• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.195-198
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• 2008

Plasmodium falciparum liver stage antigen-1 (PfLSA-1) is one of the few antigens expressed exclusively in liver stage parasites. In this study, we evaluated the antibody responses against recombinant PfLSA-1 in naturally infected individuals in Myanmar. High levels of antibody responses (70.7%) were detected in 82 serum samples from 116 infected individuals, and IgG responses to PfLSA-1 principally composed of responses of IgG1 and IgG3 subclasses. These results show that PfLSA-1 elicits effective antibody responses in individuals infected with P. falciparum, and thus it could be not only an attractive candidate protein for vaccine development, but also a useful antigen for serodiagnosis of the infection.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.310-319
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• 2015

Purpose: Follicular lymphoma (FL) is an indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that is highly sensitive to radiotherapy (RT). However, the effectiveness of RT has not been well established. We reviewed our experiences to assess the role of RT for FL and analyze treatment results. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis was done on 29 patients who received first RT between January 2003 and August 2013. Of 23 early stage (stage I, II) patients, 16 received RT alone, four received chemotherapy followed by RT, two received RT postoperatively, and one received salvage RT for relapse after resection. Six advanced-stage (stage III, IV) patients received RT after chemotherapy: two received consolidation RT, three received salvage RT for residual lesions, and one received RT for progressive sites. Median RT dose was 30.6 Gy (range, 21.6 to 48.6 Gy). Median follow-up duration was 62 months (range, 6 to 141 months). Results: All patients showed complete response in the radiation field. Eight outfield relapses were reported. Seven patients received salvage treatment (three chemotherapy, four RT). Four patients showed excellent responses, especially to RT. Estimated 5-year and 10-year relapse-free survivals were 72% and 60%. In the RT-alone group, 5-year relapse-free survival was 74.5%. All advanced-stage patients were disease-free with 100% 5-year overall survival. Disease-specific death was noted in only one patient; four others died of other unrelated causes. No significant toxicity was reported. Conclusion: RT resulted in excellent treatment outcomes for all FL stages when used as a primary treatment modality for early stage or salvage-treatment modality for advanced-stage disease.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the impact that health motivation, stage of change and cardiac risk factors have on health behaviors in Korean patients with coronary artery disease(CAD) admitted to hospital. Method: The participants in this study were 127 patients with CAD hospitalized between May 2008 and July 2009. A structured questionnaire with personal interviews and chart reviews were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using the SPSS. Results: Of the relatively significant factors, including a stage of change, self efficacy, modifiable risk factor score, and perceived barriers, stage of change was found to be the most significant predictor of health behavior in patients with CAD. These variables accounted for 48.2% of the variance in health behavior. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate the necessity of developing a cardiac rehabilitation program for use in their daily lives after discharge from the hospital. Stage of change should be assessed for all patients with CAD being discharged from acute care hospitals.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.133-166
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• 2012

Hospitals tend to provide uniformed service to patients despite their various demands stemming from the severity of disease stages or the uncertainties in information of treatment stages. To identify service factors and provide effective contextually aware service models that patients demand depending on their evolving circumstances, the study conducted a survey on service quality based on importance and satisfaction of cancer patients. The study surveyed 286 patients and caregivers on importance and satisfaction through a questionnaire comprising of 17 questions at the outpatient clinic of cancer centers of university hospitals in 5 cities. Based on the risks of the disease and uncertainties in information of treatment stages, the cancer patients were grouped into diagnosis stage; low-risk treatment stage; high-risk treatment stage; stabilization stage. Depending on the patient's situation, the importance and satisfaction of service factors were ranked. These factors were categorized into 4 groups from a managerial perspective into 'keep it up area', 'focus here area', 'low priority area', 'overdone area'. This study provides an effective medical service model that can accommodate patients based on management areas of cancer patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5169-5173
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• 2015

To determine the efficacy of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel plus cisplatin (Taxol + DDP, TP therapy) for stage IIA esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and to investigate the expression of RUNX3 in lymph node metastasis-negative esophageal cancer and its relationship with medical prognosis, a retrospective summary of clinical treatment of 143 cases of stage IIA esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients was made. The patients were divided into two groups, a surgery alone control group (52 patients) and a chemotherapy group that received postoperative TP therapy (91 patients). The disease-free and 5 year survival rates were compared between the groups and a multivariate analysis of prognostic factors was performed. The same analysis was performed for cases classified as RUNX3 positive and negative, with post-operative specimens assessed by immunohistochemistry. Although the disease-free and 5 year survival rates in control and chemotherapy groups did not significantly differ and there was no significance in RUNX3 negative cases, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in the chemotherapy group was shown to improve disease-free and 5 year survival rate compared to the control group in RUNX3 positive cases. On Cox regression multivariate analysis, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (P<0.01) was an independent prognostic factor for RUNX3 positive cases, suggesting that postoperative TP may be effective as adjuvant chemotherapy for stage IIA esophageal cancer patients with RUNX3 positive lesions.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.147-154
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• 2022

In order to secure practising rapid pattern(證, zheng) differentiation against acute infectious diseases like corona virus disease-19(COVID-19) showing rapid variation and contagion, a simplified classification of stages centering on the exterior-interior pattern identification with 2 step-subdivision by cold, heat, deficiency, excess pattern and pathogens is proposed. Pattern differentiation by compound patterns of 8 principles is made for the non-severe stage of general cold and the early mild stage of epidemic disease. Compound pattern's names of 8 principles about external infectious diseases are composed of three stages, that is disease site-characters-etiology. Based on early stage symptoms of fever or chilling etc., exterior, interior and half exterior and half interior patterns are determined first, and then cold, heat, deficiency, excess patterns of exterior and interior pattern respectively are determined, and then more concrete differentiation on pathogens of wind, dryness, dampness and dearth of qi, blood, yin, yang accompanied with constitutional and personal illness factors. Summarizing above descriptions, 4 patterns of exterior cold, exterior heat, exterior deficiency, exterior excess and their secondary compound patterns of exterior cold deficiency and exterior cold excess and so on are classified together with treatment method and available decoction for a standard measure of eight principle pattern differentiation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.86-93
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• 2017

Background: The influence of lifestyle diseases on postoperative complications and long-term survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine whether lifestyle diseases were significant risk factors of perioperative and long-term surgical outcomes in elderly patients with stage I NSCLC. Methods: Between December 1995 and November 2013, 110 patients aged 65 years or older who underwent surgical resection of stage I NSCLC at Dong-A University Hospital were retrospectively studied. We assessed the presence of the following lifestyle diseases as risk factors for postoperative complications and long-term mortality: diabetes, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, and ischemic heart disease. Results: The mean age of the patients was 71 years (range, 65 to 82 years). Forty-six patients (41.8%) had hypertension, making it the most common lifestyle disease, followed by diabetes (n=23, 20.9%). The in-hospital mortality rate was 0.9% (n=1). The 3-year and 5-year survival rates were 78% and 64%, respectively. Postoperative complications developed in 32 patients (29.1%), including 7 (6.4%) with prolonged air leakage, 6 (5.5%) with atrial fibrillation, 5 (4.5%) with delirium and atelectasis, and 3 (2.7%) with acute kidney injury and pneumonia. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the presence of a lifestyle disease was the only independent risk factor for postoperative complications. In survival analysis, univariate analysis showed that age, smoking, body mass index, extent of resection, and pathologic stage were associated with impaired survival. Multivariate analysis revealed that resection type (hazard ratio [HR], 2.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08 to 4.49; p=0.030) and pathologic stage (HR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.02 to 3.49; p=0.043) had independent adverse impacts on survival. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the presence of a lifestyle disease was a significant prognostic factor for postoperative complications, but not of survival, in elderly patients with stage I NSCLC. Therefore, postoperative complications may be influenced by the presence of a lifestyle disease.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2004

Purpose: The porpose of this descriptive study was grasp the QOL (Quality of Life) of cervix cancer patient and to analysis QOL (Quality of Life) by stage of disease, type of treatment and de me graphic characteristics Methods: Data were collected from 67 patients with cervical cancer from 3 General Hospitals from March 15 to June 4 using The "QOL (Quality of Life)-Cancer Version" inventory made by Ferrell et al (1995). The data were analysed by using SPSS $PC^+$ program including t-test, ANOVA, and Scheffe test. Results: Progressing stage of disease and QOL, the significant between the progressing stage of disease and QOL was significant (F=5.06, P=.003). The degree of difference between the progresstion of the stage of the disease and each item in the test was physical well-being (F=3.97 P=.012), the items of psychological well-being (F=3.91, P=.013), the items of social well-being (F=4.96, P=.004). It show a significant difference, but the item of spiritual well-being (F=1.36, P=.262) was not significant difference. The significance between the type of treatment and QOL was insignificant. The degree of difference between each area of life was the psychological well-being (t=-2.14, P=.037), the social well-being (t=-2.15, P=.036). But the physical well-being (t=-.93, P=.356), the spiritual well-being (t=.73, P=.469) was insignificant. Conclusion: As a result, The QOL of patients with cervical cancer is differentiated by the stage of disease, the type of treatment, and the demographic data. Therefore, there is a need to apply nursing intervention to patients with cervical cancer by considering the stage of disease, the type of treatment, and the demographic data.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.48-55
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine correlations among UPDRS, respiratory function, and senior fitness and to investigate the effects of restrictive respiratory function on these factors in Parkinson's disease patients. Methods: Subjects (n=25, Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) stage: 2-3, $69.3{\pm}5.9$ yrs) from D Hospital Parkinson's Disease Center at Busan metropolitan area in the Republic of Korea volunteered for this study. They performed the pulmonary function test, UPDRS, and the senior fitness test. SPSS 18.0 was used for analysis of data, and the collected data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient (n=25). In addition, Independent t-test was used for determination of differences between two groups (between the normal pulmonary function group (n=10) and the restrictive pulmonary function group (n=10)). Results: Forced vital capacity (FVC (L)) showed significant negative correlation (r=-0.44, p<0.05) with H&Y stage in Parkinson's disease patients, and chair stand showed significant negative correlations (r=0.41, 0.43, 0.42, p<0.05) with FVC (L), FVC (%), and FEV1 (L). FVC (%) showed significant positive correlations (r=0.44, r=0.44, p<0.05) with right and left back scratch. In addition, the restrictive respiratory function group showed significantly lower FVC (%) (p<0.01) and was significantly slower (p<0.05) in the 8-foot up-and-go test than the normal respiratory function group. Conclusion: In conclusion, these results suggest that restrictive respiratory function in PD was related to H&Y stage. In addition, agility of PD patients was lower in the restrictive respiratory function group than in the normal function group.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.44 no.1 s.137
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• pp.49-54
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• 2006

In order to develop tools for an early serodiagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum infection, we evaluated the usefulness of P. falciparum liver stage antigen-3 (LSA-3) as a serodiagnostic antigen. A portion of LSA-3 gene was cloned, and its recombinant protein (rLSA-3) was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by column chromatography. The purified rLSA-3 and 120 test blood/serum samples collected from inhabitants in malaria-endemic areas of Mandalay, Myanmar were used for this study. In microscopic examinations of blood samples, P. falciparum positive rate was $39.1\%$ (47/120) in thin smear trials, and $33.3\%$ (40/120) in thick smear trials. Although the positive rate associated with the rLSA-3 $(30.8\%)$ was lower than that of the blood stage antigens $(70.8\%)$, rLSA-3 based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay could detect 12 seropositive cases $(10.0\%),$ in which blood stage antigens were not detected. These results indicate that the LSA-3 is a useful antigen for an early serodiagnosis of P. falciparum infection.