• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8093-8100
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• 2016

Background: Genetic and environmental factors play important roles in pathogenesis of digestive tract cancers like those in the esophagus, stomach and colorectum. Folate deficiency and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) as an important enzyme of folate and methionine metabolism are considered crucial for DNA synthesis and methylation. MTHFR variants may cause genomic hypomethylation, which may lead to the development of cancer, and MTHFR gene polymorphisms (especially C677T and A1298C) are known to influence predispositions for cancer development. Several case control association studies of MTHFR C677T polymorphisms and colorectal cancer (CRC) have been reported in different populations with contrasting results, possibly reflecting inadequate statistical power. Aim: The present meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the association between the C677T polymorphism and the risk of colorectal cancer. Materials and Methods: A literature search of the PubMed, Google Scholar, Springer link and Elsevier databases was carried out for potential relevant articles. Pooled odds ratio (OR) with corresponding 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) was calculated to assess the association of MTHFR C677T with the susceptibility to CRC. Cochran's Q statistic and the inconsistency index (I2) were used to check study heterogeneity. Egger's test and funnel plots were applied to assess publication bias. All statistical analyses were conducted by with MetaAnalyst and MIX version 1.7. Results: Thirty four case-control studies involving a total of 9,143 cases and 11,357 controls were retrieved according to the inclusion criteria. Overall, no significant association was found between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and colorectal cancer in Asian populations (for T vs. C: OR=1.03; 95% CI= 0.92-1.5; p= 0.64; for TT vs CC: OR=0.88; 95%CI= 0.74-1.04; p= 0.04; for CT vs. CC: OR = 1.02; 95%CI= 0.93-1.12; p=0.59; for TT+ CT vs. CC: OR=1.07; 95%CI= 0.94-1.22; p=0.87). Conclusions: Evidence from the current meta-analysis indicated that the C677T polymorphism is not associated with CRC risk in Asian populations. Further investigations are needed to offer better insight into any role of this polymorphism in colorectal carcinogenesis.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.434-442
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• 2012

Several gateway selection schemes have been proposed that select gateway nodes based on a single Quality of Service (QoS) path parameter, for instance path availability period, link capacity or end-to-end delay, etc. or on multiple non-QoS parameters, for instance the combination of gateway node speed, residual energy, and number of hops, for Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs). Each scheme just focuses on the ment of improve only a single network performance, i.e., network throughput, packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, or packet drop ratio. However, none of these schemes improves the overall network performance because they focus on a single QoS path parameter or on set of non-QoS parameters. To improve the overall network performance, it is necessary to select a gateway with stable path, a path with themaximum residual load capacity and the minimum latency. In this paper, we propose a gateway selection scheme that considers multiple QoS path parameters such as path availability period, available capacity and latency, to select a potential gateway node. We improve the path availability computation accuracy, we introduce a feedback system to updated path dynamics to the traffic source node and we propose an efficient method to propagate QoS parameters in our scheme. Computer simulations show that our gateway selection scheme improves throughput and packet delivery ratio with less per node energy consumption. It also improves the end-to-end delay compared to single QoS path parameter gateway selection schemes. In addition, we simulate the proposed scheme by considering weighting factors to gateway selection parameters and results show that the weighting factors improve the throughput and end-to-end delay compared to the conventional schemes.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.214-224
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• 2015

The economy of India and so also of many Asian countries depends on bamboos and their uses are not only in domestic items but also in rural housing and raw materials to several industries and germplasm characterization is an important link between the conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources. Classical taxonomic studies of the bamboos are based on floral morphology and growth habit, which can cause problems in identification due to erratic flowering coupled with different biotic agencies and environmental factors. Identification and genetic relationships among accessions of Thamnocalamus falconeri were investigated using morphology and random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPD) technique. Analysis started by using 51 vegetative characters and forty two 10-mer primers that allowed us to distinguish different genotypes hailing from different eco- zones of Garhwal Himalayas (India). The selected primers (12) were used for identification and for establishing a profiling system to estimate genetic diversity. A total of 79.33% polymorphism was estimated by using 12 selected primers. The genetic similar analysis was conducted based on binary digits i.e. presence (1) or absence (0) of bands, which revealed a wide range of variability among the species whereas genetic relatedness was quite high based on vegetative characters. Cluster analysis clearly showed two major clusters for both of the markers viz. morphology and RAPD belonging to 10 accessions of T. falconeri. Two major clusters were further divided into minor clusters. Cluster based on RAPD marker showed grouping of accessions of closed locality whereas analogy was reported for vegetative traits. The RAPD technique has the potential for use in species identification and genetic relationships studies of bamboo for breeding program.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.213-233
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• 2002

Recently, a lot of companies intend to make spin-offs as the Internet usage is proliferating in the business area. A spin-off means a small but autonomous company which is thought to show higher profitability rather than it stays under the influence of a mother enterprise. To prove our hypotheses, we collected questionnaire data from 104 companies considering spin-offs. From experiments with Factor Analysis, we found that there exist four factors which decision-makers should consider before deciding spin-offs such as competence of unit, competence of mother company, competence of spin-off company, and support of mother company. After massive experiments with Regression Analysis we also found that there are significant three performance factors such as competence of unit, competence of spin-off company, and support of mother company. The survey also asked about three potential strategies that they may have been following for achieving business objectives: Cost leadership, Focus, and Differentiation, Six benefits factors emerged from this study: External competitiveness, Internal competency, Productivity, Change, Cost saving, and Improvement. External competitiveness was the most important benefit, and it predicted a Differentiation and Focus strategy. Productivity and Improvement also predicted a Differentiation strategy. External competitiveness, Change, and Cost saving predicted a Cost leadership strategy. However, organizations followed Differentiation and Focus strategies significantly more than Cost leadership. The assessment thus sheds light on the link between information strategy and spin off. We hope that based on our results, many companies considering a spin-off can make a right decision and expect higher performance in a turbulent business environment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1783-1789
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• 2014

Background: The EMSY gene encodes a BRCA2-binding partner protein that represses the DNA repair function of BRCA2 in non-hereditary breast cancer. Although amplification of EMSY gene has been proposed to have prognostic value in breast cancer, no data have been available concerning EMSY tissue expression patterns and its associations with clinicopathological features. Materials and Methods: In the current study, we examined the expression and localization pattern of EMSY protein by immunohistochemistry and assessed its prognostic value in a well-characterized series of 116 unselected breast carcinomas with a mean follow up of 47 months using tissue microarray technique. Results: Immunohistochemical expression of EMSY protein was detected in 76% of primary breast tumors, localized in nuclear (18%), cytoplasmic (35%) or both cytoplasmic and nuclear sites (23%). Univariate analysis revealed a significant positive association between EMSY expression and lymph node metastasis (p value=0.045) and larger tumor size (p value=0.027), as well as a non-significant relation with increased risk of recurrence (p value=0.088), whereas no association with patients' survival (log rank test, p value=0.482), tumor grade or type was observed. Conclusions: Herein, we demonstrated for the first time the immunostaining pattern of EMSY protein in breast tumors. Our data imply that EMSY protein may have impact on clinicipathological parameters and could be considered as a potential target for breast cancer treatment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.18
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• pp.7741-7746
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• 2014

Although a number of studies have been conducted on the association between GSTM1 polymorphisms and lung cancer in China, this association remains elusive and controversial. To clarify the effects of GSTM1 polymorphisms on the risk of lung cancer, a meta-analysis was performed in the Chinese population. Related studies were identified from PubMed, Springer Link, Ovid, Chinese Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Chinese Biology Medicine (CBM) up to 5th April 2014. A total of 45 articles (47 studies) including 6,623 cases and 7,865 controls were involved in this meta-analysis. Overall, a significant association (OR = 1.45, 95%CI: 1.32-1.60) was found between the null GSTM1 and lung cancer risk when all studies in Chinese population pooled into the meta-analysis. In subgroup analyses stratified by quality score, geographic area and source of controls, the same results were observed under all the models. This meta-analysis showed that the null GSTM1 may be a potential biomarker for lung cancer risk in Chinese, but further studies with gene-gene and gene-environment interactions are required for definite conclusions.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.309-317
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• 2015

Recently many companies began to realize their visions for the sustainable growth with the advent of CSV(Creating Shared Values). Michael E. Porter, a Harvard Professor, claims that placing social value creation at the core of business strategy has the potential to uncover big opportunities for individual companies and that shared value can play a significant role in increasing competitive advantages while fostering social prosperity. In consequence, the various researches have illustrated how to get the opportunity for competitive advantages from building a social value proposition into corporate strategy, and considerable studies have been promoted heavily from the managerial perspective. However, due to the lack of capability converging information technology with business strategy, any research effort to identify technological or Internet-related issues and to link the issues to CSV does not exist. With Korean being a Internet leading country, the demands of researches analyzing core technology, information, and service utilizing Internet are rapidly growing. The study aims to find out Internet-related enablers for CSV. This paper describes the concepts and features of CSV, identifies emerging Internet-related issues toward the opportunity for competitive advantage, and then depicts the rigorous research endeavors in the areas of Internet information, technology, and services. As a result, 11 papers presented and selected as the outstanding papers at APIC-IST 2014 handle the issues to be brought together, which include: Wireless and Sensor Network, Image Processing and HCI, Big Data and Business Intelligence, Security & Privacy in Internet, SNS & Communication, Smart-Learning and e-Learning, and Internet Business Strategy. The study finally recommends indispensible terms for substantially vitalizing CSV.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.476-480
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• 2013

Obesity is one of the most serious health problems in developed countries. It negatively affects diverse aspects of human wellbeing. Of these, a relationship between obesity and depression is widely recognized but biomarkers for assessment of obesity-associated mood changes in animal obesity models are rarely known. Here we explored the link between obesity and the plasma levels of monoamine neurotransmitters involved in mood control using a sensitive UPLC/MSMS technique in high fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity model in male C57BL/6 mice to explore the potential utility of plasma tests for obesity-associated mood change. HFD (60% of total calories, 8 weeks) induced significantly higher weight gains in body (+37.8%) and fat tissue (+306%) in male C57BL/6 mice. Bioanalysis of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine in plasma at 8 weeks of HFD revealed that serotonin decreased significantly in the obese mice when compared to normal diet-fed mice ($2.7{\pm}0.6$ vs $4.3{\pm}2.0ng/ml$, N=8). Notably, a negative correlation was found between the levels of serotonin and body weight gains. Furthermore, principal component analysis (PCA) with the individual levels of neurotransmitters revealed that plasma levels of dopamine and serotonin could apparently differentiate the obese mice from lean ones. Our study demonstrated that blood plasma levels of neurotransmitters can be employed to evaluate the mood changes associated with obesity and more importantly, provided an important clue for understanding of the relationship between obesity and mood disorders.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.653-661
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• 2012

High-availability seamless redundancy (HSR) is a redundancy protocol for Ethernet networks that provides two frame copies for each frame sent. Each copy will pass through separate physical paths, pursuing zero fault recovery time. This means that even in the case of a node or a link failure, there is no stoppage of network operations whatsoever. HSR is a potential candidate for the communications of a smart grid, but its main drawback is the unnecessary traffic created due to the duplicated copies of each sent frame, which are generated and circulated inside the network. This downside will degrade network performance and might cause network congestion or even stoppage. In this paper, we present two approaches to solve the above-mentioned problem. The first approach is called quick removing (QR), and is suited to ring or connected ring topologies. The idea is to remove the duplicated frame copies from the network when all the nodes have received one copy of the sent frame and begin to receive the second copy. Therefore, the forwarding of those frame copies until they reach the source node, as occurs in standard HSR, is not needed in QR. Our example shows a traffic reduction of 37.5%compared to the standard HSR protocol. The second approach is called the virtual ring (VRing), which divides any closed-loop HSR network into several VRings. Each VRing will circulate the traffic of a corresponding group of nodes within it. Therefore, the traffic in that group will not affect any of the other network links or nodes, which results in an enhancement of traffic performance. For our sample network, the VRing approach shows a network traffic reduction in the range of 67.7 to 48.4%in a healthy network case and 89.7 to 44.8%in a faulty network case, compared to standard HSR.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.159-164
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• 2020

Background: This study aimed to examine the association between educational level and unable to work due to ill-health (UWdIH) among 30- to 79-year-old South Koreans. Methods: A cross-sectional nationwide survey of the 2010-2016 Korea National Health and Nutritional Evaluation Survey was used for analyses. A total of 29,930 participants aged ≥30 and < 80 years, who do not have any disability in their daily life because of health problems, were included. Educational level and reason for nonworking are self-reported with multiple choices. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine an association between education level and UWdIH by setting those who graduated college as their final education (n = 6,997) as a baseline while controlling for potential confounding factors. Results: In the age-stratified result, the ratio of UWdIH was increased as age increases in 3 educational groups (p < .0001). There was a tendency that low-level educated [International Standard Classification of Education (0-2)] participants showed higher ratio of UWdIH than high-level educated [International Standard Classification of Education (5≤)] participants in both sexes (odds ratio: 2.54, 95% confidence interval: 2.12-3.05). Conclusion: There is a clear link between educational level and UWdIH; the less the educated, the more likely to be UWdIH. Policy priority should be given to plans that can help this vulnerable social group to work and enjoy healthy lives.