• BMB Reports
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• 제51권9호
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• pp.450-455
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• 2018

Tamoxifen (TAM) is commonly used to treat estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. Despite the remarkable benefits, resistance to TAM presents a serious therapeutic challenge. Since several HOX transcription factors have been proposed as strong candidates in the development of resistance to TAM therapy in breast cancer, we generated an in vitro model of acquired TAM resistance using ER-positive MCF7 breast cancer cells (MCF7-TAMR), and analyzed the expression pattern and epigenetic states of HOX genes. HOXB cluster genes were uniquely up-regulated in MCF7-TAMR cells. Survival analysis of in slico data showed the correlation of high expression of HOXB genes with poor response to TAM in ER-positive breast cancer patients treated with TAM. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments showed that the overexpression of multi HOXB genes in MCF7 renders cancer cells more resistant to TAM, whereas the knockdown restores TAM sensitivity. Furthermore, activation of HOXB genes in MCF7-TAMR was associated with histone modifications, particularly the gain of H3K9ac. These findings imply that the activation of HOXB genes mediate the development of TAM resistance, and represent a target for development of new strategies to prevent or reverse TAM resistance.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권sup3호
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• pp.213-218
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• 2016

Cancer is a major health problem in the Arab region including Iraq. An adequate database is essential for effective cancer control strategies. Such a database may be provided through cancer registration but supportive household surveys may be useful. This article reports selected results on the feasibility of household surveys to support and validate cancer registration in Basrah governorate - southern Iraq. A large scale multi-stage cluster sample household survey was carried out in Basrah during 2013. It covered 6,999 households and involved gathering data on demographic characteristics and both incident cancer cases and cancer-related deaths among members of these households during a three-year recall period (2010-2012). The data obtained yielded an average annual incidence rate of 91 per 100,000 population (age-standardized incidence rate of 148.8 /100,000) and cancer specific mortality rate of 68 per 100,000 population (age-standardized mortality rate of 126.3/100,000). The results showed an overall pattern of cancer similar to that reported according to cancer registration but the household survey results were consistently higher than those of the cancer registration by a margin of approximately 20- 30% with respect to incident cancer and about 70 % with respect to cancer-specific mortality. Household surveys on cancer, while costly and time consuming, are a very useful additional source of information on cancer at the population level. They can be performed for specific purposes with effective resource mobilization.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.1167-1175
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• 2018

Microarray data plays an essential role in diagnosing and detecting cancer. Microarray analysis allows the examination of levels of gene expression in specific cell samples, where thousands of genes can be analyzed simultaneously. However, microarray data have very little sample data and high data dimensionality. Therefore, to classify microarray data, a dimensional reduction process is required. Dimensional reduction can eliminate redundancy of data; thus, features used in classification are features that only have a high correlation with their class. There are two types of dimensional reduction, namely feature selection and feature extraction. In this paper, we used k-means algorithm as the clustering approach for feature selection. The proposed approach can be used to categorize features that have the same characteristics in one cluster, so that redundancy in microarray data is removed. The result of clustering is ranked using the Relief algorithm such that the best scoring element for each cluster is obtained. All best elements of each cluster are selected and used as features in the classification process. Next, the Random Forest algorithm is used. Based on the simulation, the accuracy of the proposed approach for each dataset, namely Colon, Lung Cancer, and Prostate Tumor, achieved 85.87%, 98.9%, and 89% accuracy, respectively. The accuracy of the proposed approach is therefore higher than the approach using Random Forest without clustering.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.115-126
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• 2020

Peritoneal metastasis (PM) frequently occurs in patients with gastric cancer (GC) and confers a dismal prognosis despite advances in systemic chemotherapy. While systemic chemotherapy has poor peritoneal penetration, intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy remains sequestered, resulting in high peritoneal drug concentrations with less systemic side-effects. The first application of IP treatment was hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) with cytoreductive surgery (CRS) for gastric cancer peritoneal metastasis (GCPM); but was associated with an increased morbidity and mortality rate without significantly improving overall survival (OS). While CRS confers limited benefit, the potential role of prophylactic HIPEC and laparoscopic neoadjuvant HIPEC are currently being evaluated. Combination systemic and IP chemotherapy (SIPC) gained popularity in the 1990s, since it provided the benefits of IP treatment while reducing surgical morbidity, demonstrating promising early results in multiple Phase II trials. Unfortunately, these findings were not confirmed in the recent PHOENIX-GC randomized controlled trial; therefore, the appropriate treatment for GCPM remains controversial. Small observational studies from Japan and Singapore have reported successful downstaging of PM in GC patients receiving SIPC who subsequently underwent conversion gastrectomy with a median OS of 21.6-34.6 months. Recently, the most significant development in IP-directed therapy is pressurized IP aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC). Given that aerosol chemotherapy achieves a wider distribution and deeper penetration, the outcomes of multiple ongoing trials assessing its efficacy are eagerly awaited. Indeed, IP-directed therapy has evolved rapidly in the last 3 decades, with an encouraging trend toward improved outcomes in GCPM, and may offer some hope for an otherwise fatal disease.

• 종양간호연구
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.274-279
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was conducted to test whether sleep disturbance mediates the effect of pain on fatigue, whether fatigue mediates the effect of pain on depression, and whether fatigue mediates the effect of sleep disturbance on depression. Methods: This study was conducted from September 12th to December 20th, 2011. One hundred eighty-eight breast cancer patients were recruited from D city and S city in Korea. The instruments used in this study were the pain, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and depression scales. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and mediation pathway with the SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 20.0 programs. Results: There was correlation among pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and depression. Mediation analyses indicated that pain influences fatigue. sleep disturbance, and depression directly as well as indirectly. Sleep disturbance influences fatigue and depression directly, also fatigue influences depression directly. But sleep disturbance had no direct effect on depression. Conclusion: Significant correlations among the four symptoms supported the existence of the symptom cluster. Effects of pain on fatigue was partially mediated by sleep disturbance, also effects of pain on depression was partially mediated by fatigue. However, the effects of sleep disturbance on depression was fully mediated by fatigue.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.139-144
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• 2013

진행성 암환자들은 동시에 여러 가지 증상을 겪고 있으며 그 정도가 중등도 이상으로 매우 높은 편이다. 환자 증상 조절을 위해 지금까지는 통증, 우울증, 피로 등 여러 각각의 증상에 대해서 치료하는 방법에 대해서 주로 연구 되어서 많은 발전이 있었지만 진행성 암환자의 특성상 동시에 발생하는 여러 가지 증상을 동시에 조절하는 데에는 한계가 있다. 따라서 최근에는 더욱 효과적인 증상 조절을 위해 이러한 각각의 증상에 대한 접근 방법에서 동시에 발생하는 여러 증상군(symptom cluster)에 대한 접근 방법에 대한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 증상군은 원인과 기전에 상관없이 다른 군과 독립적이면서 2개 이상의 서로 연관성 있는 동시에 발생하는 증상을 의미한다. 진행성 암환자에서 이러한 증상군을 이용하여 증상들 간에 연관성, 공통된 기전 등을 이해하면 개별 증상 치료보다 더 효과적으로 조절할 수 있고 약물 부작용 등을 줄일 수 있다. 또한 다른 증상을 예측할 수 있고 환자의 기능 평가, 생존 예측에도 도움이 된다. 아직 밝혀지지 않은 기전이 많고 증상 측정 도구와 인자 분석 방법이 다양하기 때문에 증상군이 일정하지 않은 면이 있지만 더욱 많은 연구를 통해서 효과적인 증상 조절과 삶의 질 향상에 기여하게 될 것이다.

• 대한간호학회지
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• 제46권1호
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• pp.50-58
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the knowledge structure of cancer survivors. Methods: For data, 1099 articles were collected, with 365 keywords as a Noun phrase extracted from the articles and standardized for analyzing. Co-occurrence matrix were generated via a cosine similarity measure, and then the network analysis and visualization using PFNet and NodeXL were applied to visualize intellectual interchanges among keywords. Results: According to the result of the content analysis and the cluster analysis of author keywords from cancer survivors articles, keywords such as 'quality of life', 'breast neoplasms', 'cancer survivors', 'neoplasms', 'exercise' had a high degree centrality. The 9 most important research topics concerning cancer survivors were 'cancer-related symptoms and nursing', 'cancer treatment-related issues', 'late effects', 'psychosocial issues', 'healthy living managements', 'social supports', 'palliative cares', 'research methodology', and 'research participants'. Conclusion: Through this study, the knowledge structure of cancer survivors was identified. The 9 topics identified in this study can provide useful research direction for the development of nursing in cancer survivor research areas. The Network analysis used in this study will be useful for identifying the knowledge structure and identifying general views and current cancer survivor research trends.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권21호
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• pp.9499-9503
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• 2014

This study aimed to examine the relationship between body image satisfaction and breast self-screening behaviors and intentions. The sample for this cross-sectional study consisted of 842 female university students who were recruited from a number of public and private universities. Data were obtained between the months of November and December, 2013, using multistage random cluster sampling. Main research variables were breast cancer screening behavior and intentions, demographic factors, and the total scores on each of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ-Appearance Scales) subscales. Results of multivariate analysis showed that having higher satisfaction and more positive evaluation of appearance were related to having performed breast self-examination more frequently in the last year and intending to perform breast self-examination more frequently in the next year. Longitudinal research can potentially provide detailed information about overall body image satisfaction and breast cancer screening behavior among various communities.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• 제1권4호
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• pp.248-255
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• 2005

To understand the response of cancer cells to anticancer drugs at the gene expression level, we examined the gene expression changes in response to five anticancer drugs, 5-fluorouracil, cytarabine, cisplatin, paclitaxel, and cytochalasin D in NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells. Of the five drugs, 5-fluorouracil had the most distinctive gene expression signature. By clustering genes whose expression changed significantly, we identified three clusters with unique gene expression patterns. The first cluster reflected the up-regulation of gene expression by cisplatin, and included genes involved in cell death and DNA repair. The second cluster pointed to a general reduction of gene expression by most of the anticancer drugs tested. A number of genes in this cluster are involved in signal transduction that is important for communication between cells and reception of extracellular signals. The last cluster represented reduced gene expression in response to 5-fluorouracil, the genes involved being implicated in DNA metabolism, the cell cycle, and RNA processing. Since the gene expression signature of 5-fluorouracil was unique, we investigated it in more detail. Significance analysis of microarray data (SAM) identified 808 genes whose expression was significantly altered by 5-fluorouracil. Among the up-regulated genes, those affecting apoptosis were the most noteworthy. The down-regulated genes were mainly associated with transcription-and translation-related processes which are known targets of 5-fluorouracil. These results suggest that the gene expression signature of an anticancer drug is closely related to its physiological action and the response of caner cells.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.373-383
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• 2018

The spatial scan statistic is a widely used method to detect spatial clusters. The method imposes a large number of scanning windows with pre-defined shapes and varying sizes on the entire study region. The likelihood ratio test statistic comparing inside versus outside each window is then calculated and the window with the maximum value of test statistic becomes the most likely cluster. The results of cluster detection respond sensitively to the shape and the maximum size of scanning windows. The shape of scanning window has been extensively studied; however, there has been relatively little attention on the maximum scanning window size (MSWS) or maximum reported cluster size (MRCS). The Gini coefficient has recently been proposed by Han et al. (International Journal of Health Geographics, 15, 27, 2016) as a powerful tool to determine the optimal value of MRCS for the Poisson-based spatial scan statistic. In this paper, we apply the Gini coefficient to normal-based spatial scan statistics. Through a simulation study, we evaluate the performance of the proposed method. We illustrate the method using a real data example of female colorectal cancer incidence rates in South Korea for the year 2009.