• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.280-290
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• 2012

Purpose: This study done to identify the experiences of families caring for patients with terminal cancer. The question was, "What is the caregiving experience of a family who has a member with terminal cancer?" Methods: Grounded Theory was applied and in-depth interviews were done with 11 family members. Interviews were recorded with the interviewees' consent and were transcribed and analyzed. Participants' relationships to patients were 6 spouses, 4 daughters, and 1 mother. The ages of the participants were between 32 and 62, with an average of 47.5. Results: The study showed "enduring with bonds" as the main category and the main factor affecting this category was the "patients' diagnosis of terminal cancer." The caregiving experience was divided into four stages: shock, confusion, struggle, and acceptance. Mediating factors were relationship with the patient, intimacy with the patient, social support, communication, and trust. Conclusively, participants underwent internal maturity, and changes occurred in family and social and personal life. Conclusion: The families took care of the patients with responsibility and love. The study results should help with the understanding of a family with a member with terminal cancer and should be used to develop nursing, mediating, and consulting programs for these caregivers.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.518-528
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• 1992

This study examined Korean young parents' current concept about diet and cancer to plan a proper communication strategy about nutrition education for cancer risk reduction. The naturalistic study using in-depth open ended interviews was conducted to identify Korean young parents' concepts about diet and cancer. Fourteen Korean husbands and wives were interviewed, All interviews were tape recorded and concept maps were developed from their tape-recordings for analysis. Most interviewees believed that certain kinds of food or diet increase or decrease cancer risk. However some interviewees did not believe that food or diet can prevent cancer. most interviewees believed that KIorean's salty and hot diet was related to the prevalence of stomach cancer,. They also believed that meat fresh smoked or cured processed food and excessive fat intake increase the risk for cancer but vegetables and fruits decrease it They believed that grilling and barbecuing increase cancer risk Some interviewees believed that certain nutrients (Zn. Se) and food(soybean paste mushroom garlic ginseng and so on) have cancer preventive effect. Most interviewees though twenties or early thirties are important ages for cancer preven-tion. Newspapers woman's magazines radio TV were the primary source of information on diet and cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2935-2937
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• 2014

Studies of the causes of cancer, early detection, prevention or treatment need accurate, comprehensive, and timely cancer data. The clinical laboratory provides important cancer information needed for physicians which influence clinical decisions regarding treatment, diagnosis and patient monitoring. Poor communication between health care providers and clinical laboratory personnel can lead to medical errors and wrong decisions in providing cancer care. Because of the key impact of laboratory information on cancer diagnosis and treatment the quality of the tests, lab reports, and appropriate lab management are very important. A laboratory information management system (LIMS) can have an important role in diagnosis, fast and effective access to cancer data, decrease redundancy and costs, and facilitate the integration and collection of data from different types of instruments and systems. In spite of significant advantages LIMS is limited by factors such as problems in adaption to new instruments that may change existing work processes. Applications of intelligent software simultaneously with existing information systems, in addition to remove these restrictions, have important benefits including adding additional non-laboratory-generated information to the reports, facilitating decision making, and improving quality and productivity of cancer care services. Laboratory systems must have flexibility to change and have the capability to develop and benefit from intelligent devices. Intelligent laboratory information management systems need to benefit from informatics tools and latest technologies like open sources. The aim of this commentary is to survey application, opportunities and necessity of intelligent clinical laboratory as a tool to increase cancer care management productivity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3505-3510
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• 2016

Cervical cancer is a major public health problem in Thailand, being ranked second only to breast cancer. Thai women have been reported to have a low rate of cervical cancer screening (27.7% of the 80% goal of WHO). We therefore aimed to apply the social marketing theory and health belief model in promoting cervical cancer screening in Kanthararom District, Sisaket Province. A total of 92 from 974 targeted women aged 30-60 years were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group underwent application of social marketing theory and a health belief model program promoting cervical cancer screening while the control group received normal services. Two research tools were used: (1) application of social marketing theory and health belief model program and (2) questionnaire used to evaluate perceptions of cervical cancer. Descriptive and inferential statistics including paired sample t-test and independent t-test were used to analyze the data. After the program had been used, the mean score of perception of cervical cancer of experimental group was at a higher level (${\bar{x}}=4.09$; S.D.=0.30), than in the control group (${\bar{x}}=3.82$; S.D.=0.20) with statistical significance (p<0.001). This research demonstrated an appropriate communication process in behavioral modification to prevent cervical cancer. It can be recommended that this program featuring social marketing and the health belief model be used to promote cervical cancer screening in targeted women and it can be promoted as a guideline for other health services, especially in health promotion and disease prevention.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.419-430
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• 1995

There is a need to investigate folk remedies used by patients with breast cancer because there is little information about the subject, even though many Korean women with breast cancer have used folk remedies during and after their treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the phenomena and the meaning of folk remedies in order to better understand patients with breast cancer and to suggest directions for comprehensive nursing care. The Questions for the study were as follows What kinds of folk remedies do patients with breast cancer use\ulcorner What are the routes of knowing about folk remedies in patients with breast cancer\ulcorner What are the patterns of the usage of the folk remedies\ulcorner Why do patients with breast cancer use folk remedies\ulcorner What are the meanings of folk remedies to patients with breast cancer\ulcorner To answer these questions, a qualitative research method was used. Thirty-nine patients were recruited from university teaching hospitals from March, 1993 to November 1994. Many of them underwent either modified radical mastectomy or received various adjuvant therapy including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and hormonal therapy. Data were collected by in-depth interviews, observations, medical records, and analyzed step-by-step using qualitative analysis. The results were as follows : 1. Patients with breast cancer have used many different kinds of folk remedies. 2. Patients with breast cancer did not know the exact effects of the folk remedies. Also the effects could not be exactly proven by the patients. 3. Patients with breast cancer received information about many kinds of folk remedies through various communication systems, such as other patients, their families and relatives, friends, and many types of mass media. 4. To use the folk remedies was one kind of illness behavior that was used by these patients. 5. Folk remedies were used to deal with not only anxiety by the patients themselves but also as the expression of affection and concern by families and relatives. 6. The use of folk remedies was one of the adaptation behaviors in patients with breast cancer whose disease was in the terminal stage. Based on the above findings, one suggestion was made : To continue further studies on folk remedies used by other patients with cancer in order to further explain health and illness behavior of Korean people.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.150-154
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• 2007

Objectives : The aim of this study is to identify factors determining the purchase of private health insurance under the mandatory National Health Insurance(NHI) system in Korea. Methods : The data were collected by the National Cancer Center in Korea. It includes cancer patients who were newly diagnosed with stomach (ICD code, C16), lung(C33-C34), liver (C22), colorectal cancer(C18-C20) or breast(C50) cancer. Data were gathered from the hospital Order Communication System (OCS), medical records, and face-to-face interviews, using a structured questionnaire. Clinical, socio-demographic and private health insurance related factors were also gathered. Results : Overall, 43.9% of patients had purchased one or more private health insurance schemes related to cancer, with an average monthly premium of \65,311 and an average benefit amount of \19million. Females, younger aged, high income earners, national health insurers and metropolitan citizens were more likely to purchase private health insurance than their counterparts. Conclusions : About half of Korean people have supple-mentary private health insurance and their benefits are sufficient to cover the out-of-pocket fees required for cancer treatment, but inequality remains in the purchase of private health insurance. Further studies are needed to investigate the impacts of private health insurance on NHI, and the relationship between cancer patients' burden and benefits.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup2
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• pp.19-24
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• 2016

Quitline activity in Rajasthan, India is a voluntary activity of Rajasthan Cancer Foundation (RCF) since April 2013. To kick-off, it took the benefit of the State Government- PIRAMAL SWASTHYA (PS)1 collaborative 104 Health Information Helpline that existed already in public-private partnership. It is a reactive quitline that helps callers through the counselors and nursing staff trained specifically through the weekly sessions held by the first author, the RCF resource on quitline. Besides structuring of the scripts for primary intervention and follow-ups after 1 week, 1 month, 6 months and a year, he also monitors calls, advices and coordinates with the supervisors to manage and analyze the data base, and reports to the PS lead at the Jaipur Center on overall performance and to plan strategic communication with the State Government on its outcomes. The quitline has limitations of its informal existence through a voluntary effort of RCF, no specific resource allocation, suboptimal data management, minimal awareness in the masses due to poor IEC (Information, Education and Communication; except its efforts made by RCF in last 1 year through the government-run State TV and City Radio) and staff shortage and its attrition due to lack of plan for career advancement. Despite these challenges in the year 2013, the quit line has registered a quit rate (for complete abstinence) of 19.93% amongst 1525 callers. The quit rate were 58.01% (304/ 524) among the responders at the 3rd follow-up at 18 months (in September 2014)2. In view of an increase in quit rate by 5- 9 times over the prevailing quit rate in the former ever daily users [both smokers and the users of smokeless tobacco (SLT)], efforts are being made by RCF in concurrence with PS to have this cost-effective model established formally with optimal resource allocation in collaboration with willing agencies (the State and Central Governments and the International Quitline Agencies) and its replication in 4 more states where PS is collaborating with the respective state governments similarly (Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Karnataka).

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.8 no.10
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• pp.1609-1616
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• 2013

As a disease, cancer is incurable when being diagnosed with that makes people have a fear of death. It is impacts a person's entire life by lowering her physical, psychological, social, economical, and spiritual conditions. The cancer incidence is continually increasing and its cancer death is 144.4 per 100,000 people, according to the National Center for Health Statistics(2010). The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of foot reflexology massage using aroma therapy, a part of alternative medicine. It aims to determine whether the use of aroma oils improve the sleep and pain condition among patients who are either currently receiving a foot reflexology massage or in need of one.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.4313-4318
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• 2016

Background: This study documented the performance of providers of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) at primary health centers, assessing their compliance with the VIA skills checklist and determinants of non-compliance, and exploring their perceptions of VIA training sessions. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among VIA providers in the $Mekn\grave{e}s$-Tafilalet region of Morocco. Structured observation of their performance was conducted through supervisory visits and multiple focus group discussions (FGDs). Results: Performance of all the recommended steps for effective communication was observed in a low proportion of procedures (36.4%). Midwives/nurses had higher compliance than general practitioners (GPs) (p<0.001). All recommended steps for VIA examination were performed for a high proportion of procedures (82.5%). Compliance was higher among midwives/nurses than among GPs (p<0.001) and among providers in rural areas than those in urban areas (p<0.001). For pre-VIA counselling, all recommended steps were performed for only 36.8% of procedures. For post-VIA counseling, all recommended steps were performed in a high proportion (85.5% for VIA-negative and 85.1% for VIA-positive women). Midwives/nurses had higher compliance than GPs when advising VIA-positive women (p=0.009). All infection prevention practices were followed for only 14.2% of procedures, and compliance was higher among providers in rural areas than those in urban areas (p<0.001). Most FGD participants were satisfied with the content of VIA training sessions. However, they suggested periodic refresher training and supportive supervision. Conclusions: Quality assurance of a cervical cancer screening program is a key element to ensure that the providers perform VIA correctly and confidently.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.149-159
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• 2022

Cancers of the lung and liver are the top 10 leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Thus, it is essential to identify the genes specifically expressed in these two cancer types to develop new therapeutics. Although many messenger RNA (mRNA) sequencing data related to these cancer cells are available due to the advancement of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, optimized data processing methods need to be developed to identify the novel cancer-specific genes. Here, we conducted an analytical comparison between Bowtie2, a Burrows-Wheeler transform-based alignment tool, and Kallisto, which adopts pseudo alignment based on a transcriptome de Bruijn graph using mRNA sequencing data on normal cells and lung/liver cancer tissues. Before using cancer data, simulated mRNA sequencing reads were generated, and the high Transcripts Per Million (TPM) values were compared. mRNA sequencing reads data on lung/liver cancer cells were also extracted and quantified. While Kallisto could directly give the output in TPM values, Bowtie2 provided the counts. Thus, TPM values were calculated by processing the Sequence Alignment Map (SAM) file in R using package Rsubread and subsequently in python. The analysis of the simulated sequencing data revealed that Kallisto could detect more transcripts and had a higher overlap over Bowtie2. The evaluation of these two data processing methods using the known lung cancer biomarkers concludes that in standard settings without any dedicated quality control, Kallisto is more effective at producing faster and more accurate results than Bowtie2. Such conclusions were also drawn and confirmed with the known biomarkers specific to liver cancer.