• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.186-198
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors and the degree of nursing college student's clinical practice satisfaction. The sample consisted of 488 nursing students who had been in the clinical practice experience from 6 junior nursing colleges in Korea. Data for this study was collected from 20 May to 20 June, 2000. Data were analysed by SPSS/PC using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, T-test, one-way ANOVA, and regression. The results of this study are as follows : 1. The highest motive of selecting a nursing science came to be 'having a good prospect for getting a job' (29.3%), major place of the clinical nursing practice was university hospital(46.5%), and the degree of satisfaction about the nursing science was 'relatively satisfied' (43%). 2.The fields that the highest satisfaction of the nursing student's clinical practice were DR(3.25), NR(3.18), ICU(3.11), and OR(3.10). The highest rank of the nursing student's clinical practice satisfaction was 'feels more continuous nursing studying is required after getting a job or pass the RN exam'(4.24). 3. There was significant value between the Grade(2yr, 3yr) and the satisfaction of the clinical practice environment(p<0.001), the clinical practice interpersonal relationship (p<0.001), the clinical practice evaluation (p<0.05), and there was significant value between the satisfaction about the nursing science and the satisfaction of the clinical practice environment(p<0.001), the clinical practice interpersonal relation ship (p<0.05), the satisfation after the clinical practice(p<0.001). 4. There was significant value between 'the opinion of the clinical practice periods' and the satisfaction of the clinical practice place(p<0.05), the clinical practice environment(p<0.001), the clinical practice interpersonal relationship(p<0.001), the satisfation after the clinical practice(p<0.001). 5.The satisfaction of the clinical practice interpersonal relationship influenced on the nursing student's clinical practice satisfaction($R^{2}=.188$). From these results, it is suggested that the higher the satisfaction of the clinical practice interpersonal relationship be like to improve the nursing college student's clinical practice satisfaction.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.249-254
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• 2016

Molecular detection methods such as RT-PCR for detecting breast cancer-associated gene expression in the peripheral blood have the potential to modify breast cancer (BC) staging and therapy. In this regard, we evaluated the potential of erb-B2 molecular marker in BC detection and analyzed the expression of erb-B2 mRNA in the peripheral blood and fresh tissue samples of 50 pretreated female BC patients and 50 healthy females by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) method. We also assessed the correlation of erb-B2 mRNA marker positivity in peripheral blood and tumor tissue samples with clinical and pathological factors in BC patients in order to evaluate its prognostic value. It was shown that there is a significant difference between healthy females and BC patients with expression of the erb-B2 molecular marker (p<0.01). A significant difference between the expression of erb-B2 in the peripheral blood and tissue samples of BC patients (p<0.01) and the frequency of circulating erb-B2 mRNA expression in peripheral blood and in tissue was detected by RT-PCR. No correlation was found between erb-B2 mRNA expression in blood or tumor tissue samples and lymph node, tumor grade, tumor stage, tumor size, patient's age, ki67, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PGR), P53, and HER-2 status. However, in a small subset of 31 BC patients we found that expression of erb-B2 in peripheral blood or in both peripheral blood and tumor tissue was directly correlated with lympho-vascular invasion and perineural invasion as poor prognostic features. The highest rates of erb-B2 expression in peripheral blood or tumor tissue were in the ER and PR negative and HER-2 positive group. This study suggests that the application of the RT-PCR and immunohistochemical methods for erb-B2 molecular marker detection would provide a higher detection rate, especially in early stage BC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.5075-5079
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• 2015

Background: Adverse effects of treatment prolongation beyond 8 weeks with radiotherapy for cervical cancer have been established. Clinical data also show that cisplatin increases the biologically effective dose of radiotherapy. However, there are no data on the effect of overall treatment time in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated with concomitant chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) in an Indian population. The present study concerned the feasibility of concurrent chemotherapy and interspacing brachytherapy during the course of external radiotherapy to reduce the overall treatment time and compare the normal tissue toxicity and loco-regional control with a conventional schedule. Materials and Methods: Between January 2009 and March 2012 fifty patients registered in the Gynaecologic Oncology Clinic of Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital with locally advanced cervical cancer (FIGO stage IIB-IIIB) were enrolled. The patients were randomly allocated to treatment arms based on a computer generated random number. Arm I (n=25) treatment consisted of irradiation of the whole pelvis to a dose of 50 Gy in 27 fractions, and weekly cisplatin $40mg/m^2$. High dose rate intra-cavitary brachytherapy (HDR-ICBT) was performed after one week of completion of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). The prescribed dose for each session was 7Gy to point A for three insertions at one week intervals. Arm II (n=25) treatment consisted of irradiation of the whole pelvis to a dose of 50 Gy in 27 fractions. Mention HDR-ICBT ICRT was performed after 40Gy and 7Gy was delivered to point A for three insertions (days 23, 30, 37) at one week intervals. Cisplatin $20mg/m^2/day$ was administered from D1-5 and D24-28. Overall treatment time was taken from first day of EBRT to last day of HDR brachytherapy. The overall loco-regional response rate (ORR) was determined at 3 and 6 months. Results: A total of 46 patients completed the planned treatment. The overall treatment times in arm I and arm II were $65{\pm}12$ and $48{\pm}4$ days, respectively (p=0.001). At three and six months of follow-up the ORR for arm I was 96% while that for arm II was 88%. No statistically significant difference was apparent between the two arms. The overall rate of grade ${\geq}3$ toxicity was numerically higher in arm I (n=7) than in arm II (n=4) though statistical significance was not reached. None of the predefined prognostic factors like age, performance status, baseline haemoglobin level, tumour size, lymph node involvement, stage or histopathological subtype showed any impact on outcome. Conclusions: In the setting of concurrent chemoradiotherapy a shorter treatment schedule of 48 days may be feasible by interspacing brachytherapy during external irradiation. The response rates and toxicities were comparable.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5239-5243
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• 2014

Background: The prognosis of young colorectal cancer (CRC) patients has been addressed by several studies but with contradictory results. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinico-pathological features of young Saudi patients with CRC in addition to displaying their survival outcome. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, young CRC patients (${\leq}40$ years) diagnosed between 2007 and 2011 from 4 centres in western Saudi Arabia, were included. Clinico-pathological features, tumor markers, dates of disease relapse and death were collected. Survival parameters were compared with those of older Saudi patients, reported in previous studies. Results: One hundred and sixteen young patients with CRC were identified (32.2% rectal, 67.8% colon). Some 44% were metastatic while 32.7% had stage III at diagnosis. Patients with grade 3 tumors made up 29.4% of the total while 49.5% had positive lymphovascular invasion (LVI), 56% had a lymph node (LN) ratio ${\geq}0.2$ and 40.2% were K-ras mutant. Median disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in non-metastatic cases were 22.8 and 49.6 months respectively with better median DFS in K-ras wild compared to mutant patients (28.5 vs 20.9 months, p=0.005). In metastatic cases, median OS was 19.5 months. These survival outcomes are inferior compared to those of older Saudi patients reported in prior studies. Conclusions: Young CRC patients present more commonly with advanced stage and a high incidence of adverse prognostic factors such as LVI and high LN ratio. Young CRC patients seem to have worse survival compared to older Saudi patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4769-4774
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• 2013

This paper is the first to present the incidence and overall survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) from the extreme northern part of the Philippines. We retrospectively retrieved the records of patients with histologically-confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx and larynx at the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center, Ilocos Norte, Philippines, from 2003 to 2012 and analysed prognostic factors associated with survival. Of the 150 cases, only 80 (53.3%) were still living when the study was terminated. Median age at initial diagnosis was 61.5 years and the male to female ratio was 7:3. The majority of the cases had tumours in the oral cavity (50.7%), followed by the larynx (36.7%). Sex (log rank=1.94, p value/${\alpha}$=0.16), tumor site (log rank=0.02, p value/${\alpha}$=0.90), tumor grade (log rank=1.74, p value/${\alpha}$=0.42), and node stage (log rank=0.07, p value/${\alpha}$=0.80) were not shown to be associated with the survival of our cases. Only 45 (30.0%) had no regional lymph node involvement (N0) at presentation and 12 (8.0%) had already developed distant metastases. Among the 150 patients, 71 (47.3%) were not able to receive treatment of any kind. Oddly, treatment (log rank=1.65, p value/${\alpha}$=0.20) was also shown to be not associated with survival. The survival rate of those who underwent surgery, radiotherapy, or both was not statistically different from those who did not receive any treatment. Only the tumor stage (log rank=4.51, p value/${\alpha}$=0.03) was associated with patient survival. The overall mean survival was 49.3 months, with survival rate diminishing from 88.3% during the 1st year to 1.80% by end of the study. This relatively low survival rate of our cases only reflects their poor access to quality diagnostic and treatment facilities.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.5081-5086
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• 2016

Background: Pathological factors, based mainly on immunohistochemistry (IHC) and histological differentiation, are mostly used to differentiate breast cancer (BC) subtypes. Our present aim was to describe the characteristics and survival of a relapsing BC patient cohort based on clinico-pathologic subtypes determined for the primary tumors. Methods: We used a clinico- pathological definition of BC subtypes based on histological grade (HG), estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR),and epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) expression assessed by IHC. We determined variables associated with loco-regional recurrence (LRR), second primaries (SP), systemic recurrence (SR) and post-recurrence survival (PRS). Results: Out of 1,702 patients, 240 (14%) had an event defined as recurrence. Those with recurrent disease were significantly younger than those without,and were initially diagnosed at more advanced stages, with larger tumors, greater lymph nodal involvement and higher HG. With a median follow up of 61 months (1-250), 4.6% of patients without recurrence and 56.6% of patients with an event defined as recurrence had died. The median PRS for the LRR group was 77 months; 75 months for those who developed a SP and 22 months for patients with an SR (p <0.0001). In SR cases, the median PRS was shorter for ER- tumors than for ER+ tumors (15 vs. 26 months, respectively; p = 0.0019, HR 0.44; CI: 0.25-0.44). Conclusions: Subtype, defined through classic histopathologic parameters determined for primary tumors, was found to eb related to type of recurrence and also to prognosis after relapse.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2109-2114
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• 2012

Background: Ethnic variation in tumor characteristics and clinical presentation of breast cancer is increasingly being emphasized. We studied the tumor characteristics and factors which may influence the presentation and prognosis of triple negative breast cancers (TNC) in a cohort of Chinese women. Methods: A prospective cohort of 1800 Chinese women with breast cancer was recruited in a tertiary referral unit in Hong Kong between 1995 and 2006 and was followed up with a median duration of 7.2 years. Of the total, 216 (12.0%) had TNC and 1584 (88.0%) had non-TNC. Their clinicopathological variables, epidemiological variables and clinical outcomes were evaluated. Results: Patients with TNC had similar age of presentation as those with non-TNC, while presenting at earlier stages (82.4% were stage 1-2, compared to 78.4% in non-TNC, p=0.035). They were likely to be associated with grade 3 cancer (Hazard Ratio(HR)=5.8, p<0.001). TNC showed higher chance of visceral relapse (HR=2.69, p<0.001), liver metastasis (HR=1.7, p=0.003) and brain metastasis (HR=1.8, p=0.003). Compared with non-TNC group, TNC had similar 10-year disease-free survival (82% vs 84%, p=0.148), overall survival (78% vs 79%, p=0.238) and breast cancer-specific mortality (18% vs 16%, p=0.095). However, TNC showed poorer 10-year stage 3 and 4 specific survival (stage 3: 53% vs. 67%, p=0.010; stage 4: 0% vs. 40%, p=0.035). Conclusions: Chinese women with triple negative breast cancer do not have less aggressive biological behavior compared to the West and presentation at a later stage results in worse prognosis compared with those with non triple negative breast cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.827-831
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• 2012

To determine the relationship between comorbidity and outcome after radical cystectomy in Chinese patients by using the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation (ACE)-27 index. Two-hundred-and-forty-six patients treated with radical cystectomy at the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Hunan Province, China between 2000 and 2010 were retrospectively analyzed. Medical records were reviewed for age, gender, delayed time of radical cystectomy, urinary diversion type, pelvic lymphadenectomy status, TNM stage, and pathological grade. Comorbidity information was assessed by the ACE-27 index. The outcome measurement was overall survival. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to determine the association between comorbidity and outcome. The study population consisted of 215 (87.40%) males and 31 (12.60%) females with a mean age of $62{\pm}11$ years. Median duration of follow-up was $47{\pm}31$ months. A total of 151 (61.38%) patents died during follow-up. Of those, 118 (47.97%) had at least one comorbidity. According to the ACE-27 scores, 128 (52.03%) patients had no comorbidity, 79 (32.11%) had mild, 33 (13.41%) had moderate, and 6 (2.45%) had severe comorbidities. Multivariate analysis indicated that moderate (p=0.002) and severe (p<0.001) comorbidity was significantly associated with decreased overall survival. In addition, age ${\geq}70$ years (p=0.002), delayed time of radical cystectomy >12 weeks (p=0.044), pelvic lymphadenectomy status (p=0.014), and TNM stage >T3 (p<0.001) were determined to be independent risk factors of overall survival. Increasing severity of comorbidity statistically correlated with decreased overall survival after radical cystectomy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3431-3436
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• 2016

Background: Carcinogenesis is a multifaceted intricate cellular mechanism of transformation of the normal functions of a cell into neoplastic alterations. Metastasis may result in failure of conventional treatment and death Hence, research on metastatic suppressors in cancer is a high priority. The metastatic suppressor gene CD82, also known as KAI1, is a member of the transmembrane 4 superfamily which was first identified in carcinoma of prostate. Little work has been done on this gene in breast cancer. Herein, we aimed to determine the gene and protein level expression of CD82/KAI1 in breast cancer and its role as a prognosticator. Materials and Methods: In this study, 83 histologically proven cases of breast cancer and a similar number of controls were included. Patient age ranged from 18-70 years. Quantitative Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (q-RT PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to investigate KAI1 expression at gene and protein levels, respectively. Statistical analysis was done to correlate expression of KAI1 and clinicopathological parameters. Results: It was revealed that: (i) KAI1 was remarkably diminished in metastatic vs non metastatic breast cancer both at the gene and the protein levels (P < .05); (ii) KAI1 expression levels were strongly correlated with TNM staging, histological grade and advanced stage (p<0.001) and no association was found with any other studied parameter; (iii) Lastly, a significant correlation was observed between expression of KAI1 and overall median survival of BC patients (P = 0.04). Conclusions: Our results suggest that lack of expression of the KAI1 might indicate a more aggressive form of breast cancer. Loss of KAI1 may be considered a significant prognostic marker in predicting metastatic manifestation. When evaluated along with the clinical and pathological factors, KAI1 expression may be beneficial to tailor aggressive therapeutic strategies for such patients.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.135-145
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• 2016

This research intended to investigate, from an ecological perspective, significant predictors affecting school life satisfaction. The subjects were 312 students(2nd grade) of commercial high school in Kyonggido. Data collected by questionnaire survey were analyzed by SPSS Win 22.0 and descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, hierarchical linear regression, and stepwise regression were conducted. There were 21 independent variables: 8 organism variables (self-competence, interpersonal skills, internal control, mood awareness, emotional expression, empathy, emotional regulation, emotional capability), 9 microsystem variables(school variables: the relationship with teachers, school learning, classroom climate, school welfare facilities, school environment/peer variables: peer relationship/family variables: family functioning, education level of fathers, economic status), 2 mesosystem variables(parent-teacher relationship, parent-children's peer relationship), 1 exosystem variables(satisfaction with Korean educational system), 1 macrosystem variables(Korean's primal belief in educational achievement). The results are as follows; the significant variables were the relationship with teachers, satisfaction with Korean educational system, peer relationship, emotional capability, parent-teacher relationship($R^2=45.3%$); and the effect of microsystem was the strongest($R^2=35.7%$). This research is meaningful of analyzing school life satisfaction of commercial high school in terms of ecological perspective.