• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.4449-4454
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• 2014

Aim: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) have been considered as a risk factor for many cancers. We conducted this meta-analysis to clarify the association between H. pylori infection and the risk of pancreatic cancer. Methods: We searched the Medicine/Pubmed and Embase databases, studies about the association between H. pylori infection and pancreatic cancer published up to Jan.2014 were included. Finally, a total of 9 studies were used for this a meta-analysis. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) of H. pylori infection on pancreatic cancer with respect to control groups were evaluated. Two authors independently assessed the methodological quality and extracted data. This meta-analysis was conducted using software, state (version 12.0) to investigate heterogeneity among individual studies and to summarize the studies. Using the fixed-effects or random-effects model, depending on the absence or presence of significant heterogeneity. Sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the influence of each individual study on the pooled ORs by omitting a single study each time. Publication bias was evaluated by funnel plot, using Egger's and Begg's tests. Results: There was no significant association between H. pylori infection and pancreatic cancer risk in the summary ORs,(OR=1.06, 95%CI: 0.74-1.37) through the random-effect method, but heterogeneity among studies was significant ($I^2$=58.9%), so we put the studies into two subgraphs (eastern and western). The results about western (OR=1.14 95%CI:0.89, 1.40) showed heterogeneity among the western countries of $I^2$=6.6%, with no significant association between Hp+ and pancreatic cancer, but the eastern countries (OR=0.62, 95%CI:0.49, 0.76), $I^2$=0, suggested that decreasing pancreas-cancer risk in subjects with Hp+ infection. Simultaneously, 7 studies examined CagA+ strains was (OR=0.84 95%CI:0.63, 1.04), $I^2$=36% with the random-effect method, subgraphs indicated that CagA+ could decrease the risk of pancreatic cancer in the eastern subjects (OR=0.66, 95%CI:0.52-0.80), but the association was not statistically significant in the western subjects (OR=0.95, 95%CI:0.73, 1.16). Conclusion: Hp+ and CagA+ infection are associated with a decreased risk of pancreatic cancer in eastern populations but have no significant associations in western countries.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.630-639
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• 2000

The gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) establishes long-term chronic infection that can lead to atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, and gastric cancer. H. pylori, which express cytotoxic genes is now recohnized as a cause of peptic ulcer and is also a major risk factor for the development of gastric adenocarcinoma. We performed this study 1) to assess the detection rate of H. pylori according to direct investigation of bacteria of gastric biopsy specimen and two serologic tests of GAP test and Helico blot 2.0 system in the symptomatic and non-symptomatic group 2) to evaluate and compare the efficacy of two serologic tests of GAP test and Helico blot 2.0 system for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection. Forty-nine patients were positive for H pylori infection based on direct investigation of bacteria by histology. The detection rates of H. pylori infection based on direct investigation of bacteria by histology. The detection rates of H. phlori were significantly lower in gastric cancer than in other gastroduodenal disease(p<0.05). The concordance of two serologic tests of GAP test and Helico blot 2.0 system is poor. There was no statistically significant difference between the expression rate of CagA and VacA in the symptomatic and non-symptomatic group. Although Helico blot 2.0 system may not displace GAP test, it was a very sensitive serologic test for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection and it was used to detect IgG antibodies to H. pylori-specific antigens, including CagA, VacA and the various urease subunit. Our data suggest that further investigation is needed to determine whether or not the serologic expression of cytotoxic gene may be clinical usefulness of diagnostic methods in the gastroduodenal disease.

• The Korean journal of helicobacter and upper gastrointestinal research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.186-197
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• 2018

Background/Aims: To investigate the predictive factors for improvement of atrophic gastritis (AG) and intestinal metaplasia (IM). Materials and Methods: A total of 778 subjects were prospectively enrolled and followed up for 10 years. Histological analysis of AG and IM was performed by using the updated Sydney system. To find the predictive factors for reversibility of AG and IM, 24 factors including genetic polymorphisms and bacterial and environmental factors were analyzed. Results: In all subjects, the predictive factor by multivariate analysis for improvement of both antral and corpus AG was successful eradication. The predictive factors for improvement of antral IM were age and successful eradication. The predictive factor for improvement of corpus IM was successful eradication. In patients with Helicobacter pylori infection, age and cagA were predictive factors for improvement of AG and IM. In patients with H. pylori eradication, monthly income and cagA were predictive factors for improvement of AG and IM. Conclusions: H. pylori eradication is an important predictive factor of regression of AG and IM and would be beneficial for the prevention of intestinal-type gastric cancer. Young age, high income, and cagA are additional predictive factors for improving AG and IM status. Thus, various factors affect the improvement of AG and IM.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.232-241
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• 2013

Purpose: Gastrokine 1 plays an important role in gastric mucosal defense. Additionally, the Gastrokine 1-miR-185-DNMT1 axis has been shown to suppress gastric carcinogenesis through regulation of epigenetic alteration. Here, we investigated the effects of Gastrokine 1 on DNA methylation and gastritis. Materials and Methods: Expression of Gastrokine 1, DNMT1, EZH2, and c-Myc proteins, and the presence of Helicobacter pylori CagA protein were determined in 55 non-neoplastic gastric mucosal tissue samples by western blot analysis. The CpG island methylation phenotype was also examined using six markers (p16, hMLH1, CDH1, MINT1, MINT2 and MINT31) by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. Histological gastritis was assessed according to the updated Sydney classification system. Results: Reduced Gastrokine 1 expression was found in 20 of the 55 (36.4%) gastric mucosal tissue samples and was closely associated with miR-185 expression. The Gastrokine 1 expression level was inversely correlated with that of DNMT1, EZH2, and c-Myc, and closely associated with the degree of gastritis. The H. pylori CagA protein was detected in 26 of the 55 (47.3%) gastric mucosal tissues and was positively associated with the expression of DNMT1, EZH2, and c-Myc. In addition, 30 (54.5%) and 23 (41.9%) of the gastric mucosal tissues could be classified as CpG island methylation phenotype-low and CpG island methylation phenotype-high, respectively. Reduced expression of Gastrokine 1 and miR-185, and increased expression of DNMT1, EZH2, and c-Myc were detected in the CpG island methylation phenotype-high gastric mucosa. Conclusions: Gastrokine 1 has a crucial role in gastric inflammation and DNA methylation in gastric mucosa.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.118-126
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• 2004

Grid is a new Information Technology (IT) concept of "super Internet" for high-performance computing: worldwide collections of high-end resources such as supercomputers, storage, advanced instruments and immerse environments. The Grid is expected to bring together geographically and organizationally dispersed computational resources, such as CPUs, storage systems, communication systems, real-time data sources and instruments, and human collaborators. The term "the Grid" was coined in the mid1990s to denote a proposed distributed computing infrastructure for advanced science and engineering. The term computational Grids refers to infrastructures aimed at allowing users to access and/or aggregate potentially large numbers of powerful and sophisticated resources. More formally, Grids are defined as infrastructure allowing flexible, secure, and coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources referred to as virtual Organizations. GRID is an emerging IT as a kind of next generation Internet technology which will fit very well with agrometeorological services in the future. I believe that it would contribute to the resource sharing in agrometeorology by providing super computing power, virtual storage, and efficient data exchanges, especially for developing countries that are suffering from the lack of resources for their agmet services at national level. Thus, the establishment of CAgM-GRID based on existing RADMINSII is proposed as a part of FWIS of WMO.part of FWIS of WMO.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.338-342
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• 2007

Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are caused by expansion of (CAG)n triplet repeats. These repeats occur as polymorphic forms in general population; however, beyond a threshold size they become pathogenic. The sizes and distributions of repeats at the SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA7 and DRPLA loci were assessed by molecular analysis of 124 unrelated ataxia patients and 44 controls, and the association of larger normal (LN) alleles with disease prevalence was evaluated. Triplet repeat expansions in the disease range were detected in 8% (10/124) of the cases, with the majority having expansion at the SCA1 locus. Normal allele ranges in the cohort studied were similar to the Caucasian and North Indian populations but differed from the Korean and Japanese populations at various loci. The percentage of individuals with LN alleles at the SCA1 and SCA2 loci was higher than reported in Indians, Japanese and Caucasians. LN alleles showed a good correlation with the incidence of SCA1, indicating that SCA1 is the most prevalent ataxia in our population. The majority of cases with clinical symptoms of SCA could not be diagnosed by established CAG repeat criteria, suggesting that there may be an alternative basis for disease pathogenesis: (i) Repeats lower than the normal range may also result in abnormal phenotypes (ii) LN alleles at different loci in the same individual may contribute to symptoms (iii) Exogenous factors may play a role in triggering disease symptoms in individuals with LN alleles (iv) Triplet repeats may reach the disease range in the brain but not in the blood.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.288-297
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• 2014

Dynamic conformal arc therapy (DCAT) and flattening-filter-free (FFF) beams are commonly adopted for efficient conformal dose delivery in stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Off-axis geometry (OAG) may be necessary to obtain full gantry rotation without collision, which has been shown to be beneficial for peripheral targets using flattened beams. In this study dose distributions in OAG using FFF were evaluated and the effect of mechanical rotation induced uncertainty was investigated. For the lateral target, OAG evaluation, sphere targets (2, 4, and 6 cm diameter) were placed at three locations (central axis, 3 cm off-axis, and 6 cm off-axis) in a representative patient CT set. For each target, DCAT plans under the same objective were obtained for 6X, 6FFF, 10X, and 10FFF. The parameters used to evaluate the quality of the plans were homogeneity index (HI), conformality indices (CI), and beam on time (BOT). Next, the mechanical rotation induced uncertainty was evaluated using five SBRT patient plans that were randomly selected from a group of patients with laterally located tumors. For each of the five cases, a plan was generated using OAG and CAG with the same prescription and coverage. Each was replanned to account for one degree collimator/couch rotation errors during delivery. Prescription isodose coverage, CI, and lung dose were evaluated. HI and CI values for the lateral target, OAG evaluation were similar for flattened and unflattened beams; however, 6FFF provided slightly better values than 10FFF in OAG. For all plans the HI and CI were acceptable with the maximum difference between flattened and unflattend beams being 0.1. FFF beams showed better conformality than flattened beams for low doses and small targets. Variation due to rotational error for isodose coverage, CI, and lung dose was generally smaller for CAG compared to OAG, with some of these comparisons reaching statistical significance. However, the variations in dose distributions for either treatment technique were small and may not be clinically significant. FFF beams showed acceptable dose distributions in OAG. Although 10FFF provides more dramatic BOT reduction, it generally provides less favorable dosimetric indices compared to 6FFF in OAG. Mechanical uncertainty in collimator and couch rotation had an increased effect for OAG compared to CAG; however, the variations in dose distributions for either treatment technique were minimal.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1813-1817
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• 2013

Background: Multiple etiologic factors are suspected to cause gastric cancer, the most important of which is infection with virulent types of Helicobacter pylori. Materials and Methods: We have compared 102 gastric cancer patients with 122 non-ulcer, non-cancer dyspeptic patients. Gastric specimens were evaluated for H. pylori infection by tissue-based detection methods. Patient sera underwent antigen-specific ELISA and western blotting using a Helicoblot 2.1 kit and antibody responses to various H. pylori antigens were assessed. Results: The absolute majority (97-100%) of both groups were H. pylori seropositive. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated serum antibodies to the low molecular weight 35kDa protein to be protective and reduce the risk of gastric cancer by 60% (OR:0.4; 95%CI:0.1-0.9). Conversely, seroreactivity to the 89kDa (VacA) protein was significantly higher in gastric cancer patients (OR:2.7; 95%CI:1.0-7.1). There was a highly significant association (p<0.001) between seroreactivity to the 116kDa (CagA) and 89kDa (VacA) proteins, and double positive subjects were found at nearly five fold (OR:4.9; 95%CI:1.0-24.4) enhanced risk of gastric cancer as compared to double negative subjects. Conclusions: Seroreactivity to H. pylori low (35kDa) and high (116kDa/89kDa) molecular weight antigens were respectively revealed as protective and risk indicators for gastric cancer.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.493-496
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• 2016

Peach rosette mosaic virus (PRMV) is a plant virus that was first reported in 1933 by Peach. It can infect hosts including peach, grape, blueberry, dandelion, plum, cherry tree, and weeds. PRMV is non-reportable in Korea, but it is designated as a controlled virus requiring plant quarantine. In this study, for the rapid and specific detection of PRMV, we developed an assay using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). Comparison between conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods (real time-PCR and nested PCR) and LAMP for the detection of PRMV revealed an equivalent level of sensitivity by all the tested methods. For the LAMP assay, outer primer sets were used to amplify a 264-bp PCR product, which was then digested using the restriction enzyme Pvu II (CAG/CTG), and the visualization of two digestion fragments (207 + 57 bp) indicated a positive reaction. The developed LAMP assay for PRMV is expected to enable the rapid monitoring of PRMV in plants.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) colonization of the stomach mucosa and duodenum is the major cause of acute and chronic gastroduodenal pathology in humans. Efforts to find effective anti-bacterial strategies against H. pylori for the non-antibiotic control of H. pylori infection are urgently required. In this study, we used whey to prepare glycomacropeptide (GMP), from which sialic acid (G-SA) was enzymatically isolated. We investigated the anti-bacterial effects of G-SA against H. pylori in vitro and in an H. pylori-infected murine model. MATERIALS/METHODS: The anti-bacterial activity of G-SA was measured in vitro using the macrodilution method, and interleukin-8 (IL-8) production was measured in H. pylori and AGS cell co-cultures by ELISA. For in vivo study, G-SA 5 g/kg body weight (bw)/day and H. pylori were administered to mice three times over one week. After one week, G-SA 5 g/kg bw/day alone was administered every day for one week. Tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, and IL-10 levels were measured by ELISA to determine the anti-inflammatory effects of G-SA. In addition, real-time PCR was performed to measure the genetic expression of cytotoxin-associated gene A (cagA). RESULTS: G-SA inhibited the growth of H. pylori and suppressed IL-8 production in H. pylori and in AGS cell co-cultures in vitro. In the in vivo assay, administration of G-SA reduced levels of IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 pro-inflammatory cytokines whereas IL-10 level increased. Also, G-SA suppressed the expression of cagA in the stomach of H. pylori-infected mice. CONCLUSION: G-SA possesses anti-H. pylori activity as well as an anti-H. pylori-induced gastric inflammatory effect in an experimental H. pylori-infected murine model. G-SA has potential as an alternative to antibiotics for the prevention of H. pylori infection and H. pylori-induced gastric disease prevention.