• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.163-168
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was a retrospective evaluation of the efficacy of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in patients with >4 metastases to the brain. Materials and Methods: Between January 2004 and December 2006, 68 patients with $\geq$4 multiple brain metastases were included and reviewed retrospectively. Twenty-nine patients received SRS and 39 patients received whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT). Patients with small cell lung cancers and melanomas were excluded. The primary lesions were non-small cell lung cancer (69.0%) and breast cancer (13.8%) in the SRS group and non-small cell lung cancer (64.1%), breast cancer (15.4%), colorectal cancer (12.8%), esophageal cancer (5.1%) in the WBRT group. SRS involved gamma-knife radiosurgery and delivered 10~20 Gy (median, 16 Gy) in a single fraction with a 50% marginal dose. WBRT was delivered daily in 3 Gy fractions, for a total of 30 Gy. After completion of treatment, a follow-up brain MRI or a contrast-enhanced brain CT was reviewed. The overall survival and intracranial progression-free survival were compared in each group. Results: The median follow-up period was 5 months (range, 2~19 months) in the SRS group and 6 months (range, 4~23 months) in the WBRT group. The mean number of metastatic lesions in the SRS and WBRT groups was 6 and 5, respectively. The intracranial progression-free survival and overall survival in the SRS group was 5.1 and 5.6 months, respectively, in comparison to 6.1 and 7.2 months, respectively, in the WBRT group. Conclusion: SRS was less effective than WBRT in the treatment of patients with >4 metastases to the brain.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 1997

Purpose : To evaluate our experience in the breast-conserving treatment for early breast cancer with special regard to recurrence Pattern and related risk factors. Materials and Method :Two hundred and sixteen patients with AJC stage 1and 11 breast cancer who received breast conserving treatment between January 1991 and December 1994 were evaluated A9e distribution ranged from 23-80 year old with a median a9e of 44. One hundred and seventeen Patients had 71 lesions and 99 Patients had 72 lesions. Axillary lymph nodes were involved in 73 patients. All patients received a breast conserving surgery (wide excision to quadrantectomy) and axillary node dissection followed by radiotherapy. Ninety six patients received chemotherapy before or after radiotherapy. Results : During the follow-up period (3-60 months, median 30 months), local recurrences were noted in six Patients (true: 3, elsewhere; 1, skin: 2). Sixteen patients developed distant metastases as the first sign of recurrence at 8-38 months (median 20 months) after surgery. Among them, three patients simultaneously developed local recurrence with distant metastases. Contralateral breast cancer developed in one Patient and non-mammary cancers developed in three patients. The actuarial 5 year survival rate was $88.4\%\;(stage\;I\;96.7\%,\;stage\;IIa\;95.2\%,\;stage\;IIb\;69.9\%)$. Age, I stage, number of involved axillary lymph nodes. and AJC stage were risk factors for distant metastases in univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, the number of involved axillary lymph nodes was the most significant risk factor for metastases. Conclusion : Local recurrence was not common in the early years after radiotherapy. Distant metastases occurred at a steady rate during the first three years and was more common in the Patients with larger tumors, higher number of involved axillary nodes, and younger age.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.112-117
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• 2003

Purpose: The effects of hypefractionation radiation therapy, such as the failure pattern and survival, on the treatment results in advanced stage head and neck cancer were studied. Materials and Methods: Between September 1990 and October 1998, 24 patients with advanced stage (III, IV) head and neck cancers, were treated using hyperfractionation radiation therapy in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center. The male to female ratio was 7 : 1, and the age range from 38 to 71 years with the median of 56 years. With regard to the TNM stage, 11 patients were stage III and 13 were stage IV. The sites of primary cancer were the nasopharynx in six, the hypopharynx in 6, the larynx in five, the oropharynx in three, the maxillary sinus in three, and the oral cavity in one patient. The radiotherapy was delivered by 6 MV X-ray, with a fraction size of 1.2 Gy at two fractions a day, with at least 6 hours inter-fractional interval. The mean total radiation doses was 72 Gy, (ranging from 64.4 to 75.8 Gy). Follow-up periods ranged between 3 and 136 months, with the median of 52 months. Results: The overall survival rates at 3 and 5 years in all patients were 66.7$\%$, and 52.4$\%$. The disease-free survival rates at 3 and S years (3YDFS, 5YDFS) in all patients were 66.7$\%$ and 47.6$\%$. The 3YDFS and 5YDFS in stage III patients were 81.8$\%$ and 63.6$\%$, and those in stage IV patients were 53.8$\%$ and 32.3$\%$. Ten patients were alive with no local nor distant failures at the time of analyses. Six patients (25$\%$) died due to distant metastasis and 12.5$\%$ died due to local failure. Distant metastasis was the major cause of failure, but 2 patients died due to unknown failures and 3 of other diseases. The distant metastasis sites were the lung (3 patients), the bone (1 patient), and the liver (2 patients). One patient died of second esophageal cancer. There were no severe late complications, with the exception of 1 osteo-radionecrosis of the mandible 58 months after treatment. Conclusion: Although this study was peformed on small patients group, we considered hypefractionated radiation therapy for the treatment of advanced stage head and neck cancer might improve the disease free survival and decrease the local failure with no increase in late complications despite of the slight Increase in acute complications.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 2003

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if there were prognostic differences between BRCA related and BRCA non-related Korean patients with early-onset breast carcinomas. Materials and Methods: Sixty women who had developed breast cancers before the age of 40, and who were treated at the Soonchunhyang University Hospital, were studied independently of their family histories. The age range was 18 to 40 with a median of 34.5 years. Lymphocyte specimens from peripheral blood were studied for the heterozygous mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2 using direct sequencing methods. Immunohistochemistry was peformed on the paraffin-embedded tissue blocks that were available. Results: Eleven deleterious mutations (18.3%, 6 in BRCA1 and 5 in BRCA2) and 7 missense mutations of unknown significance (11.7%), were found among the 60 patients. More than half of the mutation were novel, and were not reported in the database. Most of the BRCA-associated patients had no history of breast cancer. No treatment related failures were observed in the BRCA carriers, with the exception of one patient that had experienced a new primary tumor of the contralateral breast. The seven year relapse free survival rate were 50 and 79% In the BRCA carrier and BRCA negative patients, respectively. Although the expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors were less common, and histological features more aggressive, in the BRCA associated tumors, the outcome of the patients with BRCA mutations was not poorer than that on the patients without deleterious mutations. Conclusion.: Despite the BRCA mutation carriers having adverse prognostic features, the recurrence rate was relatively lower than that in the BRCA non-carrying Korean patients wi4h early-onset breast carcinomas. In addition, although the prevalence of the BRCA mutation in Korean patients was higher than that in white patients, the penetrance of the cancer seemed to be relatively low in Korean women carrying BRCA mutations. A large population based study of the BRCA mutation, with a long-term follow-up of the study patients will be required to confirm these results.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.62-68
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• 2014

Purpose: After I-131 therapy, SPECT/CT is useful in identifying location of thyroid remnants and metastasis of thyroid cancers. An excessive uptake of thyroid leads to a ringing artifact in the SPECT images. The aim of this study is to investigate and suggest a proper post filters to remove ringing artifact and produce better image quality. Materials and Methods: A low-cost, customized thyroid-mimicking phantom, consisting of an acrylic bottle and a hollow sphere was used for SPECT/CT Discovery (GE Healthcare, USA). It was filled with I-131 solution. The ratio of hollow sphere to background were varied as 50:1, 200:1, 1000:1 and 4000:1. Acquired images were reconstructed by OSEM (2 iterations, 10 subsets) with and without Evolution (resolution recovery correction, GE). Three different post-filters were applied; Butterworth (cut off: 0.38 to 0.58 with intervals of 0.05), Hanning (cut off: 0.8 to 1 with intervals of 0.05) and Gaussian (FWHM: 3 to 5 with intervals of 0.5) filters. Contrast, background variability, air area variability, and full width half maximum (FWHM) were compared. Results: Higher contrasts were obtained from the SPECT images with Evolution than without Evolution. In the case of images without Evolution, image distortion such as star artifact was generated. For all sphere-to-background ratio, the Butterworth filter showed better constrasts and FWHMs than other two filters, but the ringing artifact was still generated in all studies except 50:1 and it was decreased as cutoff value was increased. The ringing artifact didn't appear with Hanning and Gaussian filters at all studies, however constrats and FWHMs with Gaussian was worse than Hanning filter. For the images having ringing artifacts, the background variability and air area variability were increased. Conclusion: In this study, we suggested that it is desirable to use Hanning filter when the ringing artifact is generated and to use Butterworth filter when ringing artifact is not generated in I-131 SPECT.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.529-535
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• 2007

Background: An imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants leads to oxidative stress, and this has been proposed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of lung neoplasm. Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease-1/redox factor-1 (APE/ref-1) is a multifunctional protein involved in DNA base excision repair and the redox regulation of many transcription factors. However, the alteration of the expressed levels of APE/ref-1 in non-small cell lung cancer is unknown. Material and Method: Forty-nine patients with surgically resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were included in this study. Immunohistochemical staining with APE/ref-1 antibodies was performed, and their expressions were analyzed via Western blotting for specific antibodies. Result: APE/ref-1 was localized at the nucleus and mainly in the non-tumor region of the NSCLC tissue specimens; it was expressed in the cytoplasm and nucleus of the NSCLC. The nuclear and cytoplasmic expressions of APE/ref-1 in lung cancers were markedly up-regulated in the NSCLC, and this was correlated with the clinical stage. Catalase, as first-line antioxidant defense, was dramatically decreased in the NSCLC. Conclusion: Taken together, our results suggest that APE/ref-1, and especially cytoplasmic APE/ref-1, was upregulated in the lung cancer regions, and this may contribute to the compensatory defense system against oxidative stress. A low expression of catalase might have fundamental effects on the extracellular redox state of lung tumors, along with the potential consequences for the tumors.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2011

In this study, we investigated the antioxidant activities, inhibition activity against ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) and antitumor activity of extract from Acanthopanax senticosus HARMS fruits for development novel functional resources. In order to understand the factors responsible for the potent antioxidant and antihypertensive ability of fruits in A. senticosus, it has been evaluated for anti-oxidative activity using Fenton's reagent/ethyl linoleate system and for free radical scavenging activity using the l,l-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl free radical generating system. The fruits extract of A. senticosus showed higher antioxidant activities than positive control, ${\alpha}$-tocopherol at all concentrations, while fruits extract of A. senticosus showed same degree of radical scavenging activity with positive control, ${\alpha}$-tocopherol. The ability of fruit extracts from A. senticosus to influence the inhibitory activity of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and xanthine oxidase (XOase) has also been discussed. The activity of growth-inhibitory of fruit extracts of A. senticosus was screened by SRB (sulphorhodamine B) method on diverse cancer cells representing different types of cancers. The fruit extracts of A. senticosus showed moderate inhibition on proliferation of LNCaP and MOLT-4F cells and did not inhibit the proliferation of other cancer cells. The fruit extracts of A. senticosus inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells with $GI_{50}$ values ranging from 5 to $10{\mu}g/mL$. This result revealed that the fruit extracts of A. senticosus was expected to be good candidate for development into source of free radical scavengers, antihypertentive, and anti-tumor agent.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.447-453
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• 1986

To diagnose the typhoid fever rapidly and accurately in clinically suspected patients, the levels of IgG subclass antibody were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). With symptom, blood culture and agglutination test, tested persons were categorized into 6 groups as typhoid fever, FUO, paratyphi A or B, other bacterial infctions, cancers, and control. ELISA was performed on the polyvinyl chloride plates coated with killed whole cell($10^8\;cell/ml$) of S. typhi 0901W by poly-L-lysine applied as binding substance (and polyvinyl chloride as solid phase). The distribution of the level of IgG subclass antibodies in each group was analyzed and compared with other groups. The results obtained were summarized as follow: 1. The optimal dilution of the sera from patients with typhoid fever was 1:160, and those of the sheep anti-human IgG subclass and the peroxidase conjugated rabbit anti-sheep IgG were 1:4000 and 1:5000, respectively. 2. The absorbance levels of IgG subclass in the sera of typhoid fever patients were as follows; a) IgG1 value is $0.439{\pm}0.110$ b) IgG2 value is $0.416{\pm}0.165$ c) IgG3 value is $0.449{\pm}0.145$ d) IgG4 value is $0.525{\pm}0.154$ IgG subclass levels in the sera of typhoid patients were much higher than in control group and patient with paratyphi A or B as well as other infectious diseases. The sensitivity and the specificity in differential diagnosis of typhoid fever and other febrile diseases were 92% and 79% in the assay of IgG1 respectively, whereas those in the assay of IgG2 were 97% and 72%, respectively (above absorbance 0.3). 3. The absorbance levels of IgG subclass in the serial sera of typhiod fever patients tend to decrease to the level of absorbance 0.3 in 10 months from the onset of illness. 4. The order of absorbance levels of IgG subclass in the serum of each group were typhoid fever, paratyphi A or B, other infectious diseases, control and cancer. 5. For the serodiagnosis of typhoid fever against other febrile diseases, the sensitivity and the specificity in the assay of IgG2 activity were 76% and 93% in absorbance 0.4, respectively. 6. In the distribution of the level of each IgG subclass in the sera of FUO patients which were suspected of typhoid fever, the positive rate was ranged from 36% to 82%. This suggest that more than 50% of FUO patients are caused by S. typhi.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.182-190
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• 1998

Background: Most of the cancers of maxillary sinus are the squamous variety, but various histopathologic types of malignant tumor can occur in the maxillary sinus. These non-squamous cell tumors have quite different patterns of clinical behavior compared with squamous variety, such as invasive characters, route of metastasis, treatment modality, and so on. Objectives: The authors intend to establish the clinical characteristics and treatment modalities of non-squamous cell tumors of the maxillary sinus. Material and Methods: We experienced 16 cases of non-squamous cell tumors arisen from the maxillary sinus during the 10-year period from 1987 to 1996. We analyzed their clinical features, therapeutic modalities and results with review of literatures. Results: According to AJCC TNM system, 13 patients presented with $T_{1-2}$, 3 with $T_{3-}4$, Two patients were treated with surgery after radiotherapy, 3 patients with surgery after chemotherapy and radiotherapy, 4 patients with chemotherapy and radiotherpy, 5 patients with chemotherapy and radiotherapy after surgery. Conclusion: In cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and sarcoma, we believe that the best form of therapy is wide surgical excision. If there is microscopic evidence of disease at or close to the resection margin, postoperative radiation was used to achieve better local control. In cases of undifferentiated carcinoma, preoperative chemotherapy and radiation therapy showed improved outcomes.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.143-152
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• 2010

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the current status of hospice palliative care facilities in Korea. Based on the result, we attempted to suggest activation plans of hospice palliative in Korea. Methods: To conduct a survey, we obtained a list of hospice palliative care facilities from related agencies and academic societies. A survey was conducted from February, 2009 to March, 2009. The survey was consisted of general characteristics of organizations, manpower, facilities & equipments, and so on. In addition, we used data from Statistics Korea to estimate the number of beds required and the bed occupancy rate. Results: Total number of facilities responded to the questionnaire were 53. Forty-two facilities were general hospitals and 6 facilities were clinics among the total 53 facilities, and 18.8% of facilities were located in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggido. Overall bed occupancy rate was rather low as 21.9%, and there were 4 provinces where bed occupancy rates were 0%. Deaths in hospice palliative care facilities during 2008 were 6.3% of total deaths from cancers. As for the questions about the financial status of facilities, 86% of facilities were answered financial insufficiency. Also more than half of the facilities gave financial insufficiency as the reason for shortage of human resource supplies and inability to achieve the standard for authorization by the government. Facilities answered in order to activate the hospice palliative care, governmental support is needed, mostly in financial support (71.2%), donation tax deduction (43.1%), and setting up a public utility foundation (23.5%). Conclusion: This study showed low rates of hospice palliative care use and bed occupancy in Korea. Regional variance in bed occupancy rate was significantly high. As a roadblock for these problems, most of the facilities cited financial insufficiency. Therefore, there must be some action plans to boost financial support to activate hospice palliative care in Korea. Finally, efforts to improve these circumstances including lack of understanding about hospice and palliative care, are needed as well.