• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.401-407
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• 2005

Objectives : We wanted to investigate the relationship between heavy metal, especially lead and mercury, to the blood pressure and cholesterol level in children. Methods : This study was undertaken in three primary schools and the study subjects were a total of 274 children. The lead in the blood and the urine mercury were analyzed by performing atomic absorption spectroscopy. Results : All of participants' blood lead levels and urine mercury concentrations were below the suggested level of concern according to the criteria of the CDC and ATSDR. We found no significant correlation between lead, mercury and the blood pressure. The blood lead level did not show any relationship with the blood pressure and cholesterol. However, the urine mercury levels were associated with the serum cholesterol. Conclusion : Our study suggests that mercury can induce an increase of cholesterol as a risk factor of myocardial infraction and coronary/cardiovascular disease.

• 대한유전성대사질환학회지
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• 제2권1호
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• pp.72-76
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• 2002

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.1197-1203
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• 2014

Background: Adenocarcinoma (ADC) is the most common histological type of lung cancer and its proportion is rising, especially in Asian non-smoking women. Recent studies suggest miR-25 may have diverse effects on the pathogenesis of different types of cancer. However, the role of miR-25 in lung cancer is still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential clinical value of miR-25 in non-smoking women with lung ADC. Patients and Methods: Quantitative RT-PCR was performed to evaluate the expression of miR-25 in 100 lung ADC tumor tissues and matched plasma samples and Pearson correlation tests were used to analyze the relationship between values. Associations of miR-25 expression with clinicopathological features were determined using the Student's t-test. To determine prognostic value, overall survival (OS) was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazard model. Results: Expression of miR-25 in tissue was found to be associated with lymph node metastasis (P=0.021) and disease stage (P=0.012). Moreover, high miR-25 expression was also associated with poorer overall survival of women with lung ADC (P=0.008). Conclusion: Tissue miR-25 expression may be associated with tumor progression and have prognostic implications in female lung ADC patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.993-996
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• 2013

To evaluate the relation between smoking, alcohol drinking and risk of breast cancer in Chinese women, we conducted a case-control study with 669 cases and 682 population-based controls in Jiangsu Province of China. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit detailed information. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was performed to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The results revealed that smoking, whether active or passive through the husband, was related to increased risk of breast cancer. The ORs (adjusted for age, menopausal status, educational levels, occupation, body mass index and income) were 3.55 (95%CI: 1.27-9.91) for active smoking and 1.47 (95%CI: 1.18-1.84) for passive smoking from husbands, respectively. A significant positive relationship was observed between breast cancer risk and the degree of husbands' smoking. There were significant increase trend in ORs with the daily smoked number of cigarettes of husbands, the passive smoking years from husbands and the pack-years of husbands' smoking (trend test: p=0.00003, 0.00013 and 0.0001, respectively). Alcohol consumption was also found to be a risk factor. The findings of this study in particular suggest that husbands' smoking increases risk of breast cancer in Chinese women.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권10호
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• pp.4215-4218
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• 2015

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world. It is the first cause of cancer deaths in both sexes In Iranian population. Circulating insulin-like growth factor-one (IGF-1) levels have been associated for gastric cancer. IGF-1 protein has central roles involved in the regulation of epithelial cell growth, proliferation, transformation, apoptosis and metastasis. Single nucleotide polymorphism in IGF-1 regulatory elements may lead to alter in IGF-1expression level and GC susceptibility. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of IGF-1 gene polymorphism (rs5742612) on risk of GC and clinicopathological features for the first time in Iranian population. In total, 241 subjects including 100 patients with GC and 141 healthy controls were recruited in our study. Genotypes were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay with DNA from peripheral blood. The polymorphism was statistically analyzed to investigate the relationship with the risk of GC and clinicopathological properties. Logistic regression analysis revealed that there was no significant association between rs5742612 and the risk of GC. In addition, no significant association between genotypes and clinicopathological features was observed (p value>0.05). The frequencies of the CC, CT, and TT genotypes were 97%, 3%, and 0%, respectively, among the cases, and 97.9%, 2.1%, and 0%, respectively, among the controls. CC genotype was more frequent in cases and controls. The frequencies of C and T alleles were 98.9% and 1.1% in controls and 98.5% and 1.5% in patient respectively. Our results provide the first evidence that this variant is rare in Iranian population and it may not be a powerful genetic predisposing biomarker for prediction GC clinicopathological features in an Iranian population.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.27-36
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• 2013

Objectives: Mental health has been shown to be linked with certain underlying physiological mechanisms. The objective of this cross sectional study was to investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms and brachial artery reactivity (BAR) in an understudied population: police officers. Methods: Participants were 351 police officers who were clinically examined in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Police Stress (BCOPS) study. BAR was performed using standard B-Mode ultrasound procedures. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Mean values of the difference between the baseline and maximum diameters of the brachial artery were determined across three categories of CES-D score using the analysis of variance and the analysis of covariance. p-values for linear trends were obtained from linear regression models. Results: The mean age (${\pm}$ standard deviation) of all officers was $40.9{\pm}7.2$ years. Women had a slightly higher mean CES-D score than men ($8.9{\pm}8.9$ vs. $7.4{\pm}6.4$) and a slightly higher percentage increase of BAR than men (6.90 vs. 5.26%). Smoking status significantly modified the associations between depressive symptoms and BAR. Among current smokers, mean absolute values of BAR significantly decreased as depressive symptoms increased after adjustment for age, gender, race/ethnicity, hypertension, and diabetes; the multivariate-adjusted p-values were 0.033 (absolute) and 0.040 (%). Associations between depressive symptoms and BAR were not statistically significant among former smokers or never smokers. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms were inversely associated with BAR among police officers who were current smokers and together may be considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease among police officers. Further prospective research is warranted.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.803-810
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• 1998

Pullorum disease caused by Salmonella pullorum, has been considered as one of the most important diseases in both clinically and economically in poultry industry since it had been firstly reported in 1925 in Korea. This disease is still problem in the industry in this country even though several attempts have been made to eradicate the disease. As one of the trials to solve the problem, we investigated the pattern of the outbreak of the disease, isolated the causative agent, S pullorum and tested biochemical properties, antimicrobial susceptibility and plasmid profiles of the isolates. Outbreak of the disease based on the species was the highest in layer followed by in Korean native chick, and broiler. Daily mean mortality in vertical transmission (0.90%) was higher than that in horizontal (0.14%). There was no seasonal difference in the outbreak. Also, biochemical properties and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the isolates were same. However four different plasmid profiles of the isolates were observed. These results suggested that S pullorum isolates were different in the genotype while they were same in phenotypes.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제42권6호
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• pp.349-355
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• 2009

Biomarkers are characteristic biological properties that can be detected and measured in a variety of biological matrices in the human body, including the blood and tissue, to give an indication of whether there is a threat of disease, if a disease already exists, or how such a disease may develop in an individual case. Along the continuum from exposure to clinical disease and progression, exposure, internal dose, biologically effective dose, early biological effect, altered structure and/or function, clinical disease, and disease progression can potentially be observed and quantified using biomarkers. While the traditional discovery of biomarkers has been a slow process, the advent of molecular and genomic medicine has resulted in explosive growth in the discovery of new biomarkers. In this review, issues in evaluating biomarkers will be discussed and the biomarkers of environmental exposure, early biologic effect, and susceptibility identified and validated in epidemiological studies will be summarized. The spectrum of genomic approaches currently used to identify and apply biomarkers and strategies to validate genomic biomarkers will also be discussed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.373-378
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• 2005

Influenza virus has a unique characteristics of annual epidemics of acute respiratory disease with attack rate of 10%-30% of the population. It is also the classical emerging infectious disease causing global pandemics when new antigenic shift occur. This antigenic shift is the key to its ability to evoke periodic pandemics, and it has caused at least 3 pandemics in 20th century. I reviewed these 3 pandemics in their natural courses and the epidemiology of the recent emerging influenza A viruses, especially the H5 and H7 subtypes. I descr ibed the epidemics of these vi ruses in human population and why we should be prepared to these viruses.

• Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.536-543
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• 2018

Culture forms an integral aspect of environmental factors which influences disease presentation and clinical outcomes in functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs). In this review, the role of culture in FGIDs in the East is briefly explored with regards to symptom presentation and diagnostic issues, lifestyle and cultural habits, epidemiology, and healthcare seeking behavior. In both functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome, symptom presentation and disease sub-typing in Asians are known to differ from their Western counterparts, possibly relating to cultural dietary practices and from cultural perception of symptoms. Dietary patterns, together with defecating practices are explored as factors contributing to a lower prevalence of constipation in the East. An urban-rural difference in the prevalence of FGIDs in Asia is attributed to a change in dietary patterns in rapidly developing urban communities, together with an increased level of psychological morbidity. Lastly, cultural attitudes towards traditional/local remedies, variation in healthcare systems, anxiety regarding organic disease, and religious practices have been shown to influence healthcare seeking behavior among FGID patients in the East.