• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7657-7661
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• 2013

Background: This study concerns uptake and results of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening of government servant as part of the Health Screening Program that was conducted in Brunei Darussalam in 2009. Materials and Methods: Government servants above the age of 40 or with family history of CRC were screened with a single fecal occult blood test (FIT, immunohistochemistry). Among 11,576 eligible subjects, 7,360 (66.9%) returned their specimen. Subjects with positive family history of CRC (n=329) or polyps (n=135) were advised to attend clinics to arrange screening. All the subjects with positive FIT (n=142, 1.9%) were referred to the endoscopy unit for counselling for screening colonoscopy. Results: Overall only 17.7% of eligible subjects attended for screening; 54.9% (n=79/142) of positive FIT, 8.8% (n=29/329) of positive family history of CRC and none with history of polyps (n=0/135). Of these, only 54 patients (50.5%) agreed for colonoscopy, 52 (48.6%) declined as they were asymptomatic, and one was not offered (0.9%) due to his very young age. On screening colonoscopy, 12.9% (n=7) had advanced lesions including a sigmoid carcinoma in situ and six advanced polyps. The other findings included non advanced polyps (n=21), diverticular (n=11) and hemorrhoids (n=26). One patient who missed his screening colonoscopy appointment re-presented two years later and was diagnosed with advanced right sided CRC. All the advanced lesions were detected in patients with positive FIT, giving a yield of 20.5% for advanced lesions including cancers in the 5.1% FIT positive subjects. Conclusions: Our study showed screening for CRC even with a single FIT was effective. However, the uptake rate was poor with just over half of the patients agreeing to screening colonoscopy. Measures to increase public awareness are important. Since one limitation of our study was the relatively small sample size, larger studies should be conduced in future.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.307-318
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• 1988

Properties of succinate transport were examined in basolaterat membrane vesicles (BLMV) isolated from rabbit renal cortex. An inwardly directed $Na^+$ gradient stimulated succinate uptake and led to a transient overshoot. $K^+,{\;}Li^+,{\;}Rb^+$ and choline could not substitute for $Na^+$ in the uptake process. The dependence of the initial uptake rate of succinate on $Na^+$ concentration exhibited sigmoidal kinetics, indicating interaction of more than one $Na^+$ with transporter Hill coefficient for $Na^+$ was calculated to be 2.0. The $Na^+-dependent$ succinate uptake was electrogenic, resulting in the transfer of positive charge across the membrane. The succinate uptake into BLMV showed a pH optimum at external pH $7.5{\sim}8.0$, whereas succinate uptake into brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) did not depend on external pH. Kinetic analysis showed that a Na-dependent succinate uptake in BLMV occurred via a single transport system, with an apparent Km of $15.5{\pm}0.94{\;}{\mu}M$ and Vmax of $16.22{\pm}0.25{\;}nmole/mg{\;}protein/min$. Succinate uptake was strongly inhibited by $4{\sim}5$ carbon dicarboxylates, whereas monocarboxylates and other organic anions showed a little or no effect. The succinate transport system preferred dicarboxylates in trans-configuration (furmarate) over cis-dicarboxylates (maleate). Succinate uptake was inhibited by the anion transport inhibitors DIDS, SITS and furosemide, and $Na^+-coupled$ transport inhibitor harmaline. These results indicate the existence of a $Na^+-dependent$ succinate transport system in BLMV that may be shared by the other Krebs cycle intemediates. This transport system seems to be very similar to the luminal transport system for dicarboxylates.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.4071-4075
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• 2016

Background: FDG PET/CT is at an equivocal stage to recommend for staging of colorectal cancer as compared to contrast-enhanced CT (ceCT). This study was intended to evaluate the value of FDG PET/ceCT in colorectal cancer staging as compared to ceCT alone. Materials and Methods: PET/ceCT was performed for 61 colorectal cancer patients who were prospectively enrolled in the study. Three patients were excluded due to loss to follow-up. PET/ceCT findings and ceCT results alone were read separately. The treatment planning was then determined by tumor board consensus. The criteria for T staging were determined by the findings of ceCT. Nodal positive by PET/ceCT imaging was determined by visual analysis of FDG uptake greater than regional background blood pool activity. The diagnostic accuracy of T and N staging was determined only in patients who received surgery without any neoadjuvant treatment. Results: Of 58 patients, there were 40 with colon cancers including sigmoid cancers and 18 with rectal cancers. PET/ceCT in pre-operative staging detected bone metastasis and metastatic inguinal lymph nodes (M1a) that were undepicted on CT in 2 patients (3%), clearly defined 19 equivocal lesions on ceCT in 18 patients (31%) and excluded 6 metastatic lesions diagnosed by ceCT in 6 patients (10%). These resulted in alteration of management plan in 15 out of the 58 cases (26%) i.e. changing from chemotherapy to surgery (4), changing extent of surgery (9) and avoidance of futile surgery (2). Forty four patients underwent surgery within 45 days after PET/CT. The diagnostic accuracy for N staging with PET/ceCT and ceCT alone was 66% and 48% with false positive rates of 24% (6/25) and 76% (19/25) and false negative rates of 47% (9/19) and 21% (4/19), respectively. All of the false negative lymph nodes from PET/ceCT were less than a centimeter in size and located in peri-lesional regions. The diagnostic accuracy for T staging was 82%. The sensitivity of the peri-lesional fat stranding sign in determining T3 stage was 94% and the specificity was 54%. Conclusions: Our study suggested promising roles of PET/ceCT in initial staging of colorectal cancer with better diagnostic accuracy facilitating management planning.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.346-352
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• 2017

In this study, we analyzed environmental factors including annual fruit growth and meteorological conditions in Suwon area from 2000 to 2014 to develop and verify a fruit width prediction model in 'Fuji' apple. The 15-year average of full bloom data was April 28 and that of fruit development period was 181 days. The fruit growth until 36 days after full bloom followed single sigmoid curve. The environmental factors affecting fruit width were BIO2, precipitation in September, the average of daily maximum and minimum temperature in April, minimum temperature in August, and growing degree days (GDD) in April. Among them, the model was constructed by combining BIO2 and precipitation in September, which are not cross-correlated with each other or, with other factors. And then, the final model was selected as 19.33095 + (5.76242 ${\times}$ BIO2) - (0.01891 ${\times}$ September precipitation) + (2.63046 ${\times}$ minimum temperature in April) which was the most suitable model with AICc of 92.61 and the adjusted $R^2$ value of 0.53. The model was compared with the observed values f rom 2000 to 2014. As a result, the mean difference between the measured and predicted values of 'Fuji' apple fruit width was ${\pm}2.9mm$ and the standard deviation was 3.54.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1283-1288
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• 1999

Effect of drying methods, such as natural solar drying, hot air drying$(at\;60^{\circ}C\;and\;105^{\circ}C)$, vacuum drying and freeze drying methods, on the quality of laver were investigated to develop optimum processing conditions for preparation of laver powder. Appreciable amount of laver pigments such as chlorophyll, carotenoid and phycobilin were lost during washing and drying process. Their loss was affected significantly by the method of drying. Among the methods tested, high temperature air drying was the worst in retaining laver pigment, while freeze drying was the best. Loss of vitamin C which was in the range of 75-99% was also affected by the method of drying. Isotherms for laver powder shelved sigmoidal shape and monomolecular layer moisture content of both laver powder(Porphyra dentata and Porphyra tenera) determined by the BET equation was 6.30%(dry basis). Laver powders prepared with Porphyra dentata and classified with 50-, 80- and 100- mesh sieves showed monomodal size distribution with the high frequency at 110-120, 100-110 and $80\;{\mu}m$, respectively, which indicated that size or laver powder was homogeneous.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.35-44
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• 2014

This paper proposes a 3D pointing interface that is designed for the efficient application of a hand mouse. The proposed method uses depth images to secure high-quality results even in response to changes in lighting and environmental conditions and uses the normal vector of the palm of the hand to perform 3D pointing. First, the hand region is detected and tracked using the existing conventional method; based on the information thus obtained, the region of the palm is predicted and the region of interest is obtained. Once the region of interest has been identified, this region is approximated by the plane equation and the normal vector is extracted. Next, to ensure stable control, interpolation is performed using the extracted normal vector and the intersection point is detected. For stability and efficiency, the dynamic weight using the sigmoid function is applied to the above detected intersection point, and finally, this is converted into the 2D coordinate system. This paper explains the methods of detecting the region of interest and the direction vector and proposes a method of interpolating and applying the dynamic weight in order to stabilize control. Lastly, qualitative and quantitative analyses are performed on the proposed 3D pointing method to verify its ability to deliver stable control.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.674-683
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• 2010

For the purpose of color reproduction under standard viewing conditions, recently, color display devices have developed for the colorimetric color reproduction. However the real viewing condition of color display devices is quite different from that. Therefore, it is very important for reproduced colors viewed under real conditions to match the color appearance under standard situations. There are various models that can be used to reproduce corresponding colors considering the chromatic adaptation of the human visual system. However neutral point or chromatic adaptation for the luminance level is not enough. In this paper, we propose a model that find adapting white points for the variations of the luminance levels under the same illuminant. This model is modeled by the proportion of Euclidian distance for luminance level. It is the adapting white function of the sigmoid type for surround luminance level. In the model, the optimal coefficients are obtained from the Hunt's experimental result. It is applied in the chromatic adaptation model using the neutral point of the various viewing conditions. And the neutral point can be used as the theoretical standard which determines the reference white of the color display devices.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 1992

The effects of changes in extracellular $Na^+\;and\;Ca^+$ concentration on the membrane potential and contractility were studied in the antral circular muscle of guinea pig stomach in order to elucidate the existence and the nature of $Na^+/Ca^{2+}$ exchange mechanism. All experiments were performed in tris buffered Tyrode solution which was aerated with 100% $O_2$ and kept at $35^{\circ}C.$ The treatment of $10^{-5}$ ouabain was performed to induce intracellular $Na^+$ loading prior to the start of experiment. The results were as follows: 1. $Na^+$-free Tyrode or high $Ca^{2+}$-Tyrode solution hyperpolarized the membrane potential and induced contracture. The time course of contracture was similar to that of change in membrane potential. 2. The degree of hyperpolarization and the amplitude of contracture decreased in accordance with the increase of extracellular $Na^+$ concentration. 3. $Na^+$-free contracture was developed even after blocking the influence of intrinsic nerves by the pretreatment with atropine, guanethidine and TTX. 4. $Ca^{2+}$-channel blockers(D-600 or $Mn^{2+}$) and the blocker of intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ release from sarcoplasmic reticulum(ryanodine) did not suppress the development of $Na^+$-free contracture. And also, dinitrophenol had no effect on $Na^+$-free contracture. 5. Dose-response relationship between extracellular $Na^+$ concentrations and the magnitude of contractures showed a sigmoid pattern. The slope of straight line from Hill plot was 2.7. 6. In parallel with the increase of extracellular $Ca^{2+}$ concentration, the amplitude of contracture increased dose dependently and was maximum at 8 mM $Ca^{2+}$-Tyrode solution. 7. The relationship between extracellular $Ca^{2+}$ concentrations and the magnitude of contractures showed hyperbolic pattern. The slope of straight line from Hill plot was 1.1. From the above results, it is suggested that $Na^+/Ca^{2+}$ exchange mechanism exists in the antral circular muscle of guinea pig stomach and this mechanism affects the membrane potential electrogenically.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.29-39
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• 2009

In this paper has proposed to the recognition of the disease on medical images using neural network. The neural network is constructed as three-layers of the input-layer, the hidden-layer and the output-layer. The training method applied for the recognition of disease region is adaptive error back-propagation. The low-frequency region analyzed by DWT are expressed by matrix. The coefficient-values of the characteristic polynomial applied are n+1. The normalized maximum value +1 and minimum value -1 in the range of tangent-sigmoid transfer function are applied to be use as the input vector of the neural network. To prove the validity of the proposed methods used in the experiment with a simulation experiment, the input medical image recognition rate the evaluation of areas of disease. As a result of the experiment, the characteristic polynomial coefficient of low-frequency area matrix, conversed to 4 level DWT, was proved to be optimum to be applied to the feature parameter. As for the number of training, it was marked fewest in 0.01 of learning coefficient and 0.95 of momentum, when the adaptive error back-propagation was learned by inputting standardized feature parameter into organized neural network. As to the training result when the learning coefficient was 0.01, and momentum was 0.95, it was 100% recognized in fifty-five times of the stomach image, fifty-five times of the chest image, forty-six times of the CT image, fifty-five times of ultrasonogram, and one hundred fifty-seven times of angiogram.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2004

Sexually matured guppies (Poeiria reticulata) were exposed to TBTCI (0.1, 0.32, 1, 3.2, 10, 25, 32, 50, 75 and 100 $\mug/l$) for 144 hours to determine the bioaccumulation rate and effects on the reproduction and behavior. The ratio of TBT residues to $\SigmaBTs\; (TBT:\SigmaBTs)$ was 67% or higher in all the guppies exposed to TBTCl, and the higher the level of TBTCl exposed, the higher the ratio of TBT:∑BTs, suggesting that the higher the level of TBTCl exposed, the lower the metabolism rate of the fish. TBTCl exposure led to a poor reproductivity and an abnormal sexual behavior in the fish, i.e. a reduced number of the male sexual sigmoid display and of spermatophore in the efferent duct was observed in the fish exposed to 0.1 $\mug/l$ and higher levels of TBTCl, and a decreasing ratio of the testicular spermatophore cyst to the whole germ cell cysts was observed in the fish exposed to 0.32∼10 $\mug/l$)of TBTCl. The reduced ratio of the spermatophore cyst seems to be an effect of the endocrine disrupter inhibiting spermiogenesis. In the fish exposed to 25 $\mug/l$ and higher levels of TBTCl, more serious effects, such as a rapid increase of mortality, the necrosis of most of the germ cells, great damages in Sertoli cells and epithelial cells of the efferent duct, a significant increase of abnormal swimming behavior, and a cessation of feeding were observed, which suggest the acute toxicity of TBTCl inhibiting not only the reproduction and behavior but also the survival of the fish itself.