• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8229-8237
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• 2014

Background: Organized cervical screening has decreased the incidence of cervical cancer. However, screening strategies vary in different countries. Objectives: We performed a systematic review to evaluate the economic aspects of different screening methods. Materials and Methods: We searched databases and then data were abstracted from each study. We evaluated articles based on different types of screening tests as well as screening age and intervals, and using incremental cost effectiveness ratio via calculating quality adjusted life years (QALY), or life years gained (LYG) per cost. We compared the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of each study using GDP per capita. Furthermore, we compared national guidelines with recommendations of cost-effectiveness studies in different countries. Results: A total of 21 articles met our criteria, of which 19 studies showed that HPV DNA testing, 13 suggested an age of 30 years or more, and 10 papers concluded that at least a 5-year or longer interval were the most cost-effective strategies. In some countries, the national guidelines did not match the recommendations of the cost-effectiveness studies. Conclusions: HPV testing, starting at age 30 years or older and repeated at 5-year or longer intervals, is the most cost-effective strategy in any setting. Closer collaboration with health economists is required during guideline development.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.114-120
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• 2018

Purpose: Routine screening for toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus (CMV), and herpes simplex virus (TORCH) in intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and small for gestational age (SGA) neonates has become a common practice. However, the incidence of TORCH varies across countries, and the cost of TORCH testing may be disadvantageous compared to disease-specific screening. To evaluate the efficacy of TORCH screening, the medical charts of IUGR or SGA neonates born in a single institution in Bucheon, Korea from 2011 to 2015 were reviewed. Methods: The clinical data of the 126 IUGR or SGA neonates were gathered, including gestational age, Apgar scores, neonatal sonographic findings, chromosome study, morbidities, developmental follow-up, and growth catch-up. Maternal factors including underlying maternal disease and fetal sonography were collected, and placental findings were recorded when available. TORCH screening was done using serum IgM, CMV urine culture, quantification of CMV DNA with real-time polymerase chain reaction, and rapid plasma reagin qualitative test for syphilis. Tests were repeated only for those with positive results. Results: Of the 119 TORCH screenings, only one was positive for toxoplasmosis IgM. This result was deemed false positive due to negative IgM on repeated testing and the absence of clinical symptoms. Conclusion: Considering the incidence and risk of TORCH in Korea, the financial burden of TORCH screening, and the single positive TORCH finding in our study, we suggest disease-specific screening based on maternal history and the clinical symptoms of the neonate. Regarding CMV, which may present asymptomatically, universal screening may be appropriate upon cost-benefit analysis.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.235-249
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• 2022

Purpose: This study explored the degree to which pregnant women in Korea made informed choices regarding noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) and investigated factors influencing whether they made informed choices. Methods: In total, 129 pregnant women in Korea participated in a web-based survey. Multidimensional measures of informed choice regarding NIPT and decisional conflict were used to measure participants' levels of knowledge, attitudes, deliberation, uptake, and decisional conflict related to NIPT. Additional questions were asked about participants' NIPT experiences and opinions. Results: All 129 pregnant women were recruited from an online community. Excluding those who expressed neutral attitudes toward NIPT, according to the definition of informed choice used in this study, only 91 made an informed choice (n=63, 69.2%) or an uninformed choice (n=28, 30.8%). Of the latter, 75.0% had insufficient knowledge, 39.3% made a value-inconsistent decision, and 14.3% did not deliberate sufficiently. No difference in decisional conflict was found between the two groups. A significant difference was found between the two groups in the reasons why NIPT was introduced or recommended (p=.021). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that pregnant women who were knowledgeable (odds ratio [OR], 4.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.17-10.47) and deliberated (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.57-0.98) were significantly more likely to make an informed choice. Conclusion: The results of this study help healthcare providers, including nurses in maternity units, understand pregnant women's experiences of NIPT. Counseling strategies are needed to improve pregnant women's knowledge of NIPT and create an environment that promotes deliberation regarding this decision.

• The Korean Journal of Blood Transfusion
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.310-319
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• 2018

Background: Research on next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based HLA typing is active. To resolve the phase ambiguity and long turn-around-time of conventional high resolution HLA typing, this study developed a NGS-based high resolution HLA typing method that can handle large-scale samples within an efficient testing time. Methods: For HLA NGS, the condition of nucleic acid extraction, library construction, PCR mechanism, and HLA typing with bioinformatics were developed. To confirm the accuracy of the NGS-based HLA typing method, the results of 192 samples HLA typed by SSOP and 28 samples typed by SBT compared to NGS-based HLA-A, -B and -DR typing. Results: DNA library construction through two-step PCR, NGS sequencing with MiSeq (Illumina Inc., San Diego, USA), and the data analysis platform were established. NGS-based HLA typing results were compatible with known HLA types from 220 blood samples. Conclusion: The NSG-based HLA typing method could handle large volume samples with high-throughput. Therefore, it would be useful for HLA typing of bone marrow donation volunteers.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2011

The aim of this research was to develop specific and sensitive PCR-based procedures for simultaneous detection of economically important plant pathogenic bacteria and seed borne virus in commercial Brassicaceae crop seeds, Xanthomonns campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) and Lettuce Mosaic Virus (LMV). Bacterial and virus diseases of Brassicaceae leaves are responsible for heavy losses. PCR with arbitral primers: selection of specific primers, performance of PCR with specific primers and determination of the threshold level for pathogens detection. To detect simultaneously the Xcc and LMV in commercial Brassicaceae crop seeds (lettuce, kohlrabi, radish, chinese cabbage and cabbage), two pairs of specific primer (LMV-F/R, Xcc-F/R) were synthesized by using primer-blast program (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/tools/primer-blast/). The multiplex PCR for the two pathogens in Brassicaceae crop seeds could detect specifically without interference among primers and/or cDNA of other plant pathogens. The pathogen detection limit was determined at 1 ng of RNA extracted from pathogens. In the total PCR results for pathogen detection using commercial kohlrabi (10 varieties), lettuce (50 varieties), radish (20 varieties), chinese cabbage (20 varieties) and cabbage (20 varieties), LMV and Xcc were detected from 39 and 2 varieties, respectively. In the PCR result of lettuce, LMV and Xcc were simultaneously detected in 8 varieties.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2011

The aim of this study was to develop specific and sensitive PCR-based procedures for simultaneous detection of economically important plant seed infection pathogenic bacteria and virus, Xanthomonns campestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv), Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Cmm), Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora (Ecc), Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) and Tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV) in pepper and tomato seeds. Most of pepper and tomato bacterial and virus diseases are responsible for germination and growth obstruction. PCR with arbitral primers: selection of specific primers, performance of PCR with specific primers and determination of the threshold level for pathogens detection. To detect simultaneously the Xcv, Cmm, Ecc, PMMoV and TMGMV in pepper and tomato seeds, five pairs (Cmm-F/R, Ecc-F/R, Xcv-F/R, PMMoV-F/R, TMGMV-F/R) of specific primer were synthesized by primer-blast program. The multiplex PCR for the five pathogens in pepper and tomato seeds could detect specially without interference among primers and/or cDNA of plant seeds and other plant pathogens. The PCR result for pathogen detection using 20 commercial pepper and 10 tomato seed samples, Ecc was detected from 4 pepper and 2 tomato seed samples, PMMoV was detected from 1 pepper seed sample, and PMMoV and TMGMV were simultaneously detected from 1 pepper seed sample.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2014

Microsatellite markers were used to identify 58 major commercial melon cultivars, and to assess hybrid seed purity of a melon breeding line known as '10H08'. A set of 412 microsatellite primer pairs were utilized for fingerprinting of the melon cultivars. Twenty-nine markers showed hyper-variability and could discriminate all cultivars on the basis of marker genotypes, representing the genetic variation within varietal groups. Cluster analysis based on Jaccard's distance coefficients using the UPGMA algorithm categorized 2 major groups, which were in accordance to morphological traits. The DNA bulks of female and male parents of breeding line '10H08' were tested with 29 primer pairs based on microsatellites to investigate purity testing of $F_1$ hybrid seeds, and 5 primer pairs exhibited polymorphism. One microsatellite primer pair (CMGAN12) produced unambiguous polymorphic bands among the parents. Among 192 seeds tested with CMGAN12, progeny possibly generated by self-pollination of the female parent were clearly distinguished from the hybrid progeny. These markers will be useful for fingerprinting melon cultivars and can help private seed companies to improve melon seed purity.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.361-371
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• 2014

Mycoplasma is well recognized as one of the most prevalent and serious microbial contaminants of biologic manufacturing processes. Conventional methods for mycoplasma testing, direct culture method and indirect indicator cell culture method, are lengthy, costly and less sensitive to noncultivable species. In this report, we describe a new TaqMan probe-based real-time PCR method for rapid and quantitative detection of mycoplasma contamination during manufacture of biologics. Universal mycoplasma primers were used for mycoplasma PCR and mycoplasma DNA was quantified by use of a specific TaqMan probe. Specificity, sensitivity, and robustness of the real-time PCR method was validated according to the European Pharmacopoeia. The validation results met required criteria to justify its use as a replacement for the culture method. The established real-time PCR assay was successfully applied to the detection of mycoplasma from human keratinocyte and mesenchymal stem cell as well as Vero cell lines artificially infected with mycoplasma. The overall results indicated that this rapid, specific, sensitive, and robust assay can be reliably used for quantitative detection of mycoplasma contamination during manufacture of biologics.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2001

To examine the effect of copy number-dependent transgenic genotype on the expression of foreign gene, stable hemizygous and homozygous transgenic breeding line was established using artificial parthenogenesis. For this purpose, induced diploid gynogenetic transgenesis was optimized in mud loach (Misgurnus mizolepis) using UV-irradiated cyprinid loach (M. anguillicaudatus) sperm and thermal shocks. Optimum UV range for inactivation of cyprinid loach sperm was between 3,150 to $4,050\;ergs/mm^2$ The UV-irradiated sperm were inseminated into eggs from recessive color strain (yellow) or heterozygous transgenic mud loach containing CAT gene. Cold shock at $2^{\circ}C$ for 60 min, 5 min post fertilization successfully restored the diploidy of eggs inseminated with UV-irradiated sperm. Restoration to diploidy was confirmed by flow cytometry and gynogenetic status was verified by examining maternal exclusive inheritance of multi-locus DNA fingerprints, body color and transgenic marker. Putative isogenic transgenic fish clearly showed homozygous status at trans gene locus based on Southern blot hybridization and progeny testing. Further, such homozygous gynogenetic diploids revealed the increased levels of transgene expression, when compared to those of heterozygous (hemizygous) transgenic fish.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8187-8190
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• 2016

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are small, non-enveloped, double-stranded DNA viruses that infect epithelial tissues. Specific genotypes of human papillomavirus are the single most common etiological agents of cervical intraepithelial lesions and cervical cancer. Cervical cancer usually arises at squamous metaplastic epithelium of transformation zone (TZ) of the cervix featuring infection with one or more oncogenic or high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) types. A hospital-based study in a rural set up was carried out to understand the association of HR-HPV with squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs) and cervical cancer. In the present study, HR-HPV was detected in 65.7% of low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs), 84.6% of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) and 94% of cervical cancer as compared to 10.7% of controls. The association of HPV infection with SIL and cervical cancer was analyzed with Chi square test (p<0.001). The significant association found confirmed that detection of HR-HPV is a suitable candidate for early identification of cervical precancerous lesions and in the prevention of cervical cancer in India.