• Journal of Species Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.240-248
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• 2012

We used a non-invasive technique with microsatellite primers to investigate genetic variation among Eurasian otters Lutra lutra in eastern South Korea. We collected twenty two otter spraints in January and six in August 2008. We used spraints from five dead otters from five different river systems for the present genetic analysis. We extracted DNA from 20 spraints from the January sample. Ten microsatellite primers (Lut435, Lut453, Lut457, Lut604, Lut615, Lut701, Lut715, Lut717, Lut733, and Lut832) for Eurasian otters were tested, and four loci were successfully amplified for further analyses. The results of genotyping the otter population with microsatellite loci lead to the identification of 9 individuals from the Ungokcheon Stream. The Ungokcheon population also showed a genetic structure represented by the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.322-328
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• 2015

Purpose: The aging of society has rapidly progressed, especially in Korea. Therefore, the necessity of research on end-of-life (EOL) care in elderly patients has increased. However, there are few studies on EOL care intensity for non-cancer patients. This study was designed to compare the EOL care intensity between cancer and non-cancer patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the EOL care intensity based on medical records of decedents of Kyung Hee University Medical Center, a tertiary referral hospital from December 2014 through March 2015. And we compared EOL care intensity between cancer patients and non-cancer patients using statistical analysis of the frequency of invasive procedures and logistic regression analysis for factors that affect the EOL care intensity. Results: Statistical analysis showed invasive procedures, such as intensive care unit admission, endotracheal intubation followed by mechanical ventilation and emergency dialysis, were performed more frequently in non-cancer patients than cancer patients (29.3% vs. 72.4%, P<0.001). And age (P=0.038) and morbidity of cancer (P<0.001) influenced the invasive procedural decision when analyzed by logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: The EOL care was more intensive in non-cancer patients, and age and morbidity of cancer were major factors for the treatment intensity.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.242-247
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• 2018

Objectives: To examine survivorship disparities in demographic factors and risk status for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), which accounts for more than 75% of all urinary bladder cancers, but is highly curable with early identification and treatment. Methods: We used the US National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries over a 19-year period (1988-2006) to examine survivorship disparities in age, sex, race/ethnicity, and marital status of patients and risk status classified by histologic grade, stage, size of tumor, and number of multiple primary tumors among NMIBC patients (n=29 326). We applied Kaplan-Meier (K-M) and Cox proportional hazard methods for survival analysis. Results: Among all urinary bladder cancer patients, the majority of NMIBCs were in male (74.1%), non-Latino white (86.7%), married (67.8%), and low-risk (37.6%) to intermediate-risk (44.8%) patients. The mean age was 68 years. Survivorship (in median life years) was highest for non-Latino white (5.4 years), married (5.4 years), and low-risk (5.7 years) patients (K-M analysis, p<0.001). We found significantly lower survivorship for elderly, male (female hazard ratio [HR], 0.96), Latino (HR, 1.20), and unmarried (married HR, 0.93) patients. Conclusions: Survivorship disparities were ubiquitous across age, sex, race/ethnicity, and marital status groups. Non-white, unmarried, and elderly patients had significantly shorter survivorship. The implications of these findings include the need for a heightened focus on health policy and more organized efforts to improve access to care in order to increase the chances of survival for all patients.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.63-67
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• 2022

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma confined to the central nervous system. Its diagnosis requires a stereotactic biopsy, which is an invasive procedure. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis is less invasive and easier to perform than a stereotactic biopsy. We hereby report a PCNSL case diagnosed using CSF analysis and treated with systemic chemotherapy.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.375-381
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• 1999

Near infrared spectrophotometry(NIR) was developed as a non-invasive determination of blood alcohol. The first pure alcohol/water samples were prepared with ethanol concentration from 0.01 to 0.1%(w/w). Analysis of the second-derivative data was accomplished with multilinear regression(MLR). The standard error of calibration(SEC) of ethanol in ethanol/water solutions was approximately 0.0039%. The calibration models were established from the blood alcohol spectra by MLR and PLSR analysis. The best calibration was built with the second-derivative spectra of 2266 and 2326 nm by MLR. Second-derivative spectra in the spectral ranges of 1100~1340, 1500~1796 and 2064~2300 nm with four PLSR factors provided the standard error of prediction(SEP) of 0.030%(w/w). These results indicate that NIR may be applied for a fast non-invasive determination of alcohol in the blood.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3849-3856
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• 2015

Background: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), or bile duct cancer, is incurable with a high mortality rate due to a lack of effective early diagnosis and treatment. Identifying cytoplasmic membrane proteins of invasive CCA that facilitate cancer progression would contribute toward the development of novel tumor markers and effective chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: An invasive CCA cell line (KKU-100) was stimulated using TNF-${\alpha}$ and then biotinylated and purified for mass spectrometry analysis. Novel proteins expressed were selected and their mRNAs expression levels were determined by real-time RT-PCR. In addition, the expression of ALCAM was selected for further observation by Western blot analysis, immunofluorescent imaging, and antibody neutralization assay. Results: After comparing the proteomics profile of TNF-${\alpha}$ induced invasive with non-treated control cells, over-expression of seven novel proteins was observed in the cytoplasmic membrane of TNF-${\alpha}$ stimulated CCA cells. Among these, ALCAM is a novel candidate which showed significant higher mRNA- and protein levels. Immunofluorescent assay also supported that ALCAM was expressed on the cell membrane of the cancer, with increasing intensity associated with TNF-${\alpha}$. Conclusions: This study indicated that ALCAM may be a novel protein candidate expressed on cytoplasmic membranes of invasive CCA cells that could be used as a biomarker for development of diagnosis, prognosis, and drug or antibody-based targeted therapies in the future.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.729-734
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• 2008

Vibroarthrographic(VAG) signals, emitted by human knee joints, are non-stationary and multi-component in nature and time-frequency distributions(TFD) provide powerful means to analyze such signals. The objective of this paper is to classify VAG signals, generated during joint movement, into two groups(normal and patient group) using the characteristic parameters extracted by time-frequency transform, and to evaluate the classification accuracy. Noise within TFD was reduced by singular value decomposition and back-propagation neural network(BPNN) was used for classifying VAG signals. The characteristic parameters consist of the energy parameter, energy spread parameter, frequency parameter, frequency spread parameter by Wigner-Ville distribution and the amplitude of frequency distribution, the mean and the median frequency by fast Fourier transform. Totally 1408 segments(normal 1031, patient 377) were used for training and evaluating BPNN. As a result, the average value of the classification accuracy was 92.3(standard deviation ${\pm}0.9$)%. The proposed method was independent of clinical information, and showed good potential for non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of joint disorders such as osteoarthritis and chondromalacia patella.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.276-285
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• 2020

Purpose: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) ranges in severity from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis. Early detection of NAFLD is important for preventing the disease from progressing to become an irreversible end-stage liver disease. We developed a nomogram that allows for non-invasive screening for NAFLD in obese children. Methods: Anthropometric and laboratory data of 180 patients from our pediatric obesity clinic were collected. Diagnoses of NAFLD were based on abdominal ultrasonographic findings. The nomogram was constructed using predictors from a multivariate analysis of NAFLD risk factors. Results: The subjects were divided into non-NAFLD (n=67) and NAFLD groups (n=113). Factors, including sex, body mass index, abdominal circumference, blood pressure, insulin resistance, and levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γGT), uric acid, triglycerides, and insulin, were significantly different between the two groups (all p<0.05) as determined using homeostatis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). In our multivariate logistic regression analysis, elevated serum ALT, γGT, and triglyceride levels were significantly related to NAFLD development. The nomogram was established using γGT, uric acid, triglycerides, HOMA-IR, and ALT as predictors of NAFLD probability. Conclusion: The newly developed nomogram may help predict NAFLD risk in obese children. The nomogram may also allow for early NAFLD diagnosis without the need for invasive liver biopsy or expensive liver imaging, and may also allow clinicians to intervene early to prevent the progression of NAFLD to become a more advanced liver disease.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.59-62
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• 2002

Wavelength selection and prediction algorithm for determining hematocrit are investigated. A model based on the difference in optical density induced by the pulsation of heart beat is developed by taking approximation of Twersky's theory on the assumption that the variation of blood vessel size is small during arterial pulsing[1]. A device is constructed with a five-wavelength LED array as light source. The selected wavelengths are two isobestic points and three in compensation for tissue scattering. Data are collected from 549 out-patients who are randomly grouped as calibration and prediction sets. The range of percent hematocrit was 19.3∼51.8. The ratio of the variations of optical density between systole and diastole at two different wavelengths is used as a variable. We selected several such variables that show high reproducibility among all variables. Multiple linear regression analysis is made. The relative percent error is 8% and the standard deviation is 3.67 for the calibration set. The relative % error and standard deviation of the prediction set are 8.2% and 3.69 respectively. We successfully demonstrate the possibility of non-invasive hematocrit measurement, particularly, using the wavelengths below 1000nm.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.1124-1129
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• 2009

This study aims to examine the effects of non-invasive constant microcurrent stimulation on expression of Bone Morphogenetic Protein(BMP) 4 after tibia fracture in rabbits. Twenty four rabbits with tibia fracture were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. Each group was divided into four subgroups, based on the duration of the experiment (3, 7, 14, 28 days). The experimental groups received a constant microcurrent stimulation of $20{\sim}25{\mu}A$ intensity with surface Ag-AgCl electrode (diameter 1cm, Biopac, U.S.A.) for 24 hours a day. Cathode of the microcurrent stimulator located on the tibia directly, anode of it did on the gastrocnemius muscle. Rabbits were sacrificed on each of the postoperative days 3, 7, 14, 28. To investigate how non- invasive constant microcurrent stimulation affects bone healing, immunohistochemical analysis of BMP-4 was performed at each point. After evaluation, the test results are as follows: Comparisons of immunohistochemical observation of BMP-4 in 7 days after tibial fracture show that there was shown to be a moderate positive reaction (++) on concentric circles of Harversian system andt he interstitial lamella in the control group, while there was a very strong positive reaction (++++) on concentric circles of Harversian system and interstitial lamellain the experimental group. These results suggest that applying non-invasive constant microcurrent stimulation on fractured bone is helpful to bone healing.