• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3931-3936
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• 2013

Background: Iran is a country with very high incidences of stomach cancer, especially in Northern parts. Here we assessed prognostic value of serum screening biomarkers among people >50 years old for early detection of precancerous lesions in a hot spot for gastric carcinoma in Guilan Province, North Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted on 1,390 residents of Lashtenasha city with the mean age (SD) of 61.8 (9.02) years old (50.8% females) to assess the association of gastrin and the pepsinogen (PG) I/II ratio with premalignant gastric lesions. Blood samples were taken for CBC, blood group, and serologic exams (PGI, PGII, and gastrin 17) from each subject. Expert gastroenterologists performed upper GI endoscopy and ROC curves were generated to determine appropriate cutoff points. Results: Mean values of PGI, PGII, PGI/PGII and gastrin were significantly different between patients with and without atrophy or metaplasia (P<0.05). To diagnose atrophy and intestinal metaplasia, a significantly higher AUC was observed for the PGI/PGII ratio (70 and 72%, respectively) compared to the PGI (56, 55%), PGII (63, 64%) and gastrin (59, 61%) (all p<0.001). Conclusions: Biomarker tests such as the PGI/II ratio can be used in the screening and diagnosis of subjects at high gastric cancer risk in our region.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.23-23
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• 2003

Chestnut blight, caused by Cryphonectria parasitica, is the most destructive disease of American and European chestnut trees. A total of 672 C prasitica was isolated from blight lesion on chestnut twigs, which were collected from major chestnut plantations all over Korea in 1999. Isolation rates were over 30% in Kyunggj-, Kyongnam-, and Chonnam-do. The highest isolation rate was 37.4% and recorded in Kyongnam-do. On the other hand, Chonbuk-do had the lowest isolation rate as 13.5%. In grouping of C parasitica by colony shape and color, yellow colony with irregular margin were the most dominant colony type with a frequency of 65.2%. When the 672 isolates were inoculated on the chestnut twigs, 380 isolates (56.5%) caused lesions larger than the standard virulent isolate EP155-2, while 158 isolates (23.4%) caused smaller lesions than the standard hypovirulent isolate UEP-1. In Bavendamm test that determines phenol oxidase activity, 97.1% of all the isolates resulted the same or darker discoloration than EP155-2, and only 12.2% resulted the same or lighter discoloration than UEP-1. In the vegetative compatibility (VC) tests, total 670 isolates were divided into 121 VC groups (VCGs). Kyongnam-, Chonnam-, and Chungnam-do, the three principal chestnut plantation area, had 49, 33, and 27 VCGs, respectively. Among the VCGs, the biggest VCG, KR-VC104, was composed of 164 isolates and the second biggest VCG had 62 isolates. But, 64 of 121 VCGs consisted of sole member. More than 65.8% of KR-VC104, was isolated from the three provinces, Kyongnam-, Kangwon-, and Chungbuk-do. In KR-VC104, 62.8%, 59.1%, and 85.9% of the isolates looked like virulent in colony type, pathogenicity test, and Bavendamm test. In ds-RNA detection tests using cellulose chromatography, 77 of total 650 isolates were ds-RNA positive and detected ds-RNA segments were approximately 12kb, 3kb, 2.7kb, 2kb, and 1.8kb in size. Among the 77 isolates, 46 isolates had 12kb and 25 isolates had 12kb and 2.7kb. Other 6 Isolates had small ds-RNA segments. Kyongnam-, Chonnam-, and Chungnam-do had 43, 16, and 5 ds-RNA positive isolates, respectively. Among the 121 VCGs, only 29 VCGs had ds-RNA positive isolates.(중략)

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.245-251
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• 1991

결핵성 병변의 단순 x-ray 촬영이나 CT, MRI 소견은 매우 다양하며, 결핵과 전이암 혹은 원발성 암과 감별이 어려운 경우가 있어 결핵으로 확진하기 위하여서 조직 생검이나 수술 등 침습적인 진단 방법을 이용하여야 하였다. 그러므로 이러한 결핵 병변을 비 침습적인 방법으로 정확히 감별할 수 있는 방법을 연구하던 바, 결핵균에 대한 항체를 동위원소에 부착시켜 신티그래피로 진단할 수 있는지의 가능성을 동물실험을 통하여 알아보고자 하였다. 15마리의 가토에서 M.tuberculosis H37Rv를 슬관절에 주입시켜 결핵병변을 유발시키고, 대조군으로 2마리의 가토의 고환에 T.pallidum을 주입하여 매독병변을 유발시킨 후 M.bovis BCG에 대한 특이항체 (specific polyclonal antibody)와 정상 가토의 immunoglobulin을 I-131에 부착시켜 각각의 가토에 주입하여 preset time 10분간 감마카메라로 주사한 결과 다음과 같은 결과를 얻었다. (1) 8마리의 결핵에 감염된 가토에 M.bovis BCG에 대한 $F(ab')_2$를 1 mCi의 I -131 labeling 시킨후 주사한 결과 모두에서 주사후 2시간 부터 72시간까지 병소가 hot uptake으로 보였으며 주사후 24 시간에 가장 높은 target/background ratio를 보였다. (2) 2마리의 매독에 감염된 가토에서 anti-BCG $F(ab')_2$를 주사한 결과 2시간에서는 병소에 hot activity를 보였으나 24시간부터 급격히 activity가 감소하였다. (3) $F(ab')_2$ 대신에 intact antibody를 결핵에 감염된 가토에 투여한 결과 specific polyclonal antibody나 정상가토의 immunoglobulin 모두 결핵병소에 96시간까지 hot uptake를 보였다. 그러므로 결핵균에 대한 specific antibody fragment를 이용하면 방사면역 신티그램으로 진단이 가능하리라 사료되었고, intact antibody를 사용할 경우 sensitivity는 높으나 specificity는 적을 것으로 사료되었다.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2017

Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) is widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease because it shows not only the whole anatomical structure of the cardiovascular three-dimensionally but also provides information on the lesion and type of plaque. However, due to the large size of the image, there is a limitation in manually extracting coronary arteries, and related researches are performed to automatically extract coronary arteries accurately. As the coronary artery originate from the ascending aorta, the ascending aorta and ostium should be detected to extract the coronary tree accurately. In this paper, we propose an automatic segmentation for the ostium as a starting structure of coronary artery in CTA. First, the region of the ascending aorta is initially detected by using Hough circle transform based on the relative position and size of the ascending aorta. Second, the volume of interest is defined to reduce the search range based on the initial area. Third, the refined ascending aorta is segmented by using a two-dimensional geodesic active contour. Finally, the two ostia are detected within the region of the refined ascending aorta. For the evaluation of our method, we measured the Euclidean distance between the result and the ground truths annotated manually by medical experts in 20 CTA images. The experimental results showed that the ostia were accurately detected.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.14-25
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• 1992

Thallium-201 $(^{201}T1)$ SPECT studies were performed on a normal volunteer and 12 patients with intracerebral lesions: 3 patients with gliomas, 3 patients with meningiomas, 1 patient each with metastatic tumor, brain abscess, and cerebral infarction, and 3 postirradiation patients. (2 with metastatic tumors, 1 with lymphoma). A $^{201}T1$ index, based on the ratio of $^{201}T1$ uptake in the brain lesion versus the homologous contralateral brain, was calculated and compared with tumor histology and CT/MRI findings. The SPECT $^{201}T1$ scan showed minimal uptake of tracer in a normal brain. There was substantial uptake of $^{201}T1$ in high-grade gliomas (index>1.5) with little uptake in low-grade lesions. A previously irradiated patient with recurrent astrocytoma, in whom MRI study was unable to distinguish tumor recurrence from necrosis, showed the lesions with high $^{201}T1$ indices in both hemispheric regions (2.50/1.93), suggesting tumor recurrence. Two meningiomas and a metastatic tumor showed varying degrees of $^{201}T1$ uptake (index $1.71\sim8.15$), revealing that $^{201}T1$ uptake is not exclusive to high-grade gliomas. In 2 postirradiation patients with metastatic tumors, no abnormal $^{201}T1$ uptake was found in the cerebral lesions, shortly after the initiation of radiation therapy or despite the persistence of enhancing lesions-though improved-on MR images, suggesting that $^{201}T1$ uptake may reflect the metabolic and possibly clonogenic activities of tumors and the brain $^{201}T1$ SPECT imaging might be valuable for the evaluation of tumor responsiveness to the therapy and for early detection of tumor recurrence. A patient with brain abscess on antibiotic treatment, showig increased uptake of $^{201}T1$ in the resolving lesions (index 2.87/1.52) is discussed. In a patient with cerebral infarction, there was no abnormal uptake of $^{201}T1$ in infarcted tissue. When using a threshold index of 1.5, correlation rate between $^{201}T1$ uptake and contrast enhancement of the cerebral lesions on CT/MRI was 73% (8/11). In conclusion, the brain $^{201}T1$ SPECT imaging may be useful for assessment of tumor response to the therapy and to predict low-or high-grade lesions.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.105-116
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• 2003

Definitely, treatment for gastric cancer is primarily surgical. Detection in early stage of disease and complete surgical resection is the best way to cure gastric cancer. If surgery is planned, careful preoperative evaluation and corrections of physiologic and psychologic abnormalities are essential to reduce perioperative morbidity or mortality. Basic principle of gastrectomy for gastric cancer is an en bloc resection of tumor with adequate margins of normal tissue and with regional lymph nodes and omental tissues. To complete these principles, regional lymph nodes and all omental tissues should be removed altogether during performing various types of gastric resection. The lymph node dissection is one of the most effective procedures for gastric cancer to achieve curative resection. The basic types of gastric resection are distal subtotal gastrectomy and total gastrectomy according to the condition of primary lesions and the status of lymph node metastases. When the primary lesion is located near the esophagogastric junction, it is sometimes hard for a surgeon to select adequate surgical method. Postoperative quality of life in a patient has become a very important factor to be considered in every step of surgical therapy. With increasing incidence of early gastric cancer, a number of surgical trials for limited surgery or endoscopic procedures have been performed, but the long-term clinical results should be carefully analyzed to define the clinical relevance of these new techniques. For patients with disseminated gastric cancer, a palliative procedure can be performed to improve quality of life of patients and to avoid immediate death due to the cancer-related complications.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6837-6842
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• 2014

Background: Northern Thailand is a region with a high cervical cancer incidence. Combined high-risk HPV (hrHPV) DNA testing and cytology (co-testing) has increasingly gained acceptance for cervical cancer screening. However, to our knowledge, data from a population-based screening using co-testing have not been available in this region. This study therefore aimed to evaluate the performance of cytology and hrHPV test in women in northern Thailand. Materials and Methods: Cervical samples were collected for hybrid capture 2 (HC2) testing and liquid-based cytology from women aged 30 to 60 years who were residents in 3 prefectures of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand between May and September 2011. Women with positive cytology were referred to colposcopy, while women with positive for HC2 only were followed for 2 years. Results: Of 2,752 women included in this study, 3.0% were positive in both tests, 4.1% for HC2 only, and 1.3% had positive cytology only. At baseline screening, positive HC2 was observed in 70.6% among cytology-positive women compared with 4.3% among cytology-negative women. The prevalence of positive HC2 or cytology peaked in the age group 35-39 years and was lowest in the age group 55-60 years. High-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion or worse lesions (HSIL+) were histologically detected in 23.5% of women with positive baseline cytology and in 9.8% of women with positive baseline HC2 only on follow-up. All women with histologic HSIL+ had positive baseline HC2. Conclusions: The hrHPV test is superior to cytology in the early detection of high-grade cervical epithelial lesions. In this study, the prevalence of histologic HSIL+ on follow-up of women with positive hrHPV test was rather high, and these women should be kept under careful surveillance. In northern Thailand, hrHPV testing has a potential to be used as a primary screening test for cervical cancer with cytology applied as a triage test.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1399-1405
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• 2001

Objectives : Gliomatosis cerebri is an uncommon primary brain tumor characterized by diffuse neoplastic proliferation of glial cells, with the preservation of the underlying cytoarchitecture. The aim of this study is to evaluate clinical features, outcome of surgical treatment and adjuvant therapy of gliomatosis cerebri. Methods : Between Jan. 1990 and Dec. 2000, 12 patients were diagnosed with gliomatosis cerebri based on characteristic radiological and histological findings. The patients' age ranged from 18 to 77(mean 44) years and the male to female ratio was 7 : 5. Nine patients underwent decompressive surgery and three, biopsy only. Postoperative radiation therapy was given in all cases except three. In addition to radiation therapy, four patients received chemotherapy. The mean duration of follow-up period was 18.8 months. Results : The most common presenting symptom were seizure and motor weakness. The mean duration of symptom was 5.9 months. There was 5 bilateral lesions and tumor involved corpus callosum in 5, basal ganglia-thalamus in 4, and brain stem in 2. There was no operative mortality but four patients died during the follow-up. The mean survival period for 11 patients was 20.5 months from the time of diagnosis. In univariate analysis, the lesion involving corpus callosum, basal ganglia-thalamus and brain stem correlated significantly with the short length of survival(p<0.05). Also, postoperative radiation as a adjuvant therapy prolonged the patient's survival(p<0.05). Conclusions : In the management of gliomatosis cerebri patients, early detection by MR imaging, active management of increased intracranial pressure, decompressive surgical removal and postoperative adjuvant therapy such as radiation is thought to be a good treatment modality.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.315-322
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• 2003

Background : Important factors to determine treatment method and prognosis of oral cancer are anatomical site, tumor size, metastatic lesion, histologic cell differenciation and microvascular invasion. Anatomical site has great effect to oral cancer patient's survival rate because each site's accessibility and lymph node metastasis is different but this factor was't studied much than other factors. Patients and Methods : 228 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of common primary sites(Mandible, Maxilla, Floor of Mouth and Tongue) in oral cavity who were diagnosed in the Korea Cancer Center Hospital from January 1989 to December 1999, were clinically studied and analyzed on survival rate. Results : 1. Survival rates of each anatomical sites were Tongue(36.8%), Mandible(33.3%), Maxilla(28.7%) and Floor of Mouth(24.5%). Survival rates difference between Tongue and Floor of Mouth has significance(p<0.05). 2. Survival rates for early cancer of each site were Maxilla(100%), Mandible(57.1%), Tongue(54.2%) and Floor of Mouth(46.7%). Survival rates difference between Maxilla and Floor of Mouth has significance(p<0.05). 3. Survival rates by surgery method of each site were Maxilla(60.6%), Tongue(56.9%), Mandible(44.8%) and Floor of Mouth(26.3%). Survival rates difference between Maxilla and Floor of Mouth has significance(p<0.05). 4. Survival rates by radiation or chemo method of each site were Floor of Mouth(23.5%), Mandible(20.0%), Maxilla(9.5%), and Tongue(9.1%). Survival rates difference between each site doesn't have significance(p>0.05). 5. In advance stage, Survival rates by single therapy of each site were Tongue(33.6%), Mandible(23.5%), Floor of Mouth(16.7%), Maxilla(0%), and Survival rates difference between Maxilla and Tongue has significance (p<0.05). Survival rates by combination therapy of each site were Mandible(38.1%), Maxilla(30.0%), Floor of mouth(18.2%), Tongue(12.5%), and Survival rates difference between Mandible and Tongue has significance(p<0.05). Conclusion : Survival rate of tongue is higher than the other sites, early detection of oral cancer can increase survival rate at any site and combination therapy is the most effetive method, especially at maxilla.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.4197-4201
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• 2014

Minor trauma to the uterine cervix is supposed to induce local immunity to prevent cervical lesions caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. This study aimed to investigate the local cervical immunity in women with low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and effects of abrasion after cryosurgery or Pap smear. One hundred women with LSIL and known results of HPV detection were recruited. HPV positive women were randomly divided according to abrasion into cryotherapy and Pap smear observation groups. Cervical tissues and cervico-vaginal lavage (CVL) were collected at 6 and 12 months after allocation. The levels of cytokines at first recruitment were compared with cytokine levels at 6 months after abrasions. The mRNA of IFN-${\gamma}$, TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-10 in cervical tissues and these cytokines secreted in CVL were determined using real time PCR and ELISA, respectively. Anti-HPV16 IgG and IgA antibodies in CVL were assessed by western blotting. At first recruitment of women with LSIL (100 cases), IL-10 mRNA and cytokine in HPV positive group (60 cases) was significantly higher than negative group (40 cases). IFN-${\gamma}$ and TNF-${\alpha}$ mRNA level in both groups were comparable but their secretions in CVL were significantly increased in HPV negative group. After abrasion for 6 months in HPV-positive women, all mRNA and secreted cytokines were changed, but no significant difference was observed between cryotherapy and observation groups. When individuals were compared between first recruitment and after abrasion for 6 months, IFN-${\gamma}$ mRNA and anti-HPV16 L1 IgA antibodies were significantly increased in the cryotherapy group. The results suggest that modulation of local cervical immunities by abrasion might promote different effects in clearance of HPV-related cytological abnormalities.