• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.329-338
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• 2017

Background: The clinical value of 3-field lymph node dissection (3FLND) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains controversial. This study aimed to identify the patterns and prognostic significance of cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in ESCC. Methods: A retrospective review of 77 patients with E SCC who underwent esophagectomy and 3FLND between 2002 and 2016 was conducted. For each cervical node level, the efficacy index (EI), overall survival, recurrence rate, and complication rate were compared. Results: CLNM was identified in 34 patients (44.2%) who underwent 3FLND. Patients with CLNM had a significantly lower overall survival rate (22.7% vs. 58.2%) and a higher recurrence rate (45.9% vs. 16.3%) than patients without CLNM. CLNM was an independent predictor of recurrence in ESCC patients. Moreover, in patients with pathologic N3 tumors, the odds ratio of CLNM was 10.8 (95% confidence interval, 2.0 to 57.5; p=0.005). Level IV dissection had the highest EI, and level IV metastasis was significantly correlated with overall survival (p=0.012) and recurrence (p=0.001). Conclusion: CLNM was a significant prognostic factor for ESCC patients and was more common among patients with advanced nodal stages. Level IV exhibited the highest risk of metastasis, and dissection at level IV may be crucial when performing 3FLND, especially in advanced nodal stage disease.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.273-283
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• 2017

This paper presents and compares three feedback control strategies for active control of noise inside a 3-D vibro-acoustic cavity. These are a) control strategy based on direct output feedback (DOFB) b) control strategy based on linear quadratic regulator (LQR) to reduce structural vibrations and c) LQR control strategy with a weighting scheme based on structural-acoustic coupling coefficients. The first two strategies are indirect control strategies in which noise reduction is achieved through active vibration control (AVC), termed as AVC-DOFB and AVC-LQR respectively. The third direct strategy is based on active structural-acoustic control (ASAC). This strategy is an LQR based optimal control strategy in which the coupling between the various structural and the acoustic modes is used to design the controller. The strategy is termed as ASAC-LQR. A numerical model of a 3-D rectangular box cavity with a flexible plate (glued with piezoelectric patches) and with other five surfaces treated rigid is developed using finite element (FE) method. A single pair of collocated piezoelectric patches is used for sensing the vibrations and applying control forces on the structure. A comparison of frequency response function (FRF) of structural nodal acceleration, acoustic nodal pressure, and piezoelectric actuation voltage is carried out. It is found that the AVC-DOFB control strategy gives equal importance to all the modes. The AVC-LQR control strategy tries to consume the control effort to damp all the structural modes. It is seen that the ASAC-LQR control strategy utilizes the control effort more intelligently by adding higher damping to those structural modes that matter more for reducing the interior noise.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2439-2443
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• 2016

Purpose: To determine the risk factors, clinical symptoms and patterns of spread in laryngeal cancer. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out in the Regional Cancer Centre, Imphal, Manipur, India. One hundred and sixteen patients with laryngeal cancer were retrospectively reviewed for epidemiological data and descriptive statistics were reported for various variables. Results: Median age at presentation was 65 years and 32.8% were undernourished at presentation. The male to female ratio was 5.4:1. Heavy smoking and tobacco chewing was associated in 91.4% and 33.6% of patients respectively. Tracheostomy was required in 21.5% leading to diagnosis of laryngeal cancer. Almost all were squamous cell carcinoma with neuroendocrine and verrucous carcinoma accounting for less than 2%. Supraglottic, glottic and trans-glottic tumors were 56.9%, 36.3% and 6.9% respectively. Nodal metastases were seen in 81.8% of supraglottic cancers and 31.6% of glottic cancers with supraglottic involvement. Level II neck nodes were the commonest site followed by level III. Distant metastases (only liver) were apparent in 1.7% at presentation. Including these liver metastases, unresectable cases were limited to 6% of the patients. Conclusions: Tobacco use is implicated in almost all of the cases and the sex ratio has also decreased due to increased female smokers. The supraglottis remains the commonest site and incidence of nodal metastases is higher than in other countries. There is also a higher requirement for tracheostomy at presentation in this region.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 1995

The effects of leaf removal time on variation of nodal sink components in determinated soybean ［Glycine max （L.） Merr.］ cultivar 'Danyeobkong' were measured at the experiment field of Chonbuk Provincial Rural Development Administration in 1991. Node order in this experiment was calculated from terminal node to bottom node to clarify the photosynthetic ability of canopy leaves. The upper 5 leaves from terminal node of main stem were removed at 5, 15, 25, 35 and 45 days after flowering(DAF) respectively. In spite of light-receiving increment in lower part of main stem and in branch by removing the upper part leaves of main stem, seed weight of that part was not increased in leaf removal treatment compared with control block. The node position reducing pod went down from terminal to bottom by delaying leaf removal time, and the influence of pod number reduction was bigger in DAF 25 than in DAF 15. But the seed number reduction per pod was the biggest in DAF 35. Cracked seed coat ratio ranged from 25% to 35% in control block, while that of leaf removal block had mostly 10% gap compared with the control block.rol block.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.205-210
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• 2016

Interleukin-10 (IL10) plays an important role in initiating and maintaining an appropriate immune response to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Previous studies have revealed that the transcription of IL10 mRNA and its protein expression may be infl uenced by several single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter and intron regions, including rs1800896, rs1800871, and rs1800872. However, the impact of polymorphisms of the IL10 gene on NHL prognosis has not been fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the association between IL10 polymorphisms and NHL prognosis. This study involved 112 NHL patients treated at the National Cancer Center, Korea. The median age was 57 years, and 70 patients (62.5%) were men. Clinical characteristics, including age, performance status, stage, and extra-nodal involvement, as well as cell lineage and International Prognostic Index (IPI), were evaluated. A total of four polymorphisms in IL10 with heterozygous alleles were analyzed for hazard ratios of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was the most common histologic type (n = 83), followed by T-cell lymphoma (n = 18), mantle cell lymphoma (n = 6), and others (n = 5). Cell lineage, IPI, and extra-nodal involvement were predictors of prognosis. In the additive genetic model results for each IL10 polymorphism, the rs1800871 and rs1800872 polymorphisms represented a marginal association with OS (p = 0.09 and p = 0.06) and PFS (p = 0.05 and p = 0.08) in B-cell lymphoma patients treated with rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP). These findings suggest that IL10 polymorphisms might be prognostic indicators for patients with B-cell NHL treated with R-CHOP.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.29-42
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• 1994

Discrimination studies between microearthquakes and underground explosions are carried out in the pure-continental path of north-south within the Korean Peninsula. The characteristic waveforms for explosions and microearthquakes are investigated in the light of observation and synthetic seismograms. The characteristic waveform generation is minnly a function of source mechanism and ray-path and former influences more strongly than the latter.A double-couple source mechanism for microeatthquakes and a single-couple(force) mechanism for explosions are presented in this study. It is found for very shallow events to have outstanding of $L_g$ waves in the transverse components that pass through the upper crust with period of 1 - 6 seconds and fundamental modes of Rayleigh waves, $R_g$ in the vertical component with period 8-12 seconds. Furthermore it is pointed out that the first arrival amplitudes of SH waves for explosions are always srnall regardless of azimuth of stations since there is non-existence of nodal lines for the explosion mechanism. Theoretical seismograms for explosions show the first motions of compression with short wavelengths as well as mostly fundamental modes of Rayleight waves, $R_g$ waves and $L_g$ waves, whereas those of micro-earthquakes give either compression or dilatation according to the ack azimuth epicenter to stations and poor or non $R_g$ waves and complicated $L_g$ waves, depending on the focal depth.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.189-195
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• 2007

Helicteres isora is medicinally important plant effective against asthma, diabetes, hypolipidemia, HIV, besides a good source of diosgenin. Seed dormancy and low rate of natural fruit production make this plant a perfect candidate for developing an in vitro method useful for its clonal propagation and further biotechnological developments. This is the first report on in vitro production of this plant. Nodal explants obtained from aseptically germinated seedlings were cultured on MS medium (Murashige and Skoog 1962) fortified with indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) ($0.57-22.83\;{\mu}M$), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) ($0.41-16.58\;{\mu}M$), 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) ($0.44-17.75\;{\mu}M$) and kinetin (Kin) ($0.46-13.94\;{\mu}M$) either singly or in combinations of IAA + BA, IAA + Kin and BA + Kin. Combinations of cytokinins (BA and Kin) were most suitable for multiple shoot induction and $13.94\;{\mu}M\;Kin\;+\;13.31\;{\mu}M\;BA$ was optimum (79% frequency) associated with high number of microshoots (7.1 shoots per explant) after 20 days of culture. Maximum shoot elongation and proliferation (10 shoots per explant with 4.8 cm average height) was achieved on MS media containing $2.32\;{\mu}M\;Kin\;+\;2.22\;{\mu}M\;BA\;+\;2.85\;{\mu}M\;IAA$. High rooting frequency (70%) was achieved on MS medium (1/2 basal strength) fortified with $4.14\;{\mu}M$ IBA, while activated charcoal showed inhibitory effects on rooting. Hardening was done with 76% survival rate and these plants were growing without any visual defects and morphologically mimicking the naturally growing plants.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.83-88
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• 2015

Purpose: To evaluate the appropriateness of prophylactic inguinal nodal irradiation (PINI), we analyzed patterns of failure in anal cancer patients who were inguinal node-negative at presentation and did not receive PINI. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 33 anal cancer patients treated by definitive concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) between 1994 and 2013. Radiotherapy consisted of a total dose of 44-45 Gy (22-25 fractions in 5 weeks) on the whole pelvis, anus, and perineum. Except inguinal lymphadenopathy was present at initial diagnosis, the entire inguinal chain was not included in the radiation field. In other words, there was no PINI. Results: The median follow-up duration was 50 months (range, 4 to 218 months). Median survival and progression-free survival (PFS) were 57 months (range, 10 to 218 months) and 50 months (range, 4 to 218 months), respectively. Among the survival, the median follow-up duration was 51 months (range, 12 to 218 months). The 5-year overall survival and PFS rates were 93.4% and 88.8%, respectively. Although none of the patients received inguinal node irradiation for prophylactic purposes, there was no inguinal recurrence. Conclusion: Treatment of anal cancer by omitting PINI might be considered in selected patients with clinically uninvolved inguinal nodes.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.235-240
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• 2011

A flexible hose attached to a mother ship experiences various motions that depend on the movement of the mother ship and that of underwater vehicle. Although the motion of the hose is a very important factor that determines how a mother ship should be steered in a real situation, it is difficult to experimentally obtain information about the hose motion. Therefore, we study the motion of the hose analytically. The ANCF(absolute nodal coordinate formulation) was used to model the hose, because this formulation can relax the Euler-Bernoulli theory and the Timoshenko beam theory and allow the deformation of the cross section. The mother ship is assumed to be a rigid body with 6 degrees of freedom. The motion of the hose is predominantly affected by the behavior of the mother ship and by the fluid flow.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.335-344
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• 2015

Background: A raised carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) may be associated with significant pathology during the postoperative follow-up of lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 305 patients who underwent surgical resections for primary lung adenocarcinoma at a single institution between April 2006 and February 2013. Results: Preoperative CEA levels were significantly associated with age, smoking history, pathologic stage including pT (pathologic tumor stge), pN (pathologic nodal stage) and overall pathological stage, tumor size and differentiation, pathologically positive total lymph node, N1 and N2 lymph node, N2 nodal station (0/1/2=1.83/2.94/7.21 ng/mL, p=0.019), and 5-year disease-free survival (0.591 in group with normal preoperative CEA levels vs. 0.40 in group with high preoperative CEA levels, p=0.001). Preoperative CEA levels were significantly higher than postoperative CEA levels (p<0.001, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). Postoperative CEA level was also significantly associated with disease-free survival (p<0.001). A follow-up serum CEA value of >2.57 ng/mL was found to be the appropriate cutoff value for the prediction of cancer recurrence with sensitivity and specificity of 71.4% and 72.3%, respectively. Twenty percent of patients who had recurrence of disease had a CEA level elevated above this cutoff value prior to radiographic evidence of recurrence. Postoperative CEA, pathologic stage, differentiation, vascular invasion, and neoadjuvant therapy were identified as independent predictors of 5-year disease-free survival in a multivariate analysis. Conclusion: The follow-up CEA level can be a useful tool for detecting early recurrence undetected by postoperative imaging studies. The perioperative follow-up CEA levels may be helpful for providing personalized evaluation of lung adenocarcinoma.