• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제57권2호
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• pp.108-113
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• 2015

Objective : Although the L5-S1 has distinct structural features in comparison with other lumbar spine segments, not much is known about adjacent segment degeneration (ASD) at the L5-S1 segment. The aim of study was to compare the incidence and character of ASD of the cephalad and L5-S1 segments after L5 floating lumbar fusion. Methods : From 2005 to 2010, 115 patients who underwent L5 floating lumber fusion were investigated. The mean follow-up period was 46.1 months. The incidence of radiological and clinical ASD of the cephalad and the L5-S1 segments was compared using survival analysis. Risk factors affecting ASD were analyzed using a log rank test and the Cox proportional hazard model. Results : Radiological ASD of the L5-S1 segment had a statistically significant higher survival rate than that of the cephalad segment (p=0.001). However, clinical ASD of the L5-S1 segment was significantly lower survival rates than that of the cephalad segment (p=0.038). Risk factor analysis showed that disc degeneration of the cephalad segment and preoperative spinal stenosis of the L5-S1 segment were risk factors. Conclusion : In L5 floating fusion, radiological ASD was more common in the cephalad segment and clinical ASD was more common in the L5-S1 segment. At the L5-S1 segment, the degree of spinal stenosis appears to be the most influential risk factor in ASD incidences, unlike the cephalad segment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권6호
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• pp.2237-2243
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• 2015

Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in Dukes C colon cancers post-curative resection. However, the evidence for a role with Dukes B lesions remains unproven despite frequent use for disease characterized by poor prognostic features. In view of limited Asia-specific data, this study aimed to determine survival outcomes and identify prognostic factors in a tertiary teaching hospital in Malaysia. Materials and Methods: A total of 116 subjects who underwent curative surgery with and without adjuvant chemotherapy for Duke B and C primary colon adenocarcinomas diagnosed from 2004-2009 were recruited and data were collected retrospectively. Five-year overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) were analysed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test. Prognostic factors were determined using Cox proportional hazards regression with both univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: The survival analysis demonstrated a 5-year OS of 74.0% for all patients, with 74.9% for Dukes C subjects receiving chemotherapy compared to 28.6% in those not receiving chemotherapy (p=0.001). For Dukes B disease, the 5-year survival rate was 82.6% compared to 75.0% for subjects receiving and not receiving chemotherapy, respectively (p=0.17). Independent prognostic factors identified included a CEA level more than 3.5 ng/ml (hazard ratio (HR)=4.78; p=0.008), serosal involvement (HR=3.75; p=0.028) and completion of chemotherapy (HR= 0.20; p=0.007). Conclusions: In a regional context, this study supports current evidence from the West that adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in Dukes C colon cancers post curative surgery. However, although a clear benefit has yet to be proven for Dukes B disease, our results suggest survival improvement in selected cases.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.185-190
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• 2014

Influence of loneliness on human survival has been established epidemiologically, but genomic research remains undeveloped. We identified 34 loneliness-associated genes which were statistically significant for high-lonely and low-lonely individuals. With the univariate Cox proportional hazards regression model, we obtained corresponding regression coefficients for loneliness-associated genes fo individual cancer patients. Furthermore, risk scores could be generated with the combination of gene expression level multiplied by corresponding regression coefficients of loneliness-associated genes. We verified that high-risk score cancer patients had shorter mean survival time than their low-risk score counterparts. Then we validated the loneliness-associated gene signature in three independent brain cancer cohorts with Kaplan-Meier survival curves (n=77, 85 and 191), significantly separable by log-rank test with hazard ratios (HR) >1 and p-values <0.0001 (HR=2.94, 3.82, and 1.78). Moreover, we validated the loneliness-associated gene signature in bone cancer (HR=5.10, p-value=4.69e-3), lung cancer (HR=2.86, p-value=4.71e-5), ovarian cancer (HR=1.97, p-value=3.11e-5), and leukemia (HR=2.06, p-value=1.79e-4) cohorts. The last lymphoma cohort proved to have an HR=3.50, p-value=1.15e-7. Loneliness-associated genes had good survival prediction for cancer patients, especially bone cancer patients. Our study provided the first indication that expression of loneliness-associated genes are related to survival time of cancer patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권16호
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• pp.6597-6601
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• 2014

Background: Cancer is a non-communicable disease that is considered deadly in many cases. In recent years, the mortality rates from breast cancer have increased with increasing incidences. The present study was conducted to determine five year survival of women with breast cancer in Yazd, in the central region of Iran. Materials and Methods: In a prospective study, data were obtained from the patient's medical records with breast cancer that were referred to the Shahid Sadoughi hospital and radiotherapy center from 2002-2007 and followed up for 5 years. The data collected were analyzed by SPSS/16 and Kaplan-Meyer test and log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard model was used. Results: The mean age of breast cancer diagnosis was $48.3{\pm}11.7$ years. The 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-year cumulative survivals for breast cancer patients were 95%, 86%, 82%, 76% and 70%, respectively. There were significant differences with age distribution (p=0.006). A significant decrease in the 5-year survival in patients with involvement of lymph nodes was lso observed. Conclusions: Education for early diagnosis in women must be considered and these findings support the need for breast cancer screening programs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.2815-2819
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• 2014

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognosis of patients with stage IA-IIB cervical carcinoma and to investigate a possible correlation of histology with prognosis. Materials and Methods: Two hundred fifty one patients with adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) histology for FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage IA-IIB uterine cervical carcinomas at the Radiation Oncology Clinic of GH Okmeydan Training and Research Hospital between January 1996 and December 2006 were selected, analyzed retrospectively and evaluated in terms of general characteristics and survival. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and differences were compared with the log-rank test. Multivariate analysis using a Cox-proportional hazards model was used to adjust for prognostic factors and to estimate hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: There was no differences between the two tumour types in age, stage, pelvic nodal metastasis, parametrial invasion, surgical margin status, DSI, LVSI, maximal tumor diameter, grade, and treatment modalities. 5-year OS and DFS were 73% and 77%, versus 64% and 69%, for SCC and adenocarcinoma, respectively (p> 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed independent prognostic factors including pelvic nodal metastasis and resection margin status for OS (p=0.008, p=0.002, respectively). Conclusions: Prognosis of FIGO stage IA-IIB cervical cancer patients was found to be the same for those with adenocarcinoma and SCC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권12호
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• pp.4839-4842
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• 2014

Background: Although the Cox's proportional hazard model is the popular approach for survival analysis to investigate significant risk factors of cancer patient survival, it is not appropriate in the case of log-term disease free survival. Recently, cure rate models have been introduced to distinguish between clinical determinants of cure and variables associated with the time to event of interest. The aim of this study was to use a cure rate model to determine the clinical associated factors for cure rates of patients with breast cancer (BC). Materials and Methods: This prospective cohort study covered 305 patients with BC, admitted at Shahid Faiazbakhsh Hospital, Tehran, during 2006 to 2008 and followed until April 2012. Cases of patient death were confirmed by telephone contact. For data analysis, a non-mixed cure rate model with Poisson distribution and negative binomial distribution were employed. All analyses were carried out using a developed Macro in WinBugs. Deviance information criteria (DIC) were employed to find the best model. Results: The overall 1-year, 3-year and 5-year relative survival rates were 97%, 89% and 74%. Metastasis and stage of BC were the significant factors, but age was significant only in negative binomial model. The DIC also showed that the negative binomial model had a better fit. Conclusions: This study indicated that, metastasis and stage of BC were identified as the clinical criteria for cure rates. There are limited studies on BC survival which employed these cure rate models to identify the clinical factors associated with cure. These models are better than Cox, in the case of long-term survival.

• 한국산학기술학회논문지
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• 제17권11호
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• pp.432-436
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• 2016

열상 감시 장비의 핵심부품인 냉각기는 검출기 온도를 낮춰서 열상 감시 장비가 제 기능을 발휘하게 해준다. 해외 도입품으로서 기준사용시간이 20,000시간으로 제시되었고 이에 맞춰서 운용하고 있다. 양산 후 운용 중에 고장이 발생하기 시작했고, 그 고장으로 인해 냉각기의 MTBF분석을 해볼 필요성을 느꼈다. 군과 방산 업체에서 열상 감시 장비의 냉각기 고장데이터를 수집하였고 221개의 납품된 냉각기 중 73개의 냉각기가 운용 중에 고장이 발생하였다. 이 고장데이터에 생존확률 함수를 모수적 접근방법을 사용하여 적합한 분포를 파악을 하였고, 로그 로지스틱 분포가 적합하다고 추정되었다. 로그로지스틱 분포의 모수를 기반으로 냉각기의 MTBF를 분석하였다. 해외 업체가 제시한 MTBF와 비교하였고 또한 냉각기의 시간대별 신뢰도를 분석해보았다. 군 운용환경 중 고장이 발생한 냉각기의 MTBF를 분석함으로써 품질보증활동의 개선점을 찾을 수 있다. 실측 MTBF는 해외 업체에서 제시한 것보다 높게 나왔지만 운용 환경과 분석 방법론에 따른 차이는 존재한다. 이 분석 결과는 군에서 해외 도입품을 운용하는 현시점에 장비 정비주기와 운영시간에 영향을 줄 수 있고, 향후 냉각기 국산화 시 보조 자료로 기여할 것이라 판단된다.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권18호
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• pp.8031-8039
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• 2016

Background: Preclinical studies have demonstrated that ${\beta}$-adrenergic receptor antagonists could improve the prognosis of breast cancer. However, the conclusions of clinical and pharmacoepidemiological studies have been inconsistent. This review was conducted to re-assess the relationship between beta-adrenoceptor blockers and breast cancer prognosis. Materials and Methods: The literature was searched from PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Nature (Thompson Reuters) databases through using key terms, such as breast cancer and beta-adrenoceptor blockers. Results: Ten publications met the inclusion criteria. Six suggested that receiving beta-adrenoceptor blockers reduced the risk of breast cancer-specific mortality, and three of them had statistical significance (hazard ratio (HR)=0.42; 95% CI=0.18-0.97; p=0.042). Two studies reported that risk of recurrence and distant metastasis (DM) were both significantly reduced. One study demonstrated that the risk of relapse-free survival (RFS) was raised significantly with beta-blockers (BBS) (HR= 0.30; 95% CI=0.10-0.87; p=0.027). One reported longer disease-free interval (Log Rank (LR)=6.658; p=0.011) in BBS users, but there was no significant association between overall survival (OS) and BBS (HR= 0.35; 95% CI=0.12-1.0; p=0.05) in five studies. Conclusions: Through careful consideration, it is suggested that beta-adrenoceptor blockers use may be associated with improved prognosis in breast cancer patients. Nevertheless, larger size studies are needed to further explore the relationship between beta-blocker drug use and breast cancer prognosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권9호
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• pp.3923-3926
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• 2015

Background: Lung cancer is a fatal malignancy with high mortality and short survival time. The aim of this study was to estimate survival rates of Iranian patients with lung cancer and its associate predictive factors. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 355 patients admitted to hospitals of West Azerbaijan in the year 2007. The patients were followed up by phone calls until the end of June 2014. The survival rate was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test for comparison. The Cox's proportional hazard model was used to investigate the effect of various variables on patient survival time, including age, sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance, smoking status, tumor type, tumor stage, treatment, metastasis, and blood hemoglobin concentration. Results: Of the 355 patients under study, 240 died and 115 were censored. The mean and median survival time of patients was 13 and 4.8 months, respectively. According to the results of Kaplan-Meier method, 1, 2, and 3 years survival rates were 39%, 18%, and 0.07%, respectively. Based on Cox regression analysis, the risk of death was associated with ECOG group V (1.83, 95% CI: 1 Conclusions: The survival time of the patients with lung cancer is very short. While early diagnosis may improve the life expectancy effective treatment is not available.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권5호
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• pp.2195-2199
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• 2014

Background: Despite being rare in incidence, malignant tumors of major salivary glands show diverse histological variation. There are limited data on major salivary gland tumor management and outcome from Pakistan. The objective of this study was to share our experience with management of malignant tumors of major salivary glands. Materials and Methods: Patients who received treatment at Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and Research Center from July 2002 to June 2011 with an underlying diagnosis of a major salivary gland malignancy were included. Patient characteristics and treatment modalities were assessed. Local, regional and distant failures were determined. Disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated using Kaplan Meier curves and the Log rank test was used to determine statistical significance. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using Cox proportional hazard regression. Results: The parotid gland was the primary site of origin in 104 (80%) patients. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (43%) and adenoid cystic carcinoma (24%) were the most common histological types. Surgery followed by adjuvant radiation remained the mainstay treatment modality with 81 (62%) patients. Nineteen (15%) patients were treated with surgery alone and 30 (23%) patients with locally advanced surgically inoperable tumors received radiation only. Forty one (32%) patients failed the treatment (local 12, regional 11, locoregional 5, distant 13). The expected 5 year DFS and OS were 65% and 74% respectively. On multivariate analysis, grade was the only independent predictor of DFS and nodal involvement was the only independent predictor of overall survival. Conclusions: Employing existing standards of treatment, comparable survival can be achieved in Pakistani population with major salivary gland malignancies as elsehwere in the world.