• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.237-245
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• 2002

Purpose : This study was conducted to evaluate the treatment results, prognostic factors, and complication rates after high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy in patients with uterine cervix cancer who were treated with curative aim. Materials and Methods : Of 269 cervix cancer patients treated at the department of radiation oncology, Samsung Medical Center from September 1994 to July 1998, the 106 who were treated with radical radio-therapy were analyzed. The median age was 61 years (range 22 to 89). All patients except 4 with carcinoma in situ (CIS) were given external beam radiotherapy (range $30.6\~50.4\;Gy$ to whole pelvis) and HDR brachytherapy. The common regimens of HDR brachytherapy were a total dose of $24\~28\;Gy$ with $6\~7$ fractions to point A at two fractions per week. The median overall treatment time was 55 days (range 44 to 104) in patients given both external beam radiotherapy and HDR brachytherapy. Results : Early responses of radiotherapy were evaluated by gynecologic examination and follow-up MRI 1 month after radiotherapy. Treatment responses were complete remission in 72 patients, partial response in 33 and no response in 1. The overall survival (OS) rate of all patients was $82\%,\;and\;73\%$, and the disease free survival (DFS) rate was $72\%,\;and\;69\%$, at 3, and 5 years, respectively. The pelvic control rate (PCR) was $79\%$ at both 3 and 5 years. According to the FIGO stage,3 and 5 year OS were $100\%\;and\;50\%$ in CIS/IA, $100\%\;and\;100%$ in IB, $83\%\;and\;69\%$ in IIA, $87\%\;and\;80\%$ in IIB, and $62\%\;and\;62\%$ in III, respectively. The 3 year OS in 4 patients with stage IVA was $100\%$. Three-year DFS were $80\%$ in CIS/IA, $88\%$ in IB, $100\%$ in IIA, $64\%$ in IIB, $58\%$ in III, and $75\%$ in IVA. Three-year PCR were $100\%$ in CIS/IA, $94\%$ in IB, $100\%$ in IIA, $84\%$ in IIB, $69\%$ in III, and $50\%$ in IVA. By univariate analysis, FIGO stage and treatment response were significant factors for OS. The significant factors for DFS were age, FIGO stage, treatment response and overall treatment time (OTT). For pelvic control rate, treatment response and OTT were significant factors. By multivariate analysis, FIGO stage had a borderline significance for OS (p=0.0825) and treatment response had a borderline significance for DFS (0=0.0872). A total of 14 patients $(13\%)$ experienced rectal bleeding, which occurred from 3 to 44 months (median, 13 months) after the completion of radiotherapy. Conclusion : HDR brachytherapy protocol of Samsung Medical Center combined with properly optimal external beam pelvic irradiation is a safe and effective treatment for patients with uterine cervix cancer. The authors found that OTT of less than 55 days had a positive impact on pelvic control and survival rate.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.17-27
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• 2009

Price promotion typically reduces the price for a given quantity or increases the quantity available at the same price, thereby enhancing value and creating an economic incentive to purchase. It often is used to encourage product or service trial among nonusers of products or services. Thus, it is important to understand the effects of price promotions on quality perception made by consumer who do not have prior experience with the promoted brand. However, if consumers associate a price promotion itself with inferior brand quality, the promotion may not achieve the sales increase the economic incentives otherwise might have produced. More specifically, low qualitative perception through price promotion will undercut the economic and psychological incentives and reduce the likelihood of purchase. Thus, it is important for marketers to understand how price promotional informations about a brand have impact on consumer's unfavorable quality perception of the brand. Previous literatures on the effects of price promotions on quality perception reveal inconsistent explanations. Some focused on the unfavorable effect of price promotion on consumer's perception. But others showed that price promotions didn't raise unfavorable perception on the brand. Prior researches found these inconsistent results related to the timing of the price promotion's exposure and quality evaluation relative to trial. And, whether the consumer has been experienced with the product promotions in the past or not may moderate the effects. A few studies considered differences among product categories as fundamental factors. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of price promotional informations on consumer's unfavorable quality perception under the different conditions. The author controlled the timing of the promotional exposure and varied past promotional patterns and information presenting patterns. Unlike previous researches, the author examined the effects of price promotions setting limit to pretrial situation by controlling potentially moderating effects of prior personal experience with the brand. This manipulations enable to resolve possible controversies in relation to this issue. And this manipulation is meaningful for the work sector. Price promotion is not only used to target existing consumers but also to encourage product or service trial among nonusers of products or services. Thus, it is important for marketers to understand how price promotional informations about a brand have impact on consumer's unfavorable quality perception of the brand. If consumers associate a price promotion itself with inferior quality about unused brand, the promotion may not achieve the sales increase the economic incentives otherwise might have produced. In addition, if the price promotion ends, the consumer that have purchased that certain brand will likely to display sharply decreased repurchasing behavior. Through a literature review, hypothesis 1 was set as follows to investigate the adjustive effect of past price promotion on quality perception made by consumers; The influence that price promotion of unused brand have on quality perception made by consumers will be adjusted by past price promotion activity of the brand. In other words, a price promotion of an unused brand that have not done a price promotion in the past will have a unfavorable effect on quality perception made by consumer. Hypothesis 2-1 was set as follows : When an unused brand undertakes price promotion for the first time, the information presenting pattern of price promotion will have an effect on the consumer's attribution for the cause of the price promotion. Hypothesis 2-2 was set as follows : The more consumer dispositionally attribute the cause of price promotion, the more unfavorable the quality perception made by consumer will be. Through test 1, the subjects were given a brief explanation of the product and the brand before they were provided with a $2{\times}2$ factorial design that has 4 patterns of price promotion (presence or absence of past price promotion * presence or absence of current price promotion) and the explanation describing the price promotion pattern of each cell. Then the perceived quality of imaginary brand WAVEX was evaluated in the scale of 7. The reason tennis racket was chosen is because the selected product group must have had almost no past price promotions to eliminate the influence of average frequency of promotion on the value of price promotional information as Raghubir and Corfman (1999) pointed out. Test 2 was also carried out on students of the same management faculty of test 1 with tennis racket as the product group. As with test 1, subjects with average familiarity for the product group and low familiarity for the brand was selected. Each subjects were assigned to one of the two cells representing two different information presenting patterns of price promotion of WAVEX (case where the reason behind price promotion was provided/case where the reason behind price promotion was not provided). Subjects looked at each promotional information before evaluating the perceived quality of the brand WAVEX in the scale of 7. The effect of price promotion for unfamiliar pretrial brand on consumer's perceived quality was proved to be moderated with the presence or absence of past price promotion. The consistency with past promotional behavior is important variable that makes unfavorable effect on brand evaluations get worse. If the price promotion for the brand has never been carried out before, price promotion activity may have more unfavorable effects on consumer's quality perception. Second, when the price promotion of unfamiliar pretrial brand was executed for the first time, presenting method of informations has impact on consumer's attribution for the cause of firm's promotion. And the unfavorable effect of quality perception is higher when the consumer does dispositional attribution comparing with situational attribution. Unlike the previous studies where the main focus was the absence or presence of favorable or unfavorable motivation from situational/dispositional attribution, the focus of this study was exaus ing the fact that a situational attribution can be inferred even if the consumer employs a dispositional attribution on the price promotional behavior, if the company provides a persuasive reason. Such approach, in academic perspectih sis a large significance in that it explained the anchoring and adjng ch approcedures by applying it to a non-mathematical problem unlike the previous studies where it wis ionaly explained by applying it to a mathematical problem. In other wordn, there is a highrspedency tmatispositionally attribute other's behaviors according to the fuedach aal attribution errors and when this is applied to the situation of price promotions, we can infer that consumers are likely tmatispositionally attribute the company's price promotion behaviors. Ha ever, even ueder these circumstances, the company can adjng the consumer's anchoring tmareduce the po wibiliute thdispositional attribution. Furthermore, unlike majority of previous researches on short/long-term effects of price promotion that only considered the effect of price promotions on consumer's purchasing behaviors, this research measured the effect on perceived quality, one of man elements that affects the purchasing behavior of consumers. These results carry useful implications for the work sector. A guideline of effectively providing promotional informations for a new brand can be suggested through the outcomes of this research. If the brand is to avoid false implications such as inferior quality while implementing a price promotion strategy, it must provide a clear and acceptable reasons behind the promotion. Especially it is more important for the company with no past price promotion to provide a clear reason. An inconsistent behavior can be the cause of consumer's distrust and anxiety. This is also one of the most important factor of risk of endless price wars. Price promotions without prior notice can buy doubt from consumers not market share.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.143-155
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• 2002

A survey on biliary atresia was made among 26 members of the Korean Association of Pediatric Surgeons. The members were required to complete a questionnaire and a case registration form for each patient during the twentyone-year period of 1980-2000. Three hundred and eighty patients were registered from 18 institutions. The average number of patients per surgeon was one to two every year. The male to female ratio was 1:1.3. The age of patients on diagnosis with biliary atresia was on average $65.4{\pm} 36.2$ days old. The national distribution was 32.8% in Seoul, 25.3% in Gyoungki-Do, 21.6% in Gyoungsang-Do, 9.27% in Choongchung-Do, etc. in order. The most common clinical presentation was jaundice (98.4%) and change of stool color (86.2%) was second. Two hundred eighty (74.7%) of 375 patients were operated by 80 days of age. Three hundred thirty six (9 1.9%) of 366 patients were operated on by the original Kasai procedure, and 305 (84.3%) of 362 patients were observed by bile-drainage postoperatively. The overall postoperative complication rate was 18.5% and the overall postoperative mortality rate was 6.8%. The associated anomalies were observed in 72 cases (22.5%). One hundred ninty five (64.7%) of 302 patients have been alive in follow-up and 49 (25.1%) have survived over 5 years without problem after operation. Ascending cholangitis, varices and ascites affected survival significantly, and the important long-term prognostic factor was the occurrence of complications.