• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.365-377
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• 2022

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine-threonine kinase member of the cellular phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, which is involved in multiple biological functions by transcriptional and translational control. mTOR is a downstream mediator in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and plays a critical role in cell survival. In cancer, this pathway can be activated by membrane receptors, including the HER (or ErbB) family of growth factor receptors, the insulin-like growth factor receptor, and the estrogen receptor. In the present work, we congregated an electronic network of mTORC1 built on an assembly of data using natural language processing, consisting of 470 edges (activations/interactions and/or inhibitions) and 206 nodes representing genes/proteins, using the Cytoscape 3.6.0 editor and its plugins for analysis. The experimental design included the extraction of gene expression data related to five distinct types of cancers, namely, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, hepatic cirrhosis, cervical cancer, glioblastoma, and anaplastic thyroid cancer from Gene Expression Omnibus (NCBI GEO) followed by pre-processing and normalization of the data using R & Bioconductor. ExprEssence plugin was used for network condensation to identify differentially expressed genes across the gene expression samples. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis was performed to find out the over-represented GO terms in the network. In addition, pathway enrichment and functional module analysis of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were also conducted. Our results indicated NOTCH1, NOTCH3, FLCN, SOD1, SOD2, NF1, and TLR4 as upregulated proteins in different cancer types highlighting their role in cancer progression. The MCODE analysis identified gene clusters for each cancer type with MYC, PCNA, PARP1, IDH1, FGF10, PTEN, and CCND1 as hub genes with high connectivity. MYC for cervical cancer, IDH1 for hepatic cirrhosis, MGMT for glioblastoma and CCND1 for anaplastic thyroid cancer were identified as genes with prognostic importance using survival analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.212-220
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• 2012

Objectives: Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ($^{18}F$-FDG PET) is a non-invasive diagnostic tool for many human cancers wherein glucose uptake transporter-1 (GLUT-1) acts as a main transporter in the uptake of $^{18}F$-FDG in cancer cells. Increased expression of glucose transporter-1 has been reported in many human cancers. In this study, we investigated the correlation between $^{18}F$-FDG accumulation and expression of GLUT-1 in oral cancer. Materials and Methods: We evaluated 42 patients diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and malignant salivary gland tumor as confirmed by histology. 42 patients underwent pre-operative $^{18}F$-FDG PET, with the maximum standardized uptake value ($SUV_{max}$) measured in each case. Immunohistochemical staining was done for each histological specimen, and results were evaluated post-operatively according to the percentage (%) of positive area, intensity, and staining score. Results: For OSCC, $SUV_{max}$ significantly increased as T stage of tumor classification increased. For malignant salivary gland tumor, $SUV_{max}$ significantly increased as T stage of tumor classification increased. For OSCC, GLUT-1 was expressed in all 36 cases. GLUT-1 staining score (GSS) increased as T stage of tumor classification increased, with the difference statistically significant. For malignant salivary gland tumor, GLUT-1 expression was observed in all 6 cases; average GSS was significantly higher in patients with cervical lymph node metastasis than that in patients without cervical lymph node metastasis. Average GSS was higher in OSCC ($11.11{\pm}1.75$) than in malignant salivary gland tumor ($5.33{\pm}3.50$). No statistically significant correlation between GSS and $SUV_{max}$ was observed in OSCC or in malignant salivary gland tumor. Conclusion: We found no statistically significant correlation between GSS and $SUV_{max}$ in OSCC or in malignant salivary gland tumor. Studies on the various uses of GLUT during $^{18}F$-FDG uptake and SUV and GLUT as tumor prognosis factor need to be conducted through further investigation with large samples.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.37-53
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• 2021

Background and objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection globally and is responsible for multiple clinical outcomes, including genital warts and cervical, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers. Despite the well established burden of HPV on both men and women, vaccine uptake among men is critically low in Korea. A preliminary step to combat this issue is to target parents of male adolescents. In the present study, we aimed to assess any change observed in parents' HPV knowledge and attitudes towards male HPV and subsequent willingness to vaccinate their sons following an HPV educational intervention. Methods: On November 14, 2020, a one-time HPV educational session was conducted and parents (n=136) completed self-administered pre-/post-test questionnaires that included previously validated survey items. Paired t-tests were used to evaluate change in HPV-related knowledge, attitudes and intent for HPV vaccination. Results: Following the intervention, participants reported increased scores in HPV and vaccine related knowledge by approximately 4 and 1.5 points, respectively (p<.001). Parents scored higher on perceived benefits of the vaccine, perceived social influence on vaccination decision and perceived severity of diseases caused by HPV infections, whereas lower scores were observed for perceived harm of the vaccine, and difficulties communicating with their sons about sex and HPV vaccination. Following the intervention, those without the intent to vaccinate their sons significantly decreased and those who intended to vaccinate their sons though not in the next six months significantly increased (χ2=33.045, p<.001) Conclusion: Our educational intervention resulted in an increase in HPV-related knowledge with a positive impact on parents' attitudes toward male HPV vaccination. We expect that this study can serve as a pivotal reference to promote the unexplored issue of HPV vaccination among male adolescents in Korea.