• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.4 s.91
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• pp.304-315
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• 2006

This study is performed to reexamine the association between ambient air pollution and daily mortality in seven major cities of Korea using a method of meta-analysis with the data filed for the period 1998-2001. These cities account for half of the Korean population (about 23 million). The observed concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO, mean=1.08 ppm), ozone ($O_3$, mean=33.97 ppb), particulate matter less than 10 ${\mu}m$ ($PM_{10},\;mean=57.11\;{\mu}g/m^3$), nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$, mean=25.09 ppb), and sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$, mean=9.14 ppb) during the study period were at levels below Korea's current ambient air quality standards. Generalized additive models were applied to allow for the highly flexible fitting of seasonal and long-term time trends in air pollution as well as nonlinear associations with weather variables, such as air temperature and relative humidity. Also, we calculated a weighted mean as a meta-analysis summary of the estimates and its standard error. In city-specific analyses, an increase of $41.17{\mu}g/m^3(IQR)\;of\;PM_{10}$ corresponded to $1{\sim}12%$ more deaths, given constant weather conditions. Like most of air pollution epidemiologic studies, this meta-analysis cannot avoid fleeing from measurement misclassification since no personal measurement was taken. However, we can expect that a measurement bias be reduced in district-specific estimate since a monitoring station is better representative of air quality of the matched district. Significant heterogeneity was found for the effect of all pollutants. The estimated relative risks from meta-like analysis increased compared to those relative risks from pooled analysis. The similar results to those from the previous studies indicated existence of health effect of air pollution at current levels in many industrialized countries, including Korea.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.43 no.3 s.136
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• pp.201-209
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• 2004

Overwintering ecology of the peach pyralid moth, Dichocrosis punctiferalis Guenee (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) was studied in laboratory and in a chestnut orchard in 2001/2002 winter and 2003 spring. All twenty-four female and fourteen male moths were fruit-feeding type which were emerged from the larvae collected at the same chestnut orchard in 2003 winter. Periodical thermal treatment of overwintering larvae at $25^{\circ}C$ revealed that diapause termination of the larval population started from the end of January and was completed until April 20 in southern region of Korea. Pupation of diapause-terminated larvae started from early May and reached to $100\%$ at June 3 in chestnut orchard. Days to pupation of female larvae after diapause termination were 12.5, 8.9, and 7.5 at $20^{\circ}C,\;25^{\circ}C$, and $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. Those of male larvae were similar to those of females. Pupal periods of female were 14.7, 11.8, and 9.0 days at the three temperatures. Moths of the overwintered generation emerged from May 20 to June 28, and reached to $50\%$ emergence on June 8 to 9 under emergence cage. Attraction of the male moths of overwintered generation to sex pheromone traps showed that the date of $50\%$ catches to the traps were June 17, when data from 3 southern regions of Korea were pooled.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.1750-1757
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• 2000

A total of 864 broiler chicks were used at Kansas State University and the University of Nebraska to determine the effects of heat treatment of two soybean genotypes on the growth performance. The soybeans were Williams 82 variety with (+K) and without (-K) gene expression for the Kunitz trypsin inhibitor. Heat treatment (autoclaving at $121^{\circ}C$ and $1.1kg/cm^2$) was applied for 0, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 min, resulting in a $2{\times}6$ factorial arrangement of treatments. Station and station treatment effects occurred, indicating that response in nutritional value of the soybean genotypes to heat treatment varied from year to year and location to location. However, the interactions were in magnitude of response rather than direction of response, with greater reductions in trypsin inhibitor concentrations for the soybeans heat processed at the Nebraska location. Pooled data indicated that -K supported greater (p<0.001) ADG, ADFI and gain/feed than the +K genotype. As the length of heat treatment increased, the ADG, ADFI, and the gain/feed ratio increased for chicks fed both soybean genotypes (p<0.0001). However, heating the -K soybeans resulted in a greater response in ADG, ADFI, and gain/feed than heating the +K soybeans (genotype heat treatment interaction, p<0.001). Pancreatic weights (mg pancreas/g of BW) of chicks fed -K soybeans were reduced compared to those from chicks fed +K (p<0.001). Increasing heat treatment decreased pancreas weights in chicks fed both soybean genotypes (p<0.001). Chicks fed heated soybeans in the Nebraska experiment had lower pancreatic weights than chicks fed heated soybeans in the Kansas experiment (station heat treatment interaction, p<0.0001). Chick growth performance was improved and pancreatic weights decreased by feeding raw -K soybeans versus raw +K soybeans, and by increasing heat treatment of both soybean genotypes. However, the response to heat treatment was not independent of genotype. Both +K and -K soybeans heated for 24 min supported similar ADG, ADFI, gain/feed, and pancreas weights, although chicks fed raw +K soybeans had lower growth performance than chicks fed -K soybeans. In conclusion, raw -K soybeans supported greater growth performance in broiler chicks than raw +K soybeans, although this advantage was lost when both soybean genotypes were heated for 24 min. Heat treatment of +K soybeans supported similar growth performance to heated -K soybeans, even though +K soybeans supported lower rates and efficiencies of gain than -K soybeans when fed raw.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5907-5912
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• 2015

Purpose: To evaluate and update evidence for prognostic effects of kidney-sparing (KS) management and nephroureterectomy (NU) for upper tract urothelial carcinomas. Materials and Methods: Pubmed, Embase and the Cochrane Library were retrieved for the identification of comparative studies of kidney-sparing procedure and nephroureterectomy for upper tract urothelial carcinoma prior to December 2014. The data were extracted independently by 2 reviewers and the quality of the included studies was assessed. Review Manager 5.3 and STATA 13 were used to perform the meta-analysis. Results: Twenty-three observational studies including 1,587 KS and 3,996 NU were evaluated. The results of the meta-analysis showed that nephroureterectomy had no significant benefit with regard to intravesical recurrence (IRFS), metastasis (MFS), cancer specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) except the total tumor recurrence (RFS) when compared with kidney sparing management. The respectively pooled outcomes were HR 1.36 (0.69-2.68, P=0.38) for IRFS, 1.09 (0.59-2.01, P=0.78) for MFS, 1.17 (0.77-1.79, P=0.47) for CSS, 1.50 (0.90-2.48, P=0.12) for OS and 1.61 (1.03-2.51, P=0.04) for RFS. Conclusions: On the whole, kidney-sparing management had equivalent prognostic effect on upper tract urothelial carcinoma as the standard nephroureterectomy except in tumor recurrence. However, the results should be interpreted with caution for lack of stage and grade stratification and multi-center randomized controlled trials are still needed to verify our results.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.1725-1731
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• 2020

Objective: An initial RNA-Sequencing study revealed that UDP-galactose-4-epimerase (GALE) was one of the most promising candidates for milk protein concentration in Chinese Holstein cattle. This enzyme catalyzes the interconversion of UDP-galactose and UDP-glucose, an important step in galactose catabolism. To further validate the genetic effect of GALE on milk protein traits, genetic variations were identified, and genotypes-phenotypes associations were performed. Methods: The entire coding region and the 5'-regulatory region (5'-UTR) of GALE were re-sequenced using pooled DNA of 17 unrelated sires. Association studies for five milk production traits were performed using a mixed linear animal model with a population encompassing 1,027 Chinese Holstein cows. Results: A total of three variants in GALE were identified, including two novel variants (g.2114 A>G and g.2037 G>A) in the 5'-UTR and one previously reported variant (g.3836 G>C) in an intron. All three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with milk yield (p<0.0001), fat yield (p = 0.0006 to <0.0001), protein yield (p = 0.0232 to <0.0001) and protein percentage (p<0.0001), while no significant associations were detected between the SNPs and fat percentage. A strong linkage disequilibrium (D' = 0.96 to 1.00) was observed among all three SNPs, and a 5 Kb haplotype block involving three main haplotypes with GAG, AGC, and AGG was formed. The results of haplotype association analyses were consistent with the results of single locus association analysis (p<0.0001). The phenotypic variance ratio above 3.00% was observed for milk protein yield that was explained by SNP-g.3836G >C. Conclusion: Overall, our findings provided new insights into the polymorphic variations in bovine GALE gene and their associations with milk protein concentration. The data indicate their potential uses for marker-assisted breeding or genetic selection schemes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.5177-5182
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• 2012

Purpose: To compare the efficacy and safety of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitormonotherapy (EFGR-TKIs: gefitinib or erlotinib) with standard second-line chemotherapy (single agent docetaxel or pemetrexed) in previously treated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We systematically searched for randomized clinical trials that compared EGFR-TKI monotherapy with standard second-line chemotherapy in previously treated advanced NSCLC. The end points were overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), overall response rate (ORR), 1-year survival rate (1-year SR) and grade 3 or 4 toxicities. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) or risk ratio (RR), with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated employing fixed- or random-effects models depending on the heterogeneity of the included trials. Results: Eight randomized controlled trials (totally 3218 patients) were eligible. Our meta-analysis results showed that EGFR-TKIs were comparable to standard second-line chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC in terms of overall survival (HR 1.00, 95%CI 0.92-1.10; p=0.943), progression-free survival (HR 0.90, 95%CI 0.75-1.08, P=0.258) and 1-year-survival rate (RR 0.97, 95%CI 0.87-1.08, P=0.619), and the overall response rate was higher in patients who receiving EGFR-TKIs(RR 1.50, 95%CI 1.22-1.83, P=0.000). Sub-group analysis demonstrated that EGFR-TKI monotherapy significantly improved PFS (HR 0.73, 95%CI: 0.55-0.97, p=0.03) and ORR (RR 1.96, 95%CI: 1.46-2.63, p=0.000) in East Asian patients, but it did not translate into increase in OS and 1-year SR. Furthermore, there were fewer incidences of grade 3 or 4 neutropenia, febrile neutropenia and neutrotoxicity in EGFR-TKI monotherapy group, excluding grade 3 or 4 rash. Conclusion: Both interventions had comparable efficacy as second-line treatments for patients with advanced NSCLC, and EGFR-TKI monotherapy was associated with less toxicity and better tolerability. Moreover, our data also demonstrated that EGFR-TKImonotherapy tended to be more effective in East Asian patients in terms of PFS and ORR compared with standard second-line chemotherapy. These results should help inform decisions about patient management and design of future trials.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3275-3279
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• 2013

Background: Tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) plays a very important role in the development and progression of cancer. Many epidemiological studies have evaluated associations between the TNF-${\alpha}$ 238 G/A polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk, but the published data are inconclusive. Therefore, we performed the present meta-analysis. Methods: Electronic searches of several databases were conducted for all publications on the association between TNF-${\alpha}$ 238 G/A polymorphism and HCC through July 2012. Asummary odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to evaluate the strength of this association. Results: Eleven case-control studies with a total of 1,572 HCC cases and 1,875 controls were finally included in this meta-analysis. Overall, the TNF-${\alpha}$ 238 G/A polymorphism was significantly associated with increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in three genetic comparison models (For A versus G: OR 1.32, 95%CI 1.04-1.69, P = 0.02, $I_2$ = 40%; for AG versus GG: OR 1.32, 95%CI 1.02-1.71, P = 0.03, $I_2$ = 40%; for AA/AG versus GG: OR 1.33, 95%CI 1.03-1.72, P = 0.03, $I_2$ = 41%) when all studies were pooled. Subgroup analysis by ethnicity further showed that there was a significant association between the TNF-${\alpha}$ 238 G/A polymorphism and risk of HCC in Asians under three genetic comparison models (For A versus G: OR 1.30, 95%CI 1.00-1.68, P = 0.05, $I_2$ = 45% for AA/AG versus GG: OR 1.31, 95%CI 1.00-1.71, P = 0.05, $I_2$ = 46%). Conclusions: This meta-analysis provided convincing evidence that the TNF-${\alpha}$ 238 G/A polymorphism is associated with increased susceptibility to HCC. However, more well-designed studies with large sample size are needed to validate this association in Caucasians.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.378-385
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• 2016

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the association between sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity and cardiovascular disease risk in Korean postmenopausal women. Methods: We analyzed data of 2,019 postmenopausal women aged 50-64 years who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2008-2011 and were free of cardiovascular disease history. Blood pressure, height, and weight were measured. We analyzed the serum concentrations of glucose, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Waist circumference was used to measure obesity. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Sarcopenia was defined as the appendicular skeletal muscle mass/body weight<1 standard deviation below the gender-specific means for healthy young adults. The estimated 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease risk was calculated by Pooled Cohort Equation. Subjects were classified as non-sarcopenia, sarcopenia, or sarcopenic obesity based on status of waist circumference and appendicular skeletal muscle mass. Results: The prevalence of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity was 16.3% (n=317) and 18.3% (n=369), respectively. The 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease risk in the sarcopenic obesity group was higher ($3.82{\pm}0.22%$) than the normal group ($2.73{\pm}0.09%$) and sarcopenia group ($3.17{\pm}0.22%$) (p < 0.000). The odd ratios (ORs) for the ${\geq}7.5%$ 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease risk were significantly higher in the sarcopenic obesity group (OR 3.609, 95% CI: 2.030-6.417) compared to the sarcopenia group (OR 2.799, 95% CI: 1.463-5.352) (p for trend < 0.000) after adjusting for independent variables (i.e., exercise, period of menopausal, alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) score, income, education level, calorie intake, %fat intake and hormonal replacement therapy). Conclusions: Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity appear to be associated with higher risk factors predicting the 10-year risks of cardiovascular disease risk in postmenopausal women. These findings imply that maintaining normal weight and muscle mass may be important for cardiovascular disease risk prevention in postmenopausal women.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.3
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• pp.344-352
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• 2010

To investigate the mating system of clones in the seed orchard of Japanese red pine, parameters of mating system, such as outcrossing rates, number of potential pollen contributors, and degree of pollen contamination, were estimated in the seed orchard of Japanese red pines on the basis of DNA data including 4 nSSR and 6 cpSSR markers. Estimates of outcrossing rates were ranged from 94.9 to 100% with an average of 98.9% on the basis of the analysis of cpSSR haplotypes. They were ranged from 90.3% to 100% with an average of 95.9% on the basis of the analysis of nSSR genotypes. However, cross checking of both DNA markers revealed that the seeds presumed to be products of self pollination were turned out to be generated by pollination between mother tree and other tree (i.e., 100% of cumulative outcrossing rate). Estimates of pollen contamination ranged from 43.6% (Gangwon-10) to 56.4% (Gangwon-12) with the average of 48.9%. On the basis of pooled cpSSR haplotype of each seed, maximum number of 21 pollen contributors were verified from the seeds reproduced by Kyungbuk-38. Minimum number of 13 pollen contributors were verified in Gangwon-10. Mean of 16.2 pollen contributors were verified from a total of 5 mother trees. In conclusion, considering pretty high outcrossing rates between clones within a seed orchard, it may be expected that a fairly good genetic potential of the seeds, produced in '77 plot of the seed orchard of Japanese red pines at Anmyeon island, may be guaranteed. Observed results from the analysis of mating system of Japanese red pines in a '77 plot of the seed orchard may also provide useful information for the establishment and management of the seed orchard of the progressive generation.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.382-415
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• 2019

This study analyzes the impact of exclusive subcontracting on the input, behavior, and output of innovation in manufacturing industries of Korea. Based on the analysis of pooled cross-sectional data of 6,029 small venture firms, this study proved that the exclusive subcontracting between small venture firms and large enterprises are lowering R&D investment of small venture firms. Second, the innovation activities of small venture firms including the ratio of R&D personnel and the scope of cooperation and partnership with external organizations were lower than those of small venture firms that have non-exclusive or no relations with large enterprises. Third, the innovation performance of small venture firms such as the number of patent applications, the ratio of sales by new products, and the cumulative sales growth rate was lower than those of small venture firms that have non-exclusive or no relations with large enterprises. This study verifies that the exclusive subcontracting relationships significantly weaken the innovation process and performance of small venture firms systematically, resulting in a kind of market failure in which small venture firms have almost no incentive to facilitate innovation.