• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2009

Background: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) by oxidative stress may play an important role in the pathogenesis of various chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and malignancy that are linked to metabolic syndrome. Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We examined the relationship between IPF and presenting factors associated with metabolic disorders. Methods: One hundred fourteen patients who met the current consensus of IPF definition were enrolled from March 2000 to April 2006 in Gil Hospital and Samsung Medical Center in Korea. One hundred thirty-four control subjects without pulmonary diseases were selected from subjects who visited Gil hospital for routine medical examinations, including low-dose chest computed tomography from January 2002 to July 2006. Retrospectively, we analyzed the clinical characteristics, the results of blood examinations, and lung function tests from medical records of both groups. Results: IPF patients and control subjects differed in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus as assessed by univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that diabetes mellitus and obesity were associated with IPF. The adjusted odds ratios for diabetes mellitus were 2.733 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.282~5.827) and 2.001 (95% [CI], 1.063~3.766) for obesity. The remaining factors tested showed no differences between the patient group and the control. Conclusion: Diabetes mellitus and obesity may be associated with IPF development.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.75 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2013

Background: This study was conducted in order to elucidate the effects of docetaxel on the growth of peroxiredoxin 1 (Prx1) knockdown A549 xenograft tumors and further tested the role of Prx1 as a predictor for how a patient would respond to docetaxel treatment. Methods: Effects of docetaxel on the growth of scrambled- and shPrx1-infected A549 xenograft tumors in nude mice were measured. Moreover, immunohistochemical expression of Prx1 was evaluated in paraffin-embedded tissues from 24 non-small cell lung cancer patients who had received docetaxel-cisplatin regimens as a first-line treatment. Results: Docetaxel treatment in Prx1 knockdown xenograft tumor resulted in reduced tumors growth compared with other groups. Prx1 knockdown increased the production of cleaved caspases-8 and -9 in the control itself compared to scramble tumors. Moreover, docetaxel treatment in Prx1 knockdown tissue led to an increased protein band. Phosphorylated Akt was found in Prx1 scramble tissues. Phosphorylated FOXO1 was detected in the docetaxel treatment group. On the other hand, Prx1 knockdown completely suppressed the Akt-FOXO1 axis. The median progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with low Prx1 expression was 7 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.0-7.7), whereas the median progression-free survival of patients with high Prx1 expression was 4 months (95% CI, 4.0-5.0). However, high Prx1 expression was not associated with decreased PFS (p=0.114). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that elevated Prx1 provides resistance to docetaxel treatment through suppression of FOXO1-induced apoptosis in A549 xenograft tumors, but may not be related with the predictive significance for response to docetaxel treatment.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.80 no.3
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• pp.284-290
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• 2017

Background: We aimed to analyze the factors predicting the diagnostic performance of flexible bronchoscopy without guidance in peripheral lung lesions that are endoscopically invisible. Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted in St. Paul's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, between January 2007 and March 2013. We included all patients who received bronchoscopy during this period. The analyzed variables were age, sex, the etiology of the lesion, lesion size, distance from the pleura, and presence of the bronchus sign. We used multiple logistic regression analysis to identify the significant independent factors associated with diagnostic yield. Results: We included 151 patients in this study. The overall diagnostic yield was 58.3%. The sensitivity was 43.2% for malignant disease and 78.1% for benign disease. The benign lung lesions (p<0.001), lesion size (p=0.015), presence of the exposed type of bronchus sign (p<0.001), and presence of cavitary lung lesions (p=0.005) were factors influencing the yield of flexible bronchoscopy by univariate analysis. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, the exposed type of bronchus sign and benign lung lesions were independent predicting factors (odds ratio [OR]: 27.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.56-103.32; p<0.001 and OR, 4.91; 95% CI, 1.76-13.72; p=0.002). Conclusion: The presence of the exposed type of bronchus sign and benign lung lesions are determining factors of the diagnostic yield in flexible bronchoscopy in evaluating peripheral lesions that are not endoscopically visible.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.121-126
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• 2011

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disorder in the elderly population. To identify OA-associated genetic variants and candidate genes, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS). A total 3,793 samples (476 cases: wrist + knee and 3317 controls) from a community-based epidemiological study were genotyped using the Affymetrix SNP 5.0. An intronic SNP (rs4789934) in the TIMP2 (tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2) showed the most significance with OA (odd ratio [OR] = 2.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.52-2.81, p = $4.01{\times}10^{-6}$). Furthermore, a poly-morphism (rs1352677) in the NKAIN2 ($Na^+/K^+$ transporting ATPase interacting 2) was suggestively associated with OA (OR = 1.43, CI = 1.22-1.66, p = $7.01{\times}10^{-6}$). The present study provides new insights into the identification of genetic predisposing factors for OA.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.117-129
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• 2013

Background: This study was carried out for the purpose of comprehensively evaluating the mercury exposure level of residents in several areas and the correlation between hair mercury concentration and blood mercury concentration. Method: One thousand one hundred ninety seven subjects were sampled from 30 sites using random assignment sampling. We performed a questionnaire survey and measured the level of total mercury in hair and blood samples from all subjects. Results: The geometric mean concentrations of hair and blood mercury in all subjects were 1.27 mg/kg [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.23-1.32 mg/kg] and 5.24 ${\mu}g/L$ [95% CI: 5.07-5.41 ${\mu}g/L$], respectively. Male (1.56 mg/kg in hair, 6.00 ${\mu}g/L$ in blood) was significantly higher than that of female (1.03 mg/kg in hair, 4.56 ${\mu}g/L$ in blood), and the concentrations were elevated as age increased up to the 50s. Education, smoking, alcohol drinking, and using of pesticides were also shown to influence mercury concentrations in hair and blood. The ratio of hair/ blood mercury concentration was 261.3. The total mercury concentration in hair was identified to be significantly related with total mercury concentration in blood (r=0.814, p<0.001). Conclusion: The geometric mean concentrations of hair and blood mercury were higher than the levels provided in international recommendations. The total mercury concentration in hair was positively correlated with the concentration in blood. The results of this study suggest that hair mercury be considered as a useful tool for the evaluation of mercury exposure.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.142-151
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• 2018

Purpose: The modification of the cancer classification system aimed to improve the classical anatomy-based tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) staging by considering tumor biology, which is associated with patient prognosis, because such information provides additional precision and flexibility. Materials and Methods: We previously developed an mRNA expression-based single patient classifier (SPC) algorithm that could predict the prognosis of patients with stage II/III gastric cancer. We also validated its utilization in clinical settings. The prognostic single patient classifier (pSPC) differentiates based on 3 prognostic groups (low-, intermediate-, and high-risk), and these groups were considered as independent prognostic factors along with TNM stages. We evaluated whether the modified TNM staging system based on the pSPC has a better prognostic performance than the TNM 8th edition staging system. The data of 652 patients who underwent gastrectomy with curative intent for gastric cancer between 2000 and 2004 were evaluated. Furthermore, 2 other cohorts (n=307 and 625) from a previous study were assessed. Thus, 1,584 patients were included in the analysis. To modify the TNM staging system, one-grade down-staging was applied to low-risk patients according to the pSPC in the TNM 8th edition staging system; for intermediate- and high-risk groups, the modified TNM and TNM 8th edition staging systems were identical. Results: Among the 1,584 patients, 187 (11.8%), 664 (41.9%), and 733 (46.3%) were classified into the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups, respectively, according to the pSPC. pSPC prognoses and survival curves of the overall population were well stratified, and the TNM stage-adjusted hazard ratios of the intermediate- and high-risk groups were 1.96 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.41-2.72; P<0.001) and 2.54 (95% CI, 1.84-3.50; P<0.001), respectively. Using Harrell's C-index, the prognostic performance of the modified TNM system was evaluated, and the results showed that its prognostic performance was better than that of the TNM 8th edition staging system in terms of overall survival (0.635 vs. 0.620, P<0.001). Conclusions: The pSPC-modified TNM staging is an alternative staging system for stage II/III gastric cancer.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.223-232
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• 2015

Objectives In this study, the authors evaluated the correlation between levels of serum lipid, homocysteine, and folate with volumes of hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum, and in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) type. Methods The study recruited patients who visited the dementia clinic of Haeundae Paik Hospital in Korea between March 2010 and June 2014. Among those, patients who had taken the neurocognitive test, brain magnetic resonance imaing, tests for serum lipid, homocysteine, folate, and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotyping and diagnosed with aMCI or AD were included for analysis. Bilateral hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, amygdala and corpus callosum were selected for region of interest (ROI). The cross-sectional relationships between serum lipid, homocysteine, folate and ROI were assessed by partial correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. Results In patients with aMCI, old age (> 80) and APOE ${\varepsilon}4$ carrier were associated with AD [odds ration (OR) : 12.80 ; 95% confidence interval (CI) : 2.25-72.98 and OR : 4.48 ; 95% CI : 1.58-12.67, respectively]. In patients with aMCI or AD, volumes and thickness of ROI were inversely correlated with levels of serum lipid and homocysteine. In multiple linear regression analyses, higher total cholesterol level was related to lower left, right hippocampus volume and left amygdala volume ; higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was related to lower right entorhinal cortex thickness ; higher homocysteine level was related to lower corpus callosum volume. Conclusions Higher serum lipid and homocysteine levels are associated with decreased volume of hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum and entorhinal cortex thickness in patients with aMCI or AD. These findings suggest that serum lipid and homocysteine levels are associated with AD as a modifiable risk factor.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1373-1377
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• 2016

Background: We vigorously reviewed patients' operation record who had adhesion of the Denonvilliers' fascia and found out most of these patients had prostatic bleeding after prostatic gland biopsies. We examined the magnitude of prostatic bleeding and frequency after biopsies and the relationship with oncological outcomes. Materials and Methods: A total of 285 patients were selected for the final analyses. Inclusion criteria were as follows: receiving MRI three weeks after biopsiesand laparoscopic radical prostatectomy within 300 days after biopsy. We divided the patients into two groups with (group A) or without (group B) prostatic bleeding. We examined the magnitude of prostatic bleeding after biopsies and the relationship with operation time (OT), positive surgical margin (PSM), biochemical recurrence (BCR) and other factors. Furthermore, we created a logistic-regression model to derive a propensity score for prostatic bleeding after biopsies, which included all patient and hospital characteristics as well as selected interaction terms, and we examined the relationship with PSM and BCR. Results: In all patients, the OT in the group B was shorter than the group A (p < 0.001). Prostatic bleeding was associated with PSM (p=0.000) and BCR (p=0.036). In this propensity-matched cohort, 11 of 116 patients in the group B had PSM as compared with 36 of 116 patients from group A (match-adjusted odds ratio, 4.30; 95%CI confidence interval, 2.06 to 8.96; P=0.000). In addition, eight of 116 patients in group B encountered BCR, as compared with 18 of 116 patients in group A (match-adjusted odds ratio, 2.48; 95%CI, 1.03 to 5.96; P=0.042). Kaplan-Meier analysis in the propensity matching cohort showed a significant biochemical recurrence-free survival advantage for being free of prostate bleeding after biopsies. Conclusions: Our findings in the present cohort should help equip surgeons to pay attention to careful excision especially for those who experienced deferred prostatic bleeding.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3917-3925
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• 2012

Background: The relationship between postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) and invasive breast cancer has been extensively investigated, but that with breast carcinoma in situ (BCIS) has received relatively little attention. The aim of our present study was to review and summarize the evidence provided by longitudinal studies on the association between postmenopausal HT use and BCIS risk. Methods: A comprehensive literature search for articles published up to May 2012 was performed. Prior to performing a meta-analysis, the studies were evaluated for publication bias and heterogeneity. Relative risk (RR) or odds ratio (OR) values were calculated using 14 reports (8 case-control studies and 6 cohort studies), published between 1986 and 2012. Results: There was evidence of an association between ever postmenopausal estrogen use and BCIS based on a random-effects model (RR = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01, 1.55). However, we found no strong evidence of an association between ever postmenopausal estrogen combined with progesterone use and BCIS using a randomeffects model (RR = 1.55, 95% CI = 0.95, 2.51). Furthermore, our analysis showed a strong association between "> 5 years duration" of estrogen or estrogen combined with progesterone use and BCIS. Furthermore, current use of any HT is associated with increased risk of BCIS in cohort studies. Additional well-designed large studies are now required to validate this association in different populations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4157-4160
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• 2013

Objectives: Understanding the situation of cancer awareness which doctors give to patients might lead to prognostic prediction in cases of of colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Subsets of 10,779 CRC patients were used to screen the risk factors from the Cancer Registry in Pudong New Area in cancer awareness, age, TNM stage, and gender. Survival of the patients was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and assessed by Cox regression analysis. The views of cancer awareness in doctors and patients were surveyed by telephone or household. Results: After a median observation time of 1,616 days (ranging from 0 to 4,083 days) of 10,779 available patients, 2,596 of the 4,561 patients with cancer awareness survived, whereas 2,258 of the 5,469 patients without cancer awareness and 406 of the 749 patients without information on cancer awareness died of the disease. All-cause and cancer-specific survival were poorer for the patients without cancer awareness than those with (P < 0.001 for each, log-rank test). Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that cancer concealment cases had significantly lower cancer-specific survival (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.299; 95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.200-1.407)and all-cause survival (HR = 1.324; 95 % CI: 1.227-1.428). Furthermore, attitudes of cancer awareness between doctors and patients were significantly different (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Cancer concealment, not only late-stage tumor and age, is associated with a poor survival of CRC patients.