• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.106-117
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• 2017

Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep-related breathing disorder that is characterized by repetitive collapse or partial collapse of the upper airway during sleep in spite of ongoing effort to breathe. It is believed that OSA is usually worsened in REM sleep, because muscle tone is suppressed during REM sleep. However, many cases showed a higher apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) during NREM sleep than during REM sleep. We aimed here to determine the characteristics of REM sleep-dependent OSA (REM-OSA) and NREM sleep-dependent OSA (NREM-OSA). Methods: Five hundred sixty polysomnographically confirmed adult OSA subjects were studied retrospectively. All patients were classified into 3 groups based on the ratio between REM-AHI and NREM-AHI. REM-OSA was defined as REM-AHI/NREM-AHI > 2, NREM-OSA as NREM-AHI/REM-AHI > 2, and the rest as sleep stage-independent OSA (IND-OSA). In addition to polysomnography, questionnaires related to subjective sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and emotion were completed. Chi-square test, ANOVA, and ANCOVA were performed. Results: There was no age difference among subgroups. The REM-OSA group was comprised of large proportions of mild OSA and female OSA patients. These patients experienced poor sleep and more negative emotions than other two groups. The AHI and oxygen desaturation index (ODI) were lowest in REM-OSA. Sleep efficiency and N3 percentage of REM-OSA were higher than in NREM-OSA. The percentage of patients who slept in a supine position was higher in REM-OSA than other subgroups. IND-OSA showed higher BMI and larger neck circumference and abdominal circumference than REM-OSA. The patients with IND-OSA experienced more sleepiness than the other groups. AHI and ODI were highest in IND-OSA. NREM-OSA presented the shortest total sleep time and the lowest sleep efficiency. NREM-OSA showed shorter sleep latency and REM latency and higher percentage of N1 than those of REM-OSA and the highest proportion of those who slept in a lateral position than other subgroups. NREM-OSA revealed the highest composite score on the Horne and ${\ddot{O}}stberg$ questionnaire. With increased AHI severity, the numbers of apnea and hypopnea events during REM sleep decreased, and the numbers of apnea and hypopnea events during NREM sleep increased. The results of ANCOVA after controlling age, sex, BMI, NC, AC, and AHI showed the lowest sleep efficiency, the highest AHI in the supine position, and the highest percentage of waking after sleep onset in NREM-OSA. Conclusion: REM-OSA was associated with the mild form of OSA, female sex, and negative emotions. IND-OSA was associated with the severe form of OSA. NREM-OSA was most closely related to position and showed the lowest sleep efficiency. Sleep stage-dependent characteristics could provide better understanding of OSA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.631-640
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• 2014

The inhibitory effects of Boswellia serrata (BW) extracts on degenerative osteoarthritis were investigated in primary-cultured rat cartilage cells and a monosodium-iodoacetate (MIA)-induced osteoarthritis rat model. To identify the protective effects of BW extract against $H_2O_2$ ($800{\mu}M$, 2 hr) in vitro, cell survival was measured by MTT assay. Cell survival after $H_2O_2$ treatment was elevated by BW extract at a concentration of $20{\mu}g/mL$. In addition, BW extract treatment significantly reduced and normalized the productions of pro-inflammatory factors, nuclear transcription factor ${\kappa}B$, cyclooxygenase-2, tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$, and interleukin-6 at a concentration of $20{\mu}g/mL$. Treatment of chondrocytes with BW extract significantly reduced 5-lipoxygenase activity and production of prostaglandin E2, especially at a concentration of $10{\sim}20{\mu}g/mL$. For the in vivo animal study, osteoarthritis was induced by intra-articular injection of MIA into knee joints of rats. Consumption of a diet containing BW extract (100 and 200 mg/kg) for 35 days significantly inhibited the development and severity of osteoarthritis in rats. To determine the genetic expression of arthritic factors in articular cartilage, real-time PCR was applied to measure matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-3, MMP-9, and MMP-13), collagen type I, collagen type II, and aggrecan, and BW extract had protective effects at a concentration of 200 mg/kg. In conclusion, BW extract was able to inhibit articular cartilage degeneration by preventing extracellular matrix degradation and chondrocyte injury. One can consider that BW extract may be a potential therapeutic treatment for degenerative osteoarthritis.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.161-177
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• 2014

Corporate credit rating assessment consists of complicated processes in which various factors describing a company are taken into consideration. Such assessment is known to be very expensive since domain experts should be employed to assess the ratings. As a result, the data-driven corporate credit rating prediction using statistical and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques has received considerable attention from researchers and practitioners. In particular, statistical methods such as multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) and multinomial logistic regression analysis (MLOGIT), and AI methods including case-based reasoning (CBR), artificial neural network (ANN), and multiclass support vector machine (MSVM) have been applied to corporate credit rating.2) Among them, MSVM has recently become popular because of its robustness and high prediction accuracy. In this study, we propose a novel optimized MSVM model, and appy it to corporate credit rating prediction in order to enhance the accuracy. Our model, named 'GAMSVM (Genetic Algorithm-optimized Multiclass Support Vector Machine),' is designed to simultaneously optimize the kernel parameters and the feature subset selection. Prior studies like Lorena and de Carvalho (2008), and Chatterjee (2013) show that proper kernel parameters may improve the performance of MSVMs. Also, the results from the studies such as Shieh and Yang (2008) and Chatterjee (2013) imply that appropriate feature selection may lead to higher prediction accuracy. Based on these prior studies, we propose to apply GAMSVM to corporate credit rating prediction. As a tool for optimizing the kernel parameters and the feature subset selection, we suggest genetic algorithm (GA). GA is known as an efficient and effective search method that attempts to simulate the biological evolution phenomenon. By applying genetic operations such as selection, crossover, and mutation, it is designed to gradually improve the search results. Especially, mutation operator prevents GA from falling into the local optima, thus we can find the globally optimal or near-optimal solution using it. GA has popularly been applied to search optimal parameters or feature subset selections of AI techniques including MSVM. With these reasons, we also adopt GA as an optimization tool. To empirically validate the usefulness of GAMSVM, we applied it to a real-world case of credit rating in Korea. Our application is in bond rating, which is the most frequently studied area of credit rating for specific debt issues or other financial obligations. The experimental dataset was collected from a large credit rating company in South Korea. It contained 39 financial ratios of 1,295 companies in the manufacturing industry, and their credit ratings. Using various statistical methods including the one-way ANOVA and the stepwise MDA, we selected 14 financial ratios as the candidate independent variables. The dependent variable, i.e. credit rating, was labeled as four classes: 1(A1); 2(A2); 3(A3); 4(B and C). 80 percent of total data for each class was used for training, and remaining 20 percent was used for validation. And, to overcome small sample size, we applied five-fold cross validation to our dataset. In order to examine the competitiveness of the proposed model, we also experimented several comparative models including MDA, MLOGIT, CBR, ANN and MSVM. In case of MSVM, we adopted One-Against-One (OAO) and DAGSVM (Directed Acyclic Graph SVM) approaches because they are known to be the most accurate approaches among various MSVM approaches. GAMSVM was implemented using LIBSVM-an open-source software, and Evolver 5.5-a commercial software enables GA. Other comparative models were experimented using various statistical and AI packages such as SPSS for Windows, Neuroshell, and Microsoft Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). Experimental results showed that the proposed model-GAMSVM-outperformed all the competitive models. In addition, the model was found to use less independent variables, but to show higher accuracy. In our experiments, five variables such as X7 (total debt), X9 (sales per employee), X13 (years after founded), X15 (accumulated earning to total asset), and X39 (the index related to the cash flows from operating activity) were found to be the most important factors in predicting the corporate credit ratings. However, the values of the finally selected kernel parameters were found to be almost same among the data subsets. To examine whether the predictive performance of GAMSVM was significantly greater than those of other models, we used the McNemar test. As a result, we found that GAMSVM was better than MDA, MLOGIT, CBR, and ANN at the 1% significance level, and better than OAO and DAGSVM at the 5% significance level.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 1976

A series of experiment was carried out to study the effect of commonly used dietary fat or oils on the growth, feed efficiency, nutrient utilizability, nitrogen retention and serum cholesterol of rats and chicks fed various fat or oils at the level of 10% during 12 weeks of experimentation. Fat and oils used in this experiment were also analyzed for the composition of some fatty acids. The main observations made are as follows: 1. All groups received fat or oils gained more body weight than unsupplemented control group except chicks fed fish oil and rapeseed oil although no statistical significance was found between treatments. It was found that body weight gain achieved by the rats fed soybean oil, rapeseed oil, animal fat or corn oil was much greater than other group and that achieved by the chicks fed corn oil and animal fat was greater than other vegetable oil groups, although no statistical significance was found among treatments. 2. Feed intake data indicated that corn oil group of both rats and chicks consumed considerably more feed than other groups. Whereas feed intake of fish oil groups was the lowest among the experimental animals indicating that fish oil might contain unfavorable compound that depresses the palatability. In feed efficiency, soybean oil group of rats and corn oil group of chicks were significantly better than other experimental groups. In general, addition of fat or oils in the diet improved feed effeciency of diet. 3. Nutrient utiIizabiIity and nitrogen retention data showed that fat in the experimental diet containing 10% fat or oils was absorbed better than crude fat in control diet. It was also found that there was no significant difference in nitrogen retention among treatment. 4. Liver fat content of rapeseed oil group was much higher than that of control group and other group. It was also noticed that feeding more polyunsaturated fatty acids resulted in higher content of Iiver fat. 5. Present data indicated that serum cholesterol content of rapeseed oil and sesame oil group of rat was the higher than that of control group. Serum cholesterol content of animal fat group of chicks was higher than other group. It was interesting to note that serum cholesterol content of chicken was higher than that of rats?regardless of the kind of oils received. 6. Analytical data revealed that fatty acid composition of vegetable oil was composed mainly of oleic acid and linoleic acid, whereas animal fat and fish oil were composed of saturated fatty acid such as, myristic and palmitic acid. It should be mentionted that the perilla oil contained a very large amount of linolenic acid (58.4%) comparing with that in order vegetable oils. Little arachidonic acid was detected in vegetable oil, whereas none in animal fat and. fish oil.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.77-88
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• 2014

Purpose: This study analyzed the foodservice satisfaction and menu preference of 506 high school boarding students in Jeju surveyed from July 2-30, 2012 with the aim of providing basic data for improving the quality of boarding food-service management. Methods: The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test, and Pearson's correlation coefficients, using the SPSS Win program (version 12.0). Results: Regarding satisfaction with dormitory foodservice, the satisfaction scores for service and hygiene were 3.46 (out of 5 scales), whereas the score for menu quality was 3.26 points. In terms of satisfaction by meal, dinner showed the highest score, at 3.70 (out of 5 scales). The satisfaction scores for breakfast were significantly higher in girls (3.36) than boys (2.93). Regarding intake of meals provided, dinner showed the highest score, at 3.96 (out of 5 scales), whereas breakfast showed the lowest score, at 3.63 points. Intake of lunch and dinner was significantly higher in boys (4.12, 4.17, respectively) than girls (3.72, 3.76, respectively). Regarding the requirements of subjects for dormitory foodservice, 43.4% of subjects selected improvement of food taste and 36.6% of girls chose menu diversity. In terms of menu preferences for main dishes, the students preferred noodles (4.06) and one-dish cooked rice (3.92) to cooked rice (3.66). The subjects preferred beef rib soup (4.10) and Kimchi stew (3.99) in soups and stews. With regard to the menu preferences for side dishes, steamed foods showed the highest score, at 3.95 (out of 5 scales), whereas seasoned foods showed the lowest score, at 2.89 points. The students preferred beef, pork, and chicken to fish and vegetables. The students preferred dessert the most with fruit juices (4.52). Bread and rice cake were more favored by girls, showing significant differences between boys and girls (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively). Conclusion: Development of a systematic nutrition education program that can encourage practice of proper eating habits is needed. In addition improvement of the quality of boarding school meals through the service of various menus is needed.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.77-82
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• 2008

Purpose: We evaluated the failure pattern of the celiac axis, gastric lymph node, and treatment outcome in the upper and mid-esophageal region of cancer patients treated by definitive radiotherapy, except when treating the celiac axis and gastric lymph node for treatment volume, retrospectively. Materials and Methods: The study constituted the evaluation 108 patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer receiving radiotherapy or a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy at Chonbuk National University Hospital from January 1986 to December 2006. In total, 82 patients treated by planned radiotherapy, except when treating the celiac axis and gastric lymph node for treatment volume, were analysed retrospectively. The study population consisted of 78 men and 2 women(mean age of 63.2 years). In addition, 51 patients received radiotherapy alone, whereas 31 patients received a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. The primary cancer sites were located in the upper portion(17 patients), and mid portion(65 patients), respectively. Further, the patients were in various clinical stages including T1N0-1M0(7 patients), T2N0-1M0(18 patients), T3N0-1M0(44 patients) and T4N0-1M0(13 patients). The mean follow up period was 15 months. Results: The various treatment outcomes included complete response(48 patients), partial response(31 patients) and no response(3 patients). The failure patterns of the lymph node were comprised of the regional lymph node(23 patients) and the distance lymph node which included celiac axis and gastric lymph node(13 patients). However, metastasis was not observed in the regional and distant lymph node in 10 patients, whereas 36 patients were not evaluated. Furthermore, of the 13 patients who developed celiac axis and gastric lymph node metastases, 3 were in stage T1N0-1M0 and 10 were in stage T2-4N0-1M0. A complete response appeared in 12 patients, whereas a partial response appeared in 1 patient. The mean survival time of the patients who appeared for regional and distant lymph node metastasis was 14.4 and 7.0 months, respectively. Conclusion: In locally advanced esophageal cancer patients, who were treated by definitive radiotherapy without celiac axis and gastric lymph node irradiation, the distant lymph node metastasis rate was high and the overall survival rate was lower compared to the regional lymph node metastasis. The incidence of regional and distant lymph node metastasis was high in patients who appeared beyond clinical stage T2 and received radiotherapy alone.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.59-97
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• 1971

As a study on the cellulase of Myriococcum albomyces the culture media for enzyme formation and properties of its crude preparation were investigated and the crude enzyme preparation was further fractionated. The results are summarized as follows: 1. Wheat bran solid culture produced stronger activities of cellulase than rice bran or defatted soy bean meal solid culture. 2. Shaking culture with wheat bran, rice bran or defatted soy bean meal produced higher cellulase activities than solid culture with the corresponding media. 3. The enzyme formation was higher at $45^{\circ}C$ than at $37^{\circ}C$ or $50^{\circ}C$ regardless of the kind of culture medium. 4. The formation of CMCase activity was more promoted by organic nitrogen source than inorganic nitrogen source. 5. The formation of cellulase activities were increased 1.5 to 3.0-fold by adding CMC, Avicel or cellulose powder as an inducer into 5% wheat bran basal medium. 6. Cellulase production using a tank culture procedure with addition of CMC or Avicel as an inducer was the highest at fifth day and thereafter decreased slightly. 7. The crude enzyme preparation showed pH optimum in 4.0 to 4.5, and pH stability in the range of 3.5 to 8.0. Optimum temperature for the activity was $65^{\circ}C$ which was higher than among other cellulases and it was stable at $60^{\circ}C$ for 120 minutes. 8. Dialyzed crude enzyme was activated by $Ca^{++}$ and $Mg^{++}$, but inhibited by $Hg^{++}$, $Cu^{++}$ and $Ag^{+}$. 9. Four different types of cellulase, i. e., fraction I, fraction II-a, fraction II-b, and fraction III were purified from the culture filtrate of Myriococcum albomyces through a sequence of ammonium sulfate fractionation, and elution chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A-25, Amberlite CG-25 type 2 and hydroxyapatite columns. 10. These four cellulase fractions were showed to be homogenous by electrophoresis and ultracentrifugation and also gave a typical ultraviolet absorption spectrum of protein. 11. Four purified fraction showed different specificity toward substrates, fraction I has a stronger activity toward Avicel, cellulose powder, and gauze than that of other cellulase fractions. Fraction II-a had a powerful activity toward cellobiose but it was almost inactive agaisnt fibrous cellulose contrary to fraction I. On the contrary, the main component fraction II-b had a fairly higher activity on CMC and Avicel. Activity of fraction II-b toward cellobiose was about one-third of that of fraction II-a and activity on Avicel was lower than that of fraction I. Fraction III had a more powerful activity in decreasing viscosity of CMC. 12. Final hydrolysis products of fibrous cellulose by each fraction were cellobiose and glucose. Whereas oligosaccharides were predominant in the early stage of hydrolysis, prolonged reaction produced more glucose than cellobiose. Fraction I and fraction II-a acted synergically on Avicel. 13. Optimum pH for the activities of cellulase fraction I, fraction II-a, fraction II-b and fraction III were found to be 5.5, 5.0, 4.0 and $4.0{\sim}4.5$, respectively. These fractions were found to be stable in the range of pH $3.0{\sim}7.5$. 14. Optimum temperature for the activities of fraction I, fraction II-a, fraction II-b, and fraction III were $50^{\circ}C$, $55^{\circ}C$, $60^{\circ}C$ and $55^{\circ}C$, respectively. No less of activity was found by heating 120 minutes at $55^{\circ}C$ and fraction II-a was more stable than the others at $60^{\circ}C$. 15. Fraction I and fraction II-b were activated by $Ca^{++}$ and $Mg^{++}$ but inhibited by $Hg^{++}$ and $Ag^{+}$.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.93-109
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• 1972

Three lots of Chung-Kook-Jang were prepared by the use of 2 strains of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus natto. For four samples taken from each lot in 12 hrs interval changes of nitrogenous compounds, insoluble protein, water soluble protein, peptides, free amino acids, amino and ammonia nitrogens during Chung-Kook-Jang fermentation, were studied together with the changes of moisture, pH, proteolytic enzyme activity. In addition the average peptide length of the peptides of a Bacillus subtilis lot was determined by the method of molecular sieving using ion exchange resin. The results were as follows: 1. The contents of moisture and total-nitrogen changed little in all samples throughout the fermentation as it would be expected. 2. In all three experimental lots the pH became higher gradually from the initial value of 6.65 to the final $7.5{\sim}7.85$ during the fermentation. Proteolytic enzyme activities, in accordance with this pH change, steadily increased up to $48{\sim}60$ hrs. of fermentation and then slightly decreased, probably affected by the high pH. The most strong proteolytic activity was observed in the experimental Chung-Kook-Jang fermentation lot using the Bacillus subtilis K-27 isolated by the author. 3. The contents of insoluble protein nitrogen in soybeans increased markedly (5%) by the cooking, after steeping 12 hrs in water. During the Chung-Kook-Jang fermentation, however, it decreased from 1/2 to 1/10 of that of the cooked soybeans. 4. The contents of water soluble protein nitrogen (5%) whereas, greatly decreased to the value of 1.0% by the cooking; but little changed further during the fermentation, 5. The total contents (0.25%) of peptides, amino, and ammonia-nitrogens, PAA-N., increased almost double by the cooking and steadily became higher as the fermentation proceeded, reaching finally up to$4{\sim}7%$ in 72 hrs fermentation. 6. The amounts of free amino acids of soybean generally decreased during the processing of cooking, even some of them like glutamic acid were destroyed completely, However in the subsequent Chung-Kook-Jang fermentation for 72 hrs., they showed from several to a few hundreds folds increases depending upon the kinds of amino acids. Valine which was contained in HCl-hydrolyzed steeped or cooked soybeans in amounts $220{\sim}267mg%$ was not detected at all as the free amino acid in all fermented samples. 7. Average peptide length (APL) of all fractions, eluted and fractionated by using the Dowex-50 ion exchange resin column, and fraction collector showed the highest value for the cooked soybean and then decreased as the fermentation proceeded. The APL value of effluent showed the highest in 12 hrs fermented sample, The value decreased thereafter by fermentation.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.179-198
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• 2013

The Boziguoer A-type granitoids in Baicheng County, Xinjiang, belong to the northern margin of the Tarim platform as well as the neighboring EW-oriented alkaline intrusive rocks. The rocks comprise an aegirine or arfvedsonite quartz alkali feldspar syenite, an aegirine or arfvedsonite alkali feldspar granite, and a biotite alkali feldspar syenite. The major rock-forming minerals are albite, K-feldspar, quartz, arfvedsonite, aegirine, and siderophyllite. The accessory minerals are mainly zircon, pyrochlore, thorite, fluorite, monazite, bastnaesite, xenotime, and astrophyllite. The chemical composition of the alkaline granitoids show that $SiO_2$ varies from 64.55% to 72.29% with a mean value of 67.32%, $Na_2O+K_2O$ is high (9.85~11.87%) with a mean of 11.14%, $K_2O$ is 2.39%~5.47% (mean = 4.73%), the $K_2O/Na_2O$ ratios are 0.31~0.96, $Al_2O_3$ ranges from 12.58% to 15.44%, and total $FeO^T$ is between 2.35% and 5.65%. CaO, MgO, MnO, and $TiO_2$ are low. The REE content is high and the total ${\sum}REE$ is $(263{\sim}1219){\times}10^{-6}$ (mean = $776{\times}10^{-6}$), showing LREE enrichment HREE depletion with strong negative Eu anomalies. In addition, the chondrite-normalized REE patterns of the alkaline granitoids belong to the "seagull" pattern of the right-type. The Zr content is $(113{\sim}1246){\times}10^{-6}$ (mean = $594{\times}10^{-6}$), Zr+Nb+Ce+Y is between $(478{\sim}2203){\times}10^{-6}$ with a mean of $1362{\times}10^{-6}$. Furthermore, the alkaline granitoids have high HFSE (Ga, Nb, Ta, Zr, and Hf) content and low LILE (Ba, K, and Sr) content. The Nb/Ta ratio varies from 7.23 to 32.59 (mean = 16.59) and the Zr/Hf ratio is 16.69~58.04 (mean = 36.80). The zircons are depleted in LREE and enriched in HREE. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns of the zircons are of the "seagull" pattern of the left-inclined type with strong negative Eu anomaly and without a Ce anomaly. The Boziguoer A-type granitoids share similar features with A1-type granites. The average temperature of the granitic magma was estimated at $832{\sim}839^{\circ}C$. The Boziguoer A-type granitoids show crust-mantle mixing and may have formed in an anorogenic intraplate tectonic setting under high-temperature, anhydrous, and low oxygen fugacity conditions.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.204-212
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the disease-free survival and risk factors of recurrence in early breast cancer patients who have undergone breast conserving surgery and radiation therapy. Materials and Methods: From March 1997 to December 2002, 77 breast cancer patients who underwent breast conserving surgery and radiation therapy were reviewed retrospectively. The median follow-up time was 58.4 months (range $43.8{\sim}129.4$ months) and the mean subject age was 41 years. The frequency distribution of the different T stages, based on the tumor characteristics was 38 (49.3%) for T1, 28 (36.3%) for T2, 3 for T3, 7 for T is and 1 for an unidentified sized tumor. In addition, 52 patients (67.5%) did not have axillary lymph metastasis, whereas 14 patients (18.1%) had $1{\sim}3$ lymph node metastases and 3 (0.03%) had more than 4 lymph node metastases. The resection margin was negative in 59 patients, close (${\leq}2\;mm$) in 15, and positive in 4. All patients received radiation therapy at the intact breast using tangential fields with a subsequent electron beam boost to the tumor bed at a total dose ranging from 59.4 Gy to 66.4 Gy. Patients with more than four positive axillary lymph nodes received radiation therapy ($41.4{\sim}60.4\;Gy$) at the axillary and supraclavicular area. Chemotherapy was administered in 59 patients and tamoxifen or fareston was administered in 29 patients. Results: The 5 year overall survival and disease-free survival rates were 98.08% and 93.49%, respectively. Of the 77 patients, a total of 4 relapses (5.2%), including 1 isolated supraclavicular relapse, 1 supraclavicular relapse with synchronous multiple distant relapses, and 2 distant relapses were observed. No cases of local breast relapses were observed. Lymph node metastasis or number of metastatic lymph nodes was not found to be statistically related with a relapse (p=0.3289) nor disease-free survival (p=0.1430). Patients with positive margins had a significantly shorter disease-free survival period (p<0.0001) and higher relapse rates (p=0.0507). However, patients with close margins were at equal risk of relapse and disease-free survival as with negative margins (p=1.000). Patients younger than 40 years of age had higher relapse rates (9.3% vs. 0%) and lower disease-free survival periods, but the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.1255). The relapse rates for patients with tumors was 14% for tumor stage T2, compared to 0% for tumor stage T1 tumors (p=0.0284). A univariate analysis found that disease-free survival and relapse rates, T stage, positive resection margin and mutation of p53 were significant factors for clinical outcome. Conclusion: The results of this study have shown that breast conservation surgery and radiation therapy in early breast cancer patients has proven to be a safe treatment modality with a low relapse rate and high disease-free survival rate. The patients with a positive margin, T2 stage, and mutation of p53 are associated with statistically higher relapse rates and lower disease-free survival.