• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.226-233
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• 2022

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the subjective level of health-related quality of life of Korean healthcare workers using various quality-of-life instruments. Methods: This study included 992 participants, who were doctors and nurses. A survey was conducted between November 28 and December 4, 2019. Data from 954 participants divided into 3 groups (physicians, residents, and nurses) were analyzed. Four measurement tools (29 questions) were used in the survey to evaluate subjective health status and well-being. Results: In the Mayo Well-being Index, burnout during work (88.5%) and emotional difficulties caused by work (84.0%) were frequently cited by the respondents. Regarding questions on burnout and emotional difficulties, residents and nurses had the highest scores (91.0 and 89.6%, respectively). Emotional problems, such as anxiety, depression, and irritability, accounted for a high percentage (73.1%) of the total, while 82.2% of respondents reported that their work schedules interfered with their leisure and family time. There was no significant difference among the groups in subjective health status. However, 10.1% of the residents experienced very low quality of life, which was a higher proportion than that of physicians (2.7%) and nurses (5.2%). Conclusions: The level of well-being that Korean medical workers experienced in relation to work was lower than the results of the United States healthcare workers surveyed using the same tool. This study was unique in that it conducted a subjective quality-of-life survey on Korean healthcare workers.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2016

The epidemiology of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNENs) in Asia has been clarified through epidemiological studies, including one conducted in Japan, and subsequently another in South Korea. As endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has become more widely accessible, endoscopic ultrasound-fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) has been performed in pancreatic tumors for which the clinical course was only monitored previously. This has enabled accurate diagnosis of pancreatic tumors based on the 2010 WHO classification; as a result, the number of patients with an accurate diagnosis has increased. Although surgery has been the standard therapy for PNENs, new treatment options have become available in Japan for the treatment of advanced or inoperable PNENs; of particular note is the recent introduction of molecular target drugs (such as everolimus and sunitinib) and streptozocin. Treatment for progressive PNENs needs to be selected for each patient with consideration of the performance status, degree of tumor differentiation, tumor mass, and proliferation rate. Somatostatin receptor (SSTR)-2 is expressed in many patients with neuroendocrine tumor. Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS), which can visualize SSTR-2 expression, has been approved in Japan. The SRS will be a useful diagnostic tool for locating neuroendocrine neoplasms, detecting distant metastasis, and evaluating therapy outcomes. In this manuscript, we review the latest diagnostic methods and treatments for PNENs.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.172-179
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• 2016

Purpose: Bacillus cereus has been reported as the cause of nosocomial infections in cancer patients. In our pediatric cancer ward, a sudden rise in the number of patients with B. cereus bacteremia was observed in 2013 to 2014. This study was performed to investigate the molecular epidemiology of increased B. cereus bacteremia cases in our center. Methods: Pediatric cancer patients who developed B. cereus bacteremia were identified from January 2001 to June 2014. The B. cereus bacteremia in this study was defined as a case in which at least one B. cereus identified in blood cultures, regardless of true bacteremia. Available isolates were further tested by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis. A retrospective chart review was performed. Results: Nineteen patients developed B. cereus bacteremia during the study period. However, in 2013, a sudden increase in the number of patients with B. cereus bacteremia was observed. In addition, three patients developed B. cereus bacteremia within 1 week in July and the other three patients within 1 week in October, respectively, during emergency room renovation. However, MLST analysis revealed different sequence types without consistent patterns. Before 2013, five tested isolates were ST18, ST26, ST177, and ST147-like type, and ST219-like type. Isolates from 2013 were ST18, ST73, ST90, ST427, ST784, ST34-like type, and ST130-like type. Conclusions: MLST analyses showed variable ST distribution of B. cereus isolates. Based on this study, there was no significant evidence suggesting a true outbreak caused by a single ST among patients who developed B. cereus bacteremia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7097-7101
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• 2015

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is linked to Epstein Barr virus infection and is particularly common in the Far East, particularly among some Chinese groups. Certain ethnicities have been reported to have low incidence of NPC. This study looked at NPC in Brunei Darussalam over a three decade period. Materials and Methods: The cancer registry from 1986 to 2014 maintained by the State Laboratory was retrospectively reviewed. The age standardized rates (ASR) and the age specific incidence rates (ASIR) were calculated. Non NPC tumors were excluded from the study. Results: Altogether, there were a total of 450 NPC cases diagnosed accounting for 4.4% of all total cancer cases over the study period, declining from 10.3% in 1986-1990 to 2.3% in 2011-2014. The most common tumor type was the undifferentiated carcinoma (96.4%). The case characteristics were mean age $50.4{\pm}14.4$ years old, male 69%, and predominately Malays 74.4%, followed by Chinese 16.7%. The mean age of diagnosis increased over the study period from $45.6{\pm}17.1$ years (1986-1989) to $54.1{\pm}12.5$ years (ANOVA, p<0.01 for trend). There were no differences in the mean age of diagnosis between the ethnic groups or genders. The ASR showed a declining trend from 11.1 per 100,000 in 1986-1990 to 5.95 per 100,000 in 2011-2014, similar trends been observedfor both genders. Among the age groups, declining trends were seen in all the other age groups apart from the >70 years group. The overall ASRs for the Malays and Chinese were 7.92/100,000 and 8.83/100,000 respectively, both showing declining trends. Conclusions: The incidence of NPC in Brunei Darussalam is comparable to rates reported from Singapore and Malaysia, but higher than rates reported from the other Southeast Asian nations. Unlike higher rates reported for Chinese compared to the Malays in other countries, the rates between the Malays and Chinese in our study was comparable. Importantly, the ASR is declining overall and for both genders and ethnic groups.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4301-4306
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• 2013

Aim: Apoptosis has been considered as a fundamental component in cancer pathogenesis, and related genetic factors might play an important role in gastric cardiac adenocarcinoma (GCA) genesis. Methods: We conducted a hospital based case.control study to evaluate the genetic effects of functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): BCL2 rs17757541 C>G, BCL2 rs12454712 T>C, FAS rs2234767 G>A, FASL/FASLG rs763110 C>T, ERBB2 rs1136201 A>G and VEGFR2/KDR rs11941492 C>T on the development of GCA. A total of 243 GCA cases and 476 controls were recruited for the study and genotypes were determined using a custom-by-design 48-Plex SNPscan$^{TM}$ Kit. Results: The BCL2 rs17757541 C>G polymorphism was associated with increased risk of GCA. However, there was no significant associations with the other five SNPs. Stratified analyses indicated a significantly increased risk of GCA associated with the BCL2 rs17757541 C>G polymorphism among males, older patients and those with a history of smoking or drinking. Conclusion: These findings indicated that the functional polymorphism BCL2 rs17757541 C>G might contribute to GCA susceptibility. However, our results were limited by small sample size. Future larger studies are required to confirm our current findings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.24
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• pp.10943-10947
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• 2015

Background: This study aimed to understand the relationship between knowledge level and behavior on breast care in Chinese students, so as to provide strategies for improving the health education of breast care and subsequently for aiding in breast cancer prevention. Materials and Methods: A self-designed questionnaire was used to evaluate breast care knowledge level and characterize related behavior. Correlation analysis was conducted for the knowledge level and behavior. The study was carried out using 597 female undergraduate students in medical and non-medical colleges in Wuhu, China. Results: The average score of breast care knowledge was $5.32{\pm}1.68$ ($5.62{\pm}1.68$ and $5.00{\pm}1.68$ for medical and non-medical students, respectively), with a greater score value for sophomores ($5.59{\pm}1.72$) than freshmen ($5.18{\pm}1.65$). The average score of breast care behavior was $2.21{\pm}1.13$, again with a greater value in sophomores ($2.37{\pm}1.15$) than freshmen ($2.21{\pm}1.13$). A significant positive correlation (r=0.231, p<0.01) between knowledge scores and behavior scores was observed. In addition, various factors, including paying attention to breast care information, receiving breast self-examination guidance, TV program and Internet, were found to influence breast care knowledge. Conclusions: In general, female undergraduate students lack of self-awareness of breast care with a low rate of breast self-examination. It is necessary to carry out health education to improve early detection of breast cancer.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.464-474
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• 2022

Objectives: We introduced the cohort studies included in the Korean Cohort Consortium (KCC), focusing on large-scale cohort studies established in Korea with a prolonged follow-up period. Moreover, we also provided projections of the follow-up and estimates of the sample size that would be necessary for big-data analyses based on pooling established cohort studies, including population-based genomic studies. Methods: We mainly focused on the characteristics of individual cohort studies from the KCC. We developed "PROFAN", a Shiny application for projecting the follow-up period to achieve a certain number of cases when pooling established cohort studies. As examples, we projected the follow-up periods for 5000 cases of gastric cancer, 2500 cases of prostate and breast cancer, and 500 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The sample sizes for sequencing-based analyses based on a 1:1 case-control study were also calculated. Results: The KCC consisted of 8 individual cohort studies, of which 3 were community-based and 5 were health screening-based cohorts. The population-based cohort studies were mainly organized by Korean government agencies and research institutes. The projected follow-up period was at least 10 years to achieve 5000 cases based on a cohort of 0.5 million participants. The mean of the minimum to maximum sample sizes for performing sequencing analyses was 5917-72 102. Conclusions: We propose an approach to establish a large-scale consortium based on the standardization and harmonization of existing cohort studies to obtain adequate statistical power with a sufficient sample size to analyze high-risk groups or rare cancer subtypes.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.465-475
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• 2020

Objectives: This study was conducted to examine the association between birth patterns (defined in terms of birth order and interval) with delayed breastfeeding initiation in Indonesia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out using data from the Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey 2017. The weighted number of respondents was 5693 women aged 15-49 years whose youngest living child was less than 2 years old. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to evaluate associations between birth patterns and delayed breastfeeding initiation after adjusting for other covariates. Results: This study found that 40.2% of newborns in Indonesia did not receive timely breastfeeding initiation. Birth patterns were significantly associated with delayed breastfeeding initiation. Firstborn children had 77% higher odds of experiencing delayed breastfeeding initiation (adjusted odds ratio, 1.77; 95% confidence interval, 1.02 to 3.04; p<0.05) than children with a birth order of 4 or higher and a birth interval ≤ 2 years after adjusting for other variables. Conclusions: Firstborn children had higher odds of experiencing delayed breastfeeding initiation. Steps to provide a robust support system for mothers, especially first-time mothers, such as sufficient access to breastfeeding information, support from family and healthcare providers, and national policy enforcement, will be effective strategies to ensure better practices regarding breastfeeding initiation.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.112-119
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• 2003

Dietary counseling is undoubtedly important for prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. Several dietary counseling methods have been developed and used in Japan to promote healthier diets. However, in Japan, few studies have established effective counseling methods. We developed a computer-assisted tailored dietary counseling system with self-administered diet history questionnaire (DHQ) to assess nutrient intakes and the feedbacks for counseling. We examined the effectiveness of the system in three studies , two among mildly-hypercholesterolemic and one among healthy subjects. We observed significant changes in intakes of targeted nutrients in all three studies. We also observed favorable changes in the corresponding serum and urinary biomarkers in two studies, i.e., non-significant change in serum cholesterol, serum carotene and vitamin C, and a significant change in 24-hour urinary excretion of sodium. In addition, one of the studies observed a significant modified dietary habit for one-year after the intervention was completed. No unfavorable change was observed for non-targeted nutrients in all three studies. The dietary counseling system with DHQ was concluded to be effective among motivated high-risk and healthy subjects. The system's application to other diseases and populations such as children, adolescents, and elderly, should be examined further. (J Community Nutrition 5(2) : 112-119, 2003)

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2017

Measuring the pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a non-invasive method for evaluating the stiffness of the vessel wall. While previous studies investigated the association of uric acid level with arterial stiffness, most did not consider smoking status and obesity as covariates. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between uric acid levels and arterial stiffness, considering smoking status and obesity. We studied 3390 subjects (1940 males and 1450 females). Abnormal PWV was also defined as the highest quartile of values in the subjects. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, t-test, and multiple regression analysis. Approximately 41.9% of men and 3.7% of women were current smokers. Prevalence of hypertension was 11.4% in men and 7.0% in women. In women, hyperuricemia was associated with abnormal PWV (OR 1.58; 95% CI 1.03~2.43). Hyperuricemia was also associated with abnormal PWV (OR 2.37; 95% CI 1.01~5.59) in non- or light male smokers with normal blood pressure. This study suggests that uric acid is associated with arterial stiffness in women and non-smoking men.