• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1565-1570
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• 2016

Background: Central neurocytomas are rare neuronal neoplasms with a favorable prognosis. They are typically located in the lateral ventricles of the brain and mostly histologically correspond to WHO grade II with a Mib 1 labelling index of <2%. Similar tumors located in the cerebral hemispheres and spinal cord, for example, are called "extraventricular neurocytomas". A few tumors histologically show atypia, mitoses, vascular proliferation and/or necrosis and a Mib 1 index >2 % and are designated as "atypical neurocytomas. Aim: The aim of our study was to describe the common as well as unusual morphologic features and the role of various immunohistochemical stains in the diagnosis of these rare tumors. Materials and Methods: We retrieved and reviewed 35 cases diagnosed between 2001 and 2015. Results: Sixty percent of patients were males, and the mean age was 26 years. 31 cases (88.6%) were intraventricular and 4(11.4%) were extraventricular. Histologically, 6 cases (17.1%) were compatible with "atypical neurocytomas". All cases showed the classic morphology comprising nests and sheets of uniform, round cells with uniform round to oval nuclei with finely speckled chromatin and perinuclear cytoplasmic clearing (halos). All cases also showed delicate, fibrillary, neuropil-like matrices. Other common histologic features included capillary-sized blood vessels in a branching pattern in 57.1%, foci of calcification in 34.3% and perivascular pseudorosettes in 20%. Rare findings included Homer-Wright or true rosettes in 8.6% and ganglioid cells in 2.9%. Synaptophysin was the most consistent and valuable marker, being positive in almost all cases. GFAP positivity in tumor cells was seen in 25.7% of cases. Follow up was available in 13 patients. Of these 9 had histologically typical and 4 had atypical tumors. Only 1 (with an atypical neurocytoma) died, probably due to complications of surgery within one month, while 12 (including 3 with atypical neurocytomas) remained alive. Recurrence developed in 1 of these 12 patients (histologically consistent with typical morphology) almost 9 years after surgery. Only 4 patients, including 2 with atypical tumors, received postoperative radiotherapy, all with surgery in 2010 or later. Overall, prognosis was excellent with prolonged, recurrence free survival and most patients, even without receiving radiation therapy, were alive and well for many years, even a decade or more after surgery, without developing any recurrence, indicating the benign nature of these neoplasms.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6997-7005
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• 2013

Aim: To present an epidemiological and histological perspective of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (including liver and biliary tract) at the Section of Histopathology, Department of Pathology, AKUH, Karachi, Pakistan. Materials and Methods: All consecutive endoscopic biopsies and resections between October 1 and December 31, 2012 were included. Results: A total of 2,323 cases were included. Carcinoma was overwhelmingly the commonest diagnosis on esophageal biopsies (69.1%); chronic helicobacter gastritis (45.6%) followed by adenocarcinoma (23.5%) were the commonest diagnoses on gastric biopsies; adenocarcinoma (27.3%) followed by ulcerative colitis (13.1%) were the commonest diagnoses on colonic biopsies; acute appendicitis (59.1%) was the commonest diagnosis on appendicectomy specimens; chronic viral hepatitis (44.8%) followed by hepatocellular carcinoma (23.4%) were the commonest diagnoses on liver biopsies; chronic cholecystitis was the commonest diagnosis (over 89%) on cholecystectomy specimens. Conclusions: Squamous cell carcinoma comprised 88.8% of esophageal cancers. About 67% were in the lower third and 56.5% were moderately differentiated; mean ages 49.8 years for females and 55.8 years for males; 66% cases were from South West Pakistan. Over 67% patients with gastric adenocarcinoma were males; mean ages 59 and 44 years in males and females respectively, about 74% gastric carcinomas were poorly differentiated; and 62.2% were located in the antropyloric region. About 63% patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma were males; mean ages 46.1 and 50.5 years for males and females respectively; tumor grade was moderately differentiated in 54%; over 80% were located in the left colon. In 21.2% appendicectomies, no acute inflammation was found. Acute appendicitis was most common in young people. Hepatitis C (66.3%) was more common than hepatitis B (33.7%); about 78% cases of hepatocellular carcinoma occurred in males; females comprised 76.7% patients with chronic cholecystitis; and 77.8% patients with gall bladder carcinoma. All resection specimens showed advanced cancers. Most cancers occurred after the age of 50 years.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.65-69
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• 2015

Background: To evaluate the impact of adding taxanes to anthracycline-based regimens in the adjuvant setting in localized young female breast cancer patients on the overall survival (OS) and the disease free survival (DFS). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included all female breast cancer patients who were candidates for adjuvant chemotherapy presenting to Kasr Al Ainy centre of clinical oncology and Cairo oncology centre (Cairo Cure) in the period from January 2005 till December 2010. Results: Our study included 865 patients, 732 of whom received anthracycline based regimens and 133 taxane based regimens. The mean age of patients was 39 years. After a median follow up of 50 months the median DFS was 48.4 months. Survival analysis indicated that the tumor size (>5cm vs. <5cm) p=0.001), nodal involvement (Yes vs. No) p=0.0001) and pathology (invasive lobular vs. ductal) p=0.048) affected DFS. As regards hormonal status, ER, PR and HER 2neu positive patients had longer DFS (p=0.001, 0.003, 0.106). On multivariate analysis DFS was affected by tumor size and lymph node involvement (p=0.014, 0.007). Subgroup analysis showed improvement in arms treated with taxanes in terms of DFS with positive Her2neu, ER and PR, but this was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Adding adjuvant taxanes to anthracyclines is beneficial for treatment of localized breast cancer among all subgroups, especially higher risk groups. The type of adjuvant chemotherapy regimens and tumor characteristics have direct effects on DFS.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3117-3122
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• 2016

Background: Health-care research is a neglected discipline in Pakistan and research related to esophageal cancer (ranks 9th in Pakistani males and 5th in females) is no exception in this regard. Particularly, there are no data available to delineate the overall status of esophageal cancer epidemiological studies in Pakistan. This study describes the first ever effort to make a systematic quantification, in an attempt to provide a road-map to all stakeholders for designing appropriate epidemiological, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Materials and Methods: International (PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge) and local (PakMedinet) scientific databases as well as Google search engine were searched using specified keywords to extract relevant publication. Well-defined inclusion criteria were implemented to select publications for final analyses. All data were recorded by at least 3 authors and consensus data were entered into and analyzed for descriptive statistics (such as frequencies, percentages and annual growth rates) using Microsoft Excel and SPSS software. Results: A total of 79 publications fulfilled the inclusion criteria including 20 publications for which full texts were not available. Of the 79 publications, 59 (74.6%) were original/research publications, 5 (6.3%) were case reports, 4 (5.1%) were research communications, 2 (2.5%) were review articles, 1 was (1.2%) correspondence and 8 (10.1%) were undefined categories. Only 13 (<20%) cities of Pakistan contributed towards the 79 publications. On average, only 1.9 relevant publications/year were published from 1976 (year of first publication) to the present. Alarmingly, a decline in the annual growth at -4.1% was recorded in the last six years. Conclusions: Esophageal cancer research is largely unfathomed in Pakistan. Urgent/dramatic steps are required by all concerned to address this common (and under reported) cancer of Pakistan.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.24
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• pp.10659-10663
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• 2015

Background: Rapamycin is an effective anti-angiogenic drug. However, the mode of its action remains unclear. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to elucidate the antitumor mechanism of rapamycin, hypothetically via apoptotic promotion, using MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Materials and Methods: MCF-7 cells were plated at a density of $1{\times}10^5$ cells/well in 6-well plates. After 24h, cells were treated with a series of concentrations of rapamycin while only adding DMEM medium with PEG for the control regiment and grown at $37^{\circ}C$, 5% $CO_2$ and 95% air for 72h. Trypan blue was used to determine the cell viability and proliferation. Untreated and rapamycin-treated MCF-7 cells were also examined for morphological changes with an inverted-phase contrast microscope. Alteration in cell morphology was ascertained, along with a stage in the cell cycle and proliferation. In addition, cytotoxicity testing was performed using normal mouse breast mammary pads. Results: Our results clearly showed that rapamycin exhibited inhibitory activity on MCF-7 cell lines. The $IC_{50}$ value of rapamycin on the MCF-7 cells was determined as $0.4{\mu}g/ml$ (p<0.05). Direct observation by inverted microscopy demonstrated that the MCF-7 cells treated with rapamycin showed characteristic features of apoptosis including cell shrinkage, vascularization and autophagy. Cells underwent early apoptosis up to 24% after 72h. Analysis of the cell cycle showed an increase in the G0G1 phase cell population and a corresponding decrease in the S and G2M phase populations, from 81.5% to 91.3% and 17.3% to 7.9%, respectively. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that rapamycin may potentially act as an anti-cancer agent via the inhibition of growth with some morphological changes of the MCF-7 cancer cells, arrest cell cycle progression at G0/G1 phase and induction of apoptosis in late stage of apoptosis. Further studies are needed to further characterize the mode of action of rapamycin as an anti-cancer agent.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.452-458
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• 2017

The nitrogen isotope value in both ammonium and nitrate ion were determined at 9 stations during both June and August 2016, in order to understand the origin of DIN at the Han river. ${\delta}^{15}N-NO_3$ and ${\delta}^{15}N-NH_4$ values in 8 stations (CP, SB, MHC, P4, SJ, SBC, P2, SC) were no significant variation. However ${\delta}^{15}N-NO_3$ and ${\delta}^{15}N-NH_4$ values in KK (Kyeongan stream) showed significant different in comparison with 8 stations, with an apparent increase of nitrogen isotope values. These results indicate that antropogenic nitrogen source influence on KK station. Also the ${\delta}^{13}C$ and ${\delta}^{15}N$ isotope ratio of phytoplankton (Diatom and Cyanobacteria) in KK (Kyeongan stream) showed heavier values, compared to other study stations. These results indicate that nitrogen isotope value in phytoplankton effects by different nitrogen source in study sites. These results suggest that the analysis of stable isotope ratios is a simple but useful tool for the identification of dissolved inorganic nitrogen origin in aquatic environments.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Industrial Systems Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.3-13
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• 2002

고석하 등(2002)은 인터넷 소매상이 상품 품목의 명목 가격과 배송료를 이용해서 고객의 일회 총 구매 비용을 조절한다는 것을 밝혔다. 고석하 등(2002)은 같은 내용의 상품 조합을 인터넷 시장에서 구매하기 위한 비용과 전통 시장에서 구매하기 위한 비용을 비교하였다. 분석 결과, 그 교호작용과 함께, 상품 종류와 일회 구매액/가격의 크기의 두 요소가 인터넷 시장의 전통 시장에 대한 총 구매비용 할인율의 변동의 약 60%내지 80%를 설명할 수 있다는 것을 보여주었다. 한편, 구매액/가격은 인터넷 시장에서의 해당 산포도(전통 시장의 그것에 대비한)에는 거의 영향을 미치지 못하며, 상품의 종류도 산포도에는 할인율에서와 같이 큰 영향을 미치지 않았다. 인터넷 시장의 가격이나 구매비용 산포도는 상품 특성이나 구매액 크기 이외의 다른 요인에 의해서 주로 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났다. 따라서, 본 논문에서는 가격 요인 이외의 경제적 경쟁요인에 관한 실증연구로서, 2002년 6월 17일부터 20일까지, 소프트웨어, PC와 주변기기, 휴대폰, 가전제품, CD, 화장품, 그리고 책의 7가지 산업 전문 쇼핑몰과 종합 쇼핑몰을 대상으로, 인터넷 시장에서 수행되고 있는 경제적인 비 가격 경쟁요인에 관한 실증 조사를 실시하였다. 조사 결과, 인터넷 시장에서 수행되고 있는 경제적인 비 가격 경쟁요인은 매우 다양하며, 상품별로도 다른 특성을 보이고 있는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 인터넷 소매상의 경제적인 비 가격 경쟁요인은 크게 배송료 면제와 배송료 외 인센티브 제도로 구분된다 본 논문에서는 경제적인 비 가격 경쟁요인의 모든 경우의 수를 고려할 수 있도록, 코드표를 작성하여 정리하고 분석하였다.전체 분석정보의 공유가 필수적으로 발생하게 됨으로, 유전체 정보와 임상정보의 통합은 미래 의료환경에 필수기능이 될 것이다. 3) 각 생명공학 연구소에서 사용하는 첨단 분석 장비와 생명공학 정보시스템의 자동 연계가 필요하다. 현재 국내에는 전국적인 초고속정보망이 가동되어 웹을 기반으로 하는 생명정보의 공유는 기술적으로 문제가 될 수 없으나 임상정보의 유전체연구에 그리고 유전체연구정보의 임상활용은 다양한 문제를 내포하고 있다. 이에 영상을 포함한 환자정보의 유전체연구센터와 병원정보시스템과의 효율적인 연계통합 운영을 위해 국내에서는 초기 도입단계에 있는 국제적인 보건의료정보의 표준인 Health Level 7 (textural information 공유), DICOM (image 및 wave 공유), 관련 ISO표준, WHO의 ICD9/10 (질병분류), LOINC (검사 및 관련용어), SNOMED International (의학용어) 등을 활용하여야 한다.matrix. The prediction system gives about 50% of sensitivity and 98% of specificity, Based on the PID matrix, we develop a system providing several interaction information-finding services in the Internet. The system, named PreDIN (Prediction-oriented Database of Interaction Network) provides interacting domain finding services and interacting protein

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2003

We have investigated water quality of the coastal saline groundwaters utilized for fish farms in Jeju Island. The water quality investigation included the spatial observations for 75 fish farms during March-May, 1994 and the hi-monthly observations for both coastal saline groundwaters and seawaters at four fish farms from August 1994 to December 1995. Water temperature of the saline groundwaters ranged from 16 to 18$^{\circ}C$ over the study period. Salinity of the saline groundwaters varied between 20.60 ppt and 34.02 ppt, slightly lower than that of the coastal seawaters(26.47~34.53 ppt). This salinity variation must be associated with local precipitation conditions in Jeju Island. The oxygen saturation for most saline groundwater samples was lower than 80%, ranging from 24.7 to 89.8%. The COD and pH values for the saline groundwaters were similar to those for the coastal seawaters. The concentrations of DIP for the saline groundwaters varied between 0.021 mg/L and 0.121 mg/ L, and seasonal variation of DIP in the saline groundwater ranged from 0.014 to 0.077 mg/L, which were higher than that of the coastal seawaters(0.000~0.015 mg/L). Nitrate in the saline groundwaters accounted for more than 90% of the DIM. The maximum concentrations of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and DIN in the saline groundwaters were 0.085, 0.012, 2.294 and 2.309 mg/L, respectively. These concentrations of the saline groundwaters were considerably lower than those affected culture organisms. Overall, the saline groundwaters utilized for fish farms in Jeju Island appear to maintain good waterquality for fish farms.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.140-145
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• 2006

The mort commonly available substrate material is glass in the display fibrication process. However, glass is not desirable due to its heaviness and fragility. Recently, plastics such polysulfone (PSF), polyethesulfone (PES), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and cyclic olefin polymers (COP) have been investigated to replace glass as a substrate material for display fibrication. Plastic substrates are advantageous in that they are lightweight, huh impart resistance, flexibility, and ability for roll to roll manufacturing process. But many plastics have poor chemical resistance in organic solvent. The chemica resistance is also lequired because they are exposed to solvents for various chemical treatments din the manufacturing process. So, we have an interest in the chemical modification of PSF to improve chemical resistance. We introduced crosslinkable imide moieties using chloromethylation method for the modification of PSF which could be overcome above shortcomings for display substrate based on plastic film. We prepared the cross-linked polysulfone films which were represented chemical resistance in HeOH, THF, DMSO and NMP. The thermal properties were measured by TGA, DSC and TMA. As the results, we have confirmed to enhance of the thermal property. They had low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) which decreased to 15% and had increased $T_g\;from\;180^{\circ}C\;to\;252^{\circ}C$. Cross-linked polysulfone films with imide side-chain had good optical properties and chemical resistance so that they could be used as flexible display substrate.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.431-437
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• 2002

In order to understand the spatiotemporal variation of water quality, an investigation on variation characteristics of water quality was conducted at 13 stations in Yongil bay from 1990 to 1998. The salinity in summer was relatively lower than that in other seasons and it have increased from inner bay to outside of the bay gradually. However, nitrate concentration in summer was relatively higher than that in other seasons, and it was the highest, up to $65.40\%$, among dissolved inorganic nitrogens, Nitrate concentration indicates the possibility of affecting by freshwater discharges to Yongil bay. Correlation analysis showed that salinity had a significantly good correlation with nitrate. This result suggested that inflow of river had an influence on increase of nitrate. The result of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated that nitrate was major factor to influence the water quality in Yongil Bay.