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Eliminating Waste : Strategies for Sustainable Manure Management - Review -

  • Richard, T.L.;Choi, H.L.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.12 no.7
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    • pp.1162-1169
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    • 1999
  • Modern livestock production facilities face both challenges and opportunities with respect to sustainable manure management practices. Nutrient recycling is constrained by the size of modern livestock operations, the low nutrient density of liquid manures, and the spatial and temporal variability of manure nutrient concentrations. These constraints can and must be addressed or farmers will be increasingly drawn to nutrient wasting strategies such as anaerobic lagoons, wetlands, and other systems designed to treat and discharge nutrients to the environment. Intentional discharge of nutrients is difficult to justify in a sustainable agricultural production system, since replacing those nutrients through chemical fertilization requires considerable expenditure of energy. In contrast, there are several currently viable technologies which provide the homogenization and stabilization needed to successfully compete against chemical fertilizers, including composting, pelletization, and anaerobic digestion. Some of these technologies, particularly anaerobic digestion and composting, also open up increased opportunities to market the energy and nutrients in manure to non-agricultural uses. Future advances in biotechnology are likely to demonstrate additional options to transform manure into fuels, chemicals, and other non-agricultural products.

Missing Elements in Surgical Pathology Reports: Breast, Colon and Stomach Cancers

  • Kadivar, Maryam;Rahimabad, Parnian Kheirkhah
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.1469-1472
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    • 2016
  • Cancer pathology reports play an important role in choice of patient care. They provide crucial information concerning diagnosis, therapy options, and prognosis. Professional pathology institutions, such as the College of American Pathologists (CAP), have developed checklists to ensure the presence of all the required elements in reports. In this study, 438 surgical pathology reports of patients with breast (148), colon (147), and stomach cancer (143) were evaluated with respect to the presence of mandated elements according to CAP checklists. The most common missing element in all the three types of cancer was 'staging' (73.6, 53.1, and 56.6% in breast, colon, and stomach cancer reports missed 'staging', respectively). The second most missing element was 'tumor site' in breast (64.2%) and stomach cancer (30.1%), and 'procedure' in colon cancer (29.3%). 'Perineural invasion' was the third most missing element in the three types of cancer (25.7, 17.0, and 22.4% in breast, colon, and stomach cancer, respectively). Only 11.4% of reports included all key elements required by CAP. The use of checklists was associated with higher rate of completeness. This study demonstrates that the key elements requiring the information on the requisition forms from the clinicians are commonly missed, leading to ambiguity.

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia - Prognostic Value of Mutations

  • Kaleem, Bushra;Shahab, Sadaf;Ahmed, Nuzhat;Shamsi, Tahir Sultan
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.17
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    • pp.7415-7423
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    • 2015
  • Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a stem cell disorder characterized by unrestricted proliferation of the myeloid series that occurs due to the BCR-ABL fusion oncogene as a result of reciprocal translocation t(9;22) (q34;q11). This discovery has made this particular domain a target for future efforts to cure CML. Imatinib revolutionized the treatment options for CML and gave encouraging results both in case of safety as well as tolerability profile as compared to agents such as hydroxyurea or busulfan given before Imatinib. However, about 2-4% of patients show resistance and mutations have been found to be one of the reasons for its development. European Leukemianet gives recommendations for BCR-ABL mutational analysis along with other tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) that should be administered according to the mutations harbored in a patient. The following overview gives recommendations for monitoring patients on the basis of their mutational status.

Hepatic Resection after Initial Transarterial Chemoembolization Versus Transarterial Chemoembolization Alone for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Meta-analysis of Observational Studies

  • Tang, Yu-Long;Qi, Xing-Shun;Guo, Xiao-Zhong
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.17
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    • pp.7871-7874
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    • 2015
  • Background: There is no consensus regarding the selection of treatment options for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after initial transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). This meta-analysis aimed to explore the survival benefit of hepatic resection after initial TACE for the treatment of HCC. Materials and Methods: We searched three major databases to identify all relevant papers comparing the outcomes of hepatic resection after initial TACE versus TACE alone for the treatment of HCC. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were calculated to evaluate the survival benefit of hepatic resection after initial TACE over TACE alone. Results: Three of 2037 initially identified papers were included. All of them were cohort studies from Asia. There was a significantly better overall survival (OS) in patients undergoing hepatic resection after initial TACE than in those undergoing TACE alone (HR=0.63, 95%CI=0.52-0.76, P<0.00001). The heterogeneity among studies was not statistically significant (P=0.96; I2=0%). Conclusions: Hepatic resection could improve the OS of HCC patients treated with initial TACE. Further randomized controlled trials should be necessary to identify the target population for the sequential use of hepatic resection after initial TACE and to compare the outcomes between patients undergoing hepatic resection after initial TACE session versus those undergoing TACE alone.

Identification of Genes and MicroRNAs Involved in Ovarian Carcinogenesis

  • Wan, Shu-Mei;Lv, Fang;Guan, Ting
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.13 no.8
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    • pp.3997-4000
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    • 2012
  • MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play roles in the clinic, both as diagnostic and therapeutic tools. The identification of relevant microRNAs is critically required for ovarian cancer because of the prevalence of late diagnosis and poor treatment options currently. To identify miRNAs involved in the development or progression of ovarian cancer, we analyzed gene expression profiles downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus. Comparison of expression patterns between carcinomas and the corresponding normal ovarian tissues enabled us to identify 508 genes that were commonly up-regulated and 1331 genes that were down-regulated in the cancer specimens. Function annotation of these genes showed that most of the up-regulated genes were related to cell cycling, and most of the down-regulated genes were associated with the immune response. When these differentially expressed genes were mapped to MiRTarBase, we obtained a total of 18 key miRNAs which may play important regulatory roles in ovarian cancer. Investigation of these genes and microRNAs should help to disclose the molecular mechanisms of ovarian carcinogenesis and facilitate development of new approaches to therapeutic intervention.

Predictors of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use by Breast Cancer Patients in Bandung, Indonesia

  • Azhar, Yohana;Achmad, Dimyati;Lukman, Kiki;Hilmanto, Dany;Aryandono, Teguh
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.2115-2118
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    • 2016
  • Background: The study aimed to assess complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and their associated factors with breast cancer patients in Bandung, Indonesia. Materials and Methods: In total, 330 breast cancer patients were administered questionnaires on their CAM use and CAM predictive factors including socio-demographic parameters, clinical data and quality of life, trust in physicians, trust in hospitals, satisfaction and informational needs. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis and multivariate log regreesion analysis. Results: Overall 33.3% of patients reported use of CAM. Lower income, lower education, presence of metastasis, prolonged diagnosis, less trust in physician were found to be highly associated with CAM use. Conclusions: CAM use by breast cancer patients can be interpreted as an attempt to explore all possible options, an expression of an active coping style, or expression of unmet needs in the cancer care continuum. Physicians need to openly discuss the use of CAM with their patients and identify whether they have other unmet supportive needs.

Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori Infection

  • Tongtawee, Taweesak;Kaewpitoon, Soraya;Kaewpitoon, Natthawut;Dechsukhum, Chavaboon;Leeanansaksiri, Wilairat;Loyd, Ryan A;Matrakool, Likit;Panpimanmas, Sukij
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.1631-1635
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    • 2016
  • Helicobacter pylori infection plays an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease and gastric malignancy. A diagnosis of infection is thus an important part of a treatment strategy of many gastrointestinal tract diseases. Many diagnostic tests are available but all have some limitations in different clinical situations and laboratory settings. A single gold standard cannot available, but be used for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in daily clinical practice in all areas, so several techniques have been developed to give reliable results, especially focusing on real time endoscopic features. The narrow band imaging system (NBI) and high resolution endoscopy are imaging techniques for enhanced visualization of infected mucosa and premalignant gastric lesions. The aim of this article is to review the current diagnostic options and possible future developments detection of Helicobacter pylori infection.

Current Drugs and Drug Targets in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Limitations and Opportunities

  • Daga, Aditi;Ansari, Afzal;Patel, Shanaya;Mirza, Sheefa;Rawal, Rakesh;Umrania, Valentina
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.10
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    • pp.4147-4156
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    • 2015
  • Lung cancer is a serious health problem and leading cause of death worldwide due to its high incidence and mortality. More than 80% of lung cancers feature a non-small cell histology. Over few decades, systemic chemotherapy and surgery are the only treatment options in this type of tumor but due to their limited efficacy and overall poor survival of patients, there is an urge to develop newer therapeutic strategies which circumvent the problems. Enhanced knowledge of translational science and molecular biology have revealed that lung tumors carry diverse driver gene mutations and adopt different intracellular pathways leading to carcinogenesis. Hence, the development of targeted agents against molecular subgroups harboring critical mutations is an attractive approach for therapeutic treatment. Targeted therapies are clearly more preferred nowadays over systemic therapies because they target tumor specific molecules resulting with enhanced activity and reduced toxicity to normal tissues. Thus, this review encompasses comprehensive updates on targeted therapies for the driver mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the potential challenges of acquired drug resistance faced i n the field of targeted therapy along with the imminent newer treatment modalities against lung cancer.

Mechanistic Studies of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor 3 (CDKN3) in Colorectal Cancer

  • Yang, Cheng;Sun, Jun-Jun
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.3
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    • pp.965-970
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    • 2015
  • Colorectal cancer is one of the most severe subtypes of cancer, and has the highest propensity to manifest as metastatic disease. Because of the lack of knowledge of events that correlate with tumor cell migration and invasion, few therapeutic options are available. The current study aimed to explore the mechanism of colorectal cancer in hope of identifying the ideal target for future treatment. We first discovered the pro-tumor effect of a controversial cell cycle regulator, cylin-dependent kinase inhibitor 3 (CDKN3), which is highly expressed in colorectal cancer, and the possible related signaling pathways, by bioinformatics tools. We found that CDKN3 had remarkable effects in suppressing colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration, inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in a colorectal cancer cell line, SW480 cells. Our study, for the first time, provided consistent evidence showing overexpression of cell cycle regulator CDKN3, in colorectal cancer. The in vitro studies in SW480 cells revealed a unique role of CDKN3 in regulating cellular behavior of colorectal cancer cells, and implied the possibility of targeting CDKN3 as a novel treatment for colorectal cancer.

Regional Resilience of Industrial Ecosystem in Financial Crisis: Comparison between Toyota-Kariya Automotive Subcontractor Cities and Hamamatsu Start-Up City

  • Fujiwara, Takao
    • Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.9-29
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    • 2018
  • Japan's manufacturing is mostly dependent on the automotive industry in Toyota-Kariya cities. However, the nearby city of Hamamatsu is the home of a start-up ecosystem known as Japan's Silicon Valley. How is it possible to evaluate the innovative potential of each regional industry? What kind of guidelines exist for continuing R&D investment when companies' net incomes are negative in the face of the 'Valley-of-Death' or financial crisis? Is it possible to measure the regional resilience ability in the context of the financial crisis? Entrepreneurial innovation is defined as a real-option portfolio consisting of investment decision to commercialize R&D findings. The subcontractor system implies a vertical and tight industrial group. However, a start-up ecosystem means a platform for horizontal and flexible partnership. In this research, the data include the financial indices of each of 18 public companies in both regions between FY2009 and FY2017. The objective of this paper is to clarify the call option or resilience function of equity for R&D investment in the context of the financial crisis in both regions by using Bayesian MCMC analysis.