• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.59 no.5
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• pp.12.1-12.7
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• 2017

Background: Despite the widespread use of dexamethasone in veterinary and human medicine, it is reported to cause some severe pregnancy related side effects like abortion in some animals. The mechanism of the response is not clear but seems to be related to interspecies and/or breed difference in response which may involve alterations in the concentrations of some reproductive hormones. Methods: Twenty Sahel goats comprising 18 does and 2 bucks were used for this study. Pregnancies were achieved by natural mating after synchronization. Repeated dexamethasone injections were given at 0.25 mg/kg body weight. Blood samples were collected biweekly for hormonal assay. Uterine biopsies were harvested at days 28 and day 78 of gestation through caesarean section for immunohistochemical analysis using 3 pregnant does randomly selected from each group at each instant. Data were expressed as Means ${\pm}$ Standard Deviations and analyzed using statistical soft ware package, GraphPad Instant, version 3.0 (2003) and progesterone receptor (PR) were scored semi-quantitatively. Results: Dexamethasone treatments had no significant (p > 0.05) effect on progesterone and estrogen concentrations in pregnant Sahel goats but up regulated PR from 2+ to 3+ in second trimester. Conclusion: As dexamethasone adverse effect on placenta is an established fact, the lack of effect on progesterone level in this study may be due to the fact that unlike other species whose progesterone production during pregnancy is placenta - dependent, in goats is corpus luteum - dependent. Consequently dexamethasone adverse effect on placenta reported in literatures did not influence progesterone levels during pregnancy in Sahel goat. The up regulation of progesterone receptor (PR) in Sahel goat gravid uterus is a beneficial effects and that dexamethasone can safely be used in corpus luteum - dependent progesterone secreting pregnant animal species like Sahel goat and camel. Therefore source of progesterone secretions during pregnancy should be considered in clinical application of dexamethasone in pregnancy.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1533-1537
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• 2003

This double-blind randomized clinical trial was performed to evaluate the anti-anxiety, anti-stress effect of a modified formula WS-01 consisted with several herbs(Jujubae Fructus. Longanae Arillus. Poria Cocos) and germinated rice. The extract of the formula was administered (p.o) to 24 students and placebo was to 23 students for 4 weeks. STAI-KYZ(Hahn. Hakjisa), ABR2000(Meridian, Korea), CBC, LFT, U/A were checked before and after the administration period. There was no difference between the STAI score of WS-01 and that of placebo group in first test. But the STAI state anxiety score was 5.33±7.33 reduced in WS-01 group and it was 0.52±6.42 increased in placebo group in second test. this result was significant stastically. 10 students in WS-01 group showed improving result, but only 1 student in placebo group showed improving result of ABR2000 test. The result of ABR2000 was analyzed with curve 2, Regulation 2, and graph 1,2,3, because those reflect central nerve system and stressful condition of the body. There was no significant result in first and second CBC, LFT, Urine test. The results of this clinical study suggest that WS-01 has anti-anxiety, anti-stress effect, and it could be applied to various conditions or disorders related with anxiety and stress.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1547-1551
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• 2016

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a clonal hematopoietic disorder resulting from genetic alterations in normal hematopoietic stem cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate prognostic factors and survival of AML patients in the Northeast of Iran. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study covered 96 patients with AML referred to Emam Reza Hospital, Mashhad city, Iran, from 2009 to 2015. Age, sex, blood group, type of AML, fever, consumption of amphotericin B, cytogenetic forms and survival were analyzed. Also, WBC, hemoglobin and platelet levels were checked. Mean follow-up was 30.5 months (60.4% mortality). Survival was plotted by GraphPad Prism 5 with Log-rank test. Results: The mean age for all AML patients at diagnosis was 40.4 years (range, 17-77 years). Some 42.7% patients were aged <35 years and 40.6% were male. In all patients, 76% had fever and 50% consumed amphotericin. T(15;17)(q22;q21) had the most prevalence (37.7%) compared to other forms. Out of 92 patients, O+(30.4%) was the most common blood group and AML-M5 (28.3%) the most common subtype. There was a significant difference in survival based on WBC and consumption of amphotericin B (P<0.05). Conclusions: WBC level, fever and consumption of amphotericin B proved to be factors for survival of AML patients. The mean age for patients in Iran is lower than other areas in the World and also survival in this study was higher than in other studies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.979-984
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• 2015

Breast cancer is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally but has an even more significant impact in developing countries. Pakistan has the highest prevalence among Asian countries. A general lack of public awareness regarding the disease often results in late diagnosis and poor treatment outcomes. The literacy rate of the Southern Punjab (Pakistan) is low compared to its Northern part. It is therefore vital that university students and especially medical students develop a sound knowledge about the disease so that they can spread awareness to others who may be less educated. This study therefore considers current knowledge and understanding about the early signs of breast cancer amongst a study group of medical and non-medical university students of the Southern Punjab, Pakistan. A cross-sectional descriptive analysis of the university students was carried out using a self-administered questionnaire to assess their awareness of breast cancer from March to May 2014. A total of 566 students participated in this study, out of which 326 were non-medical and 240 were from a medical discipline. Statistical analysis was carried out using Graph Pad Prism Version 5 with a significance level set at p<0.05. The mean age of the non medical and medical participants was 23 (SD 2.1) and 22 (SD 1.3) years, respectively. Less than 35% students were aware of the early warning signs of the breast cancer development. Knowledge of medical students about risk factors was significantly better than the non medical ones, but on the whole was insufficient. Our study indicated that knowledge regarding breast cancer was generally insufficient amongst the majority of the university students (75% non-medical and 55% medical) of Southern Punjab, Pakistan. This study highlights the need to formulate an awareness campaign and to organize conferences to promote breast cancer awareness among students in this region.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.256-261
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• 2015

Purpose: Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality, with the incidence and mortality being higher in men than in women. Various studies have shown that eating carrots may play a major role in the prevention of gastric cancer. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the relationship between carrot consumption and gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: We searched multiple databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Persian databases like Scientific Information Database (SID) and IranMedx. The following search terms were used: stomach or gastric, neoplasm or cancer, carcinoma or tumor, and carrot. Statistical analyses were performed using Comprehensive Meta Analysis/2.0 software. Results: We retrieved 81 articles by searching the databases. After considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 5 articles were included in this study. The odds ratio (OR) obtained by fixed effects model showed that a 26% reduction in the risk of gastric cancer has been associated with the consumption of carrots) OR=0.74; 95% confidence interval=0.68~0.81; P<0.0001). According to funnel graph, the results showed that the possibility of a publication bias does not exist in this study. Conclusions: The findings of this study showed an inverse relationship between the consumption of carrots and the risk of gastric cancer.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.214-224
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to assess the physical activity of preschool children using an accelerometer and investigate differences related to epoch length setting during use of the accelerometer. Subjects of the study were 26 children (12 boys and 14 girls) at the age of 5, enrolled in one preschool located in Gangneung. From 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (7 hours period), every child wore a total of four accelerometers (ActiGraph $GT3X^+$, USA), including three attached to the left hip (with epoch length set at 5 seconds, 15 seconds, and 30 seconds). For comparison purposes, a forth was attached to the opposite position, with epoch length set at 5 seconds. Data collected using 15s epoch and 30s epoch (single larger epoch) were compared with those obtained after reintegration of 5s to 15s epoch, 5s to 30s epoch, and 15s to 30s epoch, respectively (smaller epochs reintegrated). According to the results of this study, there were no significant differences in VM between 30s epoch and 5s to 30s epoch reintegrated and in MVPA (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity), between 15s epoch and 5s to 15s epoch reintegrated. From the Bland-Altman plot, reintegration of 15s to 30s epoch in VM and reintegrations of 15s to 30s epoch and 5s to 15s epoch in MVPA can be recommended for assessing physical activity in preschool children. Further research is needed into the reintegration method while using an accelerometer for assessment of energy expenditure in children.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2019

Objectives: To objectively determine and compare the physical activity (PA) levels of adults newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and adults without T2D in Vietnam using an accelerometer. Methods: A total of 120 participants with newly diagnosed T2D and 120 adults without T2D were recruited from a large hospital in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. All participants wore an ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer for at least 5 days, including 1 weekend day. Freedson cut-off points were used to estimate different intensities of PA. In addition, comparisons between groups were made with respect to achieving the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF) recommended PA guidelines. Results: Men with T2D had significantly lower levels of PA than men without T2D. The respective multivariable-adjusted mean values of daily step count, daily light-intensity, moderate-intensity, and moderate-to-vigorous-intensity PA were approximately 14%, 19%, and 22% lower in the men with T2D than in their non-T2D counterparts. However, women with T2D accumulated a greater number of steps per day than women without T2D. Only 59.2% of the adults with T2D met the minimum recommended level of PA (WHO and IDF), compared to 74.2% of adults without T2D (p<0.05). After adjusting for potential confounders, participants with T2D experienced 50.0% significantly lower odds of achieving PA recommendations. Conclusions: Vietnamese men with T2D were less physically active than those without T2D, and adults with T2D were less likely to meet PA guidelines. The results suggest a need for integrating PA into the self-management of this chronic condition.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.743-754
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• 2022

This paper contains the results of the development and performance evaluation of the environmental data monitoring system for the fish farm. For the hardware development, the analogue sensor is used to collect dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, and temperature of the fish farm water, and the digital sensor is used for collecting ambient temperature, humidity, and location information via a GPS module to be sent to cloud-based Firebase DB. A set of LoRa transmitters and receivers is used as a communication module to upload the collected data. The data stored in Firebase is retrieved as a graph on a web and mobile application to monitor the environmental data changes in real-time. A notification will be delivered if the collected data is outside the determined optimal value. To evaluate the performance of the developed system, a response time from hardware modules to web and mobile applications is ranging from 6.2 to 6.85 seconds, which indicates satisfactory results.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.269-283
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• 2024

Biocompositesmade up of starch and jute fibres are biodegradable and environmentally friendly materials for sustainable development. In this study, corn starch has been separately modified with 15% pine rosin and 40% glutaraldehyde, and 30% glycerol is used as a plasticizer. The composites have been prepared for three different volume proportions of matrix and jute fibre such as 60:40, 70:30 and 80:20 by using a hot compression moulding machine. The effects of pine rosin and glutaraldehyde on mechanical properties have been studied. Pine rosin modified starch jute composites have shown higher tensile and flexural properties as compared with glutaraldehyde modified starch jute composite. The highest tensile strength and modulus are found at 60:40 matrix and jute fibre volume proportion of pine rosin modified starch jute composite which are 13.97 MPa and 782.94 MPa respectively. Similar trends were found in flexural strength and modulus for pine rosin modified starch jute composite having matrix to jute fibre proportion 60:40 which are 29.18 MPa and 1107.76 MPa respectively. But, in case of impact strength, glutaraldehyde modified starch jute composite having matrix to jute fibre proportion 80:20 have shown highest impact strength that is 59.05 KJ/m². Starch-jute composite with glutaraldehyde shows 33% more water absorbency as compared to composite having pine rosin as cross linker. Highest FTIR graph indicates that the number of -OH group is much lower in case of pine rosin modified starch than glutatraldehyde modified starch which indicates that bonds formed by pine rosin are much stronger than the bonds formed by glutaraldehyde. The surface morphology of the composite was influenced by pine rosin and glutaraldehyde which is shown in the SEM image.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2004

Purpose : Hypercoagulability is present in patients with nephrotic syndrome. Plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1(PAI-1) is a major inhibitor of plasminogen activators. PAI-1 inactivates both tissue plasminogen activator(tPA) and urokinase plasminogen activator(uPA) by rapid formation of inactive 1:1 stoichiometric complexes. Recently some studies showed that the enhanced PAI-1 expression may be involved in the intraglomerular fibrinogen/fibrinrelated antigen deposition seen in nephrotic syndrome. Methods : PAI-1 gene promoter -844(G/A) polymorphism was evaluated in 146 children with minimal change nephrotic syndrome(MCNS) and 230 control subjects. The patients with MCNS were subdivided into 85 infrequent-relapser(IR) group and 61 frequent relapser(FR) group. PCR of PAI-1 gene promoter region including -844(G/A) and RFLP using the restriction enzyme Xhol were performed for each DNA samples extracted from the groups. Results : The distribution of PAI-1 genotype in the control group was G/G 81(32.5%), A/A 42(16.9%), and G/A 126(50.6%). The distribution of PAI-1 genotypes in the IR group of MCNS was G/G 29(34.1%), A/A 15(17.7%), and G/A 41(48.2%). The distribution of PAI-1 genotype in the FR group of MCNS was G/G 17(27.9%), A/A 18(29.5%), and G/A 26(42.6%). There was a significantly increased frequency of A/A genotype(P=0.0251) in the FR group of MCNS. Conclusion : Our results indicate that the PAI-1 gene promoter A/A genotype may be associated with the FR in MCNS.