• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.52-62
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• 2017

Purpose: The Trastuzumab for gastric cancer (GC) trial identified human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) as a predictor of successful treatment with trastuzumab (HER2 receptor targeting agent) among patients with advanced/metastatic GC. To date, the prevalence of HER2 overexpression in the Korean population is unknown. The present study aimed to assess the incidence of HER2 positivity among GC and gastroesophageal (GE) junction cancer samples and the relationship between HER2 overexpression and clinicopathological characteristics in Korean patients. Materials and Methods: Tumor samples collected from 1,695 patients with histologically proven GC or GE junction enrolled at 14 different hospitals in Korea were examined. After gathering clinicopathological data of all patients, HER2 status was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) at each hospital, and IHC 2+ cases were subjected to silver-enhanced in situ hybridization at 3 central laboratories. Results: A total of 182 specimens tested positive for HER2, whereas 1,505 tested negative. Therefore, the overall HER2-positive rate in this study was 10.8% (95% confidence interval=9.3%-12.3%). The HER2-positive rate was higher among intestinal-type cases (17.6%) than among other types, and was higher among patients older than 70 years and 50 years of age, compared to other age groups. Conclusions: Our evaluation of the HER2 positivity rate (10.8%) among Korean patients with GC and GE junction indicated the necessity of epidemiological data when conducting studies related to HER2 expression in GC and GE junction.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.149-168
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• 2008

The objective of this study was to expand understanding of children's exposure to domestic violence in Korean society. In-depth personal interview was conducted by a researcher on individual experience of domestic violence in childhood. The findings of this qualitative study are summarized as follows; 1) A person who experienced domestic violence in childhood is likely to feel powerless, and think of himself/herself worthless. 2) He/She needs to have sufficient social support and protective networks. 3) A person who experienced parental violence in childhood is to suffer from people's negative behaviors such as social prejudice, preconception, and discrimination. 4) He/She is worried about the cycle of violence from generation to generation. 5) It is necessary for him/her to overcome his/her negative emotions acquired by the experience of domestic violence in childhood to have a constructive goal for the future.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to investigate (1)the level of the urban housewives’behavior and satisfaction of wedding, (2)the influential factors related to the two dependent variables above mentioned. So that provides some fundamental materials to improve the level of sound wedding culture and the whole home living. The subjects were 356 housewives, in April, 1997, Seoul. The data obtained were analyzed by Mean, Pearson’s correlation, Stepwise Multiple Regression and Path Analysis. The major findings were as follows: 1) The general tendency of the housewives’wedding behavior and satisfaction was reasonable. 2) According to the background variables(ie: marital form, the existence of job, the recognition degree of her husband’s family’s living standards, the recognition degree of her parents’home’s living standards, the perception of marital transactions), the housewives’wedding behavior was significantly different. 3) According to (1)the background variables(ie: communication frequency in household, self-acceptance, the adequacy of household income, educational level), (2)intermediated variable(ie: articles essential to a marriage), the housewives’wedding satisfaction was significantly different. 4) The indirect variable of the positive influence for housewives’satisfaction of wedding was marital form, the existence of job. the indirect variable of the negative influence for housewives’satisfaction of wedding was the recognition degree of her husband’s family’s living standards, the recognition degree of her parents’home’s living standards, the perception of marital transfactions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1643-1649
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• 2015

Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate clinicopathological characteristics of our early stage breast cancer patients who are epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpressed/amplified (HER2+), the efficacy of trastuzumab treatment and survival results. Materials and Methods: Patients with HER2-positive early stage breast cancer receiving adjuvant trastuzumab were investigated retrospectively. Clinicopathological features of 210 patients and treatment outcome were analysed. To evaluate survival rates, the Kaplan-Meier method was used. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted with the Cox regression model. Results: Mean age of the patients was 51.8, 71.9% being postmenopausal. Some 37.6% of patients were node negative, and 31% had T1 tumor size and 52.4% were positive for estrogen receptor. Of 210 patients, 89.5% completed planned 52 weeks adjuvant trastuzumab treatment. The median follow up was 27.5 months (6.0-86.0). Relapse free survival (RFS) was 68.0 months (95% CI: 62.1-74.0) and overall survival (OS) was 74.8 months (95% CI: 69.5-80.1). The 3 year OS for all patients was 92.0% and RFS was 79.6%. During follow up, relapse was detected at the rate of 14.3%. Trastuzumab associated cardiotoxicity was found at the rate of 3.3%. In univariate analyses, larger tumor size and grade III were significantly associated (p<0.05) with RFS. Multivariate analyses of covariates displaying p<0.05 identified grade III as an independent prognostic factor. Conclusions: In the present study, it was established that trastuzumab had a satisfactory safety profile and treatment efficacy as in other clinical studies and that among clinicopathological factors evaluated, only being grade 3 had a significant effect on RFS. The occurrence of relapse with adjuvant trastuzumab makes it necessary to identify molecular predictors, which will define this group better and help explain resistance to anti HER2 based therapies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2385-2392
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• 2012

The lack of effective treatment targets for triple-negative breast cancers make them unfitted for endocrine or HER2 targeted therapy, and their prognosis is poor. Transcription factor ER81, a downstream gene of the HER2, is highly expressed in breast cancer lines, breast atypical hyperplasia and primary breast cancers including triple-negative examples. However, whether and how ER81 affects breast cancer carcinogenesis have remained elusive. We here assessed influence on a triple-negative cell line. ER81-shRNA was employed to silence ER81 expression in the MDA-MB-231 cell line, and MTT, colony-forming assays, and flow cytometry were used to detect cell proliferation, colony-forming capability, cell cycle distribution, and cell apoptosis in vitro. MDA-MB-231 cells stably transfected with ER81-shRNA were inoculated into nude mice, and growth inhibition of the cells was observed in vivo. We found that ER81 mRNA and protein expression in MDA-MB-231 cells was noticeably reduced by ER81-shRNA, and that cell proliferation and clonality were decreased significantly. ER81-shRNA further increased cell apoptosis and the residence time in $G_0/G_1$ phase, while delaying tumor-formation and growth rate in nude mice. It is concluded that ER81 may play an important role in the progression of breast cancer and may be a potentially valuable target for therapy, especially for triple negative breast cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5537-5540
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• 2015

Purpose: To research the association between pre-treatment elevated platelet count and clinicopathologic characteristics in breast cancer (BC), as well as explore the relationship between pre-treatment elevated platelet count and HER2 status and prognosis of BC patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort of BC patients who were newly diagnosed or treated by surgery only and had pathological detection results and platelet values in the Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning Medical College were enrolled from 1/1/2008 until 31/12/2009, and followed up until 31/12/2014. Age, thrombocyte parameters before chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, immunohistochemical (IHM) indexes, and regional lymph node (LN) involvement and progression-free survival (PFS) were recorded. Results: A total of 447 eligible subjects were included in this research. As we analyzed, for HER2, positive and negative, the incidence rates of elevated platelet count were 25.8% and 14.7% (P<0.05). In the Cox proportional hazards model both variables were independent risk factors for BC (for HER2, OR, 0.592, 95% confidence interval, CI, 0.355 to 0.985, P=0.044;f or PLT, OR, 0.998, 95% CI, 0.996 to 1.000, P=0.042). For ER, PR, Ki67 and LN involvement, the differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusions: In this research, pre-treatment elevated level of platelet count demostrated a significantrelationship with HER2 amplification/overexpression, and both variables significantly influenced the prognosis of BC. However, elevated platelet count did not exhibit any association with ER, PR, Ki67 and LN involvement.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.73-102
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to identify the specific and empirical contents in terms of first-married stepmother about her stress and efforts to adapt to her stepfamily. This studies relied on the qualitative research method in order to approach stepmother's subjective experience. There were 6 stepmother respondents who were 6 first-marrieds living in Seoul or Kyoungki area. The data was collected by in-depth personal interview.‘Open coding process’, a part of grounded theory procedures were used to analyzed the data. The major findings can be summarized as follows: 1. When focused o stressors, the stress of stepmothers were categorized into 4 categories. Those were the following: 1 When focused on stressors, the stress of stepmothers were categorized into 4 categories. Those were the following: (1) Stepmother's own problem such as stepmother' identity problem; (2) Problems within stepfamily such as problems about relations with husbands, stepchildren, and her own children; (3) Problems of stepmother family's kin such as relational problems with former spouses, in-laws, and her parent; (4) Problems of social relationship such as isolation and alienation in social relationship and neighbors' prejudice about stepmother. 2. In overcoming stress from stepfamily life and adapting to it, 4 categories were identified as important. Contents of 4 categories were such like this: (1) Stepmother's own efforts - (a) give a positive meaning to marriage or remarriage (b) flexible personality (c) situation-accepting attitude (d) exclusive management of household income (e) job (f) perseverance for time to adaptation; (2) Positive feedback within stepfamily - (a) supportive husband (b) sense of unity as a couple (c) psychological reward from stepchildren (d) existence of stepmother's own child (e) behavior for family solidarity (f) family-centered religious life; (3) Stepfamily's relationship with former spouses such as breakdown in relationship with ex-wives or ex-husbands; (4) Support from stepmothers' kin and people in social network with stepmothers. It was concluded that to reduce stress and to help adapt to stepfamily, stepmother should make an effort, and that her stepfamily and her kin should cooperate and support. In addition, negative stereotype of stepmother and stepfamily should disappeared. It was suggested that studies on stepfamily should be vitalized and that programs for preparing remarriage and counseling for stepfamily should be spread.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.307-315
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to study the differences of cyclooxygenase (COX-2) expression between Korean and Caucasian patients with early-onset breast carcinoma by immunohistochemistry. The test were analyzed to find a correlation between COX-2 and other biomarkers including HER-2/neu amplification, because we previously reported that a significant difference had been found in the expression of HER-2/neu between the two races. Furthermore, we investigated prognostic significance of COX-2 in korean patients. Materials and Methods: Sixty Korean women who were diagnosed breast carcinoma at 45 years old or younger and 60 Caucasian women with breast carcinoma were selected for this study. The median age of both groups was 37 years and tumor sizes were distributed evenly between the two group. Paraffin embedded blocks of primary tumor were processed for immunohistochemical staining of COX-2. The COX-2 expression was evaluated according to the percentage of positive cells and the intensity of staining. And the results were compared with the data of the previous studies to find correlation between COX-2 and other parameters and survival data. Results: Proportion of the COX-2 expression in total patients was $27.6\%$. The percentage of tumors that stained positive for COX-2 in korean and Caucasian women with early-onset breast carcinoma were $37.9\%$ and $20.8\%$, respectively. The difference was statistically not significant(p=0.090). Expression of COX-2 was not associated with several clinicopathologic parameters including HER-2/neu overexpression, but negative estrogen receptor status was correlated with significance (p=0.046). The 5 year disease free survival rate for patients with COX-2 expression was $67.9\%$, compared to $81.9\%$ of the COX-2 negative patients and the result was statistically not significant. Conclusions : A significant difference was not found in the expression of COX-2 between the two groups of patients with early-onset breast carcinoma. And correlation between COX-2 and other parameters was not observed except estrogen receptor negativity. Large scaled further research including radiotherapy factors will be needed to identify COX-2 as a prognostic role in patients with early-onset breast carcinoma.

• English & American cultural studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.63-88
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• 2017

Al Capone Does My shirts is a book that received the Newbery Honor Award in 2005. The novel is set on Alcatraz Island, where the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary housed the most dangerous and heinous criminals during the Great Depression era, and is centered on autism. The purpose of this study is to analyze the living conditions of a family with an autistic child in Al Capone Does My Shirts and the family's spiritual growth through conflict and pain. This study finds that the parents' and siblings' pain from the autistic child is certainly a negative experience, but such pain can help grow the family's love and spirit. Moose, the protagonist, grows into a mature teenager who truly understands his autistic sister and attempts to remedy his mother's wrongdoing. The mother also lays down her unreasonable expectations for her children, learns how to wait and observe from a patient's point of view, and mends her relationship with her son. This novel thus conveys a hopeful message: the family of disabled children can overcome difficulties stemming from the disability through continuously trying to understand each other.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.124-131
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• 2012

Purpose: To determine whether triple negative (TN) early stage breast cancers have poorer survival rates compared with other molecular types. Materials and Methods: Between August 2000 and July 2006, patients diagnosed with stage I, II early stage breast cancers, in whom all three markers (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor [HER]-2) were available and treated with modified radical mastectomy or breast conserving surgery followed by radiotherapy, were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Of 446 patients, 94 (21.1%) were classified as TN, 57 (12.8%) as HER-2 type, and 295 (66.1%) as luminal. TN was more frequently associated with young patients younger than 35 years old (p = 0.002), higher histologic grade (p < 0.0001), and nuclear (p < 0.0001). The median follow-up period was 78 months (range, 4 to 130 months). There were 9 local relapses (2.0%), 15 nodal (3.4%), 40 distant metastases (9.0%), and 33 deaths (7.4%) for all patients. The rates of 5-year OS, DFS, LFS, and DMFS for all patients were 95.5%, 89.9%, 95.4%, and 91.7%, respectively. There were no significant differences in OS, DFS, LFS, and DMFS between triple negative and other subtypes (p > 0.05). Conclusion: We found that patients with TN early stage breast cancers had no difference in survival rates compared with other molecular subtypes. Prospective study in homogeneous treatment group will need for a prognosis of TN early stage breast cancer.