• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.334-334
• /
• 2005

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.12
• /
• pp.7251-7256
• /
• 2013

Objectives: To estimate the proportion of liver cancer cases and deaths due to infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), aflatoxin exposure, alcohol drinking and smoking in China in 2005. Study design: Systemic assessment of the burden of five modifiable risk factors on the occurrence of liver cancer in China using the population attributable fraction. Methods: We estimated the population attributable fraction of liver cancer caused by five modifiable risk factors using the prevalence data around 1990 and data on relative risks from meta-analyses, and large-scale observational studies. Liver cancer mortality data were from the 3rd National Death Causes Survey, and data on liver cancer incidence were estimated from the mortality data from cancer registries in China and a mortality/incidence ratio calculated. Results: We estimated that HBV infection was responsible for 65.9% of liver cancer deaths in men and 58.4% in women, while HCV was responsible for 27.3% and 28.6% respectively. The fraction of liver cancer deaths attributable to aflatoxin was estimated to be 25.0% for both men and women. Alcohol drinking was responsible for 23.4% of liver cancer deaths in men and 2.2% in women. Smoking was responsible for 18.7% and 1.0%. Overall, 86% of liver cancer mortality and incidence (88% in men and 78% in women) was attributable to these five modifiable risk factors. Conclusions: HBV, HCV, aflatoxin, alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking were responsible for 86% of liver cancer mortality and incidence in China in 2005. Our findings provide useful data for developing guidelines for liver cancer prevention and control in China and other developing countries.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.10
• /
• pp.6081-6084
• /
• 2013

Objective: Both estrogen receptors, ER alpha ($ER{\alpha}$) and ER beta ($ER{\beta}$), are expressed in 50-70% of breast cancer cases. The role of $ER{\alpha}$ as a prognostic marker in breast cancer has been well established as its expression is negative correlated with tumor size and lymph node metastasis. $ER{\beta}$ is also a favorable prognostic predictor although this is less well documented than for $ER{\alpha}$. Materials and Methods: To explore whether ERs independently or together might influence clinical outcome in breast cancer, the correlation between the ERs with the clinicopathological features was analyzed in 84 patients. Results: $ER{\alpha}$ expression negatively correlated with tumor stage (r=-0.246, p=0.028) and tended to be negatively correlated with lymph node status (r=-0.156, p=0.168) and tumor size (r=-0.246, p=0.099). Also, $ER{\beta}$ was negatively correlated with nodal status (r=-0.243, p=0.028), as was coexpression of $ER{\alpha}$ and $ER{\beta}$ (p=0.043, OR=0.194, 95% CI= 0.040-0.953). Conclusion: Coexpression of ERs might serve as an indicator of good prognosis in breast cancer patients.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 1994.02b
• /
• pp.7-11
• /
• 1994

Twenty years ago, the American Journal of Epidemiology published David Sackett's brief description of. clinical epidemiology and its practitioners [1]. This commentary was a useful focal point for an emerging discipline. By 1983, with clinical epidemiology already thriving in many academic medical centres, Walter Holland called into question both the term, 'clinical epidemiology', and the nature of the discipline [2]. More recently, clinical epidemiology has drawn strong criticism from John Last, a noted academician whose contributions include the editorship of the Maxcy-Rosenau Textbook of Public Health. Writing in the Journal of Public Health Policy in 1988 [3], Last referred to the 'uncritical enthusiasm' for clinical epidemiology in medical schools as 'a danger to health', and staked. a claim to the term 'epidemiology' as appropriate only to the description of what classical or population epidemiologists do. Faced with such views, practitioners and proponents of clinical epidemiology can respond in three ways. They can ignore the criticism, and go on about their business. They can reaffirm their differences and resort to defensive rhetoric. Or, the critique can become an opportunity for reflection about the nature of clinical epidemiology and its relations with sister disciplines in modem medical schools. The latter course is followed here by four physicians who-despite diverse backgrounds and interests-all consider their work to be in the field of clinical epidemiology.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.2675-2680
• /
• 2014

Background: To investigate differentiated thyroid cancer risk factors in natives of French Polynesia is of interest because of the very high incidence of this cancer in the archipelago. Materials and Methods: To assess the role of various potential risk factors of thyroid cancer in the natives of French Polynesia we performed a case-control study. The study included almost all the French Polynesians diagnosed with differentiated thyroid carcinoma between 1981 and 2003 (n=229) and 373 French Polynesian control individuals from the general population without cancer. Results: Thyroid radiation dose received from nuclear fallout before the age of 15, a personal history of neck or/and head medical irradiation, obesity, tallness, large number of children, an artificial menopause, a familial history of thyroid cancer, a low dietary iodine intake, and having a spring as the main source of drinking water were found to be significant risk factors. No roles of smoking habits, alcohol consumption, iodine containing drugs, and exposure to pesticides were evidenced. Conclusions: Except for smoking, differentiated thyroid carcinoma risk factors in natives of French Polynesia are similar to those in other populations. Our finding on the role of having a spring as a drinking water origin is coherent with some other studies and could be due to geological factors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.13
• /
• pp.5187-5194
• /
• 2014

Background: Numerous studies have suggested that selenium deficiency may be associated with an increased risk for several types of cancer, but few have focused on thyroid cancer. Materials and Methods: We examined the association between post-diagnostic fingernail selenium levels and differentiated thyroid cancer risk in a French Polynesian matched case-control study. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results: The median selenium concentration among controls was $0.76{\mu}g/g$. Significantly, we found no association between fingernail selenium levels and thyroid cancer risk after conditioning on year of birth and sex and additionally adjusting for date of birth (highest versus lowest quartile: odds-ratio=1.12, 95% confidence interval: 0.66-1.90; p-trend=0.30). After additional adjustment for other covariates, this association remained non-significant (p-trend=0.60). When restricting the analysis to thyroid cancer of 10 mm or more, selenium in nails was non-significantly positively linked to thyroid cancer risk (p-trend=0.09). Although no significant interaction was evidenced between iodine in nails and selenium in nails effect (p=0.70), a non-significant (p-trend =0.10) positive association between selenium and thyroid cancer risk was seen in patients with less than 3 ppm of iodine in nails. The highest fingernail selenium concentration in French Polynesia was in the Marquises Islands ($M=0.87{\mu}g/g$) and in the Tuamotu-Gambier Archipelago ($M=0.86{\mu}g/g$). Conclusions: Our results do not support, among individuals with sufficient levels of selenium, that greater long-term exposure to selenium may reduce thyroid cancer risk. Because these findings are based on post-diagnostic measures, studies with prediagnostic selenium are needed for corroboration.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.10
• /
• pp.5713-5718
• /
• 2013

Background: DNA methyltransferase-3a (DNMT3a) plays significant roles in embryogenesis and the generation of aberrant methylation in carcinogenesis. This study aimed to investigate associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the DNMT3a gene and risk of Helicobacter pylori infection, gastric atrophy and gastric cancer. Methods: The subjects comprised 447 patients with gastric cancer; 111 individuals with gastric atrophy and 961 healthy controls. Two SNPs (rs1550117 and rs13420827) of the DNMT3a gene were genotyped by Taqman assay. DNMT3a expression was analyzed in cancer tissues from 89 patients by tissue microarray technique. Odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by multivariate logistic regression. Results: Among healthy controls, risk of H.pylori infection was significantly higher in subjects with the rs1550117 AA genotype, compared to those with GG/AG genotypes of DNMT3a [OR=2.08, (95%CI: 1.02-4.32)]. However, no significant correlation was found between the two SNPs and risk of developing gastric atrophy or gastric cancer. In addition, no increase in DNMT3a expression was observed in the gastric cancer with H.pylori infection. Conclusions: This study revealed that DNMT3a rs1550117 polymorphism is significantly associated with an increased risk of H. pylori infection, but did not support any evidence for contributions of DNMT3a rs1550117 and rs13420827 to either gastric atrophy or gastric cancer. The biological roles of DNMT3a polymorphisms require further investigation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.1887-1893
• /
• 2012

The aim of this study was to detail characteristics of mammary Paget's disease (PD) representing the whole population in China. A total of 4211 female breast cancer inpatients at seven tertiary hospitals from seven representative geographical regions of China were collected randomly during 1999 to 2008. Data for demography, risk factors, diagnostic imaging test, physical examination and pathologic characters were surveyed and biomarker status was tested by immunohistochemistry. The differences of demography and risk factors between PD with breast cancer and other lesions were compared using Chi-square test or t-test, with attention to physical examination and pathological characters. The percentage of PD was 1.6% (68/4211) in all breast cancers. The mean age at diagnosis was 48.1, and 63.2% (43/68) patients were premenopausal. There is no difference in demography and risk factors between PD with breast cancer and other breast cancer (P > 0.05). The main pattern of PD in physical exam and pathologic pattern were patients presenting with a palpable mass in breast (65/68, 95.6%) and PD with underlying invasive cancer (82.4%, 56/68) respectively. The rate of multifocal disease was 7.4% (5/68). PD with invasive breast cancer showed larger tumor size, more multifocal disease, lower ER and PR expression and higher HER2 overexpression than those in other invasive breast cancer (P < 0.05). These results suggested that PD in China is a concomitant disease of breast cancer, and that PD with underlying invasive cancer has more multiple foci and more aggressive behavior compared with other breast invasive cancer. We address the urgent needs for establishing diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for mammary PD in China.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.65 no.3
• /
• pp.334-341
• /
• 2022

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death in the pediatric population in Korea. In addition, it can cause disability in children and adolescents, with physical and mental consequences. This causes a substantial burden on the health care system and occurs globally and not just in Korea. We searched and reviewed current data on the epidemiologic characteristics of pediatric TBI in Korea. Our review provides the recent epidemiological trend mainly focusing on incidence and mortality along with worldwide reported data. This review will be helpful to understand the global epidemiology of pediatric TBI and its differences between countries.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.334-337
• /
• 2008

MCL1 expression has been found to be up-regulated during infection with virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We investigated the genetic polymorphisms in MCL1 as potential candidate gene for a host genetic study of clinical TB infection. We have sequenced exons and their boundaries of MCL1, including the 1.5 kb promoter region, to identify polymorphisms, and eight polymorphisms were identified. The genetic associations of polymorphisms in MCL1 with clinical TB patients (n=486) and normal controls (n=370) were analyzed. Using statistical analyses, one common promoter polymorphism (MCL1-324C>A) which is absolutely linked with three other SNPs in the promoter and 3'UTR regions, were found to be significantly associated with increased risk of clinical TB disease. The frequency of the A-bearing genotype of -324C>A was higher in clinical TB patients than in normal controls (P=0.0008, OR=1.68). Our findings suggest that polymorphisms in MCL1 might be one of genetic factors for the risk of clinical tuberculosis development.