• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6429-6438
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• 2015

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) play an important role in detoxification of carcinogenic electrophiles. The null genotypes in GSTM1 and GSTT1 have been implicated in carcinogenesis. Present study was planned to evaluate the influence of genetic polymorphisms of GSTM1 and GSTT1 gene loci in cervical carcinogenesis. The study was conducted in Lok Nayak hospital, New Delhi. DNA from clinical scrapes of 482 women with minor gynaecologic complaints attending Gynaecology OPD and tumor biopsies of 135 cervical cancer cases attending the cancer clinic was extracted. HPV DNA was detected by standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using L1 consensus primer pair. Polymorphisms of GSTM1 and GSTT1 were analysed by multiplex PCR procedures. Differences in proportions were tested using Pearson's Chi-square test with Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). The risk of cervical cancer was almost three times in women with GSTM1 homozygous null genotype (OR-2.62, 95%CI, 1.77-3.88; p<0.0001). No association of GSTM1 or GSTT1 homozygous null genotypes was observed in women with normal, precancerous and cervical cancerous lesions among ${\leq}35$ or >35 years of age groups. Smokers with null GSTT1 genotype had a higher risk of cervical cancer as compared to non-smokers (OR-3.01, 95% CI, 1.10-8.23; p=0.03). The results further showed that a significant increased risk of cervical cancer was observed in HPV positive smoker women with GSTT1 (OR-4.36, 95% CI, 1.27-15.03; p=0.02) and GSTM1T1 (OR-3.87, 95% CI, 1.05-14.23; p=0.04) homozygous null genotypes as compared to HPV positive non smokers. The results demonstrate that the GST null genotypes were alone not associated with the development of cervical cancer, but interacted with smoking and HPV to exert effects in our Delhi population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6391-6395
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• 2012

Background: Ovarian cancer is ranked as the fifth most common cause of cancer death in women. In Malaysia, it is the fourth most common cancer in females. CA125 has been the tumor marker of choice in ovarian cancer but its diagnostic specificity in early stages is only 50%. Hence, there is a critical need to identify an alternative tumor marker that is capable of detecting detect ovarian cancer at an early stage. HE4 is a new tumor marker proposed for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer and disease recurrence. Currently, none of the normal ranges of HE4 quoted in the literature are based on data for a multiethnic Asian population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine reference intervals for HE4 in an Asian population presenting in University Malaya Medical Centre, a tertiary reference hospital. Materials and Methods: 300 healthy women were recruited comprising 150 premenopausal and 150 postmenopausal women, aged from 20-76 years. All women were subjected to a pelvic ultrasonograph and were confirmed to be free from ovarian pathology on recruitment. Serum HE4 levels were determined by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA, Abbott Architect). The reference intervals were determined following CLSI guidelines (C28-A2) using a non-parametric method. Results: The upper limits of the $95^{th}$ percentile reference interval (90%CI) for all the women collectively were 64.6 pmol/L, and 58.4 pmol/L for premenopausal) and 69.0 pmol/L for postmenopausal. The concentration of HE4 was noted to increase with age especially in women who were more than 50 years old. We also noted that our proposed reference limit was lower compared to the level given by manufacturer Abbott Architect HE4 kit insert (58.4 vs 70 pmol/L for premenopausal group and 69.0 vs 140 pmol/L in the postmenopausal group). The study also showed a significant difference in HE4 concentrations between ethnic groups (Malays and Indians). The levels of HE4 in Indians appeared higher than in Malays (p<0.05), while no significant differences were noted between the Malays and Chinese ethnic groups. Conclusions: More data are needed to establish a reference interval that will better represent the multiethnic Malaysian population. Probably a larger sampling size of equal representation of the Malay, Chinese, Indians as well as the other native ethnic communities will give us a greater confidence on whether genetics plays a role in reference interval determination.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.3525-3531
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• 2014

Objective: Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) is a new technique for identifying different malignant tumors using different uptake values between tumor cells and normal tissues. Here we assessed the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG-PET in patients with testicular cancer by pooling data of existing trials in a meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Central Trials databases were searched and studies published in English relating to the diagnostic value of FDG-PET for testicular cancer were collected. The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was used to examine the FDG-PET accuracy. Results: A total of 16 studies which included 957 examinations in 807 patients (median age, 31.1 years) were analyzed. A meta-analysis was performed to combine the sensitivity and specificity and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs), from diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), positive likelihood ratios (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR). SROC were derived to demonstrate the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET for testicular cancer. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.75 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.70-0.80) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.84-0.89), respectively. The pooled DOR was 35.6 (95% CI, 12.9-98.3). The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.88. The pooled PLR and pooled NLR were 7.80 (95% CI, 3.73-16.3) and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.23-0.43), respectively. Conclusion: In patients with testicular cancer, 18F-FDG-PET demonstrated a high SROC area, and could be a potentially useful tool if combined with other imaging methods such as MRI and CT. Nevertheless, the literature focusing on the use of 18F-FDG-PET in this setting still remains limited.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.905-911
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• 2002

A study was carried out to assess the therapeutic effect of ascorbic acid in mastitis of dairy cows. The herd with a population of 250-275 lactating cows was screened for clinical and subclinical mastitis for a period of 5 months. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, eighteen animals each with clinical and subclinical mastitis in one quarter only were selected as study population. Twelve cows (group A) with normal udder and health were also selected as a healthy control. Clinical mastitis cows were grouped as B (n=12) and C (n=6). Cows of group B were treated with ascorbic acid at 25 mg/kg, subcutaneously for 5 consecutive days and intramammary infusion (Ampicillin sodium 75 mg and Cloxacillin sodium 200 mg/infusion) based on antibiotic sensitivity test, till complete recovery. Group C cows received only intramammary infusion till the complete recovery. Eighteen subclinical mastitis cows were divided in group D (n=12) and E (n=6). Cows of group D were treated with ascorbic acid at 25 mg/kg subcutaneously for 5 consecutive days while group E did not receive any treatment. California mastitis test (CMT), somatic cell count (SCC), physical changes of udder and milk were used to diagnose and classify the mastitis. Evaluation of the therapy was based on CMT score and physical changes of udder and milk. Sample size calculation was also performed but was not followed for control groups due to scarcity of cases. Adequate blinding was done when and where required to avoid the biases. Confounding variables like herd, age of the cow, stage of the lactation, season and geographical region were duly considered and adequate blocking was followed. Ascorbic acid was administered in clinical and subclinical cases even after cure considering its immunostimulatory and healing inducing effects. The recovery rate was faster in cases of clinical mastitis treated with ascorbic acid along with an intramammary infusion (group B) than the quarters of group C cows. Quarter wise the average duration/number (3.16${\pm}$0.11 days) of antimicrobial intramammary infusion was significantly (p<0.01) less in group B than that of average duration/number (5.33${\pm}$0.20 days) of group C. Subclinical mastitis cows treated with ascorbic acid showed 83.33% recovery while 16.77% did not respond to treatment till last day of study. Cows of group E (untreated) did not recovered from the mastitis. Subjective parameters viz. swelling, pain reflex of udder and physical changes in milk from quarter of ascorbic acid treated cows (group B) disappeared earlier than that of group C cows. It is concluded from this study that the ascorbic acid might be useful as an adjunct in case of clinical mastitis to get quick recovery with less number of intramammary infusions. High recovery rate in subclinical mastitis quarters of group D cows is appreciable and opens a new avenue to conduct further trials in a larger population in various field conditions. However, the pharmacology of ascorbic acid with particular reference to health of mammary gland needs to be investigated.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.355-360
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• 1999

Triflusal is a new antithrombotic agent which inhibits both platelet cyclooxygenase and c-AMP phosphodiesterase activity. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the bioequivalence of two triflusal capsules, $Disgren^{TM}$ (Myung-In Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) and $Tigriri^{TM}$ (Hana Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) according to the guidelines of Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA). Eighteen normal male volunteers, $22.94{\pm}1.83$ in age and $63.7l{\pm}10.43$ kg in body weight, were divided into two groups and a randomized $2{\times}2$ cross-over study was employed. After one capsule containing 300 mg of triflusal was orally administered, blood was taken at predetermined time intervals and the concentrations of triflusal in serum were determined using HPLC method with UV detector. Pharmacokinetic parameters such as $AUC_t$ $C_{max}$ and $T_{max}$ were calculated and ANOVA test was utilized for the statistical analysis of the parameters. The results showed that the differences in $AUC_t$ $C_{max}$ and $T_{max}$ between two capsules were -0.30%, 0.81 % and -3.03%, respectively when calculated against the $Disgren_{TM}$ capsule. The powers $(1-{\beta})$ for $AUC_t$ $C_{max}$ and $T_{max}$ were 98.29%,84.73% and 81.02%, respectively. Minimum detectable differences $({\Delta})$ at ${\alpha}=0.1$ and $1-{\beta}=0.8$ were all less than 20% (e.g., 12.91%, 18.46% and 19.65% for $AUC_t$ $C_{max}$ and $T_{max}$ respectively). The 90% confid,ence intervals were all within ${\pm}20%$(e.g., $-8.97{\sim}8.37$, $-11.58{\sim}13.22$ and $-16.23{\sim}10.17$ for $AUC_t$ $C_{max}$ and $T_{max}$, respectively). All of the above parameters ($1-{\beta}, {\Delta}$ and 90% confidence intervals) met the criteria of KFDA for bioequivalence, indicating that $Tigriri^{TM}$ capsule is bioequivalent to $Disgren^{TM}$ capsule.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.21-34
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• 2001

The impact of childhood experience has lifelong significance on subsequent health and development. Especially, the experience of infant is mostly affected by the quality of parental care and rearing environment. But the new mothers usually do not know what to do because of the lack of experience in these days. Therefore, an educational program regarding maternal role would be necessary. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the maternal role education program for mother-infant interaction, child-rearing environment, and infant development. Non-equivalent control group time-series design was used, and Barnard's mother-infant interaction model was used as a conceptual framework of this study. The subjects were the healthy infants weighing over 2,500gm at birth, whose gestational age was more than 37 weeks, and their mothers. The final sample consisted of 19 mother-infant dyads for intervention group and 18 dyads for control group. Data were collected from March 15th to September 3rd in 1999. For the intervention group, programmed education which focused on mother-infant interaction, breast feeding, and infant care was provided before discharge. Telephone counselling was provided within one week after discharge. Home visiting for maternal role education was provided twice, one month and three months postpartum. For the control group, home visiting was also conducted but only for data collection. The data were analyzed using chi-square test and t-test to test the equivalence of two groups, and the effectiveness of intervention program was determined with repeated measure ANCOVA and t-test. The results were as follows: 1. Significant differences were found in mother-infant interaction between two groups(p=.000). It indicates that intervention program was effective in improving mother- infant interaction. In subscale analysis, four out of six subscale showed significant differences between the groups: sensitivity to cues (p=.000), social-emotional growth fostering (p=.000), cognitive growth fostering(p=.000) in mothers, and responsiveness to caregiver (p=.019) in infants. 2. The difference in the mean score of childrearing environment (HOME) between the intervention group and control group was significant(p=.003). When each subscale of HOME was examined individually, intervention group showed significantly higher scores in the diversity of stimulation(p=.000), and mother's involvement(p=.001). 3. Three-month-Infants of the intervention group showed higher GQ in the Griffiths mental development scale(p=.026). In subscale analysis, significant differences were found in the personal-social(p=.005), and the hearing and speech(p=.003). In conclusion, the maternal role education program proved to be effective in promoting the mother-infant interaction, organizing the childrearing environment, and fostering the infant development. These results are very meaningful that we found maternal role education necessary for normal infants' mothers, and that nurses can make a great contribution in promoting health of infants and mothers.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2002

Aceclofenac, 2-[(2',6'-dichlorphenyl)amino]phenylacetoxiacetic acid, is a new nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that belongs to the family of phenylacetic acids. It shows good tolerance and potent analgesic/antiinflammatory properties, and acts on cartilaginous chondriocytes, stimulating their repair mechanism. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the bioequivalence of two aceclofenac products, $Airtal^{TM}$ tablet (Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co.) and $Acer^{TM}$ capsule (Kyungdong Pharmaceutical Co.), according to the guideliner of Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA). The aceclofenac release from the two aceclofenac products in vitro was tested using KP VII Apparatus II method at pH 7.8 dissolution media. Sixteen normal male volunteers, $23.13\pm2.03$ years in age and $66.33\pm7.08$ kg in body weight, were divided into two groups and a randomized $2\times2$ cross-over study was employed. After one tablet or capsule containing 100 mg of aceclofenac was orally administered, blood was taken at predetermined time intervals and the concentrations of aceclofenac in serum were determined using HPLC with UV detector. The dissolution profiles of the two aceclofenac products were very similar at pH 7.8 dissolution media. The pharmacokinetic parameters such as $AUC_t,\;C_{max}\;and\;T_max$ were calculated and ANOVA test was utilized for the statistical analysis of the parameters. The results showed that the differences in $AUC_t,\;C_{max}\;and\;T_{max}$ between two products were $6.50\%,\;-1.06\%\;and\;11.96\%$ respectively, when calculated against the $Airtal^{TM}$ tablet. The powers $(1-\beta)\;for\;AUC_t,\;C_{max}\;were\;89.82\%\;and\;82.84\%$, respectively. Minimum detectable differences $(\Delta)\;at\;\alpha=0.05\;and\;1-\beta=0.8$ were less than $20\%\;(e.g.,\;17.51\%\;and\;19.30\%\;for\;AUC_t,\;C_{max}$, ). The $90\%$ confidence intervals were within $\pm20\%\;(e.g.,\;-3.73\%\sim16.73\%\;and\;-12.34\%\sim10.22\%\;for\;AUC_t,\;C_{max},\;respectively)$. Two parameters met the criteria of KFDA for bioequivalence, indicating that $Acer^{TM}$ capsule is bioequivalent to $Airtal^{TM}$ tablet.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.47-70
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• 2007

In recent days, people's requests about water resources have been developed from managing quality and quantity of water resources to forming a river environment by restoring normal function of river. To meet these requests, it is necessary to establish the concept of environmental flows. In Korea, the environmental flows was introduced as a concept of river maintenance flows in a sense of river management. The function of river maintenance flows has been changed according to what the major issue is in that age such as navigation, water quality, and prevention of saline water intrusion. As the assesment of river maintenance flows in Korea focused mainly on the function of water usage oriented in human, it could not be defined and emphasized in a sense of ecosystem as a pure meaning of environmental flows. And while the existing river maintenance flows are included the assesment of flows, there is not a practical procedure to supply them and the efficient management in a sense of environment is not performed. The environmental flows should be further developed from the river maintenance flows and changed to a new concept focused on maintaining the health of ecosystem. In other words, the environmental flows should be defined as a necessary flows for maintaining the function of river and its original value, and be considered on the same or higher value of flows for maintenance of economic activity, recreation, and power generation.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2020

Purpose: Hypofractionated radiotherapy (RT) is becoming a new standard in postoperative treatment of patients with early stage breast cancer after breast conservation surgery. However, data on hypofractionation in patients with advanced stage disease who undergo mastectomy followed by local and regional nodal irradiation (RNI) is lacking. In this retrospective study, we report late-term effects of 3 weeks post-mastectomy hypofractionated local and RNI with two-dimensional (2D) technique in patients with stage II and III breast cancer. Methods: Between January 1990 and December 2007, 1,770 women with breast cancer who were given radical treatment with mastectomy, systemic therapy and RT at least 10 years ago were included. RT dose was 35 Gy/15 fractions/3 weeks to chest wall by two tangential fields and 40 Gy in same fractions to supraclavicular fossa (SCF) and internal mammary nodes (IMNs). SCF and IMNs dose was prescribed at d_max and 3 cm depth, respectively. Chemotherapy and hormonal therapy was given in 64% and 74% patients, respectively. Late-term toxicities were assessed with the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) scores and LENT-SOMA scales (the Late Effects Normal Tissue Task Force-Subjective, Objective, Management, Analytic scales). Results: Mean age was 48 years (range, 19 to 75 years). Median follow-up was 12 years (range, 10 to 27 years). Moderate/marked arm/shoulder pain was reported by 254 (14.3%) patients. Moderate/marked shoulder stiffness was reported by 219 (12.3%) patients. Moderate/marked arm edema was seen in 131 (7.4%) patients. Brachial plexopathy was not seen in any patient. Rib fractures were noted in 6 (0.3%) patients. Late cardiac and lung toxicity was seen in 29 (1.6%) and 23 (1.3%) patients, respectively. Second malignancy developed in 105 (5.9%) patients. Conclusion: RNI with 40 Gy/15 fractions/3 weeks hypofractionation with 2D technique seems safe and comparable to historical data of conventional fractionation (ClinicalTrial.gov Registration No. NCT04175821).

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.80-83
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• 2007

A 36-year-old pregnant woman was referred for amniocentesis at 19.5 weeks gestation because of advanced maternal age and evidence of increased risk for Edward syndrome in the maternal serum screening test. Cytogenetic analysis of the cultured amniotic fluid cells revealed mosaicism for ring chromosome 11: 46,XX,r(11)[65]/ 45,XX,-11[16]/ 46,XX [34]. Parental karyotypes were normal. A targeted ultrasound showed intrauterine grow th restriction (IUGR). Cordocentesis was performed to characterize the ring chromosome and to rule out tissue specific mosaicism. Karyotype was confirmed as 46,XX,r(11) (p15.5q24.2)[229]/45,XX,-11[15]. And a few new form of ring w ere detected in this culture. The deletion of subtelomeric regions in the ring chromosome were detected by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). The pregnancy was terminated. The fetal autopsy showed a growth-retarded female fetus with rocker bottom feet. We report a case of prenatally detected a de novo ring chromosome 11.