• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.3 no.6
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• pp.555-565
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• 2019

Development of a biomarker for predicting tumor-treatment efficacy is a matter of great concern, to reduce time, medical expense, and effort in oncology therapy. In a preclinical study, we hypothesized that the blood-flow parameter based on laser speckle flowmetry (LSF) could be a potential indicator to estimate the efficacy of breast-cancer treatment. To verify this hypothesis, a 13762-MAT-B-III rat breast tumor was grown in a dorsal skinfold window chamber applied to a nude mouse, and the change in blood flow rate (BFR) - or the speckle flow index (SFI) is used together as the same meaning in this manuscript - was longitudinally monitored during tumor growth and metronomic cyclophosphamide treatment. Based on the daily LSF angiogram, several BFR parameters (baseline SFI, normalized SFI, and △rBFR) were compared to tumor size in the normal, treated, and untreated tumor groups. Despite the incomplete tumor treatment, we found that the daily changes in all BFR parameters tended to have partially positive correlation with tumor size. Moreover, we observed that the changes in baseline SFI and normalized SFI responded one day earlier than the tumor shrinkage during chemotherapy. However, daily variations in the hypercapnia-induced △rBFR lagged tumor shrinkage by one day. This study would contribute not only to evaluating tumor vascular response to treatment, but also to monitoring blood-flow-mediated diseases (in brain, skin, and retina) by using LSF in preclinical settings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5257-5261
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• 2013

The micronucleus frequency (MNF) in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) is a biomarker of chromosomal damage and genome instability in human populations.The relationship of micronucleus frequency with prognosis of patients with acute leukemia is not clear. We therefore investigated MNF in mitogen-activated peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with hematologic diseases and solid tumours. Patients included 50 with acute leukemia, 49 diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), 54 with benign blood diseases, and 45 with solid tumours, examined with 50 healthy controls. The mean MNF was significantly higher in cases of hematologic diseases and solid tumor patients than in healthy controls (P<0.001). There was no evident difference between MNF in the acute leukemia ($7.15{\pm}2.18$) and solid tumor groups ($7.11{\pm}1.47$), but both were higher than in the MDS group ($5.12{\pm}1.29$) and benign blood diseases group ($3.08{\pm}1.08$). Taking 7.15‰, the average MNF of the acute leukemia group as standard, and dividing 50 cases of acute leukemia patients into high MNF group ($MNF{\geq}7.15$‰) and low MNF group (MNF<7.15‰). The overall response (complete remission + partial remission) rates of the low MNF group were significantly higher than in the high MNF group (P=0.001). The high MNF group further showed lower overall survival rates than the low MNF group. MNF expression and progression-free survival seemed to have a opposite relationship, with a correlation coefficient of -0.702. These data indicate that MNF in peripheral blood lymphocytes is important for evaluation of prognosis of acute leukemia patients, and it can reflect progression of disease to a certain degree.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.627-630
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• 2010

The aim of this study is to investigate neutrophil activation markers among canine ICU (intensive care unit) control, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and sepsis. These markers include WBC (white blood cells), platelets counts, blood film examination (neutrophilic band to segmentation ratio and neutrophilic degenerative changes), and flow cytometric analysis (CD11b expression of neutrophils). As a result, the mean CD11b fluorescence intensity of neutrophils and the neutrophilic degenerative change scores were both significantly higher in sepsis group (P<0.05). In addition, mortality was also found to be correlated with the up-regulation of CD11b expression in circulating neutrophils. This study demonstrates that CD11b expression of neutrophils could be more a reliable biomarker to predict prognosis in ICU patients than traditional blood film examination according to this study.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.333-338
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• 2003

Cytogenetic and hematological analysis was performed in bovine peripheral blood from the regions around Wolsong nuclear power plant and control area. The frequency of micronuclei (MN) in peripheral blood lymphocytes from cattle was used as a biomarker of radiobiological effects resulting from exposure to environmental radiation. An estimated dare of radiation was calculated by a best fitting linear-quadratic model based on the radiation-induced MN formation from the bovine lymphocytes exposed in vitro to radiation over the range from 0 Gy to 4 Gy. MN rates in lymphocytes of cattle from Wolsong nuclear power plant and control area were 9.87/1,000 and 9.60/1,000, respectively. There were no significant differences in MN frequencies and hematological values in cattle between Wolsong and control area. The study indicates that the MN assay is a rapid, sensitive and accurate method that can be used to monitor a large population exposed to radiation.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.313-317
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• 2017

Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is a new renal biomarker for kidney function. It is almost exclusively eliminated by renal filtration. The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the changes in serum ceatinine (CREA), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and SDMA concentrations in dogs with chronic mitral valve insufficiency (CMVI), according to the severity of CMVI. The evaluation of the severity of CMVI was performed according to the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) classification of heart failure. The dogs were classified into two groups: group 1 (ACVIM B; n = 11) and group 2 (ACVIM C; n = 15). In dogs with advanced CMVI, the serum SDMA concentrations were significantly increased above the normal reference range and were independent of body weight (BW), systolic blood pressure (SBP), or sex. No dog in either group had higher serum CREA concentrations than the upper limit. The serum SDMA concentration may be a better renal marker than serum CREA concentrations for the early diagnoses of renal dysfunction in dogs with CMVI.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.685-692
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• 2008

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy in the world. Because CRC develops slowly from removable precancerous lesions, detection of the disease at an early stage during regular health examinations can reduce both the incidence and mortality of the disease. Although sigmoidoscopy offers significant improvements in the detection rate of CRC, its diagnostic value is limited by its high costs and inconvenience. Therefore, there is a compelling need for the identification of noninvasive biomarkers that can enable earlier detection of CRC. Accordingly, many validation studies have been conducted to evaluate genetic, epigenetic or protein markers that can be detected in the stool or in serum. Currently, the fecal-occult blood test is the most widely used method of screening for CRC. However, advances in genomics and proteomics combined with developments in other relevant fields will lead to the discovery of novel non invasive biomarkers whose usefulness will be tested in larger validation studies. Here, non-invasive molecular biomarkers that are currently used in clinical settings and have the potential for use as CRC biomarkers are discussed.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.156-159
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• 2018

Purpose: Sepsis is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis is a major problem because of the lack of specific clinical signs. Therefore, a reliable diagnostic marker is needed to guide the use of antimicrobial agents. The objective of our study was to assess the value of proadrenomedullin (pro-ADM) in establishing the diagnosis and evaluating the prognosis of neonatal sepsis. Methods: This study enrolled 60 newborn infants with sepsis proven with positive blood cultures and 30 healthy neonates. Complete blood count, C-reactive protein levels, and pro-ADM levels were obtained from all neonates. Results: The pro-ADM levels were significantly higher ($14.39{\pm}0.75nmol/L$) in the sepsis group than in the control group ($3.12{\pm}0.23nmol/L$). The optimal cutoff value for pro-ADM was 4.3 nmol/L, with a sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 86.7%. The pro-ADM levels were also higher in nonsurvivors (P=0.001). Conclusion: Pro-ADM can be used as a reliable biomarker for neonatal sepsis. High pro-ADM levels were associated with mortality and could be an early indicator of disease outcome.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.121-128
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• 2022

Recent studies revealed that histone proteins are involved in innate immune responses during pathogen invasion as well as DNA packing. This study characterized the histone genes (H2A.V) of sevenband groupers and analyzed gene expression in NNV-infected sevenband groupers. The open reading frame (ORF) of H2A.V is 387 bp which encoded 128 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of H2A.V harbor a highly conserved domain for H2A/H2B/H3 and H2A_C binding domain. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that H2A.V had a high gene expression level in the brain and blood after being NNV-infected. An increase in extracellular histone protein in the blood has been identified as a biomarker for vascular function in humans. More research is required to understand histone's immune response at the protein level or in aquatic animals.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.397-403
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• 2017

The number of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease is increasing year after year and almost approaching 15% of the total elderly population. Although it is critical to detect the early stage of Alzheimer's disease, which is a serious illness causing cognitive deficits, various existing diagnosis methods such as MRI, PET and CSF analysis could be the burdens for patients due to their high costs and long time to diagnosis. In order to tackle some of challenging issues for such existing diagnosis methods, extensive efforts have been made on developing fast and convenient biochip sensing methodologies for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease with a droplet of patient biofluids (e.g., blood). In this mini-review, we highlight some of the latest biochip sensing technologies that could qualitatively and quantitatively analyze blood biomarkers used for Alzheimer's disease diagnostics and discuss briefly related research trends and future aspects.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 2008

The present study was conducted to examine metabolic risk factors and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of Korean females living in Seoul and to investigate the relationship between the metabolic risk factors and serum TAC. A total of 353 females aged between 20 and 64 participated in the study. Obesity indicators, blood pressure, serum lipid profile and fasting blood glucose were measured as metabolic risk factors. Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay was employed to determine serum TAC of subjects. Obesity indicators such as body mass index, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio were significantly higher in the participants aged $\geq$ 50 y (older group) than in the participants aged 20-49 y (younger group) (p < 0.001). Blood pressure, serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and fasting blood glucose were also significantly higher in the older group than in the younger group (p < 0.001), demonstrating significant positive correlations between age and MS risk factors. The association between FRAP and MS risk factors were also investigated. FRAP values showed significant positive correlations with age (p = 0.001), serum TG (p = 0.002) and TC (p = 0.03). A tendency of positive association between FRAP and waist circumference was observed without any significant difference (p = 0.06). Increased serum FRAP with central obesity and serum lipids may be interpreted as results of activation of antioxidant defense system against oxidative stress induced by metabolic syndrome (MS) constituent factors. However, to verify the function of FRAP as a potential biomarker of susceptibility to MS various contributors to the plasma antioxidant capacity and their biological relevance related to MS should be elucidated further.