• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1929-1934
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• 2015

Purpose: To determine the diagnostic yield of primary circulating tumor cells in women with suspicion of breast cancer, detected as a result of an abnormal mammography. Materials and Methods: Consecutive women presenting for breast biopsy as a result of a mammogram BiRADs of 3 or more, had an 8ml blood sample taken for primary circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection. Mononuclear cells were obtained using differential gel centrifugation and CTCs identified using standard immunocytochemistry using anti-mammoglobin. A test was determined to be positive if 1 CTC was detected. Results: A total of 144 women with a mean age of $54.7{\pm}15.6$ years participated, 78/144 (53.0%) had breast cancer on biopsy, 65/140 (46.3%) benign pathologies and 1(0.7%) non-Hogkins lymphoma. Increasing BiRADs scores were associated with increased cancer detection (p=0.004, RR 1.00, 4.24, 8.50). CTC mammoglobin positive had a sensitivity of 81.1% and specificity of 90.9%, with positive and negative predictive values of 90.9% and 81.1% respectively. Mammoglobin positive CTCs detected 87% of invasive cancers, while poorly differentiated cancers were negative for mammoglobin. Only 50% of in situ cancers and none of the intraductal cancers had CTCs detected. Menopausal status did not affect the diagnostic yield of the CTC test, which was higher in women with BiRADS 4 mammograms. There was a significant trend (p<0.0001 Chi squared for trends) in CTC detection frequency from intraductal, in situ and invasive (OR 1.00, 8.00, 472.00). Conclusions: The use of primary CTC detection in women suspected of breast cancer has potential uses, especially with invasive cancer, but it failed to detect intra-ductal cancer and 50% of in situ cancer. There was no difference in the diagnostic yield between pre and post menopausal women. To confirm its use in reducing biopsies in women with BIRADs 4a mammagrams and in the detection of interval invasive breast cancer, larger studies are needed.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2015

A new colorimetric test ($Cariview^{(R)}$) using a new type of pH indicator can reflect the acidogenic potential of plaque bacteria. The objective of this study was to evaluate the correlation between $Cariview^{(R)}$ and the caries experience (measured through the dmft index) of children, and to compare $Cariview^{(R)}$ with Dentocult $SM^{(R)}$. Having obtained informed consent, 135 children less than 6 years old participated in the study. We examined their dmft index, and performed two caries activity tests ($Cariview^{(R)}$ and Dentocult $SM^{(R)}$) according to the manufacturers' instructions. In the results, $Cariview^{(R)}$ showed a moderate correlation with the dmft index (r = 0.43, p < 0.01). $Cariview^{(R)}$ showed a sensitivity of 68.8%, a specificity of 69.2%, and an area under curve of 0.686 in the ROC curve analysis. $Cariview^{(R)}$ had a significant correlation with the children's caries experience and had a slightly better explanatory ability than Dentocult $SM^{(R)}$. Furthermore, $Cariview^{(R)}$ was convenient and easy to use on uncooperative children, and also had an educational effect with its visual colors. It is suggested that $Cariview^{(R)}$ could be used clinically to identify the children susceptible to develop caries and to establish a preventive strategy.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.320-324
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• 2002

Purpose : Steatorrhea tests have been developed using various methods. Acid steatocrit is a simple method to detect steatorrhea and has very high sensitivity and specificity. This present study was designed to establish the normal values of acid steatocrit in Korean infants and to find the difference according to the various feeding methods. Methods : Acid steatocrit tests were conducted on 128 infants who were under 12 months of age and who had non-specific gastrointestinal diseases between May 1998 and April 2001. The results were classified into neonatal ages(79 neonates), 1-6 months(28 infants), 7-12 months(21 infants). This included formula-fed(46 neonates) and human milk-fed(33 neonates), 1-6 months formula-fed (18 infants) and human milk-fed(10 infants), 7-12 months formula-fed(11 infants) and human milk-fed(10 infants). Results : The acid steatocrit values decreased by infant age in months. Acid steatocrit values decreased much more after 7 months of ages. The acid steatocrit values of human milk-fed infants were significantly lower than those of formula-fed infants. Conclusion : Our study confirms that a physiologic steatorrhea was found in the infant period and decreases by infant age of months. The acid steatocrit test might be useful for the evaluation of gastrointestinal milk fat malabsorption disorders and therapeutic effects.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.221-226
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• 2014

In this paper, we achieved the study which determined the excellent diagnostic condition and searched the exposure condition with the minimum radiation exposure level having the equal diagnostic ability. To accomplish these study, chest phantom images with lesions and without ones were evaluated at various exposure conditions. With respect to the phantom with lesions and without ones, we obtained the chest PA imaging applied by photographing parts of DR apparatus and the images processed as histogram equalization and edge enhancement method. The images were acquired at the exposure conditions of 2.0, 2.5, 3.2, 4.0 and 5.0mAs. The morphological analysis was performed by ROC curves using the images obtained at each exposure condition. The exposure conditions with the most excellent diagnostic ability and with the equal diagnostic capability having the minimum radiation exposure level were determined by means of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 1995

Background: Tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis can be diagnosed by clinical findings, chest X-ray, Mantoux test, but confirmed only by excisional biopsy. The polymerase chain reaction(PCR) is now widely applied to test very small amount of pathogen and would be used to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in biopsied tissues and fine needle aspirates. Method: We carried out the PCR using IS-1 and IS-2 primers in 16 samples from tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis patients, and 13 samples from non-tuberculous cervical lymphadenopathy patients. Acid fast staining and culture for Mycobacterium were all negative. Results: All of 8 pathologically confirmed tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis samples showed positive PCR results, and of 5/8 clinically diagnosed samples were positive. None of 6 pathologically excluded samples were positive, and among 7 clinically undiagnosed samples 2 showed positive PCR results. Conclusion: In patients with suspected tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis, PCR could be used to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis using biopsied tissues and even fine needle aspirates with good sensitivity and specificity.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.75 no.6
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• pp.244-249
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• 2013

Background: Conventional biomarkers cannot always establish the cause of pleural effusions; thus, alternative tests permitting rapid and accurate diagnosis are required. The primary aim of this study is to assess the ability of pentraxin-3 (PTX3) in order to diagnose the cause of pleural effusion and compare its efficacy to that of other previously identified biomarkers. Methods: We studied 118 patients with pleural effusion, classified as transudates and exudates including malignant, tuberculous, and parapneumonic effusions (MPE, TPE, and PPE). The levels of PTX3, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and lactate in the pleural fluid were assessed. Results: The levels of pleural fluid PTX3 were significantly higher in patients with PPE than in those with MPE or TPE. PTX3 yielded the most favorable discriminating ability to predict PPE from MPE or TPE by providing the following: area under the curve, 0.74 (95% confidence interval, 0.63-0.84), sensitivity, 62.07%; and specificity, 81.08% with a cut-off point of 25.00 ng/mL. Conclusion: Our data suggests that PTX3 may allow improved differentiation of PPE from MPE or TPE compared to the previously identified biomarkers CRP and PCT.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6401-6406
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• 2015

Background: It is sometimes difficult to assess patients who have multiple hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes (MHMLN) with FDG accumulation in PET-CT. Since it is uncertain whether diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) is useful in the assessment of such patients, its diagnostic performance was assessed. Materials and Methods: Twenty-three patients who had three or more stations of hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes with SUVmax of 3 or more in PET-CT were included in this study. Results: For diagnosis of disease, there were 20 malignancies (lung cancers 17, malignant lymphomas 2 and metastatic lung tumor 1), and 3 benign cases (sarcoidosis 2 and benign disease 1). For diagnosis of lymph nodes, there were 7 malignancies (metastasis of lung cancer 7 and malignant lymphoma 1) and 16 benign lymphadenopathies (pneumoconiosis/silicosis 7, sarcoidosis 4, benign disease 4, and atypical lymphocyte infiltration 1). The ADC value ($1.57{\pm}0.29{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$) of malignant MHMLN was significantly lower than that ($1.99{\pm}0.24{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$) of benign MHMLN (P=0.0437). However, the SUVmax was not significantly higher ($10.0{\pm}7.34$ as compared to $6.38{\pm}4.31$) (P=0.15). The sensitivity (86%) by PET-CT was not significantly higher than that (71%) by DWI for malignant MHMLN (P=1.0). The specificity (100%) by DWI was significantly higher than that (31%) for benign MHMLN (P=0.0098). Furthermore, the accuracy (91%) with DWI was significantly higher than that (48%) with PET-CT for MHMLN (P=0.0129). Conclusions: Evaluation by DWI for patients with MHMLN with FDG accumulation is useful for distinguishing benign from malignant conditions.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.457-462
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• 2020

Osteoporosis is a disease that occurs mainly in the elderly and increases the risk of fractures due to structural deterioration of bone mass and tissues. The purpose of this study are to assess the relationship between nutritional components and osteoporosis and to evaluate models for predicting osteoporosis based on nutrient components. In experimental method, association was performed using binary logistic regression, and predictive models were generated using the naive Bayes algorithm and variable subset selection methods. The analysis results for single variables indicated that food intake and vitamin B2 showed the highest value of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for predicting osteoporosis in men. In women, monounsaturated fatty acids showed the highest AUC value. In prediction model of female osteoporosis, the models generated by the correlation based feature subset and wrapper based variable subset methods showed an AUC value of 0.662. In men, the model by the full variable obtained an AUC of 0.626, and in other male models, the predictive performance was very low in sensitivity and 1-specificity. The results of these studies are expected to be used as the basic information for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 1998

We investigated the rate of hepatitis G virus infection among 50 patients who were not infected with the hepatitis C virus but showed symptoms of hepatitis. Viral RNA was extracted from the patients' sera and cDNA was synthesized and amplified by RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) using random hexamer and 5 primers (470-20-1-77F, 470-20-1-211R, 470-20-1-211R-biotin, GV57-4512MF, GV57-4657MR). The amplified PCR products were confirmed by electrochemiluminescence (ECL), liquid hybridization (LH) and Southern blotting (SB). Among the 50 PCR products, by means of ECL, we found 4 samples to be positive and 5 samples to be indeterminate. The GV45-89M probe (5'-CYCGCTGRTITGGGGTGTACfGGAAGGC-3') was end-labelled with gamma-$^{32}P$ ATP and used for liquid hybridization with the PCR products. By using liquid hybridization, we detected specific bands from 4 positive sera and also from one indeterminate serum as determined by ECL. An 1.5% agarose gel electrophoresis of the 9 PCR products which were HGV positive or indeterminate as determined by ECL showed a 160bp band from 4 positive and one indeterminate serum. The 5 PCR products proved to be positive when SB was applied with the GV45-89M probe as well as when LH was applied. LH and SB were shown to have higher sensitivity and specificity than ECL. Two cases among 5 positive cases had relatively high SGOT, SGPT, ALP values when compared with other 48 cases. In summary, we confirmed hepatitis G virus infection in 5 cases among 50 Korean patients showing symptoms of viral hepatitis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.171-176
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• 1986

In order to obtain the most specific and sensitive antigen from crude antigens of Fasciola hepatica for the immunodiagnosis of bovine fascioliasis by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), phosphate buffered saline extract of F. hepatica was prepared. The crude extract was fractionated into 7 antigens using sephadex G-100 column chromatography. Seven fractionated antigens were applied to ELISA, precipitation test and intradermal test, respectively. Results obtained are as follows: 1. The specificity (95% confidence interval in negative sera of bovine fascioliasis; Mean+$2{\times}SD$ of absorbence) of the first (MW>150,000) and the second antigens(MW 120,000) were 93.7%, but those of others including crude antigen showed 100%. 2. The sensitivity(positive sera of bovine fascioliasis having higher values with compared to the criterion) of the first, the sixth (MW 16,000) and the seventh antigen (MW<5,000) were 91.6%, 87.5% and 0%, respectively, but those of others showed all 100%. 3. The absorbance by ELISA using the fifth antigen (MW 26,000) was 8. 43-folds higher in the positive sera than that in the negative sera. This could be used as one of the most specific antigens for the immunodiagnosis of bovine fascioliasis. 4. In Ouchterlony test, precipitin lines were not found in the sera naturally infected with F. hepatica, but some were found in the sera of rabbits immunized with the crude antigens. The numbers of precipitin lines in the sera of rabbits were different in the different fractionated antigens. They were 6 in the crude, 2 in the second and the third antigens, 1 in the fourth, the fifth and the sixth antigens and absent in the seventh antigen, respectively. 5. The wheal size for bovine infected with F. hepatica was $2.46{\pm}0.15cm$ in the intradermal test antigen(saline extract of F. hepatica) supplied by the Veterinary Research Institute, Rural Development Administration, Korea. The wheal size of the first, the second and the third antigens were larger than that. of intradermal test antigen, whereas those of the fouth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh antigens showed smaller than that of the intradermal test antigen. The results suggest that the fifth antigen may be specific antigen for the immunodiagnosis of bovine fascioliasis.