• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제7권10호
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• pp.63-71
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• 2020

In this paper, we propose the new time-varying coefficient GARCH-in-Mean model. The benefit of our model is to allow the risk-return parameter in the mean equation to vary over time. At the end of 2019 to the beginning of 2020, the world witnessed two shocking events: COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 oil price war. So, we decide to use the daily data from December 2, 2019 to May 29, 2020, which cover these two major events. The purpose of this study is to find the dynamic movement between risk and return in four major oil markets: Brent, West Texas Intermediate, Dubai, and Singapore Exchange, during COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 oil price war. For the European oil market, our model found a significant and positive risk-return relationship in Brent during March 26-April 21, 2020. For the North America oil market, our model found a significant positive risk return relationship in West Texas Intermediate (WTI) during March 12-May 8, 2020. For the Middle East oil market, we found a significant and positive risk-return relationship in Dubai during March 12-April 14, 2020. Lastly, for the South East Asia oil market, we found a significant positive risk return relationship in Singapore Exchange (SGX) from March 9-May 29, 2020.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권5호
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• pp.2279-2285
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• 2014

Background: To evaluate treatment outcomes of patients with stage I-III endometrial cancer treated with postoperative radiation. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of 166 endometrial cancer patients, undergoing surgery and postoperative radiotherapy at Siriraj Hospital from 2005-2008 was performed. Pathology was reviewed. Results of treatment were reported with 5-year loco-regional recurrence free survival (LRRFS), 5-year overall survival (OS), patterns of failure and toxicity, and according to stage and risk groups. Results: Median follow up time was 62.8 months. Pathological changes were found in 36.3% of the patients after central reviews, leading to 19% changes in risk groups. Most of the patients (83.7%) received pelvic radiation (PRT) and vaginal brachytherapy (VBT). Five-year LRRFS and OS of all patients were 94.9% and 85.5%, respectively. There was no recurrence or death in low and low-intermediate risk groups. For the high-intermediate risk group, 5-year LRRFS and OS were 96.2% and 90.8%, respectively, and for the high risk group 90.5% and 71%. Late grade 3 and 5 gastrointestinal toxicity was found in 3% and 1.2% of patients, respectively. All of them received PRT 5,000 cGy in 25 fractions. Conclusions: Low and intermediate risk patients had good results with surgery and adjuvant radiation therapy. For high risk patients, postoperative radiation therapy alone appeared to be inadequate as the most common pattern of failure was distant metastasis.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• 제51권4호
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• pp.439-446
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• 2021

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify correlations between the STOP-Bang score and upper airway dimensions using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans. Materials and Methods: This study included 101 subjects (46 men, 55 women) from dental patients who received CBCT scans from 2014 to 2020. The patients were divided into those with a low obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) risk (STOP-Bang score<3) and those with an intermediate to high OSA risk (STOP-Bang score≥3), and their upper airway dimensions were then analysed on CBCT scans. Comparisons between the low-risk and intermediate/high-risk groups were conducted using the t-test and the Mann-Whitney test. Correlations between the total STOP-Bang score and upper airway dimension parameters were established using Spearman correlation coefficients. P values≤0.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance. Results: Intermediate/high-risk subjects were predominantly male and over 50 years of age, with a higher body mass index. They had significantly longer upper airways, smaller average airway volumes, and smaller widths and antero-posterior dimensions of the narrowest upper airway segment. The total upper airway length was positively correlated with the STOP-Bang score (r_s=0.278). The average volume (r_s= -0.203) and width of the narrowest upper airway segment(r_s= -0.305) were both negatively correlated with STOP-Bang scores. Conclusion: Subjects with higher STOP-Bang scores had upper airways that were longer, narrower, and smaller in terms of average volume. CBCT scans taken for dental patients as part of investigative procedures could be correlated with STOP-Bang scores to screen for patients at risk of OSA.

• 지역사회간호학회지
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.143-151
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was to investigate the relations and odds ratio between hs-CRP and the risk factors of metabolic syndrome according to glucose intolerance and diabetes among the residents of a rural community. Methods: The subjects include 1,968 adults aged from 40 to 70 who were divided into four groups and a diabetes group according to glucose intolerance to compare the relations and risk ratio between hs-CRP and the risk factors of metabolic syndrome. Results: The results reveal that the greater the subjects' glucose intolerance was, the higher their hs-CRP became and the more risk factors of metabolic syndrome they had. The impaired glucose tolerance group showed 1.7 times higher blood pressure than the control group. The diabetes group showed a high odds ratio with 2.3 times higher blood pressure, 2.2 times higher abdominal obesity, and 2.4 times higherW/Ht than the control group. And the odds ratio increased significantly by 1.7 times in the hs-CRP intermediate risk group and 2.5 times in the high risk group compared with the control group. Conclusion: Considering the study results, it is very important to monitor abdominal obesity, blood pressure and the intermediate and high risk group of hs-CRP in order to reduce the contraction of cardiovascular diseases.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.367-377
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• 2020

Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) widely uses for the collapse risk assessment procedures of buildings. In this study, an IDA-based collapse risk assessment methodology is proposed, which employs a novel approach for detecting the near-collapse (NC) limit state. The proposed approach uses the modal pushover analysis results to calculate the maximum inter-story drift ratio of the structure. This value, which is used as the upper-bound limit in the IDA process, depends on the structural characteristics and global seismic responses of the structure. In this paper, steel midrise intermediate moment resisting frames (IMRFs) have selected as case studies, and their collapse risk parameters are evaluated by the suggested methodology. The composite action of a concrete floor slab and steel beams, and the interaction between the infill walls and the frames could change the collapse mechanism of the structure. In this study, the influences of the metal deck floor and autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) masonry infill walls with uniform distribution are investigated on the seismic collapse risk of the IMRFs using the proposed methodology. The results demonstrate that the suggested modified IDA method can accurately discover the near-collapse limit state. Also, this method leads to much fewer steps and lower calculation costs rather than the current IDA method. Moreover, the results show that the concrete slab and the AAC infill walls can change the collapse parameters of the structure and should be considered in the analytical modeling and the collapse assessment process of the steel mid-rise intermediate moment resisting frames.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• 제35권1호
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• pp.39-47
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze clinical outcomes from cervical cancer and stratify patients into risk groups for prognostic factors for early-stage disease. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients with stage IB or IIA cervical cancer treated with adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) or concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) following primary surgery at Samsung Medical Center from 2001 to 2011. Adjuvant RT was added for patients with intermediate-risk factors, and adjuvant CCRT was performed on high-risk patients after surgery. Results: We reviewed 247 patients-149 in the high-risk group and 98 in intermediate-risk group. The median follow-up was 62 months. Loco-regional failure (LRF) alone occurred in 7 patients (2.8%), distant metastasis alone in 37 patients (15.0%) and LRF with DM in 4 patients (1.6%). The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates for both groups were 79.7% and 87.6%, respectively. In the high-risk group, the 5-year DFS and OS probabilities were 72.5% and 81.9%, respectively. Histologic type, pathologic tumor size, and the number of pelvic lymph node (PLN) metastasis were significant prognostic factors for DFS and OS. We suggest a scoring system (0-3) using these prognostic factors to predict poor prognosis in high-risk patients. Using this system, patients with higher scores have higher recurrence and lower survival rates. Conclusion: In the high-risk cervical-cancer group who received primary surgery and adjuvant CCRT, non-squamous type, large tumor size and the number of PLN metastasis were significant prognostic factors, and the number of these factors was associated with survival rates.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.142-151
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• 2018

Purpose: The modification of the cancer classification system aimed to improve the classical anatomy-based tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) staging by considering tumor biology, which is associated with patient prognosis, because such information provides additional precision and flexibility. Materials and Methods: We previously developed an mRNA expression-based single patient classifier (SPC) algorithm that could predict the prognosis of patients with stage II/III gastric cancer. We also validated its utilization in clinical settings. The prognostic single patient classifier (pSPC) differentiates based on 3 prognostic groups (low-, intermediate-, and high-risk), and these groups were considered as independent prognostic factors along with TNM stages. We evaluated whether the modified TNM staging system based on the pSPC has a better prognostic performance than the TNM 8th edition staging system. The data of 652 patients who underwent gastrectomy with curative intent for gastric cancer between 2000 and 2004 were evaluated. Furthermore, 2 other cohorts (n=307 and 625) from a previous study were assessed. Thus, 1,584 patients were included in the analysis. To modify the TNM staging system, one-grade down-staging was applied to low-risk patients according to the pSPC in the TNM 8th edition staging system; for intermediate- and high-risk groups, the modified TNM and TNM 8th edition staging systems were identical. Results: Among the 1,584 patients, 187 (11.8%), 664 (41.9%), and 733 (46.3%) were classified into the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups, respectively, according to the pSPC. pSPC prognoses and survival curves of the overall population were well stratified, and the TNM stage-adjusted hazard ratios of the intermediate- and high-risk groups were 1.96 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.41-2.72; P<0.001) and 2.54 (95% CI, 1.84-3.50; P<0.001), respectively. Using Harrell's C-index, the prognostic performance of the modified TNM system was evaluated, and the results showed that its prognostic performance was better than that of the TNM 8th edition staging system in terms of overall survival (0.635 vs. 0.620, P<0.001). Conclusions: The pSPC-modified TNM staging is an alternative staging system for stage II/III gastric cancer.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.14-19
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• 2016

Purpose: We examined the prevalence and CGG/AGG repeat structure of expanded alleles of the FMR1 gene in preconceptional and pregnant Korean women. Materials and Methods: The CGG repeats in the FMR1 genes of 1,408 women were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot analysis. To estimate the prevalence of expansion alleles, the individuals were divided into low risk and high risk group. Results: Within this population, 98.4% had normal alleles and 1.6% had abnormal alleles including intermediate (0.6%), premutation (0.5%), full mutation (0.1%), and hemizygous (0.4%) alleles. There were 2 premutation alleles (1:666, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1:250-1,776) in the low risk group and 5 premutation alleles (1:15, 95% 1:6-36) in the high risk group. There were 8 intermediate alleles (1:167, 95% CI 1:130-213) in the low risk group and 1 intermediate alleles (1:76, 95% CI 1:11-533) in the high group. Six of the 7 premutation alleles did not contain AGG interruptions within the repeats and 1 had a single AGG interruption. Four of the 9 intermediate alleles contained 2-3 AGG, 4 had a single AGG, and 1 had no AGG interruptions. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates the prevalence and CGG/AGG structure of expansion alleles in Korean women. The identified premutation prevalence is higher than that of other Asian populations and lower than that of Caucasian populations. Although our study is limited by size and population bias, our findings could prove useful for genetic counseling of preconceptional or pregnant women.

• 아동학회지
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.83-97
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• 2010

Growth mixture modeling was used to identify types of changes in overt aggression from Grades 4 to 7 among a sample from the Korean Youth Panel Survey. Three discrete patterns were found to adequately explain changes of overt aggression in both boys and girls : Persistent intermediate aggression; Increasing aggression; and Decreasing aggression. Most boys (93%) fell into the Persistent intermediate aggression group and 49% of girls were found to fall into the Increasing aggression group. This suggests that prevention programs should recognize that girls are at risk of increasing aggression in their early adolescence. Multinomial logistic regression analysis shows that self-control, child abuse, peer support, and involvement with deviant peers at Grades 4 were all strongly associated with trajectory class membership. These associations did not differ by gender. These findings suggest that prevention programs should focus on the multiple risk factors of both boys and girls.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권17호
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• pp.7893-7895
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• 2015

Background: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a distinctive clinical, biological and molecular subtype of acute myeloid leukemia. However, data from Pakistan are scarce. Therefore we reviewed the demographic and clinical profile along with risk stratification of APL patients at our center. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross sectional study, 26 patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia were enrolled from January 2011 to June 2015. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 22. Results: The mean age was $31.8{\pm}1.68years$ with a median of 32 years. The female to male ratio was 2:1.2. The majority of our patients had hypergranular variant (65.4%) rather than the microgranular type. The major complaints were bleeding (80.7%), fever (76.9%), generalized weakness (30.7%) and dyspnea (15.38%). Physical examination revealed petechial rashes as a predominant finding detected in 61.5% followed by pallor in 30.8%. The mean hemoglobin was $8.04{\pm}2.29g/dl$ with the mean MCV of $84.7{\pm}7.72fl$. The mean total leukocyte count of $5.44{\pm}7.62{\times}10^9/l$; ANC of $1.08{\pm}2.98{\times}10^9/l$ and mean platelets count were $38.84{\pm}5.38{\times}10^9/l$. According to risk stratification, 15.3% were in high, 65.4% in intermediate and 19.2% in low risk groups. Conclusions: Clinico-epidemiological features of APL in Pakistani patients appear comparable to published data. Haemorrhagic diathesis is the commonest presentation. Risk stratification revealed predominance of intermediate risk disease.