• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1487-1489
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• 2012

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and intracavity brachytherapy in comprehensive treatment for young patients with stage Ib2 cervical cancer. Methods: One hundred and twelve young patients with stage Ib2 cervical cancer were enrolled retrospectively in our hospital from January 2003 to June 2005. They were categorized into three groups according to preoperative regimens, including the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group (Group 1, n=38), the neoadjuvant chemotherapy (Group 2, n=49), and the intracavity brachytherapy group (Group 3, n=25). Radical hysterectomy was performed following these regimens. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy were given according to pelvic lymph node metastasis, deep cervical stromal invasion, intravascular cancer emboli, histological grading, vaginal stump and positive surgical margin. Results: The cancer disappearance and superficial muscle invasion rates were statistically significantly better in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group than in the other two groups (P<0.01). No statistically significant difference was noted in the deep muscle invasion rate, surgical time and intraoperative blood loss among three groups, but significantly more postoperative complications occurred in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group. The 2-year pelvic recurrence was statistically significantly lower in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group compared to other two groups, while the 5-year survival was higher. Conclusion: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is efficacious for young patients with stage Ib2 cervical cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7141-7148
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• 2014

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is an important malignancy throughout the world; early detection is an important criterion for achieving high cure rate. Out of the many reported markers for OSCC, this study validated the efficacy of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) in differentially diagnosing premalignant oral lesions and OSCC. Also, the study aimed to correlate the levels of salivary and serum TNF-${\alpha}$ with clinicopathologic factors. Materials and Methods: A prospective experimental laboratory study was designed. Serum and salivary samples from 100 subjects in each group of healthy control, premalignant disease (PMD) and OSCC were collected for the study following appropriate exclusion and inclusion criteria. Serum and salivary level of TNF-${\alpha}$ was analysed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The data obtained were subjected to appropriate statistical analysis. Results: Increased level of both serum and salivary TNF-${\alpha}$ was observed in OSCC subjects compared to healthy control and PMD group. Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis and area under curve values showed high specificity and sensitivity for salivary TNF-${\alpha}$ in differentiating OSCC from PMD and healthy controls. There was significant increase in TNF-${\alpha}$ level in moderately and poorly differentiated lesion compared to well differentiated lesion and in stage IV of clinical stage. A positive correlation was observed only with histological grading of OSCC and TNF-${\alpha}$. Conclusions: Salivary TNF-${\alpha}$ is proved to be superior for detecting OSCC. Increase in TNF-${\alpha}$ with histological grading and clinical staging suggests a role in prognosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1703-1706
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• 2014

Background: The current standard treatment for patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisolone (CHOP). A significant number of patients were not treated with recommended dose of rituximab due to limited financial resources in Malaysia. This study evaluates the efficacy of R-CHOP like chemotherapy in Malaysian patients with DLBCL. Materials and Methods: The study comprised a retrospective analysis of patients with DLBCL treated at a single centre. The outcome was compared with patients who were treated with R-CHOP like and CHOP like chemotherapy. Patients who were treated with lower dose of rituximab was subanalysed for outcome. Results: A total of 86 patients who had CHOP-like chemotherapy were included. Only 39 (45%) patients had rituximab and only 12 (29%) patients had the recommended dose. The overall response (OR) and complete response (CR) rates were 88% and 81% respectively. There was no significant difference in OR and CR in patients who had rituximab and those without rituxmab. Those with International Prognostic Index (IPI) score of ${\leq}2$ had significant higher CR rate, progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (p<0.001). Conclusions: The lack of significant improvement in CR and DFS in our patients may be due to an inadequate dose of rituximab.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.185-194
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• 2013

Abstract- In distant-talking environments, speech recognition performance degrades significantly due to noise and reverberation. Recent work of Michael L. Selzer shows that in microphone array speech recognition, the word error rate can be significantly reduced by adapting the beamformer weights to generate a sequence of features which maximizes the likelihood of the correct hypothesis. In this approach, called Likelihood Maximizing Beamforming algorithm (Limabeam), one of the method to implement this Limabeam is an UnSupervised Limabeam(USL) that can improve recognition performance in any situation of environment. From our investigation for this USL, we could see that because the performance of optimization depends strongly on the transcription output of the first recognition step, the output become unstable and this may lead lower performance. In order to improve recognition performance of USL, some post-filter techniques can be employed to obtain more correct transcription output of the first step. In this work, as a post-filtering technique for first recognition step of USL, we propose to add a Wiener-Filter combined with Feature Weighted Malahanobis Distance to improve recognition performance. We also suggest an alternative way to implement Limabeam algorithm for Hidden Markov Network (HM-Net) speech recognizer for efficient implementation. Speech recognition experiments performed in real distant-talking environment confirm the efficacy of Limabeam algorithm in HM-Net speech recognition system and also confirm the improved performance by the proposed method.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.487-502
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• 2011

1. Objective This study was performed to research the biological change of forest healing according to Sasang constitution. 2. Methods Forty seven applicants are involved in this study. They were classified into three groups(Soyangin, Taeeumin, Soeumin) by QSCC II. And then they participated in forest healing program from March 26 to March 27 in 2011. We performed before and after experiment, including vital sign, electroencephalography(EEG), heart rate variability(HRV), complete blood cell count(CBC), biochemical test(BC), and stress hormones. 3. Results Men had the relaxative effect of tension. While, the group of women and Soyangin was more sensitive to sudden environmental change than the group of men or other constitutions. The tension of women and soyangin's group increased after the forest healing program. Soeumin group showed reduced diastolic blood pressure after the forest healing program. 3. Conclusions Forest healing program has shown better efficacy in relaxation in men than women, in lowering diastolic blood pressure in Soeumin group than other constitutional groups. However a single positive result within this study should be carefully interpreted.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.65-83
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• 2011

Various related factors and tissue changes in vitro and in vivo were observed to investigate the efficacy of HYBH on atopic dermatitis. The results are described below. HYBH improved the atopic dermatitis symptoms by naked eye examination, and significantly decreased dermatitis clinical index at 14 weeks. HYBH significantly decreased CD4+/CD45+, CD4+, CD8+, CD3+/CD69+ immune cell ratios in PBMC by 28%, 16%, 30%, 26% and 22% respectively. HYBH significantly decreased CD11b+/Gr-1+, CD3 immune cell ratios in dorsal skin by 35.3% and 67.5% respectively. HYBH significantly decreased the expression of IL-4 and IFN-${\gamma}$ in spleen by 23% and 15% respectively. HYBH significantly decreased the production rate of IL-5, IL-13 and histamine in serum by 17%, 23%, and 8.8% respectively and increased IL-17 production by 17%. HYBH significantly decreased immunoglubulins IgG1 and IgE production in serum. The results above indicated that treatment of HYBH improved atopic dermatitis symptoms by anti-oxidant activity and immune modulation activity as a clinical evidence. Also, different fermentation conditions using various microbial strains should be accumulated as the clinical evidence for broad application in the future.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.78-86
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• 2004

Panax ginseng occupies an important role in the folk medicine of China, Korea and Japan. The present study was undertaken to determine the radioprotective efficacy of ginseng root extract in the liver of Swiss albino mice. The animals were divided into 4 groups. Group I-Only vehicle was administered. Group II-The animals received 10 mg/kg body weight ginseng root extract i.p. for 4 consecutive days. Group III-Animals were irradiated with 8Gy gamma radiation at the dose rate of 1.69 Gy/min at the distance of 80 ems. Group IV-Animals were given by ginseng root extract (10 mg/kg body weight) continuously for 4 days and on 4th day they were irradiated with 8 Gy gamma radiation after 30 min. The animals from above groups were autopsied on 1,3,7,14 and 30 days. Biochemical estimations of phosphatases (acid ＆ alkaline), LDH (lactate dehydrogenase), LPO (lipid peroxidation) and GSH (reduced glutathione) in liver and SGOT (serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase), SGPT (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase) and alkaline phosphatase in serum were done. In ginseng treated group acid phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), LPO and LDH in liver and SGOT, SGPT and alkaline phosphatase in serum did not show any significant alteration. However, a significant increase in GSH content in liver was recorded. In irradiated group there was a significant increase in ACP, ALP and LPO content in liver and SGOT ＆ SGPT in serum was noted. Whereas, a significant decrease was recorded in GSH and LDH activity in liver and alkaline phosphatase activity in serum. Pretreatment of ginseng with radiation significantly alters the biochemical parameters in liver and serum. A significant decline in ACP, ALP activity and LPO content in liver and SGOT and SGPT activity in serum was observed. However, a significant increase in GSH content and LDH activity in liver and ALP activity in serum was estimated. The present study suggests that pretreatment of ginseng before irradiation significantly protects the liver and maintains the enzyme activity.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.142-155
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a significant efficacy difference on infant and young child atopic dermatitis patients treated with Korean Medicine Treatment through 6 months between topical steroid used group and non-steroid group. Methods: The degree of atopic dermatitis was measured by the Objective SCORAD Index (OSI) with photographs of patients. Detailed analysis of the OSI score was compared based on the use of topical steroid. Results: 1. There was not a significant difference between the topical steroid group and the non-steroid group in regards of gender, age and initial OSI score. 2. The non-steroid group's OSI score decreased significantly from 50.17 to 29.20. 3. The topical steroid group's OSI score decreased significantly from 54.21 to 34.95. 76.19% of the patients in the topical steroid group discontinued steroid use within the 6-month period. The average time of discontinuation since the beginning of treatment was 3.36 months. 4. The OSI Improvement rate comparison of topical steroid group with non-steroid group did not show a significant difference over a 3-month and 6-month period. 5. Distribution of severe cases decreased in Both topical steroid and non-steroid group after 6 month treatment. Conclusions: The OSI score of infant and young child atopic dermatitis patients in both topical steroid and non-steroid group was decreased significantly with Korean medicine treatment through 6 months. There was no significant difference between topical steroid group and non-steroid group in OSI improvements over a 3-month period and 6-month period.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.41-45
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• 2002

Background and Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of the neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy in treatment of patients with advanced hypopharyngeal cancer, which is notorious for its poor prognosis and severe surgical morbidity with functional deficits. Materials and Methods: Medical records and radiologic findings of 107 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx, Stage III or IV (AJCC, 1997), were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy showed 74% complete remission (CR) rate. The patients who did not show CR after chemotherapy had a high likelihood of treatment failure, even though they achieved CR following subsequent radiotherapy. Twenty-eight of 57 patients were able to preserve their larynges for more than three years by chemotherapy and radiation. Conclusions: This approach appeared to be as effective as radical surgery with postoperative radiation therapy without comprising of survival. To improve the cure rates, we need to develop better strategies to increase CR rates with chemotherapy and determine the best treatment option for patients who are partially or nonresponsive to chemotherapy.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.766-772
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• 2013

Background Hypospadias is the most common congenital malformation of the male urinary tract, wherein the urethral opening is located proximal to the normal site. Tubularized incised-plate urethroplasty reconstruction, and its efficacy, remains controversial due to the high recurrence rate. This study aimed to evaluate the results of dartos fascia-reinforced flap surgery in hypospadias patients with previous operative complications. Methods Nine patients (mean age, 12 years) who had previous one- or two-stage repair with TIP urethroplasty and suffered from urethrocutaneous fistulas or fissures as complications, underwent dartos fascia-reinforced flap surgery in our clinic between January 2010 and December 2012. The mean postoperative follow-up period was 6 months. Results Among the 9 patients, 7 had complete correction. In all the patients, the maximum uroflow angle was > $45^{\circ}$. No patient complained of an unnatural urinating position. The patients and parents gave very high satisfaction scores (4.7 points) with regard to the appearance of the outer genitalia. Conclusion The dartos fascia-reinforced flap could be a useful and reliable option for complications of hypospadias repair or fissure with the prepuce preserved, given that histological aspects vary and that the possibility of recurrence in the glanular region is high.