• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.92-104
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• 2005

Obesity rates are increasing worldwide, associated with excess acute and chronic disease risk. In most countries, obesity rates among women exceed rates in men, particularly during the post menopausal years. Many factors affect body weight and appetite, including age, metabolic rate, physical activity level, stress, cultural factors, socioeconomic status, health status and health literacy, diet composition, attitudes, and beliefs. Gender affects appetite and body weight indirectly by altering factors contributing to food choice. However, there is emerging evidence that gender affects appetite and body weight directly, altering the physiological control systems regulating appetite. The follicular menstrual cycle phase (estrogen-rich) is associated with relative suppression of appetite. Lower estrogen levels are associated with increased food intake, body weight gain, and altered body fat distribution in humans and animals. This paper reviews the linkages between estrogen and appetite regulation. While relationships among appetite, body weight, and gender-linked hormones are complex, research elucidating these interrelationships could lead to development of gender-specific treatment approaches for obesity and appetite dysregulation.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.224-231
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to analyze the change in phytoncide intake in mood state and health-related quality of life menopausal women through an 8-week experiment. For the study, 41 subjects under 2 years after menopause in D and N districts in Seoul were targeted. consisting of three study points: pre-measurement (0week), intermediate (4week), and post-measurement (8week). Was used As a dependent variable of this study, mood status and health-related quality of life were set, and data were collected through three questionnaires: pre-measurement, intermediate measurement, and post-measurement. As for the analysis method, one-way ANOVA and post verification were performed. Derived result First, the phytoncide inhalation group of postmenopausal women showed statistically significant effects of reducing tension, depression, fatigue, chaos, and increasing vitality among the sub-factors of mood status compared to the control group. Second, the phytoncide inhalation group of postmenopausal women showed statistically significant increase in competence, mental well-being, stability, and vitality among the sub-factors of health-related quality of life compared to the control group.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.6055-6059
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• 2015

Background: Medication policy development in Thailand is continually promoting rational drug use. Letrozole, an endocrine therapy drug, is usually prescribed for post-menopausal status early and advanced stage breast cancer. After Ministry of Public Health announced Letrozole as compulsory licensed drug in 2009, more breast cancer patients can access to this drug at low cost especially those within universal coverage schemes. To ensure that Letrozole is rationally prescribed, the drug utilization study was conducted. Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the appropriate use of Letrozole in breast cancer and the relationship between appropriate use and health benefit schemes. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study to evaluate use of Letrozole in breast cancer patients was performed for six months between January - June 2010 in seven regional cancer hospitals, Thailand. All prescriptions of Letrozole were identified from pharmacy dispensing databases and prescription papers. A medical record review was also performed to evaluate appropriate use referring to the drug use evaluation criteria. The approved criterion of this study was referred from the guideline of Thai National Formulary version 2010. Results: There were 681 prescriptions of Letrozole for 254 breast cancer patients with an average age of $58.6{\pm}10.0years$. The patients in universal coverage scheme (UCS), civil servant medication benefit scheme (CSMBS) and social security scheme (SSS) were 77.7%, 18.5% and 8.7% respectively. 10.6% were prescribed Letrozole for the first time. Letrozole were prescribed by oncologists (82.8%). The average number of tablets per prescription was $58{\pm}10$. Calcium supplements were prescribed concomitant with Letrozole for 19.4%. To assess drug use evaluation criteria, 45 prescriptions were excluded because of uncompleted clinical data, 636 prescriptions were evaluated. The study showed 86 prescriptions (13.5%) with inappropriate use including 6 (0.9%) not prescribed for estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PR) positive, 31 (4.9%) not prescribed for post-menopausal and 49 (7.7%) not prescribed for an appropriate duration. Appropriate use percentages in different health benefit schemes were similar, 85.7% of CSMBS, 86.4% of SSS and 86.7% of UCS. The relationship between health benefit scheme and appropriate use of Letrozole was not significantly different, ${\chi}^2$ (2, N = 636) = 0.081, p > 0.05. Conclusions: The study showed inappropriate use in breast cancer patients because of non-compliance with duration, menopausal status and hormone receptor requirements. To prescribe appropriate indication did not referred to the appropriate practice along the treatment. Drug use evaluation proved very useful for detecting the sign of inappropriate use and allows immediate feedback to the stakeholder for developing medication policy in the future. Importantly, there was no significantly difference in appropriate use of Letrozole across health benefit schemes.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.218-230
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• 2010

This study was conducted to survey isoflavone intake among adult women in menopause with diseases such as metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis and to analyze the relationship between each of these chronic diseases followed by isoflavone intake and the related health risk index. The average age of the subjects was 49.97 years old, while that of the pre-menopausal subjects was 45.14 years, and the post-menopausal subjects was 55.99 years. The average body mass index (BMI), waist-hip circumference, body fat percentage, blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipid content of the post-menopausal subjects were higher in significant difference than those of the pre-menopausal subjects. The bone density of the hip and spine in post-menopausal subjects was lower in significant difference than that of the pre-menopausal subjects. After menopause, the subjects had a lower ratio of individuals at risk of anemia when compared with the subjects before menopause, but had higher health risk ratio related to each type of chronic disease, including obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol and osteoporosis than the subjects before menopause. The intake frequency of each soybean food was similar among subjects before/after menopause. The most common soybean based foods consumed by the subjects were soybean, soybean curd and soybean paste. The average daily intake level of isoflavone among subjects before menopause was 25.48 mg, while that of subjects after menopause was 32.25 mg. Evaluation of the distribution of the isoflavone level revealed that the pre-menopausal subjects consumed 3.29~78.36 mg and the post-menopausal subjects consumed 3.18~116.59 mg. The intake level by each individual varied greatly. The pre-menopausal subjects had a low BMI index and systolic blood pressure as much as their isoflavone intake level was high. Additionally, the post-menopausal subjects had a low menarche age and high menopause age when their isoflavone intake level was high, the BMI index and waist-hip circumference ratio was highest among individuals with lowest isoflavone intake level. This study showed that there was a possible relationship between soybean isoflavone intake and health problems such as obesity, high cholesterol, and osteoporosis in women after menopause with diseases such as metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis, even if this relationship was not great.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.252-259
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• 2023

A decrease in ovarian function and sex hormone production with aging results in hormone deficiency, which causes menopause in women. Natural products have been investigated to develop estrogen-like substances to improve menopausal status in women. This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of Gastrodia elata Blume extract (TVB-1000) in ovariectomized rats. After a recovery period of 7 days, the TVB-1000 treatment group was orally administered at 16, 40, and 100 mg/kg for 12 weeks. In the OVX-positive control group, 17β-estradiol was injected subcutaneously into the dorsal region of rats at a dose of 10 ㎍/kg. Results show that TG and LDL-C, which are cardiovascular disease markers, were significantly decreased in all concentrations of TVB-1000 administration in the treatment group, and the LDL-C/HDL-C ratio significantly decreased in the medium and high TVB-1000 concentrations of the treatment group. In addition, in the high concentration TVB-1000 treatment group, the weight of abdominal fat decreased with statistical significance. The low-dose and medium-dose administration groups showed statistical significance and the expression level of their ER-α increased, but ER-β did not show a significant change. The above experiment shows that owing to the estrogen-like effect of TVB-1000, it can be useful as a functional food material to prevent cardiovascular disease, which is one of the menopausal symptoms.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.371-376
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• 2012

Background: Caveolin-1 (CAV-1), encoding the structural component of cellular caveolae, is a suggested tumor suppressor gene involved in cell signalling. Aberrant promoter methylation of CAV-1 is associated with inactivation of expression. We previously observed CAV-1 mutations in breast cancers and therefore devised this study to examine the hypermethylation status of the promoter region of CAV-1 with reference to breast cancer progression and development. Methods: Hypermethylation status of CAV-1 was analyzed by methylation specific PCR. Loss of expression of the CAV-1 gene was further evaluated by semi-quantitative rt-PCR. Results: 28/130 (21.5%) breast cancer cases showed promoter hypermethylation with reduced CAV-1 expression levels when compared with adjacent normal breast tissue. CAV-1 gene hypermethylation was significantly related to menopausal status, histopathological grade and age. Conclusion: The rationale of our study is that CAV-1 gene is transcriptionally repressed in breast cancer cells due to hypermethylation. Our results reveal that promoter hypermethylation and loss of expression of the CAV-1 gene is an important alternative mechanism for inactivation of CAV-1 leading to complete gene silencing.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.599-602
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• 2013

Objectives: To evaluate the frequency of cytohistologic discrepancy of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) in Pap smears and associated factors. Methods: Medical records of 223 women with HSIL Pap smears who were treated at Thammasat University Hospital were reviewed. Data on age, parity, menopausal status, contraceptive use and colposcopic directed biopsy and loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) pathology results were recorded. Results: Mean (SD) age of patients was 38.0 (9.4) years. The majority were premenopausal (86.5%) and multiparous (83.9%). Cytohistologic discrepancy between the Pap test and colposcopic-directed biopsy histology was 45.7% and that between the Pap test and LEEP histology was 29.5%. Fifty-four (24.2%) women had no high-grade CIN on both colposcopic directed biopsy and LEEP. Nulliparity, postmenopausal status and having no oral contraceptive pills use were factors associated with cytohistologic discrepancy. Conclusion: The exact cytohistologic discrepancy rate was relatively high (24.2%). Factors associated with cytohistologic discrepancy were nulliparity and postmenopausal status and having no oral contraceptive pill use.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3363-3367
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• 2016

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is a major health issue worldwide as well as in Pakistan. All women belonging to any race, ethnicity or lineage are in danger of developing breast cancer. Significant factors influencing the development of breast malignancies are the genetic background, environmental conditions, reproductive parameters, the consequences of female hormones both intrinsic and extrinsic, alteration of immune status, and biologic determinants. Materials and Methods: Overall 150 biopsy proven patients were included in the study. Samples were submitted for histopathology and determination of estrogen and progesterone receptor expression and HER-2/neu status. Associations with other characteristics like age, tumor stage, node involvement, histological grade were also studied. Results: Mean age at presentation was 46.7 years. The majority had invasive ductal carcinoma, 100 (84.7%), and were in stage pT3, 54 (45.7%). Important relationships (P<0.05) were found among ER, PR positivity, and Her 2 neu overexpression. However, no noteworthy link was identified amongst ER, PR, Her 2 neu and tumor grade, stage, age, lymph node involvement except for the menopausal status. Conclusions: In summary, breast cancer patients featured an advanced stage of disease, more lymph node involvement, and moderately high grade tumors and with more estrogen, progesterone receptor and HER-2 positive tumors.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.199-207
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• 2000

Objectives : This study was peformed to identify the risk factors related to the development of hypertension in a rural area. Method : Total of 3,573 subjects in Chung-Song County were interviewed and examined in 1996. The study cohort comprised 2,580 hypertension-free subjects aged above 20. One-year follow up was completed for 1,781 subjects(69.0%) in 1997. General characteristics(age, gender, education level, economic status, marital status), the family history of hypertension, diet, alcohol, smoking, coffee, stress, past history of oral contraceptive and menopausal status in female, height, weight, waist and hip circumference, baseline blood pressure, and serum total cholesterol were considered as risk factors. Results : Multivariate analysis using logistic regression model indicated that age(RH=1.50, 95% CI; 1.15-1.96), the family history of hypertension(RR=2.11, 95% CI; 1.04-4.26), waist-hip ratio(WHR) (RR=2.09, 95%, CI; 1.15-3.79), and baseline systolic blood pressure(130-139/<120mmHg)(RR=3.34, 95% CI; 1.47-7.60) were significant risk factors associated with the development of hypertension above the borderline level in male. In female, age(RR=1.06, 95% CI; 1.03-1.09), change in menopausal status$(no{\rightarrow}yes/no{\rightarrow}no)$ (RR=3.32, 95% CI; 1.01-10.87), baseline systolic blood pressure(120-129/<120mmHg: RR=2.00, 95% CI; 1.02-3.90)(130-139/<120mmHg: RR=2.64, 95% CI; 1.34-5.20) and baseline diastolic blood pressure(85-89/<80mmHg)(RR=4.09, 95% CI; 1.86-8.96) were identified as risk factors. Conclusions : Age and high normal blood pressure were significant risk factors for the development of hypertension above the borderline level. In addition, the family history of hypertension and WHR in men, and the change of menopausal status in women might be significant risk factors in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.277-289
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• 2023

This study is a descriptive research study to promote health behavior compliance and use it as basic data for the program development of nursing intervention by identifying the factors affecting middle-aged women's health behavior compliance. It was collected and analyzed 162 copies of the data for a total of 10 weeks from January 17 to March 28, 2022, targeting middle-aged women aged 50 to 59 living in D and B. As a result of the study, economic status(medium) had the highest impact on health behavior compliance, followed by economic status (low), self-efficacy, perceived health status, married status(married), and regular health checkup(yes). Therefore, it is needed promoting to get regular health checkups, increasing self-efficacy with financial support, and exploring the ways and the development of programs that can improve perceived health status in order to improve middle-aged women's health behavior compliance.