• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.416-420
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• 2006

Compare to testing sera individually, pooled-serum testing has considered as a cost-effective method, particularly on a large population-based seroprevalence studies. This study was to determine the relationship between individual sera and pooled sera titers for detection of avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and to evaluate suitability of pooled sera by comparing prevalences estimated from both samples. A total of 5,000 individual samples were collected from 500 flocks in Chungcheong, Gyunsgi, and Kangwon provinces between January 2005 and February 2006. Ten samples were randomly selected from each flock. Five-hundred pooled sera were prepared by mixing equal amount of each 10 individual serum from the original samples. IBV antibody titers were measured by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test. The least squares regression analysis was performed to construct equation between pooled and mean individual titers. To determine whether the flock is infected 4 arbitrary criteria were used: detection of at least 1 chicken with HI titer ${\ge}$ 9 (criterion 1), detection of at least 2 samples with HI titer ${\ge}$9 (criterion 2), detection of at least 1 sample with HI titer ${\ge}$ 10 (criterion 3), and filially detection of at least 1 sample with HI titer ${\ge}$ 11 (criterion 4). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to examine the cut-off points of pooled titers showing optimal diagnostic accuracy. The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivities (Se), specificities (Sp), and positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values were calculated. The regression equation between pooled titers (pool) and mean individual titers (mean) was: $pool= 1.2498+0.8952{\times}mean$, with coefficient of determination of 87% (p< 0.0001). The optimal cut-off points of pooled titers were titer 8 for criterion 1 (AUC=0.975, Se=0.883, Sp=0.959, PPV=0.985, NPV=0.728), titer 8 for criterion 2 (AUC=0.969, Se=0.954, Sp=0.855, PPV=0.926, NPV=0.907), titer 9 for criterion 3 (AUC=0.970, Se=0.836, Sp=0.967, PPV=0.978, NPV=0.772), and titer 9 for criterion 4 (AUC= 0.946, Se=0.928, Sp=0.843, PPV=0.857, NPV=0.921). The difference of 'prevalence estimated by individual and pooled sample showed a minimum of 2% for criteria 2 and a maximum of 9.1:% for criteria 3. These results indicate that the use of pooled sera in HI test for screening IBV infection in laying hen flocks is considered as a cost-effective method of testing large numbers of samples with high diagnostic accuracy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9077-9083
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• 2014

Background: This study aimed to summarize the potential diagnostic value of serum DKK1 levels in cancer detection. Materials and Methods: Serum DKK1 was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in a case-control study. Then we performed a meta-analysis and the pooled sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio, and summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curves were used to evaluate the overall test performance. Results: Serum DKK1 levels were found to be significantly upregulated in gastric cancer as compared to controls. ROC curve analysis revealed an AUC of 0.636, indicating the test has the potential to diagnose cancer with poor accuracy. The summary estimates of the pooled sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio in meta-analysis were 0.55 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.53-0.57), 0.86 (95%CI, 0.84-0.88) and 12.25 (95%CI, 5.31-28.28), respectively. The area under the sROC was 0.85. Subgroup analysis revealed that the diagnostic accuracy of serum DKK1 in lung cancer (sensitivity: 0.69 with 95%CI, 0.66-0.74; specificity: 0.95 with 95%CI, 0.92-0.97; diagnostic odds ratio: 44.93 with 95%CI, 26.19-77.08) was significantly higher than for any other cancer. Conclusions: Serum DKK1 might be useful as a noninvasive method for confirmation of cancer diagnosis, particularly in the case of lung cancer.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.603-607
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• 2007

The sample sizes required to detect at least one chicken infectious bronchitis virus(IBV) infection at flock-level were determined using pooled samples for 48 submissions with different samples in each. A total of serum samples of 9,980 layers from Kangwon, Chungpook and Chungnam province were collected and tested hemagglutination inhibition(HI) antibody titers against IBV both individually and with pooling size of 10. Of the 48 submissions, 72.9% were required less than 5 pools to detect at least one infected pool at 95% confidence level, and the corresponding rate was 77.1% at 90% confidence level. Overall, the number of pools was decreased as the percent of positive pools increased. At two different cut-of HI titer${\geq}9\;and{\geq}10$ for individual samples the seroprevalence was 50.1% and 33.4%, respectively while 59.9% were seropositive for pooled samples at HI $titer{\geq}8$. The correlation coefficients between pooled and individual samples at each submission were 0.592(p<0.001) for HI $titer{\geq}9$ and 0.561(p<0.001) for ${\geq}10$, with common correlation coefficient of 0.576. This study indicated that pooled testing for the detection of IBV infection may be an alternative strategy when only the pooled results are of interest and the prevalence has not known exactly.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.227-233
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• 2003

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of chromium (Cr) on the growth performance, bone trait, serum traits, and immune responses in broilers. The broilers were fed corn-soybean meal basal diet supplemented with Cr at level of 0(control), 200, 400, or 800 ppb in the form of chromium picolinate (CrPic). The broilers were fed treated diets for 6 weeks in Exp. 1, but the Cr supplement was removed for the last 3 weeks in Exp. 2. Exp. 1 showed that dietary supplement of Cr did not affect growth performance of the broiler, though improved feed efficiency (p<0.05) was observed during 0 to 3 weeks. Moreover, serum total (p<0.05) and HDL cholesterols (p<0.06) were significantly higher in pooled Cr added group at 6 weeks of age, however, the difference was not significant in Exp. 2. The pooled Cr added group in Exp.1 had significantly lower (p<0.05) alkaline phosphatase activity and higher (p<0.09) calcium at 3 weeks. Significantly lower phosphorus was also observed in Exp. 2. With continued supplement of Cr as in Exp. 1, the alkaline phosphatase activity maintained higher at 6 weeks, as opposed to significantly lower in Exp. 2, which had no further Cr supplement. Higher bone breaking strength was observed in 400 ppb Cr supplemented in Exp. 1, though not significantly different. Serum glucose and triglyceride were not affected by Cr supplement. Antibody against Infectious Bronchitis (IB) was significantly (p<0.05) higher with 400 ppb Cr supplemented, and anti-Newcastle disease (ND) antibody also tended to be higher (p<0.06) in pooled Cr added group at 6 weeks of age in Exp. 1. Peripheral blood blastogenesis activity was not different among the treatments. The results suggest that diet supplemented with 400 ppb CrPic may be beneficial to the broiler.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6643-6647
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• 2014

The breast and the thyroid are hormone responsive organs that are closely related with changes of endocrine function and glandular disease. An association between thyroid disorders and breast cancer (BC) risk has been suggested, although the results are inconclusive. The purpose of the present study was to summarize evidence supporting a relationship between BC and the level of thyroid hormones and antibodies. The MEDLINE and EMBASE electronic databases were searched for studies published between 2000 and 2014. The pooled effects were presented as weighted mean differences (WMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using fixed or random effect models. We summarized the results of 8 cross-sectional studies with 4, 189 participants. The overall pooled results showed that the levels of $FT_3$ and $FT_4$ were significantly increased in patients with BC (WMD=1.592 pmol/l; 95% CI: 0.15-3.033 and WMD=0.461 ng/dl; 95% CI: 0.015-0.906; p=0.043). The TPOAb level in patients with BC was higher than that in the control group (WMD=81.4 IU/ml; 95% CI: 78.7-84.0; p=0.000). The overall pooled results of the TgAb with random effects analyses showed that the TgAb level was significantly increased in patients with BC (WMD=101.3 IU/ml; 95% CI: 48.7-153.9; p=0.000). The present results indicated that the serum levels of $FT_3$, TPOAb and TgAb are significantly higher in patients with breast cancer than in healthy controls.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.3369-3375
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• 2014

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP), considered as a prototypical inflammatory cytokine, has been proposed to be involved in tumor progression through inflammation. Recent studies have indicated CRP as a progostic predictor for urological cancers, but the results remain controversial. Materials and Methods: A systematic search of Medline, Scopus and the Cochrane Library was performed to identify eligible studies published between Jan 1, 2001 and Sep 1, 2013. Outcomes of interest were collected from studies comparing overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) in patients with elevated CRP levels and those having lower levels. Studies were pooled, and combined hazard ratio (HR) of CRP with its 95% confidence interval (CI) for survival were used for the effect size estimate. Results: A total of 43 studies (7,490 patients) were included in this meta-analysis (25 for RCC, 10 for UC, and 8 for PC). Our pooled results showed that elevated serum CRP level was associated with poor OS (HR: 1.26, 95%CI: 1.22-1.30) and RFS (HR: 1.38 95%CI: 1.29-1.47), respectively. For CSS the pooled HR (HR: 1.33, 95%CI: 1.28-1.39) for higher CRP expression could strongly predict poorer survival in urological cancers. Simultaneously, elevated serum CRP was also significantly associated with poor prognosis in the subgroup analysis. Conclusions: Our pooled results demonstrate that a high serum level of CRP as an inflammation biomarker denotes a poor prognosis of patients with urological cancers. Further large prospective studies should be performed to confirm whether CRP, as a biomarker of inflammation, has a prognostic role in urological cancer progression.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.95-102
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• 1985

The activation of adenylate cyclase of human thyrocytes in primary cell culture and the release of c-AMP into the medium are used to detect b-TSH and TSAb in sera of patients with autoimmune thyroid disease. Sera of patients are used directly as a part of cell culture without immunoglobulin precipitation. In the above TSI bioassay, TSAb pooled serum show c-AMP concentration between that of 1mU/ml and 10 mU/ml b-TSH but normal control pooled serum doesn't show any detectable c-AMP response. Ninety fiye percent of untreated Graves' patients shows TSAb activity above normal range, 20% of Hashimoto's and 36% of euthyroid Graves' patients show detectable TSAb activity.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.86-91
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• 2002

The inhibitory effect of pooled canine serum on the growth of ten strains of Malassezia pachydermatis in vitro was investigated. Studies were also carried out to observe the effect of different concentrations of unsaturated bovine transferrin on Malassezia growth in vitro. Ten strains of Malassezia pachygedrmatis in normal canine serum (11.1%, 44.4%) were found to significantly inhibit the growth (p<0.0005) not only in a dose dependent but also in a time dependent manner. The same strains of yeast treated with 1, 2, 4 and 8 times the normal value of serum transferrin (3.0 mg/ml, 6.0 mg/ml, 12.0 mg/ml, 24.0 mg/fl), were shown to have significantly lower OD readings (p<0.05) when compared to yeast treated in lower concentrations of transferrin (1.5 mg/ml). The optical density (OD) of the ten strains of yeast were significantly lower (p<0.005) when treated with various concentrations of transferrin than with the saline control except at 72 hours post incubation. These results indicate that serum has inhibitory effects on Malassezia pachydermatis growth in vitro, and transfferin is one of the components that contribute towards this inhibitory role. The inhibitions are dose and time dependent.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.223-229
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• 1982

Uremia is associated with defective protein binding of weakly acidic drugs, whereas the protein binding of basic drugs tends to be normal. The exact chemical nature of compound(s) and mechanism for these changes as yet is unknown, and has not been defined. Organic solvent extraction of pooled normal human urine following hydrolysis by hydrochloric acid produced an extract, which when added to normal human serum, was capable of inducing binding defects similar to those in uremia. Binding defects were observed with the weakly acidic drugs such as nafcillin, salicylate, sulfamethoxazole and phenytoin while the binding of the basic drugs such as trimethoprim and quinidine were unaffected. The binding defects induced by the hydrolyzed urine extract could readily be corrected by same organic solvent extraction of acidified serum and the defects could be transferred to the normal human serum using the organic solvent layer at the physiologic pH (7.4). Followed by reacidification ind extraction of the binding defects induced serum with the same solvent, separated several fractions were obtained on thin-layer chromatography. One of these fractions could reinduce the binding defects and this factor(s) is apparently weakly acidic compounds and tightly bound to serum at physiologic pH, but extractable at acidic pH, and its molecular weight range is approximately 500 or less similar to those seen in uremia. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that the drug binding defect in uremia is due to the accumulation of endogenous metabolic products which arc normally excreted by the kidneys but accumulate in renal failure.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.279-288
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• 1995

To apply the serum xanthine oxidase (XO) determining for the index of the toluene intoxication, the serum XO activity was compared with the other parameters, the activities of serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aspartate aminotransferase(AST), 5'-nucleotidase(5'-NT), alkaline phosphatase(ALP), guanase(GDA) and $\gamma$-gIutamyl transpeptidase(T-GTP). Concomitantly, the cause of increased level of serum XO was clarified in the present experimental conditions. Although the other serum enzyme activities, ALT, AST, 5'-NT, ALP, GDA and $\gamma$-GTP were respectively not found to be different between control group and toluene-treated group, the serum XO activity in toluene-treated group showed the higher levels than that in the control group. These suggested that the determination of serum XO activity could be used for monitoring the intoxication of toluene. On the other hand, the activities of XO both in the serum and liver were higher in toluene-treated or benzaldehyde-treated rats than those in each control group. In the pooled liver XO from each group, toluene-treated or benzaldehyde-treated group showed the higher $V_{max}$ value than the control group, whereas no changes were observed in liver XO activities between the control liver specimen and that preincubated with bertzaldehyde in vitro. The present results indicate that the increased level of XO in toluene-treated rats is due to the result of enzyme protein induction in liver cell by the benzaldehyde metabolized from toluene. All the more, the benzaldehyde may be acted as a substrate for XO, since the benzaldehyde induced the increased activity of both liver and serum XO, and no changes were found in purine catabolite, uric acid in serum or urine and liver purine catabolizing enzymes, adenosine deaminase, GDA, uricuse except XO in toluene-treated rats.