• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.4.1-4.8
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• 2022

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) is a genomic aberration. In some cases, LOH can be generated without changing the copy number, which is called copy-neutral LOH (CN-LOH). CN-LOH frequently occurs in various human diseases, including cancer. However, the biological and clinical implications of CN-LOH for human diseases have not been well studied. In this study, we compared the performance of CN-LOH determination using three commonly used tools. For an objective comparison, we analyzed CN-LOH profiles from single-nucleotide polymorphism array data from 10 colon adenocarcinoma patients, which were used as the reference for comparison with the CN-LOHs obtained through whole-exome sequencing (WES) data of the same patients using three different analysis tools (FACETS, Nexus, and Sequenza). The majority of the CN-LOHs identified from the WES data were consistent with the reference data. However, some of the CN-LOHs identified from the WES data were not consistent between the three tools, and the consistency with the reference CN-LOH profile was also different. The Jaccard index of the CN-LOHs using FACETS (0.84 ± 0.29; mean value, 0.73) was significantly higher than that of Nexus (0.55 ± 0.29; mean value, 0.50; p = 0.02) or Sequenza (0 ± 0.41; mean value, 0.34; p = 0.04). FACETS showed the highest area under the curve value. Taken together, of the three CN-LOH analysis tools, FACETS showed the best performance in identifying CN-LOHs from The Cancer Genome Atlas colon adenocarcinoma WES data. Our results will be helpful in exploring the biological or clinical implications of CN-LOH for human diseases.

• Journal of Preventive Veterinary Medicine
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.214-220
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• 2019

Although canine brucellosis has been known to be an important re-emerging zoonosis, the pathophysiological mechanisms of Brucella canis infection remains clues to be solved. Different culture models, single and co-culture models, were constructed with canine epithelial cells, D17 and macrophage, DH82 to investigate the induction of immune responses in in vivo B. canis infection. Expression of genes related with induction of immune responses, Th1, Th2 and Th17, was compared in the two different models after the bacterial infection. In this study, expression of cytokine genes, IL-1β, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-23, and TNF-α was quantified in the DH82 at different time points using RT-qPCR in the two different culture systems after the infection. Cytokine genes related with Th1, IL-1β and TNF-α and Th17, IL-6 and IL-23 were expressed with time-dependent manners in the both systems (p<0.05). However, increase of Th2-related cytokine genes expression was not detectable in the both systems by comparison with control. The expression of Th1 and Th17 related cytokine genes was earlier in single cell culture than those in co-culture model (p<0.05). In general, amounts of the expressed genes were shown higher in single cell model than those in co-culture models. This study indicate that Th1 and Th17-associated immune responses are central to B. canis infection in dogs. In addition, it suggests a specific role of epithelial cells in the B. canis infection in vivo, which should resolved in the further study.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.645-671
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• 2021

Objectives: Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is strongly related with central obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), hyperglycemia, and hypertension. This study reviewed the potential of Chenpi in treatment of MetS through amelioration of co-related diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, obesity, hepatic steatosis, and inflammation. Methods: Six electronic databases (Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS), Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), Research Information Sharing Service (RISS), PubMed, and Embase) were used to search for in vitro, in vivo, and clinical research that discusses the potential effects of Chenpi (Citrus unshiu Markovich, Citrus reticulata Blanco) on diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, obesity, hepatic steatosis, and inflammation. Results: This review suggests the potential of Chenpi as a candidate for the treatment of metabolic syndrome through improvement of co-related diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity, hepatic steatosis, and inflammation. However, comparison of the results of each study was limited by a lack of quantification of the experimental materials.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.91-98
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• 2016

Outbreaks of highly contagious livestock diseases can cause direct and indirect economic impacts such as lower productivity of cattle farms, fall in tourism in damaged areas and countries, and decline in exports. They also incur tremendous social costs associated with disease elimination and restoration work. Thus, it is essential to prevent livestock diseases through monitoring and prediction efforts. Currently, however, it is still difficult to provide accurate predictive information regarding occurrences of livestock diseases, because existing cattle health monitoring or forecasting systems are only limited to monitor environmental conditions of livestock barns and check activities of cattle by using a pedometer or thermal image. In this paper, we present a biosensor-based cattle health monitoring system capable of collecting bio-signals of farm animals in an effective way. For the presented monitoring system, we design an integrated monitoring device consisting of a sensing module to measure bio-signals of cattle such as the heartbeat, the breath rate and the momentum, as well as a Zigbee module designed to transmit the biometric data based on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). We verify the validity of the monitoring system by the comparison of the correlations of designed device with a commercial ECG equipment through analyzing the R-peak of measured signals.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.441-443
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• 2011

This survey was performed to investigate and compare egg positive rates (EPRs) of Enterobius vermicularis among preschool children in 3 Korean localities (Chuncheon-si, Inje-gun, and Paju-si) in 2008. A total of 7,048 preschool children were examined. Overall, the total EPR was 4.0%; the EPR was the highest in Chuncheon-si (5.6%), followed by Inje-gun (4.5%) and Paju-si (3.4%). The EPR of boys (4.9%) was higher than that of girls (3.1%). The EPR significantly increased with age, with the highest observed in 5~7-year-olds. These findings demonstrate that E. vermicularis infection is widely prevalent among preschool children in Chuncheon-si, Inje-gun, and Paju-si, Republic of Korea.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.209-216
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• 2021

Background: Endobronchial lung cancer (EBLC) and bronchial anthracofibrosis (BAF) share similar symptoms and radiological findings. The aim of this study was to describe clinical and radiological differences between BAF and EBLC, both of which were confirmed by bronchoscopy. Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients with BAF or EBLC from 2008 to 2014. Data were derived from a bronchoscopy registry made since January 1, 2008. Clinical and radiological characteristics of both diseases were analyzed. Results: Among 3,214 patients who underwent bronchoscopy, 167 and 117 patients were enrolled in BAF and EBLC groups, respectively. BAF occurred more predominantly in older non-smoking female patients with a higher chance of tuberculosis (38.3%) than EBLC (6.0%). Cough, sputum, and dyspnea were common symptoms reported for both groups. Bronchoscopic findings revealed that BAF lesions were more common in multiple lobar bronchi (85.0%) or bilateral bronchi (73.7%). Radiologic findings revealed that bronchial stenosis was the most commonly found lesion in both groups (49.1% and 78.6%, respectively). Rates of peribronchial calcification and bronchial wall thickening were higher in the BAF group. The number of patients with lymph node calcification was also higher in the BAF group. Conclusion: Results of this study demonstrated characteristics of clinical and radiologic findings of BAF and EBLC. Increasing the awareness of both diseases may help clinicians differentiate these two diseases from each other, thus avoiding unnecessary invasive diagnostic procedures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.123-141
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• 2021

PURPOSE: Focusing on the factors that influence the infectious disease emergency response policy (approached by dividing the factors into health policy management and economic policies), both SARS and MERS cases were based on the legal system, manpower, and budget, but there has not been enough learning from the epidemic. This study focused on infectious disease emergency governance, which various studies have neglected despite its social and academic importance. METHODS: The research is based on an analysis of SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 and compares global policies. In this study, infectious disease emergency governance was divided into health policy management and economic factors. This study focused on planning and leadership before and after the outbreak of infectious diseases and how cooperation was achieved to monitor and respond to infectious diseases successfully. RESULTS and CONCLUSION: The limit of this study was that COVID-19 is a currently ongoing infectious disease with high uncertainty. Because it is an ongoing problem, only some data and statistics are reflected, and many limitations prevent a proper comparison under the same criteria as other infectious diseases. In addition, because continuous changes are expected, there is also room for infectious diseases to develop in a completely different pattern from the current situation, and continuous research must be accompanied in the future.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.305-312
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• 2015

The present study showed WHtR to be significantly better than BMI and WC for prediction of metabolic-related diseases in the middle-aged and older people in Korea, based on Bayesian ordered probit model analysis. The variations of WC, BMI and WHtR were compared according to the number of metabolic-related diseases such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, stroke, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris and diabetes. It was found that the three measures showed the similar variation except a very few extreme cases for age less than 40. For subjects over the age of 40, WC was not significant and WHtR gave more influence in greater variability than BMI on the number of metabolic diseases. Also, the rate of change for WHtR was higher than for BMI as the number of metabolic-related diseases increased. Specifically, the difference of the marginal effect of WHtR between no disease and only one disease was 1.81 times higher than that of BMI. Moreover, it was pointed out that the threshold value of WHtR for obesity should be considered differently by age.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2563-2566
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• 2013

Background: Interleukin-33 (IL-33) has recently been implicated in tumor immunity. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical role of serum IL-33 in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Sera collected from 250 healthy volunteers (HV), 256 patients with benign lung diseases (BLD) and 262 NSCLC cases were subjected to IL-33 ELISA and relationships between serum IL-33 and clinical characteristics were evaluated. Results: Circulating IL-33 levels were higher in the NSCLC group in comparison with the HV and BLD groups (p<0.001). Using a cut-off level 68 pg/ml (95% specificity in the HV group), IL-33 showed a good diagnostic performance for NSCLC. Multivariate survival analysis indicated that serum IL-33 was an independent prognostic factor in the entire NSCLC group [hazards ratio (HR) = 0.64 for low versus high IL-33 levels, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.50-0.82; p<0.001] and in 165 selected patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease receiving chemoradiotherapy or chemotherapy (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.52-0.94; p=0.013). Conclusions: IL-33 is a promising potential diagnostic and prognostic marker in NSCLC, independent of the therapeutic intervention.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.36 no.7B
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• pp.841-847
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• 2011

Testosterone acts to protect the heart as a male hormone. If it is secreted suitably, health, but too less it will have an bad influence in organs of the body. In particular, when normal levels of testosterone secretion is less, arteriosclerosis will be increased risk of heart diseases. According to the amount of testosterone is influenced difference in the ring finger length of male. Therefore, we organize groups of subjects in heart diseases and normal who measure these groups' length of the ring finger and index finger. With this in mind, we carried out analysis of interrelationship in length of the ring finger and heart diseases through cross-comparison analysis in this paper.