanol ratios (B/E ratios) were dramatically increased to 17.47 and 15.91 g butanol/g ethanol for AAD F716L and AAD N655H , respectively, which are 5.8-fold and 5.3-fold higher than the ratios obtained with the wild-type AAD. The much-increased B/E ratio obtained was due to the dramatic reduction in ethanol production (0.59 ± 0.01 g/liter) that resulted from engineering the substrate binding chamber and the active site of AAD. This protein design strategy can be applied generally for engineering enzymes to alter substrate selectivity. IMPORTANCE Renewable biofuel represents one of the answers to solving the energy crisis and climate change problems. Butanol produced naturally by clostridia has superior liquid fuel characteristics and thus has the potential to replace gasoline. Due to the lack of efficient genetic manipulation tools, however, clostridial strain improvement has been slower than improvement of other microorganisms. Furthermore, fermentation coproducing various by-products requires costly downstream processing for butanol purification. Here, we report the results of enzyme engineering of aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase (AAD) to increase butanol selectivity. A metabolically engineered Clostridium acetobutylicum strain expressing the engineered aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase gene was capable of producing butanol at a high level of selectivity.

In this study, we report on the development and testing of hydrophobic coatings using cellulose fibers. The developed hydrophobic coating agent secured hydrophobic performance over 120°. In addition, a pencil hardness test, rapid chloride ion penetration test, and carbonation test were conducted, and it was confirmed that concrete durability could be improved. We believe that this study will promote the research and development of hydrophobic coatings in the future.

To prevent biofouling from occurring in the cooling systems of coastal power plants, chlorine is often added to the cooling water. In this study, we have evaluated the fate of the total residual oxidants and the formation of inorganic chlorination byproducts including ClO3− and ClO4− during in situ electrochlorination with seawater. Then, the results were compared with those during direct OCl−-injection to seawater. The in situ electrochlorination method based on Ti/RuO2 electrodes produced much less ClO3−, while a similar level of total residual oxidants could be achieved with a reaction time of 5 min. Moreover, no ClO4− was observed, while the direct OCl−-injection system could still result in the production of ClO4−. The less or no production of ClO3− or ClO4− by the electrochlorination of seawater was mainly attributed to two reasons. First, during the electrolysis, the less amount of OCl− is available for ClO3− formation. Secondly, the formation of ClO3− or ClO4− is affected by the electrode material. In other words, if the electrode material is carefully chosen, the production of harmful reaction byproducts can be prevented or minimized. In short, based on the results from our study, electrochlorination technology proves to be a marine environmentally friendly method for controlling biofouling in the pipes of the cooling system in a coastal power plant.