• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6255-6259
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• 2015

Purpose: To evaluate the prognostic value of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) in gallbladder cancer (GBC). Materials and Methods: Serum ALP and GGT levels and clinicopathological parameters were retrospectively evaluated in 199 GBC patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to determine the cut-off values of ALP and GGT. Then, associations with overall survival were assessed by multivariate analysis. Based on the significant factors, a prognostic score model was established. Results: By ROC curve analysis, $ALP{\geq}210U/L$ and $GGT{\geq}43U/L$ were considered elevated. Overall survival for patients with elevated ALP and GGT was significantly worse than for patients within the normal range. Multivariate analysis showed that the elevated ALP, GGT and tumor stage were independent prognostic factors. Giving each positive factor a score of 1, we established a preoperative prognostic score model. Varied outcomes would be significantly distinguished by the different score groups. By further ROC curve analysis, the simple score showed great superiority compared with the widely used TNM staging, each of the ALP or GGT alone, or traditional tumor markers such as CEA, AFP, CA125 and CA199. Conclusions: Elevated ALP and GGT levels were risk predictors in GBC patients. Our prognostic model provides infomration on varied outcomes of patients from different score groups.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7371-7375
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• 2014

Background: Concurrent chemo-radiotherapy is the recommended standard treatment modality for patients with locally advanced lung cancer. The purpose of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) is to minimize normal tissue damage while a high dose can be delivered to the tumor. The most common dose limiting side effect of thoracic RT is radiation pneumonia (RP). In this study we evaluated the relationship between dose-volume histogram parameters and radiation pneumonitis. This study targeted prediction of the possible development of RP and evaluation of the relationship between dose-volume histogram (DVH) parameters and RP in patients undergoing 3DCRT. Materials and Methods: DVHs of 41 lung cancer patients treated with 3DCRT were evaluated with respect to the development of grade ${\geq}2$ RP by excluding gross tumor volume (GTV) and planned target volume (PTV) from total (TL) and ipsilateral (IPSI) lung volume. Results: Were admitted statistically significant for p<0.05. Conclusions: The cut-off values for V5, V13, V20, V30, V45 and the mean dose of TL-GTV; and V13, V20,V30 and the mean dose of TL-PTV were statistically significant for the development of Grade ${\geq}2$ RP. No statistically significant results related to the development of Grade ${\geq}2$ RP were observed for the ipsilateral lung and the evaluation of PTV volume. A controlled and careful evaluation of the dose-volume histograms is important to assess Grade ${\geq}2$ RP development of the lung cancer patients treated with concurrent chemo-radiotherapy. In the light of the obtained data it can be said that RP development may be avoided by the proper analysis of the dose volume histograms and the application of optimal treatment plans.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7055-7059
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• 2014

Artemisia, as one of the largest genera in the tribe Anthemideae of the Asteraceae comprises an important part of Iranian flora. While cytotoxic and apoptotic properties have already been reported for some species of the genus there is not any report on cytotoxic effects of A. ciniformis. Petroleum ether (40-60), dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, ethanol and ethanol-water (50:50) extracts of the aerial parts of A. cinformis were subjected to cytotoxic and apoptotic evaluations on two cancer human cell lines (K562 and HL-60) and on J774 normal cells. Among multiple extracts evaluated for cytotoxicity, dichloromethane ($CH_2Cl_2$) and petroleum ether (PE) extracts were shown to possess the highest anti-proliferative effects on HL-60 and K562 cells with $IC_{50}$ values of 31.3 and $25.5{\mu}g/ml$ respectively. Apoptosis induction verified by sub-G1 peaks was seen in flow cytometry histograms. Increase in the amount of Bax protein, formation of DNA fragments, and cleavage of PARP to 24 and 89kDa sub units all confirmed induction of apoptosis by A. cinformis extracts. Taken together according to the result of the present study some extracts of A. cinformis could be considered as sources for natural cytotoxic compounds and further mechanistic and phytochemical studies are recommended to fully understand the underlying mechanisms of cnacer cell death as well as identification of responsible phytochemicals.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4067-4069
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• 2013

Background: The present study was undertaken to establish any correlation of elevated levels of CA19-9 with tumor stage or grade of urothelial carcinoma. Materials and Methods: This hospital based study was carried out in the Department of Biochemistry of Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences between $1^{st}$ July 2012 and $31^{st}$ December 2012. Approval for the study was obtained from the institutional research ethical committee. CA19-9 was assayed with an ELISA reader for all cases and expressed in U/ml with 37U/ml taken as the cut-off upper value for normal. Results: Out of 20 cases enrolled, 15 were of urothelial carcinoma and the remaining 5 were controls. There was marked difference between the mean values of CA19-9 in cases $40.2{\pm}19.3U/ml$ of urothelial carcinoma and controls $7.98{\pm}7.34U/ml$. The number of cases in Ta, TI, T2, T3, T4 stages of urothelial carcinoma were 2, 6, 3, 3, 1 respectively. The percentage rise in CA19-9 was less with low grade tumors (22.2%) when compared with high grade tumors (66.6%) (p value $0.001^*$). The percentage of rise in CA19-9 for muscle invasive tumors was very high when compared to superficial tumors. Similarly, the percentage of rise in CA19-9 for metastatic disease was very high when compared to non-metastatic disease and it was found statistically significant (p value $0.001^*$). Conclusion: Serum CA19-9 levels predicts the prognosis of urothelial carcinoma as it is almost invariably raised in tumors having metastatic spread.

• Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.206-217
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• 2015

This paper presents a complete S-shape feed rate scheduling approach (CSFA) with confined jerk, acceleration and command feed rate for parametric tool path. For a Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) tool path, the critical points of the tool path where the radius of curvature reaches extreme values are found firstly. Then, the NURBS curve is split into several NURBS sub-curves or blocks by the critical points. A bidirectional scanning strategy with the limitations of chord error, normal/tangential acceleration/jerk and command feed rate is employed to make the feed rate at the junctions between different NURBS blocks continuous. To improve the efficiency of the feed rate scheduling, the NURBS block is classified into three types: short block, medium block and long block. The feed rate profile corresponding to each NURBS block is generated according to the start/end feed rates and the arc length of the block and the limitations of tangential acceleration/jerk. In addition, two compensation strategies are proposed to make the feed rate more continuous and the arc increment more precise. Once the feed rate profile is determined, a second-order Taylor's expansion interpolation method is applied to generate the position commands. Finally, experiments with two free-form NURBS curves are conducted to verify the applicability and accuracy of the proposed method.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.196-204
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• 2003

Aqueous extract of Enicostemma littorale is reported to have antidiabetic activity. In the present investigation, we studied the effect of aqueous extract of E. littorale and its different fractions i.e., toluene, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol fractions and remaining residual fraction in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced neonatal type 2 diabetic rats. Fasting glucose and insulin levels in NIDDM were significantly (P<0.05) higher than control rats and they were significantly decreased by treatment with aqueous extract of E. littorale and its n-butanol and ethyl acetate fractions. Results of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) showed that aqueous extract and its n-butanol and ethyl acetate fractions significantly (P<0.05) decrease both $AUC_{glucose}$ and $AUC_{insulin}$ values in NIDDM treated groups. Insulin sensitivity $(K_{ITT})$ index of NIDDM control was significantly lower as compared to normal control and this was significantly (P<0.05) increased after treatment with aqueous extract, its n-butanol and ethyl acetate fractions. Treatment with aqueous extract of E. littorale and its n-butanol and ethyl acetate fractions lowered the elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels observed in NIDDM rats. Treatment with aqueous extract of E. littorale and its n-butanol fraction showed significant decrease in creatinine, urea, SGPT and SGOT levels as compared to NIDDM control rats. However ethyl acetate fraction showed significant changes only in creatinine and SGOT levels, and not in the levels of urea, and SGPT as compared to NIDDM control rats. Treatment with toluene, chloroform and residual fractions of E. littorale did not produce any effect on glucose, insulin, triglyceride, cholesterol, creatinine, urea, SGPT or SGOT levels as compared to NIDDM control rats. Our data suggest that n-butanol and ethyl acetate fractions contain the active compounds which may be responsible for the above activity and associated complications in NIDDM diabetes mellitus.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.4397-4402
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• 2011

The NF-${\kappa}B$ system of transcription factors plays a crucial role in inflammatory diseases, making it an important drug target. We combined quantitative structure activity relationships for predicting the activity of new compounds and quantitative dynamic models for the NF-${\kappa}B$ network with intracellular concentration models. GFA-MLR QSAR analysis was employed to determine the optimal QSAR equation. To validate the predictability of the $IKK{\beta}$ QSAR model for an external set of inhibitors, a set of ordinary differential equations and mass action kinetics were used for modeling the NF-${\kappa}B$ dynamic system. The reaction parameters were obtained from previously reported research. In the IKKb QSAR model, good cross-validated $q^2$ (0.782) and conventional $r^2$ (0.808) values demonstrated the correlation between the descriptors and each of their activities and reliably predicted the $IKK{\beta}$ activities. Using a developed simulation model of the NF-${\kappa}B$ signaling pathway, we demonstrated differences in $I{\kappa}B$ mRNA expression between normal and different inhibitory states. When the inhibition efficiency increased, inhibitor 1 (PS-1145) led to long-term oscillations. The combined computational modeling and NF-${\kappa}B$ dynamic simulations can be used to understand the inhibition mechanisms and thereby result in the design of mechanism-based inhibitors.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.105-113
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• 2003

This study developed a practical two-microphone impedance tube method to measure the sound transmission loss of sound isolation materials without the use of an expensive reverberation room or an acoustic intensity probe. In order to evaluate the validation and applicability of the two-microphone impedance tube method, sound transmission losses for several sound isolation materials with different surface density and bending stiffness were measured, and the measured values were compared with the results from the reverberation room method and the theory. From the experimental results, it was found that the accuracy of sound transmission loss obtained by the impedance tube method depends upon the diameter size of the impedance tube (i.e., tested sample size). For sound isolation materials having relatively large bending stiffness such as acryl, wood, and aluminum plates, it was found that the impedance tube method proposed by this study was not valid to measure the sound transmission loss. On the other hand, for sound isolation materials having relatively small bending stiffness such as rubber, polyvinyl, and asphalt sheets, the comparisons of transmission loss between the results from the impedance tube method and the theory showed a good agreement within the range of the frequencies satisfying the normal incidence mass law. Therefore, the two-microphone impedance tube method proposed by this study can be an effective measurement method to evaluate the sound transmission loss for soft sound isolation sheets having relatively small bending stiffness.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1987.06a
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• pp.29-37
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• 1987

This study was devised to observe the cytotoxlc activities of petroleum-ether extract of Panax ginseng root(crude Gx) and its partially purified fraction from silicon acid column chromatography(7:3 CX) against sarcoma-180(5-180) and Walker carcinosarcoma 256(Walker 256) in vivo, and murine leukemic lymphocytes(L1210) and human rectal cancer cell(HRT-18) and human colon cancer cells(HT-29 and HCT-48) in vitro . Each cell-line was cultured in medium containing serial concentrations of the crude Gx or 7:3 Gx in vitro. A highly lipid soluble compound in the extract of Panax ginseng root was cytocidal to murine leukemic cells and human colon and rectal cancer cells in vitro In the meantime, ginseng saponin derivatives did not cytotoxic effects at its corresponding concentration. The growth rates of the cancer cells in medium containing ginseng extracts were inhibited gradually to a significant degree roughly in proportion to the increase of the extract concentration. The cytotoxic activity of 7:3 Gx was about 3 times more potent than that of crude Gx, one unit of cytotoxic activity against L121f cells being equivalent to 2.54$\mu\textrm{g}$ and 0.88 $\mu\textrm{g}$ for the crude Gx and 7:3 Gx, respectively. The Rf value of the active compound on silica -gel thin layer chromatography with petroleum-ether/ethyl ether/acetic acid mixture (90:10:1, v/v/v) as a developing solvent was 0.23. The survival times of mice inoculated with S-180 cells were extended about 1.5 to 2 times by the 7:3 Gx treatment compared with their control group. The significantly decreased hemoglobin values of rats after inoculation with Walker 256 were recovered to normal range by oral administration of the crude Gx. The synthetic levels of protein, DNA and RNA in human colon and rectal cancer cells were significantly diminished by treatment with the crude Gx, which can explain a part of the origin of its anticancer activity.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2008

Objectives To investigate the relationship between Heart Rate Variability and menopause among obese middle-aged women in Korea. Subjects and Methods Forty middle-aged women (age 49.05 $\pm$ 2.64 years) with BMI > $23kg/m^2$ were recruited by local advertisement. Blood profiles of estrogen, FSH, LH, glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and triglyceride were measured. Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) was estimated by short-term spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were accessed using Computerized Tomography (CT), Bioimpedance Analysis (BIA), and anthropometry. To scrutinize the influence of ANS on obesity-related factors, we divided the subjects into pre- and post-menopausal women. Results The total cholesterol, FSH and LH were significantly higher in post-menopausal obese women group. The estradiol and standard deviation of all normal R-R intervals (SDNN), high-frequency components (HF) of the HRV were significantly lower in postmenopausal obese women group (P<0.05). Adipose tissue distribution and blood profiles were not significantly different between two groups. Conclusion Menopause induced a decrease in SDNN and HF values and increase in total cholesterol level in obese women although the VAT itself was not related with ANS in obese women.