• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.3369-3373
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• 2013

Oral cancer is a global health burden with high mortality and morbidity. Advances in treatment have failed to improve the relatively poor survival rate due to late-stage diagnosis. Early detection and screening have been shown to be effective in reducing mortality and morbidity of most common cancers. Several studies have evaluated the effectiveness of oral cancer screening programs but clear results were not obtained. This narrative commentary aimed to give a critical insight into the dilemma of oral cancer screening and to suggest recommendations for future trends. Conventional oral examination still constitutes the gold standard screening tool for potentially malignant oral lesions and cancer. Interestingly, the findings of the most lasting (15-year) randomized controlled trial on oral cancer screening using visual examination (Kerala) supported the introduction of a screening program in high-risk individuals. Several screening adjuncts exist but are still not at the introduction stage. Further research to find an appropriate adjunct reliable tool for oral cancer screening is needed. In conclusion, oral cancer fulfills most of the essential principles of cancer screening but still many points need to be clarified. Therefore, there is a striking need to establish a global consortium on oral cancer screening that will oversee research and provide recommendations for health authorities at regular intervals.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권9호
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• pp.5049-5054
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• 2013

Background: To assess the treatment pattern and expenditure incurred by cancer patients undergoing treatment at government tertiary hospitals in India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 508 cancer patients randomly selected from tertiary cancer hospitals funded by central/state governments located in major cities of five states in India, namely Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Mizoram, during March - May 2011 was conducted. Information related to direct costs, indirect costs and opportunity costs incurred on investigations and treatment, major source of payment and difficulties faced by patients during the course of treatment was collected. Results: About 45% of the patients used private health facilities as the first point of contact for cancer related diseases as against 32% in public hospitals. About 47% sought private health facilities for cancer investigations, 21% at district/sub-district hospitals, and about 4% contacted primary health care facilities. A majority of the patients (76%) faced financial problems while undergoing treatment. Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of involving the primary health care system in the cancer prevention activities.

• Kyungpook Mathematical Journal
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• 제54권4호
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• pp.677-684
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• 2014

In the theory of hypergeometric functions of one or several variables, a remarkable amount of mathematicians's concern has been given to develop their transformation formulas and summation identities. Here we aim at generalizing the following transformation formula for the Exton's triple hypergeometric series $X_{12}$ and $X_{17}$: $$(1+2z)^{-b}X_{17}\;\left(a,b,c_3;\;c_1,c_2,2c_3;\;x,{\frac{y}{1+2z}},{\frac{4z}{1+2z}}\right)\\{\hfill{53}}=X_{12}\;\left(a,b;\;c_1,c_2,c_3+{\frac{1}{2}};\;x,y,z^2\right).$$ The results are derived with the help of two general hypergeometric identities for the terminating $_2F_1(2)$ series which were very recently obtained by Kim et al. Four interesting results closely related to the Exton's transformation formula are also chosen, among ten, to be derived as special illustrative cases of our main findings. The results easily obtained in this paper are simple and (potentially) useful.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제34권10호
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• pp.3059-3064
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• 2013

In this study transesterification of Triglycerides (TG) from Jatropha curcas oil (JCO) with methanol for production of biodiesel was investigated over cerium impregnated ZSM-5 catalysts. NaZSM-5 was synthesized in an alkaline medium and impregnated with cerium oxide by wet method using cerium nitrate as a source for cerium. They were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimeteric analysis (TGA), $CO_2$-temperature programmed desorption, and $N_2$ adsorption/desorption analysis. XRD analysis showed decrease in intensity of the patterns with the increase in the ceria loading but crystallization of ceria to larger size is an evident for 10 and 15% loading. The optimal yield of transesterification process was found to be 90% under the following conditions: oil to methanol molar ratio: 1:12; temperature: $60^{\circ}C$; time: 1 h; catalyst: 5 wt %. Here the yield of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was calculated through $^1H$ NMR analysis. The investigation on catalyst loading, temperature, time and reusability illustrated that these ceria impregnated NaZSM-5's were found to be selective, recyclable and could yield biodiesel at low temperature with low methanol to oil ratio due to the presence of both Lewis and Bronsted basicity. Hence, from the above study it is concluded that ceria impregnated ZSM-5 could be recognized as a potential catalysts for biodiesel production in industrial processes.

• 통합자연과학논문집
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.100-106
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• 2012

Herbal medicines have been used since the dawn of civilization to maintain health and to treat diseases. Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading cause of death in many developed countries. The incidence of diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate in India. It was estimated that India which had 19.4 million diabetes in 1995 is expected to register a near threefold increase by. Many plants reported to be useful for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in ayurvedic medicine, are being tested for their hypoglycemic activity in experimental animals Lagerstroemia flos- reginae is one such plant commonly found as shade trees in Kerala. In Ayurveda both root and leaves are used in the treatment of diabetes. The main objective of this study was to assess the antidiabetic effect of the alcohol extracted leaves of Lagerstroemia flos- reginae in alloxan induced diabetic rats in terms of controlling blood glucose level, lipid profile, bilirubin, uric acid in serum and lipid peroxides and glutathione in the liver of the experimental animals. The present study has been undertaken to observe the protective effect of the active constituents of Lagerstroemia flos- reginae leaf extracts against alloxan induced diabetes in experimental animal model. The activity of the active constituents was compared with Daonil -a standard drug.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.197-207
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• 2012

This study investigated the role of plasmids and their relationship with the multiple antibiotic resistance of 30 Vibrios sp. isolated from molluscs and crustaceans sampled from the Kerala coastal waters of India. The biochemical identification and antibiotic resistance profiles were determined, followed by the plasmid profiles, conjugation and transformation efficiencies. The results showed a considerable difference in the level of bacterial resistance to various antibiotics; while all 30 strains were found to be MAR Vibrios sp. and their resistance patterns varied. All the strains were resistant to amoxycillin, ampicillin and carbeniciliin. 87% were resistant to rifampicin; 74% to cefuroxime; 67 to streptomycin; 53% to norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin and 47% to furazolidone and nalidixic acid. In addition to their antibiotic resistance, the plasmid DNA of the MAR Vibrios strains isolated from the molluscs and crustaceans was also studied. Nine strains isolated from crustaceans and molluscs were found to harbor 1-3 plasmids with sizes varying from 5. 98 kb to 19. 36 kb. The average transformation efficiency was about $5{\times}10^{-8}$ and the conjugation efficiency varied from $2.1{\times}10^{-3}$ to $10^{-9}$. A further study of antibiotic resistance patterns may be useful to test the extent of drug resistance in seafoods and help to devise a nationwide antibiotic policy.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• 제16권6호
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• pp.1778-1799
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• 2022

Automatic text summarization is a procedure that packs enormous content into a more limited book that incorporates significant data. Malayalam is one of the toughest languages utilized in certain areas of India, most normally in Kerala and in Lakshadweep. Natural language processing in the Malayalam language is relatively low due to the complexity of the language as well as the scarcity of available resources. In this paper, a way is proposed to deal with the text summarization process in Malayalam documents by training a model based on the Support Vector Machine classification algorithm. Different features of the text are taken into account for training the machine so that the system can output the most important data from the input text. The classifier can classify the most important, important, average, and least significant sentences into separate classes and based on this, the machine will be able to create a summary of the input document. The user can select a compression ratio so that the system will output that much fraction of the summary. The model performance is measured by using different genres of Malayalam documents as well as documents from the same domain. The model is evaluated by considering content evaluation measures precision, recall, F score, and relative utility. Obtained precision and recall value shows that the model is trustable and found to be more relevant compared to the other summarizers.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제40권4호
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• pp.303-309
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• 2012

Keratinases are of particular interest because of their action on insoluble keratins and generally on a broad range of protein substrates. Alkalophilic and neutrophilic actinomycete strains isolated from different soil samples, rich in keratinaceous substances were screened for keratinolytic activity. An alkalophilic isolate, TBG-S13A5, was found to possess good keratinolytic activity and was able to utilize feather as the sole carbon and nitrogen source. TBG-S13A5 exhibited an off-white aerial mass color with a rectus-flexibilis type of spore chain. The morphological, microscopical and biochemical characters were comparable with that of Streptomyces albidoflavus. Fatty acid methyl ester profiling (FAME) and 16S rDNA sequence analysis confirmed its identity as a strain of S. albidoflavus. Under submerged fermentation conditions, maximum protease production was recorded on the $5^{th}$ day of incubation at $30^{\circ}C$, using basal broth of pH 9.0 with 0.25% (w/v) white chicken feather. This strain could affect feather degradation when the initial pH was 8 and above and maximum protease production was recorded when the initial pH was around 10.5. The effectiveness of the crude enzyme in destaining and leather dehairing were also demonstrated.

• 대한간호학회지
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• 제50권4호
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• pp.523-532
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of multi interventional package (MIP) and lifestyle interventions (LI) on physiological parameters of women with metabolic syndrome, to compare the effectiveness of MIP and LI on biochemical parameters of women with metabolic syndrome and to compare the effectiveness of MIP and LI on socio-psychological parameters of women with metabolic syndrome. Methods: A quasi experimental nonequivalent control group design with two experimental groups and one control group was used to collect data from 60 self-help group women. Samples were selected by multistage sampling. Reflexology foot massage, dietary modification, moderate intensity exercise and structured education were given to MIP group and dietary modification, moderate intensity exercise and structured education were given to LI group for 12 weeks. Control group received routine care. Demographic and clinical data sheets were used to collect basic information. Knowledge was assessed by a knowledge questionnaire. Physiological (weight, body mass index, waist circumference and blood pressure) and biochemical parameters (HDL, triglycerides and FBS) were assessed before and after the intervention. Results: The study found significant change in the physiological and biochemical parameters of metabolic syndrome as well as knowledge among the MIP group and LI group compared to the control group (p <.001). Conclusion: MIP and LI are effective in controlling the parameters of metabolic syndrome. Hence the guidance may be provided to women with metabolic syndrome for adopting necessary lifestyle changes as well as reflexology foot massage to control the physiological and biochemical parameters of metabolic syndrome.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• 제55권1호
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• pp.61-68
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• 2022

Background: While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected all aspects of health care, its impact on cardiac surgical practice and outcomes is yet to be determined. We compared the outcomes of our cardiac surgical practice from the past year during the pandemic to those in a similar pre-pandemic period. Methods: Retrospective data were collected from 307 patients who were involved in all adult cardiac surgical procedures performed between March 2020 and February 2021, which was considered the pandemic period, at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, India. These were compared with data from the 1-year period between March 2019 and February 2020. During that earlier period, 491 patients underwent surgery, and the surgical outcomes were assessed. Outpatient visit data were also collected to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on outpatient follow-up visits. Results: A 37% decrease in surgical case volume was observed during the study period. No difference was found in operative mortality between the 2 time periods (3.3% vs. 2.6%, p=0.383). Overall postoperative complications were less frequent during this period, at 23% compared to 38% the previous year (p<0.001). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic decrease in surgical volume and outpatient medical follow-up. However, the pandemic and its attendant social restrictions did not yield a significant change in the surgical outcomes of our patients. Hence, it is reasonable to continue cardiac surgical care during global health crises, and this can be done with good results.