• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3273-3277
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• 2015

Network scale up (NSU) is a novel approach to estimate parameters in hard to reach populations through asking people the number of individuals they know in their active social network. Although the method have been used in hidden populations, advantages of NSU indicate that exploration of applicability to disease like cancer might be feasible. The aim of this study was to assess the application of NSU to estimate the size of the population of breast, ovarian/cervical, prostate, and bladder cancers in the South-east of Iran. A total of 3,052 (99% response rate) Kermanian people were interviewed in 2012-2013. Based on NSU, participants were asked about if they know any people on their social network who suffered from breast, ovarian/cervical, prostate, and bladder cancers, if yes, they should enumerate them. A total of 1,650 persons living with four types of cancers (breast, ovary/cervix, prostate, and bladder) were identified by the respondents. Totally, the prevalence of people living with the four types of cancers was 228.4 per 100,000 Kermanian inhabitants. The most prevalent cancer was breast cancer, at 168.9 per 100,000, followed by prostate cancer with 116.9, ovarian/cervical cancer with 99.8, and bladder cancer with 36.3 per 100000 Kerman city population. NSU values provide a usable but not very precise way of estimating the size of subpopulations in the context of the four major cancers (breast, ovary/cervix, prostate, and bladder).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.991-996
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• 2015

Side population (SP) cells have stem cell-like properties with a capacity for self-renewal and are resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Therefore the presence of SP cells in human breast cancer probably has prognostic value. Objective: To investigate the characteristics of SP cells and identify the relationship between the SP cells levels and clinico-pathological parameters of the breast tumor and disease-free survival (DFS) in breast cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 122 eligible breast cancer patients were consecutively recruited from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2007 at Yunnan Tumor Hospital. All eligible subjects received conventional treatment and were followed up for seven years. Predictors of recurrence and/or metastasis and DFS were analyzed using Cox regression analysis. Human breast cancer cells were also obtained from fresh human breast cancer tissue and cultured by the nucleic acid dye Hoechst33342 with Verapami. Flow cytometry (FCM) was employed to isolate the cells of SP and non-SP types. Results: In this study, SP cells were identified using flow cytometric analysis with Hoechst 33342 dye efflux. Adjusted for age, tumor size, lymph nodal status, histological grade, the Cox model showed a higher risk of recurrence and/or metastasis positively associated with the SP cell level (1.75, 1.02-2.98), as well as with axillary lymph node metastasis (2.99, 1.76-5.09), pathology invasiveness type (1.7, 1.14-2.55), and tumor volume doubling time (TVDT) (1.54, 1.01-2.36). Conclusions: The SP cell level is independently associated with tumor progression and clinical outcome after controlling for other pathological factors. The axillary lymph node status, TVDT and the status of non-invasive or invasive tumor independently predict the prognosis of breast cancer.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.285-291
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• 2000

To investigate the variations of physicochemical factors and microbial populations in seven stations at water region of Gangjin bay, nutritive salts, water temperature, transparency, suspended solid, salinity, COD, DO, pH, heterotrophic bacteria, fungi and fecal coliform were analysed four times from February to October, 1999. Total fecal coliform and heterotrophic bacterial population during investigation periods ranged 16.1~166.0 CFU/ml and $5.0{\times}10^3$~$13.1{\times}10^3$CFU/ml, respectively. Stational mean values of these bacterial population showed higher densities at the inlet of fresh water inflow than those of other stations. When the aspects of abiotic and biotic parameters measured were analyzed, ecosystem of Gangjin bay was regulated by factors such as inflow of fresh water, nutrient salts, salinity and variation of water temperature during four seasons.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.209-222
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• 2013

We apply stratified cluster sampling to a replicated systematic unrelated question model for a large scale survey in which the population is comprised of several strata developed by several clusters and with sensitive parameters. We first present a replicated systematic unrelated question model using an unrelated question model to procure sensitive information from the population of clusters and then develop a suggested model to an unrelated question by a stratified cluster replicated systematic sampling that can be used in large population of strata. We cover the proportional and optimum allocation for the suggested model. Finally, we compare and analyze the efficiency of the suggested model with the replicated systematic unrelated question model.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.1117-1123
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• 2019

Control of pine wilt disease, which is caused by pine wilt nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is heavily dependent on the use of chemicals such as abamectin. Although such chemicals are highly effective, demands for alternatives that are derived preferentially from natural sources, are increasing out of environmental concerns. One of the challenges to discovery of alternative control agents is lack of fast and efficient screening method that can be used in a high-throughput manner. Here we described the development of colorimetric assay for the rapid and accurate screening of candidate nematicidal compounds/biologics targeting B. xylophilus. Contrary to the conventional method, which relies on laborious visual inspection and counting of nematode population under microscope, our method utilizes a redox dye that changes its color in response to metabolic activity of nematode population in a given sample. In this work, we optimized parameters of our colorimetric assay including number of nematodes and amount of redox dye, and tested applicability of our assay for screening of chemicals and biologics. We demonstrated that our colorimetric assay can be applied to rapid and accurate quantification of nematode viability/mortality in a nematode population treated with candidate chemicals/biologics. Application of our method would facilitate high-throughput endeavors aiming at finding environment-friendly control agents for deadly disease of pine trees.

• Translational and Clinical Pharmacology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.166-171
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• 2018

Although there are many commercially available training software programs for pharmacokinetics, they lack flexibility and convenience. In this study, we develop simulation software to facilitate pharmacokinetics education. General formulas for time courses of drug concentrations after single and multiple dosing were used to build source code that allows users to simulate situations tailored to their learning objectives. A mathematical relationship for a 1-compartment model was implemented in the form of differential equations. The concept of population pharmacokinetics was also taken into consideration for further applications. The source code was written using R. For the convenience of users, two types of software were developed: a web-based simulator and a standalone-type application. The application was built in the JAVA language. We used the JAVA/R Interface library and the 'eval()' method from JAVA for the R/JAVA interface. The final product has an input window that includes fields for parameter values, dosing regimen, and population pharmacokinetics options. When a simulation is performed, the resulting drug concentration time course is shown in the output window. The simulation results are obtained within 1 minute even if the population pharmacokinetics option is selected and many parameters are considered, and the user can therefore quickly learn a variety of situations. Such software is an excellent candidate for development as an open tool intended for wide use in Korea. Pharmacokinetics experts will be able to use this tool to teach various audiences, including undergraduates.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.237-246
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• 2021

The ILI, developed by the IWA (International Water Association), has been used in many countries as an indicator of water leakage. In Korea, the revenue water has been used as a performance indicator for waterworks although there is an opinion to replace it with the ILI. Hence, it has been necessary to investigate whether the ILI can replace the revenue water in Korea. The four main operating indicators (i.e., water service population, profit-loss ratio, fiscal self-reliance, and aged pipe rate) of 162 Korean waterworks were compared with the ILI with the linear regression method. Local water authorities with more than 1 million water service population, with more than 60% profit-loss ratio, more than 40% and less than 60% fiscal self-reliance, and more than 20% aged pipe rate showed meaningful correlation between the four parameters and the ILI. In the remaining cases, their correlations were little or weak. This means that using the ILI may not be an efficient method to represent the performance of the water supply system in Korea because of the lack of UARL (Unavoidable Annual Real Losses) data accuracy. To use the ILI in Korea, it will be required to carry out an additional research to accumulate reliable CARL (Current Annual Real Losses) and UARL data in the future.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.125-134
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• 2021

Background: To evaluate clinical and radiological outcomes of bony increased offset-reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (BIO-RSA) in the Asian population at mid-term follow-up. Methods: From June 2012 to August 2017 at a single center, 43 patients underwent BIO-RSA, and 38 patients with minimum 2 years follow-up were enrolled. We evaluated the clinical and radiological outcomes, and complications at the last follow-up. In addition, we divided these patients into notching and no-notching groups and compared the demographics, preoperative, and postoperative characteristics of patients. Results: Visual analogue scale, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, University of California-Los Angeles Shoulder Scale, and Simple Shoulder Test scores improved significantly from preoperative (5.00, 3.93, 1.72, 3.94) to postoperative (1.72, 78.91, 28.34, 7.66) (p<0.05) outcomes. All range of motion except internal rotation improved significantly at the final follow-up (p<0.05), and the bone graft was well-incorporated with the native glenoid in all patients (100%). However, scapular notching was observed in 20 of 38 patients (53%). In the comparison between notching and no-notching groups (18 vs. 20 patients), there were no significant differences in demographics, radiological parameters, and clinical outcomes except acromion-greater tuberosity (AT) distance (p=0.003). Intraoperative complications included three metaphyseal fractures and one inferior screw malposition. Postoperative complications included ectopic ossification, scapular neck stress fracture, humeral stem relaxation, and late infection in one case each. Conclusions: BIO-RSA showed improved clinical outcomes at mid-term follow-up in Asian population. However, we observed higher scapular notching compared to the previous studies. In addition, adequate glenoid lateralization with appropriate humeral lengthening (AT distance) might reduce scapular notching.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.65-75
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• 2013

Population growth equation of scuticociliate Miamiensis avidus was obtained from the experimental results of in vitro culture condition to estimate the growth rate and carrying capacity from the growth equation. In addition, intraperitoneal infections into olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus were carried out into 2 different conditions: different concentrations of M. avidus in same water temperature and same concentration of M. avidus in different water temperatures. Olive flounder mortality was threshold dependent with both the temperature and M. avidus density parameters. In this paper, we propose a mathematical model to study M. avidus growth in olive flounder based upon the interactions between parasite and host. The mathematical model was logistic growth differential equation (1.2). The parameters were found with Matlab program through the Levenberge-Marquardt method. In theorem, equilibrium values between the infected fish population and dead population could found. Our equilibrium points were a stable equilibrium and an unstable equilibrium. From the equation (1.6), it was possible to predict the amount of cumulative mortality of olive flounder along with the time after M. avidus infection.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1340-1348
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• 2019

Objective: The objectives were to compare variance components, genetic parameters, prediction accuracies, and genomic-polygenic estimated breeding value (EBV) rankings for milk yield (MY) and fat yield (FY) in the Thai multibreed dairy population using five single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sets from GeneSeek GGP80K chip. Methods: The dataset contained monthly MY and FY of 8,361 first-lactation cows from 810 farms. Variance components, genetic parameters, and EBV for five SNP sets from the GeneSeek GGP80K chip were obtained using a 2-trait single-step average-information restricted maximum likelihood procedure. The SNP sets were the complete SNP set (all available SNP; SNP100), top 75% set (SNP75), top 50% set (SNP50), top 25% set (SNP25), and top 5% set (SNP5). The 2-trait models included herd-year-season, heterozygosity and age at first calving as fixed effects, and animal additive genetic and residual as random effects. Results: The estimates of additive genetic variances for MY and FY from SNP subsets were mostly higher than those of the complete set. The SNP25 MY and FY heritability estimates (0.276 and 0.183) were higher than those from SNP75 (0.265 and 0.168), SNP50 (0.275 and 0.179), SNP5 (0.231 and 0.169), and SNP100 (0.251and 0.159). The SNP25 EBV accuracies for MY and FY (39.76% and 33.82%) were higher than for SNP75 (35.01% and 32.60%), SNP50 (39.64% and 33.38%), SNP5 (38.61% and 29.70%), and SNP100 (34.43% and 31.61%). All rank correlations between SNP100 and SNP subsets were above 0.98 for both traits, except for SNP100 and SNP5 (0.93 for MY; 0.92 for FY). Conclusion: The high SNP25 estimates of genetic variances, heritabilities, EBV accuracies, and rank correlations between SNP100 and SNP25 for MY and FY indicated that genotyping animals with SNP25 dedicated chip would be a suitable to maintain genotyping costs low while speeding up genetic progress for MY and FY in the Thai dairy population.