• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.153-165
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• 2000

The antenatal self-care, one of antenatal management, was almost done by a pregnant woman herself. But It's especially difficult for primigravidas to cope with the change of being pregnant, and they also had insufficient knowledge of pregnancy, The purpose of this study was to serve as a basis for antenatal management, by grasping how much primigravidas performed antenatal self-care, how much they had maternity-related knowledge, and what factors affected those two factors. The subjects of this study were the primigravidas, selected from among visitors to a general hospital and a hospital for obstetrics and gynecology located in the city of K. A questionnaire survey was carried out over them from July 16 to August 19, 1998, to collect data. The test instrument used in this study for antenatal self-care behavior was one that modified the measurement instrument employed in studies by Kim Hae Won(1996), Lee Mi La(1984), and Yoon Young Mi(1994). Another one for maternity-related knowledge was Kim, Hae Won(1996)'s instrument. The collected data were statistically analyzed by SAS PC+. Frequency and percentage were calculated to find out the primigravidas' general characteristics, and the mean and standard deviation, rank were estimated to determine the degrees of antenatal self-care behavior and maternity-related knowledge, t-test and ANOVA were carried out to identify the general characteristic that affected antenatal self-care and maternity-related knowledge. and the relationship of antenatal self-care behavior to maternity-related knowledge was tested by Pearson correlation coefficient. The findings of this study were as follows; First, the age of the subjects ranged from 18 to 37, and their mean age was 26.43. Their mean gestational period was 24.87 weeks. 45% of the subjects were in the third-term pregnancy. Second, their total mean score in antenatal self-care behavior ranged from 94, the highest, to 36, the lowest. Its average score was 63.81(SD 9.98). The total mean score in maternity-related knowledge ranged from 20, the highest, to 1, the lowest, and its average score was 10.91(SD 4.59, 54.55 percent). Third, the general characteristics that gave impact on the primigravidas' antenatal self-care behavior were age, educational background, gestational period, experience of natural miscarriage, and experience of infertility test. A higher score in antenatal self-care behavior was gained by the primigravida group who had better educational background(F=3.29, p=.02), who was in the late stage of pregnancy(F=4.31, p=.01), who experienced a natural miscarriage(t=2.06, p=.04), and who went through a infertility test(t=-2.19, p=.04). Fourth, the general characteristics that had an influence on maternity-related knowledge were identified as the religion, the term of marriage, and the gestational period. A higher score in maternity-related knowledge was got by the primigravida group who had a religion(t=-2.02, p=.04), and who was in the late stage of pregnancy(F=5.77, p=.003). The term of marriage also made a significant difference(F=3.46, p=.02). Fifth, the relationship of the total mean score between antenatal self-care behavior and maternity-related knowledge was found to be at r=.37(p=.0001). In this study, an attempt was made to affirm the subjects' characteristics, the degree of their antenatal self-care behavior, and the extent of their maternity-related knowledge, to confirm what characteristics affected significantly primigravida's antenatal self-care behavior and maternity-related knowledge, and to verify that there was a relationship between the two variables. The meaning of this study might be backed up by the fact that its findings would serve as a basis for primigravida's efficient antenatal management in the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.2055-2060
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• 2015

Purpose: To present information about prognostic factors of gastric cancer patients treated in our Erzurum center including age, gender, tumour location, pathological grade, stage and the effect of treatment on survival. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was performed on patients who applied to our clinic and diagnosed as gastric cancer. Age and gender of the patients, primary location, histopathological characteristics, TNM stage of the gastric cancers (GCs), treatment applied, oncological treatment modalities and survival outcomes were studied. A univariate analysis of potential prognostic factors was performed with the log-rank test for categorical factors and parameters with a p value < 0.05 at the univariate step were included in the multivariate regression. Results: A total of 228 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of gastric cancer were included in the study with a male/female ratio of 1.47. Median follow-up period was estimated as 22.3 (range, 3 to 96) months. When diagnosis of the patients at admission was analysed, stage III patients were most frequently encountered (n=147; 64.5%). One hundred and twenty-six (55.3%) underwent surgical treatment, while 117 (51.3%) were given adjuvant chemotherapy. Median overall survival time was 18.0 (${\pm}1.19$) months. Mean overall survival rates for 1, 2, 3 and 5 years were $68{\pm}0.031%$, $36{\pm}0.033%$, $24{\pm}0.031%$and $15.5{\pm}0.036%$, respectively. Univariate variables found to be significant for median OS in the multivariate analysis were evaluated with Cox regression analysis. A significant difference was found among TNM stage groups, location of the tumour and postoperative adjuvant treatment receivers (p values were 0.011, 0.025 and 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: This study revealed that it is possible to achieve long-term survival of gastric cancer with early diagnosis. Besides, in locally advanced GC patients, curative resection followed by adjuvant concomitant chemoradiotherapy based on the McDonald regimen was an independent prognostic factor for survival.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2565-2571
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• 2016

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 730 participants from 4 rural districts of Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, with a reported high incidence of liver fluke infection. This study was aimed to examine and evaluate the nutritional status in relation to Opisthorchis viverrini infection. Participants were purposive selected from Chum Phuang, Mueang Yang, Bua Yai, and Kaeng Sanam Nang districts. Stool samples were prepared by Kato Katz technique and then assessed by microscopy. Anthropometry was evaluated according to the body mass index from weight and height. Descriptive statistics and Spearman rank correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the association between the nutritional status and O. viverrini infection. Of 1.64% infected with O. viverrini the highest proportions were found in age groups ${\geq}61$ and 41-50 years old, Mueang Yang district. The majorities of participants had normal weight (32.2%), followed by class II obesity (28.1 %), class I obesity (21.8%), underweight (10.3%), and class III obesity (8.63%). Nutritional status with class II obesity (rS=0.639, p<0.01) and class I obesity (rS=0.582, p<0.05), had moderately statistical significant correlations with O. viverrini infection. Meanwhile, normal weight (rS=0.437, p<0.05) and class III obesity (rS=0.384, p<0.05) demonstrated lower statistical significance. These findings raise the possibility that infection with O. viverrini may contribute to fat deposition and thereby have long-term consequences on human health. Further studies are needed to better understand whether O. viverrini contributes directly to fat deposition and possible mechanisms.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.874-883
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• 2018

Osteoporosis is a disease that increases the risk of fracture by decreasing the mass and strength of bone. It is caused by imbalance of osteoclast bone formation and osteoclast bone resorption. Bone formation by osteoblast is activated via bone morphogenetic proteins and runt-related transcription factor 2. $Wnt/{\beta}-catenin$ signaling and bone resorption by osteoclast are initiated by the binding of receptor activator of nuclear $factor-{\kappa}B$ ligand and receptor activator of nuclear $factor-{\kappa}B$. Menopausal women are at risk for many diseases due to hormonal imbalances, and osteoporosis is the most common metabolic disorder in 30% of postmenopausal women. When estrogen is deficient, bone resorption of osteoclasts is promoted, and the risk of osteoporosis especially increases in postmenopausal women. Hormone replacement therapy has been widely used to relieve or treat the symptoms of menopausal syndrome. However, long-term administration of hormone therapy has been associated with a high risk of side effects, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and uterine cancer. Recently, phytochemicals have been actively studied as a phytoestrogen, which has an estrogen-like activity to cope with symptoms of menopausal syndrome. Therefore, in this review, we investigated the differentiation mechanism of osteoblast and osteoclast and the role of estrogen and phytoestrogen in bone metabolism in relation to previous studies.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.74-87
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• 2017

Purpose: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been shown to improve survival in locally advanced gastric cancer, but it is associated with significant toxicity. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity have been studied in several types of cancers and have been reported to be associated with higher chemotherapy toxicity and morbi-mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sarcopenia/sarcopenic obesity in patients with gastric cancer, as well as its association with chemotherapy toxicity and long-term outcomes. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using an academic cancer center patient cohort diagnosed with locally advanced gastric cancer between January 2012 and December 2014 and treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We analyzed body composition (skeletal muscle and visceral fat index) in axial computed tomography images. Results: A total of 48 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was $68{\pm}10years$, and 33 patients (69%) were men. Dose-limiting toxicity was observed in 22 patients (46%), and treatment was terminated early owing to toxicity in 17 patients (35%). Median follow-up was 17 months. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were found at diagnosis in 23% and 10% of patients, respectively. We observed an association between termination of chemotherapy and both sarcopenia (P=0.069) and sarcopenic obesity (P=0.004). On multivariate analysis, the odds of treatment termination were higher in patients with sarcopenia (odds ratio=4.23; P=0.050). Patients with sarcopenic obesity showed lower overall survival (median survival of 6 months [95% confidence interval {CI}=3.9-8.5] vs. 25 months [95% CI=20.2-38.2]; log-rank test P=0.000). Conclusions: Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were associated with early termination of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer; additionally, sarcopenic obesity was associated with poor survival.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.176-182
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• 2017

Background: Current evidence suggests that intravenous magnesium sulfate might be effective for reducing migraine pain. In a recent pilot study, we showed that intravenous caffeine citrate could reduce the severity of migraine headache. The objective of this study is to investigate the efficacy of intravenous caffeine citrate vs. magnesium sulfate for management of acute migraine headache. Methods: We conducted a prospective quasi-experimental study from January until May 2016 in two educational medical centers of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (Shoahadaye Tajrish Hospital and Imam Hossein Hospital), Tehran, Iran. The study included patients who were referred to the emergency department and met the migraine diagnosis criteria of the International Headache Society. Patients were allocated into 2 groups receiving either 60 mg intravenous caffeine or 2 g intravenous magnesium sulfate. The pain scores, based on the visual analog scale, were recorded on admission, as well as one and two hours after receiving the drug. A Chi-Square test and student t-test were used for analysis of baseline characteristics. A Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon singed rank test were used to analyze differences in the visual analogue scale (VAS) score between and within the groups respectively. Results: In total, 70 patients (35 patients in each group) with the mean age of $33.1{\pm}11.3years$ were included (64.3% female). For the Caffeine citrate group, the median pain score decreased from 9.0 (2.0) to 5.0 (4.0) after one hour and to 3.0 (4.0) after two hours. For the magnesium sulfate group, the pain score decreased from 8.0 (2.0) to 2.0 (2.0) after one hour and to 0.0 (1.0) after two hours. Both intravenous caffeine citrate and intravenous magnesium sulfate reduced pain scores significantly but the magnesium sulfate group showed more improvement than the Caffeine citrate group after one hour (P < 0.001) and after two hours (P < 0.001). Conclusions: It is likely that both intravenous caffeine and intravenous magnesium sulfate can reduce the severity of migraine headache. Moreover, intravenous magnesium sulfate at a dose of 2 g might be superior to intravenous caffeine citrate 60 mg for the short term management of migraine headache in emergency departments.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2008

Objectives : To investigate the therapeutic effects of SBVP in the treatment of patients with cancer-related pain. Design : A prospective randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of SBVP. Setting : The study was conducted at the East West Cancer Center of Daejeon University Dunsan Oriental Hospital from March 1, 2007 to June 20, 2007. Patients : 11 patients diagnosed with cancer-related pain of over 3rd degree on the Numeric Rating Scale(NRS)(0, no pain at all, 10, worst pain imaginable) were entered into a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of SBVP. They were randomized into Groups A and B(SBVP and control group, respectively) using the table of random sampling numbers and never informed of their affiliation by the coordinator. 5 of 6 patients in Group A and 4 of 5 patients in Group B completed the clinical trial. Intervention : SBVP(1ml/day) for group A and Normal Saline Placebo(1ml/day) for group B was injected into the abdomen acupoint, Zhong Wan(CV 12). The treatment was administered daily for five days. Outcome Measures : Degree of cancer-related pain was measured using the Numeric Rating Scale(NRS) before and after each treatment for "Pain right now" and "Average pain in last 24 hours". Statistical Analysis : Analysis regarding variations in NRS was carried out by applying t-tests(independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test) and Wilcoxon signed rank test with level of significance at 5%. Results : Differences in NRS of "Pain right now" for the two groups were statistically significant. The mean improvement point of SBVP was significantly higher than the control group($2.48^{\circ}{\pm}1.52$ vs $0.97^{\circ}{\pm}1.88$, p<0.05). Differences in average pain score before and after treatment in SBVP group were also significant($5.13^{\circ}{\pm}1.77$ vs $2.65^{\circ}{\pm}0.67$, p<0.05) compared with control group. The two groups showed no significant differences for long term effects in "Average pain in last 24 hours." Conclusion : Although further study will be needed on the large scale, SBVP shows potential as an effective treatment for immediate relief of cancer-related pain.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.121-126
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• 2013

Background: Significance of HPV infection and genic mutation of APC and K-ras in rectal cancer has been investigated but not clarified. The objective of our study was to investigate these parameters in patients with rectal cancer to analyze correlations with biological behaviour, to determine relationships among the three, and also to demonstrate survival prognosis effects. Methods: From December 2007 to September 2008, 75 rectal cancer cases confirmed by histopathology in the Tumor Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University were enrolled. The control group consisted of normal rectal mucous membrane taken simultaneously, a least 10 cm distant from the carcinoma fringe. HPV DNA, the MCR of APC and exon-1 of K-ras were detected by PCR and PCR-SSCP. All results were analyzed in relation to clinical pathological material, using chi-square and correlation analysis via SPSS.13 and Fisher's Exact Probability via STATA. 9.0. All 75 patients were followed up for survival analysis using Kaplan-Meier and Log-rank tests. Results: 55 out of 75 cases demonstrated gene HPV L1 while it was notdetected in normal rectal mucosa tissue. HPV infection was correlated with age and lymphatic metastasis (P<0.05) but not other characteristics, such as ethnicity, tumor size, histological type, tumor type, Duke's stage and infiltration depth. Some 43 cases exhibited APC genic mutation (57.3%) and 34 K-ras genic mutation (45.3%). APC genic mutation was correlated with gender(P<0.05), but not age, histological type, infiltration depth, lymphatic metastasis and Duke's stage. In 55 cases of rectal cancer with HPV infection, there were 31 cases with genic mutation of APC (56.4%) and 24 with genic mutation of K-ras (43.6%). For the 20 cases of rectal cancer with non-HPV infection, the figures were 12 cases (60%) and 10 (50.0%), respectively, with no significant relation. Survival analysis showed no statistical significance for K-ras genic mutation, APC genic mutation or HPV infection (P>0.05). However, the survival time of the patients with HPV infection was a little shorter than in cases without HPV infection. Conclusions: Our results suggest that HPV infection might be an important factor to bring about malignant phenotype of rectal cancer and influence prognosis. Genic mutation of APC and K-ras might be common early molecular events of rectal cancer, but without prognostic effects on medium-term or early stage patients with rectal cancer.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.49-70
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• 2002

There have recently been increasing exchanges between South and North Korea in many areas of society, involving politics, economics, culture, education. In response to these developments, research activities are more strongly demanded in each of these areas to help prepare for the final unification of the two parts of the nation. In the area of mathematics education, scholars have started to conduct comparative studies of mathematics education in South and North Korea. As a response to the growing demand of the time, in this thesis we compared the secondary mathematics education in South Korea with that in North Korea. To begin with, we examined the background of education, in North Korea, particularly predominant ideological, epistemological and teaching theoretical aspects of education in North Korea. Thereafter, we compared the mathematics curriculum of South Korea with that of North Korea. On the basis of these examinations, we compared the secondary school mathematics textbooks of South and North Korea, and we attempted to suggest a guideline for researches preparing for the unification of the mathematics curriculum of South and North Korea. As a communist society, North Korea awards the socialist ideology the supreme rank and treats all school subjects as instrumental tools that are subordinated to the dominant communist ideology. On the other hand, under the socialist ideology North Korea also emphasizes the achievement of the objective of socialist economic development by expanding the production of material wealth. As such, mathematics in North Korea is seen as a tool subject for training skilled technical hands and fostering science and technology, hence promoting the socialist material production and economic development. Hence, the mathematics education of North Korea adopts a so-called "awakening teaching method," and emphasizes the approaches that combine intuition with logical explanation using materials related with the ideology or actual life. These basic viewpoints of North Korea on mathematics education are different from those of South Korea, which emphasize the problem-solving ability and acquisition of academic mathematical knowledge, and which focus on organizing as well as discovering knowledge of learners' own accord. In comparison of the secondary school mathematics textbooks used in South and North Korea, we looked through external forms, contents, quantity of each area of school mathematics, viewpoints of teaching, and term. We have identified similarities in algebra area and differences in geometry area especially in teaching sequence and approaching method. Many differences are also found in mathematical terms. Especially, it is found that North Korea uses mathematical terms in Hangul more actively than South Korea. We examined the specific topics that are treated in both South and North Korea, "outer-center & inner-center of triangle" and "mathematical induction", and identified such differences more concretely. Through this comparison, it was found that the concrete heterogeneity in the textbooks largely derive from the differences in the basic ideological viewpoints between South and North Korea. On the basis of the above findings, we attempted to make some suggestions for the researches preparing for the unification in the area of secondary mathematics education.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1103-1107
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• 2001

Objective : Atypical and malignant meningiomas(AM, MM) are known to be rare and show aggressive behavior. Limited data are available concerning the clinical features, effectiveness of surgical removal and role of radiation therapy with AM, MM. The authors report our experience of AM, MM, with respect to clinical features. Methods : Twenty-four cases of AM and 28 cases of MM, who were operated between 1988 and 1999 were retro-spectively studied review of medical records and radiological findings. These were compared with control group of 24 cases of menigiomas manifestating usual clinical course, which are selected arbitrarily among operative cases between Apr. 1999 and Dec. 1999. Mean follow-up periods were 26(1-91) months for AM and 23(1-62) for MM. Authors analyzed the prognostic factors for survival, and statistical analysis were accomplished by Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Results : Differences of clinical features between control groups and these atypical and malignant meningioma group were not significant. However, the location of MM was frequent in non-basal area(p<0.01). In AM, there were 4 patients of recurrence, and 3 patients of mortality. Among mortality cases, only one patient died of tumor progression, the other patients died of other causes. The survival at 2 year and 5 year in this group were 88% and 74% respectively, and in MM, 11 patients died due to tumor progression and 2 had spinal metastasis. The survival at 2 year and 5 year were 72% and 20%, respectively. For extent of resection, total removal(Simpson grade 1 or 2) was less often achieved in MM compared with AM(50% vs. 83%). Extent of resection of tumor and postoperative radiation therapy did not affect survival in both AM, MM. Conclusions : Clinical behavior of AM showed more benign than that of MM. Prognostic factor for survival is not related extent of resection of tumor and postoperative radiation therapy. However, further investigation with long-term follow-up and additional cases is mandatory.