• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.184-191
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• 2010

Purpose: To evaluate the structural characteristics of a scientific network of radiation oncology society. Materials and Methods: A total of 1,512 articles published from 1986 to April 2010 with the terms 'radiation oncology' or 'therapeutic radiology' were obtained in the KoreaMed database. The co-authors were analyzed according to their affiliation, and their relationship was used to build a matrix. With the matrix, centralization indices and the Key Player index were analyzed. We used UCINET 6.0 for the network analysis, Netdraw for determining a sociogram and Key Player 1.44 for the key player analysis. Results: The centralization of the radiation oncology field decreased from 8.29% for the period from 1986~1990 to 1.84% from 2006~2010. However, when the Korean Journal of Medical Physics was excluded, centralization increased from 2.32% for the period from 2001~2005 to 3.80% from 2006~2010. This suggested that the communication in the clinical research field of radiation oncology is decreasing. In a node centralization analysis, Seoul National University was found to be the highest at 7.9%. Seoul National University showed the highest indices in the Outdegree (6.50%) and Indegree (8.54%), in addition to Betweenness (14.94%) and Eigenvector (135.234%). The Key Player analysis indicated that Inha University had the highest index at 0.491, but when the Korean Journal of Medical Physics was excluded, Yonsei University had the highest Key Player index at 0.584. Conclusion: The degree centrality in the network of radiation oncology decreased in the most recent period as more institutions are participating in network. However, the Betweenness centrality is still increasing, suggesting that the communications among research groups (clique) in radiation oncology is warranted.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2014

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is a retrovirus that represents one of the most common and important infectious diseases of cats worldwide and it is responsible for more deaths among cats than any other infectious diseases. Prevalence data are necessary to define prophylactic, management and therapeutic measures for stray, feral and owned cats which are lacking in Bangladesh. The study was carried out to determine the prevalence of FeLV infection in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh using RapiGEN$^{(R)}$ FeLV Ag Test Kit (RapiGEN$^{(R)}$ Inc., Republic of Korea), a rapid one-step immunochromatographic assay. Blood samples from total 130 cats (23 owned cats and 107 unowned cats) were collected and tested following the manufacturer's instruction. An overall prevalence of FeLV infection was 1.54% (2/130). Prevalence was found 1.79% (2/112) on Day 0-up to one year aged cats (young) but no positive case was found in above 1 year (Adult) aged group. In male and female cats, the prevalence was 1.72% (1/58) and 1.39% (1/72), respectively. In un-owned cats the prevalence was 1.87%. Positive cases to FeLV were found only in clinically sick cats. No significant relationship was found according to age, sex, ownership status and health status. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of the prevalence of FeLV infection in Bangladesh using RapiGEN$^{(R)}$ FeLV test kits which is very much effective because it is easy to apply, less expensive and quick screening of such type of infection.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.11 s.256
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• pp.761-772
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• 2005

Background: Following the implantation of heart valve prostheses, it is important to maintain therapeutic INR to reduce the risk of thromboembolism. The objective of this study was to suggest a practical dosing guideline for Korean outpatients with prosthetic heart valves managed by a pharmacist-run anticoagulation service (ACS). Material and Method: A retrospective chart review was completed for all patients enrolled in the ACS at Seoul National University Hospital from March, 1997 to September, 2000. Patients who were at least 6 months post-valve replacement and had nontherapeutic INR value (less than 2.0 or greater than 3.0) were included. The data on 688 patients (1,782 visits) requiring dosing adjustment without any known drug or food interaction with warfarin were analyzed. The amount of adjusted dose and INR changes based on the INR at the time of the event were calculated. Aortic valve replacements (AVR) patients and mitral or double valve replacement (MVR/DVR) patients were evaluated separately. Result: Two methods for the warfarin dosage adjustment were suggested: Guideline I (mg-based total weekly dose (TWD) adjustment), Guideline II (percentage-based TWD adjustment). The effectiveness of Guideline 1 was superior to Guideline II overall in patients with both AVR and MVR/DVR. Conclusion: The guideline suggested in this study could be useful when the dosage adjustment of wafarin is necessary in outpatients with mechanical heart valves.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.672-683
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• 2004

Background: The treatment results of the advanced lung carcinoma is not satisfactory with the present therapeutic modalities: surgical resection, anti-cancer chemotherapy, and radiotherapy or combination therapy. To predict the prognosis of the non-small-cell lung carcinoma, TNM classification has been was as the basic categorization; however, it has been not satisfactory. It is necessary to consider the causes and the prognosis of the lung carcinoma from another points of view rather the conventional methods. We intended to find out the relationship between the major apoptotic factor, p53 gene and the prognosis of the patient with lung carcinoma. Material and Method: Three hundreds and fifty-nine patients with lung carcinoma who underwent surgery were analysed. We observed p53 protein accumulated in the cellular nuclei. The p53 protein was detected by immuno-histo-chemical method. We collected information of the patient retrospectively. Result: p53 protein densities were observed in 40% in average as a whole. The protein density was 44 percent in man, 25 percent in woman, 49 percent in the squamous cell carcinoma, and 38 percent in the adenocarcinoma. There were significant correlations between the p53 protein density and the mortality in the squamous cell carcinoma (p=0.025), follow-up duration in TNM stage I group (p=0.010), and follow-up duration in the lobectomy patient group (p=0.043), and tumor cell differentiation (p=0.009). p53 protein densities were significantly different between the lobectomy and the pneumonectomy group (p=0.044). Conclusion: The authors found that p53 protein had some correlations with the prognosis of the lung cancer partially in some factors. We suggest the p53 protein density could be used as a marker of prognosis in the non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.9-44
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• 1993

An explorative and descriptive study in order to determine the effect of family structure and other socio-demographic variables on health behavior, belief, locus, and value and utilization of public health service was carried out. Data were collected from 1,653 subjects randomly sampled in three areas, Seoul, Kyunggi province, and Cheju province. From Seoul 849 subjects were selected, 397 subjects Kyunggi, and 407 subjects from Cheju, respectively. Self-reporting questionaires were administered during the period from March to June, 1992. The major findings were as follows: 1) The subjects visited herb-doctor's at irregular intervals mainly to have tonic medicine prepared. They preferred herb-doctor's rather than with doctors at clinics and hospitals. Statistically significant difference was found among the regions studied (p<0.05). 2) The reason for visiting hospitals was primarily for treatment of diseases. They preferred hospital because they felt that the hospitals offer much highly reliable treatment services as well as medical accessibility. For the purpose of hospital utilization, statistically significant differences existed among sex, educational level, family type and region. However, no significance was found among sex, educational level, and region (p<0.05). 3) The subjects utilized general hospitals mainly for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. They preferred general hospitals because of their much better facilities and reliability. Statistical significance was found among sex, educational level, and region (p<0.05). 4) The subjects visited dentist at irregular intervals basis. They visited once half a year or three to four months. their purpose of visit was mainly for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Statistical significance differences were found among educational level, region and economic standard (p<0.05). 5) Whenever their illnesses were mild and the pharmacies was located in nearby they visited to pharmacies. They visited once a month and patient medicines. Statistically significant differences were found among sex, educational level and region (p<0.05). 6) The subjects believed that herb medicine was quite efficacious for treatment of some diseases, particularly by information handed down through time-honored tradition and experience. However, they recognized that the efficacy of folk medicine can vary with type and severity of diseases. Statistical significance was among sex, educational level, region and economic standard (p<0.05). 7) The reason why subjects believed that pray and superstition are effective for treatment of certain type of diseases, particularly in neuropathy, was the belief in God's almighty. Statistically significant differences were found among sex, educational level, regions and economic standard (p<0.05). 8) Most of subjects under same condition preferred western medicine because they believed that it is more scientific and prompts in showing therapeutic effect. Statistical significance was not found in the choice of type of public health service among, regions. But significant differences were found among sex, educational level and region (p<0.05). 9) The subjects looked for pharmacy if they thought the symptom was mild. However, they visited hospitals for chronic disease and general hospitals for emergency treatment. Statistical significances were found among educational level, region and economic standard (p<0.05). 10) Although most of students wanted to have a healthy life as for the component of health standard and value, they think that they are not healthy (p<0.05). As for the health behavior, significant difference was found in the proportion of smoking and drinking between educational level and region (p<0.05). The health locus was affected by educational level, and health behavior was influenced by region, sex and educational level. The utilization of type of public health service was influenced by family type and region, and health belief by region and educational level, and the health values by region and economic standard respectively, most of correlation showed statistical significance. Among them, the highest correlation was seen between locus of control and external/internal locus of control, which is quite obvious. The correlation between health belief and behavior was the next highest, but still low (0.343). All the other variables are low but significant except only a few of those. These findings indicate that health education should be incorporated into the curriculum so as to develop desirable health habit, and ability of self-control in accordance with their growth stages. A systematic and scientific understanding on the herb/folk medicine is needed, and greater reliability of the utilization of public health services are is still required. Health policy for equal distribution of health service throughout the country along the hierarchical health service system and complementary mutual assistance and cooperation among various health organizations are also required.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.80-90
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• 2003

Background : Goblet cell hyperplasia is a critical pathological feature in hypersecretory diseases of the airways. A bacterial infection of the lung is also known to induce inflammatory responses, which can lead to the overproduction of mucus. Recently, mucin synthesis in the airways has been reported to be regulated by neutrophilic inflammation-induced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and activation. In addition, it was reported that migration of the activated neutrophils is dependent on the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), especially MMP-9. In this study, bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced goblet cell hyperplasia and mucus hypersecretion by EGFR cascade, resulting from the MMPs-dependent neutrophilic inflammation were investigated in the rat airways. Methods : Pathogen-free Sprague-Dawley rats were studied in vivo. Various concentrations of LPS were instilled into the trachea in $300{\mu}{\ell}$ PBS (LPS group). Sterile PBS ($300{\mu}{\ell}$) was instilled into the trachea of the control animals (control group). The airways were examined on different days after instilling LPS. For an examination of the relationship between the LPS-induced goblet cell hyperplasia and MMPs, the animals were pretreated 3 days prior to the LPS instillation and daily thereafter with the matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor (MMPI; 20 mg/Kg/day of CMT-3; Collagenex Pharmaceuticals, USA). The neutrophilic infiltration was quantified as a number in five high power fields (HPF). The alcian blue/periodic acid-Schiff (AB/PAS) stain were performed for the mucus glycoconjugates and the immunohistochemical stains were performed for MUC5AC, EGFR and MMP-9. Their expressions were quantified by an image analysis program and were expressed by the percentage of the total bronchial epithelial area. Results : The instillation of LPS induced AB/PAS and MUC5AC staining in the airway epithelium in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Treatment with the MMPI prevented the LPS-induced goblet cell hyperplasia significantly. The instillation of LPS into the trachea induced also EGFR expression in the airway epithelium. The control airway epithelium contained few leukocytes, but the intratracheal instillation of LPS resulted in a neutrophilic recruitment. A pretreatment with MMPI prevented neutrophilic recruitment, EGFR expression, and goblet cell hyperplasia in the LPS-instilled airway epithelium. Conclusion : Matrix metalloproteinase is involved in LPS-induced mucus hypersecretion, resulting from a neutrophilic inflammation and EGFR cascade. These results suggest a potential therapeutic role of MMPI in the treatment of mucus hypersecretion that were associated with a bacterial infection of the airways.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.15-28
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• 2005

Objectives: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was aimed to investigate the status of bowel health behaviors, prevalence of constipation and risk factors related to self-reported constipation in high school students. Methods: The study subjects were 1,882 students of six high schools located in a metropolitan city, who were selected by the accidental sampling from June to August, 2002. We analyzed the data by frequency analysis, chi-square test, and multivariate logistic regression using SPSS ver. 10.0. Results: The result of this study were summarized as follows: 1. A prevalence rate of self-reported constipation was 25.2%. A rate in male students was 13.4% and in female students 36.5%. 2. In regard to therapeutic behavior, 52.1% of study student with change in bowel habit had not find particular counsellor, 38.9% of the student had counselling with parents. 16.3% of students in constipation group had taken laxative medicine for treating the constipation. 73.5% of the student in constipation group had suffered from anal pain during defecation, but 48.0% in normal group. 41.6% of the student in constipation group had a experience of rectal bleeding after defecation, but 23.7% in normal group. So constipation related symptoms distribution had showed statistically significant difference between two group. 3. From the multivariate analysis by self-reported method, the risk factors related to the constipation were sex(female), experience of diet for weight reduction, absence of the breakfast and intake of vegetable more than 3 times per weeks. Conclusions: we had reconfirmed that we should improve eating habits to prevent and treat the constipation in a result of this study. Intervention that is target to girl students, abstain from weight reduction diet, regularity of taking meals, intake more vegetables, stress management should be provided to prevent the constipation especially in Korean high school students. Further prospective designed study are needed to establish the causal-effect relationship between so many risk factors with constipation.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.953-961
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• 1998

Background : In recent years, lung cancer has been one of most common cause of death in Korea. Despite many physician's high degree of pessimism about the gains made in treatment, progressive improvement in the survival of lung cancer by treatment has occurred, particulary in the early stages of the disease. However, a lot of patients refuse treatment or give up in the fight against the disease. This study was done to evaluate factors influencing the compliance to therapy and to lead in the establishment of special programs to enhance compliance in patients with lung cancer. Methods: The medical records of 903 patients, whose ECOG(Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) performance status was 3 or less and whose medical record was relatively satisfactory, among 1141 patients diagnosed with lung cancer between January 1989 and December 1996 were reviewed retrospectively. Compliance was classified into three groups based on the degree of compliance with physicians practice guideline: (a) compliants; (b) patients who initially complied but gave up of themselves midway during the course of treatment; (c) noncompliants who refused the treatment. Results: The overall compliance rate was 63.9%, which was progressively increased from 57.3-61.3% in 1989 and 1990 to 64.2-67.5% in 1995 and 1996. Age, education level and occupation of patients bore statistically significant relationship with the compliance but sex, marital status and smoking history did not. The compliance was significantly higher in patients without symptoms than with, and was also significantly higher in patients with good performance status. The compliance was significantly high in patients with NSCLC(non-small cell lung cancer) compared to SCLC(small cell lung cancer), but after exclusion of stage I and II, among NSCLC, which had higher compliance to surgery there was no significant difference of compliance by histology. The compliance was significantly lower in advanced stage. Conclusion: To enhance the compliance, special care including education programs about therapy including complication and prognosis are necessary, especially for educationally and economically disadvantaged patients.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.519-529
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore whether or not there is a relationship between doctor's awareness of clinical nutrition service and needs for a clinical dietitian. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used. The research was carried out by using questionnaires that had been specifically designed for the study. The research was conducted from September to October, 2013 for 311 doctors at 43 hospitals (with over 400 beds). Frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and bootstrapping analysis were conducted using SPSS 21.0. Results: 'Implementation of clinical nutritional service' (p < 0.001) and 'usefulness on clinical nutrition service' (p < 0.001) were found to be correlated with 'importance of clinical nutrition service' as an independent variable. The correlation between 'importance of clinical nutrition service' as a mediating variable and 'needs for clinical dietitian' as a dependent variable was also confirmed (p < 0.001). The results of the bootstrapping test showed that the mediating effect of 'importance of clinical nutrition service' was significant. The indirect effect value between 'implementation of clinical nutrition service' and 'needs for clinical dietitian' was 0.040, indirect effect value between 'usefulness on clinical nutrition service' and 'needs for clinical dietitian' was 0.095. Conclusion: The frequency of providing clinical nutritional services, the quality of clinical nutritional services, and the degree of implementation of clinical nutritional services were found to be important for positive perception of clinical nutrition services by doctors. Therefore, proper provision of clinical nutrition services and effective therapeutic effects will be continuously highlighted, which will increase the awareness of the physician and ultimately increase the demand for clinical nutrition service.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.166-179
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• 2000

Background: The main reason for the failure of anti-cancer chemotherapy is the build up of resistance by cancer cells to apoptosis. The activation of NF-${\kappa}B$ in many cancer cell lines is reported to be underlying mechanism behind the build up of resistance of cancer cells to apoptosis. However, this relationship varied depending on the cells used in the experiments. In this study, the role of NF-${\kappa}B$ activation in the TNF-$\alpha$-induced apoptosis in lung cancer cell line was evaluated. Methods: NCI-H157 cells were used in all experiments. Cells were exposed to a high dose of TNF-$\alpha$(20 ng/ml) for 24 or 48 hours with or without blocking NF-${\kappa}B$ activation. TNF-$\alpha$-induced activation of NF-${\kappa}B$ was inhibited either by overexpression of $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$-super repressor($I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$-SR) or by pre-treatment with proteasome inhibitor. Cell viability and apoptosis were evaluated with MTT assay and Western blot analysis for PARP fragment, respectively. Results: Cell viability of NCI-H157 cells was not affected by TNF-$\alpha$ treatment alone; however, combined treatment with TNF-$\alpha$ and cycloheximide reduced cell viability significantly, indicating that resistance to TNF-$\alpha$ is mediated by the new proteins synthesized after TNF-$\alpha$ stimulation. To evaluate the role of NF-${\kappa}B$ in the transcription of anti-apoptotic proteins. delete NF-${\kappa}B$ activation was inhibited before TNF-$\alpha$ stimulation. as described above. $AD5I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$-SR-transduction inhibited TNF-$\alpha$-induced nuclear translocation of p65. TNF-$\alpha$-induced cell death and apoptosis increased after inhibition of TNF-$\alpha$-induced activation of NF-${\kappa}$ by methods. Conclusion: These results suggest that TNF-$\alpha$-induced activation of NF-${\kappa}B$ may be closely related to the acquisition of the resistance to TNF-$\alpha$-induced apoptosis in lung cancer cells. Therefore. blocking of NF-${\kappa}B$ pathway can be a useful therapeutic modality in the treatment of lung cancer.