• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.59-66
• /
• 2006

Optimal method of radon analysis in groundwater was studied using ultra low-level liquid scintillation counter (ULLLSC) which is well known as an analytical instrument for analyzing the alpha and beta radionuclides in environmental materials. Optimization of pulse shape analyzer (PSA) in operating the LSC was performed with $^{241}Am\;and\;^{90}Sr/^{90}Y$ as well as $^{226}Ra$ Also, the chemical quenching of scintillation generation and the color quenching of the generated photon to photomultiplier tubes (PMT) were determined their effects not only to decrease the analytical efficiency but also to change the optimal PSA level and background due to high ion contents of groundwaters. The optimal PSA level was shown in the range of 90 to 110 with less than 5% error. The effects of high ion contents in groundwater for the analytical efficiency show within 10% error from the different ion contents. The chloroform as a quenching agent was used to determine the analytical efficiency with the different amount, showing that the efficiency decreases 20% using the 2% of chloroform.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.22
• /
• pp.9841-9846
• /
• 2014

Objectives: To compare the metabolic indices, lipid profile, androgens, and prostate specific antigen between prostate cancer and BPH and between grades of prostate cancer in a cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: The study enrolled 95 cases of prostate cancer and 95 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Prostate gland volume was measured using transrectal ultrasound. We compared insulin, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, prostate specific antigen levels and lipid profile between prostate cancer of different grades and BPH. Further, prostate cancer patients were classified into low grade and high grade. Unpaired t-test for normally distributed variables and Man-Whitney U test for non-normal variables were used to assess differences. Results: We found that prostate cancer patients had significantly higher levels of insulin, testosterone, PSA, cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) in comparison to their BPH counterparts. Higher levels of these parameters also correlated with a higher grade of the disease. Conclusions: We conclude that higher levels of insulin, testosterone, PSA, and cholesterol correlate with a higher risk of prostate cancer, and also with a higher grade of the disease.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.99-110
• /
• 2013

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate factors related to prostate disease and follow-up procedure on health examination program in Gangwon-do. Methods: The studied population was 16,501 male aged 40 or more, who underwent screening tests for prostatic disease in 2011 health examination program designed for the low income residents in Gangwon-do. The screening tests included prostate specific antigen (PSA), international symptom score (IPSS), and maximal flow rate (Qmax). We conducted chi-square test for trend, two independent samples t-test, and binary logistic regression to find out the relationship between prostate cancer or benign prostatic hyperplasia and risk factors such as age, PSA level, and IPSS. Results: The number of subjects who turned out positive for PSA level (> 3.8ng/ml) was 971 men accounting for 5.9%. The result of post survey on them showed that 511 subjects (52.6%) got the urology check-up: 156 (30.5%) were diagnosed as normal, 286 (56.0%) as benign prostatic hyperplasia, and 69 (13.5%) as prostate cancer. The detection rate for prostate cancer was 8.8% when PSA level was between 3.81 and 9.99g/ml, and was 30.6% when PSA level was more than 10.00ng/ml. The rates of further testing varied depending on the communities from 26.7% to 68.2%, which was mainly affected by the role of local health center. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that enhanced quality control of local health center and empowerment of screening agency would increase the effort of coupled institutions between public and private sectors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.497-511
• /
• 2004

A PSV (pressurizer safety valve) popping test carried out in the early phases of a refueling outage may trigger a test-induced LOCA(loss of coolant accident) if a PSV fails to fully close and is stuck in a partially open position. According to a KSNP (Korea standard nuclear power plant) low power and shutdown PSA (probabilistic safety assessment), the failure of a high pressure safety injection (HPSI) accompanied by the failure of a PSV to fully close was identified as a dominant accident sequence with a significant impact on low power and shutdown risks (LPSR). In this study, we aim to investigate and verify a new means for mitigating this type of accident using a thermal-hydraulic analysis. In particular, we explore the applicability of an aggressive cool-down combined with operator actions. The results of the various sensitivity studies performed there will help reduce LPSR and improve Refueling outage safety.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.81-85
• /
• 2004

Postmenopausal squamous atypia (PSA) is a phenomenon characterized by cellular alterations mimicking condyloma in the uterine cervix of postmenopausal women. It is not associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The aim of this study is to correlate findings with HPV infection and the cytohistologic findings of PSA. Eighty-three smears from postmenopausal women, initially interpreted as ASCUS and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions(LSIL), were reviewed according to the criteria of PSA. Fifty-eight cases were subsequently reclassified as PSA. Forty cases categorized as PSA were available for HPV-DNA detection by a nested polymerase chain reaction. Eight of these 40 cases(20%) showed biopsy-proven LSIL lesions. The HPV-DNA was detected in 42.5%(17/40), compared to 25%(5/20) of control cases. The HPV-DNA detection rate of biopsy-proven LSIL was 62.5%(5/8). It has been concluded that cytologic differential diagnosis of PSA from LSIL is difficult due to because of poor histologic and viral correlation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.2555-2558
• /
• 2014

Pirpose: The aim of this study to analyze the association between history of diabetes mellitus (DM) with risk of prostate cancer (PCa) and cancer grade among men undergoing radical prostatectomy for PCa. Materials and Methods: 50 patients with DM and 50 patients without DM who undervent radical prostatectomy (RP) were included in the study. Age at biopsy, height, weight, digital rectal examination (DRE), pre-biopsy PSA levels, prostate volume, histopathologic diagnosis after surgery and gleason scores were collected data from all patients. Histologic material obtained at biopsy was given a Gleason score; tumours with a Gleason score ${\geq}7$ were considered high grade and <7 were considered low grade. Results: The mean age at the time of biopsy was 63.7 in patients with DM and 61.6 in patients without DM. Diabetic men had significantly lower PSA levels (p=0.01). Mean PSA level $7.04{\pm}2.85$ in patients with DM and $8.7{\pm}2.86$ in patients without DM, respectively. Also, diabetic men had higher RP tumor grade than men without DM (p=0.04). We found that HbA1c levels were higher in patients who have high grade prostate cancer (p<0.05). Conclusions: Diabetic men undergoing RP have lower PSA levels and have significantly higher grade PCa. We must be careful for screening PCa in patients with DM. Although the patients had lower PSA levels, they might have high grade disease.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.260-264
• /
• 2016

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) takes advantage of low ${\alpha}/{\beta}$ ratio of prostate cancer to deliver a large dose in few fractions. We examined clinical outcomes of SBRT using CyberKnife for the treatment of low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: This study was based on a retrospective analysis of the 33 patients treated with SBRT using CyberKnife for localized prostate cancer (27.3% in low-risk and 72.7% in intermediate-risk). Total dose of 36.25 Gy in 5 fractions of 7.25 Gy were administered. The acute and late toxicities were recorded using the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group scale. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response was monitored. Results: Thirty-three patients with a median 51 months (range, 6 to 71 months) follow-up were analyzed. There was no biochemical failure. Median PSA nadir was 0.27 ng/mL at median 33 months and PSA bounce occurred in 30.3% (n = 10) of patients at median at median 10.5 months after SBRT. No grade 3 acute toxicity was noted. The 18.2% of the patients had acute grade 2 genitourinary (GU) toxicities and 21.2% had acute grade 2 gastrointestinal (GI) toxicities. After follow-up of 2 months, most complications had returned to baseline. There was no grade 3 late GU and GI toxicity. Conclusion: Our experience with SBRT using CyberKnife in low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer demonstrates favorable efficacy and toxicity. Further studies with more patients and longer follow-up duration are required.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.1031-1035
• /
• 2007

Prostate specific $antigen-{\alpha}_1-antichymotrypsin$ was detected by a double-enhancement strategy involving the exploitation of both colloidal gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and precipitation of an insoluble product formed by HRP-biocatalyzed oxidation. The AuNPs were synthesized and conjugated with horse-radish peroxidase-PSA polyclonal antibody by physisorption. Using the protein-colloid for SPR-based detection of the PSPJACT complex showed their enhancement as being consistent with other previous studies with regard to AuNPs enhancement, while the enzyme precipitation using DAB substrate was applied for the first time and greatly amplified the signal. The limit of detection was found at as low as 0.027 ng/ml of the PSA/ACT complex (or 300 fM), which is much higher than that of previous reports. This study indicates another way to enhance SPR measurement, and it is generally applicable to other SPR-based immunoassays.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
• /
• v.35D no.4
• /
• pp.71-77
• /
• 1998

In this paper, algeration of electical characteristics is analyzed when the operating temperature of MOSFET, BJT and CMOS/BiCMOS inverter is lowered from 300K to 77K. As the operating temperature is lowered, electric characteristics of MOSFET are enhanced generally but, those of bipolar transistor are degraded because current gain is reduced by BGN(Band Gap Narrowing) effect. For the inverter considered in this work, switching characteristics of PSA-BiCMOS inverter are enhanced by the electrical characteristics enhancement of MOSFET when the operating temperature is reduced to 200K, while under 200K, those of PSA-BiCMOS inverter are degraded because the degradation of BJT impacts on the inverter circuit.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.44 no.5
• /
• pp.453-458
• /
• 2012

A major issue for all nuclear stakeholders is to keep the probability of circumstances that could lead to core damage as low as possible. In addition, for NPP, appropriate accident management provisions are to be implemented to limit the consequences associated with an accident. Development and application of L2 PSA is a structured way to demonstrate that such objectives are achieved. The paper presents the efforts recently done in Europe to harmonize some best-practices in that field, from research area to risk assessment. The Fukushima Daiichi accident reiterated the importance of these activities and the need to efficiently reinforce the NPP safety based on risk assessment conclusions. New perspectives in Europe are briefly presented.