• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4679-4683
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• 2013

Background: ERCC1 is considered as a promising molecular marker that may predict platinum based chemotherapy response in non small cell lung cancer patients. We therefore investigated whether its expression is indeed associated with clinical outcomes in advanced stage NSCLC patients. Materials and Methods: Pretreatment tumor biopsy samples of 83 stage 3B and 4 non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with platinum based chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed for immunohistochemical ERCC1 expression. None of the patients received curative surgery or radiotherapy. Results: By calculating H- scores regarding the extent and intensity of immunohistochemical staining of tumor biopsy samples, ERCC1 expression was found to be positive in 50 patients (60.2%). ERCC1 positive and negative groups had no statistically significant differences regarding treatment response, progression free survival and overall survival (respectively p=0.161; p=0.412; p=0.823). Conclusions: In our study we found no association between ERCC1 expression and survival or treatment response. The study has some limitations, such as small sample size and retrospective analysis method. There is need of more knowledge for use of ERCC1 guided chemotherapy regimens in advanced stage NSCLC.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.491-494
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• 2012

We report a rare complication of iatrogenic spinal intradural following minimally invasive extradural endoscopic procedues in the lumbo-sacral spines. To our knowledge, intradural cyst following epiduroscopy has not been reported in the literature. A 65-year-old woman with back pain related with previous lumbar disc surgery underwent endoscopic epidural neuroplasty and nerve block, but her back pain much aggravated after this procedure. Postoperative magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large intradural cyst from S1-2 to L2-3 displacing the nerve roots anteriorly. On T1 and T2-weighted image, the signal within the cyst had the same intensity as cerebrospinal fluid. The patient underwent partial laminectomy of L5 and intradural exploration, and fenestration of the cystic wall was accomplished. During operation, the communication between the cyst and subarachnoid space was not identified, and the content of the cyst was the same as that of cerebrospinal fluid. Postoperatively, the pain attenuated immediately. Incidental durotomy which occurred during advancing the endoscope through epidural space may be the cause of formation of the intradural cyst. Intrdural cyst should be considered, if a patient complains of new symptoms such as aggravation of back pain after epiduroscopy. Surgical treatment, simple fenestration of the cyst may lead to improved outcome. All the procedures using epiduroscopy should be performed with caution.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.253.2-253.2
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• 2014

Micro hollow cathode discharges (MHCDs) are high-pressure, non-equilibrium discharges. Those MHCDs are useful to produce an excimer radiation. A major advantage of excimer sources is their high internal efficiency which may reach values up to 40% when operated under optimum conditions. To produce strong excimer radiation, the optimisation of the discharge conditions however needs a detailed knowledge of the properties of the discharge plasma itself. The electron density and temperature influence the excitation as well as plasma chemistry reactions and the gas temperature plays a major role as a significant energy loss process limiting efficiency of excimer radiation. Most of the recent spectroscopic investigations are focusing on the ultraviolet or vacuum ultraviolet range for direct detection of the excimer. In our experiments we have concentrated on investigating the micro hollow cathodes from the near UV to the near infrared (300~850 nm) to measure the basic plasma parameters using standard plasma diagnostic techniques such as stark broadening for electron density and the relative line intensity method for electron temperature. Finally, the neutral gas temperature was measured by means of the vibrational rotational structures of the second positive system of nitrogen.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.66-74
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• 2009

Purpose: The importance of the deformities in alar - columellar complex has been underestimated in Asian ethnic groups for the last decades. Fortunately, with increasing familiarity of the open rhinoplasty techniques, the anatomic details of the nasal tip have been pointed up. Definitely, having an interest and demand for improving the sub - normal relationship between the alar rim and columella are indebted for such growing of knowledge about nasal tip anatomy. However, it is true that any single procedure is not settled as versatile and fully confident modality to correct the retracted notching of the alar rim. With this article, I should like to propose another useful option for treating retracted ala. Methods: The author has tried to correct alar rim retraction by means of: (1) Triangular onlay septal cartilage graft on the lower lateral cartilage with the medial end fixed to the anterior surface of the lateral crus(Alar extension graft), (2) Inserting lateral end of the alar extension graft to the vestibular skin pocket in the form of a finger - in - groove, (3) using the vestibular skin in the form of an advancement flap, and (4) using the soft shield graft to prevent possible visible step - off of the alar margin. Results: The author applied an alar extension graft to 16 patients in order to correct a retracted ala for the last 27 months (August, 2003 - October, 2005). The distances from alar rim to long axis of nostril were improved to be within 2 mm in all of the cases, and also the shape of the alar rim changed to a round form. Nostril asymmetry (6%) in one case, temporary palpable step - off (18%) in three cases, temporary visible step - off (6%) in one case, and temporary paresthesia of the tip (25%) in four cases were observed. Conclusion: The alar extension graft is simple and efficacious. It does not need donor sites other than the operative field, and its results are predictable. In particular, since it may give structural intensity to a weak lower lateral cartilage, it may be preferentially used for the correction of a retracted ala that arises from hypoplastic lower lateral cartilage. Moreover intensified lower lateral cartilage also improves the esthetic shape of lobule.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.297-303
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• 2007

In this paper, the stroke-based text extraction algorithm for digital video is proposed. The proposed algorithm consists of four stages such as text detection, text localization, text segmentation and geometric verification. The text detection stage ascertains that a given frame in a video sequence contains text. This procedure is accomplished by morphological operations for the pixels with higher possibility of being stroke-based text, which is called as seed points. For the text localization stage, morphological operations for the edges including seed points ate adopted followed by horizontal and vortical projections. Text segmentation stage is to classify projected areas into text and background regions according to their intensity distribution. Finally, in the geometric verification stage, the segmented area are verified by using prior knowledge of video text characteristics.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.201-207
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• 2015

This study aimed to investigate the infection status, worm development, and phylogenetic characteristics of the intestinal trematode, Stellantchasmus falcatus. The metacercariae of S. falcatus were detected only in the half-beak (Dermogenus pusillus) out of the 4 fish species examined. Their prevalence was 90.0%, and the intensity of infection was 919 metacercariae on average. Worms were recovered from 33 (97.1%) of 34 chicks that were experimentally infected with 200 S. falcatus metacercariae each, and the average recovery rate was 43.0%. The body size and inner organs of S. falcatus quickly increased in the experimental chicks over days 1-2 post-infection (PI). In addition, ITS2 sequence data of this parasite were analyzed to examine the phylogenetic relationships with other trematodes using the UPGMA method. The results indicated that the ITS2 sequence data recorded from trematodes in the family Heterophyidae appeared to be monophyletic. This study concluded that D. pusillus serves as a compatible second intermediate host of S. falcatus in Thailand and that S. falcatus can develop rapidly in the experimental chicks. Data collected from this study can help to close the gap in knowledge regarding the epidemiology, biology, and phylogenetic characteristics of S. falcatus in Thailand.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.357-376
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• 2011

Ground motion models predict the mean and standard deviation of the logarithm of spectral acceleration, as a function of predictor variables such as earthquake magnitude, distance and site condition. Such models have been developed for a variety of seismic environments throughout the world. Some calculations, such as the Conditional Mean Spectrum calculation, use this information but additionally require knowledge of correlation coefficients between logarithmic spectral acceleration values at multiple periods. Such correlation predictions have, to date, been developed primarily from data recorded in the Western United States from active shallow crustal earthquakes. This paper describes results from a study of spectral acceleration correlations from Japanese earthquake ground motion data that includes both crustal and subduction zone earthquakes. Comparisons are made between estimated correlations for Japanese response spectral ordinates and correlation estimates developed from Western United States ground motion data. The effect of ground motion model, earthquake source mechanism, seismic zone, site conditions, and source to site distance on estimated correlations is evaluated and discussed. Confidence intervals on these correlation estimates are introduced, to aid in identifying statistically significant differences in correlations among the factors considered. Observed general trends in correlation are similar to previous studies, with the exception of correlation of spectral accelerations between orthogonal components, which is seen to be higher here than previously observed. Some differences in correlations between earthquake source zones and earthquake mechanisms are observed, and so tables of correlations coefficients for each specific case are provided.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.266-271
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• 2003

The reflectance spectrum of optical films thicker than a few microns shows an intensity oscillation due to interference. Since the spectral period of the oscillation is inversely related to film thickness, the thickness of an optical film can be determined from the spectral frequency of the oscillation. For rapid data processing, the spectral frequency is obtained by use of a Fast Fourier Transformation technique. The conventional method of applying a Fast Fourier Transformation to the reflectance spectrum versus photon energy is modified so as to clear the ambiguity in choosing the proper effective refractive index value and to prevent the broadening of the Fourier transformed peak due to the refractive index dispersion. This technique of modified Fast Fourier Transformation is suggested by the authors for the first time to their knowledge. From the analysis of the calculated reflectance spectrum of a 30-${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$-thick dielectric film. it is shown to improve the accuracy in determining film thickness by a great amount. The improved accuracy of the modified Fast Fourier Transformation is also confirmed from the analysis of the reflectance spectra of a sample with 80-${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$-thick cover layer and 13-${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$-thick spacer layer on a PC substrate.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.81-91
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• 2011

An exploratory study was conducted in Gopalganj, a southern district of Bangladesh to explore the role of wild date palm (Phoenix sylvestris Roxb.) husbandry in the rural economy. A total of 36 households in the study area were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. A multistage sampling method with 10% intensity and a semi-structured questionnaire were used for the study. Based on the land holding capacity of the households, the farmers were categorized into five groups as landless, marginal, small, medium, and large. The date palm was distributed over seven different habitats of which roadside support the highest value (31%) followed by agricultural field and orchard (25% each). Though the large category farmers own most of the palms (43%), a considerable portion (562 individuals out of 1980) of it is managed by the landless farmers, who earn a substantial livelihood from the palms. The farmers manage the palm mainly for juice production; juice is either used fresh as drink or after some sort of processing as molasses and/or alcoholic beverage. Date palm husbandry contributes 32,601 Tk., 21,107 Tk., 20,626 Tk., 29,574 Tk. and 35,335 Tk. respectively to the five group seasonally and 50,980 Tk., 77,556 Tk., 90,208 Tk., 112,560 Tk., 140,675 Tk. respectively annually (1 US$ = 70 Tk.). Date palm trees contribute 65.48% of mean annual income to landless farmers followed by 27.21% to marginal farmers. However the poor marketing system result in decreasing the annual return from palm trees. Palm husbandry could be a promising source of rural incomes in Bangladesh if the farmers' traditional management knowledge was linked to more scientific management practices.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.295-311
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• 2019

Objectives: This research aimed to investigate Chinese clinical studies on the treatment of central post-stroke pain (CPSP) and thalamic syndrome after stroke with traditional herbal medicine (THM). Methods: Randomized controlled trials verifying the effects of herbal medicine on treating CPSP and thalamic syndrome after stroke were included in the study. Electrical and hand search were conducted in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), National Discovery for Science Leaders (NDSL), Research Information Sharing Service (RISS), Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (Oasis) for CPSP and thalamic syndrome after stroke. A literature search was performed in the Chinese and Korean databases for papers published from January 1, 2010 to October 1, 2018. The selected literature was assessed by Cochrane's risk of bias. Results: Twelve reports on randomized controlled trials met the inclusion criteria from the 227 identified reports. Effective rate, comparison of visual analogy scale, present pain intensity, pain grading index, recurrence rate, follow-up, and a 36-item short form survey instrument were used to evaluate the treatments. The effective rate of the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group in all papers. Side effects occurred less frequently in the treatment group than in the western medicine control group. Conclusions: The treatment of CPSP and thalamic syndrome after stroke with THM was shown to be highly effective. Additional well-designed clinical trials are needed. This study can be used as a basis for further research on the treatment of CPSP and thalamic syndrome after stroke.