• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.791-794
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• 2012

A retrospective cohort study was carried out with 340 female breast cancer at a teaching university in northeast of Thailand recruited and followed-up until the end of 2006. Survival probabilities were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. 161 cases were alive after five years and 58 patients were lost to follow-up. The overall observed survival rates at 1, 3 and 5 years were 83.3%, 59.9% and 42.9%, respectively. When analysis was conducted for stage combined into 2 groups, early (stage I, II and unknown) and late (stage III and IV), the 5-year survival rate for early stage (60%; 95%CI: 0.51-0.67), was higher than for late stage (27%; 95%CI: 0.19-0.34) with high statistical significance (p<0.001). The hazard ratio of patients with stage IV was 11.6 times greater than for stage I (p=0.03). The findings indicate that the different stages of breast cancer markedly effect the overall survival rate.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4591-4594
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• 2013

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Malaysian women. Other than hospital-based results, there are no documented population-based survival rates of Malaysian women for breast cancers. This populationbased retrospective cohort study was therefore conducted. Data were obtained from Health Informatics Centre, Ministry of Health Malaysia, National Cancer Registry and National Registration Department for the period from $1^{st}$ January 2000 to $31^{st}$ December 2005. Cases were captured by ICD-10 and linked to death certificates to identify the status. Only complete data were analysed. Survival time was calculated from the estimated date of diagnosis to the date of death or date of loss to follow-up. Observed survival rates were estimated by Kaplan-Meier method using SPSS Statistical Software version 17. A total of 10,230 complete data sets were analysed. The mean age at diagnosis was 50.6 years old. The overall 5-year survival rate was 49% with median survival time of 68.1 months. Indian women had a higher survival rate of 54% compared to Chinese women (49%) and Malays (45%). The overall 5-year survival rate of breast cancer patient among Malaysian women was still low for the cohort of 2000 to 2005 as compared to survival rates in developed nations. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the strategies for early detection and intervention.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5681-5684
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• 2014

Objective: Prevalence is a statistic of primary interest in public health. In the absence of good follow-up facilities, it is often difficult to assess the complete prevalence of cancer for a given registry area. An attempt is made to arrive at the complete prevalence including limited duration prevalence with respect of selected sites of cancer for India by fitting appropriate models to 1, 3 and 5 year cancer survival data available for selected registries of India. Methodology: Cancer survival data, available for the registries of Bhopal, Chennai, Karunagappally, and Mumbai was pooled to generate survival for the selected cancer sites. With the available data on survival for 1, 3 and 5 years, a model was fitted and the survival curve was extended beyond 5 years (up to 30 years) for each of the selected sites. This helped in generation of survival proportions by single year and thereby survival of cancer cases. With the help of estimated survived cases available year wise and the incidence, the prevalence figures were arrived for selected cancer sites and for selected periods. In our previous paper, we have dealt with the cancer sites of breast, cervix, ovary, lung, stomach and mouth (Takiar and Jayant, 2013). Results: The prevalence to incidence ratio (PI ratio) was calculated for 30 years duration for all the selected cancer sites using the model approach showing that from the knowledge of incidence and P/I ratio, the prevalence can be calculated. The validity of the approach was shown in our previous paper (Takiar and Jayant, 2013). The P/I ratios for the cancer sites of lip, tongue, oral cavity, hypopharynx, oesophagus, larynx, nhl, colon, prostate, lymphoid leukemia, myeloid leukemia were observed to be 10.26, 4.15, 5.89, 2.81, 1.87, 5.43, 5.48, 5.24, 4.61, 3.42 and 2.65, respectively. Conclusion: Cancer prevalence can be readily estimated with use of survival and incidence data.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.561-565
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• 1999

Optimum conditions for vacuum-drying ad cultivation of yeast cells for the production of active dry yeast were examined. At lower temperature, more drying time was required to dry the yeast pellet to reach the desirable water content(8%). Optimum temperature of vaccum oven and time for drying was 63$^{\circ}C$ and 90 min, respectively. Optimum medium composition for flask culture using cane molasses as the substrate were 0.25% sugar, 0.013% $K_2$HPO$_4$, 0.1% $K_2$HPO$_4$. and 0.125% (NH$_4$)$_2$SO$_4$. Culture temperature $25^{\circ}C$ gave the highest survival rate of dired yeast. After finishing fed-batch culture and the culture was left in the fermentor without adding any sugar or nutrient, survival of the dried yeast harvested from the fermentor increased to 86.0% after 36 hr. It was also observed that the yeast cells with higher budding rates showed lower survival rate.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.533-538
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• 2015

This study was conducted to examine the effect of salinity on the early embryonic development stage of boreal digging frogs (Kaloula borealis). An experiment was carried out with the eggs of K. borealis mating couples laid along the coastal zone of Jeju Island in June 2013. The salinity was set to 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 ‰, respectively. The survival and growth of the larvae at various stages from the egg phase to the closing of their external gills phase were observed. In another experiment, tadpoles in internal gill stage were placed in solutions with salinity of 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 ‰, respectively, and their survival rate and growth rate were observed, and then the results of the two experiments above were compared. The results showed that in egg and external gill stage, there was no significant difference in survival rate in 3 ‰ solution, though there was low survival rate in 5 ‰ solution. Further, all the eggs were dead in 7 ‰ solution, so it appeared that solutions with salinity of 5 ‰ or higher affect the survival of K. borealis in the early embryonic development. Larvae in the internal gill stage showed no significant difference in survival rate from the control group up to a salinity of 5 ‰, but when placed in a solution of over 7 ‰ salinity, the survival rate decreased. The growth rate also slowed down with the higher salinity. It appeared that in both the external gill stage and the internal gill stage in 5 ‰ solution, the growth rate decreased significantly compared to the control group. From this study it is concluded that higher salinity values have a significant impact on the survival and growth of the K. borealis larvae and this finding can be used to conserve K. borealis species that are decreasing in number due to the side effects of development in coastal areas.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 2014

Purpose: We reviewed treatment outcomes and prognostic factors for patients with salivary ductal carcinoma (SDC) treated with surgery and postoperative radiotherapy from 2005 to 2012. Materials and Methods: A total of 16 patients were identified and 15 eligible patients were included in analysis. Median age was 61 years (range, 40 to 71 years) and 12 patients (80%) were men. Twelve patients (80%) had a tumor in the parotid gland, 9 (60%) had T3 or T4 disease, and 9 (60%) had positive nodal disease. All patients underwent surgery and postoperative radiotherapy. Postoperative radiotherapy was delivered using 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy or intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Locoregional failure-free survival (LRFFS), distant failure-free survival (DFFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Differences in survival based on risk factors were tested using a log-rank test. Results: Median total radiotherapy dose was 60 Gy (range, 52.5 to 63.6 Gy). Four patients received concurrent weekly chemotherapy with cisplatin. Among 10 patients who underwent surgery with neck dissection, 7 received modified radical neck dissection. With a median follow-up time of 38 months (range, 24 to 105 months), 4-year rates were 86% for LRFFS, 51% for DFFS, 46% for PFS, and 93% for OS. Local failure was observed in 2 patients (13%), and distant failure was observed in 7 (47%). The lung was the most common involved site of distant metastasis. Conclusion: Surgery and postoperative radiotherapy in SDC patients resulted in good local control, but high distant metastasis remained a major challenge.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.212-224
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• 2019

Purpose: Splenic hilar lymph node dissection (LND) during total gastrectomy is regarded as the standard treatment for proximal advanced gastric cancer (AGC). This study aimed to investigate whether splenic hilar LND or D2 LND is essential for proximal AGC of pT2- 4aN0M0 stage. Materials and Methods: Data of curative total gastrectomies (n=370) performed from 2000 to 2010 for proximal AGC of pT2-4aN0 stage were retrospectively reviewed. Clinicopathological characteristics and long-term outcomes were compared using propensity score matching between patients who underwent splenectomy (n=43) and those who did not (n=327) and between patients who underwent D2 LND (n=122) and those who underwent D1+ LND (n=248). Results: Tumors of larger size and a more advanced T stage and significantly lower overall and relapse-free survival (P<0.001) were observed in the splenectomy group than in the 2 spleen-preserving groups. Before propensity score matching, worse overall and relapse-free survival (P<0.001) was observed in the splenectomy group than in the non-splenectomy group. After matching, although the overall survival became similar (P=0.123), relapse-free survival was worse in the splenectomy group (P=0.021). Compared with D1+ LND, D2 LND had no positive impact on the overall (P=0.619) and relapse-free survival (P=0.112) after propensity score matching. Conclusions: Splenic hilar LND with or without splenectomy may not have an oncological benefit for patients with pathological AGC with no LN metastasis.

• Mycobiology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.54-61
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• 2007

Two isolates of Tricholoma matsutake T-008 and T-034, preserved in Entomopathogenic Fungal Culture Collection (EFCC) of Korea, were used in the present study. The isolates had 100% Bootstrap homology with Tricholoma matsutake U62964 and T. matsutake AB188557 and AF309538 preserved in Gene Bank of NCBI. Mycelial growth of T. matsutake was highest in TMM and MYA at $25^{\circ}C$. The highest dry wt. of mycelium was obtained after 65 days of culture, when 6 mycelial discs were inoculated in 100 ml of broth in 250 ml shaking flask. Mycelial mats were observed in clumped condition at the inoculation sites of pine forest after two weeks of inoculation. After 5 months of inoculation, mycelia mats were observed growing inside soil and walls of a few inoculation sites, while mycelial mats growth up to $5{\sim}8$ cm were observed in the roots of pine tree after 6 months. The survival rate of the inoculum was about 40% of the total inoculation sites. The survival rate was found below 20% when the mycelium was inoculated in the summer. The reasons for low survival rates of the mycelium were mainly due to dry season and the soil-borne small animals such as earthworm and mole. After one year of inoculation, no external difference was observed between the artificially inoculated mycelia and the naturally existing mycelia of T. matsutake. The present study showed that fruiting bodies of T. matsutake could be produced by artificial inoculation under the appropriate environmental conditions.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.535-539
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• 2015

Olfactory stimulation activates multiple signaling cascades in order to mediate activity-driven changes in gene expression that promote neuronal survival. To date, the mechanisms involved in activity-dependent olfactory neuronal survival have yet to be fully elucidated. In the current study, we observed that olfactory sensory stimulation, which caused neuronal activation, promoted activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway and the expression of Bcl-2, which were responsible for olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) survival. We demonstrated that Bcl-2 expression increased after odorant stimulation both in vivo and in vitro. We also showed that odorant stimulation activated Akt, and that Akt activation was completely blocked by incubation with both a PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) and Akt1 small interfering RNA. Moreover, blocking the PI3K/Akt pathway diminished the odorantinduced Bcl-2 expression, as well as the effects on odorant-induced ORN survival. A temporal difference was noted between the activation of Akt1 and the expression of Bcl-2 following odorant stimulation. Blocking the PI3K/Akt pathway did not affect ORN survival in the time range prior to the increase in Bcl-2 expression, implying that these two events, activation of the PI3K pathway and Bcl-2 induction, were tightly connected to promote post-translational ORN survival. Collectively, our results indicated that olfactory activity activated PI3K/Akt, induced Bcl-2, and promoted long term ORN survival as a result.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6445-6449
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• 2015

Background: NSCLC is a disease involving uncontrolled cell growth, which could result in metastases into nearby tissues beyond the lungs. Materials and Methods: The aim of the present study was to analyze the influence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene expression on metastasis and survival in NSCLC patients. The present case-control study included 100 cases of NSCLC patients and 100 age and sex matched controls. EGFR gene expression was analyzed by quantitative real time PCR using serum RNA. Association with NSCLC patient survival was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: We analyzed EGFR gene expression and observed mean increased gene expression of 13.5 fold in NSCLC patients. Values reflected overall survival of patients with a median of 15.8 months in the cases of <13 fold increased gene expression vs 6.7 months with >13 fold increased EGFR gene expression (p=0.005). Distant metastatic patients with <13 fold increased EGFR gene expression had 7.9 months of median survival time while>13 fold increased EGFR gene expression had only 5 months of median survival time (p=0.03). Non metastatic patients with <13 fold increased EGFR gene expression had 18 months of median survival time as compared to only 7.1 months with >13 fold increased expression. Conclusions: Higher cell free EGFR mRNA expression may play an important role in causing distant metastases and reducing overall survival of NSCLC patients in the Indian population.