• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find out what clinicopathologic or immunohistochemical parameter that may affect FDG uptake of primary tumor in PET/CT scan of the gastric carcinoma patient. Materials and Methods: Eighty-nine patients with stomach cancer who underwent pre-operative FDG PET/CT scans were included. In cases with perceptible FDG uptake in primary tumor, the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) was calculated. The clinicopathologic results such as depth of invasion (T stage), tumor size, lymph node metastasis, tumor differentiation and Lauren's classification and immunohistochemical markers such as Ki-67 index, expression of p53, EGFR, Cathepsin D, c-erb-B2 and COX-2 were reviewed. Results: Nineteen out of 89 gastric carcinomas showed imperceptible FDG uptake on PET/CT images. In cases with perceptible FDG uptake in primary tumor, SUVmax was significantly higher in T2, T3 and T4 tumors than T1 tumors ($5.8{\pm}3.1$ vs. $3.7{\pm}2.1$, p=0.002). SUVmax of large tumors (above or equal to 3 cm) was also significantly higher than SUVmax of small ones (less than 3 cm) ($5.7{\pm}3.2$ vs. $3.7{\pm}2.0$, p=0.002). The intestinal types of gastric carcinomas according to Lauren showed higher FDG uptake compared to the non-intestinal types ($5.4{\pm}2.8$ vs. $3.7{\pm}1.3$, p=0.003). SUVmax between p53 positive group and negative group was significantly different ($6.0{\pm}2.8$ vs. $4.4{\pm}3.0$, p=0.035). No significant difference was found in presence of LN metastasis, tumor differentiation, Ki-67 index, and expression of EGFR, Cathepsin D, c-erb-B2 and COX-2. Conclusion: T stage of gastric carcinoma influenced the detectability of gastric cancer on FDG PET PET/CT scan. When gastric carcinoma was perceptible on PET/CT scan, T stage, size of primary tumor, Lauren's classification and p53 expression were related to degree of FDG uptake in primary tumor.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2009

Purpose: Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) has variable degree of F-18 FDG avidity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between F-18 FDG uptake and pathological or immunohistochemical features of DTC. Materials and Methods: DTC patients who underwent both pre-operative F-18 FDG PET/CT scan and surgery were included in the study. Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) of primary tumor were calculated. If the primary tumor showed no perceptibly increased F-18 FDG uptake, region of interest was drawn based on finding of a portion of the PET/CT images. Pathological and immunohistochemical markers such as presence of lymph node (LN) metastasis and underlying thyroiditis, tumor size, Ki-67 labeling index, expressions of EGFR, COX-2, and Galectin-3 were evaluated. Results: Total of 106 patients was included (102 papillary carcinomas, 4 follicular carcinomas). The mean SUVmax of the large tumors (above 1 cm) was significantly higher than the mean SUVmax of small (equal to or less than 1 cm) ones ($7.8{\pm}8.5$ vs. $3.6{\pm}3.1$, p=0.004). No significant difference in F-18 FDG uptake was found according to the presence or absence of LN metastasis and underlying thyroiditis, or the degree of Ki-67 labeling index, expression of EGFR, COX- 2 and Galectin-3. Conclusion: In conclusion, the degree of F-18 FDG uptake in DTC was associated with the size of primary tumor. But there seem to be no relationship between F-18 FDG uptake of DTC and expression of Ki-67, EGFR, COX-2 and Galectin-3.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.59-77
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• 2012

This study focuses on predicting which firms will increase capital by issuing new stocks in the near future. Many stakeholders, including banks, credit rating agencies and investors, performs a variety of analyses for firms' growth, profitability, stability, activity, productivity, etc., and regularly report the firms' financial analysis indices. In the paper, we develop predictive models for rights issues using these financial analysis indices and data mining techniques. This study approaches to building the predictive models from the perspective of two different analyses. The first is the analysis period. We divide the analysis period into before and after the IMF financial crisis, and examine whether there is the difference between the two periods. The second is the prediction time. In order to predict when firms increase capital by issuing new stocks, the prediction time is categorized as one year, two years and three years later. Therefore Total six prediction models are developed and analyzed. In this paper, we employ the decision tree technique to build the prediction models for rights issues. The decision tree is the most widely used prediction method which builds decision trees to label or categorize cases into a set of known classes. In contrast to neural networks, logistic regression and SVM, decision tree techniques are well suited for high-dimensional applications and have strong explanation capabilities. There are well-known decision tree induction algorithms such as CHAID, CART, QUEST, C5.0, etc. Among them, we use C5.0 algorithm which is the most recently developed algorithm and yields performance better than other algorithms. We obtained data for the rights issue and financial analysis from TS2000 of Korea Listed Companies Association. A record of financial analysis data is consisted of 89 variables which include 9 growth indices, 30 profitability indices, 23 stability indices, 6 activity indices and 8 productivity indices. For the model building and test, we used 10,925 financial analysis data of total 658 listed firms. PASW Modeler 13 was used to build C5.0 decision trees for the six prediction models. Total 84 variables among financial analysis data are selected as the input variables of each model, and the rights issue status (issued or not issued) is defined as the output variable. To develop prediction models using C5.0 node (Node Options: Output type = Rule set, Use boosting = false, Cross-validate = false, Mode = Simple, Favor = Generality), we used 60% of data for model building and 40% of data for model test. The results of experimental analysis show that the prediction accuracies of data after the IMF financial crisis (59.04% to 60.43%) are about 10 percent higher than ones before IMF financial crisis (68.78% to 71.41%). These results indicate that since the IMF financial crisis, the reliability of financial analysis indices has increased and the firm intention of rights issue has been more obvious. The experiment results also show that the stability-related indices have a major impact on conducting rights issue in the case of short-term prediction. On the other hand, the long-term prediction of conducting rights issue is affected by financial analysis indices on profitability, stability, activity and productivity. All the prediction models include the industry code as one of significant variables. This means that companies in different types of industries show their different types of patterns for rights issue. We conclude that it is desirable for stakeholders to take into account stability-related indices and more various financial analysis indices for short-term prediction and long-term prediction, respectively. The current study has several limitations. First, we need to compare the differences in accuracy by using different data mining techniques such as neural networks, logistic regression and SVM. Second, we are required to develop and to evaluate new prediction models including variables which research in the theory of capital structure has mentioned about the relevance to rights issue.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2002

Purpose : A retrospective study was undertaken to determine the role of conventional radiotherapy with or without surgery for treating a supraglottic carcinoma in terms of the local control and survival. Materials and Methods : From Jan. 1986 to Oct. 1996, a total of 134 patients were treated for a supraglottic carcinoma by radiotherapy with or without surgery. Of them, 117 patients who had completed the radiotherapy formed the base of this study. The patients were redistributed according to the revised AJCC staging system (1997). The number of patients of stage I, II, III, IVA, IVB were $6\;(5\%),\;16\;(14\%),\;53\;(45\%),\;32\;(27\%),\;10\;(9\%)$, respectively. Eighty patients were treated by radical radiotherapy in the range of $61.2\~79.2\;Gy$ (mean : 69.2 Gy) to the primary tumor and $45.0\~93.6\;Gy$ (mean : 54.0 Gy) to regional lymphatics. All patients with stage I and IVB were treated by radiotherapy alone. Thirty-seven patients underwent surgery plus postoperative radiotherapy in the range of $45.0\~68.4\;Gy$ (mean : 56.1 Gy) to the primary tumor bed and $45.0\~59.4\;Gy$ (mean : 47.2 Gy) to the regional lymphatics. Of them, 33 patients received a total laryngectomy (${\pm}lymph$ node dissection), three had a supraglottic horizontal laryngectomy (${\pm}lymph$ node dissection), and one had a primary excision alone. Results : The 5-year survival rate (5YSR) of all patients was $43\%$. The 5YSRs of the patients with stage I+II, III+IV were $49.9\%,\;41.2\%$, respectively (p=0.27). However, the disease-specific survival rate of the patients with stage I (n=6) was $100\%$. The 5YSRs of patients who underwent surgery plus radiotherapy (S+RT) vs radiotherapy alone (RT) in stage II, III, IVA were $100\%\;vs\;43\%$ (p=0.17), $62\%\;vs\;52\%$ (p=0.32), $58\%\;vs\;6\%$ (p<0.001), respectively. The 5-year actuarial locoregional control rate (5YLCR) of all the patients was $57\%$. The 5YLCR of the patients with stage I, II, III, IVA, IVB was $100\%,\;74\%,\;60\%,\;44\%,\;30\%$, respectively (p=0.008). The 5YLCR of the patients with S+RT vs RT in stage II, III, IVA was $100\%\;vs\;68\%$ (p=0.29), $67\%\;vs\;55\%$ (p=0.23), $81\%\;vs\;20\%$ (p<0.001), respectively. In the radiotherapy alone group, the 5YLCR of the patients with a complete, partial, and minimal response were $76\%,\;20\%,\;0\%$, respectively (p<0.001). In all patients, multivariate analysis showed that the N-stage, surgery or not, and age were significant factors affecting the survival rate and that the N-stage, surgery or not, and the ECOG performance index were significant factors affecting the locoregional control. In the radiotherapy alone group, multivariate analysis showed that the radiation response and N-stage were significant factors affecting the overall survival rate as well as locoregional control. Conclusion : In early stage supraglottic carcinoma, conventional radiotherapy alone is an equally effective modality compared to surgery plus radiotherapy and could preserve the laryngeal function. However, in the advanced stages, radiotherapy combined with concurrent chemotherapy for laryngeal preservation or surgery should be considered. In bulky neck disease, all the possible planned neck dissections after induction chemotherapy or before radiotherapy should be attempted.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.313-318
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• 2013

Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) have been used as a powerful fusion modality in nuclear medicine not only for detecting cancer but also for staging and therapy monitoring. Nevertheless, there are various causes of FDG uptake in normal and/or benign tissues. The purpose of present study was to investigate whether additional delayed imaging can improve the diagnosis to differentiate the rates of FDG uptake at axillary lymph nodes (ALN) between malignant and benign in breast cancer patients. 180 PET/CT images were obtained for 27 patients with ALN uptake. The patients who had radiotherapy and chemotherapy were excluded from the study. $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT scan at 50 min (early phase) and 90 min (delayed phase) after $^{18}F$-FDG injection were included in this retrospective study. The staging of cancers was confirmed by final clinical according to radiologic follow-up and pathologic findings. The standardized uptake value (SUV) of ALN was measured at the Syngo Acquisition Workplace by Siemens. The 27 patients included 18 malignant and 9 ALN benign groups and the 18 malignant groups were classified into the 3 groups according to number of metastatic ALN in each patient. ALNs were categorized less than or equal 3 as N1, between 4 to 9 as N2 and more than 10 as N3 group. Results are expressed as the mean${\pm}$standard deviation (S.D.) and statistically analyzed by SPSS. As a result, Retention index (RI-SUV max) in metastasis was significantly higher than that in non-metastasis about 5 fold increased. On the other hand, RI-SUV max in N group tended to decrease gradually from N1 to N3. However, we could not prove significance statistically in malignant group with ANOVA. As a consequence, RI-SUV max was good indicator for differentiating ALN positive group from node negative group in breast cancer patients. These results show that dual-time-point scan appears to be useful in distinguishing malignant from benign.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2008

Purpose: Many recent studies have reported on the feasibility and usefulness of laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) for treating early gastric cancer. On the other hand, there has been few reports about laparoscopy assisted total gastrectomy (LATG) because upper located gastric cancer is relatively rare and the surgical technique is more difficult than that for LADG, We now present our procedure and results of performing LATG for the gastric cancer located in the upper or middle portion of the stomach. Materials and Methods: From Jan 2005 to Sep 2007, 96 patients underwent LATG by four surgeons at the Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. Among them, 48 consecutive patients who were operated on by asingle surgeon were analyzed with respect to the clinicopathological features, the surgical results and the postoperative courses with using the prospectively collected laparoscopy surgery data. Results: There was no conversion to open surgery during LATG. For all the reconstructions, Roux-en Y esophago-jejunostomy and D1+beta lymphadenectomy were the standard procedures. The mean operation time was $212{\pm}67$ minutes. The mean total number of retrieved lymph nodes was $28.9{\pm}10.54$ (range: $12{\sim}64$) and all the patients had a clear proximal resection margin in their final pathologic reports. The mean time to passing gas, first oral feeding and discharge from the hospital was 2.98, 3.67 and 7.08 days, respectively. There were 5 surgical complications and 2 non-surgical complications for 5 (10.4%) patients, and there was no mortality. None of the patients needed operation because of complications and they recovered with conservative treatments. The mean operation time remained constant after 20 cases and so a learning curve was present. The morbidity rate was not different between the two periods, but the postoperative course was significantly better after the learning curve. Analysis of the factors contributing to the postoperative morbidity, with using logistic regression analysis, showed that the 8MI is the only contributing factor forpostoperative complications (P=0.029, HR=2.513, 95% CI=1.097-5.755). Conclusions: LATG with regional lymph node dissection for upper and middle early gastric cancer is considered to be a safe, feasible method that showed an excellent postoperative course and acceptable morbidity. BMI should be considered in the patient selection at the beginning period because of the impact of the BMI on the postoperative morbidity.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 2008

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the short-term operative outcomes of laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy (LATG) with those of open total gastrectomy (OTG) for patients suffering with advanced upper gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: Of the 47 patients who underwent LATG with $D1+{\beta}$ or D2 lymphadenectomy from July 2004 to March 2008, 29 patients with pathologically proven advanced gastric cancer were compared with 35 patients who underwent conventional OTG during the same time period. The comparison was based on the clinicopathological characteristics, the surgical outcome, the follow-up survival and tumor recurrence. Results: The patients' age, gender and body mass index were similar between the two groups. However, there were statistically differences in tumor size ($9.2{\pm}3.9$ vs $6.1{\pm}3.6cm$, P=0.002) and the proximal resected margin ($2.1{\pm}2.0$ vs $3.6{\pm}2.1cm$ P=0.004). There was no significant difference in most of the peri- and post-operative courses such as the time to first flatus, the time to starting a solid diet and the length of the hospital stay, except for a longer operating time (289.0 vs. 361.3 minutes, P<0.001) in the LATG group. The complication rate was higher in the LATG group (13.8%) than that in the OTG group (5.7%). The mean overall survival and disease free survival times were 32 and 31 months, and 24 and 28 months, respectively, with an average 18.8 months follow-up duration. The main recurrent sites were peritoneum and lymph node in both groups. Conclusion: The early results of the current study suggest that LATG for AGC is technically feasible and it does not show any inferiorities of the postoperative outcomes as compared to those of conventional open total gastrectomy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.134-141
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• 1998

Primary lung cancer has recently increased progressively in its incidence in Korea. It is clearly evident that surgical resection offers the best offortunity for cure of non-small cell carcinoma. This study was designed to analyse the clinical data of 100 primary non-small cell carcinoma patients who underwent lung resection surgery from January 1992 to July 1995 at the department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Sugery, Kyungpook National University Hospital. There were 86 males and 14 females(6:1). In the age distribution, the peak incidence was recorded in the seventh decade(43%). The methods of tissue diagnosis were bronchoscopic biopsy in 53 patients(50.5%), percutaneous needle aspiration in 17 patients(16.2%), transbronchial lung biopsy in 11 patients(10.5%), mediastinoscopic biopsy in 2 patients (1.9%), sputum cytology in 2 patients(1.9%), and thoracotomy in 20 patients(19.0%). Fifty-five lobectomies, 22 pneumonectomies, 15 bilobectomies, 2 segmentectomies, 4 sleeve lobectomies, a sleeve pneumonectomy, and a wedge pneumonectomy were performed. Operative mortality occured in 4 cases(sepsis in 2 cases, respiratory failure in 1 case, and acute myocardiac infarction in 1 case). The histologic types of tumor were 67 squamous cell carcinomas, 26 adenocarcinomas, 6 large cell carcinomas, and an adenosquamous cell carcinoma. Eighteen patients with N2 mediastinal lymph node metastases had 8 squamous cell carcinomas(11.9%), 9 adenocarcinomas(34.6%), and a large cell carcinoma(16.7%). The primary tumors in these patients were in the right upper lobe in 4 patients, the right middle and lower lobe in 9 patients, the left upper lobe in 3 patients, and the left lower lobe in 2 patients. With regard to pathologic stages, 45 patients had stage I disease; 13 patients, stage II; 36 patients, stage IIIa; 5 patients, stage IIIb; and 1 patient, stage IV. The overall actuarial survival rate was 77.5% at 12 months, 56.1% at 24 months and 43.7% at 43 months. The actuarial survival rates at 43 months were 81.3% in Stage I, 20.8% in Stage II, 27.9% in Stage IIIa, 25.0% in Stage IIIb and 33.3% in Stage IV. These facts suggest that early detection and surgical resection are recommended for favorable postoperative survival in non-small cell lung cancer.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.256-261
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• 2008

Purpose: Intra-abdominal fluid collection is one of the risk factors associated with postoperative morbidity or mortality for patients who undergo gastric cancer surgery. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients with postoperative intra-abdominal fluid collection and to identify the indications for inserting a percutaneous drain (PCD) in patients with intra-abdominal fluid collection. Materials and Methods: Among the 1,277 patients who underwent operations for gastric cancer at Seoul National University Hospital between April 2005 and July 2006, the data of 117 patients with an intra-abdominal fluid collection were reviewed. Results: The number of patients' with pathologic stage I, II, III and IV disease was 42 (36.8%), 23 (20.2%), 16 (14%) and 33 (28.9%), respectively. Forty-three patients (36.3%) underwent PCD insertion and the other 43 patients received conservative management. A univariate analysis of multiple clinical variables revealed that age, gender, diabetes, liver disease, lymph node dissection, the pathologic stage and the body mass index (BMI, $kg/m^2$) were not significantly associated with PCD insertion (P>0.05). However, the univariate analysis showed that two characteristics were associated with a significantly high incidence of PCD insertion: a diameter of an intra-abdominal fluid collection greater than 4 cm and infectious signs such as leukocytosis, fever and bacteremia. Conclusion: About two thirds of the intra-abdominal fluid collections after surgery for gastric cancer were managed with only conservative method without other morbidities of mortality. Surgeons should consider performing PCD insertion if the largest diameter of an intra-abdominal fluid collection is over 4 cm or if infectious signs are seen.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.70
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• pp.303-345
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• 2018

In this article, how the Bangmok(榜目) documents, which are essentially lists of successful passers for the civil competitive examination system of the $Chos{\breve{o}}n$ dynasty, when rendered into digitalized formats, could serve as source of information, which would not only lets us know the $Chos{\breve{o}}n$ individuals' social backgrounds and bloodlines but also enables us to understand the intricate nature that the Yangban network had, will be discussed. In digitalized humanity studies, the Bangmok materials, literally a list of leading elites of the $Chos{\breve{o}}n$ period, constitute a very interesting and important source of information. Based upon these materials, we can see how the society -as well as the Yangban community- was like. Currently, all data inside these Bangmok lists are rendered in XML(eXtensible Makrup Language) format and are being served through DBMS(Database Management System), so anyone who would want to examine the statistics could freely do so. Also, by connecting the data in these Bangmok materials with data from genealogy records, we could identify an individual's marital relationship, home town, and political affiliation, and therefore create a complex narrative that would be effective in describing that individual's life in particular. This is a graphic database, which shows-when Bangmok data is punched in-successful passers as individual nodes, and displays blood and marital relations in a very visible way. Clicking upon the nodes would provide you with access to all kinds of relationships formed among more than 90 thousand successful passers, and even the overall marital network, once the genealogical data is input. In Korea, since 2005 and through now, the task of digitalizing data from the Civil exam Bangmok(Mun-gwa Bangmok), Military exam Bangmok (Mu-gwa Bangmok), the "Sa-ma" Bangmok and "Jab-gwa" Bangmok materials, has been completed. They can be accessed through a website(http://people.aks.ac.kr/index.aks) which has information on numerous famous past Korean individuals. With this kind of source of information, we are now able to extract professional Jung-in figures from these lists. However, meaningful and practical studies using this data are yet to be announced. This article would like to remind everyone that this information should be used as a window through which we could see not only the lives of individuals, but also the society.