• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 2016

Purpose : When a radiation treatment, there is an attenuation by Carbon Fiber Couch. In this study, we tried to evaluate the usability of the Varian Standard Couch(VSC) by modeling with Treatment Planning System (TPS) Materials and Methods : VSC was scanned by CBCT(Cone Beam Computed Tomography) of the Linac(Clinac IX, VARIAN, USA), following the three conditions of VSC, Side Rail OutGrid(SROG), Side Rail InGrid(SRIG), Side Rail In OutSpine Down Bar(SRIOS). After scan, the data was transferred to TPS and modeled by contouring Side Rail, Side Bar Upper, Side Bar Lower, Spine Down Bar automatically. We scanned the Cheese Phantom(Middelton, USA) using Computed Tomography(Light Speed RT 16, GE, USA) and transfer the data to TPS, and apply VSC modeled previously with TPS to it. Dose was measured at the isocenter of Ion Chamber(A1SL, Standard imaging, USA) in Cheese Phantom using 4 and 10 MV radiation for every $5^{\circ}$ gantry angle in a different filed size($3{\times}3cm^2$, $10{\times}10cm^2$) without any change of MU(=100), and then we compared the calculated dose and measured dose. Also we included dose at the $127^{\circ}$ in SRIG to compare the attenuation by Side Bar Upper. Results : The density of VSC by CBCT in TPS was $0.9g/cm^3$, and in the case of Spine Down Bar, it was $0.7g/cm^3$. The radiation was attenuated by 17.49%, 16.49%, 8.54%, and 7.59% at the Side Rail, Side Bar Upper, Side Bar Lower, and Spine Down Bar. For the accuracy of modeling, calculated dose and measured dose were compared. The average error was 1.13% and the maximum error was 1.98% at the $170^{\circ}beam$ crossing the Spine Down Bar. Conclusion : To evaluate the usability for the VSC modeled by TPS, the maximum error was 1.98% as a result of compassion between calculated dose and measured dose. We found out that VSC modeling helped expect the dose, so we think that it will be helpful for the more accurate treatment.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.290-295
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• 2019

Salmonella spp. are frequently associated with food and are among the most important foodborne pathogens. The recent Salmonella out breaks in Korea was associated with chocolate mousse cakes served with school meals during September 2018. The objective of this research was to compare the 3M Molecular Detection Assay 2 - Salmonella and the Korean Standard Method of Salmonella in artificially inoculated mousse (chocolate and cheese) and tiramisu cakes. Mousse (chocolate and cheese) and tiramisu cakes were artificially inoculated with S. Typhimurium. Twenty five gram of sample was enriched with 225 mL buffered peptone water for incubation at $37^{\circ}C$ for 24 h. After enrichment, the cultures were analyzed by using the 3M Molecular Detection Assay 2 - Salmonella and the Korean Standard Method. Most of the inoculated samples showed similar results except the chocolate mousse cakes, in which real-time PCR was unable to detect S. Typhimurium even after $10^4CFU/25g$ of inoculation. However, S. Typhimurium inoculated at a concentration of $10^0CFU/25g$ was detected by using 3M Molecular Detection Assay 2 - Salmonella. In chocolate mousse, detection of S. Typhimurium using real-time PCR was partially successful when dark chocolate was added at less than 15%. Negative results in real-time PCR and 3M Molecular Detection Assay 2 - Salmonella were confirmed by gel electrophoresis. The data indicated that dark chocolate could inhibit amplification of the target gene in the PCR reactions. In conclusion, the 3M Molecular Detection Assay 2 - Salmonella was better than the Korean Standard Method (real-time PCR) for the detection of S. Typhimurium in chocolate mousse cakes and chocolate mousse.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.528-540
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• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: In a healthy person, from 35 years of age, there is an annual loss of muscle mass at the rate of 1-2% and is associated with a decline in the quality of life. This study aimed to identify the particular dietary patterns associated with the risk of lower lean muscle mass in Korean postmenopausal women. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) is a population-based, continuous cross-sectional annual survey. The participants of the KNHANES IV (2008-2009) and V (2010-2011) were considered for this study. The study sample consisted of 1548 postmenopausal women, aged 45-86 years. Lower lean muscle mass was defined as having appendicular skeletal muscle mass corrected for body weight less than 1 standard deviation of the young reference group aged 20 to 39 years in KNHANES IV and V. To identify the dietary pattern using factor analysis, 24-h recall data was used. RESULTS: The prevalence of lower lean muscle mass was 31.3% in this study population. Four dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis; 'Diverse', 'Western', 'Traditional', and 'Snacks and beverages'. The 'Western' pattern, highest factor loadings for flour and bread, potatoes, red meat, processed meat, eggs, and cheese, was significantly associated with a high (60%) risk of lower lean muscle mass (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 1.60 [1.07-2.39], P for trend = 0.01) after adjustments for potential covariates. The other 3 dietary patterns were not associated with lower lean muscle mass. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings suggest that the 'Western' dietary pattern that includes flour and bread, potatoes, red meat, processed meat, eggs, and cheese, may be associated with a higher risk of lower lean muscle mass in Korean postmenopausal women.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.665-673
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• 2014

We compared standard culture methods as well as conventional PCR and real-time PCR for the detection of Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) in milk, cheese, fresh-cut vegetables, and raw beef that have different levels of background microflora. No statistical differences were observed in sensitivity between the two selective media in all foods. In total, real-time PCR assay exhibited statistically excellent detection sensitivity (p<0.05) and was less time consuming and laborious as compared with standard culture methods. Conventional culture methods showed poor performance in detecting L. monocytogenes in food with high levels of background microflora, generating numerous false negative results. While the detection of L. monocytogenes in fresh cut vegetable by culture methods was hindered only by L. innocua, various background microflora, such as L. innocua, L. welshimeri, L. grayi, and Enterococcus faecalis appeared on the two selective media as presumptive positive colonies in raw beef indicating the necessity of improvement of current selective media. It appears that real-time PCR is an effective and sensitive presumptive screening tool for L. monocytogenes in various types of foods, especially foods samples with high levels of background microflora, thus complementing standard culture methodologies.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.191-195
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• 2021

Objectives: Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) treatment is advised for all women due to its symptoms and complications. In this study, the standard treatment, clotrimazole, was compared with chamomile extract cream in outpatient clinics. Methods: We recruited 73 women with VVC, who were randomly allocated into two groups, clotrimazole versus chamomile extract cream. After two weeks of treatment with the same criteria, cheese-like vaginal discharge, itching and burning sensations, strawberry cervix, and recovery percentage was evaluated. Results: Thirty patients in each group were analyzed. There was no significant difference in age and number of pregnancies between groups (p = 0.85 and 0.09, respectively). Comparing before and after treatment, cheese like discharge (p < 0.001), itching (p < 0.001), burning (p < 0.001) had significantly improved in both groups. Further, the recovery percentage was not significantly different between groups (88.9% vs 75% in the chamomile vs clotrimazole groups, respectively). Conclusion: Chamomile is as effective as clotrimazole in VVC treatment; a higher percentage of women who used this medication recovered, although this did not reach significance. In addition, no complications were reported in either group.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.477-483
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• 2011

In this study, the most preferred trans fatty acid analysis methods, AOAC 996.06 and the Korea Food and Drug Administration official method, were reviewed and modified to apply to dairy products and dairy products imported into the Republic of Korea for evaluating trans fatty acid (TFA) content. The Rose-Gottlieb method for total fat analysis was validated with accuracy and precision parameters by analyzing infant formula standard reference material provided by the National Institute for Standards and Technology. The accuracy and precision data satisfied the CODEX guidelines. TFAs were analyzed with a resolution of 1.5 for 45 min using the modified oven temperature program. This modified method was applied to 45 dairy products from 11 countries. Average TFA contents in these imported dairy products ranged from 0.1 to 5.4 g per 100 g product. The majority of dairy products imported into the Republic of Korea were cheeses. TFA contents in the cheeses were 0.1 to 2.4 g per 100 g cheese. TFA contents in other dairy products were 1.7 to 5.4 g per 100 g product. These TFAs content variations can be explained by the trans fatty acids naturally present in ruminant milk formed by bacterial bio-hydrogenation in the rumen of cows and the different vegetable fat used as ingredients in the final products.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2002

Listeria monocytogenes poses an increasing health risk, which in part is due to increasing health risk, consumption of ready-to-eat food products and the introduction of increasing numbers of food products from regions with different dietary habits. L. monocytogenes can be present in meat, shellfish, vegetables, unpasteurised milk and soft cheese and poses a risk if food containing these products is stored at refrigeration temperature and is not properly heated before consumption, as L. monocytogenes is psychrophilic. Amplified-fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis is the method of genotypic techinique in which adaptor oligonucleotides are ligated to restriction enzyme fragments and then used as target sites for primers in a PCR amplification. The amplified fragments are electrophoretically separated to give strain-specific band profiles. Single-enzyme approach that did not require costly equipment or reagents for the fingerprinting of strains of Listeria monocytogenes was developed. Single-enzyme amplified fragment length polymorphism (SE-AFLP) analysis was used to perform species and strain identification of Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia and E. coli. By careful selection of AFLP primers, it was possible to obtain reproducible and sensitive identification to strain level. The AFLP patterns of L. monocytogenes are divided by the kinds of specimens in which were isolated. SE-AFLP fragments can be analyzed using standard gel electrophoresis, and can be easily scored by visual inspection, due to the low complexity of the fingerprint obtained by this method. These features make SE-AFLP suitable for use in either field or laboratory applications.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.569-573
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• 2020

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by Brucella infections and humans usually contract this disease from close contact with infected animals or their products, usually via the ingestion of cheese or crude milk. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and Pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines play an important role in susceptibility/resistance and the immunopathogenesis of Brucella infection. These cytokines are crucial factors in the initiation and progression of protective immunity against Brucella infection but the role of MIF has not been well studied in the human response to intracellular microbes. This study was designed to investigate the effect of MIF expression on Brucella susceptibility. A total of 85 positive rose Bengal tests and 24 samples from healthy individuals were collected for this study and subjected to polymerase chain reaction assays (PCR) of the bcsp31 diagnostic gene. MIF concentrations were evaluated using Enzyme-Linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the results showed that 46 (54%) of the rose Bengal test samples were positive and 39 (46%) were negative for bcsp31 (p ≤ 0.05) and used as the gold standard for all of the comparisons in this study. The ELISA results indicate that the mean concentration of MIF was significantly higher in patients with positive rose Bengal tests when compared to the control groups and that its concentration increases with increasing age in both the patient and control groups (p ≤ 0.05).

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.153-162
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• 2020

Purpose: We aim to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of an automatically converted radiation therapy plan between Radixact machines by comparing the original plan with the transferred plan. Methods: The study involved a total of 20 patients for each randomly selected treatment site who received radiation treatment with Radixact. We set up the cheese phantom (Gammex RMI, Middleton, WI, USA) with an Exradin A1SL ion chamber (Standard Imaging, Madison, WI, USA) and GAFCHROMIC EBT3 film (International Specialty Products, Wayne, NJ, USA) inserted. We used three methods to evaluate an automatically converted radiation therapy plan using the features of the Plan transfer. First, we evaluated and compared Planning target volume (PTV) coverage (homogeneity index, HI; conformity index, CI) and organs at risk (OAR) dose statistics. Second, we compared the absolute dose using an ion chamber. Lastly, we analyzed gamma passing rates using film. Results: Our results showed that the difference in PTV coverage was 1.72% in HI and 0.17% in CI, and majority of the difference in OAR was within 1% across all sites. The difference (%) in absolute dose values was averaging 0.74%. In addition, the gamma passing rate was 99.64% for 3%/3 mm and 97.08% for 2%/2 mm. Conclusions: The Plan transfer function can be reliably used in appropriate situations.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.251-257
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• 2008

Different types of milk products, such as kwacha golla, mawa, cheese, curd, and chocolate are popular in Bangladesh. However, the microbiological safety of these products is poorly understood. This study was performed to assess the microbiological quality of kwacha golla, a local milk product. Kwacha golla samples were collected from ten different areas of Rajshahi and Kushtia regions, and the quality of the each sample was assessed using various parameters including standard plate count, total coliform, fecal coliform, total fungi, and spore-forming bacteria, as well as food-borne microorganisms. Out of 300 samples, total coliform was detected at 56.66% (n= 300), exceeding the minimum allowable limit of 36.66%. Similarly, experiments were carried out with fungi and food-borne pathogens including Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella sp., and Staphylococcus aureus. Results revealed 85.33, 53, and 49.33% of the samples were contaminated by fungi, E. coli, and L. monocytogenes, respectively. However, all samples showed no contaminations of Salmonella sp. and Staphylococcus sp. Therefore, this study could be helpful to the people of Bangladesh by providing information on the possibility of a major health problem caused by the consumption of kwacha golla.