• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2020

In this study, the heat release rate of pipe insulation is analyzed by considering the installation status in accordance with the standards ISO 20632 and NFPA 274. The flame retardation rate was evaluated for six types of test samples: polyethylene foam covered with beaten silver (PE(S)), PE foam tapped (PE(N)), elastomeric closed cell thermal insulation (rubber), Japanese PE foam (PE(J)), Japanese polyurethane foam (PU(J)), and Japanese styro form (ST(J)) by EN 13501-1 and fire growth curve. The results show that PU(J), PE(J), and PE(N) were Class E and ultra-fast, NFPA 274 test standards for Class D and Fast, and PE(S) by ISO 20632 were Class C and Slow, and Rubber and ST(J) were Classes and Low. However, the changes in the time-averaged maximum heat release rate for each test standard (ISO 20632 and NFPA 274) to evaluate the flame retardation rate differed among identical materials. This means that the fundamental study is necessary to analyze the more accurate reasons.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2000

Objective: Zona pellucida (ZP) has been thought to be the barrier of egg to sperm penetration before and after fertilization. The phenomenon of ZP hardening has been considered as a post-fertilization event until now, and it is generally accepted that it is caused by the secretory products of cortical granules released during the cortical reaction. Hardening of ZP could occur "spontaneously" in mammalian oocytes in standard culture conditions, and that it is probably not a consequence of cortical reaction. The purpose of our study was to investigate the effect of human amniotic fluid (HAF) on nuclear maturation (NM) and fertilization ability of mouse immature oocytes. Methods: HAF was obtained from patients undergoing amniocentesis at $16{\sim}20$ weeks of gestation. HAF from five to ten patients was centrifuged and the supernatants was pooled. Cumulusenclosed mouse immature oocytes were incubated in the medium containing HAF, and examined to confirm NM and fertilization. Female ICR mice (about 3 weeks old) were stimulated with 7.5 IU PMSG. Immature oocytes were isolated at $48{\sim}52$ hrs post PMSG injection and cultured in TCM-199 supplemented with 20% HAF for 18 hrs. FBS was used as a control for the examination. Matured oocytes (MII) were fertilized with sperms collected from the epididymis of male mice (over 10 weeks old). Fertilization was in conducted T6 medium containing 15 mg/ml BSA, and confirmed at 6 hrs post-insemination. Fertilization rate was assessed in zona-intact or zona-free oocytes (denuded by trypsin). Evaluation of NM and fertilization was carried out by rapid staining method. ZP hardening was evaluated by incubating cumulus cell-free mature oocytes in 0.001% chymotrypsin at $37^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. Results: There was no significant difference between the effects of HAF (86.6%) and FBS (87.7%) supplements on NM of immature oocytes. When maturation medium was supplemented with HAF, total fertilization rates (7%) were significantly lower (p<0.01) than that of FBS (85.1%). In HAF group, fertilization rate was increased (p<0.01) in zona-free oocytes (7% versus 100%). The resistance of mouse oocyte ZP to digestion by chymotrypsin after maturation in vitro was significantly higher (p<0.01) in HAF group (86.7%) than in FBS (6.7%). To culture oocytes in FBS were very effective in preventing ZP hardening. However cultured oocytes in HAF showed high rate of ZP hardening (p<0.01). Conclusions: These results suggest that HAF can be used as a supplement for the NM of mouse immature oocytes in vitro. However, HAF induces spontaneous hardening of ZP of mouse immaure oocytes during maturation in vitro.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7917-7922
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• 2015

DNA ploidy is an important prognostic parameter in paediatric B-ALL, but the significance of the S-phase fraction is unclear. In present study, DNA ploidy was assessed in 40 pediatric B-ALL cases by flow cytometry. The DI (DNA index) and percentage of cells in S-phase were calculated using Modfit software. Aneuploidy was noted in 26/40 (65%) cases. A DI of 1.10-1.6 (hyperdiploidy B) was noted in 20/40 (50%) and 6/40 (15%) had a DI>1.60 (triploid and tetraploid range). Some 14/40 (35%) cases had a diploid DI between 0.90-1.05. None of the cases had a DI <0.90 (hypodiploid) or in the 1.06-1.09 (hyperdiploid A) range. The mean S-phase fraction was 2.6%, with 24/40 (60%) having low and 16/40 (40%) high S-phase fractions. No correlation was noted with standard ALL risk and treatment response factors with DI values or S-phase data, except for a positive correlation of low S-phase with high NCI risk category (p=0.032). Overall frequency of hyperdiploidy in our cohort of B-ALL patients was very high (65%). No correlation between hyperdiploidy B and low TLC or common B-phenotype was observed in our study as 42% cases with DI 1.10-1.6 had TLC> $50{\times}10^9$ and 57.1% CD 10 negativity. The study also highlighted that S-phase fraction analysis does not add any prognostic information and is not a useful parameter for assessment in ALL cases. However, larger studies with long term outcome analysis are needed to derive definitive conclusions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3645-3651
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• 2012

Conventional pap smear (CPS) examination has been the mainstay for early detection of cervical cancer. However, its widespread use has not been possible due to the inherent limitations, like presence of obscuring blood and inflammation, reducing its sensitivity considerably. Automated methods in use in developed countries may not be affordable in the developing countries due to paucity of resources. On the other hand, manual liquid based cytology (MLBC) is a technique that is cost effective and improves detection of precursor lesions and specimen adequacy. Therefore the aim of the study was to compare the utility of MLBC with that of CPS in cervical cancer screening. A prospective study of 100 cases through MLBC and CPS was conducted from October 2009 to July 2010, in a Medical College in India, by two independent pathologists and correlated with histopathology (22 cases). Morphological features as seen through MLBC and CPS were compared. Subsequently, all the cases were grouped based on cytological diagnosis according to two methods into 10 groups and a subjective comparison was made. In order to compare the validity of MLBC with CPS in case of major diagnoses, sensitivity and specificity of the two methods were estimated considering histological examination as the gold standard. Increased detection rate with MLBC was 150%. The concordance rate by LBC/histopathology v/s CPS/histopathology was also improved (86% vs 77%) The percentage agreement by the two methods was 68%. MLBC was more sensitive in diagnosis of LSIL and more specific in the diagnosis of inflammation. Thus, MLBC was found to be better than CPS in diagnosis of precursor lesions. It provided better morphology with increased detection of abnormalities and preservation of specimen for cell block and ancillary studies like immunocytochemistry and HPV detection. Therefore, it can be used as alternative strategy for cervical cancer prevention in limited resource settings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3611-3615
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• 2012

Objective: The objective of this study was to establish the diagnostic accuracy, specificity and sensitivity of fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC) for intra-oral tumors, comparing with histopathology as the gold standard. Materials and methods: Forty cases of FNA cytology from intraoral tumors was performed in AFID along with the demographic data and clinical information and then diagnosed at AFIP, Rawalpindi. Then the cytology results obtained per FNAC were compared with the histopathological biopsy results of the same lesions. The following variables were recorded for each patient: Age, gender, site of biopsy, diagnosis. The data were entered and analyzed using Open-epi version 2.0. Diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated. Cohen Kappa was further applied to compare the agreement between the biopsy and FNAC diagnoses. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Among the total patients included in the study there were 24 males and 16 females, with a ratio of 1.5:1. Age of the patients ranged from 24 to 80 years with a mean of 52 years. A total of six sites were aspirated from the oral cavity with maximum (11) aspirates taken from alveolar ridge. The results of FNAC revealed that there were 32 malignant and 8 benign aspirates. Confirmation through histopathological analysis came for 31/32 malignant cases while one was falsely given positive for malignancy on FNAC. Among a total of 40 cases, 31(77%) cases diagnosed were found to be malignant and remaining 9(23%) were benign. The FNAC results revealed 32 malignant and 8 benign lesions. Histopathology of the subsequent surgically excised specimen showed malignant lesions in 31(77%) and benign in 9(23%) patients. As a whole, it was found that the absolute sensitivity for introral FNAC was 100% and specificity 89% with positive predictive value of 97% and negative predictive value of 100%. Conclusion: Cytological diagnosis was almost corroborative with final histopathological diagnosis in all cases, with very few exceptions, exhibiting high diagnostic accuracy.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.23-27
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• 2006

Doxorubicin (DXR) is a type of anti-cancer drug called an 'anthracycline glycoside', It works by impairing DNA synthesis, a crucial feature of cell division, and thus is able to target rapidly dividing cells. Doxorubicin is a very serious anti-cancer medication with definite potential to do great harm as well as great good. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) method was developed to identify and quantify DXR in small-volume biological samples. After the addition of internal standard (IS, $5{\mu}L\;of\;1{\mu}M/ml$ daunorubicin methanol solution) into the serum sample, the drug and IS were extracted by methanol. Following vortex for a 1min and centrifugation at 15,000g for 10 min the organic phase was transferred and evaporated under a vacuum. The residue was reconstituted with $350{\mu}L$ of mobile phase and $10{\mu}L$ was injected into C18 column with mobile phase composed of 0.05M ammonium acetate (0.1 M acetic acid adjusted to pH 3.5) and acetonitrile (40:60, v/v). The flow rate was kept constant at $350{\mu}L/min$. The ions were quantified in the multiple reaction mode (MRM), using positive ions, on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The lower limits of quantification for Doxorubicin in plasma and small tissues were approximately 0.5 ng/mL and 0.5 ng/mL respectively. Intra- and inter-assay accuracy (% of nominal concentration) and precision (% CV) for all analytes were within 15%, respectively.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.46 no.7
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• pp.53-60
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• 2009

Motion estimation for H.264/AVC video CODEC is very complex and requires a huge amount of computational efforts because it uses multiple reference frames and variable block sizes. We propose the architecture of high-performance integer-pixel motion estimation circuit based on fast algorithms for multiple reference frame selection, block matching, block mode decision and motion vector estimation. We also propose the architecture of high-performance interpolation circuit for sub-pixel motion estimation. We described the RTL circuit in Verilog HDL and synthesized the gate-level circuit using 130nm standard cell library. The integer-pixel motion estimation circuit consists of 77,600 logic gates and four $32\times8\times32$-bit dual-port SRAM's. It has tile maximum operating frequency of 161MHz and can process up to 51 D1 (720$\times$480) color in go frames per second. The fractional motion estimation circuit consists of 22,478 logic gates. It has the maximum operating frequency of 200MHz and can process up to 69 1080HD (1,920$\times$1,088) color image frames per second.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.55-62
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• 2007

This paper proposes a defective pixel detection algorithm and its hardware structure for CCD/CMOS image sensor. In previous algorithms, the characteristics of image have not been considered. Also, some algorithms need quite a time to detect defective pixels. In order to make up for those disadvantages, the proposed defective pixel detection method detects defective pixels efficiently by considering the edges in the image and verifies them using several frames while checking scene-changes. Whenever scene-change is occurred, potentially defective pixels are checked and confirmed whether it is defective or not. Test results showed that the correct detection rate in a frame was increased 6% and the defective pixel verification time was decreased 60%. The proposed algorithm was implemented with verilog HDL. The edge indicator in color interpolation block was reused. Total logic gate count was 5.4k using 0.25um CMOS standard cell library.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.7 no.1 s.12
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• pp.43-55
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• 2003

A degenerated differential pair has been widely used as a standard topology for digitally programmable CMOS VGAs. A variable degeneration resistor has been implemented using a resistor string or R-2R ladder with MOSFET switches. However, in the VGAs using these conventional methods, low-voltage and high-speed operation is very hard to achieve due to the dc voltage drop over the degeneration resistor. To overcome the problem a new variable degeneration resistor is proposed where the dc voltage drop is almost removed. The proposed gain control scheme makes it easy to implement a low-voltage and high-speed VGA. This paper describes the problems existed in conventional methods, the principle and advantages of the proposed scheme, and their performance comparison in detail. A CMOS VGA cell is designed using the proposed degeneration resistor. The 3dB bandwidths are greater than 650㎒ and the gain errors are less than 0.3dB in a gain control range from -12dB to +12dB in 6dB steps. It consumes 3.1㎃ from a 2.5V supply voltage.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1773-1777
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• 2016

Diagnostic and therapeutic radiation fields are planned so as to reduce side-effects while maximising the dose to site but effects on healthy tissues are inevitable. Radiation causes strand breaks in DNA of exposed cells which can lead to chromosomal aberrations and cause malfunction and cell death. Several researchers have highlighted the damaging effects of high dose radiation but still there is a lacuna in identifying damage due to low dose radiation used for diagnostic purposes. Blood is an easy resource to study genotoxicity and to estimate the effects of radiation. The micronucleus assay and chromosomal aberration can indicate genetic damage and our present aim was to establish these with lymphocytes in an in vitro model to predict the immediate effects low dose radiation. Blood was collected from healthy individuals and divided into 6 groups with increasing radiation dose i.e., 0Gy, 0.10Gy, 0.25Gy, 0.50Gy, 1Gy and 2Gy. The samples were irradiated in duplicates using a LINAC in the radiation oncology department. Standard protocols were applied for chromosomal aberration and micronucleus assays. Metaphases were stained in Giemsa and 200 were scored per sample for the detection of dicentric or acentric forms. For micronuclei detection, 200 metaphases. Giemsa stained binucleate cells per sample were analysed for any abnormality. The micronuclei (MN) frequency was increased in cells exposed to the entire range of doses (0.1-2Gy) delivered. Controls showed minimal MN formation ($2.0%{\pm}0.05$) with triple MN ($5.6%{\pm}2.0$) frequency at the lowest dose. MN formation increased exponentially with the radiation dose thereafter with a maximum at 2Gy. Significantly elevated numbers of dicentric chromosomes were also observed, even at doses of 0.1-0.5Gy, compared to controls, and acentric chromosomes were apparent at 2Gy. In conclusion we can state that lymphocytes can be effectively used to study direct effect of low dose radiation.