• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.12
• /
• pp.5083-5088
• /
• 2014

Background: Scientometrics is a useful method for management of financial and human resources and has been applied many times in medical sciences during recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the status of science production by Iranian scientists in the gastric cancer field based on the Medline database. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-cross sectional study Iranian science production concerning gastric cancer during 2000-2011 was investigated based on Medline. After two stages of searching, 121 articles were found, then we reviewed publication date, authors names, journal title, impact factor (IF), and cooperation coefficient between researchers. SPSS.19 was used for statistical analysis. Results: There was a significant increase in published articles about gastric cancer by Iranian researchers in Medline database during 2006-2011. Mean cooperation coefficient between researchers was $6.14{\pm}3.29$ person per article. Articles of this field were published in 19 countries and 56 journals. Those basex in Thailand, England, and America had the most published Iranian articles. Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Mohammadreza Zali had the most outstanding role in publishing scientific articles. Conclusions: According to results of this study, improving cooperation of researchers in conducting research and scientometric studies about other fields may have an important role in increasing both quality and quantity of published studies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.12
• /
• pp.7731-7736
• /
• 2013

Aim: To compare the agreement of screening breast mammography plus ultrasound and reviewed mammography alone in asymptomatic women. Materials and Methods: All breast imaging data were obtained for women who presented for routine medical checkup at National Cancer Institute (NCI), Thailand from January 2010 to June 2013. A radiologist performed masked interpretations of selected mammographic images retrieved from the computer imaging database. Previous mammography, ultrasound reports and clinical data were blinded before film re-interpretation. Kappa values were calculated to assess the agreement between BIRADS assessment category and BIRADS classification of density obtained from the mammography with ultrasound in imaging database and reviewed mammography alone. Results: Regarding BIRADS assessment category, concordance between the two interpretations were good. Observed agreement was 96.1%. There was moderate agreement in which the Kappa value was 0.58% (95%CI; 0.45, 0.87). The agreement of BI-RADS classification of density was substantial, with a Kappa value of 0.60 (95%CI; 0.54, 0.66). Different results were obtained when a subgroup of patients aged ${\geq}60$ years were analyzed. In women in this group, observed agreement was 97.6%. There was also substantial agreement in which the Kappa value was 0.74% (95%CI; 0.49, 0.98). Conclusions: The present study revealed that concordance between mammography plus ultrasound and reviewed mammography alone in asymptomatic women is good. However, there is just moderate agreement which can be enhanced if age-targeted breast imaging is performed. Substantial agreement can be achieved in women aged ${\geq}60$. Adjunctive breast ultrasound is less important in women in this group.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.12
• /
• pp.7669-7674
• /
• 2013

Background: The hypothesis that patients who primarily progress on two consecutive chemotherapy regimens without evidence of clinical benefit may opt for supportive care was investigated. The purpose was to determine the quality of life in recurrent ovarian cancer patients choosing to receive salvage chemotherapy in addition to supportive care or palliative care alone. A secondary objective was to evaluate factors that affect quality of life in ovarian cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted in patients who had histological confirmed epithelial ovarian cancer and failed to respond to at least one regimen of chemotherapy, coming for treatment at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand over a six-month period from August 2012-March 2013. Each patient was asked to complete the FACT-G and a general personal questionnaire. The median quality of life score was analyzed. The Mann Whitney U Test was used to compare the difference between salvage chemotherapy and palliative care groups, and the Kruskal Wallis was used to evaluate other variables. Results: Thirty-eight ovarian cancer patients were identified who failed to respond to chemotherapy. Of the 38, 30 chose salvage chemotherapy and eight palliative care for further treatment. By histology the carcimnomas were predominantly endometrioid subtype and poorly differentiated. The majority of patients in this study had FIGO stage III, and ECOG status 0-1. The median quality of life score was 76.3 (35.8-94.0), with no significant differences between the groups. Factors associated with the quality of life were the ECOG score and number of chemotherapeutic courses. Conclusions: In the setting of refractory or recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer, patients who receive salvage chemotherapy have comparable quality of life scores with patients treated with palliative care alone, providing a contrast with previous studies.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.47 no.5
• /
• pp.482-488
• /
• 2014

The study investigated the chemical composition, pH, and texture of salted jellyfish processed in Indonesia, Thailand, and China as a pilot study for processing the jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai, which occurs in Korean coastal waters. The 14 samples of salted jellyfish included processed umbrella and oral arms and consisted of 68.4-78.3 g/100 g moisture, 1.79-4.37 g/100 g crude protein, and 0.07-0.41 g/100 g crude lipid. The total amino acid content was 2.30-4.69 g/100 g and glycine accounted for 20.07-37.37% of the total amino acids. Salting jellyfish reduces the possibility of microbial growth and enhances the shelf life because the samples have a pH of 3.77-4.35, salinity of 18.53-24.02%, and lower water activity of 0.77-0.80. The lightness (L), redness (a), and yellowness (b) of the samples were 53.98-61.32, 1.76-6.26, and 14.08-29.0, respectively. The springiness, strength, and hardness of the salted jellyfish differed significantly among the products. The sample processed in Indonesia had the highest springiness. While the chemical composition, pH, water activity, and color differed significantly among the products, there were no significant effects of the country of manufacture. These results will enable the determination of quality index parameters for salted processed Nemopilema nomurai caught in Korean coastal.

• Journal of Information Technology and Architecture
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 2014

The research tries to find appropriate nations and cities of the international supporting centers according to Korean firms' requests. It also tries to find out proper designs of governance structure and strategic and operational control system of the center. Two methods are used to find out Korean firms' requests. One is the expert interviews and the other is the questionnaire survey. The email survey is sent to 120 firms of IT service, package software, telecom facilities and broadcasting equipment industries. Their opinions in addition to interview results are used as a basis of selecting potential regions for new centers and types of their services. According to survey results, southeast asia is the most preferred region and Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are selected as potential nations for a location of the center in southeast asia. However, the survey result is not fully agreed with the interviewees' opinions. The interviewees tell that there are not much demand in nations with low purchasing power and low IT industry level. That is, Indonesia and Vietnam are not proper places for the centers.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
• /
• v.1
• /
• pp.52-55
• /
• 2006

It's used to be said that tsunami is a rare event. The recurrence time of tsunami in Sumatra area is approximately 230 years as CalTech Research Group‘s study from paleocoral. However, the tsunami occurred in Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004, 28 March 2005 and 17 July 2006, because the earthquakes still release the energy. To cope with the tsunami disaster, we have to put the much effort on better disaster preparedness. The Tsunami Reduction Of Impacts through three Key Actions (TROIKA) was suggested by Eddie N. Bernard, the director of NOAA/PMEL (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory). They are Hazard Assessment, Mitigation and Warning Guidance. The satellite remote sensing has potential on these actions. The medium and high resolution satellite data were used to assess the degree of damage at the six-damaged provinces on the Andaman seacoast of Thailand. Fast and reliable interpretation of the damage by remote sensing method can be used for inundation mapping, rehabilitation and housing plans for the victims. For tsunami mitigation, the satellite data can be used with GIS to construct the evacuation map (evacuation route and refuge site) and coastal zone management. It is also helpful for educational program for local residents and school systems. Tsunami is a kind of ocean wave, therefore any satellite sensors such as SAR, Altimeter, MODIS, Landsat, SPOT, IKONOS can detect the tsunami wave in 2004. The satellite images have shown the characteristics of tsunami wave approaching the coast. For warning, satellite data has potential for early warning to detect the tsunami wave in deep ocean, if there are enough satellite constellation to monitor and detect the first tsunami wave like the pressure gauge, seismograph and tide gauge with the DART buoy can do. Moreover, the new methods should be developed to analyse the satellite data more faster for early warning procedure.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2008.05a
• /
• pp.75-81
• /
• 2008

The water shortage in mega cities in Asia, which face a rapid growth in urban population, is an outstanding problem. It is important, therefore, to accurately estimate the water balance in each city in order to use the limited water resources effectively. In this study, we estimated the potential water resources in し sixteen mega cities in Asia. The target cities were Delhi and Calcutta, India; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Yangon, Myanmar; Bangkok, Thailand; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Singapore; Jakarta, Indonesia; Hanoi, Vietnam; Beijing and Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China; Seoul, the People's Republic of Korea; Manila, the Philippines, and Sapporo and Tokyo, Japan. The potential water resources were estimated by subtracting the actual evaporation from the amount of rainfall. The actual evaporation was estimated using the potential evaporation obtained by Hamon's equation which requires the air temperature and the possible hours of sunshine. When the results of Hamon's and Penman's evaporation equations were compared, a considerable error appeared in the low latitude region. The estimation using Hamon's equation was corrected with the linear regression line of Hamon's and Penman's equations. A classification of the land cover was carried out based on satellite photographs of the target cities, and the volume of surface runoff for each city was obtained using the runoff ratios which depended on the land cover. As a result, the potential water resources in the above mega cities in Asia were found to be greater than the world average. However, the actual water resources which are available for one person to use are probably very limited.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.11
• /
• pp.4727-4732
• /
• 2015

Background: Folylpolyglutamate synthetase (FPGS), an important enzyme in the folate metabolic pathway, plays a central role in intracellular accumulation of folate and antifolate in several mammalian cell types. Loss of FPGS activity results in decreased cellular levels of antifolates and consequently to polyglutamatable antifolates in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Materials and Methods: During May 1997 and December 2003, 134 children diagnosed with ALL were recruited from one hospital in Thailand. We performed a mutation analysis in the coding regions of the FPGS gene and the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within FPGS in a case-control sample of childhood ALL patients. Mutation screening was conducted by polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and subsequently with direct sequencing (n=72). Association analysis between common FPGS variants and ALL risk was done in 98 childhood ALL cases and 95 healthy volunteers recruited as controls. Results: Seven SNPs in the FPGS coding region were identified by mutation analysis, 3 of which (IVS13+55C>T, g.1297T>G, and g.1508C>T) were recognized as novel SNPs. Association analysis revealed 3 of 6 SNPs to confer significant increase in ALL risk these being rs7039798 (p=0.014, OR=2.14), rs1544105 (p=0.010, OR= 2.24), and rs10106 (p=0.026, OR=1.99). Conclusions: These findings suggested that common genetic polymorphisms in the FPGS coding region including rs7039789, rs1544105, and rs10106 are significantly associated with increased ALL risk in Thai children.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.10
• /
• pp.4217-4224
• /
• 2014

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a slow growing but highly metastatic tumor, is highly prevalent in Northeast Thailand. Specific tests that predict prognosis of CCA remain elusive. The present study was designed to investigate whether peripheral blood leukocyte (PBL) transcriptional profiles might be of use as a prognostic test in CCA patients. Gene expression profiles of PBLs from 9 CCA and 8 healthy subjects were conducted using the Affymetrix HG_U133 Plus 2.0 GeneChip. We indentified informative PBLs gene expression profiles that could reliably distinguish CCA patients from healthy subjects. Of these CCA specific genes, 117 genes were up regulated and 60 were down regulated. The molecular and cellular functions predicted for these CCA specific genes according to the Gene Ontology database indicated differential PBL expression of host immune response and tumor progression genes (EREG, TGF ${\beta}1$, CXCL2, CXCL3, IL-8, and VEGFA). The expression levels of 9 differentially expressed genes were verified in 36 CCA vs 20 healthy subjects. A set of three tumor invasion related genes (PLAU, CTSL and SERPINB2) computed as "prognostic index" was found to be an independent and statistically significant predictor for CCA patient survival. The present study shows that CCA PBLs may serve as disease predictive clinically accessible surrogates for indentifying expressed genes reflective of CCA disease severity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.557-563
• /
• 2013

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is ranked as one of the top five causes of cancer-related deaths. ICC in Thai patients is associated with infection with the liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrini, but the molecular basis for development remains unclear. The present study employed a microarray approach to compare gene expression profiles of ICCs and normal liver tissues from the same patients residing in Northeast Thailand, a region with a high prevalence of liver fluke infection. In ICC samples, 2,821 and 1,361 genes were found to be significantly up- and down-regulated respectively (unpaired t-test, p<0.05; fold-change ${\gep}2.0$). For validation of the microarray results, 7 up-regulated genes (FXYD3, GPRC5A, CEACAM5, MUC13, EPCAM, TMC5, and EHF) and 3 down-regulated genes (CPS1, TAT, and ITIH1) were selected for confirmation using quantitative RT-PCR, resulting in 100% agreement. The metallothionine heavy metal pathway contains the highest percentage of genes with statistically significant changes in expression. This study provides exon-level expression profiles in ICC that should be fruitful in identifying novel genetic markers for classifying and possibly early diagnosis of this highly fatal type of cholangiocarcinoma.