• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.12
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• pp.610-614
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• 2017

Scientists planning research that involves the use of animals are required to examine the possibilities for replacement, reduction, or refinement (the Three Rs), and their protocol must be reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Good scientific practice involving appropriate search techniques on the available Three Rs resources is essential for both ethical and scientific reasons. Appropriate experimental design and statistical analysis techniques are particularly necessary for research involving the use of animals, because this can improve animal welfare and scientific outcomes, as well as saving animal lives. There are a number of resources to help researchers improve their search techniques, experimental design strategies, and their reporting of research involving the use of animals. However, there is little specific information or resources on the Three Rs alternatives that is readily available in the Korean language. This paper outlines the common errors made by submitting researchers that have been repeatedly observed during the ethical review of experimental protocols over the last ten years, and provides information on the Korean resources available to promote good scientific practice. This could help to bridge the gap between Korean scientists and animal welfare advocates assisting scientists to improve ethical considerations and conduct responsible research.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.83-87
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• 2008

The fyn-related kinase (FRK) belongs to the tyrosine kinase family of protein kinases. Recent studies have shown that Frk affects pancreatic beta cell number during embryogenesis and promotes beta cell cytotoxic signals in response to streptozotocin. To investigate the genetic association between FRK polymorphisms and the risk of obesity in Korean population, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the FRK gene region were selected and analyzed. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated, and biochemical data (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, hemoglobin A1C, triglyceride, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein, and low density lipoprotein) of blood sample from each subject were also measured. One hundred fifty five healthy control and 204 overweight/obesity subjects were recruited. Genotype frequencies of six SNPs [rs6568920 (+8391G>A), rs3756772 (+56780A>G), rs3798234 (+75687C>T), rs9384970 (+68506G>A), rs1933739 (+72978G>A), and rs9400883 (+75809A>G)] in the FRK gene were determined by Affymetrix Targeted Genotyping Chip data. According to the classification of Korean Society for the Study of Obesity, control (BMI 18 to < 23) and overweight/obesity (BMI$\geq$23) subjects were recruited. For the analysis of genetic data, EM algorithm, SNPStats, Haploview, HapAnalyzer, SNPAnalyzer, and Helixtree programs were used. Multiple logistic regression analysis (codominant, dominant, and recessive models) was performed. Age and gender as covariates were adjusted. For biochemical data, Student's t test was used. The mean value of BMI in the control and overweigh/obesity groups was 21.1${\pm}$1.2 (mean${\pm}$SD) and 25.6${\pm}$2.0, respectively. All biochemical data of the overweight/obesity group were statistically significance, compared with the control group. Among six SNPs, two linkage disequilibrium (LD) blocks were discovered. One block consisted of rs1933739 and rs9400883, and the other comprised rs3756772 and rs3798234. One SNP (rs9384970, +68506G>A) showed an association with overweight/obesity in the codominant model (p=0.03). Interestingly, the AA genotype distribution in the overweight/obesity group (n=7, 3.5%) was higher than those in the control group (n=1, 0.6%), which is not found in either Japanese or Chinese subjects. Therefore, the AA genotype of rs9384970 may be a risk factor for development of obesity in Korean population. The results suggest that FRK may be associated with overweight/obesity in Korean population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2101-2107
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• 2014

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) affecting microRNA (miR) sequences may influence carcinogenesis. Our current study primarily aimed to confirm previously conducted association studies between rs2910164 found on miR-146a, and rs11614913 located on miR-196a2 polymorphisms and cancer phenotypes in the Japanese elderly population. rs2910164 (G/C) and rs11614913 (T/C) polymorphisms were determined by genotyping on the samples collected from 1,351 consecutive autopsy cases registered in the Japanese SNPs for geriatric research (JG-SNP) data base. Cancer samples were systematically reviewed, pathologically verified and assessed with respect to miR-146a and miR-196a2 genotypic variation. The current study covered 726 males and 625 females with a mean age of $80.3{\pm}8.9$ years. The study included 524 subjects without cancer and 827 subjects with at least one type of cancer, such as gastric (n=160), lung (n=148), colorectal (n=116) or others. Males with cancers (n=467) were more numerous than females (n=360). Both rs11614913 (CT: TT adjusted odds ratio (OR) 95% confidence interval (95%CI)=0.98 (0.75-1.28), p=0.873, CC: TT adjusted OR (95%CI)=1.06 (0.76-1.47), p=0.737, CT+CC: TT, adjusted OR (95%CI)=0.99 (0.77-1.29), p=0.990), and rs2910164 (CG: CC adjusted OR (95%CI)=1.12 (0.87-1.44), p=0.383, GG: CC adjusted OR (95%CI)=1.03 (0.71-1.48), p=0.887, CG+GG: CC adjusted OR (95%CI)=1.10 (0.87-1.39), p=0.446) polymorphisms did not show significant association with overall cancer in all subjects. However, "CC" genotype in rs11614913 polymorphism was significantly associated with increased gastric cancer (n=160) in all subjects (CC: CT+TT, adjusted OR (95%CI)=1.50 (1.02-2.22), p=0.040). We found that rs11614913 and rs2910164 do not pose general cancer risk, but rs11614913 may influence gastric cancer in Japanese elderly population. Confirmation of our study results requires further investigations with larger subject populations.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.618-633
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• 2014

Relay technology is becoming more important for mobile communications and wireless internet of things (IoT) networking because of the extended access network coverage range and reliable quality of service (QoS) it can provide at low power consumption levels. Existing mobile multihop relay (MMR) technology uses fixed-point stationary relay stations (RSs) and a divided time-frame (or frequency-band) to support the relay operation. This approach has limitations when a local fixed-point stationary RS does not exist. In addition, since the time-frame (or frequency-band) channel resources are pre-divided for the relay operation, there is no way to achieve high channel utilization using intelligent opportunistic techniques. In this paper, a different approach is considered, where the use of mobile/IoT devices as RSs is considered. In applications that use mobile/IoT devices as relay systems, due to the very limited battery energy of a mobile/IoT device and unequal channel conditions to and from the RS, both minimum energy consumption and QoS support must be considered simultaneously in the selection and configuration of RSs. Therefore, in this paper, a mobile RS is selected and configured with the objective of minimizing power consumption while satisfying end-to-end data rate and bit error rate (BER) requirements. For the RS, both downlink (DL) to the destination system (DS) (i.e., IoT device or user equipment (UE)) and uplink (UL) to the base station (BS) need to be adaptively configured (using adaptive modulation and power control) to minimize power consumption while satisfying the end-to-end QoS constraints. This paper proposes a minimum transmission power consuming RS selection and configuration (MPRSC) scheme, where the RS uses cognitive radio (CR) sub-channels when communicating with the DS, and therefore the scheme is named MPRSC-CR. The proposed MPRSC-CR scheme is activated when a DS moves out of the BS's QoS supportive coverage range. In this case, data transmissions between the RS and BS use the assigned primary channel that the DS had been using, and data transmissions between the RS and DS use CR sub-channels. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed MPRSC-CR scheme extends the coverage range of the BS and minimizes the power consumption of the RS through optimal selection and configuration of a RS.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6733-6738
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• 2013

Multiple genetic studies have confirmed association of 8q24 variants with susceptibility to prostate cancer (PCa). As PCa risk SNPs may also influence disease outcome, we studied here eight 8q24 risk alleles, and evaluated their role in PCa clinical covariates in northern Chinese men. Blood samples and clinical information were collected from ethnically Chinese men from Northern China with histologically-confirmed PCa (n=289) and from age-matched normal controls (n=288). Eight 8q24 SNPs were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-high- resolution melting analysis in 577 subjects. We examined the prevalence distribution of 8q24 risk alleles and analyzed the associations between the risk allele and PCa and clinical covariates to infer their impact on aggressive PCa. Three of the eight SNPs were associated with PCa risk in northern Chinese men, including rs16901966 (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.01-1.70, p=0.042), rs1447295 (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.09-1.98, p=0.011) and rs10090154 (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.14-2.12, p=0.005). Haplotype analysis based association with the risk alleles revealed significant differences between cases and controls (OR 1.43, 95%CI 0.99-2.06, p=0.049). The risk alleles rs16901966, rs1447295 and rs10090154 were associated with age at diagnosis and tumor stage as compared with controls, while rs16901966 was associated with aggressive PCa (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.01-2.03, p=0.042). The evidence for 8q24 SNPs with PCa risk in northern Chinese men showed rs16901966, rs1447295 and rs10090154 at 8q24 (region 1, region 2) to be strongly associated with PCa and clinical covariates. The three SNPs at 8q24 could be PCa susceptible genetic markers in northern Chinese men.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.21-28
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• 2011

Recently medical and entertainment applications using conducting textile are suggested, but the data of conducting threads are not characterized, classified and verified. Only the data sheet published by manufacturing companies is available. Thus we need to verify the performances of the threading threads in communication. And we need a guideline if the existing communication protocols can be used for the conducting threads communication or the new specific communication protocols have to be developed for the communication. This paper classifies the characteristics of conducting threads made by domestic and overseas companies. Based on the criteria we classified conducting threads into three classes: class A, class B and class C. Further we carried out experiments to verify the adaptability of existing simple serial communication protocols such as RS232. Six different conducting threads are used in experiments and the length of each thread was 0.5m, 1m, 2m and 3m. The data transmission rate and error rate are collected and analyzed. RS485 is very prone to error due to static electricity from human and environment. So it may not be appropriate as long-distance communication protocol up to 12km which is possible in theory. RS232 shows stable and error-less data transmission ability even though every conducting thread didn’t show transmission capability over RS232. USB protocol shows high data rate transmission but the distance cannot be exceeded over 2m. Additionally, USB requires stable power supply. But if the power is supplied through conducting thread, its function is not.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1873-1880
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• 2015

Background: A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) on patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) treated with peginterferon and ribavirin (pegIFN-${\alpha}$/RBV) identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on chromosome 19 (rs12979860) which was strongly associated with a sustained virological response (SVR). The aim of this study was twofold: to study the relationship between IL28B rs12979860 and sustained virological response (SVR) to pegIFN-${\alpha}$/RVB therapy among CHC patients and to detect the rs12979860 polymorphism by high resolution melting curve (HRM) assay as a simple, fast, sensitive, and inexpensive method. Materials and Methods: The study examined outcomes in 100 patients with chronic hepatitis C in 2 provinces of Iran from December 2011 to June 2013. Two methods were applied to detect IL28B polymorphisms: PCR-sequencing as a gold standard method and HRM as a simple, fast, sensitive, and inexpensive method. Results: The frequencies of IL28B rs12979860 CC, CT, and TT alleles in chronic hepatitis C genotype 1a patients were 10% (10/100), 35% (35/100), and 6% (6/100) and in genotype 3a were 13% (13/100), 31% (31/100), and 5% (5/100), respectively. In genotype 3a infected patients, rs12979860 (CC and CT alleles) and in genotype 1a infected patients (CC allele) were significantly associated with a sustained virological response (SVR). The SVR rates for CC, CT and TT (IL28B rs12979860) were 18%, 34% and 4%, respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified two independent factors that were significantly associated with SVR: IL-28B genotype (rs 12979860 CC vs TT and CT; odds ratio [ORs], 7.86 and 4.084, respectively), and HCV subtype 1a (OR, 7.46). In the present study, an association between SVR rates and IL28B polymorphisms was observed. Conclusions: The HRM assay described herein is rapid, inexpensive, sensitive and accurate for detecting rs12979860 alleles in CHC patients. This method can be readily adopted by any molecular diagnostic laboratory with HRM capability and will be clinically beneficial in predicting treatment response in HCV genotype 1 and 3 infected patients. In addition, it was demonstrated that CC and CT alleles in HCV-3a and the CC allele in HCV-1a were significantly associated with response to pegIFN-${\alpha}$/RBV treatment. The present results may help identify subjects for whom the therapy might be successful.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.284-289
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• 2001

This study was carried out to know the effect of mulching on growth and yield of Peucedanum japonicum. Time from sowing to germination was 8day at raising seedling(RS) and 40day at direct sowing(DS). The order of goodness in top part growth as follows : RS+white vinyl mulching (WVM), RS+black vinyl mulching (BVM), RS+no mulching(NM) and DS+NM. Tap root length at RS + NM was significantly shorter than those at the others. Tap root at the others was about same length. Tap root diameter was significantly larger at vinyl mulching than at no mulching and the thinnest at DS+NM. The number of supporting root at RS was more than DS as much as $4.7{\sim}7.1$. Rate of dried root weight to fresh weight was highest(30.5%) at DS+ NM and low at vinyl mulching. Dried root yield per 10a was 542kg at RS+WVM, 506kg at RS+BVM, 419kg at RS+NM and 357kg at DS. These results suggested that raising seedling and white vinyl mulching was good for culture of Peucedanum japonicum.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.648-656
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• 2022

As environmental regulations such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s strategy to reduce greenhouse gases(GHG) are strengthened, technology development such as eco-friendly ships and alternative fuels is expanding. As part of this, ship propulsion technology using energy reduction and wind propulsion technology is emerging, especially in shipping companies and shipbuilders. By securing wind propulsion technology and introducing empirical research into shipbuilding and shipping, a high value-added market using eco-friendly technology can be created. Moreover, by reducing the fuel consumption rate of operating ships, GHG can be reduced by 6-8%. Rotor Sail (RS) technology is to generate a hydrodynamic lift in the vertical direction of the cylinder when the circular cylinder rotates at a constant speed and passes through the fluid. This is called the Magnus effect, and this study attempted to propose a plan to increase propulsion efficiency through a numerical analysis study on turbulence flow characteristics around RS, a wind power assistance propulsion system installed on a ship. Therefore, C_L and C_D values according to SR and AR changes were derived as parameters that affect the aerodynamic force of the RS, and the flow characteristics around the rotor sail were compared according to EP application.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.4319-4323
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• 2014

Background: Phospholipase C epsilon 1 (PLCE1) encodes a member of the phospholipase family of proteins that play crucial roles in carcinogenesis and progression of several cancers including esophageal cancer (EC). In two large scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP, rs2274223A>G, rs3765524C>T) in PLCE1 were identified as novel susceptibility loci of esophageal cancer (EC) in China. The aim of the present study was to investigate this finding in Kashmir Valley, a high risk area. Materials and Methods: We determined genotypes of three potentially functional SNPs (rs2274223A>G, rs3765524C>T and rs7922612C>T) of PLCE1 in 135 EC patients, and 195 age and gender matched controls in Kashmiri valley by PCR RFLP method. Risk for developing EC was estimated by binary logistic regression using SPSS. Results: The selected PLCE1 polymorphisms did not show independent association with EC. However, the $G_{2274223}T_{3765524}T_{7922612}$ haplotype was significantly associated with increased risk of EC (OR=2.92; 95% CI=1.30-6.54; p=0.009). Smoking and salted tea proved to be independent risk factors for EC. Conclusions: Genetic variations in PLCE1 modulate risk of EC in the high risk Kashmiri population.