• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2018

In this study we performed risk evaluation based on parameters using the SINMAP, GIS-based extended program in order to predict ground disaster that is frequent recently. As for the risk evaluation, in order to understand the effects of parameters, we defined that the ranges of internal friction angles and T/R values as important variables had three and four patterns, respectively. The results of the interpretation were compared with those of the existing landslide in order to identify landslide flow and to evaluate the applicability of the parameters. The analysis of the geomorphologic saturated zone showed that the boundary saturated zone and the saturated zone were almost consistent with the site of avalanche of earth and rocks and the area of underground water convergence was correlated to the area where collapse started, indicating that the geomorphologic saturated zone may serve as an index for estimating possibility of landslide when used with slope distribution, colluvial soil, and structures inducing landslide in combination. When the lower limit of the internal friction angle increased more, the upper threshold decreased by 50 to 70% and the influence on the stability index was higher, but the influence was declined within the range of lower wetness index. The analysis of changes based on wetness index range showed that all the groups have similar SI distribution, except for the one in which mean altitude values are applied, indicating that the results are susceptible more by the internal friction angle than by the wetness index.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.34 no.3 s.95
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• pp.192-198
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• 2001

The Kyongan Stream and the inlet part of Paltang Reservoir are under significant influence of the effluent of sewage wastewater treatment plant (SWTP) and untreated domestic wastewater (DOW). The fertility of wastewater was evaluated through bioassay using natural phytoplankton population diluted in five levels. The concentrations of $NH_4$, SRP and SRSi were positively correlated with the biomass of phytoplankton. P concentration showed stronger correlation (r = 0.959, p<0.001)than other nutrients. Compared with the initial concentrations, $NH_4$ concentrations in samples from SWTP and DOW decreased 96% and 7%, respectively during the cultivation, and those of SRSi decreased 97% and 60%. However, $NO_3$ concentrations in samples neither showed any particular change nor any increase. Chl-a concentration ranged between $20\;{\mu}g/l$ and $125\;{\mu}g/l$, which maximum value increased up to 83 times. Estimated from the relationship between chl-a and SRP, the P concentration that can maintain the biomass of algae under mesotrophic state (<25\;{mu}g$\;chl-a/l$) was $83\;{mu}g\; P/l$. The volume of flow to maintain this level solely by natural dilution was about $16{\sim}25$ times of in flowing volume in the stream. However, it is not feasible to tap water of such quantity. Therefore, it is imperative to build an advanced sewage wastewater treatment facility that can reduce $NH_4$ and SRP concentrations that promote the growth of phytoplankton in discharged water.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.3471-3476
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• 2014

Background: Aberrant expression of the microRNA-29 family is associated with tumorigenesis and cancer progression. As transport carriers, tumor-derived exosomes are released into the extracellular space and regulate multiple functions of target cells. Thus, we assessed the possibility that exosomes could transport microRNA-29c as a carrier and correlations between microRNA-29c and apoptosis of bladder cancer cells. Materials and Methods: A total of 28 cancer and adjacent tissues were examined by immunohistochemistry to detect BCL-2 and MCL-1 expression. Disease was Ta-T1 in 12 patients, T2-T4 in 16, grade 1 in 8, 2 in 8 and 3 in 12. The expression of microRNA-29c in cancer tissues was detected by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (QRT-PCR). An adenovirus containing microRNA-29c was used to infect the BIU-87 human bladder cancer cell line. MicroRNA-29c in exosomes was measured by QRT-PCR. After BIU-87 cells were induced by exosomes-derived microRNA-29c, QRT-PCR was used to detect the level of microRNA-29c. Apoptosis was examined by flow cytometry and BCL-2 and MCL-1 mRNA expressions were assessed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Western blotting was used to determine the protein expression of BCL-2 and MCL-1. Results: The expressions of BCL-2 and MCL-1 protein were remarkably increased in bladder carcinoma (p<0.05), but was found mainly in the basal and suprabasal layers in adjacent tissues. The expression of microRNA-29c in cancer tissues was negatively correlated with the BCL-2 and MCL-1. The expression level of microRNA-29c in exosomes and BIU-87 cells from the experiment group was higher than that in control groups (p<0.05). Exosome-derived microRNA-29c induced apoptosis (p<0.01). Although only BCL-2 was reduced at the mRNA level, both BCL-2 and MCL-1 were reduced at the protein level. Conclusions: Human bladder cancer cells infected by microRNA-29c adenovirus can transport microRNA-29c via exosomes. Moreover, exosome-derived microRNA29c induces apoptosis in bladder cancer cells by down-regulating BCL-2 and MCL-1.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5487-5492
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• 2014

Ultrasonography is non-invasive and can give useful clues in the diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy, However, differential diagnosis is difficult in some situations even combined with color Doppler imaging. The present study was conducted to evaluate the clinical value of real time elastography in patients with unexplained cervical lymphadenopathy using a quantitative method. From May 2011 to February 2012, 39 enlarged lymph nodes from 39 patients with unexplained cervical lymphadenopathy were assessed. All the patients were examined by both B-mode ultrasound, color Doppler flow imaging and elastography. The method of analyzing elasto-graphic data was the calculation of the 10 parametres ("mean", "sd", "area%", "com", "kur", "ske", "con", "ent", "idm", "asm") offered by the software integrated into the Hitachi system. The findings were then correlated with the definitive tissue diagnosis obtained by lymph node dissection or biopsy. Final histology revealed 10 cases of metastatic lymph nodes, 11 cases of lymphoma, 12 cases of tuberculosis and 6 cases of nonspecific lymphadenitis. The significant distinguishing features for conventional ultrasound were the maximum short diameter (p=0.007) and absent of echogenic hilum (p=0.0293). The diagnostic accuracy was 43.6% (17/39 cases) and there were 17 patients with equivocal diagnosis. For elastography, "mean" (p=0.003), "area%" (p=0.009), "kurt" (p=0.0291), "skew" (p=0.014) and "cont" (p=0.012) demonstrated significant differences between groups. With 9 of the 17 patients with previous equivocal diagnoses (52.9%) definite and correct diagnoses could be obtained. The diagnostic accuracy for conventional ultrasound combined elastography was 69.2% (27/39 cases). There were differences in the diagnostic sensitivity of the two methods (p=0.0224). Ultrasound combined with elastography demonstrated higher rates of conclusive and accurate diagnoses in patients with unexplained cervical lymphadenopathy than conventional ultrasound. The quantitative program showed good correlation with the pathology of different lymph node diseases.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5915-5920
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• 2013

Aim: Although aberrant miRNA expression has been documented, altered miR-101 expression in cervical cancer and its carcinogenic effects and mechanisms remain unexplored. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of miR-101 alteration in cervical carcinogenesis. Methods: Expression of miR-101 was examined by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR) in Hela cells. After modulating miR-101 expression using miR-101 mimics, cell growth, apoptosis and proliferation, and migration were tested separately by MTT or flow cytometry and cell wound healing assay and protein expression was detected by qRT-PCR. The expression of COX-2 in Hela cell was also examined by immunohistochemical staining and the correlation with miR-101 expression was analysed. Results: The miR-101 demonstrated significantly low expression in Hela cell. When we transfected miR-101 mimics into Hela cells, the modulation of miR-101 expression remarkably influenced cell proliferation, cycling and apoptosis: 1) The expression of microRNA-101 tended to increase after transfection; 2) Overexpression of miR-101 was able to promote cell apoptosis, the apoptosis rate being markedly higher (97.6%) than that seen pre-transfection (12.2%) (P<0.05); 3) The miR-101 negatively regulates cell migration and invasion, scratch results being lower ($42.7um{\pm}2um$) than that observed pre-transfection ($181.4um{\pm}2um$); 4) miRNA-101 inhibits the proliferation of Hela cells as well as the level of COX-2 protein, which was negatively correlated with miR-101 expression. Conclusions: Overexpression of miR-101 has obvious inhibitory effects on cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Thus reduced miR-101 expression could participate in the development of cervical cancer at least partly through loss of inhibition of target gene COX-2, which probably occurs in a relative late phase of carcinogenesis. Our data suggest an important role of miR-101 in the molecular etiology of cancer and indicate potential application of miR-101 in cancer therapy.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.144-153
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• 2000

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between radiation-induced activation of DNA repair genes and radiation induced apoptosis in A431 cell line. Materials and Methods: Five and 25 Gys of gamma radiation were given to A431 cells by a Cs-137 cell irradiator. Apoptosis was evaluated by flow cytometry using annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate and propidium iodide staining. The expression of DNA repair genes was evaluated by both Northern and Western blot analyses. Results: The number of apoptotic cells increased with the increased radiation dose. It increased most significantly at 12 hours after irradiation. Expression of p53, p21, and hRAD50 reached the highest level at 12 hours after 5 Gy irradiation. In response to 25 Gy irradiation, hRAD50 and p21 were expressed maximally at 12 hours, but p53 and GADD45 genes showed the highest expression level after 12 hours. Conclusion: Induction of apoptosis and DNA repair by ionizing radiation were closely correlated. The peak time of inducing apoptosis and DNA repair was 12 hours in this study model. hRAD50, a recently discovered DNA repair gene, was also associated with radiation-induced apoptosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1901-1906
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• 2012

Background: The discovery that microRNA (miRNA) regulates metastasis provide a principal molecular basis for tumor heterogeneity. A characteristic of solid tumors is their heterogenous distribution of blood vessels, with significant hypoxia occurring in regions (centers of tumor) of low blood flow. It is necessary to discover the mechanism of breast cancer metastasis in relation to the fact that there is a differential distribution of crucial microRNA in tumors from centers to edges. Methods: Breast tissues from 48 patients (32 patients with breast cancer) were classified into the high invasive and metastatic group (HIMG), low invasive and metastatic group (LIMG), and normal group. Samples were collected from both the centers and edges of all tumors. The first six specimens were detected by microRNA array, and the second ten specimens were detected by real-time qRT-PCR and Western blot analyses. Correlation analysis was performed between the miRNAs and target proteins. Results: The relative content of miR-20a and miR-20b was lower in the center of the tumor than at the edge in the LIMG, lower at the edge of the tumor than in the center in the HIMG, and lower in breast cancer tissues than in normal tissues. VEGF-A and HIF-1alpha mRNA levels were higher in the HIMG than in the LIMG, and levels were higher in both groups than in the normal group; there was no difference in mRNA levels between the edge and center of the tumor. VEGF-A and HIF-1alpha protein levels were higher in the HIMG than in the LIMG, and protein levels in both groups were higher than in the normal group; there was a significant difference in protein expression between the edge and center of the tumor. Correlation analysis showed that the key miRNAs (miR-20a and miR-20b) negatively correlated with the target proteins (VEGF-A and HIF-1alpha). Conclusions: Our data suggest that miR-20a and miR-20b are differentially distributed in breast cancer, while VEGF-A and HIF-1alpha mRNA had coincident distributions, and VEGF-A and HIF-1alpha proteins had uneven and opposing distributions to the miRNAs. It appears that one of the most important facets underlying metastatic heterogeneity is the differential distribution of miR-20a and miR-20b and their regulation of target proteins.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.769-773
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• 2014

Fangchinoline (Fan) inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in several cancer cell lines. The effects of Fan on cell growth and proliferation in breast cancer cells remain to be elucidated. Here, we show that Fan inhibited cell proliferation in the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line through suppression of the AKT/Gsk-3beta/cyclin D1 signaling pathway. Furthermore, Fan induced apoptosis by increasing the expression of Bax (relative to Bcl-2), active caspase 3 and cytochrome-c. Fan significantly inhibited cell proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells in a concentration and time dependent manner as determined by MTT assay. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that Fan treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells resulted in cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase, which correlated with apparent downregulation of both mRNA and protein levels of both PCNA and cyclin D1. Further analysis demonstrated that Fan decreased the phosphorylation of AKT and GSK-3beta. In addition, Fan up-regulated active caspase3, cytochrome-c protein levels and the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2, accompanied by apoptosis. Taken together, these results suggest that Fan is a potential natural product for the treatment of breast cancer.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.376-387
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• 2017

This paper attempts to analyze the geographical characters of Twitter data and presents analysis potentials for social network analysis in geography. First, this paper suggests a methodology for a topic modeling-based approach in order to identify the geographical characteristics of tweets, including an analysis flow of Twitter data sets, tweet data collection and conversion, textural pre-processing and structural analysis, topic discovery, and interpretation of tweets' topics. GPS coordinates referencing tweets(geotweets) were extracted among sampled Twitter data sets because it contains the tweet place where it was created. This paper identifies a correlated relationship between some specific topics and local places in Jeju. This correlation is closely associated with some place names and local sites in Jeju Island. We assume it is the intention of tweeters to record their tweet places and to share and retweet with other tweeters in some cases. A surface density map shows the hotspots of tweets, detecting around some specific places and sites such as Jeju airport, sightseeing sites, and local places in Jeju Island. The hotspots show similar patterns of the floating population of Jeju, especially the thirty-year age group. In addition, a topic modeling algorithm is applied for the geographical topic discovery and comparison of the spatial patterns of tweets. Finally, this empirical analysis presents that Twitter data, as social network data, provide geographical significance, with topic modeling approach being useful in analyzing the textural features reflecting the geographical characteristics in large data sets of tweets.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2012

It is very important for early diagnosis and therapy with ischamic cerebral infarction patients. This study was to know the ischemic penumbra lesion which compared CT-perfusion and diffusion weighted MRI(DWMRI) with acute cerebral infarction patients. 12 acute cerebral infarction patients had performed perfusion CT and performed DWMRI. Perfusion images including cerebral blood volume(CBV), cerebral blood flow(CBF), time to peak(TTP) and mean transit time(MTT) maps obtained the values with defect lesion and contralateral normal cerebral hemisphere and DWMRI was measured by signal intensity and compared of lesion size between each perfusion map. All perfusion CT maps showed the perfusion defect lesions in all patients. There were remarkable TTP and MTT delay in perfusion defect lesions. The lesions on CBF map was the most closely correlated with the lesions on DWMRI. The size of perfusion defect lesions on TTP and MTT map was larger than that of lesions on DWMRI, suggesting that MTT map can evaluate the ischemic penumbra. Perfusion CT maps make it possible to evaluate not only ischemic core and ischemic penumbra, but also hemodynamic status in the perfusion defect area. These results demonstrate that perfusion CT can be useful to the diagnosis and treatment in the patients with acute cerebral ischemic infarction.