• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7271-7275
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of significant lesions defined as high grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL), adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) and invasive carcinoma in women who had HPV-positive and cytology negative co-testing screening results. This retrospective study was conducted in Chiang Mai University Hospital between May, 2013 and August, 2014. Hybrid capture 2 (HC2) was used for HPV testing and conventional Pap smears for cytologic screening. A repeat liquid-based cytology (LBC) was performed in women with such co-testing results followed by colposcopy. Random biopsy was performed in cases of normal colposcopic findings. Further investigations were carried out according to the biopsy or the repeat LBC results. During the study period, 273 women met the criteria and participated in the study. The mean age of these women was 46.4 years with 30% of them reporting more than one partner. The median interval time to colposcopy was 165 days. About 40% showed an abnormality in the repeat cytology. Significant cervical lesions were found in 20 (7.3%) women, including 2 invasive cancers. Of interest was that only 2 of 20 significant lesions were diagnosed by colposcopic examination while the remainder were initially detected by cervical biopsy and abnormal repeat cytology. In conclusion, the prevalence of significant cervical lesions in HPV positive and cytology negative women in Northern Thailand was 7.3%. Further diagnostic work up with repeat cytology follow by colposcopy is recommended. Random biopsy should be performed even when the colposcopic findings are normal.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7219-7229
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• 2015

Background: Chromosomal aberrations identified in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have an important role in disease diagnosis, prognosis and management. Information on karyotype and associated clinical parameters are essential to physicians for planning cancer control interventions in different geographical regions. Materials and Methods: In this study, we present the overall frequency and distribution patterns of chromosomal aberrations in both children and adult de novo B lineage ALL Indian patients using conventional cytogenetics, interphase FISH and multiplex RT-PCR. Results: Among the 215 subjects, cytogenetic results were achieved in 172 (80%) patients; normal karyotype represented 37.2% and abnormal 62.8% with a distribution as follows: 15.3% hypodiploidy; 10.3% hyperdiploidy; 15.8% t(9;22); 9.8% t(1;19); 3.7% t(12;21); 2.8% t(4;11); 2.8% complex karyotypes. Apart from these, we observed several novel, rare and common chromosomal rearrangements. Also, FISH studies using LSI extra-signal dual-color probes revealed additional structural or numerical changes. Conclusions: These results demonstrate cytogenetic heterogeneity of ALL and confirm that the incidence of chromosomal abnormalities varies considerably. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the largest reported series of cytogenetic investigations in Indian B-lineage ALL cases. In addition, ongoing cytogenetic studies are warranted in larger groups of B-lineage ALL cases to identify newly acquired chromosomal abnormalities that may contribute to disease diagnosis and management.

• Bioinformatics and Biosystems
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.28-37
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• 2006

Recent studies in molecular biology and proteomics have identified a significant number of novel diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic disease markers. However, validation of these markers in clinical specimens with traditional histopathological techniques involves low throughput and is time consuming and labor intensive. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) offer a means of combining tens to hundreds of specimens of tissue onto a single slide for simultaneous analysis. This capability is particularly pertinent in the field of cancer for target verification of data obtained from cDNA micro arrays and protein expression profiling of tissues, as well as in epidemiology-based investigations using histochemical/immunohistochemical staining or in situ hybridization. In combination with automated image analysis, TMA technology can be used in the global cellular network analysis of tissues. In particular, this potential has generated much excitement in cardiovascular disease research. The following review discusses recent advances in the construction and application of TMAs and the opportunity for developing novel, highly sensitive diagnostic tools for the early detection of cardiovascular disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7381-7383
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• 2013

Background: Male breast cancer accounts for less than 1% of all cancer in men and only around 1% of all diagnosed breast cancer. Despite a significant raise in the last 25 years, it still remains a rare disease. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study from 2004-2011 with 21 male breast cancer patients. We aimed to analyze the epidemiologic data (age, personal and family history), tumor characteristics (size, histological type, location, TNM stage, receptors), surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy, hormonal therapy and survival (relapse, follow up, death) who reffered to our center with breast cancer. Results: The median age was $49.2{\pm}14.2$ years (range 30-83 years). A family history of breast cancer was noted in four cases. The main clinical complaint was a retroareolar mass in 85.7%of patients (n=18). Histologically, 85.7% (n=18)were invasive ductal carcinoma and 4.7% (n=1) had ductal carcinoma in situ and 9.4% (n=2) had mixed histology including invasive medullary and ductal carcinoma. Hormonal therapy was delivered to 16 cases (76.1%) due to ER or PR positivity. During median follow up of 30 months (3-84 month), distant metastases were evident in 4 cases (19%). During the follow-up period, only one patient died due to metastatic disease. The mean time to recurrence detection was 30 months. Conclusions: The percentage of cases of male breast cancer is very low compared to breast cancer in females, explaining why very few investigations have been conducted in Iran. Limited coverage in the literature make gender-specific findings difficult so future research of this entity involving multi-institutional cooperation and longer follow up is essential to provide new insights about the biological and clinical factors of this rare cancer.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.273-281
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• 2014

In most current seismic design codes, design earthquake ground motions are defined by a reference spectrum, based on bedrock and site amplification factors that quantify the geotechnical dynamic conditions. Earthquake engineering bedrock is the fundamental geotechnical formation where the seismic waves are attenuated without amplification. To better define bedrock in an earthquake engineering context, shear wave velocity ($V_S$ ) data obtained from in-situ seismic tests were examined for several rock strata in Korea; these data were categorized by borehole drilling investigations. The $V_S$ values for most soft rock data in Korea are > 750 m/s, which is the threshold $V_S$ value for identifying engineering bedrock from a strong motion station. Conversely, VS values are < 750 m/s for 60% of $V_S$ data in weathered rock in Korea. Thus, the soft (or harder) rock strata below the weathered rock layer in Korea can be regarded as earthquake engineering bedrock.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.73-85
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• 2020

A high-cholesterol diet can reduce male fertility. However, it is not known whether a high-cholesterol diet can regulate the expression of genes involved in sperm maturation and sperm fertilizing ability. Quercetin, a natural product, is known to have cytoprotective effects by regulating lipid metabolism in various cell types. This study aimed to confirm the expression of genes involved in sperm maturation in the testes of mice fed a high-cholesterol diet and to determine whether quercetin can reverse the genetic regulation of cholesterol. Mice were divided into groups fed a normal chow diet and a high-cholesterol diet. Mice fed the high-cholesterol diet were dose-dependently supplemented with quercetin for 6 weeks. Investigations using quantitative PCR and in situ hybridization revealed that the high-cholesterol diet alters the expression of genes associated with sperm maturation in the testes of mice, and this was reversed with the supplementation of quercetin. In addition, the high-cholesterol diet regulated the expression of genes related to lipid metabolism in the liver of mice. Under a high-cholesterol diet, quercetin can improve male fertility by regulating the expression of genes involved in sperm maturation.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2018

Background A persistent problem in autologous breast reconstruction in skin-sparing mastectomies is skin restoration after skin necrosis or secondary oncological resection. As a solution to facilitate reconstruction, skin banking of free-flap skin has been proposed in cases where the overlying skin envelope must be resected, as this technique spares the patient an additional donor site. Herein, we present the largest series to date in which this method was used. We investigated its safety and the possibility of skin banking for prolonged periods of time. Methods All skin-sparing mastectomies and immediate autologous breast reconstructions from December 2009 until June 2013 at our institution were analysed. Results We identified 31 patients who underwent 33 free flap reconstructions in which skin banking was performed. Our median skin banking period was 7 days, with a maximum duration of 171 days. In 22.5% of cases, the banked skin was used to reconstruct overlying skin defects, and in 9.6% of cases to reconstruct the nipple-areolar complex. Microbiological and histological investigations of the banked skin revealed neither clinical infections nor malignancies. Conclusions In situ skin banking, even for prolonged periods of time, is a safe and cost-effective method to ensure that skin defects due to necrosis or secondary oncological resection can be easily reconstructed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1173-1182
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• 2018

The coal wall, gob-side backfill, and gangues in goaf, constitute the support system for Gob-side entry retaining (GER) in coal mines. Reasonably allocating and utilizing their bearing capacities are key scientific and technical issues for the safety and economic benefits of the GER technology. At first, a mechanical model of GER was established and a governing equation for coordinated bearing of the coal-backfill-gangue support system was derived to reveal the coordinated bearing mechanism. Then, considering the bearing characteristics of the coal wall, gob-side backfill and gangues in goaf, their quantitative design methods were proposed, respectively. Next, taking the No. 2201 haulage roadway serving the No. 7 coal seam in Jiangjiawan Mine, China, as an example, the design calculations showed that the strains of both the coal wall and gob-side backfill were larger than their allowable strains and the rotational angle of the lateral main roof was larger than its allowable rotational angle. Finally, flexible-rigid composite supporting technology and roof cutting technology were designed and used. In situ investigations showed that the deformation and failure of surrounding rocks were well controlled and both the coal wall and gob-side backfill remained stable. Taking the coal wall, gob-side backfill and gangues in goaf as a whole system, this research takes full consideration of their bearing properties and provides a quantitative basis for design of the support system.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.3099-3103
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• 2014

TMPRSS2:ERG gene fusions in prostate cancer have a dominant prevalence of approximately 50.0%, but infomration is limited on differences among ethnic and geographical groups. Some studies focusing on Japanese and Korean patients reported a lower incidence. Investigations concerning Chinese revealed controversial results. We evaluated TMPRSS2:ERG, TMPRSS2:ETV1 and TMPRSS2:ETV4 fusions in more than 100 Eastern Chinese prostate cancer patients. Paraffin blocks of needle biopsy and radical prostatectomy were collected from 91 and 18 patients respectively. All patients' clinicopathologic factors were gathered. TMPRSS2:ERG, TMPRSS2:ETV1 and TMPRSS2:ETV4 fusions were tested by multi-probe fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay. TMPRSS2:ERG fusions was present in 14.3% biopsy specimens and 11.1% radical prostatectomy patients. Neither TMPRSS2:ETV1 nor TMPRSS2:ETV4 fusion was found in any case. Altogether, 13 (86.7%) TMPRSS2:ERG fusion positive cases possessed deletion pattern and 7 (46.6%) and insertion pattern. Some 5 cases had both deletion and insertion patterns. While 38.5% (5/13) patients with deletion pattern had distant metastasis, except for one metastatic case harboring both deletion and insertion, there were no patients with insertion pattern accompanied with metastasis. There were no differences between fusion positive and negative cases in the distribution of age, PSA, Gleason score and TNM stage. Eastern Chinese prostate cancer patients have a significantly low incidence of TMPRSS2:ERG fusion. They also lack TMPRSS2:ETV1 and TMPRSS2:ETV4 fusion. There are more deletion pattern than insertion pattern in TMPRSS2:ERG positive cases. Fusion positive and negative patients have no clinicopathologic factor differences.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.181-191
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• 2008

This study aims at assessment of spatio-temporal distribution of demersal fish aggregations near the west coast of Jeju Island using hydroacoustic survey. A 200 kHz split beam transducer attached to a small towed body was used for all acoustic investigations. The received acoustic data were in situ acoustic target strength (TS, dB) for all pings and nautical area scattering coefficient(NASC, $m^2/mile^2$) for 0.1 mile along 12 acoustic transects. Demersal fish aggregations are distributed around the coastal slope having 20 to 30 m depth throughout all seasons. The concentration is higher during the summer season. With regard spatial distribution, higher demersal fish aggregations have been detected near the West coast of Shinchang and especially near Chagwi-do. Pelagic fish aggregations were higher to the south of Chagwi-do during the spring season. Additionally, standing stock of demersal fish aggregations from the NASC data, TS function, and length-weight function of dominant species was estimated as follows: 3.2 ton (CV 21.8%) in December 2006, 17.9 ton (CV 21.6%) in April 2007, 30.8 ton (CV 17.8%) in June 2007, and 22.5 ton (CV 24.2%) in October 2007. The application of hydroacoustic methods offers a new approach to understanding spatiotemporal structure and estimate the biomass of demersal fish aggregations in the coastal area. And the results can be made up limitations of qualitative analysis through net and diving for fisheries resources survey in coastal area.