• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.538-545
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• 2017

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of cupric citrate (CuCit) on growth performance, antioxidant indices, serum lipid metabolites, serum immune indices, and tissue residues of copper (Cu), zinc, and iron in weaned pigs. Methods: A total of 180 weaned pigs ($Duroc{\times}Landrace{\times}Large$ White) with an average body weight of $8.98{\pm}1.21kg$ were randomly assigned to a corn-soybean meal control ration, or 4 similar rations with 30, 60, 120, or 240 mg/kg Cu as CuCit. All diets contained 10 mg/kg Cu as cupric sulfate from the vitamin-mineral premix. The experiment was divided into two phases: 0 to 14 d (phase 1) and 15 to 28 d (phase 2). Results: Average daily gain (ADG; linearly, p<0.01) and average daily feed intake (ADFI; linearly and quadratically, p<0.05) were affected by an increase in CuCit during phase 2. Overall period, ADG (p<0.05) and ADFI (p<0.01) were linearly increased with increasing dietary levels of CuCit. Serum malondialdehyde concentrations (p<0.05) and glutathione peroxidase activity (p<0.01) linearly decreased and increased respectively with an increase in CuCit. Serum levels of Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase were linearly affected with an increase in CuCit (p<0.01). Hepatic malondialdehyde levels decreased with an increase in CuCit (linearly and quadratically, p<0.01). Serum total cholesterol concentrations were quadratically affected (p<0.05) and decreased in pigs fed Cu as CuCit at 60 and 120 mg/kg and increased in pigs fed 240 mg/kg Cu as CuCit. Serum high-density lipoprotein concentrations were linearly affected with an increase in CuCit (p<0.01). Serum $IL-1{\beta}$ levels were quadratically affected (p<0.05) by dietary treatment. Compared with other treatments, 240 mg/kg Cu from CuCit quadratically increased hepatic (p<0.01) and renal (p<0.05) Cu concentrations, and quadratically decreased hepatic and renal iron concentrations (p<0.05). Conclusion: Cu administered in the form of CuCit at a dosage range of 30 to 60 mg/kg, effectively enhanced the growth performance and antioxidant status of weaned pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.554-561
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• 2017

Objective: This experiment was conducted as a $3{\times}2{\times}2$ factorial design to examine the effects of particle size (mean particle size of 331, 640, or $862{\mu}m$), evaluation method (direct vs indirect method) and adaptation duration (7 or 26 days) on the energy content and the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of various chemical components in wheat when fed to finishing pigs. Methods: Forty-two barrows ($Duroc{\times}Landrace{\times}Yorkshire$) with an initial body weight of $63.0{\pm}0.8kg$ were individually placed in metabolic cages and randomly allotted to 1 of 7 diets with 6 pigs fed each diet. For the indirect method, the pigs were fed either a corn-soybean meal based basal diet or diets in which 38.94% of the basal diet was substituted by wheat of the different particle sizes. In the direct method, the diets contained 97.34% wheat with the different particle sizes. For both the direct and indirect methods, the pigs were adapted to their diets for either 7 or 26 days. Results: A reduction in particle size linearly increased the digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) contents as well as the ATTD of gross energy, crude protein, organic matter, ether extract (EE) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) (p<0.05), and had a trend to increase the ATTD of dry matter of wheat (p = 0.084). The DE, ME contents, and ATTD of gross energy, crude protein, dry matter and organic matter were higher (p<0.05) when determined by the direct method, but the ATTD of ADF, EE, and neutral detergent fiber were higher when determined by the indirect method (p<0.05). Prolongation of the adaption duration decreased the ATTD of neutral detergent fiber (p<0.05) and had a trend to increase the ATTD of EE (p = 0.061). There were no interactions between particle size and the duration of the adaptation duration. The ATTD of EE in wheat was influenced by a trend of interaction between method and adaptation duration (p = 0.074). The ATTD of ADF and EE in wheat was influenced by an interaction between evaluation method and wheat particle size such that there were linear equations (p<0.01) about ATTD of ADF and EE when determined by the direct method but quadratic equations (p = 0.073 and p = 0.088, respectively) about ATTD of ADF and EE when determined by the indirect method. Conclusion: Decreasing particle size can improve the DE and ME contents of wheat; both of the direct and indirect methods of evaluation are suitable for evaluating the DE and ME contents of wheat with different particle sizes; and an adaptation duration of 7 d is sufficient to evaluate DE and ME contents of wheat in finishing pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.264-276
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• 2020

Objective: Two experiments were conducted to evaluate tetrabasic zinc chloride (TBZC) on the health of weaned pigs, and to determine the optimal supplemental concentrations and whether dietary TBZC could replace the pharmacological concentrations of dietary zinc oxide (ZnO) to improve growth performance and decrease Zn excretion in weaned pigs. Methods: In Exp. 1, 180 weaned pigs (8.92±1.05 kg body weight [BW]) were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 treatments, including the basal diet containing 125 mg/kg zinc sulfate (ZnSO₄), and the basal diet with 1,200, 1,800, 2,400, or 3,000 mg/kg TBZC supplementation. In Exp. 2, 240 weaned pigs (7.66±1.09 kg BW) were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 treatments, including a negative control diet without Zn supplementation, a positive control diet (2,250 mg/kg ZnO), and 3 experimental diets with different concentrations of TBZC supplementation (1,000, 1,250, and 1,500 mg/kg). Results: In Exp. 1, the average daily gain (ADG), feed efficiency (G:F) and diarrhea incidence responded quadratically (p<0.01) as the TBZC supplemental concentrations increased, and pigs fed 1,200 and 1,800 mg/kg TBZC showed the best growth performance. Moreover, 1,800 mg/kg TBZC supplementation showed the greatest (p<0.01) total antioxidant capacity and glutathione peroxidase activities in liver of pigs. Histopathological examination revealed lesions in heart, liver, lung and kidney, and mild or severe histological lesions mainly occurred with the supplementation of 2,400 and 3,000 mg/kg TBZC. In Exp. 2, 1,000 and 1,250 mg/kg TBZC supplementation in diets significantly (p<0.01) increased ADG and G:F of weaned pigs, reduced Zn excretion in feces, and had no effect on diarrhea-reducing compared to 2,250 mg/kg ZnO supplementation. Conclusion: The TBZC is a potential alternative to ZnO. The recommended concentration of TBZC in weaned pig diets is 1,000 to 1,250 mg/kg.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10267-10272
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• 2015

To evaluate the value of combined detection of serum CEA, CA19-9, CA24-2, AFP, CA72-4, SCC, TPA and TPS for the clinical diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT) cancer and to analyze the efficacy of these tumor markers (TMs) in evaluating curative effects and prognosis. A total of 573 patients with upper GIT cancer between January 2004 and December 2007 were enrolled in this study. Serum levels of CEA, CA19-9, CA24-2, AFP, CA72-4, SCC, TPA and TPS were examined preoperatively and every 3 months postoperatively by ELISA. The sensitivity of CEA, CA19-9, CA24-2, AFP, CA72-4, SCC, TPA and TPS were 26.8%, 36.2%, 42.9%, 2.84%, 25.4%, 34.6%, 34.2% and 30.9%, respectively. The combined detection of CEA+CA199+CA242+CA724 had higher sensitivity and specificity in gastric cancer (GC) and cardiac cancer, while CEA+CA199+CA242+SCC was the best combination of diagnosis for esophageal cancer (EC). Elevation of preoperative CEA, CA19-9 and CA24-2, SCC and CA72-4 was significantly associated with pathological types (p<0.05) and TNM staging (p<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that CA24-2 was significantly correlated with CA19-9 (r=0.810, p<0.001). The levels of CEA, CA19-9, CA24-2, CA72-4 and SCC decreased obviously 3 months after operations. When metastasis and recurrence occurred, the levels of TMs significantly increased. On multivariate analysis, high preoperative CA72-4, CA24-2 and SCC served as prognostic factors for cardiac carcinoma, GC and EC, respectively. combined detection of CEA+CA199+CA242+SCC proved to be the most economic and practical strategy in diagnosis of EC; CEA+CA199+CA242+CA724 proved to be a better evaluation indicator for cardiac cancer and GC. CEA and CA19-9, CA24-2, CA72-4 and SCC, examined postoperatively during follow-up, were useful to find early tumor recurrence and metastasis, and evaluate prognosis. AFP, TPA and TPS have no significant value in diagnosis of patients with upper GIT cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2707-2711
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• 2014

Introduction: Smoking prevalence among the medical students is high in China. Therefore, understanding the smoking motivations of medical students is crucial for smoking control, but currently there are no scales questionnaires customized for probing the smoking motivations of medical students. This aim of study was to test and modify a questionnaire for investigating smoking motivations among medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,125 medical students at Xuzhou Medical College in China in 2012.The model fit and validity was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the reliability was tested by single-item reliability, composite reliability, and item-total correlation. Results: The prevalence of smoking was 9.84 % among study population. In the modified scales, the global fit indices identified a CFI value of 0.96, TLI was 0.96, and the RMSEA was 0.063. CFA supported the two dimensional structure of the instrument. The average variance extracted ranged from 0.45 to 0.62. All single-item reliability scores were greater than 0.20, and the composite reliability ranged from 0.74 to 0.91. Conclusion: Modified scales could be the preliminary instrument used in evaluating the smoking motivations of medical students. However, it should be further assessed using other forms and methods of validity and reliability, additional motivations of smoking, and the survey of other medical colleges in China.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1313-1320
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• 2014

Introduction: Although most prostate cancers initially respond to castration with luteinizing hormonereleasing analogues or bilateral orchiectomy, progression eventually occurs. Based on the exciting results of several randomized controlled trials (RCTs), it seems that patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) might benefit more from treatment withabiraterone. Therefore we conducted a systematic review to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of abiraterone in the treatment of mCRPC. Methods: Literature was searched from Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library up to July, 2013. Quality of the study was evaluated according to the Cochrane's risk of bias of randomized controlled trial (RCT) tool, then the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) System was used to rate the level of evidence. Stata 12.0 was used for statistical analysis. Summary data from RCTs comparing abiraterone plus prednisone versus placebo plus prednisone for mCRPC were meta-analyzed. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) for overall survival (OS), radiographic progression-free survival (RPFS) and time to PSA progression (TTPP); Pooled risk ratios (RR) for PSA response rate, objective response rate and adverse event were calculated. Results: Ten trials were included in the systematic review; Data of 2,283 patients (1,343 abiraterone; 940 placebo) from two phase 3 trials: COU-AA-301 and COU-AA-302 were meta-analyzed. Compared with placebo, abiraterone significantly prolonged OS (HR, 0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66 to 0.84), RPFS (HR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.48 to 0.74) and time to PSA progression (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.43 to 0.70); it also significantly increased PSA response rate (RR, 3.63; 95% CI, 1.72 to 7.65) and objective response rate (RR, 3.05; 95% CI, 1.51 to 6.15). This meta-analysis suggested that the adverse events caused by abiraterone are acceptable and can be controlled. Conclutios: Abiraterone significantly prolonged OS, RPFS and time to progression patients with mCRPC, regardless of prior chemotherapy or whether chemotherapy-na$\ddot{i}$ve, and no unexpected toxicity was evident. Abiraterone can serve as a new standard therapy for mCRPC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2753-2758
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• 2014

Background: GC-binding factor 2 (GCF2) is a transcriptional regulator that represses transcriptional activity of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) by binding to a specific GC-rich sequence in the EGFR gene promoter. In addition to this function, GCF2 has also been identified as a tumor-associated antigen and regarded as a potentially valuable serum biomarker for early human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis. GCF2 is high expressed in most HCC tissues and cell lines including HepG2. This study focused on the influence of GCF2 on cell proliferation and apoptosis in HepG2 cells. Materials and Methods: GCF2 expression at both mRNA and protein levels in HepG2 cells was detected with reverse transcription (RT) PCR and Western blotting, respectively. RNA interference (RNAi) technology was used to knock down GCF2 mRNA and protein expression. Afterwards, cell viability was analyzed with a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), and cell apoptosis and caspase 3 activity by flow cytometry and with a Caspase 3 Activity Kit, respectively. Results: Specific down-regulation of GCF2 expression caused cell growth inhibition, and increased apoptosis and caspase 3 activity in HepG2 cells. Conclusions: These primary results suggest that GCF2 may influence cell proliferation and apoptosis in HepG2 cells, and also provides a molecular basis for further investigation into the possible mechanism at proliferation and apoptosis in HCC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7101-7106
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• 2013

Background: The prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative resection varies greatly. Few studies had investigated the risk factors for early recurrence (recurrence-free time ${\leq}$ 1 year) of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCCs meeting Milan criteria. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the 224 patients with HCC meeting Milan criteria who underwent curative liver resection in our center between February 2007 and March 2012. The overall survival (OS) rate, recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate and risk factors for early recurrence were analyzed. Results: After a median follow-up of 33.3 months, HCC reoccurred in 105 of 224 patients and 32 died during the period. The 1-, 3- and 5-year OS rates were 97.3%, 81.6% and 75.6% respectively, and the 1-, 3- and 5-year RFS rates were 73.2%, 53.7% and 41.6%. Cox regression showed alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) > 800 ng/ml (HR 2.538, 95% CI 1.464-4.401, P=0.001), multiple tumors (HR 2.286, 95% CI 1.123-4.246, P=0.009) and microvascular invasion (HR 2.518, 95% CI 1.475-4.298, P=0.001) to be associated with early recurrence (recurrence-free time ${\leq}$ 1-year) of HCC meeting Milan criteria. Conclusions: AFP > 800 ng/ml, multiple tumors and microvascular invasion are independent risk factors affecting early postoperative recurrence of HCC. In addition resection appears capable of replacing liver transplantation in some situations with safety and a better outcome.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1136-1145
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• 2015

The diverse microbial communities that colonize distinct segments of the gastrointestinal tract are intimately related to aspects of physiology and the pathology of human health. However, most recent studies have focused on the rectal or fecal microbiota, and the microbial signature of the duodenum is poorly studied. In this study, we compared the microbiota in duodenal and rectal samples to illustrate the characteristic microbial signatures of the duodenum in healthy adults. Nine healthy volunteers donated biopsies and luminal contents from the duodenum and rectum. To determine the composition and diversity of the microbiota, 454-pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA was performed and multiple bioinformatics analyses were applied. The α-diversity and phylogenetic diversity of the microbiota in the duodenal samples were higher than those of the rectal samples. There was higher biodiversity among the microbiota isolated from rectal biopsies than feces. Proteobacteria were more highly represented in the duodenum than in the rectum, both in the biopsies and in the luminal contents from the healthy volunteers (38.7% versus 12.5%, 33.2% versus 5.0%, respectively). Acinetobacter and Prevotella were dominant in the duodenum, whereas Bacteroides and Prevotella were dominant in the rectum. Additionally, the percentage of OTUs shared in biopsy groups was far higher than in the luminal group (43.0% versus 26.8%) and a greater number of genera was shared among the biopsies than the luminal contents. Duodenal samples demonstrated greater biological diversity and possessed a unique microbial signature compared with the rectum. The mucosa-associated microbiota was more relatively conserved than luminal samples.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.231-236
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• 2011

The effects of magnesium and calcium ions on phosphorus removal by aluminium coagulation were investigated with various jar tests using settled raw sewage. Maximum TP (total phosphate) removal occurred at pH around 5~6 with aluminium coagulation, and it decreased above pH 6. TP and $H_nPO_4^{n-3}$ removal efficiencies, however, were kept above 95% at pH above 6 by adding the divalent metallic ions like magnesium or calcium ions on aluminium coagulation process. At molar ratio of Al/P ($Al^{3+}/H_nPO_4^{n-3}$) above 3, TP removal efficiency was as high as 80%, and residual TP less than 0.2 mg/L occurred at Al/P ratio above 6. TP removal efficiency was improved by adding magnesium or calcium ions and the optimum $Al^{3+}/Mg^{2+}$ and $Al^{3+}/Ca^{2+}$ ratios were about 2. The required dose of aluminium coagulant was reduced for equivalent amount of TP removal by adding magnesium or calcium ions, as a result sludge generation was also reduced.