• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.273-284
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• 2017

This study performed meta-analysis of published articles to examine the relationship between sarcopenia and smoking. We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and RISS database sup to January 2017 using search terms such as sarcopenia AND (smoking OR tobacco OR cigarette). A total of 25 articles were included in the analysis (seven cohort studies and 18 cross-sectional studies). Incidence of sarcopenia in smokers and non-smokers was analyzed by the random effects model. Incidence of sarcopenia was OR 1.49 (95% CI 1.21, 1.84, p<.001, I2 = 88.20%), Asian (OR 1.28, 95% CI 0.91, 1.78, p=0.150, I2=85.32%), and Western (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.25, 2.17, p<.001, I2=91.08%), Western smokers showed a significantly higher incidence of sarcopenia:males and females with OR 1.25(95% CI 1.11, 1.40, p<.001, 12=87.4%) and 1.80(95% CI 0.98, 3.30, p=.057, 12=89.1 %) respectively. Male smokers showed significantly higher incidence of sarcopenia. Based on the results of the study, smoking in Western males is related to sarcopenia. However, since the criteria for the diagnosis of sarcopenia and the criteria for smoking were different, cumulative individual clinical studies applying uniform assessment for the evaluation of sarcopenia and smoking status are needed in the future.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.3_spc
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• pp.434-442
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• 2021

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the influence of dietary flavonoids on the growth performance, blood and intestinal profiles, and carcass characteristics of broilers by employing a meta-analysis method. Methods: A database was built from published studies which have reported on the addition of various levels of flavonoids from herbs into broiler diets and then monitored growth performance, blood constituents, carcass proportion and small intestinal morphology. A total of 42 articles were integrated into the database. Several forms of flavonoids in herbs were applied in the form of unextracted and crude extracts. The database compiled was statistically analyzed using mixed model methodology. Different studies were considered as random effects, and the doses of flavonoids were treated as fixed effects. The model statistics used were the p-values and the Akaike information criterion. The significance of an effect was stated when its p-value was <0.05. Results: Dietary flavonoids increased (quadratic pattern; p<0.05) the average daily gain of broilers in the finisher phase. There was a reduction (p<0.01) in the feed conversion ratio of the broilers both in the starter (linear pattern) and finisher phases (quadratic pattern). The mortality rate tended to decrease linearly (p<0.1) with the addition of flavonoids, while the carcass parameter was generally not influenced. A reduction (p<0.001) in cholesterol and malondialdehyde concentrations (both linearly) was observed, while super oxide dismutase activity increased linearly (p<0.001). Increasing the dose of flavonoids increased (p<0.01) the villus height (VH) and villus height and crypt depth (VH:CD) ratio (p<0.05) in the duodenum. Similarly, the VH:CD ratio was elevated (p<0.001) in the jejunum following flavonoid supplementation. Conclusion: Increasing levels of flavonoids in broilers diet leads to an improvement in growth performance, blood constituents, carcass composition and small intestinal morphology.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.1045-1062
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• 2022

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the latest clinical studies on Korean medicine treatment of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database. Methods: We searched the last 6 years of clinical studies discussing Oriental medicine-based treatments for ITP in the CNKI database. A meta-analysis of 13 RCTs was performed by synthesizing the outcomes, including the measured platelet count and total effective rate. The quality of the studies was assessed using Cochrane's risk of bias (RoB) tool. RevMan 5.4.1 software was used for data analysis. Results: Of the 15 selected studies, 1 was a non-randomized controlled trial (nRCT), 2 were case series, and 12 were randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Treatments in all studies included oral herbal medicine. The most frequently used herbal decoction was the Liangxue Jiedu prescription (凉血解毒方), and the most commonly used herb was Agrimonia pilosa (仙鶴草), Astragali Radix (黃芪), Fossilia Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (甘草), and Rehmannia glutinosa Liboschitz ex Steudel (地黃). The meta-analysis showed significantly better improvement in platelet counts and total effective rate for ITP in the treatment group than in the control group. Conclusion: Treatment with herbal medicine was effective in treating ITP. However, the significance of this conclusion is somewhat limited due to the low quality of the available studies. Multifaceted and scientifically designed clinical studies are required to develop treatments for ITP based on Korean medicine. The results of this study could be used as basic data for further ITP studies.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.411-419
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• 2012

In case that R&D results from R&D projects are well managed and archived, the research institutes can transfer the valuable technologies related to R&D results with some costs to corporations. However, it is still difficult to maintain and reuse R&D results because they are managed by each person or each department and not integrated between R&D results. Therefore, the government should undertake to manage R&D results overall by collecting meta data and distribute analyzed information from meta data. Each researching institute also makes an efforts to manage R&D results focusing on their reusing. For this purpose, in this paper, we present a process to manage R&D results; insert meta data of R&D results to the system, upload files of R&D results to the database of the system, inquire, and use meta data of R&D results. Based on the process, we design a system architecture for managing R&D results. In addition, it should be mainly considered to design a global schema for integrating R&D results into one database. The system shows detailed information on R&D results and provides R&D results conveniently to users. We expect that we may reduce the cost of reusing R&D results and improve the quality of R&D results with designing efficiently a process and a global schema of R&D result management system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.466-472
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• 2017

This study was designed to examine the diversity census of fungi in rumen microbiome via meta-analysis of fungal 28S rDNA sequences. Both terms, "rumen" and "ruminal," were searched to retrieve the sequences of rumen fungi. As of September 2016, these sequences (n=165) of ruminal origin were retrieved from the Ribosomal Database Project (RDP; http://rdp.cme.msu.edu), an archive of all 28S rDNA sequences and were assigned to the phyla Ascomycota, Neocallimastigomycota, and Basidiomycota, which accounted for 109, 48, and 8 of the 165 sequences, respectively. Ascomycota sequences were assigned to the genera Pseudonectria, Magnaporthe, Alternaria, Cochliobolus, Cladosporium, and Davidiella, including fungal plant pathogens or mycotoxigenic species. Moreover, Basidiomycota sequences were assigned to the genera Thanatephorus and Cryptococcus, including fungal plant pathogens. Furthermore, Neocallimastigomycota sequences were assigned to the genera Cyllamyces, Neocallimastix, Anaeromyces, Caecomyces, Orpinomyces, and Piromyces, which may degrade the major structural carbohydrates of the ingested plant material. This study provided a collective view of the rumen fungal diversity using a meta-analysis of 28S rDNA sequences. The present results will provide a direction for further studies on ruminal fungi and be applicable to the development of new analytic tools.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.3921-3925
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• 2014

RASSF1A has been reported to be a candidate tumor suppressor in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, the association between RASSF1A promoter methylation and ESCC remains unclear. Eligible studies were identified through searching PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, and the China National Knowledge Infrastucture database. Studies were pooled and odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Funnel plots were also performed to evaluate publication bias. Twelve studies involving 859 cases and 675 controls were included in this meta-analysis. A significant association was observed between RASSF1A methylation and ESCC overall (OR = 11.7, 95% CI: 6.59-20.9, z=8.36, P<0.00001). Subgroup analysis showed that the OR for heterogeneous tissues was 5.35 (95% CI = 2.95-9.71) while for autologous tissues it was 16.0 (8.31-30.96). For patient sample size, the OR for the <50 subgroup was 9.92 (95% CI = 2.88-34.2) and for the 50 case group was 13.1 (95% CI = 6.59-25.91). The OR for a relationship between RASSF1A methylation and TNM stages was 0.27 (95% CI=0.10-0.77), whereas there were no significant differences in RASSF1A methylation in relation to gender and differentiation among ESCC cases. This meta-analysis suggests a significant association between RASSF1A methylation and ESCC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8361-8366
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• 2014

This meta-analysis was performed to assess the implementation effects of clinical pathways in patients with gastrointestinal cancer. A comprehensive search was conducted in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (from inception to May 2014). Selection of studies, assessing risk of bias and extracting data were performed by two reviewers independently. Outcomes were analyzed by fixed-effects and random-effects model meta-analysis and reported as mean difference (MD), standardized mean difference (SMD) and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The Jadad methodological approach was used to assess the quality of included studies and the meta-analysis was conducted with RevMan 5.1 software. Nine citations (eight trials) involving 642 patients were included. The aggregate results showed that a shorter average length of stay [MD = -4.0; 95% CI (-5.1, -2.8); P < 0.00001] was observed with the clinical pathways as compared with the usual care. A reduction in inpatient expenditure [SMD = -1.5; 95% CI (-2.3, -0.7); P = 0.0001] was also associated with clinical pathways, along with higher patient satisfaction [OR = 4.9; 95% CI (2.2, 10.6); P < 0.0001]. Clinical pathways could improve the quality of care in patients with gastrointestinal cancer, as evidenced by a significant reduction in average length of stay, a decrease in inpatient expenditure and an improvement in patient satisfaction. Therefore, indicators and mechanisms within clinical pathways should be a focus in the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.4563-4566
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• 2014

Background: To evaluate relationship between the cyclooxygenase-2 promoter 765G/C polymorphism and digestive cancer risk in China. Materials and Methods: A literature search through February 2014 was performed using PubMed, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases, and a meta-analysis was performed with RevMan 5.2 software for odds ratios and 95%CIs. Results: In total, 9 articles with 3,263 cases and 4,858 controls were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled OR (95%CIs) in the co-dominant model (GC vs GG) was 1.56 [1.19, 2.06], and in the dominant model ((CC+GC) vs GG), the pooled OR was 1.59 [1.21, 2.09] in overall cancers. In the subgroup analysis, stratified by cancer type, significant associations were found that the-765C allele had increased pancreatic cancer and gastric risk. No significant liver cancer and colorectal cancer risk of COX-2 -765G/C polymorphism was found. Conclusions: These findings suggest that COX-2-765*C is related to cancer susceptibility and may increase gastric and pancreatic cancer risk.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1074-1080
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• 2016

Big data analysis refers the ability to store, manage and analyze collected data from an existing database management tool. Thus, meta-analysis is a statistical integration method that delivers an opportunity to overview the entire result of integrating and analyzing many quantitative research results. Commonly, factors of metabolic syndrome can be defined as abdominal obesity, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol. In this meta-analysis, we concluded that the path between pre and post of the fasting blood glucose had the largest effect size of (r = -.324). Therefore, the effect of soybean food intervention showed an explanatory power of 10%. The second biggest effect size (r = .256) was found the path between pre and post in the waist circumference. Unfortunately, soybean food intake showed no improvement on abdominal obesity. Thus, we present the theoretical and practical implications of these results.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2015

Objectives : To determine the effectiveness of Chuna manual therapy for headache Methods : We searched 6 electronic databases(Pubmed, CAJ, Oasis, RISS, DBPIA, KoreanTK) and 2 journals up to Oct 2015. We included randomized controlled trials(RCTs) using Chuna manual therapy for headache. The methodological quality of each RCT was assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results : 9 RCT studies were eligible in our review. The meta-analysis of 6 studies showed favorable results for the use of Chuna manual therapy. High risk of bias were observed in all studies. Conclusions : Although there are favorable results with meta-analysis, our systematic review arehighly dependent on the single source of Chinese electrical database, CAJ. Now limited evidence is available tosupport Chuna manual therapy for headache and further well-designed RCTs should be encouraged.