• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.75-86
• /
• 2002

Prupose: The purpose of this study was to identify signs and symptoms of hospice patients during their dying processes. Method: The subjects of this study were 76 patients who received hospice care services in 2 different hospice care programs in Seoul area. Data was obtained from January, 1999 to June, 2001 by hospice nurse's observation, interviews with patient's primary caregiver and hospice volunteers, patient's self report, nursing records and questionnaires which had been developed by selecting from various references and refining them based on the result of preliminay studies. The collected data were analyzed with the SPSS PC+ program and content analysis. Results: Mean lengths of hospice patient's dying process were 3.6 days. Physical signs and symptoms of hospice patients during their dying processes were 'increased sleep'(89.5%), 'decreased oral intake of food'(88.2%) and 'liquids'(86.8%), 'change of respiration'(82.9%), 'decreased urine output'(80.3%), 'cold extremities'(69.7%), 'death rattle'(67.1%), 'cyanosis'(57.9%), 'restlessness'(55.3%), etc. And psychological, spiritual and social signs and symptoms were 'decreased interpersonal relationships'(61.8%), 'panorama of memories from childhood'(60.5%), 'experiences as like hallucination'(56.5%), 'saying bye with family'(69.7%), 'forgiveness', 'make a will', etc. Experiences as like hallucination were seemed not as dream but reality were shown by 43 dying patients. They had experienced to see and to talk with their deceased mother(18.6%) and/or relatives(30.2%), angels(20.9%), heaven(11.6%), old house in which they had lived, someone from the world beyond with black clothes, etc. Conclusion: The above results indicate that death of hospice patients is ongoing process with dying signs and symptoms during several days contains not only in physical aspects but also among psychological, spiritual and social aspects including family dynamics.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.7
• /
• pp.3327-3330
• /
• 2014

Background: The purpose of the study was to analyse the clinicopathological spectrum of benign and malignant odontogenic tumours (OT) in Pakistan. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) Rawalpindi. Seven years archival records of histologically diagnosed odontogenic tumours, both benign and malignant, were collected and the lesions re-diagnosed histologically in accordance with the WHO classification of head and neck tumours (2005). Clinical as well as histological data were analysed and frequency of each type of OT was calculated using computer software programme SPSS (version 17). Mean tumour size was calculated and Chi-square test was applied to find associations of age, gender and site with each histological type of tumour. Results: Only 1.7% of the odontogenic tumours diagnosed in this said period were malignant while the remaining 98.3% were benign. Amongst benign lesions, ameloblastoma was the most common (61.3%) type while primary intraosseous squamous cell carcinoma (1.7%) was the only reported malignant tumour. Mean age of the affected patients was $31.7{\pm}16.7$ years with posterior mandible as the commonest site involved. Conclusions: Our study revealed ameloblastoma and primary intraosseous squamous cell carcinoma as the commonest diagnosed benign and malignant tumours respectively. There was a significant difference in age and site of origin of different types of OT at the time of their presentation. However, all the tumours showed male predominance.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.sup3
• /
• pp.225-229
• /
• 2016

Cancer registration is an important component of a comprehensive cancer control program, providing timely data and information for research and administrative use. Capture-recapture methods have been used as tools to investigate completeness of cancer registry data. This study aimed to estimate the completeness of lung cancer cases registered in Ardabil Population Based Cancer Registry (APBCR) with a three-source capture-recapture method. Data for all new cases of lung cancer reported by three sources (pathology reports, death certificates, and medical records) to APBCR for 2006 and 2008 were obtained. Duplicate cases shared among the three sources were identified based on similarity of first name, last name and father's names. A log-linear model was used to estimate number of missed cases and to control for dependency among sources. A total of 218 new cases of lung cancer was reported by three sources after removing duplicates. The estimated completeness calculated by log-linear method was 26.4 for 2006 and 27.1 for 2008. The completeness differed according to gender. In men, the completeness was 26.0% for 2006 and 28.1 for 2008. In women, the completeness was 36.5% for 2006 and 46.9 for 2008. In conclusion, none of the three sources can be considered as a reliable source for accurate cancer incidence estimation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.1277-1280
• /
• 2015

Aim: To report epidemiologic and anatomoclinical transitions of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) in Tunisia. Materials and Methods: Data including clinico-pathological data for 208 cases of T4d or PEV 3 non-metastatic breast cancer diagnosed between 2005 and 2010 were collected from patient records. Chi2 and Z tests were used to compare variables with two Tunisian historical series and a series about Arab-American patients. Results: Thirty three percent of our patients had their first child before 23 years of age and 56% had their menarche before 12 years, 75% never receiving oral contraception. Obesity was observed in 42% of women and IBC occurred during pregnancy in 13% of cases. Tumor grade was II-III in 90% of cases, HR was negative in 52%, HER2 was over expressed in 31% and invasion of more than 3 axillary nodes occurred in 18% of patients. We observed a pCR rate of 19% after neoadjuvant treatment (anthracyline-taxane used in 79%, trastuzumab in 27% ). Compared to historical Tunisian series (since 1996), IBC epidemiology remained stable in terms of median age, menopausal status and obesity. However we observed a significant decrease in median clinical tumor size and number of positive axillary lymph nodes. Comparison to IBC in Arab-Americans showed a significant difference in terms of median age, menopausal status, positivity of hormonal receptors and educational level. Conclusions: Our assessment of epidemiologic transition showed a reduction of clinco-pathological stage of IBC, keeping the same characteristics as compared to Tunisian historical series over a period of 14 years. Features seem to be different in Arab-American patients, probably related to migration, "occidentalization" of life style and improvement in socio-economic level.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.2179-2184
• /
• 2012

Introduction and aim: To compare reproductive factor influence on patients with pathological diagnosed malignant and benign tumor in the Breast Department, The First Peoples' Hospital of Kunming in Yunnan province, China. Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted on 263 breast cancer (BC) cases and 457 non-breast cancer controls from 2009 to 2011. The cases and controls information on demographics, medical history, and reproductive characteristics variables were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and routine medical records. Histology of breast cancer tissue and benign breast lesion were documented by pathology reports. Since some variables in data analysis had zero count in at least one category, binomial-response GLM using the bias-reduction method was applied to estimate OR's and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). To adjust for age and menopause status, a compound variable comprising age and menopausal status was retained in the statistical models. Results: multivariate model analysis revealed significant independent positive associations of BC with short menstrual cycle, old age at first live birth, never breastfeeding, history of oral contraception experience, increased number of abortion, postmenopausal status, and nulliparity. Categorised by age and menopausal status, perimenopausal women had about 3-fold and postmenopausal women had more than 5-fold increased risk of BC compared to premenopausal women. Discussion and Conclusion: This study has confirmed the significant association of BC and estrogen related risk factors of breast cancer including longer menstrual cycle, older age of first live birth, never breastfeeding, nulliparity, and number of abortions more than one. The findings suggest that female hormonal factors, especially the trend of menopause status play a significant role in the development of BC in Yunnan women.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.247-253
• /
• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of two different fluid intake measurement methods (fluid only vs. all dietary intake) in measuring fluid balance compared to body weight change among patients with cancers. Methods: A total of 60 cancer patients in an urban cancer center in South Korea participated in the study. Adult patients who were over 18 years old; having 24-hour I&O order; and taking either normal regular diet or soft blend diet were included. Demographic information and disease related information were also gathered. The data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. Results: Measuring 'fluid only' for oral intake was a more accurate measure than measuring 'all dietary intake' (p=.026 vs. p=.094). Both methods had positive correlations with the amount of weight change (r=.329, p=.010; r=.303, p=.019). Measuring body weight was a more accurate and efficient way of evaluating the fluid balance than 24 hour cumulative I&O. Conclusion: Developing clinical manual for selecting proper patients who needs fluid balance monitoring is imperative. Administering weight check and/or 24 hour cumulative I&O should be considered thoroughly based on solid nursing evidence in future.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.221-225
• /
• 2012

Zinc deficiency is known to be associated with insulin resistance in obese individuals. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of zinc supplementation on insulin resistance and metabolic risk factors in obese Korean women. Forty obese women (body mass index (BMI) ${\geq}25kg/m^2$) aged 19-28 years were recruited for this study. Twenty women of the study group took 30 mg/day of supplemental zinc as zinc gluconate for 8 weeks and 20 women of control group took placebo. Usual dietary zinc intake was estimated from 3-day diet records. Insulin resistances were measured using Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) indices, and insulin sensitivities Matsuda indices, which were calculated using oral glucose tolerance test data. Metabolic risk factors, such as waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and adipocyte hormones such as leptin, and adiponectin were also measured. At the beginning of study, dietary zinc averaged 7.31 mg/day and serum zinc averaged $12.98{\mu}mol/L$ in the study group. Zinc supplementation increased serum zinc by 15% and urinary zinc by 56% (P < 0.05). HOMA values tended to decrease and insulin sensitivity increased slightly in the study group, but not significantly so. BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood glucose, triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, and adipocyte hormones did not change in either the study or control group. These results suggest that zinc status may not affect insulin resistance and metabolic risk factors in obese Korean women. Further research is required on a larger cohort with a longer follow-up to determine the effects of zinc status on insulin resistance and metabolic variables.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.357-368
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to examine the state of dental treatment among disabled patients by the type of disability. After the medical records of 531 disabled patients who received treatment at the pediatric dentistry in K university hospital, the following findings were given: 1. As for age distribution by year, the rate of patients aged 10 or down rose to 42.5 from 5.1 percent, and the 16-20 age group increased from 16.7 to 24.8 percent. But the rates of patients aged between 11 and 15 and aged 21 and up were on the rise(p<.05). 2. Concerning the type of disability by year, there was an increase in the number of patients with brain lesions, mental retardation, developmental disorder and Down's syndrome(p<.05). As to the number of dental caries by the type of disability, the patients with heart diseases had the most dental caries that numbered 8.49, followed by Down's syndrome, metal retardation, brain lesions, the other disabilities and developmental disorder. 3. In relation to dental treatment experiences by the type of disability, the patients with developmental disorder(57.5%) received the most dental treatment, followed by mental retardation, the other disabilities, brain lesions, Down's syndrome and heart diseases(p<.05). 4. Regarding general anesthesia experience by the type of disability, the patients with mental retardation(31.6%) were put under general anesthesia the most, followed by developmental disorder, brain lesions, the other disabilities, heart diseases and Down's syndrome(p<.05). In conclusion, nationwide efforts to nurture separate dental personnels responsible for the disabled, to expand relevant facilities and to improve the health care insurance are required to promote the oral health of disabled children.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.812-819
• /
• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to report the long-term efficacy of herbal medicine for treatment of patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). Methods: We reviewed the clinical records of 17 patients with RAS who visited the Oral Diseases Clinic of Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital from September 1st, 2014 to August 29th, 2017. The patients were treated with herbal medicine for more than 3 consecutive weeks, followed by a telephone survey. We evaluated the clinical characteristics of RAS, and compared the short-term and long-term efficacy of herbal medicine treatment. Results: After treatment with herbal medicine, the clinical characteristics improved in the 17 patients with RAS, especially in terms of the duration and interval of recurrence. Prolonged effects were reported upon the follow-up telephone survey. Conclusion: Herbal medicine treatment may have a long-term effect in patients with RAS.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.195-199
• /
• 2012

The records of 255 cyanide poisoning deaths obtained from National Forensic Service (NFS) headquarters, located in Seoul of Korea, from 2005 to 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. The mean age was $41.88{\pm}13.09$ and range was 6~80 years (unknown in seven cases). The number of deaths of males and females were 200 and 53, respectively (unknown in two cases). The largest number of cases occurred in people aged 40-49 years (81 cases, 31.8%), followed by the age groups 30~39 years (51 cases, 20%), 50~59 years (44 cases, 17.2%) and 20~29 years (43 cases, 16.9%). The total number of deaths among other age groups (below 10, 10~19, 60~69, 70~79, over 80 years and unknown) were 36, representing only 14.1%. Of all cyanide poisoning deaths, 97.3% were due to suicide, and 14.5% of the total number who died received medical treatment. The most frequent site for ingestion was the person's own residence (120 cases, 47.1%) and the route of administration was mainly oral (252, 98.8%). From the total of 255 cyanide poisoning cases, white powders were submitted for analysis in 92 cases. Potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide occupied 51 and 41 cases, respectively. This study showed that poisoning deaths due to cyanide are one of the continuously reported public health problems in Korea. Enforcement of regulations and safety education to prevent cyanide poisoning should be carried out by the government.