• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2014

Purpose: To evaluate the results of postoperative radiotherapy in patients with extra-hepatic bile duct cancer (EHBDC) and identify the prognostic factors for local control and survival. Materials and Methods: Between January 2001 and December 2010, we retrospectively reviewed the cases of 70 patients with EHBDC who had undergone curative resection and received postoperative radiotherapy. The median radiation dose was 50.4 Gy (range, 41.4 to 54 Gy). The resection margin status was R0 in 30 patients (42.9%), R1 in 25 patients (35.7%), and R2 in 15 patients (21.4%). Results: The 5-year rates of overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS), and locoregional control (LRC) for all patients were 42.9%, 38.3%, and 61.2%, respectively. The major pattern of failure was distant relapses (33 patients, 47.1%). A multivariate analysis showed that the postradiotherapy CA19-9 level, radiation dose (${\geq}50$ Gy), R2 resection margins, perineural invasion, and T stage were the significant prognostic factors for OS, EFS, and LRC. OS was not significantly different between the patients receiving R0 and R1 resections, but was significantly lower among those receiving R2 resection (54.6%, 56.1%, and 7.1% for R0, R1, and R2 resections, respectively). Conclusion: In patients with EHBDC who had undergone curative resection, a postoperative radiotherapy dose less than 50 Gy was suboptimal for OS and LRC. Higher radiation doses may be needed to obtain better LRC. Further investigation of novel therapy or palliative treatment should be considered for patients receiving R2 resection.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8281-8285
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• 2016

Background: Helicobacter pylori is a cause of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and gastric malignancy, infection being a serious health problem in Thailand. Recently, clarithromycin resistant H. pylori strains represent the main cause of treatment failure. Therefore this study aimed to determine the prevalence and pattern of H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin in Suranaree University of Technology Hospital, Suranree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Northeastern Thailand, Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeast of Thailand. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out between June 2014 and February 2015 with 300 infected patients interviewed and from whom gastric mucosa specimens were collected and proven positive by histology. The gastric mucosa specimens were tested for H. pylori and clarithromycin resistance by 23S ribosomal RNA point mutations analysis using real-time polymerase chain reactions. Correlation of eradication rates with patterns of mutation were analyzed by chi-square test. Results: Of 300 infected patients, the majority were aged between 47-61 years (31.6%), female (52.3%), with monthly income between 10,000-15,000 Baht (57%), and had a history of alcohol drinking (59.3%). Patient symptoms were abdominal pain (48.6%), followed by iron deficiency anemia (35.3%). Papaya salad consumption (40.3%) was a possible risk factor for H. pylori infection. The prevalence of H. pylori strains resistant to clarithromycin was 76.2%. Among clarithromycin-resistant strains tested, all were due to the A2144G point mutation in the 23S rRNA gene. Among mutations group, wild type genotype, mutant strain mixed wild type and mutant genotype were 23.8%, 35.7% and 40.5% respectively. With the clarithromycin-based triple therapy regimen, the efficacy decreased by 70% for H. pylori eradication (P<0.01). Conclusions: Recent results indicate a high rate of H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin. Mixed of wild type and mutant genotype is the most common mutant genotype in Nakhon Ratchasima province, therefore the use of clarithromycin-based triple therapy an not advisable as an empiric first-line regimen for H. pylori eradication in northeast region of Thailand.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1889-1894
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• 2013

Background: Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus (BSCCE) is a rare and distinctive tumor with no standard treatment. This study aimed to explore treatment in relation to prognosis of the disease. Methods: A total of 142 patients with BSCCE that underwent treatment in our hospital from March 1999 to July 2010 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients received surgery, 42 postoperative radiotherapy and 28 patients chemotherapy. Results: There were 26 patients included in stage I, 60 in stage II, 53 in stage III and 3 in stage IV. The clinical symptoms and macroscopic performances of BSCCE did not differ from those of typical esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Among 118 patients receiving endoscopic biopsy, only 12 were diagnosed with BSCCE. The median survival time (MST) of the entire group was 32 months, with 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival (OS) of 81.4%, 46.8% and 31.0%, respectively. The 5-year OS of stage I and II patients was significantly longer than that of stages III/IV, at 60.3%, 36.1% and 10.9%, respectively (p<0.001, p=0.001). The MST and 5-year OS were 59.0 months and 47.4% in patients with tumors located in the lower thoracic esophagus, and 27.0 months and 18.1% in those with lesions in the upper/middle esophagus (p=0.002). However, the survival was not significantly improved in patients undegoing adjunctive therapy. Multivariate analysis showed TNM stage and tumor location to be independent prognostic factors. Furthermore, distant metastasis was the most frequent failure pattern, with a median recurrence time of 10 months. Conclusion: BSCCE is an aggressive disease with rapid progression and a propensity for distant metastasis. It is difficult to make a definitive diagnosis via preoperative biopsy. Multidisciplinary therapy including radical esophagectomy with extended lymphadenectomy should be recommended, while the effectiveness of radiochemotherapy requires further validation for BSCCE.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.128-139
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• 2017

Railway is one of the public transportation systems along with shipping and aviation. With the recent introduction of high speed train, its proportion is increasing rapidly, which results in the higher risk of catastrophic failures. The wheel bearing to support the train is one of the important components requiring higher reliability and safety in this aspect. Recently, many studies have been made under the name of prognostics and health management (PHM), for the purpose of fault diagnosis and failure prognosis of the bearing under operation. Among them, the most important step is to extract a feature that represents the fault status properly and is useful for accurate remaining life prediction. However, the conventional features have shown some limitations that make them less useful since they fluctuate over time even after the signal de-noising or do not show a distinct pattern of degradation which lack the monotonic trend over the cycles. In this study, a new method for feature extraction is proposed based on the observation of relative frequency energy shifting over the cycles, which is then converted into the feature using the information entropy. In order to demonstrate the method, traditional and new features are generated and compared using the bearing data named FEMTO which was provided by the FEMTO-ST institute for IEEE 2012 PHM Data Challenge competition.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.393-398
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• 2010

Early pregnancy diagnosis of bovine is an essential component for efficient reproductive plan in farms because long term of non-pregnancy results in economic losses by failure of offspring production and low milk yield in dairy cattle. The major steroid hormones related with reproduction are known to be progesterone and estrogen in bovine pregnancy. To evaluate detection level of hormones in milk, plasma and milk progestrone and estrogen of Holstein cows was analyzed during artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET). Progesterone concentration at 21 days postestrus was significantly different in plasma and milk between pregnant and non-pregnant cows. Estrogen concentration at estrus was higher in pregnant recipients than that in non-pregnant recipients. To analyze correlation between hormone levels and conception rates in Holstein, the conception and return rates were checked following AI, and the returned cows were on the track of pregnancy after consecutive AI. Pregnant cows following first AI were considered as high conception group while pregnant cows following third AI were rated as low conception group. Proportion of high and low conception groups in this study was 78.2% and 9.1%, respectively. Hormone analysis indicated that high conception group had higher estrogen level during estrus than low conception group ($26.45{\pm}3.32$ vs $19.017{\pm}2.97$). Progesterone level was not different between high and low conception groups during estrus but increased significantly after 21 days postestrus (21 day: $4.95{\pm}1.12$ vs $0.95{\pm}0.23$, 35 day: $12.47{\pm}3.82$ vs $2.41{\pm}1.21$). In conclusion, the pattern of progesterone and estrogen secretion in Holstein milk samples could be a good candidate for early pregnancy detection and selection of recipients during ET.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.5 s.95
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• pp.595-602
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• 2006

An experimental study was conducted to investigate seismic behaviour of post-tensioned(PT) exterior slab-column connections used for the purpose to resist gravity loads only. For these, 2/3-scale, two PT post-tensioned exterior connections with two different tendon arrangement patterns and one conventional reinforced concrete(RC) exterior connection was tested under quasi-static, uni-directional reversed cyclic loading. During the lateral testing, gravity forces transferred to the column were kept constant to closely simulate a moment to shear ratio of a real building. One of the objectives of this study was to assess the necessity and/or the quantity of bottom bonded reinforcement needed to resist moment reversal which would occur under significant inelastic deformations of the adjacent lateral force resisting systems. The ACI 318 and 352 provisions for structural integrity were applied to provide the bottom reinforcement passing through the column for the specimens. Prior test results were also collected to conduct comparative studies for some design parameters such as the tendon arrangement pattern, the effect of post-tensioning forces and the use of bottom bonded reinforcement. Consequently, the impact of tendon arrangement on the seismic performance of the PT connection, that is lateral drift capacity and ductility, dissipated energy and failure mechanism, was considerable. Moreover, test results showed that the amount of bottom reinforcement specified by ACI 352. 1R-89 was sufficient for resisting positive moments arising from moment reversal under reversed cyclic loads. Shear strength of the tested specimens was more accurately predicted by the shear strength equation(ACI 318) considering the average compressive stress over the concrete($f_{pc}$) due to post-tensioning forces than that without considering $f_{pc}$.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.11-24
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• 2013

This study presents a design method for typical rainfall-induced landslide considering in-situ matric suction. Actual landslide data are used to validate the proposed method. The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and unsaturated permeability are experimentally determined to estimate hydraulic properties of testing site. The field measurement of matric suction is carried out to monitor in-situ matric suction in a natural slope subjected to rainfall infiltration, which is incorporated in the landslide analysis. The wetting band depth and safety factor of the slope are assessed to clarify the effect of domestic rainfall pattern. Especially, the effect of antecedent rainfall on the slope stability is investigated and discussed in terms of wetting band depth using parametric study. It is found from the result of this study that proposed design method can consider the characteristic of unsaturated soil and effect of antecedent rainfall. The location of the scarp zone is fairly well predicted by proposed design method. Moreover, heavy rainfall, concentrated in the backward part with time, causes the lowest safety factor of the slope. These results demonstrate that decrease in matric suction due to antecedent rainfall may trigger slope instability. After the antecedent rainfall, additional rainfall may cause the slope failure due to increasing wetting band depth.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.359-370
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• 2011

To identify osseointegration of implants, dentists were performed the radiographic analysis. The fractal analysis methods using periapical radiographs before and after loading on implants was to evaluate whether or not significant. 30 patients who were placed implants in dental hospital of Wonkwang university were participated in this study. Total of 42 implants were analyzed. And, 14 males and 16 females aged from 22 to 73 participated in this study. The two morphologic and Fractal analysis of the one trabecular patterns in alveolar bone were done using periapical views. Two periapical views, after implant placement, and after 2 months of functional loading were analysed. The analysis was done by software, Image J(1.40s, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, USA). The data were statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA(P<.05). Multiple comparison was done by the Tukey HSD test. The results of Fractal analysis and change in bone density around implants showed significantly different values, especially mandibles. However, in case of implants with failure, Fractal values decreased from 1.2865 to 1.1521 and 1.1135 to 1.0478.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.469-476
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• 2008

This study was performed to compare the fluoride release pattern and compressive strength of recently developed resin-modified glass ionomers($Ketac^{TM}$ N 100 and Fuji Fil LC) with those of conventional glass ionomer restorative material(Fuji II LC). Fifteen sample discs(6 mm diameter and 1 mm height) were prepared for each tested material. The fluoride release was measured by pH/ISE meter(750P, Istek, Korea) for 31 days. For compressive strength experiment, fifteen cylindrical specimens were prepared for each tested material. Each specimen was submitted to compressive strength testing in an universal testing machine(Kyung-sung Testing Machine Co., Korea) at crosshead speed of 5.0mm/min until failure. The results can be summarized as follows; 1. Fuji Fil LC released the highest amount of fluoride, followed by Fuji II LC and $Ketac^{TM}$ N 100(p<0.05). 2. The compressive strength of Fuji Fil LC was the lowest(p<0.05). However, no significant difference was found from Fuji II LC and $Ketac^{TM}$ N 100(p>0.05). By considering the above results, careful case selection and accurate clinical application is recommended when using $Ketac^{TM}$ N 100 and Fuji Fil LC.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 2001

Objectives : During March-May, 2000, a measles outbreak occurred at Youngduk, Korea. This county is divided into two areas with different historical and socioeconomic background. The outbreak occurred in one of these areas. We conducted a comparative epidemiologic study on the two areas in order to evaluate the factors related to the epidemic. Materials and Methods : We selected two groups, grades 3 and 5 in a primary schools in each area. We investigated outbreak-related factors using parent-questionnaires, the vaccination history from the student's health record and the records concerning the recent measles-outbreak from the local health center. Serologic test on measles-IgG and -IgM antibody was done. Results : The infection rate was 31.5% for the epidemic area and 3.7% for non-the epidemic area according to clinical or serological criteria (p<0.001). No difference was seen in the measles vaccination rate, residence at the time of vaccination or past measles infection history between the two areas. In the epidemic area, the attack rate for the 4-6 year-old MMR booster group(20.5%) was higher than the non-booster group(32.4%), but was not found significantly. Vaccine efficacy was 29.6% in the epidemic area and 87.0% in the non-epidemic area (p<0.001). The IgG level and positive rate were significantly different between the two areas (median 10727 IU/ml, 98.9% in epidemic area; median 346 IU/ml, 85.9% in the non-epidemic area, p<0.001). However, the IgG level and positive rate between the measles-cases and non-cases were not significantly different. Conclusions : This outbreak took place in mostly vaccinated children. These results suggest that a reduction of herd immunity for immunity failure after vaccination may be one of the feasible factors related to the outbreak pattern in the two areas. The results of the IgG level and positive rate suggest that re-establishment of a normal value for IgG level and of a qualitative method for IgG are needed.