• Toxicological Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.391-403
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• 2007

The study was conducted to assess the repeated dose and reproduction and developmental toxicities of acetanilide, an intermediate for drug production, as a part of OECD Screening Information Data Set (SIDS) program. The test agent was administered by gavage at dose levels of 0, 22, 67, 200 and 600 mg/kg to Sprague-Dawley rats (12/group/sex) during pre-mating and mating period for males(up to 30 days) and females and pregnancy and early lactation period for females (up to 39-50 days). At 22 mg/kg, decreases in HGB, HCT (males) and MCHC (females), hyperplasia of spleen red pulp, hyperplasia of femur bone marrow (both sexes) were observed. At 67 mg/kg, salivation (males), reduced food consumption (both sexes), decreases in RBC, HGB, HCT and MCHC (males), increases in MCV (males) and spleen weight (males), hyperplasia of spleen red pulp and femur bone marrow (both sexes) were observed. At 200 mg/kg, decreases in locomotor activity and salivation (both sexes), reduced food consumption (both sexes), decreases in RBC, HGB, HCT and increases in MCV, MCH, BUN, T-BIL (males), enlargement of spleen (both sexes), increased weight of spleen (males), hyperplasia of spleen red pulp and femur bone marrow and extramedullary hematopoiesis of liver (both sexes), atrophy of thymus and corpus luteum hyperplasia of ovary (females) were observed. At 600 mg/kg, decreases in locomotor activity, cyanosis (both sexes), reddish tear, and salivation (males), mortality (4 out of 12 females), decreased body weight (females), reduced food consumption (both sexes), decreases in RBC, HGB, HCT and MCHC and increases in WBC, MCV, MCH, reticulocyte, neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte, AST, ALT, BUN, T-BIL, ALB, Ca and A/G ratio (males), enlargement of spleen, increased weights of spleen (both sexes), liver (males), kidney and ovary, decreased weights of thymus (females), hyperplasia of spleen red pulp, hyperplasia of femur bone marrow and extramedullary hematopoiesis of liver (both sexes), and atrophy of thymus and corpus luteum hyperplasia of ovary (females) were observed. Regarding the reproduction and development toxicities, there were no treatment-related changes in precoital time, mating index, fertility index and pregnancy index at all doses tested. At 22 and 67 mg/kg, there were no adverse effects on all the parameters observed. At 200 mg/ kg, decreased body weight of pups (day 4 p.p.) were observed. At 600 mg/kg, decreased body weight of pups (day 0 and 4 p.p.) and viability index (day 4 p.p.), increased incidence of newborns dead or with abnormal clinical signs were observed. The results suggest that the NOAELs for general toxicity are < 22 mg/kg, LOAELs are 22 mg/kg and the NOAELs for reproductive toxicity are 67 mg/kg.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5993-5999
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• 2015

Background: Molecular testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most objective and reproducible of all cervical cancer screening tests and also less demanding in terms of training and quality assurance. However, there is an impending need for cost effective molecular HPV testing methods with sampling ease, easy storage measures and minimum turn around times suitable for a low resource setting. Objective : Our aim was to evaluate the feasibility of using a fast transfer analysis (FTA) mini elute cartridge for cervical sampling to identify high risk HPV by real time PCR and to compare molecular HPV testing and Pap cytology testing to predict histologically confirmed cervical precancer (CIN 2+ lesions) in a cervical cancer prevention program. Materials and Methods: This was conducted as a pilot study (n=200) on women sampled using FTA mini elute cartridges, genotyped by two different real time PCR assays, detecting 13 high risk HPV (HR HPV) species, including HPV16 along with its physical DNA status. Results obtained from each of the tests were compared and analysed using suitable statistical tests. Results: With FTA mini elute cartridge samples HR HPV positivity was seen in 48/200 (24%). Of these, presence of HPV 16 DNA was observed in 28/48 (58.3%) women. High risk HPV was positive in 20% (37/185) of women with benign cytology and 73.3% (11/15) of women with abnormal cytology findings. A very significant correlation (${\chi}^2=22.090$ ; p=0.000) was observed between cytology and HR HPV findings showing an increasing trend of HR HPV prevalence in 50% (1/2) of LSIL, 75% (3/4) of HSIL and 100% (3/3) of SCC. Of the CIN 2+ lesions identified by histopathology, 88.9% (8/9) had HR HPV. A significant association (${\chi}^2=11.223$ ; p=0.001) of HR HPV and histopathologically confirmed CIN 2+ lesions was found. Sensitivity of the two tests were comparable but specificity of Pap testing was better (90.7% vs 70.4%) to predict histopathologically diagnosed cervical precancers. Conclusions: The current study explored the feasibility of using a FTA mini elute cartridge for cervical sampling for the first time in India as a part of a community based cervical cancer prevention program. We suggest that FTA based sampling is suitable and feasible for real time based HPV testing. Molecular HR HPV testing can be more sensitive and useful to identify high risk women requiring Pap testing which is more specific to detect histologically confirmed cervical precancer.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.125-129
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• 2011

Environmental risk assessment (RA) is essential prior to the environmental release of GM crops. RA, however, costs at least 7 to 15 million US dollars and requires several years to complete field tests. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that developers of GM crops must consider all criteria for RA at the beginning stage of the development if it aims for commercialization. Previous review papers have pointed out that the "death valley" for the commercialization of GM crops is the screening stage of early GM events since many candidates are given up due to insufficient data on the molecular characterization of a GM event such as inserted gene's copy number, position of inserted site of a chromosome, flanking sequence of recombinant T-DNA, rearrangement of chromosome, and knock out of endogenous gene of host plant. Recently, Rural Development Administration (RDA) in South Korea has launched a Grand National Project named as "Next Generation of BioGreen 21 Project" from 2011 to 2020 and research funding for the development of global GM crops has been allocated to accelerate the commercialization of GM crops. In this regard, I strongly suggest that researchers involved in the development of GM crops for commercialization must conduct RA by themselves at the screening stage of pre-GM event based on the data for molecular characterization.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.31 no.3 s.52
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• pp.245-251
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• 2005

Safety is one of the key issue in the regulation of cosmetics. Cosmetic Act deals with it in Korea. The guidance for the testing cosmetic ingredients and their safety evaluation are prepared by Korea Food and Drug Administration. Ultraviolet radiation could Induce skin damage, edema, erythema, photoaging, immune dysfunction and skin cancer. Ultraviolet radiation is classified as Group 2A(probably carcinogenic to humans) by International Agenry for Reaserch on Cancer(IARC). The in vitro methodologies for evaluating the toxic potential of ingredients reported in the literature have not yet been sufficiently validated for use in areas other than the study for mutagenicity/genotoxicity, for pre-screening for severe irritancy, for screening of phototoxicity and for evaluating the percutaneous absorption. The 3T3 neutral red uptake photoxicity test (3T3 NRU PT) was accepted as OECD toxicity guideline in 2002. The 3T3 NRU PT is an in vitro method based on a comparison of the cytotoxicitv of a chemical when tested in the presence and in the absence of exposure to a non-cytotoxic dose of UVA/visible light.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2012

Objectives : The current study was conducted in order to investigate teachers' recognition of school bullying using a nationwide database of adolescents in middle and high school in Korea. Methods : Students in the 7th to 12th grades at 23 secondary schools participated in the current study during the fall of 2009. Subjects completed the self-report form of the Adolescent Mental Health and Problem Behavior Screening Questionnaire-II (AMPQ-II) and Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R). In addition, relevant teachers used the teachers' rating scale of the AMPQ-II to report their students' status. Differences in the number of bullied students between teachers' recognition and students' report were explored. Results : A total of 2270 subjects provided relevant responses to the questionnaire. While the one-month prevalence of victimization according to students' self-reports was 28.9%, the recognized prevalence by teachers was only 10.6%. For prediction of the presence of school bullying according to students' self reports on the AMPQ-II, item 7 of the teachers' report on the AMPQ-II showed a sensitivity of 16%, a specificity of 92%, a positive predictability of 44%, a negative predictability of 72%, a false positive rate of 8%, a false negative rate of 84%, and an accuracy of 69%, respectively. No significant differences in subscores of students' self reports of the AMPQ-II and SCL-90-R were observed between bullied students who were recognized by teachers and those who were not recognized. In stepwise discriminant analysis, classification of teachers' item 2 and item 7 on the AMPQ-II with respect to school bullying according to students' reports showed an accuracy of 63.4%. Using this model, 75.2% of non-victimized subjects were classified correctly, while only 35.2% of victimized subjects were classified correctly. Conclusion : Despite the high prevalence in Korea, teachers' recognition of school violence among their students remains low. Pre-professional and continuing education to improve teachers' understanding of school bullying and knowledge of effective classroom-based prevention activities should be encouraged.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.2993-2998
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• 2009

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-on-a-chip (EOC) biosensor combined with cell concentration technology based on immuno-magnetic separation (IMS) was investigated for use as a potential tool for early screening of Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) in food products. The target analyte is a well-known pathogenic foodborne microorganism and outbreaks of the food poisoning typically occur due to contamination of normal food products. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop a rapid and reliable sensor that could be utilized on a daily basis to test food products for the presence of this pathogenic microorganism. The sensor was optimized to provide a high detection capability (e.g., 5.9 ${\times}\;10^3$ cells/mL) and, to eventually minimize cultivation time. The cell density was condensed using IMS prior to analysis. Since the concentration rate of IMS was greater than 100-fold, this combination resulted in a detection limit of 54 cells/mL. The EOC-IMS coupled analytical system was then applied to a real sample test of fish intestines. The system was able to detect L. monocytogenes at a concentration of 2.4 CFU/g after pre-enrichment for 6 h from the onset of cell cultivation. This may allow us to monitor the target analyte at a concentration less than 1 CFU/g within a 9 h-cultivation provided a doubling time of 40 min is typically maintained. Based on this estimation, the EOC-IMS system can screen and detect the presence of this microorganism in food products almost within working hours.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.79-88
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• 2023

Objective : This study was to apply a cognitive rehabilitation group program based on sensory activity in patients with dementia living in a facility and to check its effectiveness on cognitive function, depression, and quality of life (QOL). Methods : Sensory-based cognitive rehabilitation group programs (20 sessions) were conducted for eight elderly with dementia over the age of 65 living in a nursing facility located in H-gun, Gangwon-do. The participants' cognitive function, depression level, and QOL were evaluated before and after the program. Results : The mean of Mini-Mental State Examination-Dementia Screening increased; however, there was no statistically significant difference. In contrast, the mean post-test score of the Subjective Memory Complaints Questionnaire decreased, and there was a statistically significant difference (p < .05). The mean post-evaluation score of Short Geriatric Depression Scale measured to confirm the decrease in depression compared to the pre-evaluation score, but there was no statistically significant difference. Finally, the mean post-evaluation score of the World Health Organization QOL assessment instrument-Brief confirmed the change in the QOL, and there was a statistically significant difference (p < .001). Conclusion : This study will provide the basis for suggesting the usefulness of developing a sensory activity-based cognitive rehabilitation group program for dementia patients living in facilities.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.433-441
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• 2022

Bacterial phytopathogen Pectobacterium causes soft rot disease in several vegetable crops globally, resulting in heavy agricultural losses at both the pre and postharvest stages. The present work was carried out to screen Kimchi cabbage genetic resources conserved at the National Agrobiodiversity Center, Rural Development Administration, Korea, for resistance against the soft rot pathogen Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum KACC 21701 over a period of three years (from 2020 to 2022). Infection of the phytopathogen was carried out at four-leaf stage and for each accession, twenty-five plants per germplasm were infected with KACC 21701. Kimchi cabbage cultivars Wangmatbaechu, Seoulbaechu, and CR Kiyoshi were used as control. Seven-days post-infection, the Disease Index (DI) values were manually recorded from zero to four, zero matched perfectly heathy plants and four completely dead plants. The 682 accessions of Kimchi cabbage exhibited varying degrees of disease resistance to KACC 21701 and thirty accessions, exhibiting a DI≤2, were considered for replication studies. During the replication studies, four landrace germplasms (IT102883, IT120036, IT120044, and IT120048) and one cultivar(IT187919) were confirmed to be moderately susceptible to KACC 21701. Results of the preliminary screening as well as replication studies were documented for the all the 682 germplasms. Addition of such information to the passport data of stored germplasms might serve as potential bio-resource for future breeders and researchers to develop resistant varieties or study the mechanisms involved in resistance of plants to such phytopathogen.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.507-515
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• 2015

This paper suggests 6 cases of TFA parameters algorithm(Mean, VA, RS, SKEW, UN, EN) to search for the detection of recognition rates regarding breast disease using CAD on ultrasound images. Of the patients who visited a university hospital in Busan city from August 2013 to January 2014, 90 cases of breast ultrasound images based on the findings in breast US and pathology were selected. $50{\times}50$ pixel size ROI was selected from the breast US images. After pre-processing histogram equalization of the acquired test images(negative, benign, malignancy), we calculated results of TFA algorithm using MATLAB. As a result, in the TFA parameters suggested, the disease recognition rates for negative and malignancy was as high as 100%, and negative and benign was approximately 83~96% for the Mean, SKEW, UN, and EN. Therefore, there is the possibility of auto diagnosis as a pre-processing step for a screening test on breast disease. A additional study of the suggested algorithm and the responsibility and reproducibility for various clinical cases will determine the practical CAD and it might be possible to apply this technique to range of ultrasound images.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between abdominal subcutaneous fat thickness(ASFT) and maternal gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM) measured by ultrasound at period of pregnancy. We compared maternal age, pre-pregnancy body mass index, and weight gain during pregnancy in 286 pregnant women who were diagnosed with early pregnancy ASFT and high GDM screening test(50 g OGTT) of more than 140 mg/dL. ROC curve analysis was used to determine the cut-off value of ASFT for GDM prediction. Maternal age and weight gain during pregnancy were not related to GDM in the mid-trimester and pre-pregnancy body mass index and earely pregnancy ASFT were significantly different between normal and GDM high risk groups. The cut-off value of ASFT for GDM prediction was 2.23 cm(AUC 0.913. Sensitivity 76.19%, Specificity 93.72%). ASFT measured by ultrasound in early pregnancy was useful as an important index for predicting mid-trimester GDM prediction. Therefore, ASFT can be used as an auxiliary diagnostic index for early recognition of GDM.