• CELLMED
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.18.1-18.16
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• 2012

An oncology-specific database called OncoRx (http://bit.ly/cancerRx) was previously set up in cyberspace to aid clinicians in identifying interactions of anticancer drugs (ACDs) and chemotherapy regimens with traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) and complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs). Since then, users have requested the drug-CAM interactions (DCIs) of 5 specific CAMs (cranberry, melatonin, co-enzyme Q10, huachansu, reishi mushroom) to be updated in the database. Pharmacokinetic properties (metabolism, enzyme induction/inhibition, elimination), TCM properties and DCIs of each CAM were collated with 117 ACDs using 9 hardcopy compendia and online databases as resources. Additionally, individual ACDs and CAMs were used as keywords for PubMed searches in combination with the terms 'anticancer drugs', 'drug interactions', 'herb-drug/drug-herb interactions', 'pharmacokinetic interactions' and 'pharmacodynamic interactions'. DCI parameters consisted of interaction effects, evidence summaries, proposed management plans and alternative non-interacting CAMs, together with relevant citations and update dates of the DCIs. OncoRx is also used as a case to introduce the "Four Pharmaco-cybernetic Maxims" of quality, quantity, relationship and manner to developers of digital healthcare tools. Its role in Hayne's "5S" hierarchy of research evidence is also presented. OncoRx is meant to complement existing DCI resources for clinicians and alternative medicine practitioners as an additional drug information resource that provides evidence-based DCI information for ACD-CAM interactions.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제49권1호
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• pp.69-72
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• 2011

Pulmonary paragonimiasis is a relatively rare cause of lung disease revealing a wide variety of radiologic findings, such as air-space consolidation, nodules, and cysts. We describe here a case of pulmonary paragonimiasis in a 27-year-old woman who presented with a 2-month history of cough and sputum. Based on chest computed tomography (CT) scans and fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) findings, the patient was suspected to have a metastatic lung tumor. However, she was diagnosed as having Paragonimus westermani infection by an immunoserological examination using ELISA. Follow-up chest X-ray and CT scans after chemotherapy with praziquantel showed an obvious improvement. There have been several reported cases of pulmonary paragonimiasis mimicking lung tumors on FDG-PET. However, all of them were suspected as primary lung tumors. To our knowledge, this patient represents the first case of paragonimiasis mimicking metastatic lung disease on FDG-PET CT imaging.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.51-54
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• 2010

Surgery has a key role in the treatment of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs), but the resectability of paraspinal MPNSTs is only 20%. Therefore, spinal MPNSTs show frequent recurrence and poor prognosis. Local recurrence is much more common than metastasis for MPNSTs, and surgery still has a key role in the treatment of local recurrence. Therefore, it is important that recurrence must be detected before resectability is lost. However, no evidence-based follow-up protocol has been established for MPNST. The authors performed gross total resection in a 34-year-old woman presented with thoracic MPNST. Adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy were not administered since these adjuvant therapies generally do not improve survival in MPNST and may cause additional neurovascular damage. Instead, the authors monitored the primary site every 3 months using magnetic resonance imaging to detect local recurrence at the earliest opportunity. The tumor recurred locally on two occasions without overt symptoms at 21 and 24 months postoperatively. These recurrences were treated successfully by gross total removal.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.567-584
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• 1997

Most of cancer therapy consists of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy developed by modern western medicine. Often Korean patients use both modem western and oriental medicine through their cancer life. This study tried out to answer the the question : "What are the experience of a Korean cancer patients who follow oriental medicine after cancer diagnosis?" To answer to that, a micro-ethnographic research method was used. Total 6 patients were observed from March, 1996 to February, 1997. Data were obtained through interview, participant observation, audio-tape recording, field recoding, field note-taking, and ralated documents Using an analytical tool known as "pencil and scissors", the data were analyzed. First, I learned patietnts' accounts for cancer experience following oriental medicine, and I could found that they expereinced "feeling of uncertainty" through cancer life. Second, major argument was searched. : Feeling of uncertainty of cancer patients was extremely increased after cancer diagnosis. Oriental Medicine made cancer patients not only expect to improve general physical condition, but also gave them significnat emotional support to overcome their feeling of uncertanty. Third, I examined how did this argument form meanings in the context of individual life. Modem western mediacal service system could not satisfy cancer patients' informational and emotional need. But oriental medicine contribute to relieve the degree of their feeling of uncertainty. As a result of these understandings, I suggest that modern wetern medicine need to be concerned to feeling of uncertainty of cancer patietns and infomational service, and oriental medicine counsel with cancer patients much more systemically. Also nurses must improve cancer education with more accurate and practical information based on empirical data.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.475-482
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• 2019

Glioma is the most common brain tumor with a dismal prognosis. While temozolomide (TMZ) based chemotherapy significantly improves survival in glioma patients, resistance against this compound commonly leads to glioma treatment failure. Overexpression of long-noncoding RNA (LncRNA) FoxD2 adjacent opposite strand RNA 1 (FoxD2-AS1) was identified to promote glioma development, but the role in TMZ resistance remains unclear. In this paper, we found that FoxD2-AS1 was overexpressed in recurrent glioma, high FoxD2-AS1 expression was significantly correlated with poor patient outcome. Methylation of $O^6$-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is significantly less frequent in high FoxD2-AS1 expression patients. Knockdown of FoxD2-AS1 decreased the proliferation, metastatic ability of glioma cells and promote the sensitivity to TMZ in glioma cells. Furthermore, knockdown of FoxD2-AS1 induced hypermethylation of the promoter region of MGMT. Our data suggested that FoxD2-AS1 is a clinical relevance LncRNA and mediates TMZ resistance by regulating the methylation status of the MGMT promoter region.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.54-65
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• 2019

To develop a biomarker predicting tumor treatment efficacy is helpful to reduce time, medical expenditure, and efforts in oncology therapy. In clinics, microvessel density using immunohistochemistry has been proposed as an indicator that correlates with both tumor size and metastasis of cancer. In the preclinical study, we hypothesized that vascular morphometrics using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) could be potential indicators to estimate the treatment efficacy of breast cancer. To verify this hypothesis, a 13762-MAT-B-III rat breast tumor was grown in a dorsal skinfold window chamber which was applied to a nude mouse, and the change in vascular morphology was longitudinally monitored during tumor growth and metronomic cyclophosphamide treatment. Based on the daily OCTA maximum intensity projection map, multiple vessel parameters (vessel skeleton density, vessel diameter index, fractal dimension, and lacunarity) were compared with the tumor size in no tumor, treated tumor, and untreated tumor cases. Although each case has only one animal, we found that the vessel skeleton density (VSD), vessel diameter index and fractal dimension (FD) tended to be positively correlated with tumor size while lacunarity showed a partially negative correlation. Moreover, we observed that the changes in the VSD and FD are prior to the morphological change of the tumor. This feasibility study would be helpful in evaluating the tumor vascular response to treatment in preclinical settings.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• 제39권4호
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• pp.136-157
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• 2018

Objectives: This systematic review aimed to put the case reports of lung cancer on Korean medicine (KM) together and adopt the results in clinical practice. Methods: Researches were searched using the PubMed, EMBASE, OASIS, KoreanTK, KISTI, RISS, KISS, and NDSL. The search term were 'lung cancer' and KM. There was no restriction in year. Results: 1. Among the 48 studies, 68 patients were reported in total. The types of lung cancer were non-small-cell lung cancer (n=41) and small-cell lung cancer (n=6). 2. The number of patients who received KM therapy alone was 40. On the other hand, 25 patients were treated with KM and chemotherapy simultaneously. All case reports used herbal medicine except 2 studies. Other types of treatment were acupuncture, moxibustion, pharmacopuncture, cupping, meditation, etc. 3. Several efficacy evaluation variables were used such as tumor size, changes of symptoms, duration of survival, the quality of life, and so on. The safety was evaluated by checking adverse effects using blood test. 4. Regarding the tumor response, partial response was reported in 12 cases, stable disease was in 22 cases, 50% of the total cases, which is a high level of tumor response. Furthermore, all 11 cases with the evaluation on the length of survival showed prolonged survival than the expectancy of corresponding stage, with the stable quality of life. Conclusion: We have found that the applicability of KM for treatment of lung cancer through this review. Evidence based medicine can be realized by checking cases and applying them in clinical practice.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• 제38권3호
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• pp.245-250
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• 2021

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD), also known as histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, is a self-limiting lymphadenitis. It is a benign disease mainly characterized by high fever, lymph node swelling, and leukopenia. Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening disease with clinical symptoms similar to those of KFD, but it requires a significantly more aggressive treatment. A 19-year-old Korean male patient was hospitalized for fever and cervical lymphadenopathy. Variable-sized lymph node enlargements with slightly necrotic lesions were detected on computed tomography. Biopsy specimen from a cervical lymph node showed necrotizing lymphadenitis with HLH. Bone marrow aspiration showed hemophagocytic histiocytosis. The clinical symptoms and the results of the laboratory test and bone marrow aspiration met the diagnostic criteria for HLH. The patient was diagnosed with macrophage activation syndrome-HLH, a secondary HLH associated with KFD. He was treated with dexamethasone (10 mg/m²/day) without immunosuppressive therapy or etoposide-based chemotherapy. The fever disappeared within a day, and other symptoms such as lymphadenopathy, ascites, and pleural effusion improved. Dexamethasone was reduced from day 2 of hospitalization and was tapered over 8 weeks. The patient was discharged on day 6 with continuation of dexamethasone. The patient had no recurrence at the 18-month follow-up.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.66-68
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• 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to be a pandemic on March 12, 2020. In Korea, there have been 24,027 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 420 deaths as of October 3, 2020. The clinical spectrum of COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic infection to death. Cancer care in this pandemic has radically changed. The literature was reviewed. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it urgently necessary to profoundly re-organize cancer patients' care without compromising cancer outcomes. Several important questions in regard to COVID-19 infection in cancer patients have emerged. Are patients with cancer at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection? Are they at an increased risk of mortality and severe illness when infected with COVID-19? Does anticancer treatment affect the course of COVID-19? Based on the existing research, cancer patients with immunosuppression are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, and cancer patients are more likely to experience severe COVID-19. However, chemotherapy and major surgery do not seem to be predictors of hospitalization or severe disease. Korean background data on patients with cancer and COVID-19 are lacking. Prospective multicenter studies on the outcomes of patients with cancer and COVID-19 should be conducted.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.125-129
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• 2022

Most malignant lymphomas of the head and neck region are non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL), and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common subtype. The prevalence of malignant lymphoma among parotid tumors is low, approximately 1% to 4%. The most common symptom of parotid lymphoma is a unilateral, non-tender, firm mass that slowly grows in size over time. As its clinical manifestations are nonspecific, a comprehensive assessment is required for an accurate diagnosis. The initial work-up includes imaging tools, such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. However, NHL of the parotid gland is difficult to distinguish from other types of benign tumors prior to biopsy; histopathological evaluation and subsequent immunohistochemical staining are needed for the final diagnosis. Once a definitive diagnosis is established, patients should be referred to an oncologist for staging. Treatment is mainly based on systemic chemotherapy, whereas radiotherapy is indicated for certain cases. Here, we report the case of a 53-year-old man who presented with a progressively enlarging mass in the right parotid area, which was later diagnosed as malignant lymphoma of the parotid gland after superficial parotidectomy.