• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.135-146
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• 2015

Objectives : This study was designed to evaluate clinical evidence of moxibustion treatment for knee pain. Methods : All processes were independently carried out by three investigators. A literature search was performed in 3 databases from their inception to May 2015. Ten reports were found based on their title, abstract and text. Following this, data extraction and analysis were done using a risk of bias(ROB) and through an assessment of multiple systematic reviews(AMSTAR). Results : 10 studies(6RCT, 2SR, 2CR) were included. Generally, indirect moxibustion was used for knee pain, but only one study indicated the use of direct moxibustion. Moxibustion was shown to be effective in treating knee pain, and the number of required treatments was fourteen on average. In assessing risk of bias, indefinite and uncertain information made all included trials subject to a high risk of bias. On the other hand, SR showed all evaluation items in the assessment of multiple systematic reviews, with the exception of an included or excluded studies list. Conclusions : Because of deficient study design or limited research planning, there is not sufficient evidence to allow for any conclusion about the efficacy of moxibustion for knee pain. Therefore, well-designed high quality trials are needed from now on.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.27-38
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• 2014

The Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident in 2011 has affected various aspects of the nuclear society worldwide. The accident revealed some problems in the conventional approaches used to ensure the safety of nuclear installations. To prevent such disastrous accidents in the future, we have to learn from them and improve the conventional approaches in a more systematic manner. In this paper, we will cover three issues. The first is to identify the key issues that affected the progress of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident greatly. We examine the accident from a defense-in-depth point of view to identify such issues. The second is to develop a more systematic approach to enhance the safety of nuclear installations. We reexamine nuclear safety from a risk point of view. We use the concepts of residual and unknown risks in classifying the risk space. All possible accident scenarios types are reviewed to clarify the characteristics of the identified issues. An approach is proposed to improve our conventional approaches used to ensure nuclear safety including the design of safety features and the safety assessments from a risk point of view. Finally, we address some issues to be improved in the conventional risk assessment and management framework and/or practices to enhance nuclear safety.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.591-599
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• 2021

The increased risk in financial firms, due to Global Financial Crises and high international trade activities, has encouraged banks to use derivatives for both managing their financial risk and earning non-operating income simultaneously. The present study brings new evidence in the existing literature by determining the drivers behind financial derivative usage in Pakistani banks for 2011 till 2016. Moreover, the paper examines how risk plays a moderating role in determining the relationship between derivative usage and bank value. While assessing the determinants, a two-stage test has conducted, first, the logit regression was used to test the drivers behind the derivative usage in banks. Second, Tobit regression was run to analyze the factors leading to determine the extent of derivative usage. The findings demonstrate that Pakistani banks are using derivatives for both risk management and speculative motive as they are customers and users of derivatives at the same time. Empirical results, regarding moderating role of risk on the value implications of derivative usage, provide mixed findings as derivative usage gives value premium in case of non-systematic risk and foreign exchange risk. Whereas value discounts have been observed for cases where systematic risk is high and managers try to earn non-operating income from speculative activities.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.166-181
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• 2017

Objectives : The study was done to verify the relation between early-onset androgenetic alopecia(AGA) and metabolic syndrome(MetS). Methods : Data were collected through electronic database including KoreaMed, National Assembly Library, KMBASE, NDSL, KCI, KERIS, Google Scholar, Pubmed, Cochrane CENTRAL and EBSCO MEDLINE. A total of 13 case-control studies related to the MetS of early-onset alopecia patients were used for the systematic review and meta-analysis. Risk of bias of included studies were assessed by RoBANS tool. RevMan5.3, CMA3 were used for the meta-analysis. Results : In 13 evaluated articles, most frequent bias was the participant selection bias that was found in 10 articles. Significant association between early-onset AGA and MetS was found in 10(76.9%) out of 13 articles in the systematic review. In meta-analysis, early-onset male AGA was associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome(OR: 3.73, 95% CI:2.49 -5.61). Conclusions : AGA, particularly early -onset male AGA, is significantly associated with MetS. Therefore all patients with early onset male AGA should be suggested to take preventive treatment to reduce the risk of MetS and various problems associated with it.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.274-284
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects and characteristics of health care programs for pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Korea. Methods: This study was conducted according to the Cochrane Collaboration's systematic literature review handbook and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses reporting guideline. We searched eight international and domestic electronic databases for relevant studies. Two reviewers independently selected the studies and extracted data. For each study, information on the research method, participants, characteristics of the program, and results were extracted using a previously established coding table. The National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency's risk of bias assessment tool for non-randomized studies was used to assess the risk of bias of the included articles. A qualitative review of the selected studies was performed because the interventions differed considerably and the measured outcomes varied. Results: Out of 128 initially identified papers, seven were included in the final analysis. The risk of bias was evaluated as generally low. Health care programs for pregnant women with GDM showed positive effects on blood glucose control. Anxiety and depression were reduced, and self-management and self-care behavior, self-efficacy, and maternal identity improved. Conclusion: Our study provides clinical evidence for the effectiveness of health care programs for pregnant women with GDM, and its results can be used to support the development of health care programs for GDM. More well-designed research is needed on GDM, especially studies that deal with emotional stress and apply a family-oriented approach.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9535-9541
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• 2014

Background: Identifying risk factors of breast cancer is a key point for preventive strategies to reduce the incidence. The aim of current study was to determine most important risk factors for breast cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) using a systematic review. Materials and Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science till August 24, 2012 and the reference lists of all included studies were searched. Analytic studies which had reported odds ratios (OR), relative risk (RR) or required data to calculate them were included. A total of 343 studies were critically appraised and finally 30 studies were meta-analyzed. Heterogeneity between the studies was assessed by $I^2$ and Cochran's Q. Egger's test was used to assess publication bias. Results: Twenty five casecontrol studies, one nested case-control and four cohort studies were included. The largest ORs were obtained for history of no live birth (2.25; 95%CI: 1.58-3.18), body mass index (BMI) more than 30 (2.21; 95%CI: 1.71-2.36), age at first pregnancy more than 30 years old (1.52; 95%CI: 1.30-1.77) and meat consumption more than three times per week (1.39; 95%CI: 1.03-1.87). The other important predictors were higher education and smoking as risk factors, physical activity and ovulatory stimulating medication as protective factors. Conclusions: The most important predictors of breast cancer in EMR were history of no live birth, BMI more than 30, age at first pregnancy more than 30 years old, physical inactivity and smoking. Almost all these risk factors are consistent with known risk factors for this cancer in other parts of the world.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.103-140
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• 2009

This paper investigates various channels through which liquidity can affect stock returns and examines whether behavioral explanation for liquidity risk is reasonable. First, we examine whether liquidity level (average liquidity) plays a significant role in determining asset returns. The result is consistent with the hypothesis that a stock with higher average illiquidity will have a higher expected return. Second, we focus on the argument that liquidity has a non-diversifiable systematic component. If systemic liquidity has a different impact across individual securities, a stock that is more sensitive to systematic liquidity will have a higher expected return. The results of various tests are inconsistent with each other, not completely supporting the argument. Finally, the intra-market tests in Korea support the behavioral explanation for the liquidity premium, and the effect is stronger in the liquidity level than in the liquidity beta related to systematic liquidity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2069-2079
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• 2012

Background and Objective: A comprehensive overall review of gastric cancer (GC) risk and protective factors is a high priority, so we conducted the present study. Methods: Systematic searches in common medical electronic databases along with reference tracking were conducted to include all kinds of systematic reviews (SRs) about GC risk and protective factors. Two authors independently selected studies, extracted data, and evaluated the methodological qualities and the quality of evidence using R-AMSTAR and GRADE approaches. Results: Beta-carotene below 20 mg/day, fruit, vegetables, non-fermented soy-foods, whole-grain, and dairy product were GC protective factors, while beta-carotene 20 mg/day or above, pickled vegetables, fermented soy-foods, processed meat 30g/d or above, or salty foods, exposure to alcohol or smoking, occupational exposure to Pb, overweight and obesity, helicobacter pylori infection were GC risk factors. So we suggested screening and treating H. pylori infection, limiting the amount of food containing risk factors (processed meat consumption, beta-carotene, pickled vegetables, fermented soy-foods, salty foods, alcohol), stopping smoking, avoiding excessive weight gain, avoidance of Pb, and increasing the quantity of food containing protective components (fresh fruit and vegetables, non-fermented soy-foods, whole-grain, dairy products). Conclusions: The conclusions and recommendations of our study were limited by including SRs with poor methodological bases and low quality of evidence, so that more research applying checklists about assessing the methodological qualities and reporting are needed for the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4713-4717
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• 2012

Objectives: This systematic review of cohort studies aimed to identify any association between specific dietary patterns and risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Dietary patterns involve complex interactions of food and nutrients summarizing the total diet or key aspects of the diet for a population under study. Methods and materials: This review involves 6 cohort studies of dietary patterns and their association with colorectal cancer. An exploratory or a posteriori approach and a hypothesis-oriented or a priori approach were employed to identify dietary patterns. Results: The dietary pattern identified to be protective against CRC was healthy, prudent, fruits and vegetables, fat reduced/diet foods, vegetables/fish/poultry, fruit/wholegrain/dairy, healthy eating index 2005, alternate healthy eating index, Mediterranean score and recommended food score. An elevated risk of CRC was associated with Western diet, pork processed meat, potatoes, traditional meat eating, and refined grain pattern. Conclusion: The Western dietary pattern which mainly consists of red and processed meat and refined grains is associated with an elevated risk of development of CRC. Protective factors against CRC include a healthy or prudent diet, consisting of vegetables, fruits, fish and poultry.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.397-405
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• 2014

Obesity has been considered as an important risk factor for the development of colorectal cancer (CRC), but the association has not been fully elucidated. Obesity is linked significantly to adipose tissue dysfunction and to alteration of adipokines in blood; in particular, obesity-induced inflammation is thought to be an important link between obesity and colorectal cancer. Based on epidemiological studies, we undertook a systematic review to understand the association of circulating levels of selected adipokines, including adiponectin, leptin, resistin, IL-6 and TNF-${\alpha}$, with the level of CRC risk. Most prospective studies suggested protective effects of adiponectin, but these were attenuated by body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) data in our meta-analysis. On the other hand, meta-analyses for leptin and CRC did not demonstrate any association, similar to the results of systematic review. Although it proved difficult to determine whether other selected adipokines (resistin, IL-6 and TNF-${\alpha}$) were related to CRC risk due to small number of reports, the present systematic review suggested a positive association with elevated resistin levels but null associations with IL-6 and TNF-${\alpha}$.