• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.199-204
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• 2008

Objective : This study was designed to compare the efficacy of micro-vascular decompression (MVD) and Gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) for elderly idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia patients by analyzing the clinical outcome. Methods : In the past 10 years, 27 elderly patients were treated with MVD while 18 patients were treated with GKRS (>65-years-old). We reviewed their clinical characteristics and clinical courses after treatment as well as the treatment outcomes. For patients who were treated with MVD, additional treatment methods such as rhizotomy were combined in some areas. In GKRS, we radiated the root entry zone (REZ) with the mean maximum dose of 77.8 (70-84.3) Gy and one 4 mm collimator. Results : The mean age was 68.1 years for MVD, and 71.1 years for GKS group. The average time interval between first presenting symptom and surgery was 84.1 (1-361) months, and 51.4 (1-120) months, respectively. The mean follow-up period after the surgery was 35.9 months for MVD, and 33.1 months for GKRS. According to Pain Intensity Scale, MVD group showed better prognosis with 17 (63%) cases in grade I-II versus 10 (55.6%) cases in GKRS group after the treatment. The pain recurrence rate during follow up did not show much difference with 3 (11.1%) in MVD, and 2 (11.1%) in GKRS. After the treatment, 2 cases of facial numbness, and 1 case each of herpes zoster, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage, hearing disturbance, and subdural hematoma occurred in MVD Group. In GKRS, there was 1 (5.6%) case of dysesthesia but was not permanent. Three cases were retreated by GKRS but the prognosis was not as good as when the surgery was used as primary treatment, with 1 case of grade I-II, and 1 case of recurrence. The maximal relieve of pain was seen just after surgery in MVD group, and 1 year after treatment in GKRS group. Conclusion : For trigeminal neuralgia patients with advanced age, MVD showed advantages in immediately relieving the pain. However, in overall, GKRS was preferable, despite the delayed pain relief, due to the lower rate of surgical complications that arise owing to the old age.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.107-116
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• 2006

Korean entomopathogenic nematode strain were evaluated against white grubs, Popillia quadriguttata, Ectinohoplia rufipes and Phyllopertha diversa in laboratory. In addition we examined the efficacy of entomopatogenic nematode, Heterorhabditis sp. KCTC 0991BP strain against white grubs in Seaside Golf Club in Gimpo, Gyeonggii and persistence of entomopatogenic nematode in fairway of Anyang Benest Golf Club in Gunpo, Gyeonggii. In laboratory Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Hamyang strain showed 95% mortality against Popillia quadriguttata. H. bacteriophora Hamyang strain and Heterorhabditis sp. KCTC 0991BP induced 80% mortality against 3rd instar of Ectinohoplia rufipes. However, the letter showed only 60% mortality against Phyllopertha diversa. White grub density was reduced to 39% by the application of Heterorhabditis sp. KCTC 0991BP at the rate of $2.24{\times}10^9$ infective juveniles $ha^{-1}$ compared with control in Seaside Golf Club. Heterorhabditis sp. KCTC 0991BP persisted for two months at $5{\sim}10$ cm soil depth but not persisted at $0{\sim}5$ cm soil depth for the same periods when applied at the rate of $2.47{\times}10^9$ infective juveniles $ha^{-1}$.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9823-9829
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• 2014

Background: High-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) is recognized as an efficient component of therapy against pediatric osteosarcoma in combination with other drugs such as cisplatin (CDP), carboplatin (CBDCA), doxorubicin (ADM), etoposide (VP-16) and ifosfamide (IFO). Objectives: To demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the HD-MTX/CDP/DOX/VP-16/IFO [MTX(+)] protocol comparable to CDP/ADM/CBDCA/IFO [MTX(-)] for treating childhood osteosarcoma at Ramathibodi Hospital (1999-2014). Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of osteosarcoma patients aged less than 18 years treated with two chemotherapeutic regimens between 1999 and 2014. A total of 45 patients received the MTX(-) and 21 the MTX(+) protocol. Results: Overall limb-salvage and amputation rate were 12.9% and 77.7%, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis results for 3-year disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) regardless of treatment regimens were $43.4{\pm}6.0%$ and $53.2{\pm}6.1%$ respectively. The 3-year DFS and OS were improved significantly with the MTX(+) protocol compared to MTX(-) protocol (p=0.010 and p=0.009, log rank test) [$69.8{\pm}10.5%$, $79.8{\pm}9.1%$ for MTX(+) and $31.1{\pm}6.9%$, $42.2{\pm}7.4%$ for MTX(-) protocol, respectively]. Patients with metastatic osteosarcoma treated with the MTX(+) protocol had statistically significant higher 3-year DFS and OS than those treated with the MTX(-) protocol ($66.7{\pm}13.6%$ and $15.0{\pm}8.0%$ for 3-year DFS, p=0.010, $73.3{\pm}13.2%$ and $20{\pm}8.9%$ for 3-year OS, p=0.006, respectively). The independent risk factors for having inferior 3-year DFS and OS were poor histological response (tumor necrosis <90%) and treatment with the MTX(-) protocol. The multivariate analysis identified only the treatment with the MTX(-) protocol as an independent predictor of inferior OS with a hazard ratio (HR) of 3.53 (95% confidence interval of 1.2-10.41, p=0.022). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the tolerability, feasibility and efficacy of the HDMTX-based regimen improving the survival rate in pediatric osteosarcoma cases, in line with reports from developed countries.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9909-9913
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• 2014

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) remains an important cause of gastric cancer and peptic ulcer disease worldwide. Treatment of H. pylori infection is one of the effective ways to prevent gastric cancer. However, standard triple therapy for H. pylori eradication is no longer effective in many countries, including Thailand. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of adding bismuth and probiotic to standard triple therapy for H. pylori eradication. Materials and Methods: In this prospective single center study, H. pylori infected gastritis patients were randomized to receive 7- or 14-day standard triple therapy plus bismuth with probiotic or placebo. Treatment regimen consisted of 30 mg lansoprazole twice daily, 1 g amoxicillin twice daily, 1 g clarithromycin MR once daily and 1,048mg bismuth subsalicylate twice daily. Probiotic bacteria composed of Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus paracasei. Placebo was conventional drinking yogurt without probiotic. CYP2C19 genotyping and antibiotic susceptibility tests were also done. H pylori eradication was defined as a negative $^{13}C$-urea breath test at least 2 weeks after completion of treatment. Results: One hundred subjects were enrolled (25 each to 7- and 14-day regimens with probiotic or placebo). Antibiotic susceptibility tests showed 36.7% metronidazole and 1.1% clarithromycin resistance. CYP2C19 genotyping revealed 40.8%, 49% and 10.2% were rapid, intermediate and poor metabolizers, respectively. The eradication rates of 7- or 14 regimens with probiotics were 100%. Regarding adverse events, the incidence of bitter taste was significantly lower in the 7- day regimen with the probiotic group compared with 7- day regimen with placebo (40% vs. 64%; p=0.04). Conclusions: The 7-day standard triple therapy plus bismuth and probiotic can provide an excellent cure rate of H. pylori (100%) in areas with low clarithromycin resistance such as Thailand, regardless of CYP2C19 genotype. Adding a probiotic also reduced treatment-related adverse events.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10375-10379
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• 2015

Background: XELOX plus bevacizumab (XELOX-Bev) and FOLFIRI plus Bevacizumab (FOLFIRI - Bev) treatments are an effective strategies patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).The aim of this study was to compare efficacy of first-line XELOX-Bev treatment vs FOLFIRI-Bev treatment for mCRC. Materials and Methods: A total of 409 patients with mCRC who received chemotherapy were included and divided into 2 groups. Group 1 (n=298) received XELOX-Bev and Group 2 (n=111) FOLFIRI-Bev. Comparisons were made in terms of overall (OS) and progression-free (PFS) survival, response rate (RR), and grade 3-4 toxicity. Results: Median follow-up was 11 months in Group 1 and 15 months for Group 2. Complete remission was observed in 29 (9.7%) and 2 (1.8%) patients, partial remission in 139 (46.6%) and 27 (24.5%), stable disease in 88 (29.5%) and 49 (44.1%) and progressive disease in 42 (14.1%) and 33 (30.0%) patients in Group 1 and 2, respectively. Median OS was 25 months (range 2-57 months, 95%CI; 22.2-27.7) for Group 1 and 20 months (range 1-67 months, 95%CI; 16.8-23.1) for Group 2 (p=0.036). Median PFS was 9.6 months (range 2-36 months, 95%CI; 8.8-10.4) for Group 1 and 9 months (range 1-44 months, 95%CI; 7.4-10.5) for Group 2 (p=0.019). Objective RR was 56.4% in Group 1 and 26.1% in Group 2 (p<0.001). Conclusions: First-line XELOX-Bev is more effective with a better response rate, prolongation of median PFS/OS, and a superior safety profile compared with FOLFIRI-Bev.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.213-219
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• 2018

Stomach cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in Korea. When gastric cancer is detected early, the 5-year survival rate is as high as 90%. Gastroscopy is a very useful method for early diagnosis. But the false negative rate of gastric cancer in the gastroscopy was 4.6~25.8% due to the subjective judgment of the physician. Recently, the image classification performance of the image recognition field has been advanced by the convolutional neural network. Convolutional neural networks perform well when diverse and sufficient amounts of data are supported. However, medical data is not easy to access and it is difficult to gather enough high-quality data that includes expert annotations. So This paper evaluates the efficacy of transfer learning in gastroscopy classification and diagnosis. We obtained 787 endoscopic images of gastric endoscopy at Gil Medical Center, Gachon University. The number of normal images was 200, and the number of abnormal images was 587. The image size was reconstructed and normalized. In the case of the ResNet50 structure, the classification accuracy before and after applying the transfer learning was improved from 0.9 to 0.947, and the AUC was also improved from 0.94 to 0.98. In the case of the InceptionV3 structure, the classification accuracy before and after applying the transfer learning was improved from 0.862 to 0.924, and the AUC was also improved from 0.89 to 0.97. In the case of the VGG16 structure, the classification accuracy before and after applying the transfer learning was improved from 0.87 to 0.938, and the AUC was also improved from 0.89 to 0.98. The difference in the performance of the CNN model before and after transfer learning was statistically significant when confirmed by T-test (p < 0.05). As a result, transfer learning is judged to be an effective method of medical data that is difficult to collect good quality data.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 1985

Three pyrazole-herbicides, pyrazolate, pyrazoxyfene and benzophenap, were evaluated for their interaction in controlling barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crusgalli) with two chloroacetamide-herbicides, butachlor and pretilachlor. Percent inhibition of barnyardgrass growth by pyrazolate, pyrazoxyfene, and benzophenap was 44%, 64%, and 0%, respectively, when each was applied at the 1.5 leaf-stage of barnyardgrass at a rate of 3㎏ ai per ㏊ as single treatment, and the benzophenap showed 60% inhibition when it was applied at the coleoptile stage. While the lowest rate controlling the 1.5 leaf-stage barnyardgrasses by 98 to 100% of the butachlor and pretilachlor was 1.5㎏ and 200g per ㏊, respectively. All of the combinations of pyrazolate with butachlor, pyrazoxyfene with pretilachlor, and benzophenap with butachlor have shown synergistic interaction in controlling barnyardgrass on the Chisaka's isobole of 90% growth inhibition as well as on the Colby`s interaction efficacy data; synergism indices were 2.44, 1.62 and 1.52 in order. The dose combinations shown the maximal synergism were 1870g of pyrazolate with 140g of butachlor (1:0.075), 33008 of pyrazoxyfene with 338 of pretilachlor (1:0.01), and 3350g of benzophenap with 520g of butachlor (1:0.15) on the ai/㏊ basis.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.292-297
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• 2007

This study was performed to compare in vitro immune enhancing effects of polysaccharides extracted from cultivated mycelia of Agaricus blazei Murill. Carbohydrate contents of semi-purified polysaccharides were 85.6% and 95.3%, while ${\beta}$-glucan conents were 67.9% and 88.1% for intracellular and extracellular polysaccharide, respectively. Samples were adjusted to the same in their carbohydrate contents before efficacy tests. Both intracellular and extracellular polysaccharide increased nitric oxide (NO) synthesis of macrophage RAW 264.7 in dose dependent manner, and the maximum increase rate was 53.9 and 53.1% in intracellular and extraceltular polysaccharide, respectively. The polysaccharides also increased synthesis of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-$1{\beta}$, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ in RAW 264.7. For all the 3 cytokines, the increase rate of synthesis was much higher in extracellular polysaccharide compared to intracellular polysaccharide, especially at low concentration. Both polysaccarides increased the proliferation of splenocytes in vitro, intracellular polysaccharide showed increase in dose dependent manner while extraceltular polysaccharide showed increase untill medium concentration ($250\;{\mu}g/ml$). They did not show direct cytotoxicity against cancer cells such as B16F0 melanoma. As results, it was regarded that the both intracellular and extracellular polysaccharide from A. blazei showed immune enhancing effects in vitro, but the activity is higher in extracellular polysaccharide compared to intracellular polysaccharide.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.407-418
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• 2015

This study is focused on establishing the optimal conditions to enhance the production of antilisterial substances by Lactobacillus paracasei BK57 isolated from Baikkimchi. In addition, the growth and in situ lactic acid and bacteriocin production of this strain were investigated during the manufacture of fresh cheese. And then the efficacy of using Lactobacillus starter as a protective culture to improve the safety of fresh cheese against Listeria monocytogenes KCTC 3569 was estimated. Maximum growth rate and activity of antibacterial substances were obtained in Lactobacilli MRS broth at $37^{\circ}C$ with controlled pH 6.0 after 30 h of incubation under aerobic condition. However, the growth rate and antimicrobial activity of bacteriocin produced in whole milk supplemented with yeast extract (2.0%) as a substrate were lower than those obtained in MRS broth. Live cells and cell-free culture supernatant of BK57 strain were effective in the suppression of L. monocytogenes in milk, whereas the inhibitory of the bacteriocin obtained from BK57 strain was higher in BHI broth than in milk. During storage at $4^{\circ}C$ and $15^{\circ}C$ for 6 days, no significant difference was found in the cell viability and antimicrobial activity of BK 57 strain in fresh cheese. In samples held at two temperatures, there was at least a 15% reduction in the numbers of the pathogen in fresh cheese artificially contaminated with approximately $10^5CFU/ml$ of L. monocytogenes within 6 days. Our results demonstrated the usefulness of L. paracasei BK57 having antilisterial activity as a biopreservative in the cheese making process.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8637-8644
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• 2016

Background: Malignant serous effusions (MSE) are one complication in patients with advanced cancer. Endostar is a new anti-tumor drug targeting vessels which exerts potent inhibition of neovascularization. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of intraperitoneal perfusion therapy of Endostar combined with platinum chemotherapy for malignant serous effusions (MSE). Materials and Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on intraperitoneal perfusion therapy of Endostar combined with platinum chemotherapy for malignant serous effusions were searched in the electronic data of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP, CBM and WanFang. The quality of RCTs was evaluated by two independent researchers and a meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results: The total of 25 RCTs included in the meta-analysis covered 1,253 patients, and all literature quality was evaluated as "B" grade. The meta-analysis showed that Endostar combined with platinum had an advantage over platinum alone in terms of response rate of effusions (76% vs 48%, RR=1.63, 95%CI: 1.50-1.78, P<0.00001) and improvement rate in quality of life (69% vs 44%, RR=1.57, 95%CI: 1.42-1.74, P<0.00001). As for safety, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the incidences of nausea and vomiting (35% vs 34%, RR=1.01, 95%CI: 0.87-1.18, P=0.88), leucopenia (38% vs 38%, RR=1, 95%CI: 0.87-1.15, P=0.99), and renal impairment (18% vs 20%, RR=0.86, 95%CI: 0.43-1.74, P=0.68). Conclusions: Endostar combined with platinum by intraperitoneal perfusion is effective for malignant serous effusions, and patient quality of life is significantly improved without the incidence of adverse reactions being obviously increased.