• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.14
• /
• pp.6111-6116
• /
• 2015

Background: Stomach cancer is one of leading causes of death worldwide. In Thailand, the incidence and mortality of stomach cancer are in the top ten for cancers. Effects of DNA repair gene X-ray repair cross complementary protein 1 (XRCC1) polymorphisms and clinicopathological characteristics on survival of stomach cancer in Thailand have not been previously reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of XRCC1 gene and clinicopathological characteristics on survival of stomach cancer patients in Thailand. Materials and Methods: Data and blood samples were collected from 101 newly diagnosed stomach cancer cases pathologically confirmed and recruited during 2002 to 2006 and followed-up for vital status until 31 October 2012. Genotype analysis was performed using real-time PCR-HRM. The data were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method to yield cumulative survival curve, log-rank test to assess statistical difference of survival and Cox proportional hazard models to estimate adjusted hazard ratio. Results: The total followed-up times were 2,070 person-months, and the mortality rate was 4.3 per 100 person-months. The median survival time after diagnosis was 8.07 months. The cumulative 1-, 3-, 5-years survival rates were 40.4%, 15.2 % and 10.1 % respectively. After adjustment, tumour stage were associated with an increased risk of death (p= 0.036). The XRCC1 Gln339Arg, Arg/Arg homozygote was also associated with increased risk but statistically this was non-significant. Conclusions: In addition to tumour stage, which is an important prognostic factor affecting to the survival of stomach cancer patients, the genetic variant Gln339Arg in XRCC1 may non-significantly contribute to risk of stomach cancer death among Thai people. Larger studies with different populations are need to verify ours findings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.13
• /
• pp.5187-5194
• /
• 2014

Background: Numerous studies have suggested that selenium deficiency may be associated with an increased risk for several types of cancer, but few have focused on thyroid cancer. Materials and Methods: We examined the association between post-diagnostic fingernail selenium levels and differentiated thyroid cancer risk in a French Polynesian matched case-control study. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results: The median selenium concentration among controls was $0.76{\mu}g/g$. Significantly, we found no association between fingernail selenium levels and thyroid cancer risk after conditioning on year of birth and sex and additionally adjusting for date of birth (highest versus lowest quartile: odds-ratio=1.12, 95% confidence interval: 0.66-1.90; p-trend=0.30). After additional adjustment for other covariates, this association remained non-significant (p-trend=0.60). When restricting the analysis to thyroid cancer of 10 mm or more, selenium in nails was non-significantly positively linked to thyroid cancer risk (p-trend=0.09). Although no significant interaction was evidenced between iodine in nails and selenium in nails effect (p=0.70), a non-significant (p-trend =0.10) positive association between selenium and thyroid cancer risk was seen in patients with less than 3 ppm of iodine in nails. The highest fingernail selenium concentration in French Polynesia was in the Marquises Islands ($M=0.87{\mu}g/g$) and in the Tuamotu-Gambier Archipelago ($M=0.86{\mu}g/g$). Conclusions: Our results do not support, among individuals with sufficient levels of selenium, that greater long-term exposure to selenium may reduce thyroid cancer risk. Because these findings are based on post-diagnostic measures, studies with prediagnostic selenium are needed for corroboration.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.717-746
• /
• 2014

The study aimed to explore how to improve mathematical thinking through metacognitive learning by stressing metacognitive abilities as a core strategy to increase mathematical creativity and problem-solving abilities. Theoretical exploration was followed by an analysis of correlations between metacognitive abilities and various ways of mathematical thinking. Various metacognitive teaching and learning methods used by many teachers at school were integrated for sharing. Also, the methods of learning application and assessment of metacognitive thinking were explored. The results are as follows: First, metacognitive abilities were positively related to 'reasoning, communication, creative problem solving and commitment' with direct and indirect effects on mathematical thinking. Second, various megacognitive ability-applied teaching and learning methods had positive impacts on definitive areas such as 'anxiety over Mathematics, self-efficacy, learning habit, interest, confidence and trust' as well as cognitive areas such as 'learning performance, reasoning, problem solving, metacognitive ability, communication and expression', which is a result applicable to top, middle and low-performance students at primary and secondary education facilities. Third, 'metacognitive activities, metaproblem-solving process, personal strength and weakness management project, metacognitive notes, observation tables and metacognitive checklists' for metacognitive learning were suggested as alternatives to performance assessment covering problem-solving and thinking processes. Various metacognitive learning methods helped to improve creative and systemic problem solving and increase mathematical thinking. They did not only imitate uniform problem-solving methods suggested by a teacher but also induced direct experiences of mathematical thinking as well as adjustment and control of the thinking process. The study will help teachers recognize the importance of metacognition, devise and apply teaching or learning models for their teaching environments, improving students' metacognitive ability as well as mathematical and creative thinking.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.1083-1087
• /
• 2013

Background: Colorectal cancer has several modifiable behavioural risk factors but their relationship to the risk of colon and rectum cancer separately and between countries with high and low incidence is not clear. Methods: Data from participants in the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration (APCSC) were used to estimate mortality from colon (International Classification of Diseases, revision 9 (ICD-9) 153, ICD-10 C18) and rectum (ICD-9 154, ICD-10 C19-20) cancers. Data on age, body mass index (BMI), serum cholesterol, height, smoking, physical activity, alcohol and diabetes mellitus were entered into Cox proportional hazards models. Results: 600,427 adults contributed 4,281,239 person-years follow-up. The mean ages (SD) for Asian and Australia/New Zealand cohorts were 44.0 (9.5) and 53.4 (14.5) years, respectively. 455 colon and 158 rectum cancer deaths were observed. Increasing age, BMI and attained adult height were associated with increased hazards of death from colorectal cancer, and physical activity was associated with a reduced hazard. After multiple adjustment, any physical activity was associated with a 28% lower hazard of colon cancer mortality (HR 0.72, 95%CI 0.53-0.96) and lower rectum cancer mortality (HR 0.75, 95%CI 0.45-1.27). A 2cm increase in height increased colon and all colorectal cancer mortality by 7% and 6% respectively. Conclusions: Physical inactivity and greater BMI are modifiable risk factors for colon cancer in both Western and Asian populations. Further efforts are needed to promote physical activity and reduce obesity while biological research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which they act to cause cancer mortality.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.9
• /
• pp.5145-5151
• /
• 2013

Background: Numerous carcinogens and reactive oxygen species (ROS) may cause DNA damage including oxidative base lesions that lead to risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Genetic susceptibility has been reported to play a key role in the development of this disease. The base excision repair (BER) pathway can effectively remove oxidative lesions, maintaining genomic stability and normal expression, with X-ray repair crosscomplementing1 (XRCC1), 8-oxoguanine glycosylase-1 (OGG1) and apurinic/apyimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) playing important roles. Aims: To analyze polymorphisms of DNA BER genes (OOG1, XRCC1 and APE1) and explore their associations, and the combined effects of these variants, with risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Materials and Methods: We detected SNPs of XRCC1 (Arg399Gln), OGG1 (Ser326Cys), APE1 (Asp148Glu and -141T/G) using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with peripheral blood samples from 231 patients with NPC and 300 healthy people, furtherly analyzing their relations with the risk of NPC in multivariate logistic regression models. Results: After adjustment for sex and age, individuals with the XRCC1 399Gln/Gln (OR=1.96; 95%CI:1.02-3.78; p=0.04) and Arg/Gln (OR=1.87; 95%CI:1.29-2.71; p=0.001) genotype variants demonstrated a significantly increased risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma compared with those having the wild-type Arg/Arg genotype. APE1-141G/G was associated with a significantly reduced risk of NPC (OR=0.40;95%CI:0.18-0.89) in the smoking group. The OR calculated for the combination of XRCC1 399Gln and APE1 148Gln, two homozygous variants, was significantly additive for all cases (OR=2.09; 95% CI: 1.27-3.47; p=0.004). Conclusion: This is the first study to focus on the association between DNA base-excision repair genes (XRCC1, OGG1 and APE1) polymorphism and NPC risk. The XRCC1 Arg399Gln variant genotype is associated with an increased risk of NPC. APE1-141G/G may decrease risk of NPC in current smokers. The combined effects of polymorphisms within BER genes of XRCC1 399Gln and APE1 148Gln may contribute to a high risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.10 no.6
• /
• pp.27-36
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence relationships among individual career orientation, preparation of old age, social networks, and the entrepreneurial intention of the potential entrepreneurs. 408 numbers of structured questionnaire were collected from the potential entrepreneurs who live in Seoul through the online Google survey method and offline face to face method. And the collected data was analyzed on frequency analysis, validity analysis, t-test, ANOVA, and regression analysis etc. using the SPSS WIN 21.0 program. The results are as follows. Firstly, innovation, entrepreneurial creativity, and autonomy orientation affect on entrepreneurial intention positively(+), but security orientation has a negative(-) effect on entrepreneurial intention in the influence relationships between individual career orientation and entrepreneurial intention. Secondly, economical and emotional preparation have positive(+) influences on entrepreneurial intention in the influence relationships between individual career orientation and entrepreneurial intention. Thirdly, the sub-variables of social networks, that is, assist and role models exert a positive(+) influence on entrepreneurial intention in the influence relationships between social networks and entrepreneurial intention. Fourthly, social networks plays a moderating role only on the relationship between security orientation and entrepreneurial intention in the analysis about the moderating effects of social networks on the influence relationships among individual career orientation, preparation of old age, and entrepreneurial intention. Fifth, a social network of relationships to help prepare the old establishment has been found to help regulate effective analysis of whether or not the results of adjustment.

• Management & Information Systems Review
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.115-130
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between organizational characteristics and information systems characteristics or job satisfaction, attempts to examine the regulatory effects brought about by the adjustment of social capital theory. So far, The results of this study are based on the analysis of individual models from the perspectives of each functional organization such as HR, organization, finance, operation, and MIS. Therefore, this paper attempted a comprehensive analysis of factors affecting job satisfaction and firm performance by presenting an integrated research model of organizational perspectives in addition to the approach of MIS perspective. The characteristics of information system were promptness, CEO support, and compensation. And the organizational characteristics were multiple regression analysis using innovation, trust, and preferential factors. The analysis data is based on sixth data from the HCCP of Korea Productivity Center. According to the analysis results, all the variables had a significant influence on satisfaction, especially CEO support and trust. The analysis of the moderating effect between innovation and job satisfaction was moderated by vision sharing. Only the logistic regression analysis of the satisfaction with the average salary of the members among the demographic variables was statistically significant. Therefore, this study can be concluded that the overall satisfaction level will be improved by recognizing appropriate compensation as sufficient compensation.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.233-244
• /
• 2012

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and the Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin are developing a near infrared wide-band high resolution spectrograph, immersion grating infrared spectrometer (IGRINS). The compact white-pupil design of the instrument optics uses seven cryogenic mirrors, including three aspherical off-axis collimators and four flat fold mirrors. In this study, we introduce the optomechanical mount designs of three off-axis collimating mirrors and one flat slit-viewer fold mirror. Two of the off-axis collimators are serving as H and K-band pupil transfer mirrors, and are designed as system alignment compensators in combination with the H2RG focal plane array detectors in each channel. For this reason, the mount designs include tip-tilt and parallel translation adjustment mechanisms to properly perform the precision alignment function. This means that the off-axis mirrors' optomechanical mount designs are among the most sensitive tasks in all IGRINS system hardware. The other flat fold mirror is designed within its very limitedly allowed work space. This slit-viewer fold mirror is mounted with its own version of the six-point kinematic optics mount. The design work consists of a computer-aided 3D modeling and finite element analysis (FEA) technique to optimize the structural stability and the thermal behavior of the mount models. From the structural and thermal FEA studies, we conclude that the four IGRINS mirror mounts are well designed to meet all optical stability tolerances and system thermal requirements.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.763-771
• /
• 2013

Due to a decrease in the number of college prep students which was triggered by the low birth rate since 1990, it is predicted, beginning 2016, that the entrance quota for colleges will exceed the number of applicants for college admissions. This serious imbalance between supply and demand raises serious problems for the regional universities, many of which have already been struggling to recruit new students and even considered closing down the schools. In an effort to securing best high school students, many of the schools have been developing various unique and specialized selectional processes for the applicants. In this research, through a statistical analysis of special admission processes for vocational high school students who were admitted to a regional state-run university (University A), I tried to find a way to effectively deal with the student management. Statistically analyzing these first-year students' enrollment and their adjustment processes as well as the departmental relationships and gender differences, I tried to find some better ways to secure good applicants. It is expected that this study will not only be utilized as guide to adopt a way to bypass the enrollment quota in order to secure talented students but also be served as a reference that will help the students adapt themselves to school life until they graduate. It is also expected that this study will be expanded in such a way as to compare it with other models and even develop a new type of college entrance system that would fit future college admission policies.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.111-125
• /
• 2012

This study investigates the behavioral characteristic difference of the container volumes of three ports-Gwangyang, Incheon, and Pyeongtaek-Dangjin. All series span the period January 2003 to December 2011. I first test whether the series are stationary or not. I can reject the null hypothesis of a unit root in each of the level variables and of a unit root for the residuals from the cointegration at the 5 percent significance level. I hitherto make use of error-correction model and find that Gwangyang port is the slowest in adjusting the short-run disequilibrium, whereas the adjustment speed of Incheon is much faster than that of Gwangyang. The impulse response functions indicate that container volumes increase only a little to the negative shocks in exchange rate, while they respond positively to the shocks in the business activity in a great magnitude and decay very slowly to its pre-shock level. meaning that the shocks last very long. The accumulative response to the exchange rate increase of 20 won per dollar and the 5 point industrial production increase is the smallest in Gwangyang, no more than a half of that of two ports. The intervention-ARIMA models also forecast that Gwangyang port will have much lower growth rate than Incheon and Pyeongtaek-Dangjin port in trading volumes.