• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.165-173
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• 2004

Since the conventional image segmentation methods using mathematical morphology tend to yield over-segmented results, they normally need postprocess which merges small regions to obtain larger ones. To solve this over-segmentation problem without postprocess had to increase size of structuring element used marker extraction. As size of structuring element is very large, edge of region segments incorrectly. Therefore, this paper selectively applies structuring element of mathematical morphology to improve performance of image segmentation and classifies input image into texture region, edge region and simple region using averaged local variance and image gradient. Proposed image segmentation method removes the cause for over-segmentation of image as selectively applies size of structuring element to each region. Simulation results show that proposed method correctly segment for pixel region of similar luminance value and more correctly search texture region and edge region than conventional methods.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 1986

We screened lysates of the laboratory strains of pseudomonads utilizing hydrocarbon by agarose gel electrophoresis and cesium chloride-ethidium bromide equilibrium centrifugation, to find an intrinsic plasmid as a vector and to examine the relationship between the plasmid and hydrocarbon degradation. Only one strain from the examined strains, Pseudomonas putida KU190, contained a plasmid. We named the plasmid pKU41. The molecular size of pKU41 was determined as 41kb, using covalently closed circular forms of RP4 and pSY343 as standard size markers. The restriction sites of pKU41 for BamHI, BglII, EcoRI, HindIII, and SalI were 3, 1, 3, 6 and more than 13, respectively. With double or triple digestion, restriction map of pKU41 was constructed for BamHI, BglII and HindIII. For elucidation on the biological function of the plasmid, test was conducted on the ability of hydrocarbon utilization of the host strain but no apparent relationship was observed.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.391-402
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to improve the nutrition and the permeability of functional plants by using cryogenic grinding technology. Barley sprouts, Curcuma longa L., Dendropanax morbifera LEV., Phellinus linteus were dried, ground and extracted in different temperature conditions. Powder size of barley sprouts and Curcuma longa L. were about $50{\mu}m$ and Dendropanax morbifera LEV. and Phellinus linteus were about $20{\mu}m$. Cryogenic ground of Barley sprouts preserved 18.27-124.65% of nutrients such as protein, ash, carbohydrate, beta carotene, minerals, vitamins. Cryogenic grinding powder of Curcuma longa L. show high nutrients retention rate of lipid and carbohydrate. Permeability was measured by Parallel Artificial Membrane Permeability Assay (PAMPA) to predict passive gastrointestinal absorption. Permeability of saponarin, which is marker compound of Barley sprouts, is 9.88 times higher in cryogenic grinding powder than ambient grinding powder. Curcumin permability is 3.1 times higher than ambient grinded powder. As a result, particle size, nutrition, protein digestion degree and permeability demonstrated a positive relationship with the decreasing grinding temperature for the powders. These results confirm that the cryogenic grinding method had good suitability to increase functionality of plants, since it could minimize the heat generated while processing and effectively reduce the particle size.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.235-241
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• 2004

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the serum tumor markers CEA, CA 19-9, and CA 72-4 in monitoring the recurrence of gastric cancer and in its preoperative assessment. Materials and Methods: Two hundred fifty-five patients who underwent potentially curative surgery during period from January 1995 to December 2000 at the Department of Surgery were assessed. Serum samples were obtained preoperatively, 2 weeks after the surgery, and at 6-month intervals. The cut-off levels were established as 5 ng/ml for CEA, 36 U/ml for CA 19-9, and 4 U/ml for CA 72-4. The tumor stage was described according to the 5th edition of the Union Internationale Contra la Cancer (UICC) TNM classification in 1997. Results: The preoperative positivities were $10.5\%$ for CEA, $9.7\%$ for CA 19-9, and $12.4\%$ for CA 72-4. The serum levels of the three tumor markers decreased after curative surgery. The preoperative serum levels of the three tumor markers were significantly related to the depth of invasion, the tumor size, lymph-node metastasis, the pathologic stage, and recurrence, except that CEA was not associated with tumor size. The marker sensitivities in recurrent cases were $43.3\%$ for CEA, $\%41.8$ for CA 19-9, and $50.0\%$ for CA 72-4, and the marker specificities were $85.1\%$ for CEA, $96.8\%$ for CA 19-9, and $87.8\%$ for CA 72-4. Conclusion: The preoperative serum levels of CEA, CA 19-9, and CA 72-4 are not useful for the initial diagnosis of gastric cancer because of their low positivity. However, we should consider their relationship with depth of invasion, lymph-node metastasis, tumor size, pathologic stage, and recurrence. Also, the follow-up levels of the three markers have a statistical relationship with recurrence of gastric cancer even though their sensitivities are low.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.329-340
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• 2009

For complex diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, it is believed that model-free methods might work better because they do not require a precise knowledge of the mode of inheritance controlling the disease trait. This is done by estimating the sharing probabilities that a pair shares zero, one, or two alleles identical by descent(IBD) and has some specific branches of test procedure, i.e., the mean test, the proportion test, and the minmax test. Among them, the minmax test is known to be more robust than others regardless of genetic mode of inheritance in current use. In this study, we compared the power of the methods which are based on minmax test and considering weighting schemes for sib-pairs to analyze sibship data. In simulation result, we found that the method based on Suarez' was more powerful than any others without respect to marker allele frequency, genetic mode of inheritance, sibship size. Also, The power of both Suarez- and Hodge-based methods was higher when marker allele frequency and sibship size were higher, and this result was remarkable in dominant mode of inheritance especially.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.3939-3944
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• 2014

Background: To elucidate the role of rapamycin and PF4 on apoptosis regulation via Bax (pro-apoptosis), Bcl-2 (anti-apoptosis) and survivin activation on the growth in the 1-methyl-1-nitrosourea-induced invasive breast carcinoma model. Materials and Methods: Thirty five female Sprague Dawley rats at age 21-day old were divided into 4 groups; Group 1 (control, n=10), Group 2 (PF4, n=5), Group 3 (rapamycin, n=10) and Group 4 (rapamycin+PF4, n=10). MNU was administered intraperitionally, dosed at 70mg/kg body weight. The rats were treated when the tumors reached the size of $14.5{\pm}0.5mm$ and subsequently sacrificed after 5 days. Rapamycin and PF4 were administered as focal intralesional injections at the dose of $20{\mu}g$/lesion. The tumor tissue was then subjected to histopathological examinations for morphological appraisal and immunohistochemical assessment of the pro-apoptotic marker, Bax and anti-apoptotic markers, Bcl-2 and survivin. Results: The histopathological pattern of the untreated control cohort showed that the severity of the malignancy augments with mammary tumor growth. Tumors developing in untreated groups were more aggressive whilst those in treated groups demonstrated a transformation to a less aggressive subtype. Combined treatment resulted in a significant reduction of tumor size without phenotypic changes. Bax, the pro-apoptotic marker, was significantly expressed at higher levels in the rapamycin-treated and rapamycin+PF4-treated groups compared to controls (p<0.05). Consequently, survivin was also significantly downregulated in the rapamycin-treated and rapamycin+PF4-treated group and this was significantly different when compared to controls (p). Conclusions: In our rat model, it could be clearly shown that rapamycin specifically affects Bax and survivin signaling pathways in activation of apoptosis. We conclude that rapamycin plays a critical role in the induction of apoptosis in MNU-induced mammary carcinoma.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.45-48
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• 2003

We have previously cloned and characterized the complete fibroin L-chain gene from one of the silkworm races Baekok-Jam (Bombyx mori) and found two variable regions (I, intron 2 ~ exon 3; II, intron 6) with the primer sets designed to cover these variable regions. We tested the utility of these regions as genetic markers among silkworm races. For the purpose of study, Japanese race (Jam 123), Chinese race (Jam 124) and their F$_1$hybrid Baekok-Jam were used. The PCR product size of region I was 787 bp in Jam 123, 770 bp in Jam 124 and 768 bp in Baekok-Jam. The size of region II was 470 bp in Jam 123, 428 bp in Jam 124 and 429 Up in Baekok-Jam. In the extended experiment, Jam 125 (Japanese race), Jam 126 (Chinese race) and their F$_1$hybrid Daeseong-Jam were also analyzed. The sizes of region I and II in Jam 125, Jam 126 and Daeseong-Jam were similar to those of Jam 123, Jam 124 and Baekok-Jam. DNA sequence divergence between the two geographic races of Jam 123 or Jam 125 and Jam 124 or Jam 126 was substantial. The result suggests that the fibroin L-chain gene of F$_1$hybrids were inherited from Chinese races. These results are concordant with cocoon shapes of tested animals, and suggested that Baekok-Jam or Daeseong-jam is more closely related to Jam 124 or Jam 126 than to Jam 123 or Jam 125. Taken these data together, the primer sets designed from two variable regions of fibroin L-chain gene would be highly useful, as the genetic markers for silkworm races, at least in Japanese and Chinese races, although an extended study including more geographic races is required.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.9 no.4 s.25
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• pp.391-401
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• 2004

In this paper, we introduce a novel coding method to efficiently enable spatial random access for high resolution video. In terms of resolution and display size, standard display devices (such as cathode-ray tubes. monitors. PDAs, and LCDs) do not sufficiently support high resolution video such as digital cinema and panoramic video. Currently, users have no choice but to view video at lower resolution as a result of down-sampling, or only a partial region of the video due to display size limitations. Our proposed method. which we call the B-map, represents the set of starting locations of the coded segments in a picture frame. This information, or B-map, is first sent to the decoder prior to the coded data stream of the frame and is then used for fast local decoding. To test our method, we compare our B-map with JPEG tiling and the JPEG Resynchronization marker. Experimental results show that the proposed coding method requires less overhead than existing methods during the same decoding time. The results show promise for future panoramic or digital cinema applications.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7825-7829
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• 2015

Background: Egypt has the highest prevalence of HCV infection in the world (~14.7%). Around 10-15% of HCV-infected persons will advance to cirrhosis within the first 20 years. The incidence of HCC is expected to grow in the next two decades, largely due to HCV related cirrhosis, and detection of HCC at an early stage is critical for a favorable clinical outcome. No simple reliable non-invasive marker has been available till now. B2M, a non-glycosylated polypeptide composed of 99 amino acids, is one of the components of HLA class I molecules on the surfaces of all nucleated cells. It has been reported that the level of serum B2M is elevated in patients with chronic hepatitis C and HCV-related HCC when compared to HCV-negative patients or healthy donors. Determining the clinical utility of serum B2M as a marker for disease progression in Egyptian patients with HCV related chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma was the aim of the present study. Materials and Methods: In this analytical cross sectional study 92 participants were included in 4 equal groups: Group (1) non cirrhotic chronic HCV; Group (2) HCV related liver cirrhosis; Group (3) HCC on top of HCV,; and Group (4) healthy controls. History taking, clinical examination, routine labs and abdominal ultrasound were conducted for all patients, PCR and Metavir scores for group (1) patients, and triphasic CT abdomen and AFP for Group (3) patients. B2M levels were measured in serum with a fully-automated IMX system. Results: The mean serum B2M level of Group (1) was $4.25{\pm}1.48{\mu}g/ml$., Group (2) was $7.48{\pm}3.04$, Group (3) was $6.62{\pm}2.49$ and Group (4) was $1.62{\pm}0.63$. Serum B2M levels were significantly higher in diseased than control group (p<0.01) being significantly higher in cirrhosis ($7.48{\pm}3.04$) and HCC groups ($6.62{\pm}2.49$) than the HCV group ($4.25{\pm}1.48$) (p<0.01). There was a significant correlation between B2M Level and ALK, total and direct bilirubin and INR (p<0.05), and a significant inverse correlation between B2M level and albumin, total proteins, HB andWBCS values (p<0.05). There was no significant correlation between B2M level and viral load or Metavir score, largest tumour size or AFP (p>0.05). The best B2M cut-off for HCV diagnosis was 2.6 with a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 92%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 97% and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 100%. The best B2M cut-off for HCC diagnosis was 4.55 which yielded sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive values of 74%, 62%, 39.5, 87.8% respectively (p-value <0.01) while best cut-off for cirrhosis was 4.9, with sensitivity 74 % and specificity 74%.The sensitivity for HCC diagnosis increased upon B2M and AFP combined estimation to 91%, specificity to 79%, NPV to 95% and accuracy to 83%. Conclusions: Serum B2M level is elevated in HCV related chronic liver diseases and may be used as a marker for HCV disease progression towards cirrhosis and carcinoma.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1615-1622
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• 2011

A factorial ($4{\times}2{\times}2$) experimental design was employed to determine apparent digestibilities of dry matter (DM), protein, lipid, energy and nitrogen-free extract (NFE) of the test diets containing either ${\alpha}$-potato starch (A-PS), ${\beta}$-potato starch (B-PS), ${\beta}$-corn starch (B-CS) or dextrin (DEX) as dietary carbohydrate energy for juvenile (average weight 30 g) and grower (average weight 300 g) rockfish reared at 13$^{\circ}C$ and 20$^{\circ}C$. Chromic oxide was used as an inert marker. Feces were collected by fecal collectors attached to rearing tanks from triplicate groups of juvenile and grower rockfish. Digestibilities of DM, energy and NFE of the test diets were significantly affected by dietary carbohydrate and water temperature (p<0.01), but not by fish size. DM digestibility of the fish fed the A-PS diet was significantly higher than that of fish fed other treatments, except for the DEX diet at 20$^{\circ}C$. DM digestibility of rockfish fed the B-CS diet was significantly lower than that of other diets. A similar pattern was observed in apparent digestibility of energy. NFE digestibility of fish fed the test diets was significantly affected by carbohydrate and significantly correlated to DM (r = 0.97, p<0.01) and energy (r = 0.99, p<0.01) digestibilities, regardless of water temperature and fish size. NFE digestibility of the fish fed the ${\beta}$-starch diets was relatively lower compared to that of the ${\alpha}$-starch diets, and ranged from 35 to 43% and 20 to 27% for B-PS and B-CS, respectively. The present findings indicate that carbohydrate and water temperature significantly affected digestibilities of dry matter, energy and nitrogen-free extract of rockfish. Among dietary carbohydrates, ${\alpha}$-potato starch could be effectively used as dietary carbohydrate energy for rockfish at 13$^{\circ}C$ and 20$^{\circ}C$.