• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.61-65
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• 2020

Background and Objectives The overall incidence of laryngeal tuberculosis (LT) has generally decreased over the recent years, yet there is still a discrete population of patients newly diagnosed with the disease. This study is aimed to examine the patients with LT over the recent 10 years and to investigate the changes in clinical pattern with respect to the past period. Materials and Method A retrospective review has been performed on 20 patients who have been initially diagnosed with LT between 2005 and 2015. Results The age of the patients ranged from 25 years to 95 years with an average age of 45.6 years. Seventeen patients (85%) showed hoarseness, which was the most common clinical symptom. Most affected lesion was the true vocal cord. Laryngoscopic examination showed various clinical manifestations: polypoid 30%, granulomatous 25%, nonspecific 25%, ulcerative 20%. A variety of methods were used for diagnostic confirmation of LT [acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear 45%, AFB culture 40%, polymerase chain reaction 30%, surgical pathology 45%]. Coexisting pulmonary tuberculosis (PT) was detected in 10 patients (50%). Relative to the patients with inactive PT or normal lung status, those with active PT showed higher incidence of laryngeal lesions located in areas other than true vocal cord (p=0.050). Conclusion Based on the analytic results from this study, laryngologists should recognize the changes in the recent clinical patterns of LT and always be ready for clinical suspicion of this disease on such atypical laryngeal findings which can often mimic laryngeal malignancies to provide the pertinent treatment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7567-7573
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• 2015

Background: Catastrophic effects of mustard gas as a chemical warfare agent have always been a major problem for those exposed to this agent. In this meta-analysis it was tried to evaluate carcinogenesis, ocular, cutaneous and respiratory complications of mustard gas exposure among Iranians who had been exposed to this agent during the Iran-Iraq war. Materials and Methods: In this meta-analysis, the required data were collected using keywords "mustard gas", "sulfur mustard", "cancer", "neoplasm", "respiratory complications", "ocular complications", "lung disease", "chronic complication", "eye", "skin", "cutaneous complication", "carcinogenesis" and their combination with keywords "Iran", "Iranian", "prevalence", "mortality" and their Farsi equivalent terms from the databases of SID, Iranmedex, Magiran, Pubmed, Science Direct, Google Search engine, Gray Literature and Reference of References. To determine the prevalence of each complication and perform meta-analysis, CMA: 2 (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis) software with a randomized model was used. Results: Of the 542 articles found, 7 national articles, consistent with the aims of this study were selected. Meta-analysis of seven papers revealed that cancer risk, especially cancer of the respiratory system was elevated, so that the relative risk (RR) of cancer role of mustard gas was inconsistent from 2/1 to 4 in this survey. Also prevalence of delayed skin disorders due to sulfur mustard was 94.6%, pulmonary complications 94.5% and ocular complications 89.9%. The incidence of various cancers in victims exposed to mustard gas was 1.7% worldwide where the rate was 2.2% in Iranian victims of the Iraq-Iran war. Conclusions: Based on present study the prevalence of delayed mustard gas related cutaneous, pulmonary and ocular complications is above 90% and risk of carcinogenesis is higher in comparison to worldwide statistics. This may suggest need for long-term and persistent follow-up and rehabilitation procedures for populations exposed to this agent.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7701-7706
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• 2013

Background: In a prospective cohort study of antiemetic therapy conducted in Malaysia, a total of 94 patients received low emetogenic chemotherapy (LEC) with or without granisetron injections as the primary prophylaxis for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). This study is a retrospective cost analysis of two antiemetic regimens from the payer perspective. Materials and Methods: This cost evaluation refers to 2011, the year in which the observation was conducted. Direct costs incurred by hospitals including the drug acquisition, materials and time spent for clinical activities from prescribing to dispensing of home medications were evaluated (MYR 1=$0.32 USD). As reported to be significantly different between two regimens (96.1% vs 81.0%; p=0.017), the complete response rate of acute emesis which was defined as a patient successfully treated without any emesis episode within 24 hours after LEC was used as the main indicator for effectiveness. Results: Antiemetic drug acquisition cost per patient was 40.7 times higher for the granisetron-based regimen than for the standard regimen (MYR 64.3 vs 1.58). When both the costs for materials and clinical activities were included, the total cost per patient was 8.68 times higher for the granisetron-based regimen (MYR 73.5 vs 8.47). Considering the complete response rates, the mean cost per successfully treated patient in granisetron group was 7.31 times higher (MYR 76.5 vs 10.5). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) with granisetron-based regimen, relative to the standard regimen, was MYR 430.7. It was found to be most sensitive to the change of antiemetic effects of granisetron-based regimen. Conclusions: While providing a better efficacy in acute emesis control, the low incidence of acute emesis and high ICER makes use of granisetron as primary prophylaxis in LEC controversial.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.746-753
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• 1998

Background : Cigarette smoking is closely related to both lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The incidence of lung cancer is higher in patients with obstructive ventilatory impairment than in patients without obstructive ventilatory impairment regardless of smoking. So, obstructive ventilatory impairment is suspected as an independent risk factor of lung cancer. Methods: For the evaluation of the role of obstructive ventilatory impairment as a risk factor of lung cancer, a total of 73 cases comprising 47 cases of malignant and 26 benign solitary pulmonary nodule were analyzed retrospectively. A comparative study of analysis of forced expiratory volume curves and frequencies of obstructive ventilatory impairment were made between cases with malignant and benign nodules. Results: In comparison of vital capacity and parameters derived from forced expiratory volume curve between two groups. VC, FVC and $FEV_1$ were not significantly different. whereas $FEV_1/FVC%$ and FEF 25-75% showed a significant decrease in the cases with malignant nodule. The frequency of obstructive ventilatory impairment determined by pulmonary function test was significantly higher in the cases with malignant nodule(23.4%) than in benign nodule(3.8%). When the risk for lung cancer was examined by the presence or absence of obstructive ventilatory impairment using the logistic regression analysis, the unadjusted relative risk for the lung cancer of obstructive ventilatory impairment was 17.17. When the effect of smoking and age were considered, the relative risk was to 8.13. Conclusion: These findings suggest that an obstructive ventilatory impairment is a risk factor of lung cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7509-7515
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• 2013

To assess the risk of cancers associated with sleep duration using meta-analysis of published cohort studies, we performed a comprehensive search using PubMed, Embase and Web of Science through October 2013. We combined hazard ratios (HRs) from individual studies using meta-analysis approaches. A random effect dose-response analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between sleep duration and cancer risk. Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were also performed. Publication bias was evaluated using Funnel plots and Begg's test. A total of 13 cohorts from 12 studies were included in this meta-analysis, which included 723, 337 participants with 15, 156 reported cancer outcomes during a follow-up period ranging from 7.5 to 22 years. The pooled adjusted HRs were 1.06 (95% CI: 0.92, 1.23; P for heterogeneity =0.003) for short sleep duration, 0.91 (95% CI: 0.78, 1.07; P for heterogeneity <0.0001) for long sleep duration. In subgroup analyses stratified by cancer type, long duration of sleep showed an inverse relation with hormone-related cancer (HR=0.79; 95% CI: 0.65, 0.97; P for heterogeneity =0.009) and a greater risk of colorectal cancer (HR=1.29; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.52; P for heterogeneity =0.346). Further meta-analysis on dose-response relationships showed that the relative risks of cancer were 1.00 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.01; P for linear trend=0.9151) for one hour of sleep increment per day, and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.98, 1.01; P for linear trend=0.7749) for one hour of sleep increment per night. No significant dose-response relationship between sleep duration and cancer was found on non-linearity testing (P=0.5053). Our meta-analysis suggests a positive association between long sleep duration and colorectal cancer, and an inverse association with incidence of hormone related cancers like those in the breast. Studies with larger sample size, longer follow-up times, more cancer types and detailed measure of sleep duration are warranted to confirm these results.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.122-127
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• 2003

Purpose: The incidence rate and the mortality rate of gastric cancer have decreased in developed countries over the last several decades. On the other hand, they remain high in far eastern countries such as Korea, Japan, China and in many developing countries. The cure of patients with gastric carcinomas can be achieved mostly through complete surgical resection, but most gastric cancer patients are in advanced stages when diagnosed and have poor prognoses. therefore, the development of an effective systemic therapy is essential for far advanced gastric cancer patients. Until recently, the most commonly used combination chemotherapy was based on 5-flurouracil or cisplatin, but the results were not satisfactory, so recently etoposide, adriamycin and cisplatin (EAP-II) combination chemotherapy was introduced in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Early studies showed a high response rate and the ability to convert unresectable cases to resectable ones, but later studies couldn't duplicate the result. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative efficacy & toxicity of EAP-II chemotherapy and ELF chemotherapy which is based on 5-flurouracil. Materials and Methods: Between July 1992 and July 2002, sixty-five patients with inoperable advanced gastric cancer were enrolled for this study. Thirty-seven patient received EAP-II chemotherapy:etoposide (20 mg/$m^{2}$ IV for $1\∼5 days$), adriamycin (20 mg/$m^{2}$ IV for $1\∼5 days$) and cisplatin (20 mg/$m^{2}$ IV for $1\∼5 days$) and Twenty-eight patients receieved ELF chemotherapy : etoposide (100 mg/$m^{2}$ IV for $1\∼3 days$), leucovorin (20 mg/$m^{2}$ IV for $1\∼5 days$) and 5-FU (500 mg/$m^{2}$ IV for $1\∼5 days$). Each treatment schedule for each group was repeated every four weeks: EAP-II means 3.4 cycles per patient..ELF means 4.1 cycles per patient Results: Total respones rates were $5.4\%$ in the ELF group and $3.6\%$ in the EAP group (P-value>0.05). The median times to progression were 144 days in the ELF group and 92 days in the EAP-II group (P-value<0.05), and themedian overall survival times were 189 days in the ELF group and 139 days in the EAP-II group (P-value>0.05). The difference in the survival curves for the two regimens was not statistically significant. Non-hematologic toxicitis & hematologic toxicitis were more frequently observed for the EAP-II regimen. Anemia: $27.6\%$ in ELF vs $54\%$ in EAP-II; Leukopenia: $8.5\%$ in ELF vs $19\%$ in EAP-II; nausea & vomiting: $45.9\%$ in ELF vs $67.8\%$ in EAP-II. Conclusion: EAP-II regimen is not superior to ELF regimen in the tratment of inoperable advanced gastric cancer (J Korean Gastric Cancer Assoc 2003;3:122-127)

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.2915-2921
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• 2015

Background: Some recent clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate a combination of EGFR- TKI with chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC patients as second-line therapy, but the results on the efficacy of such trials are inconsistent. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of combination of EGFR-TKI and chemotherapy for patients with advanced NSCLC who failed first-line treatment. Materials and Methods: We searched relative trials from PubMed, EMBASE, ASCO Abstracts, ESMO Abstracts, Cochrane Library and Clinical Trials.gov. Outcomes analyzed were overall response rate (ORR), progression- free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and major toxicity. Results: Seven trails eventually were included in this meta-analysis, covering 1,168 patients. The results showed that the combined regimen arm had a significant higher ORR (RR 1.76 [1.16, 2.66], p=0.007) and longer PFS (HR 0.75 [0.66-0.85], p<0.00001), but failed to show effects on OS (HR 0.88 [0.68-1.15], p=0.36). In terms of subgroup results, continuation of EGFR-TKI in addition to chemotherapy after first-line EGFR-TKI resistance confered no improvement in ORR (RR 0.95 [0.68, 1.33], p=0.75) and PFS (HR 0.89[0.69, 1.15], p=0.38), and OS was even shorter (HR1.52 [1.05-2.21], p=0.03). However, combination therapy with EGFR-TKI and chemotherapy after failure of first-line chemotherapy significantly improved the ORR (RR 2.06 [1.42, 2.99], p=0.0002), PFS (HR 0.71 [0.61, 0.82], p<0.00001) and OS (HR 0.74 [0.62-0.88], p=0.0008), clinical benefit being restricted to combining EGFR-TKI with pemetrexed, but not docetaxel. Grade 3-4 toxicity was found at significantly higher incidence in the combined regimen arm. Conclusions: Continuation of EGFR-TKI in addition to chemotherapy after first-line EGFR-TKI resistance should be avoided. Combination therapy of EGFR-TKI and pemetrexed for advanced NSCLC should be further investigated for prognostic and predictive factors to find the group with the highest benefit of the combination strategy.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.394-401
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• 2012

Objectives: Diabetes and obesity each increases mortality, but recent papers have shown that lean Asian persons were at greater risk for mortality than were obese persons. The objective of this study is to determine whether an interaction exists between body mass index (BMI) and diabetes, which can modify the risk of death by cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods: Subjects who were over 20 years of age, and who had information regarding BMI, past history of diabetes, and fasting blood glucose levels (n=16 048), were selected from the Korea Multi-center Cancer Cohort study participants. By 2008, a total of 1290 participants had died; 251 and 155 had died of CVD and stroke, respectively. The hazard for deaths was calculated with hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) by Cox proportional hazard model. Results: Compared with the normal population, patients with diabetes were at higher risk for CVD and stroke deaths (HR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.33 to 2.56; HR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.20 to 2.76; respectively). Relative to subjects with no diabetes and normal BMI (21 to 22.9 $kg/m^2$), lean subjects with diabetes (BMI <21 $kg/m^2$) had a greater risk for CVD and stroke deaths (HR, 2.83; 95% CI, 1.57 to 5.09; HR, 3.27; 95% CI, 1.58 to 6.76; respectively), while obese subjects with diabetes (BMI ${\geq}25kg/m^2$) had no increased death risk (p-interaction <0.05). This pattern was consistent in sub-populations with no incidence of hypertension. Conclusions: This study suggests that diabetes in lean people is more critical to CVD deaths than it is in obese people.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2021

The length, the frequency, and the methods of surveillance for intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas are still debating. According to the recent guidelines, IPMN is stratified into "high-risk stigmata" or absolute indication and "worrisome features" or relative indication as a guide in managing these patients, either those with resection of the lesion or those under surveillance. The risk of malignant transformation was quite low for branch duct-IPMNs without worrisome features or high risk stigmata. However, because the incidence rate of pancreatic cancer in these patients increase linearly with time, continued long-term surveillance is therefore important for patients with low-risk, as well as higher-risk, IPMN. Considering the high prevalence of malignancy, main duct-IPMN should be treated by surgical resection. Among patients with these type IPMNs, segmental dilatation of the main pancreatic duct without any mural nodules and larger than 10 mm of main pancreatic duct might not be immediately resected and need very careful examination and observation. The risk related to a major pancreatic resection must balance the risk of surveillance in patients with IPMN of the pancreas who have co-morbidity and are elderly.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.397-402
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• 2008

Over the past few years, anthocyanin has been demonstrated to exert potentially anti-oxidative and bioavailability effects including anti-cardiovascular disease and cancer-preventive effects in humans. This study was conducted to assess the toxicity of anthocyanin extracts from black soybean seed coats via oral administration in a mice feeding test. The final anthocyanin-containing products induced signs of toxicity on mortality in the 4-week feeding test. The incidence of clinical signs and changes in body and organ weight were also not observed in all anthocyanin-treated groups as compared with the control groups. In hematology analysis, RBC indices concluding MCV, MCH, and MCHC and WBC differential counting such a NEU, LYM, MONO, EOS, and BASO evidenced no significant differences between the anthocyanin treatment and control groups. The biochemical parameters in serum analysis - ALT, AST, BUN, Crea etc.- were also not significantly altered in those groups. Absolute and relative organ weights were not increased after 4 weeks of treatment with anthocyanin extracts in mice. In conclusion, anthocyanin extracts from the black soybean has biological activity without any toxic effects, which also suggests that the consumption of soy containing anthocyanin products may be a good source for health and medical supplies.