• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4781-4786
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• 2015

Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) is used primarily as an adaptogen herb and also for its immune stimulant properties in Western herbal medicine. Another closely related species used in East Asian medicine systems i.e. Kampo, TCM (Manchuria, Korea, Japan and Ainu of Hokkaido) and also called Siberian ginseng (Acanthopanax senticosus) also displays immune-stimulant and anti-cancer properties. These may affect tumour growth and also provide an anti-fatigue effect for cancer patients, in particular for those suffering from lung cancer. There is some evidence that a carbohydrate in Siberian ginseng may possess not only immune stimulatory but also anti-tumour effects and also display other various anti-cancer properties. Our study aimed to determine the inhibitory and also proliferative effects of a methanol plant extract of Siberan ginseng (E. senticosus) on various cancer and normal cell lines including: A-549 (small cell lung cancer), XWLC-05 (Yunnan lung cancer cell line), CNE (human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line), HCT-116 (human colon cancer) and Beas-2b (human lung epithelial). These cell lines were treated with an extract from E. senticosus that was evaporated and reconstituted in DMSO. Treatment of A-549 (small cell lung cancer) cells with E. senticosus methanolic extract showed a concentration-dependent inhibitory trend from $12.5-50{\mu}g/mL$, and then a plateau, whereas at 12.5 and $25{\mu}g/mL$, there is a slight growth suppression in QBC-939 cells, but then a steady suppression from 50, 100 and $200{\mu}g/mL$. Further, in XWLC-05 (Yunnan lung cancer cell line), E. senticosus methanolic extract displayed an inhibitory effect which plateaued with increasing dosage. Next, in CNE (human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line) there was a dose dependent proliferative response, whereas in Beas-2 (human lung epithelial cell line), an inhibitory effect. Finally in colon cancer cell line (HCT-116) we observed an initially weak inhibitory effect and then plateau.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 1989

One hundred and ten patients with carcinoma of the nasopharynx were treated by radiation therapy in Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital between 1979 and 1985. Among these, one hundred and five patients were treated with curative intent and 5 patients with palliative aim. Excluding 16 patients who did not receive a full course of radiation therapy, the remaining 89 patients were reviewed for this analysis. Minimum follow-up period of survivors was 36 months. Forty-three percent of the patients had T4 primary lesions and $72\%$ had stage IV disease. The histology was squamous cell carcinoma in $46\%$ of the patients. undifferentiated carcinoma in $49\%$, and lymphoepithelioma in $5\%$. Total radiation dose to the primary site averaged 6,500cCY for T1, T2 lesions and 7500cCY for T3, T4 lesions. Neck node were given boost treatment to a maximum 7,500cCY depending on the extent of disease. Early primary lesion (T1, T2) and neck nodes were successfully controlled in most cases when dose of greater than 6,500cCY was delievered. Forty two patients $(47\%)$ had recurred, 16 of whom $(38\%)$ed at the primary site and $24(57\%)$ developed distant metastases. Of these. 9 patients received re-irradiation with or without chemotherapy and local control was obtained in 2 patients$(22\%)$. Actuarial overall survival and disease-free survival rate was $42\%\;and\;38\%$ at 5 years. T-stage and histologic subtype were not correlated with survival. However, N-stage was related to survival significantly (p=0.043).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1121-1126
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• 2013

Background: Palliative chemotherapy with cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (5FU) is the commonest regimen employed for metastatic and recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCCHN) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, this regimen is cumbersome requiring 5 days of admission to hospital. Carboplatin/5FU may be an alternative regimen without compromising survival and response rates. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and toxicity of carboplatin/5FU regimen with the cisplatin/5FU regimen. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study looked at patients who had palliative chemotherapy with either cisplatin/5FU or carboplatin/5FU for metastatic and recurrent SCCHN and NPC. It included patients who were treated at UKMMC from $1^{st}$ January 2004 to $31^{st}$ December 2009 with either palliative IV cispaltin 75 $mg/m^2$ D1 only plus IV 5FU 750 $mg/m^2$ D1-5 infusion or IV Carboplatin AUC 5 D1 only plus IV 5FU 500 $mg/m^2$ D1-2 infusion plus IV 5FU 500 $mg/m^2$ D1-2 bolus. The specific objectives were to determine the efficacy of palliative chemotherapy in terms of overall response rate (ORR), median progression free survival (PFS) and median overall survival (OS) and to evaluate the toxicities of both regimens. Results: A total of 41 patients were eligible for this study. There were 17 in the cisplatin/5FU arm and 24 in the carboplatin/5FU arm. The ORR was 17.7 % for cisplatin/5FU arm and 37.5 % for carboplatin/5FU arm (p-value=0.304). The median PFS was 7 months for cisplatin/5FU and 9 months for carboplatin/5FU (p-value=1.015). The median OS was 10 months for cisplatin/5FU arm and 12 months for carboplatin/5FU arm (p-value=0.110). There were 6 treatment-related deaths (6/41=14.6%), four in the carboplatin/5FU arm (4/24=16.7%) and 2 in the cisplatin/5FU arm (2/17=11.8%). Grade 3 and 4 hematologic toxicity was also more common with carboplatin/5FU group, this difference being predominantly due to grade 3-4 granulocytopenia (41.6% vs. 0), grade 3-4 anemia (37.5% vs. 0) and grade 3-4 thrombocytopenia (16.6% vs. 0). Conclusions: Carboplatin/5FU is not inferior to cisplatin/5FU with regard to its efficacy. However, there was a high rate of treatment-related deaths with both regimens. A better alternative needs to be considered.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.30 no.6 s.83
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• pp.699-712
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• 2000

Reduced nasal breathing can influence the growth at)d development of facial structures. It nay have many causes, and enlarged adenoid is the most frequent one. To investigate the effects of adenoids to jaw growth, we must first understand the normal growth of adenoids and jaws, and the relationship between size of adenoids and the values lot the jaw variables. The purpose of this study is to present a more objective standard of nasopharyngeal size and jaw dimension at each bone age, by using Cervical Vertebrae Maturation Index(CYMI) of Hassel, from normal occlusion children aged 6 to 17. The results of this study suggests as follows : 1. At same bone age, female's chronologic age was about 2 year older than male. 2. There was a growth peak of nasopharyngeal(NP) height and depth between CVMI 1 to 2 in male, hut in female NP height and depth gradually increase through CVMI 1 to 6. 3. Relative airway of nasopharynx increases the most between CVMI 1 to 2 period in both gender 4. Among adenoid measurements, Ad2-related variables and upper pharynx, and among dentofacial measurements inter canine width in both arch, maxillary intermolar width and palatal depth had high correlation coefficient with adenoid percentage.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2003

I. Purpose The dose distribution in normal tissues and target lesions is very important in the treatment planning. To make the uniform dose distribution in target lesions, many methods has been used. Especially in the head and neck, the dose inhomogeneity at the skin surface should be corrected. Conventional methods have a limitation in delivering the enough doses to the planning target volume (PTV) with minimized dose to the parotid gland and spinal cord. In this study, we investigated the feasibility and the practical QA methods of the forward IMRT. II. Material and Methods The treatment plan of the forward IMRT with the partial block technique using the dynamic multi-leaf collimator (dMLC) for the patients with the nasopharyngeal cancer was verified using the dose volume histogram (DVH). The films and pinpoint chamber were used for the accurate dose verification. III. Results As a result of verifying the DVH for the 2-D treatment plan with the forward IMRT, the dose to the both parotid gland and spinal cord were reduced. So the forward IMRT could save the normal tissues and optimize the treatment. Forward IMRT can use the 3-D treatment planning system and easily assure the quality, so it is easily accessible comparing with inverse IMRT IV. Conclusion The forward IMRT could make the uniform dose in the PTV while maintaining under the tolerance dose in the normal tissues comparing with the 2-D treatment.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.14 no.1_2
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• pp.1-21
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• 1992

In order to find the causes of velopharyngeal incompetency after primary palatorrhaphy in cleft patients, we analyzed the form and function of the velopharyngeal space of fifteen operated cleft palate patients and five normal subjects. The velopharyngeal function was evaluated by lateral cephalometric radiography, velopharyngography and hypernasality cul-de-sac test. The obtained results were as follows. 1. The rate of velopharyngeal incompetency was twenty percent, three of the fifteen operated patients. Two of them were complete cleft palate and the other was incomplete one. 2. The length of soft palate and levator eminence were longer in normal group than those of good speech group and complete cleft palate group during phonation of /i/ (P<0.05). The lengthening rate of soft palate was smaller in good and poor speech group than that of normal group(P<0.05), and, reduced in order, normal group, complete cleft palate group and incomplete palate group(P<0.05). 3. The nasopharyngeal distance had no significant difference between all groups at rest, but, smaller in normal group than that of both cleft palate group(P<0.05), good speech group and poor speech group(P<0.05) during phonation of /i/ The difference in nasopharyngeal distance between rest and /i/ phonation was greater in normal group than that of both cleft palate group, good speech group and poor speech group. 4. The moving distance of sop palate reduced in order, normal group, incomplete cleft palate group, complete cleft palate group(P<0.05). 5. The distance between lateral pharyngeal wall had no significant difference between all groups in rest, but, smaller than that of complete cleft palate group in normal group(P<0.01) and increased in order normal group, good speech group, poor speech group(P<0.01) during phonation of /a/. The mobility of lateral wall was reduced in order, normal group, good speech group poor speech group(P<0. 01). 6. There was low corelationship between the mobility of lateral pharyngeal wall and soft palate. Therfore, it suggest that the movements of lateral pharyngeal wall and soft palate occurs independently.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.265-272
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dose-volume indices and radiobiological indices according to the change in dose calculation grid size during the planning of nasopharyngeal cancer VMAT treatment. After performing the VMAT treatment plan using the 3.0 mm dose calculation grid size, dose calculation from 1.0 mm to 5.0 mm was performed repeatedly to obtain a dose volume histogram. The dose volume index and radiobiological index were evaluated using the obtained dose volume histogram. The smaller the dose calculation grid size, the smaller the mean dose for CTV and the larger the mean dose for PTV. For OAR of spinal cord, brain stem, lens and parotid gland, the mean dose did not show a significant difference according to the change in dose calculation grid size. The smaller the grid size, the higher the conformity of the dose distribution as the CI of the PTV increases. The CI and HI showed the best results at 3.0 mm. The smaller the dose calculation grid size, the higher the TCP of the PTV. The smaller the dose calculation grid size, the lower the NTCP of lens and parotid. As a result, when performing the nasopharynx cancer VMAT plan, it was found that the dose calculation grid size should be determined in consideration of dose volume index, radiobiological index, and dose calculation time. According to the results of various experiments, it was determined that it is desirable to apply a grid size of 2.0 - 3.0 mm.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.22.1-22.25
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• 2022

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndromecoronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread over the world causing a pandemic which is still ongoing since its emergence in late 2019. A great amount of effort has been devoted to understanding the pathogenesis of COVID-19 with the hope of developing better therapeutic strategies. Transcriptome analysis using technologies such as RNA sequencing became a commonly used approach in study of host immune responses to SARS-CoV-2. Although substantial amount of information can be gathered from transcriptome analysis, different analysis tools used in these studies may lead to conclusions that differ dramatically from each other. Here, we re-analyzed four RNA-sequencing datasets of COVID-19 samples including human bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, nasopharyngeal swabs, lung biopsy and hACE2 transgenic mice using the same standardized method. The results showed that common features of COVID-19 include upregulation of chemokines including CCL2, CXCL1, and CXCL10, inflammatory cytokine IL-1β and alarmin S100A8/S100A9, which are associated with dysregulated innate immunity marked by abundant neutrophil and mast cell accumulation. Downregulation of chemokine receptor genes that are associated with impaired adaptive immunity such as lymphopenia is another common feather of COVID-19 observed. In addition, a few interferon-stimulated genes but no type I IFN genes were identified to be enriched in COVID-19 samples compared to their respective control in these datasets. These features are in line with results from single-cell RNA sequencing studies in the field. Therefore, our re-analysis of the RNA-seq datasets revealed common features of dysregulated immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 and shed light to the pathogenesis of COVID-19.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.151-154
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• 2006

Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma is rare, low grade malignant tumor of the salivary glands that exhibits a dual composition of epithelial and myoepithelial cells. Most of these tumors arise in the parotid gland, and only few occur in the submandibular gland or minor salivary glands. We describe here a rare case of epithelialmyoepithelial carcinoma arising from a minor salivary gland in the nasopharynx, one of the most unusual locations. The clinical and biological behavior of this tumor is not yet known.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2017

C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are not generally associated with viral infections. This study investigated the changes in the CRP level caused by an infection from respiratory virus (RV). Nasopharyngeal samples from hospitalized patients with suspected RV infection were used to measure the CRP levels, virus load, virus-virus co-infection, age, sex, and length of hospital stay (LOS). Abnormal CRP levels were detected in 62.3% (3,608 out of 5,788) of all RV-positive samples. The percentage of patients with abnormal CRP levels tended to increase with age. Furthermore, LOS in patients with abnormal CRP levels was significantly longer than that in patients with normal CRP levels. The frequency of elevated CRP levels differed according to the causative virus and the frequency of abnormal levels increased with age. Moreover, LOS was longer in those with abnormal CRP levels. These data provide important insights into the role of CRP levels in RV infection.