• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.800-812
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• 2019

Secondary diseases that occur during the rehabilitation of breast cancer survivors are factors that can negatively change the physical and psychological state of the patient. The rehabilitation after treatment of breast cancer survivors is an important process to prevent cancer recurrence and increase the survival rate because a negative psychological state significantly impacts the long-term survival rate. This study identifies user requirements for the development of functional bras for mastectomy patients in Korea. Participants included 133 patients with one or more breasts removed due to breast cancer and an average age of 53.2 years (53.21 ± 7.57 years, minimum 33 years, maximum 69 years). Women in their 50s had the highest participation rate of 48.9%. Most maintained the same bra size before surgery; however, some experienced changes in bra size because they are not irritated by wounds caused by surgery. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to material when designing a functional bra because it can irritate the surgical site. Only about 41.4% of bras were worn by breast cancer patients because of price burden and lack of education, not complaints related to clothing design and wearability or body shape. Most purchases at hospitals or medical institutions require consultation with a specialist who provides information about a bra mainly at the hospital. The most important considerations when buying a breast cancer bra were size, fit and shape stability.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10367-10374
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• 2015

Background: Cancer and non-communicable diseases are a major issue not only for the developed but also developing countries. Public health and primary care nursing offer great potential for primary and secondary prevention of these diseases through community and family-based approaches. Within Thailand there are related established educational curricula but less is known about how graduate practitioners enact ideas in practice and how these can influence policy at local levels. Aim: The aim of this inquiry was to develop family nursing practice in primary care settings in the Isaan region or Northeastern Thailand and to distill what worked well into a nursing model to guide practice. Materials and Methods: An appreciative inquiry approach involving analysis of written reports, focus group discussions and individual interviews was used to synthesize what worked well for fourteen family nurses involved in primary care delivery and to build the related model. Results: Three main strategies were seen to offer a basis for optimal care delivery, namely: enacting a participatory action approach mobilizing families' social capital; using family nursing process; and implementing action strategies within communities. These were distilled into a new conceptual model. Conclusions: The model has some features in common with related community partnership models and the World Health Organization Europe Family Health Nurse model, but highlights practical strategies for family nursing enactment. The model offers a basis not only for planning and implementing family care to help prevent cancer and other diseases but also for education of nurses and health care providers working in communities. This articulation of what works in this culture also offers possible transference to different contexts internationally, with related potential to inform health and social care policies, and international development of care models.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.3983-3988
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• 2016

Background: Cervical cancer though preventable is still the leading cause of cancer death among women secondary to breast cancer. Persistent infection with HPV has been causally linked to the disease. A school based HPV vaccination program was introduced in late 2010 in Malaysia and nurse support is essential for its success. Objectives: To determine nurses knowledge and attitudes about HPV infection and its vaccines, and factors associated with their knowledge. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses working at primary health clinics in Kelantan from mid-June till the end of July 2014. Its involved 330 nurses selected through multistage random sampling. A validated self-administered questionnaire consisting of 11 items for the knowledge domain and eight items for the attitude domain was used. Results: The response rate of the study was 93.7%. The mean knowledge and mean attitude (SD) scores were 5.37 (1.76) and 29.8 (3.51) respectively. Only 24% knew that HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and 67% correctly answered that Gardasil vaccine can protect against four types of HPV. Nearly 60% of participants wrongly answered that HPV vaccines cannot be offered to sexually active women. Likewise, 70.9% participants were not aware that HPV vaccine may be appropriate for females aged 9 through 26 years. Though 90% of participants believed that the vaccine is safe, nearly half of them were unsure about efficacy. From multiple linear regression analysis, among the factors tested only participant's level of education showed a statistically significant association with the HPV knowledge score (p <0.001). Conclusions: This study indicates nurses have favorable attitudes towards HPV vaccination; however they have significant knowledge deficit and major misunderstanding in critical knowledge items. Among the factors tested, nursing qualification is the only factor that is significantly associated with the nurses knowledge score.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.207-215
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• 2014

Multiple bone metastases are common manifestation of many malignant tumors such as lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma. Bone metastasis is secondary cancer in the bone, and it can lead to bone pain, fracture, and instability of the weight bearing bones, all of which may profoundly reduce physical activity and life quality. Treatment for bone metastasis is determined by multiple factors including pathology, performance status, involved site, and neurologic status. Treatment strategies for bone metastasis are analgesics, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. External beam radiotherapy has traditionally been an effective palliative treatment for localized painful bone metastasis. However, in some cases such as multiple bone metastases, especially osteoblastic bone metastasis originated from breast or prostate cancer, the radiopharmaceutical therapy using $^{89}Sr$, $^{186}Re$, $^{188}Re$, $^{153}Sm$ and $^{117m}Sn$ are also useful treatment option because of administrative simplicity (injection), few side effects, low risk of radiation exposure and high response rate. This article offers a concise explanation of the radiopharmaceutical therapy for multiple bone metastases.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5343-5348
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• 2014

Background: A meta-analysis was performed to examine the benefit/risk ratio for the addition of anti- HER MoAbs to chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric and gastroesophageal cancer from six randomized phase II/III trials. Materials and Methods: We searched relative trials from Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane library databases, China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases, Google Scholar and the NIH ClinicalTrials. Primary outcomes were overall response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS). Secondary outcomes were toxicities. All analyses were performed using STATA 12.0. Results: This meta-analysis included six randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 2, 297 patients and we demonstrated that the anti-HER MoAbs arm did have a positive effect on ORR in the anti-HER MoAbs arm (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.00-1.64, p=0.01). There was an increasing benefit regarding OS (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.60-0.88, p<0.05) and PFS (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.60-0.84, p<0.05) in the anti-HER2 subgroup, but a reduction of OS (HR 1.11, 95% CI 0.87-1.36, p<0.05) and PFS (HR 1.13, 95% CI 0.98 -1.28, P<0.05) in anti-EGFR subgroup. Some grade 3-4 toxicity had a significantly higher incidence in the anti-HER MoAbs arm. There was no significant publication bias for all endpoints. Conclusions: The addition of trstuzumab MoAb to chemotherapy for gastric and gastroesophageal cancer significantly improved outcome of OS and PFS endpoints, while other MoAbs led to no improvement in results. Some adverse events were increased in anti-HER MoAbs arm compared with the control.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.957-962
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• 2012

Objective: Rapidly increasing colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence in Malaysia and the introduction of cutting edge new treatments, which prolong survival, mean that treatment outcome measures meed to be evaluated, including consideration of patient's quality of life (QoL) assessment. There are limited data on QoL in CRC patients, especially in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was performed focusing on cancer stages and age groups. Methods: The cross sectional study was conducted from June to September 2011 at three public tertiary hospitals with the EORTC QLQ C-30 questionnaire in addition to face to face interview and review of medical records of 100 respondents. Results: The mean age was 57.3 (SD 11.9) years with 56.0% are males and 44.0% females, 62% of Malay ethnicity, 30% Chinese, 7% Indian and 1% Sikh. Majority were educated up to secondary level (42%) and 90% respondents had CRC stages III and IV. Mean global health status (GHS) score was 79.1 (SD 21.4). Mean scores for functional status (physical, emotional, role, cognitive, social) rangeds between 79.5 (SD 26.6) to 92.2 (SD 13.7). Mean symptom scores (fatigue, pain, nausea/vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, insomnia, dyspnoea, loss of appetite) ranged between 4.00 (SD 8.58) to 20.7 (SD 30.6). Respondents role function significantly deteriorates with increasing stage of the disease (p=0.044). Females had worse symptoms of pain (p=0.022), fatigue (p=0.031) and dyspnoea (p=0.031). Mean insomnia (p=0.006) and diarrhea (p=0.024) demonstrated significant differences between age groups. Conclusion: QOL in CRC patients in this study was comparable to that in other studies done in developed countries. Pain, fatigue and dyspnoea are worse among female CRC patients. Given that functions deteriorates with advanced stage of the disease at diagnosis, a systematic screening programme to detect cases as early as possible is essential nationwide.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.937-940
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• 2012

Due to lack of sufficient data on characteristics of breast cancer patients and risk factors for developing metastasis in Iran this study was designed to understand clinical aspects impacting on survival. A cross-sectional study on breast cancer patients was conducted in an oncology clinic of the university hospital between 1995 and 2010. Data were retrieved from medical records and included age, menopausal status, tumor diameter, number of involved nodes, histopathological type, estrogen and progesterone receptor expression, c-erbB-2, primary and secondary metastasis sites, overall survival, disease free interval and type of chemotherapy protocol. The results were analyzed with SPSS 13 software. The mean age of the patients was 49.2 (27-89) years. The primary tumors were mainly ER positive (48%) and PR negative (49.3%). The status of lymph nodes dissected and examined in these patients was unknown in 19 patients (25.3%) while 18 patients (24%) had positive lymph nodes with no report on the number of involved nodes. All of the patients had received antracyclin based chemotherapy in an adjuvant or metastatic setting. Adjuvant hormonal therapy was administered to receptor positive patients. In average, overall survival after recurrence was 30 months (95%CI 24.605-35.325) for non-skeletal versus 42 months (95%CI 31.211-52.789) for skeletal metastasis (P= 0.002). The median survival was also greater for receptor positive patients; 39 months (95%CI 33.716-44.284) for PR+ versus 26 months (95%CI 19.210-32.790) for PR- (P=0.047) and 38 months (95%CI 32.908-43.092) for ER+ versus 27 months (95%CI 18.780-35.220) for ER- patients (P=0.016). No relation was found between site of first metastasis and hormone receptor, age, tumor diameter, DFI and menopausal status. Sites of metastasis were independent of age, size of the tumor, menopausal and hormone receptor status in this study. Overall survival provided significant relations with respect to receptor status and bone metastasis.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.237-246
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• 2021

Background: Pembrolizumab, an anti-cancer drug, is known to increase the activity of the immune system, leading to side effects called immune-related adverse events (irAE), including type 1 diabetes. This study analyzed the correlation between blood glucose level and pembrolizumab administration and investigated the covariates that affect those changes in cancer treatment. Methods: The information of 133 adult cancer patients was obtained from the electronic medical record (EMR) to identify the changes in random blood glucose (RBG) levels during the pembrolizumab treatment. Subjects were classified into subgroups according to their baseline RBG level, history of diabetes, and the use of steroids, and linear regression analysis was conducted. In addition, a secondary analysis was performed within the group of subjects having a strong correlation to glycemic change, which was based on the Pearson correlation coefficient being less than -0.7 or greater than +0.7. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were conducted to identify the risk factors to glycemic increase. Results: The RBG level tended to descend without significant differences in total patients during the administration period of pembrolizumab. Despite the insignificance, the logistic regression analysis presents that the odds ratios of baseline RBG less than 130 mg/dL, prophylactic steroid use, and higher dose of pembrolizumab per cycle (mg/kg/cycle) were greater than 1. Conclusions: Prophylactic administration of steroids and a higher dose of pembrolizumab per cycle may increase the blood glucose level as irAE in cancer patients with a strong tendency to glycemic change.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.119-132
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was conducted to collect and analyze real world data to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of comprehensive traditional Korean Medicine treatment on quality of life, anorexia and cachexia of cancer patients. Methods: We analyzed medical records of 62 cancer patients admitted to O-I Dang Korean Medicine Hospital from February 2018 to February 2019. The primary outcome was a change score in the Anorexia/Cachexia Subscale of Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy (FAACT). The secondary outcomes were Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G), Trial Outcome Index(TOI) of FAACT, 11 point Pain Intensity Numeric Rating Score (11 PI-NRS) and Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC) and adverse event. Results: Cachexia and quality of life in cancer patients assessed by FAACT, increased by $5.59{\pm}14.83$ (p=0.004) after treatment. PI-NRS was reduced by $2.10{\pm}1.81$ (p<0.001) and TOI and FACT-G total scores were increased by $5.17{\pm}11.70$ (p=0.001) and $3.59{\pm}10.94$ (p=0.012), respectively. These results were also clinically meaningful assessed via minimal clinically important difference (MCID). There was no severe adverse event. Conclusion: These findings suggest that comprehensive traditional Korean Medicine treatment might be effective and safe strategy for improving quality of life, anorexia, cachexia and pain of cancer patients. Further advanced studies with controlled group and more participants with rigorous design are needed to ensure these findings.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.308.3-309
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• 2002

Even though radiotherapy and chemotherapy. which have been generally used in anti-cancer treatment. show a superior inhibition effect on cancer cells. those are very toxic to normal tissues and body organs. which cause a secondary side effect. In order to see the effects of an impact to hematopoietic cells. the hematopoietic effect of ginsenoside Rg3 by segregating the study levels in matured cells both in born marrow cell and splenocyte were examined. (omitted)