• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5939-5944
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• 2015

Background: There is still a great deal of controversy with regard to the prognostic role of chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea (CIA) in breast cancer patients. To confirm whether CIA can serve as a useful factor in predicting clinical effects of systemic adjuvant chemotherapy, we performed this meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Relevant studies were identified using PubMed, and Embase databases. Eligible study results were pooled and summary hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Subgroup analyses and an assessment of publication bias were also conducted. Results: A total of 8,333 patients from 11 published studies were identified through searching the databases. The pooled HRs for disease-free survival (DFS) suggested that CIA was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of recurrence, especially in patients with hormone receptor-positive lesions (overall HR=0.65, 95%CI 0.53-0.80, $I^2=41.3%$). When the five studies reporting the HR for overall survival (OS) were pooled (n=4193), a favorable trend was found (HR=0.69, 95%CI 0.52-0.91, $I^2=51.6%$). No publication bias was observed in this study. Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggests that CIA predicts a better outcome in premenopausal hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.145-156
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to review experimental studies of Parkinson's Disease in Korean medical journals, which have been published since 1990. Methods: Experimental studies related to Parkinson's disease published in Korean medical journals, registered with Korea research foundation, were searched. Articles were grouped into journal of publication, subject, and publication year. Experimental study subjects and models were analysed. Results and Conclusions: Twenty-two articles about experimental studies of Parkinson's Disease in Korean medical journals were included in our review. There were 13 articles in which herbs were used for treatment, 4 articles in which bee venom was used for treatment, 4 articles in which acupuncture was used for treatment, and 1 article in which pharmacopuncture was used for treatment. Most of the studies used experimental models of MPTP-induced Parkinson's disease and MTT assay was used to analyse cell toxicity and cell viability. Pole test, rotarod test, Morris water maze test, and forced swimming test were commonly used to analyse MPTP-induced behavioral deficits in animals. Analysis on experimental studies of Parkinson's disease was categorized into the subjects of dopaminergic cell protective effect, cell-apoptosis protectiveness, anti-inflammatory effect, and anti-oxidative effect.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3253-3258
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• 2012

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) plus chemotherapy versus WBRT alone for treating brain metastases (BM) from lung cancer by performing a meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: The PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, ASCO, ESMO, CBM, CNKI, and VIP databases were searched for relevant RCTs performed between January 2000 and March 2012. After quality assessment and data extraction, the meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.1 software, with funnel plot evaluation of publication bias. Results: 19 RCTs involving 1,343 patients were included. The meta-analyses demonstrated that compared to WBRT alone, WBRT plus chemotherapy was more effective with regard to the objective response rate (OR = 2.30, 95% CI = 1.79 - 2.98; P < 0.001); however, the incidences of gastrointestinal reactions (RR = 3.82, 95% CI = 2.33 - 6.28, P <0.001), bone marrow suppression (RR = 5.49, 95% CI = 3.65 - 8.25, P < 0.001), thrombocytopenia (RR = 5.83, 95% CI = 0.39 - 86.59; P = 0.20), leukopenia (RR = 3.13, 95% CI = 1.77 - 5.51; P < 0.001), and neutropenia (RR = 2.75, 95% CI = 1.61 - 4.68; P < 0.001) in patients treated with WBRT plus chemotherapy were higher than with WBRT alone. There was no obvious publication bias detected. Conclusion: WBRT plus chemotherapy can obviously improve total efficacy rate, butalso increases the incidence of adverse reactions compared to WBRT alone. From the limitations of this study, more large-scale, high-quality RCTs are suggested for further verification.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.221-236
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to systematically review and identify factors relevant to the positive psychological capital of clinical nurses. Methods: These was no limit on year of publication. Articles related to Korean clinical nurses were retrieved from computerized database using a manual search. A systematic review was conducted based on the PRISMA flow. The total correlational effect size (ESr) for each related factor was calculated from Fisher's Zr. Funnel plots, fail-safe numbers, and Egger regression tests were used to evaluate publication bias in meta-analysis studies. The correlational effect size of 25 studies was analyzed through meta-analysis using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software 3.0 (CMA). Results: The review included 25 studies. In the systematic review, 14 demographic factors and 46 organizational factors were found to be influential. Eleven factors (6 demographic factors and 5 organizational factors) were appropriate for meta-analysis. The overall effect size was .26. The demographic total correlation effect size of related factors was .20 and the total effect size of organization was .46. Organizational commitment (ESr=.38) and job satisfaction (ESr=.54) were statistically positively related variables. Negative variables were burnout (ESr=-.61), turnover intention (ESr=-.41) and workplace bullying (ESr=-.33). The total effect size of the organizational factors was larger than the demographic total effect size. There was no publication bias except for demographic variables. Conclusion: Organizational factors and adjustable variables have a significant impact on positive psychological capital. The results of this study support the need for development of interventions focusing on organizational factors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.4
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• pp.752-758
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• 2022

Authorship is important for research integrity and publication ethics, acting as the basis for credit and academic achievement. Moreover, publication achievements have a significant impact on research grants and academic careers. Inappropriate authorship has been reported for several reasons, including complex interests and competitive environments. One form of this is representative authorship misuse, which includes honorary and ghost authorships. Kin co-authorship, such as parent-children authorship, is another form of inappropriate authorship that has recently emerged as a social problem in Korea. To address these issues, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has established criteria for authorship. Similarly, many journals use the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) and Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) systems to prevent authorship misuse and systematically evaluate author credit and responsibility. Herein, this article reviews authorship and inappropriate authorship, as well as introduces methods to avoid authorship misuse.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2687-2693
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• 2012

Objective: Passive smoking has been considered as a risk factor of many cancers. To examine whether it might also pose a risk for cervical cancer, we performed a meta-analysis based on published case-control studies. Methods: We searched the PubMed database and references of included studies up to February 10th, 2012 for relevant studies. After two authors independently assessed the methodological quality and extracted data, a meta-analysis was conducted using CMA v2 software. Publication bias was evaluated by funnel plot, using Egger's and Begg's tests. Results: Finally 11 eligible studies yielded, involving 3,230 cases and 2,982 controls. The results showed that women who never smoke but exposed to smoking experience a 73% increase in risk of cervical cancer compared with non-exposed women (OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.35 - 2.21, p<0.001). Subgroup and sensitivity analyses indicated this result to be robust. Moderate publication bias was detected by visualing funnel plot, Egger's and Begg's tests. Conclusion: Based on currently available evidence, the findings of this meta-analysis suggests that passive smoking significantly and independently increases the risk of cervical cancer.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.32-45
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• 2013

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate oriental medical research on dysmenorrhea published within 10 years to analyze the trends of study on dysmenorrhea at home and abroad for progress in future clinical research. Methods & Results: Publication research was carried out on several online database systems using keywords like 'dysmenorrhea', 'traditional medicine', 'herb', 'acupuncture', 'CAM', 'complementary and alternative medicine', 'moxibustion' within 10 years(2002-2012). 32 Korean journal articles and 29 oversea journal articles were selected. Conclusions: This study concludes that more well-designed randomized-controlled studies and diverse approaches are necessary to make accumulation of evidence on oriental medical therapy of dysmenorrhea.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7203-7206
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• 2013

Recent studies suggested that the ovarian cancers with negative excision repair cross-complementation group 1 enzyme (ERCC1) expression have a better response to platinum-based chemotherapy than those with positive ERCC1 expression. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether ERCC1 expression is associated with response to platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancers. MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI databases were used for searching studies relating to ERCC1 protein expression and response to platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancers. Statistical analysis was based on the method for a fixed effects meta-analysis. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals for ERCC1 protein expression and response to platinum-based chemotherapy were generated. Publication bias was investigated with Begg's test. Five studies involving 306 patients with ovarian cancer were included. Compared to patients with positive ERCC1 expression, those with negative ERCC1 expression had a better response to platinum-based chemotherapy. The pooled OR was 5.264 (95% CI: 2.928-9.464, P < 0.001) and publication bias was not found (P = 0.904). The result was similar in both in Asians and Caucasians (P < 0.001 and P = 0.028, respectively). ERCC1 protein expression status is significantly associated with response to platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5625-5633
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• 2015

Background: ${\beta}$-catenin plays a crucial role in the progression of breast cancer (BC) and a prognostic role of in BC patients has been widely reported. However, controversy still remains. Materials and Methods: Identical search strategies were used to search relevant literature in electronic databases updated to July 1, 2014. Individual hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted and pooled HRs with 95%CIs were used to evaluate the strength of association between positive ${\beta}$-catenin expression in different subcellular locations and survival results of BC patients. Subgroup and meta-regression analyses were performed to explore heterogeneity. Funnel plots of Begg's and Egger's linear regression test were used to investigate publication bias. Heterogeneity and sensitivity were also assessed. All the work was completed using STATA. Results: A total of 2,204 patients from 12 evaluative studies were finally included. Pooled HRs and 95%CIs suggested that ${\beta}$-catenin expression in cytoplasm/nucleus had an unfavorable impact on both overall survival (OS) (HR: 1.93, 95%CI: 1.40-2.65) and disease free survival (DFS)/ recurrent free survival (RFS) (HR: 1.60, 95%CI: 1.20-2.13) in BC patients. However, here was no significant association between ${\beta}$-catenin expression in the membranes with OS (HR: 0.65, 95%CI: 0.42-1.02) or DFS/RFS (HR: 0.66, 95%CI: 0.38-1.13). Publication bias was absent in all of the four outcomes. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the results of this meta-analysis were robust. Conclusions: Positive ${\beta}$-catenin expression in cytoplasm/nucleus rather than in membrane is a significant prognostic factor in patients with BC who have been surgically treated.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2024

This review examined and analyzed clinical research trends in the treatment of compression fractures in traditional Korean medicine using case studies. Accordingly, 5 web databases were searched using relevant Korean and English terms. Based on predefined exclusion and inclusion criteria, 16 case studies were selected, analyzed, and classified according to the journal, publication year, participants, chief complaints, affected vertebrae, treatment and evaluation methods, and improvement. The case studies reported various treatment methods, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, physical therapy, cupping, moxibustion, and band training. All 16 case studies reported the use of combination therapy. All 23 cases reported in these case studies demonstrated improvement in chief complaints, and none reported any side effects.