• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3879-3887
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• 2012

Background: Development of effective educational strategies should accompany increases in public awareness and the availability of genetic testing for breast cancer (BC). These educational strategies should be designed to fulfill the knowledge gap while considering factors that influence women's interest in order to facilitate decision making. Objective: To determine the possible correlates of Saudi women's interest in BC genes testing including socio-demographics, the level of awareness towards BC genes, the family history of BC and the perceived personal risk among adult Saudi women in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. Subjects and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out during the second BC community-based campaign in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. All Saudi women aged ${\geq}18$ years (n=781) attending the educational components of the campaign were invited to a personal interview. Data collection included gathering information about sociodemographics, family history of BC, the perceived personal risk for BC, awareness and attitude towards BC genes and the women's interest in BC genes testing. Results: Of the included women (n=599), 19.5% perceived higher risk for BC development, significantly more among < 40 years of age, and with positive family history of BC before 50 years of age. The participants demonstrated a poor level of awareness regarding the inheritance, risk, and availability of BC genetic testing. The median summated knowledge score was 1.0 (out of 7 points) with a knowledge deficit of 87.8%. The level of knowledge showed significant decline with age (> 40 years). Of the included women 54.7% expressed an interest in BC genetic testing for assessing their BC risk. Multivariate regression model showed that being middle aged (Odds Ratio 'OR'=1.88, confidence intervals 'C.I'=1.14-3.11), with higher knowledge level (OR=1.67, C.I=1.08-2.57) and perceiving higher risk for BC (OR=2.11, C.I=1.61-2.76) were the significant positive correlates for Saudi women interest in BC genetic testing. Conclusion: Saudi women express high interest in genetic testing for BC risk despite their poor awareness. This great interest may reflect the presence of inappropriate information regarding BC genetic testing and its role in risk analysis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5773-5779
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• 2014

Background: Since cervical cancer can be prevented and controlled through human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, it is important to train health care providers and provide them with appropriate knowledge. This study aimed to understand the level of HPV related knowledge among medical students and correlates in Southwest China in order to address any potential gap in their knowledge base. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among medical students in six selected universities across Southwest China based on a pretested questionnaire regarding HPV infection, cervical cancer, and HPV vaccines. Results: We successfully surveyed 1, 878 medical students, of whom 32.1% were males and 67.9% were females. Their mean age was 20.8 (standard deviation: 1.3) years. 91.8% of them were ethnic Han Chinese, and 43.8% were students in clinical medicine. While 76.5% had heard of HPV only 48.8% knew that the prevention of cervical cancer was possible through HPV vaccination. Only 42.9% of the male and 49.2% of the female students correctly answered over 10 out of 22 questions on HPV related knowledge. Female students appeared to know more about HPV and HPV vaccination (OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.11-1.75). In addition, the student knowledge improved with the grade (p<0.001). University courses were the most selected source of knowledge about HPV vaccination (66.4%). 83.6% of males and 91.4% of females were willing to have more HPV related education by experts (p<0.001). Only 10.1% of the students acknowledged that people had asked for their advice regarding HPV vaccination. Conclusions: Our survey indicates that medical students from Southwest China have poor knowledge of HPV and HPV vaccination, but are willing to receive more relevant information. Targeted education should be incorporated into school courses to inform these future health care providers and ensure success of programs for cervical cancer control and prevention.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 2015

Background: Pain is one of the most important consequences of spinal cord injury (SCI). It may affect several aspects of life, especially the quality of life (QoL). Hence, this study was conducted to establish an understanding of pain and its correlates and effects on patients with SCI in our community. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 58 male veterans suffering from SCI were admitted to our center for a regular follow-up. Demographic and SCI-related descriptive information were gathered using a self-reported questionnaire. To evaluate the patients' pain quality and the effect of pain on daily life, a questionnaire in 3 parts of lumbar, cervical and shoulder pain was administered. EuroQoL questionnaire and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) 12 were also used to assess the patients' QoL. Results: The mean age of the participants was $45.91{\pm}6.69$ with mean injury time of $25.54{\pm}5.91$. forty-four patients (75.9%) reported pain, including lumbar pain (63%), cervical pain (39%) and shoulder pain (51%). The presence of pain was associated with lower QoL. Patients with lumbar pain reported a significant amount of pain affecting their daily life and this effect was higher in patients with lower GHQ score or anxiety/depressive disorder. Conclusions: Musculoskeletal pain, is a common complaint in veterans with SCI and is inversely associated with functioning and general health status. Lumbar and shoulder pain affects patient's daily living more than cervical pain.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.553-559
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• 2008

Purpose: The lateral orbital wall fractures have been previously classified by some authors. As there are some limitations in applying in their own classifications, we hope to present a refined classification system of the lateral orbital wall fracture and to identify the correlation between the specific type of the fracture and clinical diagnosis. Methods: The facial bone CT scans and medical records of 78 patients with the lateral orbital wall fractures were reviewed in a retrospective manner. The classification is based on the CT scan. In type I, the fracture and its segments are away from the lateral rectus muscle and in type II, they are next to or slightly pushing the muscle in axial CT scan. In type III, the fracture segments compress and displace the longitudinal axis of the muscle or the optic nerve in axial view of CT scan. Type IV fracture includes multiple fractures found around the orbital apex or optic canal in coronal view of CT scans of the type I and type II fractures. Results: The most common fracture pattern was type I(43.6%), followed by type IV(29.5%), type II(20.5%), and type III(6.4%). As diplopia and restriction of extraocular muscles were found in type I and II fractures, severe ophthalmic complications such as superior orbital fissure syndrome, orbital apex syndrome, and traumatic optic neuropathy were found in type III and IV fractures almost exclusively. Conclusion: We propose an easy classification system of the lateral orbital wall fracture which correlates closely with ophthalmic complications and may help to make further treatment plan. In Type III and IV fractures, severe ophthalmic complications may ensue in higher rates, so early diagnosis and treatment should be performed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.160-167
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• 2014

Oligopeptidase B (OpdB) is a serine peptidase widespread among bacteria and protozoa that has emerged as a virulence factor despite its function has not yet been precisely established. By using an OpdB-overexpressing Escherichia coli strain, we found that the overexpressed peptidase makes the bacterial cells specifically less susceptible to several proline-rich antimicrobial peptides known to penetrate into the bacterial cytosol, and that its level of activity directly correlates with the degree of resistance. We established that E. coli OpdB can efficiently hydrolyze in vitro cationic antimicrobial peptides up to 30 residues in length, even though they contained several prolines, shortening them to inactive fragments. Two consecutive basic residues are a preferred cleavage site for the peptidase. In the case of a single basic residue, there is no cleavage if proline residues are present in the $P_1$ and $P_2$ positions. These results also indicate that cytosolic peptidases may cause resistance to antimicrobial peptides that have an intracellular mechanism of action, such as the proline-rich peptides, and may contribute to define the substrate specificity of the E. coli OpdB.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.58-68
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• 2000

In this paper we introduce the correlation-aided distributed sample acquisition (CDSA) scheme for fast cell search in IMT-2000 W-CDMA cellular system. The proposed scheme incorporates the state symbol correlation process into the comparison-correction based synchronization process of the original DSA scheme to enable fast acquisition even under very poor channel environment. for its realization, each mobile station (MS) has to store in its memory a set of state sample sequences. which are determined by the long-period scrambling sequences used in the system and the sampling interval of the state samples. CDSA based cell search is carried out in two stages : First, the MS first acquires the slot timing by using the primary synch code (PSC) and then identifies the igniter code which conveys the state samples of the current cell . Secondly. the MS identifies the scrambling code and frame timing by taking the comparison-correction based synchronization approach and, if the identification is not done satisfactorily within preset time. it initiates the state symbol correlation process which correlates the received symbol sequence with the pre-stored state sample sequences for a successful identification. As the state symbol SNR is relatively high. the state symbol correlation process enables reliable synchronization even in very low chip-SNR environment. Simulation results show that the proposed CDSA scheme outperforms the 3GPP 3-step approach, requiring the signal power of about 7 dB less for achieving the same acquisition time performance in low-SNR environments. Furthermore, it turns out very robust in the typical synchronization environment where large frequency offset exists.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3331-3335
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• 2013

Background: The incidence of prostate cancer, one of the most common cancers in elderly men, is increasing annually in Thailand. Matrix metalloproteinase 11 (MMP-11) is a member of the extracellular matrix metalloproteases which has been associated with human tumor progression and clinical outcome. Aim: To quantify MMP-11 expression in prostatic adenocarcinoma tissues and to determine whether its overexpression correlates with survival outcome, and to assess its potential as a new prognostic marker. Materials and Methods: Expression of MMP-11 was analyzed using immunohistochemistry in 103 Thai patients with prostatic adenocarcinoma. Overall survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox regression models. Results: Immunoreactivity of MMP-11 was seen in the stroma of prostatic adenocarcinoma tissue samples, high expression being significantly correlated with poor differentiation in Gleason grading, pathologic tumor stage 4 (pT4), and positive-bone metastasis (p<0.05), but not age and prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) level. Patients with high levels of MMP-11 expression demonstrated significantly shorter survival (p<0.001) when compared to those with low levels. Multivariate analysis showed that MMP-11 expression and pT stage were related with survival in prostatic adenocarcinoma [hazard ratio (HR)=0.448, 95% confidence interval (95%CI)=0.212-0.946, HR=0.333, 95%CI=0.15-0.74, respectively]. Conclusions: Expression of MMP-11 is significantly associated with survival in prostatic adenocarcinoma. High levels may potentially be used for prediction of a poor prognosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1539-1545
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• 2010

In beer, glutathione works as the main antioxidant compound, which also correlates with the stability of the beer flavor. In addition, high residual sugars in beer contribute to major nonvolatile components, which are reflected in a high caloric content. Therefore, in this study, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae GSH1 gene encoding glutamylcysteine synthetase and the Saccharomycopsis fibuligera ALP1 gene encoding ${\alpha}$-amylase were coexpressed in industrial brewing yeast strain Y31 targeting the ${\alpha}$-acetolactate synthase (AHAS) gene (ILV2) and alcohol dehydrogenase gene (ADH2), resulting in the new recombinant strain TY3. The glutathione content in the fermentation broth of TY3 increased to 43.83 mg/l as compared with 33.34 mg/l in the fermentation broth of Y31. The recombinant strain showed a high ${\alpha}$-amylase activity and utilized more than 46% of the starch as the sole carbon source after 5 days. European Brewery Convention tube fermentation tests comparing the fermentation broths of TY3 and Y31 showed that the flavor stability index for TY3 was 1.3-fold higher, whereas its residual sugar concentration was 76.8% lower. Owing to the interruption of the ILV2 gene and ADH2 gene, the contents of diacetyl and acetaldehyde as off-flavor compounds were reduced by 56.93% and 31.25%, respectively, when compared with the contents in the Y31 fermentation broth. In addition, since no drug-resistant genes were introduced to the new recombinant strain, it should be more suitable for use in the beer industry, owing to its better flavor stability and other beneficial characteristics.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.33-46
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• 2004

A finite element model development of a 50th percentile male cervical spine is presented in this paper. The model consists of rigid, geometrically accurate vertebrae held together with deformable intervertibral disks, facet joints, and ligaments modeled as a series of nonlinear springs. These deformable structures were rigorously tuned, through failure, to mimic existing experimental data; first as functional unit characterizations at three cervical levels and then as a fully assembled c-spine using the experimental data from Duke University and other data in the NHTSA database. After obtaining satisfactory validation of the performance of the assembled ligamentous cervical spine against available experimental data, 22 cervical muscle pairs, representing the majority of the neck's musculature, were added to the model. Hill's muscle model was utilized to generate muscle forces within the assembled cervical model. The muscle activation level was assumed to be the same for all modeled muscles and the degree of activation was set to correctly predict available human volunteer experimental data from NBDL. The validated model is intended for use as a post processor of dummy measurement within the simulated injury monitor (SIMon) concept being developed by NHTSA where measured kinematics and kinetic data obtained from a dummy during a crash test will serve as the boundary conditions to "drive" the finite element model of the neck. The post-processor will then interrogate the model to determine whether any ligament have exceeded its known failure limit. The model will allow a direct assessment of potential injury, its degree and location thus eliminating the need for global correlates such as Nij.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1166-1172
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• 1997

[FeⅢ(BLPA)DBC]BPh4, a new functional model for the catechol dioxygenases, has been synthesized, where BLPA is bis((6-methyl-2-pyridyl)methyl)(2-pyridylmethyl)amine and DBC is 3,5-di-tert-butylcatecholate dianion. The BLPA complex has a structural feature that iron center has a six-coordinate geometry with N4O2 donor set. It exhibits EPR signals at g=5.5 and 8.0 which are typical values for the high-spin FeⅢ (S=5/2) complex with axial symmetry. The BLPA complex reacts with O2 within a few hours to afford intradiol cleavage (75%) and extradiol cleavage (15%) products which is very unique result of all [Fe(L)DBC] complexes studied. The iron-catecholate interaction of BLPA complex is significantly stronger, resulting in the enhanced covalency of the metal-catecholate bonds and low energy catecholate to FeⅢ charge transfer bands at 583 and 962 nm in CH3CN. The enhanced covalency is also reflected by the isotropic shifts exhibited by the DBC protons, which indicate increased semiquinone character. The greater semiquinone character in the BLPA complex correlates well with its high reactivity towards O2. Kinetic studies of the reaction of the BLPA complex with 1 atm O2 in CH3OH and CH2Cl2 under pseudo-first order conditions show that the BLPA complex reacts with O2 much slower than the TPA complex, where TPA is tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine. It is presumably due to the steric effect of the methyl substituent on the pyridine ring. Nevertheless, both the high specificity and the fast kinetics can be rationalized on the basis of its low energy catecholate to FeⅢ charge transfer bands and large isotropic NMR shifts for the BLPA protons. These results provide insight into the nature of the oxygenation mechanism of the catechol dioxygenases.