• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.817-823
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• 1999

Background: The prevalence of allergic disease has increased substantially over the past decades. The reasons for these trends are complex but include increased environmental allergen exposure. Environmental control measures are of particular importance in the prevention and management of allergic disease. Thus, we purposed to evaluate the changes of causative allergens in allergic patients in Chonbuk provincial area that began industralized recently. Method: To evaluate the allergens epidemiologically, we performed skin prick tests and RAST in 201 allergic patients from February, 1984 to February, 1985 and 339 patients from February, 1997 to February, 1998. Results: The Following results were obtained. 1) Total sensitization rates did not change significantly(74.2% vs 75.8%, p=0.664). 2) Positive reaction rates to pollens were similar(35.8% vs 30.1%, p=0.17). 3) Positive rates to HDM(house dust mite) were decreased(66.1% vs 56.3%, p=0.02). 4) Positive rates to fungi and animal danders were decreased significantly(p<0.001). Conclusion : Environmental allergens associated with hygine in Chonbuk provincial areas such as HDM and fungi are decreased significantly during 13 years.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.73-81
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• 2010

Objective: To examine the efficacy of letrozole in infertile women showing a poor endometrial development at previous ovulation induction cycle by using clomiphene citrate. Methods: Eighteen infertile women were selected who showed a poor endometrial development (endometrial thickness$\leq$6.5 mm) after clomiphene treatment (50~100 mg) as ovulation induction for timed coitus. The mean age of the patients was $30.7{\pm}2.8$ years old and the mean duration of infertility was $33.1{\pm}26.6$ months. The infertility factors were identified as corrected endometriosis (n=1), polycystic ovary syndrome (n=5) and unexplained (n=12). Letrozole was given orally in a dose of 2.5 mg for 5 days starting 3~5 of menstrual cycle. Results: The number of follicles was significantly lower in the letrozole cycle when compared with previous clomiphene cycle ($1.1{\pm}0.3$ vs. $2.2{\pm}1.5$, p=0.011). The endometrial thickness (mm) at the time of triggering or LH surge was significantly greater in the letrozole cycle ($8.4{\pm}1.7$ vs. $5.8{\pm}0.5$, p<0.001). The endometrial pattern 'type C' was significantly higher in the letrozole cycle (94.4% vs. 50%, p=0.036). The pregnancy was achieved in 11.1% of the letrozole cycle. Conclusion: Use of letrozole was associated with more thick and improved endometrium than previous clomiphene cycles in which thin endometrium was identified. Use of letrozole appears to be an effective strategy for second-line treatment in women with inadequate endometrial response to clomiphene.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.199-204
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the dosimetric outcome of the field-in-field (FIF) plans compared with tangential wedged beams (TWB) plans for whole breast irradiation of breast cancer patients. Twenty patients with right-sided breast cancer and 10 patients with left-sided breast cancer were retrospectively enrolled in this study. We generated a FIF plan and a TWB plan for each patient to compare dosimetric outcomes. The dose the homogeneity index (HI), the conformity index (CI) and the uniformity index (UI) were defined and used for comparison of the dosimetric outcome of the planning target volume (PTV). To compare the dosimetric outcome of the organs at risk, the mean dose ($D_{mean}$) and the percentage of volumes receiving more than 10, 20 and 30 Gy of the ipsilateral lung and heart were used. The FIF plans had significantly lower HI (p=0.002), higher UI (p=0.000) and CI (p=0.000) than those of the TWB plans, which means that the FIF plans were better than the TWB plans in the dosimetric comparisons of the PTV. The $V10_{lung}$ ($17.1{\pm}7.1$ vs. $18.6{\pm}6.6%$, p=0.020) and $V30_{lung}$ ($10.3{\pm}5.1%$ vs. $10.7{\pm}5.2%$, p=0.000) were lower with the FIF plans compared with those of the TWB plans, with statistical significance. For the left-sided breast cancer patients, $D_{mean}$ of the heart ($2.6{\pm}1.3$ vs. $3.2{\pm}1.4$ Gy, p=0.000), $V20_{heart}$ ($3.4{\pm}2.6$ vs. $3.6{\pm}2.8%$, p=0.005) and $V30_{heart}$ ($2.6{\pm}2.3%$ vs. $2.9{\pm}2.4%$, p=0.004) were significantly lower for the FIF plans in comparison with those of the TWB plans. The FIF plans increased the dose homogeneity, conformity and uniformity of the target volume for the whole-breast irradiation compared with the TWB plans. Moreover, FIF plans reduced the doses to the ipsilateral lung and heart.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.3785-3791
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• 2016

Background: Previous studies have assessed the association between the Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte Antigen-4(CTLA-4) polymorphism with the risk of malignant bone tumor, but the conclusions were inconsistent. We aimed to clarify association of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 polymorphisms with malignant bone tumors risk by performing a meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: The databases including PubMed, EMBase databases and the Cochrane Library were searched to identify the eligible studies prior to January 30 2016. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were used to estimate the strengths of the association between the CTLA-4 polymorphism and the malignant bone tumor risks. The meta-analysis was performed by STATA 12.0. Results: Four individual studies with a total of 1003 cases with malignant bone tumor and 1162 controls were included in our meta-analysis. The results of meta-analysis on those data demonstrated that CTLA-4 +49G>A polymorphism was associated with the risk of Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma strongly (A vs. G: OR=1.36, 95%CI:1.20-1.54, p=0.000; AA+AG vs. GG: OR=1.35, 95%CI:1.14-1.61, p=0.001; AA vs. GG: OR=2.24, 95%CI:1.67-2.99, p=0.000; AA vs. AG+GG: OR=2.00, 95%CI:1.53-2.62, p=0.000), but CTLA-4 -318C/T polymorphism was not associated with the risk of malignant bone tumor (C vs. T: OR=0.76, 95%CI:0.76-1.08, p= 0.262; CC+CT vs. TT: OR=0.70, 95%CI:0.41-1.20, p= 0.198; CC vs. TT: OR=0.69, 95%CI:0.40-1.19, p= 0.183; CC vs. CT+TT: OR=0.92, 95%CI:0.75-1.13, p= 0.419). Subgroup analysis showed that there are significantly positive correlations between CTLA-4 +49G>A polymorphism and increased risks of malignant bone tumors in large size of sample (A vs. G: OR=1.347, 95%CI: 1.172,1.548, p=0.000; AA vs. GG: OR=2.228, 95%CI: 1.608,3.085, p=0.000), Ewing's Sarcoma or Osteosarcoma (A vs. G: OR=1.361, 95%CI: 1.201,1.540, p=0.000; AA vs. GG: OR=2.236, 95%CI: 1.674,2.986, p=0.000), and PCR-RFLP or Sequencing(A vs. G: OR=1.361, 95%CI: 1.201,1.540, p=0.000; AA vs. GG: OR=2.236, 95%CI: 1.674,2.986, p=0.000), but CTLA-4 -318C/T polymorphism was not associated with the risk of malignant bone tumors in diagnosis, genotype method, and sample size (all p>0.05). Conclusions: CTLA-4 +49A/G variant was associated with an increased risk of developing the malignant bone tumors, such as Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma. However, it failed to show the association between CTLA-4 -318C/T polymorphism and the risk of malignant bone tumors. Future large-scale studies remain to be done to confirm our conclusions.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2018

Purpose: Although there has been substantial progress for the treatment of thoracic trauma, the mortality of the penetrating neck injury is still high, has been reported about 10-15%. However, there has not been a report which is reflecting Korean medical present. We retrospectively analyzed the penetrating neck injury patients based on the Korean Trauma Data Base. Methods: Between December 2013 and June 2017 at the trauma center of the Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Korea, total of 36 patients with isolated low-velocity penetrating neck injuries were included. We analyzed the patients' age, gender, injury mechanism and causes by medical chart review. Results: Among total of 36 patients, 26 (72.2%) were male and 10 (27.8%) were female. Homicidal neck injuries were most common, followed by accidental and suicidal injuries (47% vs. 33% vs. 19%, respectively). All penetrating injuries in our study were low-velocity trauma such as following: knife (n=16, 44.4%); glass or glass bottle (n=11, 30.6%); scissors (n=4, 11.1%); grinder (n=2, 5.6%); and three (8.3%) of miscellaneous injuries. Twenty-seven (75.0%) patients underwent emergency surgery, and only one (2.8%) patient underwent elective surgery. Eleven (30.6) patients were diagnosed with superficial injuries, including six patients who had conservative treatment. Twelve (33.3%) patients had arterial injuries and 10 (27.8%) patients had venous injuries. The patients who had deep injuries showed significant difference against the patient with superficial injury (98.0 vs. 129.1, p=0.008). Conclusions: Low velocity penetrating injury confined to the neck is able to be successfully treated with prompt surgical management. Regardless of the conditions which are evaluated at emergency department, all penetrating neck injury patients should be regarded as urgent surgical candidates.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 1996

About 7.7 million tons of straw dry matter are being rotten during the monsoon. The objective of this trial was to develop a technique to preserve straw under wet condition. To simulate the moisture content of wet straw, a dry straw was deeped overnight in water. After draining the excess water, the wet straw(668 g moisture $kg^{-1}$) was divided into twenty fractions and preserved with 0, 30, 50 ro 70 g urea $kg^{-1}$ dry matter for either of 30, 60, 90, 120 or 180 days in sealed plastic container. Considering the colour, smell, fungal infestation and pH, the wert straw was preserved excellently up to 180 days when 50 or 70 g of urea per kg DM was used. Urea preservation increased the crude protein contents of straw by 3.6 to 6.4 times (174 to $364g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) over that of the dry straw ($48g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$). Although the NDF content of straw was not effected by the level of urea or by the length of the preservation period, but the ADF content increased (p > 0.05) by 0.086 to $0.889g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ straw DM for each g increase in the urea level. At 48 hours, the DM degradability of dry straw was $350g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$, which increased to $633g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ when preserved with 50 g urea $kg^{-1}$ for 180 days. For the same straw, both the rate(0.0388 vs. 0.0136 fraction $h^{-1}$), the extent(717 vs. $631g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) of straw degradation and the estimated ME(9.55 vs. $6.51MJ{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ straw DM) were higher in the preserved than the dry straw.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2991-2995
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• 2012

Background: India shows some of the highest rates of cervical cancer worldwide, and more than 70% of the population is living in rural villages. Prospective cohort studies to determine the risk factors for cervical cancer are very rare from low and medium resource countries. The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of risk factors related to cervical cancer in a rural setting in South India. Material and methods: Sociodemographic and reproductive potential risk factors for cervical cancer were studied using the data from a cohort of 30,958 women who constituted the unscreened control group in a randomised screening trial in Dindigul district, Tamilnadu, India. The analysis was accomplished with the Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results: Women of increasing age (HR=2.4; 95% CI: 1.6, 3.8 in 50-59 vs 30-39), having many pregnancies (HR=7.1; 1.0, 52 in 4+ vs 0) and no education (HR=0.6; 0.2, 0.7 in high vs none) were found to be at significantly increased risk of cervical cancer. Conclusion: This cohort study gives very strong evidence to say that education is the fundamental factor among the sociodemographic and reproductive determinants of cervical cancer in low resource settings. Public awareness through education and improvements in living standards can play an important role in reducing the high incidence of cervical cancer in India. These findings further stress the importance of formulating public health policies aimed at increasing awareness and implementation of cervical cancer screening programmes.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 2009

This study was conducted to determine if supplementation with a compound composed of caffeine (50 mg), capsaicin (75 mg), sesamine (30 mg), L-carnitine (300 mg), banaba (50 mg) and lotus (10 mg) enhanced human autonomic nervous activities (ANS) associated with thermogenic sympathetic activity and fat utilization. Ten healthy college males (21.2$\pm$1.0 yr) volunteered for this experiment. Autonomic nervous activities associated with energy metabolism were examined at 30 min intervals for a total of 120-min while at rest and every 5-min during exercise at 50% of the ventilation threshold before and after intake of the compound or placebo with 100 ml of water for 10 days. In addition, heart rate variability power spectral analysis was used to assess human autonomic nervous activities. The results indicated that there were no significant differences in heart rate during rest and exercise among trials. Furthermore, the autonomic nervous activity tended to increase after 10-days of consumption of the test compounds during the experimental period, but the differences did not reach statistical significance. However, before and after the compound test trial there was a significantly higher respiratory gas exchange ratio (rest 0: 0.83$\pm$0.01 vs. rest 3: 0.89$\pm$0.02, p<0.05), carbohydrate oxidation (CHO) rate (rest 0: 44.57$\pm$5.83 vs. rest 2: 63.86$\pm$5.91%, p<0.05) and a lower fat oxidation rate (rest 0: 55.43$\pm$5.83 vs. rest 2: 36.14$\pm$5.91%, p<0.05. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggested that the compound composed of caffeine, capsaicin, sesamine, L-carnitine, banaba and lotus components that was evaluated in this study did not induce a significant increase in human autonomic nervous activities or lipolysis, even though the individual components have been reported to induce increased fat oxidation.

• ALGAE
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.265-274
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• 2015

Thorea indica sp. nov. is described from the Sai River, Uttar Pradesh, India (26°39′00.7″ N, 80°47′38.3″ E). Its classification is based on molecular sequences of the plastid-encoded RuBisCO large-subunit gene, rbcL and the barcode region of the mitochondrial encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1, cox1, and morphological data. The sequence analyses confirm a new species of Thorea. The cox1 barcode sequence had 90.4-90.8% identity with Thorea sp. from Australia and Thorea hispida from Hawaii and China. Based on rbcL sequences the Indian specimen was positioned in a major clade with high support (>95 bootstrap and 0.95 posterior probability) containing two other species: T. okadae from Japan and T. hispida from the continental USA, Hawaii, the UK, and China. The divergences among these sequences were T. indica vs. T. okadae (2.8%) and T. indica vs. T. hispida (2.9-3.4%). The comparison of morphological characters of Thorea from India was not conclusive due to the inadequate descriptions in previous reports: most specimens reported as T. hispida fit within the circumscription of T. indica as described here. The previous report of T. siamensis from the Sai River is incorrect and the specimens fit within our description of T. indica. Thorea indica and T. okadae can be distinguished by minor morphometric characters and sexuality (dioecious vs. monoecious).

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.199-202
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• 2012

Objective: This retrospective study was performed to evaluate the role of chemotherapy in the management of patients with anaplastic astrocytoma (AA). Methods: We compared the survival outcome among the 3 different treatment protocol groups in a single institution. A total of 86 patients (39 men and 47 women) with newly diagnosed AA after surgery were analyzed. Among them, 31 patients (36.0%) were treated with radiotherapy only (RT Group), 30 patients (34.9%) were treated with nimustine-cisplatin chemotherapy before RT (ACNU-COOP group), and 25 patients (29.1 %) were treated with procarbazine, lomustine and vincristine (PCV) chemotherapy after radiotherapy (PCV group). Results: The median survival was 14.0, 30.0 and 72.0 months in RT, ACNU-COOP, and PCV group, respectively and showed significant differences (RT vs. ACNU-COOP; p=0.039, RT vs. PCV; 0.002, ACNU-COOP vs. PCV; 0.045). PCV group showed less toxicity rate (5 patients; 20%) than ACNU-COOP group (12 patients; 40%), while only 3 patients (9.6%) in RT group experienced grade 3 or 4 toxicities. Conclusion: An application of chemotherapy before or after radiotherapy is beneficial in prolonging the survival of patients with AA. Adjuvant PCV chemotherapy after radiotherapy is recommendable.