• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8361-8366
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• 2014

This meta-analysis was performed to assess the implementation effects of clinical pathways in patients with gastrointestinal cancer. A comprehensive search was conducted in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (from inception to May 2014). Selection of studies, assessing risk of bias and extracting data were performed by two reviewers independently. Outcomes were analyzed by fixed-effects and random-effects model meta-analysis and reported as mean difference (MD), standardized mean difference (SMD) and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The Jadad methodological approach was used to assess the quality of included studies and the meta-analysis was conducted with RevMan 5.1 software. Nine citations (eight trials) involving 642 patients were included. The aggregate results showed that a shorter average length of stay [MD = -4.0; 95% CI (-5.1, -2.8); P < 0.00001] was observed with the clinical pathways as compared with the usual care. A reduction in inpatient expenditure [SMD = -1.5; 95% CI (-2.3, -0.7); P = 0.0001] was also associated with clinical pathways, along with higher patient satisfaction [OR = 4.9; 95% CI (2.2, 10.6); P < 0.0001]. Clinical pathways could improve the quality of care in patients with gastrointestinal cancer, as evidenced by a significant reduction in average length of stay, a decrease in inpatient expenditure and an improvement in patient satisfaction. Therefore, indicators and mechanisms within clinical pathways should be a focus in the future.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.35-46
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• 2010

Various electrophysiological tests have provided a large body of valuable information on neuronal responses to a presented stimulus. The special and general somatic sensory pathways are main targets of evoked potentials. Two types of evoked potentials, exogenous and endogenous, are commonly used. Exogenous evoked potentials of general and special somatic sensory systems will be reviewed. One of general somatic sensory functional pathways, proprioception, can be evaluated by general somatosensory evoked potentials with electrical stimulation on nerves. The special somatosensory functional pathways, including vision, and audition, can be evaluated by visual evoked potentials and auditory evoked potentials. Also laser-evoked potentials are newly developed for pain pathway, including lateral spinothalamic pathway, and vestibular myogenic evoked potentials for sacculocollic pathways. The evoked potentials of sensory system have maximal clinical utility in evaluating functional deficits along the sensory pathways. They are used for evaluating comatose patients, hysterical patients, premature infants, patients with suspected demyelinating diseases or neoplasms, and research. We discuss the neurophysiologic tests of sensory systems in views of practical points. The organized evaluation of sensory electrophysiologic tests can be helpful in detecting and estimating the abnormalities in neurological diseases.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.55-67
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• 2022

Objectives : This study is aimed to survey Korean Medicine Doctors's perceptions in Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline and Standard Korean Medicine Clinical Pathways for its spread(to increase utilization in clinical sites). Methods : The research population was set at 14,831 Korean medical institutions registered with the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service for sampling representative of Korean Medicine Doctors, and the final 2,007 subjects were selected in consideration of the research period and budget. This survey was conducted based on a telephone survey, and in some cases, a fax or e-mail survey was also conducted together. Six questions were asked about the perception of 'Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline and Standard Korean Medicine Clinical Pathways', and three questions about the characteristics of the respondent. Results : The rate of recognizing Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline was 36.1%. Those who worked at Korean medicine hospitals, were under 39 years of age, and had less than 11-20 years of experience as an Korean medical doctor were more likely to be aware of it. Regarding the experience of using Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline, the rate of 'not used in the past and not used now' was very high at 82.9%, but the intention to use it in the future was high at 60.7%. About the Korean Medicine Clinical Pathways, 79.9% of respondents answered that they did not know. 80.6% of respondents recognized the need for the development of clinical manuals such as Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline and Standard Korean Medicine Clinical Pathways. Conclusion : Their low awareness of Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline seems to affect its low utilization. Therefore, active education and public relations are required in the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.609-617
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• 2013

Renal cell carcinomas make up 3% of all cancers and one in four patients is metastatic at time of diagnosis. This cancer is one of the most resistant to cytotoxic chemotherapy. Studies have shown that the efficiency of interferon-alpha and/or interleukin-2 based immune therapies is limited in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma but latest advances in molecular biology and genetic science have resulted in better understanding of its biology. Tumor angiogenesis, tumor proliferation and metastasis develop by the activation of signal message pathways playing a role in the development of renal cell carcinomas. Better definition of these pathways has caused an increase in preclinic and clinical studies into target directed treatment of renal cell carcinoma. Many recent studies have shown that numerous anti-angiogenic agents have marked clinical activity. In this article, the focus is on general characteristics of molecular pathways playing a major role in renal cell carcinoma, reviewing clinical information onagents used in the target directed treatment of metastatic lesions.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.7
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• pp.355-363
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• 2021

Background: Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is a common renal disorder in children attributed to podocyte injury. However, children with the same diagnosis have markedly variable treatment responses, clinical courses, and outcomes, suggesting molecular heterogeneity. Purpose: This study aimed to explore the molecular responses of podocytes to nephrotic plasma to identify specific genes and signaling pathways differentiating various clinical NS groups as well as biological processes that drive injury in normal podocytes. Methods: Transcriptome profiles from immortalized human podocyte cell line exposed to the plasma of 8 subjects (steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome [SSNS], n=4; steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome [SRNS], n=2; and healthy adult individuals [control], n=2) were generated using microarray analysis. Results: Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of global gene expression data was broadly correlated with the clinical classification of NS. Differential gene expression (DGE) analysis of diseased groups (SSNS or SRNS) versus healthy controls identified 105 genes (58 up-regulated, 47 down-regulated) in SSNS and 139 genes (78 up-regulated, 61 down-regulated) in SRNS with 55 common to SSNS and SRNS, while the rest were unique (50 in SSNS, 84 genes in SRNS). Pathway analysis of the significant (P≤0.05, -1≤ log2 FC ≥1) differentially expressed genes identified the transforming growth factor-β and Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription pathways to be involved in both SSNS and SRNS. DGE analysis of SSNS versus SRNS identified 2,350 genes with values of P≤0.05, and a heatmap of corresponding expression values of these genes in each subject showed clear differences in SSNS and SRNS. Conclusion: Our study observations indicate that, although podocyte injury follows similar pathways in different clinical subgroups, the pathways are modulated differently as evidenced by the heatmap. Such transcriptome profiling with a larger cohort can stratify patients into intrinsic subtypes and provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of podocyte injury.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3741-3745
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• 2012

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the most common form of liver cancer. However, while it is associated frequently with hepatitis C virus (HCV) there is only an elementary understanding of its molecular pathogenesis. Methods: To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms of HCV-induced hepatocarcinogenesis, we performed microarray analysis on 75 surgical liver samples from 48 HCV-infected patients. Results: There were 395 differentially expressed geness between cirrhotic samples and HCC samples. Of these, 125 genes were up-regulated and 270 genes were down-regulated. We performed pathway enrichment analysis and screened as described previously. Conclusions: The differentially expressed genes might be involved in hepatocarcinogenesis through upregulating the pathways of ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion, cell adhesion molecules and other cancer-related pathways, and downregulating the pathways of "complement and coagulation cascades". We hope our results could aid in seeking of therapeutic targets for HCV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2129-2144
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• 2015

Programmed cell death (PCD) or apoptosis is a mechanism which is crucial for all multicellular organisms to control cell proliferation and maintain tissue homeostasis as well as eliminate harmful or unnecessary cells from an organism. Defects in the physiological mechanisms of apoptosis may contribute to different human diseases like cancer. Identification of the mechanisms of apoptosis and its effector proteins as well as the genes responsible for apoptosis has provided a new opportunity to discover and develop novel agents that can increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to undergo apoptosis or reset their apoptotic threshold. These novel targeted therapies include those targeting anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members, p53, the extrinsic pathway, FLICE-inhibitory protein (c-FLIP), inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins, and the caspases. In recent years a number of these novel agents have been assessed in preclinical and clinical trials. In this review, we introduce some of the key regulatory molecules that control the apoptotic pathways, extrinsic and intrinsic death receptors, discuss how defects in apoptotic pathways contribute to cancer, and list several agents being developed to target apoptosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.24
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• pp.10557-10563
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• 2015

It is well known that conventional chemotherapy and radiation therapy can result in toxicity to both normal cells and tumor cells, which causes limitations in the application of these therapeutic strategies for cancer control. Novel and effective therapeutic strategies for cancers with no or low toxicity for normal cells are a high priority. Therefore, natural products with anticancer activity have gained more and more attention due to their favorable safety and efficacy profiles. Pre-clinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that several representative natural compounds such as resveratrol, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, curcumin, allicin and ginsenosides have obvious anticancer potential. In this article, we summarize autophagy-associated targeting pathways of such natural products for inducing the death of cancer cells, and discuss the core autophagic pathways involved in cancer treatments. Recent advances in the discovery, evaluation and exploitation of natural compounds as therapeutic agents for cancers will provide references and support in pre-clinical and clinical application of novel natural drugs for the treatment of primary and metastatic tumors in the future.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2005

Loud click or tone burst sound can activate vestibular receptor and evoke reflex changes in tonic electromyographic activity within the stenocleidomastoid muscles. This reflex is assumed to originate in the saccule, the afferent pathways being the inferior vestibular nerve, and the efferent pathways the vestibulospinal tract. Averaging these muscular responses allows vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) to be obtained. The earliest response ipsilateral to a loud click, p13n23, is dependent upon vestibular activation, specifically saccular afferents. These new techniques are beginning to be applied clinically in the patient of vestibular neuritis, Meniere's disease, acoustic neuromas, Tullio phenomenon, etc. VEMP recording will provide both a straightforward non-invasive exploration of each vestibule independently and an attractive method by which to explore otolithic receptors and vestibulospinal pathways.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.213-222
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• 2023

Cryopreservation is an option for the preservation of pre- or post-pubertal female or male fertility. This technique not only is beneficial for human clinical applications, but also plays a crucial role in the breeding of livestock and endangered species. Unfortunately, frozen germ cells, including oocytes, sperm, embryos, and spermatogonial stem cells, are subject to cryoinjury. As a result, various cryoprotective agents and freezing techniques have been developed to mitigate this damage. Despite extensive research aimed at reducing apoptotic cell death during freezing, a low survival rate and impaired cell function are still observed after freeze-thawing. In recent decades, several cell death pathways other than apoptosis have been identified. However, the relationship between these pathways and cryoinjury is not yet fully understood, although necroptosis and autophagy appear to be linked to cryoinjury. Therefore, gaining a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cryoinjury could aid in the development of new strategies to enhance the effectiveness of the freezing of reproductive tissues. In this review, we focus on the pathways through which cryoinjury leads to cell death and propose novel approaches to enhance freezing efficacy based on signaling molecules.