• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.483-497
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• 2017

Background : Behavioral stress has been suggested as one of the significant factors that is able to disrupt physiological systems and cause depression as well as changes in various body systems. The stressful events can alter cognition, learning, memory and emotional responses, resulting in mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. Results : We used a restraint stress model to evaluate the alteration of behavior and stress-related blood parameter. The animals were randomly divided into two groups of five animals each group. Furthermore, we assessed the change of body weight to evaluate the locomotor activity as well as status of emotional and anxiety in mice. After 7 days of restraint stress, the body weight had significantly decreased in the restraint stress group compared with the control group. We also observed stress-associated behavioral alterations, as there was a significant decrease in open field and forced swim test, whereas the immobilization time was significantly increased in the stress group compared to the control group. We observed the morphological changes of neuronal death and microglia by immunohistochemistry and western blot. In our study restraint stress did not cause change in neuronal cell density in the frontal cortex and CA1 hippocampus region, but there was a trend for an increased COX-2 and iNOS protein expression and microglia (CD11b) in brain, which is restraint stress. Conclusion : Our study, there were significant alterations observed in the behavioral studies. We found that mice undergoing restraint stress changed behavior, confirming the increased expression of inflammatory factors in the brain.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2527-2530
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• 2015

Background: The cancer of the prostate risk assessment (CAPRA) score has been defined to predict prostate cancer recurrence based on the pre-clinical data, then pathological data have also been incorporated. Thus, CAPRA post-surgical (CAPRA-S) score has been developed based on six criteria (prostate specific antigen (PSA) at diagnosis, pathological Gleason score, and information on surgical margin, seminal vesicle invasion, extracapsular extension and lymph node involvement) for the prediction of post-surgical recurrences. In the present study, biochemical recurrence (BCR)-free probabilities after open retropubic radical prostatectomy (RP) were evaluated by the CAPRA-S scoring system and its three-risk level model. Materials and Methods: CAPRA-S scores (0-12) of our 240 radical prostatectomies performed between January 2000-May 2011 were calculated. Patients were distributed into CAPRA-S score groups and also into three-risk groups as low, intermediate and high. BCR-free probabilities were assessed and compared using Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression. Ability of CAPRA-S in BCR detection was evaluated by concordance index (c-index). Results: BCR was present in 41 of total 240 patients (17.1%) and the mean follow-up time was $51.7{\pm}33.0$ months. Mean BCR-free survival time was 98.3 months (95% CI: 92.3-104.2). Of the patients in low, intermediate and high risk groups, 5.4%, 22.0% and 58.8% had BCR, respectively and the difference among the three groups was significant (P = 0.0001). C-indices of CAPRA-S score and three-risk groups for detecting BCR-free probabilities in 5-yr were 0.87 and 0.81, respectively. Conclusions: Both CAPRA-S score and its three-risk level model well predicted BCR after RP with high c-index levels in our center. Therefore, it is a clinically reliable post-operative risk stratifier and disease recurrence predictor for prostate cancer.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.724-728
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• 2008

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with recurrent pneumothorax after wedge resection in primary spontaneous pneumothorax in our hospital. Material and Method: Two hundred thirty-five consecutive patient (98% males; mean age, $23.9{\pm}4.5$ years) who had undergone video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) were reviewed retrospectively. The two groups were divided as follows: group A, non-recurrent patients (225 patients [96%]); and group B, recurrent group (10 patients [4%]); the risk factors were compared between the two groups. The single and multiple factors that influenced the recurrence rate were analyzed using Cox's proportional hazard model. Result: There were no significant differences between the recurrent and non-recurrent groups in terms of gender, smoking, site of recurrence, degree of collapse, operative time, and number or weight of resected bullae. The recurrence rate was significantly more common in the following: younger ages, increased height/weight ratio, longer initial air leakage period, and shorter duration of chest drainage. Early aggressive exercise (<30 days) of patients after wedge resection increased the tendency for recurrence. Conclusion: Thoracoscopic wedge resection does not have a higher recurrence rate than open thoracotomy. However, young age, height/weight ratio, continuous air, and duration of chest tube placement were risk factors for a recurrent pneumothorax.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.5-44
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• 1996

Wornen's lahor market participation as well as the policy concern for wider utilization of married women, have continuously grown up. However, research efforts on the determinants of women's labor market participation, in the context of the relationship hetween life courses and active entry into lahor market, has been far behind the growing interest in this field. This study has conducted an event histoiry analysis of women's labor market transition utilizing personal occupational history data collected by the Korea Institute for Women's Development in 1991. The analysis is divided into tow parts: First part introduces logit regression to analyze the determinants of women's labor market participation and exit. The second part employs Cox regression to see the variation of transition rate between employment and non-employment. The result shows that there is a wide variation in women's labor market participation according to age, cohort, and family formation. Special note is needed for the significantly negative effect of marriage and child birth on labor market participation. The transition pattern of lower class women with less education fits well to the prediction of neo-classical economics; but the tendency of highly educated women's regression to non-employment reveals the strong influence of the unfavorable labor market structure, which can be better explained by the neo-structuralist perspective. There is a strong trade-off between productive and reproductive labor of women, which can only be corrected by strong policy implementation, such as extended child care facilities, abolition of discriminatory employment practices, and expansion of flexible part-time employment.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.193-204
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• 2006

Purpose: Various postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy regimens have been proposed for the patients with advanced gastric cancer. The majority of clinical trials have shown no significant difference in the survival benefit. The aim of this study was to compare the survival rates of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapies used in stage III gastric cancer patients who received curative gastrectomy. Materials and Methods: Between 1990 and 1999, a survival analysis was performed in 260 patients who received curative gastric resection and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The patients were divided into four groups according to the chemotherapeutic regimens received. The groups were: the F group: furtulon alone, FM group: furtulon and mitomycin, FAM group: 5-FU, adriamycin and mitomycin, FLEP group: 5-FU, leucovorin, etoposide and cisplatin. The survival rates were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazards model. Results: There were no differences among the groups of patients with regard to tumor characteristics except for lymph node metastasis and the ratio of metastasis to lymph nodes. In the FLEP group, the ratio of metastasis to lymph nodes was higher than in the other groups. The five and ten year survival rates of F, FM, FAM and FLEP were 51.9%, 28.9%, 59.5%, 49.8%, 66.1%, 57.4% and 30.0%, 27.5%, respectively. The univariate analysis showed that age, Borrmann type, lymph node metastasis, ratio of metastasis to lymph nodes, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and recurrence were significant factors for survival. For the multivariate analysis, recurrence, age, Borrmann type, ratio of lymph node metastasis and lymph node dissection were independent prognostic factors; however, the postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy was not an independent prognostic factor. Conclusion: The FAM regimen was the most beneficial postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for improved survival rates; the FM regimen was the second and the FLEP regimen was the last. In order to determine the effectiveness of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in stage III gastric cancer, well designed prospective studies including a surgery only group will be needed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6449-6453
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• 2014

Background: Prior studies showed a relationship between serum albumin and the albumin to globulin ratio with different types of cancer. We aimed to evaluate the predictive value of the albumin-globulin ratio (AGR) for survival of patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 240 lung adenocarcinoma patients. Biochemical parameters before chemotherapy were collected and survival status was obtained from the hospital registry. The AGR was calculated using the equation AGR=albumin/(total protein-albumin) and ranked from lowest to highest, the total number of patients being divided into three equal tertiles according to the AGR values. Furthermore, AGR was divided into two groups (low and high tertiles) for ROC curve analysis. Cox model analysis was used to evaluate the prognostic value of AGR and AGR tertiles. Results: The mean survival time for each tertile was: for the $1^{st}$ 9.8 months (95%CI:7.765-11.848), $2^{nd}$ 15.4 months (95%CI:12.685-18.186), and $3^{rd}$ 19.9 months (95%CI:16.495-23.455) (p<0.001). Kaplan-Meier curves showed significantly higher survival rates with the third and high tertiles of AGR in comparison with the first and low tertiles, respectively. At multivariate analysis low levels of albumin and AGR, low tertile of AGR and high performance status remained an independent predictors of mortality. Conclusions: Low AGR was a significant predictor of long-term mortality in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Serum albumin measurement and calculation of AGR are easily accessible and cheap to use for predicting mortality in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.4363-4368
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• 2015

Background: The tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) represents the percentage of neoplastic cell components compared to the combined area of neoplastic cells and the surrounding tumor-induced stroma. A low TSR (predomination of stromal component) has been demonstrated to be an independent adverse prognostic factor in cancers of several organs. In cervical carcinoma patients, TSR has been evaluated in only one previous study with different histological types. The present study aimed to assess the prognostic value of TSR in early stage cervical cancer patients with adenocarcinoma histology only. Materials and Methods: Histological slides of patients with early stage (IB-IIA) cervical adenocarcinoma who underwent surgical treatment between January 2003 and December 2011 were reviewed. Patients who had received preoperative chemotherapy were excluded. TSR was categorized as low (<50%) and high (${\geq}50%$). Correlations between TSR and clinicopathological variables were evaluated. Prognostic values of TSR and other variables were estimated using Cox's regression. Results: Of 131 patients; 38 (29.0%) had low TSR and 93 (71.0%) had high TSR. The patients with low TSR had significantly higher proportions of deep cervical stromal invasion (outer third of wall, p=0.011; residual stroma less than 3 mm, p=0.008) and parametrial involvement (p=0.026). Compared to the patients with high TSR, those with low TSR tended to have lower 5-year disease-free survival rate (83.8% versus 88.9%) and overall survival rate (85.6% versus 90.3%), although the differences were not statistically significant. Low TSR was significantly associated with decreased overall survival in univariate analysis (HR 2.7; 95% CI 1.0-7.0; p=0.041), but not in multivariate analysis. TSR was not significantly associated with decreased disease-free survival. Conclusions: Low TSR is associated with decreased overall survival in patients with early stage cervical adenocarcinoma treated by surgery. However, it was not found to be an independent prognostic predictor in this study.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5185-5188
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• 2013

Background: We aimed to evaluate prognostic factors and response rates to various treatment approaches to patients with synovial sarcoma in an advanced setting. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 55 patients (18 pts; 32.7% women) diagnosed with synovial sarcomas. Twenty had metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis while the remainder of the study group consisted of patients who developed metastatic or inoperable locally advanced disease during follow up. Results: The median follow up time was 15 months (range: 1-53). Regarding outcomes for the 55 patients, 3 and 5 year overall survival rates were 26% and 14%, respectively. In univariate analyses among demographic factors female gender was associated with a better outcome (p=0.030). Patients with early progressing disease (<2 years) had a worse prognosis when compared to patient group with late relapse, but this difference did not reach statistical significance (p=0.056). According to multivariate Cox regression analysis patients who had undergone metastasectomy had a significant survival advantage (p=0.044). The overall response rate to different salvage chemotherapy regimens given as second line treatment was around 42.9-53.9% for all regimes. There were no statistically significant differences between chemotherapy regimens given in either second or third line settings in terms of overall survival. Conclusions: We observed no major differences in terms of response rate and survival between different salvage chemotherapy regimens. Although metastatic disease still carries a poor prognosis, metastasectomy was found to be associated with improved survival.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.243-257
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• 2016

Objectives : Illicium verum Hook. f. has been known to possess antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, insecticidal, analgesic, sedative, convulsive activities, it has been rarely conducted to evaluate the immuno-biological activity. The present study was examined to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of the Illicium verum Hook. f. water extracts (IVE) in vivo and in vitro. Methods : Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The relative levels of NO were measured with Griess reagent. iNOS, COX-2, $NF-{\kappa}B$ and target proteins were detected by immunoblot analysis, and levels of cytokines were analyzed by ELISA kit. Anti-edema effect was determined in the carrageenan (CA)-induced paw edema model in rats. Results : All dosages of IVE used in MTT assay had no significant cytotoxicity. The increases of NO production and iNOS expression were detected in LPS-treated cells compared with control. However, these increases were attenuated by treatment with IVE. Also, IVE reduced the elevated production of $TNF-{\alpha}$, $IL-1{\beta}$ and IL-6 by LPS. IVE inhibited the $p-I{\kappa}B$ and translocation of $NF-{\kappa}B$ to nuclear. Furthermore, IVE significantly inhibited the increases of hind paw swelling, skin thicknesses and inflammatory cell infiltrations induced by CA injection. Therefore, IVE will be favorably inhibited the acute edematous inflammations. Conclusion : These results provide evidences that anti-inflammatory effect of IVE is partly due to the reduction of some inflammatory mediators by suppression of $NF-{\kappa}B$ pathway.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.1168-1177
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• 2008

Atopic dermatitis(AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. AD has increased gradually, many people are tortured with AD. Chunggi-san(CG) and Samhwangseze-gamibang(SG) has been used for many kinds of skin disease in the Oriental medicine. But reports about the effect of CG and SG are insufficient. So, author investigated the effect of CG and SG on NC/Nga atopic mice. Major findings are summarized as follows: The clinical skin severity scores of experimental group in 13 and 16 week were decreased by 42% and 50% compared to the control group. Serum IgE, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IgM, IgGI levels of experimental group were significantly decreased compared to the control group. Serum $IFN-\nu$ was significantly increased in the experimental group compared to the control group. mRNA expression levels of IL-4, IL-5, and CCR3 in the skin tissues of experimental group were significantly decreased, and expression level of IL-6 in the skin tissues of experimental group was significantly decreased compared to the control group. $IFN-\nu$ mRNA expression levels was increased compared to the control group. According to biopsy reports of the ear and skin tissues showed that the tissue damage, experimental group were highly reduced compared to the control group. Judging from that $IL-1{\beta}$, $TNF-{\alpha}$, IL-6 express of gene, the effects of inflammatory cytokines revelation were significantly decreased compared to the control group. Depending on the density of CG, inflammatory RAW 264.7 in the serum of CG were significantly inhibited compared to the control serum that leaded a COX-2 activity model.