• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.21-26
• /
• 1997

This study was undertaken to examine the expression of EGF-R protein on ICM obtained from mouse IVF/IVC blastocyst by immunosurgery and indirect immunofluorescence(IIF). ICM cells used for this experiment were obtained from immunosurgery of mouse blatstocysts produced at 96 h after IVF, and recovered ICMs were assayed for cell viability and expression of EGF-R. The results obtained in this experiment were summarized as follows: when blastocysts were exposed to rabbit anti-mouse serum (antiserum) for 15-30 min. and then transferred them to guinea pig serum (complement) for 15-60 min., recovery rates of isolated ICMs were 8.0-84.2%. Especially, the best recovery (84.2%) of ICMs was obtained when exposure time to antiserum and complement was 30 min. and 60 min., respectively. In addition, when viability of isolated ICMs after immunosurgery was assessed by live/dead staining method, in all groups viability (93.8-100.0%) of isolated ICMs were not damaged if separated from TE cell. Also, we detected the expression of EGF-R on ICM cell by IIF. Therefore, these results suggest that EGF-R expression on the ICMs can stimulate the higher usablity of exogenous EGF to improve the preimplantation embryo development in vitro.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.9
• /
• pp.3595-3604
• /
• 2015

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been one of the most fatal malignant tumors worldwide and its associated morbidity and mortality remain of significant concern. Based on in-depth reviews of serological diagnosis of HCC, in addition to AFP, there are other biomarkers: Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive AFP (AFP-L3), descarboxyprothrombin (DCP), tyrosine kinase with Ig and eprdermal growth factor (EGF) homology domains 2 (TIE2)-espressing monocytes (TEMs), glypican-3 (GPC3), Golgi protein 73 (GP73), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) have been proposed as biomarkers for the early detection of HCC. The diagnosis of HCC is primarily based on noninvasive standard imaging methods, such as ultrasound (US), dynamic multiphasic multidetector-row CT (MDCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Some experts advocate gadolinium diethyl-enetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) MRI and contrast-enhanced US as the promising imaging madalities of choice. With regard to recent advancements in tissue markers, many cuting-edge technologies using genome-wide DNA microarrays, qRT-PCR, and proteomic and inmunostaining studies have been implemented in an attempt to identify markers for early diagnosis of HCC. Only less than half of HCC patients at initial diagnosis are at an early stage treatable with curative options: local ablation, surgical resection, or liver transplant. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is considered the standard of care with palliation for intermediate stage HCC. Recent innovative procedures using drug-eluting-beads and radioembolization using Yttrium-90 may exhibit beneficial effects in HCC treatment. During the past few years, several molecular targeted agents have been evaluated in clinical trials in advanced HCC. Sorafenib is currently the only approved systemic treatment for HCC. It has been approved for the therapy of asymptomatic HCC patients with well-preserved liver function who are not candidates for potentially curative treatments, such as surgical resection or liver transplantation. In the USA, Europe and particularly Japan, hepatitis C virus (HCV) related HCC accounts for most liver cancer, as compared with Asia-Pacific regions, where hepatitis B virus (HBV) may play a more important role in HCC development. HBV vaccination, while a vaccine is not yet available against HCV, has been recognized as a best primary prevention method for HBV-related HCC, although in patients already infected with HBV or HCV, secondary prevention with antiviral therapy is still a reasonable strategy. In addition to HBV and HCV, attention should be paid to other relevant HCC risk factors, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease due to obesity and diabetes, heavy alcohol consumption, and prolonged aflatoxin exposure. Interestingly, coffee and vitamin K2 have been proven to provide protective effects against HCC. Regarding tertiary prevention of HCC recurrence after surgical resection, addition of antiviral treatment has proven to be a rational strategy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.9
• /
• pp.3667-3671
• /
• 2015

Invasion and metastasis is the major cause of tumor recurrence, difficulty for cure and low survival rate. Excavating key transcription factors, which can regulate tumor invasion and metastasis, are crucial to the development of therapeutic strategies for cancers. PU.1 is a master hematopoietic transcription factor and a vital regulator in life. Here, we report that, compared to adjacent non-cancerous tissues, expression of PU.1 mRNA in metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but not primary HCC, was significantly down-regulated. In addition, levels of PU.1 mRNA in metastatic hepatoma cell lines MHCC97L and MHCC97H were much lower than in non-metastatic Hep3B cells. Transwell invasion assays after PU.1 siRNA transfection showed that the invasion of hepatoma cell lines was increased markedly by PU.1 knockdown. Oppositely, overexpression of PU.1 suppressed the invasion of these cells. However, knockdown and overexpression of PU.1 did not influence proliferation. Finally, we tried to explore the potential mechanism of PU.1 suppressing hepatoma cell invasion. ChIP-qPCR analysis showed that PU.1 exhibited a high binding capacity with miR-615-5p promoter sequence. Overexpression of PU.1 caused a dramatic increase of pri-, pre- and mature miR-615-5p, as well as a marked decrease of miR-615-5p target gene IGF2. These data indicate that PU.1 inhibits invasion of human HCC through promoting miR-615-5p and suppressing IGF2. These findings improve our understanding of PU.1 regulatory roles and provided a potential target for metastatic HCC diagnosis and therapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.17
• /
• pp.7485-7489
• /
• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women throughout the world. However, in comparison with Western women, it presents relatively early in women of Asian ethnicity. Early menarche, late menopause, use of OCP's, family history of benign or malignant breast disease, exposure to radiation and BMI in the under-weight range are well known risk factors for the development of breast cancer in premenopausal women. Early detection with the use of breast self-examination (BSE) and breast cancer screening programs can lead to a reduction in the mortality rates due to breast cancer. The aim of our study was to assess the risk factors for breast cancer among young women and to emphasize the importance of early screening among them. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among women aged 18 to 25 using a self-administered questionnaire. Data was collected over a period of 6 months from June to December, 2014. A total of 300 young women selected randomly from Dow Medical College and various departments of Karachi University successfully completed the survey. Results: Respondents were 18-25 years of age (mean age=21.5). Out of the 300 young females, 90 (30%) had at least one risk factor, 90 (30%) had two, 40 (13%) had three, 8 (2.7%) had four, 2 (0.7%) had five while one female was found to have six positive risk factors for breast cancer. Some 66 women (22%) experienced symptoms of breast cancer such as non-cyclical pain and lumps. While 222 women (74%) had never performed breast self-examination, 22 (7.3%) had had a breast examination done by a health professional while 32 (10.7%) had participated in breast screening programs. A total of 223 (74.3%) women considered breast cancer screening important for young women. Conclusions: The percentage of young women with risk factors for breast cancer was found to be alarmingly high. Therefore, screening for breast cancer should start at an early age especially in high risk groups. Awareness about breast self-examination should be emphasized. Moreover, screening programs should be started to ensure early detection and reduction of mortality rates caused by breast cancer also in young Pakistani females.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.1589-1595
• /
• 2014

Objective: Forkhead box C2 (FOXC2) is a member of the winged helix/forkhead box (Fox) family of transcription factors. It has been suggested to regulate tumor vasculature, growth, invasion and metastasis, although it has not been studied in cervical cancer. Here, we analyzed FOXC2 expression in cervical tissues corresponding to different stages of cervical cancer development and examined its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics. In addition, we examined the effects of targeting FOXC2 on the biological behavior of human cervical cancer cells. Methods: The expression of FOXC2 in normal human cervix, CIN I-III and cervical cancer was examined by immunohistochemistry and compared among the three groups and between cervical cancers with different pathological subtypes. Endogenous expression of FOXC2 was transiently knocked down in human Hela and SiHa cervical cells by siRNA, and cell viability and migration were examined by scratch and CCK8 assays, respectively. Results: In normal cervical tissue the frequency of positive staining was 25% (10/40 cases), with a staining intensity (PI) of $0.297{\pm}0.520$, in CIN was 65% (26/40cases), with a PI of $3.00{\pm}3.29$, and in cancer was 91.8% (68/74 cases), with a PI of $5.568 {\pm}3.449$. The frequency was 100% in adenocarcinoma (5/5 cases) and 91.3% in SCCs (63/69 cases). The FOXC2 positive expression rate was 88.5% in patients with cervical SCC stage I and 100% in stage II, showing significant differences compared with normal cervix and CIN. With age, pathologic differentiation degree and tumor size, FOXC2 expression showed no significant variation. On transient transfection of Hela and SiHa cells, FOXC2-siRNA inhibition rates were 76.2% and 75.7%; CCK8 results showed reduced proliferation and relative migration (in Hela cells from $64.5{\pm}3.16$ to $49.5{\pm}9.24$ and in SiHa cells from $60.1{\pm}3.05$ to $44.3{\pm}3.98$) (P < 0.05). Conclusion: FOXC2 gene expression increases with malignancy, especially with blood vessel hyperplasia and invasion degree. Targeted silencing was associated with reduced cell proliferation as well as invasion potential.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.7
• /
• pp.4121-4126
• /
• 2013

Objective: Low dose radiation may stimulate the growth and development of animals, increase life span, enhance fertility, and downgrade the incidence of tumor occurrence.The aim of this study was to investigate the antitumor effect and hormesis in an erythrocyte system induced by low-dose radiation. Methods: Kunming strain male mice were subcutaneously implanted with S180 sarcoma cells in the right inguen as an experimental in situ animal model. Six hours before implantation, the mice were given 75mGy whole body X-ray radiation. Tumor growth was observed 5 days later, and the tumor volume was calculated every other day. Fifteen days later, all mice were killed to measure the tumor weight, and to observe necrotic areas and tumor-infiltration-lymphoreticular cells (TILs). At the same time, erythrocyte immune function and the level of 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid (2,3-DPG) were determined. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of EPO and VEGFR of tumor tissues. Results: The mice pre-exposed to low dose radiation had a lower tumor formation rate than those without low dose radiation (P < 0.05). The tumor growth slowed down significantly in mice pre-exposed to low dose radiation; the average tumor weight in mice pre-exposed to low dose radiation was lighter too (P < 0.05). The tumor necrosis areas were larger and TILs were more in the radiation group than those of the group without radiation. The erythrocyte immune function, the level of 2,3-DPG in the low dose radiation group were higher than those of the group without radiation (P < 0.05). After irradiation the expression of EPO of tumor tissues in LDR group decreased with time. LDR-24h, LDR-48h and LDR-72h groups were all statistically significantly different from sham-irradiation group. The expression of VEGFR also decreased, and LDR-24h group was the lowest (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Low dose radiation could markedly increase the anti-tumor ability of the organism and improve the erythrocyte immune function and the ability of carrying $O_2$. Low-dose total body irradiation, within a certain period of time, can decrease the expression of hypoxia factor EPO and VEGFR, which may improve the situation of tumor hypoxia and radiosensitivity of tumor itself.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.41-63
• /
• 2016

Energy policy is known to have higher path dependency among policy fields (Kuper and van Soest, 2003; OECD, 2012; Kikkawa, 2013) and is a critical component of the infrastructure development undertaken in the early stages of nation building. Actor roles, such as those played by interest groups, are firmly formed, making it unlikely that institutional change can be implemented. In resource-challenged Japan, energy policy is an especially critical policy area for the Japanese government. In comparing energy policy making in Japan and Germany, Japan’s policy community is relatively firm (Hartwig et al., 2015), and it is improbable that institutional change can occur. The Japanese government’s approach to energy policy has shifted incrementally in the past half century, with the most recent being the 2012 implementation of the “Feed-In Tariff Law” (Act on Special Measures Concerning Procurement of Renewable Electric Energy by Operators of Electric Utilities), which encourages new investment in renewable electricity generation and promotes the use of renewable energy. Yet, who were the actors involved and the factors that influenced the establishment of this new law? This study attempts to assess the factors associated with implementing the law as well as the roles of the relevant major actors. In answering this question, we focus on identifying the policy networks among government, political parties, and interest groups, which suggests that success in persuading key economic groups could be a factor in promoting the law. Our data is based on the “Global Environmental Policy Network Survey 2012-2013 (GEPON2)” which was conducted immediately after the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake with respondents including political parties, the government, interest groups, and civil society organizations. Our results suggest that the Feed in Tariff (FIT) Law’s network structure is similar to the information network and support network, and that the actors at the center of the network support the FIT Law. The strength of our research lays in our focus on political networks and their contributing mechanism to the law’s implementation through analysis of the political process. From an academic perspective, identifying the key actors and factors may be significant in explaining institutional change in policy areas with high path dependency. Close examination of this issue also has implications for a society that can promote renewable and sustainable energy resources.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.215-225
• /
• 2020

This study was performed to identify the education and training characteristics and the educational performance of the incumbent. For the enterprise in the rapidly changing market environment, the human resources is an important factor to secure the market competitiveness, and the enterprise promotes the development of competence and the corporate performance through the education and training. However, in spite of such effort, the continuously increasing turnover rate and the low utilization rate of educational contents make the enterprises to hesitate the investment in the education and training. Although, the researchers are conducting lots of researches on the characteristics and the performance of the education and training, the research focusing on the characteristics and the field utilization of the education and training is not sufficient due to such reasons, Therefore, this study intended to draw the factors of education and training characteristics through existing researches and find out what impact they have actually on the utilization in business by the incumbents through the organizational commitment. In the results of this study, it was shown that the self-efficacy do not have impact on the organizational commitment, the appropriateness of instructor ability has positive (+) impact on the continuous commitment and the emotional commitment, and the work correlation has negative impact on the continuous commitment and the emotional commitment. These results seems to mean that the importance of the instructor ability and the educational program should be increased and it is intended to provide the basic data for the education-related personnel and the related enterprises.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.25-40
• /
• 2001

The purposes of the study were to identify satisfaction and achievement of learning by female learner's characteristics, and to suggest measures to improve quality of education in internet education programs. In order to determine the educational effectiveness associated with the characteristics of learners, this study attempted to employ two way approaches by observing the degree of achievement for learning, which represents an instructor-oriented approach, and the degree of satisfaction for education, which represents a learner-oriented approach to enhance the quality of internet education for female learners. As an approach to evaluate the educational effectiveness, the degree of achievement in learning(Tyler's classical approach), and the degree of satisfaction for education (Scriven's consumer-oriented evaluation model) were utilized. A survey form was developed by the researcher after reviewing the various tools originated from Boshier, Cross, Gagne and Choi, and distributed to a panel of judges that examined the content validity of the instrument. The sample for the study consisted of 160 female learners from three universities in Seoul and capital area, and the survey form was used to collect data for this study. The SPSS WIN program was used in analyzing the data and a series of statistical tests were conducted including frequency, percentile, t-test, ANOVA, correlation, multiple regression, and factor analysis. The statistical significance level was 0.05. The following conclusion were drawn from this study of female internet education. First, it was evident that female internet learners tend to utilize information from internet, and this can be interpreted as participants' positive attitude, and voluntary participation. Second, educational facilities and services should be improved in the future, because the level of satisfaction was low in these areas compared to curriculum and educational methodology. Third, the participating factors influenced by the level of satisfaction for education of learner characteristics were the 'formation of inter-personal relationship and willingness to change' and the 'needs for education on internet', thus appeared that both social and educational needs influenced the level of satisfaction for education. Fourth, the degree of achievement in learning was higher in the order of 1) attitude 2) function 3) knowledge, thus, attitude change was the most important in achievement of learning. Fifth, the individual background that influenced the level of achievement in learning were age and educational experience. As for the individual level of achievement for learning, the younger and more educated group were more satisfied.

• Korean Journal of Child Education & Care
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.103-115
• /
• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand the formation of organizational relationship necessary to the correct operation of daycare centers through the relations between mulitpliership of daycare directors, and teachers cooperation and colleague support of childcare teachers. Methods: The subjects in this study were 234 childcare center teachers in Seoul and Gyoungi Province in South Korea. Two different inventories were utilized. Multipliership scale, teacher cooperation scale and colleague support scale were used. As for data analysis, the frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and correlation analysis were conducted through SPSS 20.0 program. Results: First, the sub-factors of multipliership of daycare center directors such as working joyfully, settling productive discussion, increasing unity of members, and establishing personal value culture in order were the preceding factors having positive effects on the teachers cooperation of childcare teachers. Second, the sub-factors of multipliership of daycare center directors such as settling productive discussion, establishing personal value culture, working joyfully, and increasing unity of members in order were the preceding factors having positive effects on the colleague support of childcare teachers. Conclusion/Implications: This study suggests researches improve the quality of childcare, and also researches on the development of programs enhancing multipliership.