• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.732-741
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• 2022

Objective: To determine the impact of dedicated subspecialized radiologists in multidisciplinary team (MDT) discussions on the management of lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract malignancies. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 244 patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 61.7 ± 11.9 years) referred to MDT discussions 249 times (i.e., 249 cases, as five patients were discussed twice for different issues) for lower GI tract malignancy including colorectal cancer, small bowel cancer, GI stromal tumor, and GI neuroendocrine tumor between April 2018 and June 2021 in a prospective database. Before the MDT discussions, dedicated GI radiologists reviewed all imaging studies again besides routine clinical reading. The referring clinician's initial diagnosis, initial treatment plan, change in radiologic interpretation compared with the initial radiology report, and the MDT's consensus recommendations for treatment were collected and compared. Factors associated with changes in treatment plans and the implementation of MDT decisions were analyzed. Results: Of the 249 cases, radiologic interpretation was changed in 73 cases (29.3%) after a review by dedicated GI radiologists, with 78.1% (57/73) resulting in changes in the treatment plan. The treatment plan was changed in 92 cases (36.9%), and the rate of change in the treatment plan was significantly higher in cases with changes in radiologic interpretation than in those without (78.1% [57/73] vs. 19.9% [35/176], p < 0.001). Follow-up records of patients showed that 91.2% (227/249) of MDT recommendations for treatment were implemented. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the nonsurgical approach (vs. surgical approach) decided through MDT discussion was a significant factor for patients being managed differently than the MDT recommendations (odds ratio, 4.48; p = 0.017). Conclusion: MDT discussion involving additional review of radiology examinations by dedicated GI radiologists resulted in a change in the treatment plan in 36.9% of cases. Changes in treatment plans were significantly associated with changes in radiologic interpretation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8191-8195
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• 2014

Background: Around 200,000 breast disorders are annually diagnosed all over the world. Fibrocystic changes are the most common breast disorder and fibroadenoma is the most prevalent benign breast tumor. The present study aimed to determine the spectrum, type and prevalence of breast masses in women referred to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences between 2004 and 2012. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the diagnostic reports data. Results: A total of 640 samples were studied. Most 57.3% of masses were detected in the left breast, 65%, 28.2% and 6.1% of cases presenting with benign, malignant, and inflammatory lesions, respectively. Among all the samples the most prevalent diagnosis (37.7%) was fibroadenoma and fibrocystic lesions (17%). 174 samples (96% of the malignant cases) were invasive. 6.5% of the benign, and 37% of the malignant cases occurred in post menopause women and the differences were statistically significant. Among those with malignant tumors lymph nodes were involved in 25.6% of menopausal women and 44.2% of non-menopausal ones, and the difference was statistically significant. Conclusions: Regular clinical breast examination beside mammographic follow-ups, especially during menopause, should be carried out as a priority and a national organized program should be designed for screening breast disorders.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2711-2717
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• 2016

Background: Through search the possible randomized control trials, we make a renewed meta-analysis in order to assess the impact of aspirin in preventing the recurrence of colorectal adenoma. Materials and Methods: The Medicine/PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Chinese biomedical literature service system (SinoMed) databases were searched for the related randomized controlled trials until to the April 2016. Three different authors respectively evaluated the quality of studies and extracted data, and we used the STATA software to analyze, investigate heterogeneity between the data, using the fixed-effects model to calculate and merge data. Results: 7 papers were included the renewed meta-analysis, among these studies, two pairs were identified as representing the same study population, with the only difference being the duration of follow-up. Thus there were only five papers included our meta-analysis, and one Chinese paper were also included the work. Results were categorized by the length of follow-up, different kinds of people, varied dose of oral aspirin. The relative of adenoma in patients taking aspirin vs placebo were 0.73 (95% CI 0.55-0.98, P=0.039) with 1 year follow up; 0.84 (95% CI 0.72-0.98, P=0.484) with greater than 1 year follow up; for the advanced adenoma, the RR 0.68 (95% CI 0.49-0.94, P=0.582),for one year; RR=0.75 (95% CI 0.52-1.07, P=0.552) for greater one year. Furthermore the white population could divided into two subgroups according to the different length of follow-up time. When the length of follow-up time less than 3-year, The RR of two subgroups respective were RR=0.86 (95% CI 0.76-0.98, P=0.332), $I^2=0%$, RR=0.68 (95% CI 0.47-0.98, P=0.552), $I^2=64.6%$, But with the extension of follow-up time greater than 2-year, with the white, oral aspirin without considering dose had no efficacy on preventing the recurrence of any adenoma, the RR was 0.86 (95% CI 0.71-1.05, P=0.302), $I^2=16.4%$. Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicated that oral aspirin is associated with a remarkable decrease in the recurrence of any adenoma and advanced adenomas in patients follow-up for 1 year without concerning the dose of aspirin, but with the extension of follow-up time for greater than 1 year, oral aspirin can be effective on preventing the recurrence of any adenoma, but for the advanced adenoma, the result indicated that oral aspirin had no efficacy, According to the inclusion of ethnic groups, we also divided relevant papers into two subgroups as the yellow and white group. Then the follow-up time was less than 3 years, oral aspirin without considering the dose, had an significant efficacy on preventing the recurrence of any adenoma. But with the follow-up greater than 2 years, oral aspirin had no effect in the white.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 2001

Entomopathogenic fungus of Cordyceps militaris is famous of its medicinal efficacies. An antitumor compound was purified from the n-hexane extract of artificially cultivated fruiting bodies of C. militaris and identified as ergosterol peroxide $(5{\alpha},\;8{\alpha}-epidioxy-24(R)-methylcholesta-6,22-dien-3{\beta}-o1,\; C_{28}H_{44}O_3)$ mainly by $^1H\;and\;^{13}C-NMR$ spectroscopic techniques. When the antitumor activity of ergosterol peroxide was measured against 3 tumor cell lines from Korean cancer patients, it showed the most strong activity against gastric cancer SNU-l cell line 3 days after treatment. The 50% inhibitory concentrations $(IC_{50})$ of ergosterol peroxide 6 days after treatment were $75.8{\mu}g/ml$ for human gastric SNU-1 tumor cell line, $39.7{\mu}g/ml$ for human colorectal SNU-C4 tumor cell line and $32.7{\mu}g/ml$ for human hepatoma SNU-354 cell line.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2005

Purpose : To determine the usefulness of additional Mn-DPDP MRI for preoperative evaluation of the patients with colorectal cancers by comparison of dual-phase CT scan, Mn-DPDP enhanced MRI and combination of CT and MRI. Materials and Methods : Fifty-three colorectal cancer patients with 92 metastatic nodules underwent dualphase (arterial and portal) helical CT scan and Mn-DPDP MRI prior to surgery. The indication of MRI was presence or suspected of having metastatic lesions at CT scan and/or increased serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels (10 ng/mL or more). The diagnosis was established by the combination of findings at surgery, intraoperative ultrasonography, and histopathologic examination. Two radiologists interpreted CT, MRI, and combination of CT-MRI at discrete sessions and evaluated each lesion for location, size, and intrinsic characteristics. The lesions were divided into three groups according to their diameter; 1cm<, 1-2 cm, and >2 cm. Diagnostic accuracy was evaluated using the alternative-free response receiver operating characteristic method. Detection and false positive rate were also evaluated. Results : In the lesions smaller than 1 cm, detection rate of combined CT-MRI was superior to CT or MRI alone (82%, p=0.036). The mean accuracy (Az values) of combined CT and MRI was significantly higher than that of CT in the lesions smaller than 2 cm (1 cm<, p=0.034; 1-2 cm, p=0.045). However, there was no significant difference between MRI and combined CT-MRI. The false positive rate of CT was higher than those of combined CT-MR in the lesions smaller than 1 cm (28%, p=0.023). Conclusion : Additional MRI using Mn-DPDP besides routine CT scan was helpful in differentiating the hepatic lesions (<2 cm) and could improve detection of the small hepatic metastases (<1 cm) from colorectal carcinoma.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.10-15
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• 2005

Purpose: Recently the role of vitamins, folate in particular, has been emphasized in the maintenance of health. Folate deficiency is known to give rise to developmental delay, immature vascular disease, neural tube defect, acute leukemia, atherosclerotic vascular disease, delivery defects, breast cancer, and particularly gastrointestinal neoplasia. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is an essential enzyme in folate metaboism, and influences DNA synthesis and DNA methylation. Generally, folate deficiency is associated with gastrointestinal neoplasms. The amino-acid- changing and enzyme-activity-reducing nucleotide polymorphism (766C$\rightarrow$T/ Ala222Val) has been described in the MTHFR polymorphism and leads to low enzyme activity that may reduce the capacity of DNA methylation and possibly uracil mis-incorporation into DNA. These processes may be critical in the oncogenic transformation of human cells, especially in colorectal carcinomas. We investigated the relationship between the MTHFR polymorphism in gastric cancer and the tumor site, the smoking history, and the alcoholic history. Materials and Methods: Ninety-six (96) individuals with gastric cancer and 287 healthy persons were analyzed. Blood sampling was performed, PCR-RFLP was analyzed, and MTHFR polymorphism genotypes of C/C, C/T, and T/T were obtained and analyzed statistically for their correlation. Results: In the gastric cancer group there were 69 ($72\%$) males and 27 ($28\%$) females. There were also 58 cases ($60\%$) involving the gastric lower body, 20 cases ($21\%$) the gastric mid-body, and 18 cases ($19\%$) the gastric upper body. In the control group there were 169 ($59\%$) males and 118 ($41\%$) females. Among the gastric cancer, 56 ($61\%$) smoking patients, 40 ($39\%$) non-smoking patients, 45($47\%$) alcoholic patients, 51 ($53\%$) non-alcoholic patients. In the gastric cancer group, MTHER polymorphisms were C/C in 18 ($19\%$) cases, C/T in 59 ($61\%$) cases, T/T in 19 ($20\%$) cases. In the control group polymorphisms were C/C 116 ($40\%$) cases, C/T 103 ($36\%$) cases, and T/T 68 ($24\%$) cases (P=0.045). In cases of lower gastric body cancer, polymorphisms were C/C in 16 ($24\%$) C/C in 16 ($24\%$) cases and C/T or T/T in 42 ($72\%$) cases. In cases of upper and mid-body cancer, polymorphisms were C/C in 2 ($5\%$) cases and C/T or T/T 36 ($95\%$) cases (P=0.006). In the non-smoking patient group, polymorphisms were C/C in 5 (12%) cases and C/T or T/T in 35 ($88\%$) cases. In the smoking patient group, C/C in 13 ($23\%$) cases and C/T or T/T in 43 ($77\%$) cases (P=0.189). In the non-alcoholic patient group, polymorphisms were C/C in 6 ($12\%$) cases and C/T or T/T in 45 ($88\%$) cases. In the alcoholic patient group, polymorphisms were C/C in 12 ($26\%$) cases and C/T or T/T in 33 ($74\%$) cases (P=0.063) Conclusion: MTHFR polymorphisms are associated with gastric cancer and tumor site, but not with smoking and alcohol drinking.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.321-329
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• 2017

This paper presents a bone metastasis Detection algorithm on abdominal computed tomography images for early detection using fully convolutional neural networks. The images were taken from patients with various cancers (such as lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, etc), and thus the locations of those lesions were varied. To overcome the lack of data, we augmented the data by adjusting the brightness of the images or flipping the images. Before the augmentation, when 70% of the whole data were used in the pre-test, we could obtain the pixel-wise sensitivity of 18.75%, the specificity of 99.97% on the average of test dataset. With the augmentation, we could obtain the sensitivity of 30.65%, the specificity of 99.96%. The increase in sensitivity shows that the augmentation was effective. In the result obtained by using the whole data, the sensitivity of 38.62%, the specificity of 99.94% and the accuracy of 99.81% in the pixel-wise. lesion-wise sensitivity is 88.89% while the false alarm per case is 0.5. The results of this study did not reach the level that could substitute for the clinician. However, it may be helpful for radiologists when it can be used as a screening tool.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.166-171
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• 1999

Purpose : To get the data for public information and education of medical students about radiation therapy (RT). Materials and Methods : We evaluated the knowledge and attitudes towards the RT and cancer in the third grade medical students who did not receive a lecture before starting the poly-clinic education about radiation oncology in our medical school, We obtained a total of 142 answers from the students that completed the questionnaire. Results : More than half of the third grade medical students answered 1 question correctly and 5 questions incorrectly among 6 questions about knowledge of RT. Incorrect answers were done about the frequency of RT, hair loss, the period of RT, re-RT, cost of RT, Fifty-six percent of students didn't wish to prolong the survival time from 1 year to 3 years with long courses of chemotherapy and RT. They had bad images about cancer of colorectum, lung, esophagus, liver, breast, cervix which consist of 56.3$\%$ of patients receiving RT. Conclusions : Public information about the basic points of RT should be considered. Also the students showed the pessimism about the anticancer treatments such as chemotherapy and RT, so the exact results and positive aspects of anticancer treatment should be educated more. Especially it is needed to inform the students and the public the positive aspects of RT in some cancers (colorectal, lung, esophageal, hepatic, breast, cervix cancers) which the students had bad images about.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.419-420
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• 2014

본 연구는 대장암 환자들의 암으로 진단받은 당시의 생활습관 실태를 암 병력이 없는 일반 성인들과 비교해봄으로써 대장암의 발생에 영향을 미치는 위험요인을 규명하고자 실시되었다. 연구 설계: 대장암 환자의 생활습관 실태를 파악하고, 대장암 발생에 영향을 미치는 인자를 확인하기 위하여 대장암 환자와 암 진단을 받지 않은 건강인을 대상으로 시도된 후향적 비교 조사연구(retrospective comparison survey study). 연구 대상자는 2011년 10월부터 2012년 8월까지 대장암으로 진단된지 1년 이내로 J대학교병원 내의 암전문연구센터에 내원한 대장암 환자 107명과 동 시기에 동 병원을 방문한 암환자 아닌 환자의 보호자 중 암진단을 받지 않은 일반 성인을 대상으로 빈도 짝찟기를 통해 연령, 성별 및 배우자 상태 등이 동질한 124명이었다. 연구 도구는 김화영(2011)의 생활습관 측정도구(Content Validity Index [CVI], Mean expert proportion=0.98) 를 저자의 승인 하에 사용하였으며, 관련문헌을 참조하여 수정 보완한 후 식습관, 음주 및 흡연 습관, 휴식 및 활동 습관, 스트레스 관리 및 정기검진습관 등의 5개 하위영역으로 측정하였다. 연구결과 인스턴트식품 섭취여부, 스트레스 해소정도, 육류 익힌정도(살짝 익힘/탈정도로 익힘) 및 평소 주로 먹는 음식(채식/육식 여부)이 대장암 발생에 유의한 영향을 미치는 요인으로 나타났다. 대장암환자군과 건강인군의 생활습관을 비교한 본 연구의 결과를 토대로 하여, 평소 식습관에서 인스턴트식품 등의 가공식품의 섭취를 줄이고, 스트레스가 발생(인지)될 때 이를 효과적으로 조절할 수 있도록 하며, 육류섭취 시 살짝 익혀서 먹는 습관이 실천되어야 할 것이다. 또한 평소에 육류 섭취를 줄이고 섬유질이 많은 채식 위주로 식사하도록 권장해야 할 것이다.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.38-48
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• 2022

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is an oncofetal antigen primarily detected in the peripheral blood of cancer patients, particularly in those with colorectal cancer. CEA is considered a valuable target for antigen-specific immunotherapy. In this study, we induced the anti-tumor immunity for CEA through the administration of a dendritic cell (DC) vaccine. However, there was a limitation in inducing tumor regression in the DC vaccinated mice. To enhance the efficacy of anti-tumor immunity in MC38/CEA2 tumor-bearing mice, we evaluated the effects of DC vaccine in combination with cyclophosphamide (CYP). Administration of CYP 100 mg/kg in mice resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth in the 2-day tumor model, whereas a lower inhibition of tumor growth was seen in the 10-day tumor model. Therefore, the 10-day tumor model was selected for testing chemo-immunotherapy. The combined CYP and DC vaccine not only increased tumor antigen-specific immune responses but also induced synergistic anti-tumor immunity. Furthermore, the adverse effects of CYP such as weight loss and immunosuppression by regulatory T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells showed a significant reduction in the combined chemo-immunotherapy treatment compared with CYP alone. Our data suggest that chemoimmunotherapy with the DC vaccine may offer a new therapeutic strategy to induce a potent anti-tumor effect and reduce the adverse effects of chemotherapy.