• 대한약침학회지
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.27-37
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• 2023

Objectives: Moroccan Arbutus unedo is an essential medicinal plant; however, little is known about the biological properties of its leaves mentioned in Moroccan traditional medicine. Methods: Various standard experiments were performed to evaluate the phytochemical, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antibacterial, and acute and sub-chronic toxicity characteristics of A. unedo leaves. Results: Phytochemical screening led to the identification of several phytochemical classes, including tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids, and anthraquinones, with high concentrations of polyphenols (31.83 ± 0.29 mg GAEs/g extract) and flavonoids (16.66 ± 1.47 mg REs/g extract). Further, the mineral analysis revealed high levels of calcium and potassium. A. unedo extract demonstrated significant antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities by inhibiting α-amylase (1.350 ± 0.32 g/mL) and α-glucosidase (0.099 ± 1.21 g/mL) compared to the reference drug Acarbose. Also, the methanolic extract of the plant exhibited significantly higher antibacterial activity than the aqueous extract. Precisely, three of the four examined bacterial strains exhibited substantial susceptibility to the methanolic extract . Minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC)/minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values indicated that A. unedo harbor abundant bactericidal compounds. For toxicological studies, mice were administered with A. unedo aqueous extract at single doses of 2,000 and 5,000 mg/kg. They did not exhibit significant abnormal behavior, toxic symptoms, or death during the 14-day acute toxicity test and the 90-day sub-chronic toxicity test periods. The general behavior, body weight, and hematological and biochemical status of the rats were assessed, revealing no toxicological symptoms or clinically significant changes in biological markers observed in the mice models, except hypoglycemia, after 90 days of daily dose administration. Conclusion: The study highlighted several biological advantages of A. unedo leaves without toxic effects in short-term application. Our findings suggest that conducting more comprehensive and extensive in vivo investigations is of utmost importance to identify molecules that can be formulated into pharmaceuticals in the future.

• 한국학교ㆍ지역보건교육학회지
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.89-99
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• 2011

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess an association between nutrient intake and prevalence risk of deciduous dental caries among preschool children. Methods: A total of 922 children aged 3 to 5 years was selected from the database of Fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(KNHAINS). Data were included socio-demographic characteristics, oral health related behaviour, nutrient intake(carbohydrate, protein, fat, calcium, phosphate, iron, sodium and potassium), and oral health status(dft index). To assess the crude and adjusted associations, logistic regression analysis were applied considering a complex sampling design. Results: Children who were more consumed protein, calcium, phosphate, iron and sodium had slightly lower prevalence risk of deciduous dental caries after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics and oral health related behaviour. Moreover, prevalence risk of the highest intake of phosphate and sodium(3rd tertiles) was significant lower than that of the lowest intake(1st tertiles). Conclusion: The nutrient intake was slightly associated with the prevalence risk of deciduous dental caries.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제24권12호
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• pp.1706-1710
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• 2011

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of calcium (Ca) fertilization on oxalate content in napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum) and on some blood parameters of sheep. Re-growth napiergrass was grown with or without Ca fertilizer and offered to sheep. Eight sheep, divided into two groups of 4 animals each were used. Calcium-fertilized napiergrass was offered daily to the animals as experimental treatment, whereas without Ca-fertilized napiergrass was given to the animals as control. Results showed that there was a trend to lower soluble and total oxalate concentrations in Ca-fertilized grass than control. The Ca-fertilized grass contained (p<0.05) lower concentrations of K and Mg than control, though Ca fertilization had no affect (p>0.05) on Ca and Na concentrations in plants. Feeding of Ca-fertilized grass had no affect on the feed consumption, blood Mg level and daily gain of sheep. However, sheep fed control grass had lower (p<0.05) blood Ca level than sheep fed Ca-fertilized grass. Our findings suggest that Ca fertilization might minimize the negative effects of oxalate.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• 제2권6호
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• pp.357-366
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• 2013

Spectrum sensing, as a fundamental functionality of Cognitive Radio (CR), enables Secondary Users (SUs) to monitor the spectrum and detect spectrum holes that could be used. Recently, the security issues of Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs) have attracted increasing research attention. As one of the attacks against CRNs, a Primary User Emulation (PUE) attack compromises the spectrum sensing of CR, where an attacker monopolizes the spectrum holes by impersonating the Primary User (PU) to prevent SUs from accessing the idle frequency bands. Energy detection is often used to sense the spectrum in CRNs, but the presence of PUE attack has not been considered. This study examined the effect of PUE attack on the performance of energy detection-based spectrum sensing technique. In the proposed protocol, the stationary helper nodes (HNs) are deployed in multiple stages and distributed over the coverage area of the PUs to deliver spectrum status information to the next stage of HNs and to SUs. On the other hand, the first stage of HNs is also responsible for inferring the existence of the PU based on the energy detection technique. In addition, this system provides the detection threshold under the constraints imposed on the probabilities of a miss detection and false alarm.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.175-179
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• 2012

The objective of the study is to investigate the success rate of quit attempts and identify factors associated with success or failure of quit attempts in a quit smoking clinic. A cohort study was conducted with 495 smokers who enrolled in a quit smoking clinic from 2005 to 2008. The factors leading to quit smoking successfully were "being Malay", "having high blood pressure" "type of Nicotine Replacement Therapy" and "duration of follow up". In contrast, clerical staff had negative association to quit smoking. People who started smoking in their teenage years had a high risk of relapse. Integration of active follow up and tailor-made support programmes for quitters appear necessary in order to maintain their non-smoking status and encourage them to be permanent quitters. Integration of quit smoking clinics and primary care clinics could be another potential step for the success of quit smoking programmes.

• Mycobiology
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.40-44
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• 2011

Aspergillus fumigatus is associated with invasive disease aspergillosis in immunocompromised individuals. The major aim of this study was to investigate the biochemical and immunological responses of male Wistar rats against A. fumigatus experimentally-induced pulmonary fungal infection. Nostril experimental exposure of male Wistar rats to a high dose of A. fumigatus freeze-dried preparation for only 24 hr resulted in a significant increase in levels of catalase, nitric oxide and lipid peroxide in lung homogenates, compared to those of the control animals. However, the oxidative status of the lungs of rats challenged with killed fungus did not change significantly, except for the stimulation in the level of lipid peroxide. IgG level was significantly elevated only in rats that received two low doses of fungus, compared to unexposed animals (p < 0.005). Examining the lung of rats exposed to A. fumigatus revealed no abnormal changes, except for pus in bronchial lumen spaces and per bronchial inflammation. Histologically, large numbers of granuloma cells were evident in the lungs of challenged rats, while no granuloma formation was evident in the lungs of rats exposed to killed fungus.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.2825-2830
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• 2014

Purpose: To study the effect of Cleistocalyx nervosum extract (CE) on diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and phenobarbital (PB) induced oxidative stress in early stages of rat hepatocarcinogenesis. Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups, with Group 1 as a negative control and Group 2 was a positive control receiving DEN injections once a week and PB in drinking water for 6 weeks. Two weeks before DEN initiation and PB treatment, Groups 3 and 4, were fed with 500 and 1000 mg/kg of CEs, respectively, for 8 weeks. Results: A number of GST-P-positive foci, preneoplastic lesions, in the liver were markedly increased in carcinogen administered rats, but was comparatively decreased in rats treated with 1000 mg/kg of CE. The CE reduced malondialdehyde in serum and in the livers of rats treated with DEN and PB. Moreover, CE significantly increased the activities of glutathione peroxidase and catalase in rat liver. Conclusions: CE appeared to exert its chemopreventive effects by modulating antioxidant status during DEN and PB induced early stages of hepatocarcinogenesis in rats.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.7713-7718
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• 2013

DNA methylation is considered a promising biomarkers for diagnosis of cancer in general and of ovarian cancer in particular. In our study, we validated the accuracy of methylation specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) to analyze the methylation pattern of BRCA1, RASSF1A and ER in 59 and 10 Vietnamese patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and benign ovarian tumors, respectively. We found methylation of BRCA1, RASSF1A and ER in 11/59 (18.6%), 40/59 (67.8%) and 15/59 (25.4%) of EOC cases, while methylation of BRCA1 was only detected in 2/10 (20%) benign ovarian patients. Forty five out of the 59 EOCs (78%) demonstrated methylation at one or more genes. The methylation frequency of RASSF1A was significantly associated with EOC (p<0.0005). No significant association was observed between methylation status of these genes and the clinical and pathological parameters of tumors collected from Vietnamese women suffering from ovarian cancer.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.323-328
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• 2000

The administration of soluble glass bolus (SGB) with cobalt (Co), selenium (Se) and copper (Cu), among 50 upgraded does in the farm of Central Luzon State University, Philippines, was effective in improving the mineral status of the animals. After one year, blood Se and plasma Cu had been significantly increased; subsequently plasma molybdenum (Mo) level had been reduced, but other macro-minerals were not affected. Soluble glass bolus supplementation did not affect plasma calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sodium (Na), although the treated does had higher plasma phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and zinc (Zn) in some parts of the year. Hematocrit count of the animals was also improved reaching 32% level after 9 months; although it was still 6% below the lower limit of a normal range of 38 to 45%. The desired improvement in Se, Cu and Mo was not able to influence live weight among the animals. After one year, body weight was not significantly different from the control group of animals. Nevertheless, the study showed the effectiveness of SGB in improving Cu and Se levels, and subsequently reducing the plasma Mo levels of grazing goats in a typical Philippine farm.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권9호
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• pp.4019-4023
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer in women and the most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 792 female undergraduate students in public universities in Klang Valley, Malaysia, from January to April 2011. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire developed for this study. Results: The mean age of respondents was $21.7{\pm}1.2$ years. Most of them were single (96.8%), Malay (91.9%) and 150 (19.6%) claimed they had practiced BSE. There was a significant differences between performers and non-performers correlated to age, marital status, check breast by doctor, and being trained about BSE. Performers had lower mean scores for perceived barriers and susceptibility and higher mean score for confidence. Stepwise logistic regression analysis yielded four significant predictor variables. Conclusions: Overall our findings indicate that the practice of BSE while perceived as being important is not frequently practiced among female in Malaysia. Targeted education should be implemented to improve early detection of breast cancer.