• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1053-1057
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• 2012

Objective: Identifying cancer-related genes or proteins is critical in preventing and controlling colorectal cancer (CRC). This study was to investigate the clinicopathological and prognostic value of activating transcription factor 1 (ATF1) in CRC. Methods: Protein expression of ATF1 was detected using immunohistochemistry in 66 CRC tissues. Clinicopathological association of ATF1 in CRC was analyzed with chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. The prognostic value of ATF1 in CRC is estimated using the Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression models. Results: The ATF1 protein expression was significantly lower in tumor tissues than corresponding normal tissues (51.5% and 71.1%, respectively, P = 0.038). No correlation was found between ATF1 expression and the investigated clinicopathological parameters, including gender, age, depth of invasion, lymph node status, metastasis, pathological stage, vascular tumoral emboli, peritumoral deposits, chemotherapy and original tumor site (all with P > 0.05). Patients with higher ATF1 expression levels have a significantly higher survival rate than that with lower expression (P = 0.026 for overall survival, P = 0.008 for progress free survival). Multivariate Cox regression model revealed that ATF1 expression and depth of invasion were the predictors of the overall survival (P = 0.008 and P = 0.028) and progress free survival (P = 0.002 and P = 0.005) in CRC. Conclusions: Higher ATF1 expression is a predictor of a favorable outcome for the overall survival and progress free survival in CRC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1107-1110
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• 2013

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), one of the primary liver cancers, is frequent in the northeastern part of Thailand. Surgical resection remains the best method of treatment, but patients suffering from ICC usually present at a late stage of the disease. Studies of survival and prognostic factors after surgery remain rare. The aim here was to evaluate the survival rate and factors affecting the survival of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma after surgery. The study used a retrospective cohort design. The subjects were 73 consecutive patients with ICC, who were admitted for surgery to Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen University, during the period 2005-2009. The censoring date was 31 December, 2011, data being evaluated using uni- and multivariate analyses. Postoperative survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the Cox proportional hazard model was used to identify independent prognostic factors. The total follow-up time was 99 person-years. The total number of deaths was 59, giving a mortality rate of 59 per 100 person-years. The cumulative 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 52.1%, 21.7%, and 11.2%, respectively. The median duration of survival after resection was 12.4 months. Univariate analysis revealed stage of disease, lymph node metastasis, histological type, histological grade and macroscopic classification to be statistically significant (p-value<0.05) prognostic factors. In the multivariate analysis, only macroscopic classification was statistically significant (p-value<0.05). In conclusion, macroscopic classification was the only independent factor found to be significantly associated with survival following surgical treatment of ICC.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.50
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• pp.334.1-334.2
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• 2018

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.72-76
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• 2004

Purpose: Dealing patients with organophosphate poisoning, cholinesterase level has been used as a diagnostic and prognostic value. But there are some controversies that the cholinesterase level is significantly related to the severity or prognosis of acute organophosphate poisoning. We evaluated the correlation between initial serum level of cholinesterase and APACHE II score as an index for severity, and we assessed cholinesterase levels for predicting value of weaning from mechanical ventilation. Method: From August 1996 to March 2003, 23 patients with organophosphate poisoning who needed ventilatory care were enrolled. Retrospective review was done for the serum level of cholinesterase, APACHE II score, and the duration of ventilatory care. The percentage of measured serum cholinesterase to median normal value was used to standardize cholinesterase levels from different laboratories. Result: There were tendencies that the lower initial serum of cholinesterase, the higher the APACHE II score (r=0.297) and the longer the duration of mechanical ventilation (r=-0.204), but they were not significant (p=0.264 and p=0.351 respectively). In 9 patients whose serum cholinesterase level were checked at the time of weaning, mean of measured cholinesterase level was $10.3\pm7.60\%$ of normal value. Conclusion: There was no significant relationship between initial level of serum cholinesterase and severity or duration of mechanical ventilation. General health status of patient, amount of ingestion, toxicity of agent should be considered as important factors for severity of poisoning. And the decision of weaning should be based not solely on the cholinesterase level but on the consideration of general and respiratory state of individual patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3281-3285
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• 2012

Objectives: To evaluate the clinicopathologic correlation and prognostic value of HPV18 DNA viral load in patients with early-stage cervical neuroendocrine carcinoma (NECA). Methods: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue of cervical NECA patients with known HPV18 infection and clinicopathologic data including follow-up results were collected. The HPV18 DNA load was assessed with quantitative PCR targeting the HPV18 E6E7 region. Results: Twenty-one patients with early-stage (IB-IIA) cervical NECA were identified. HPV18 DNA viral load ranged from 0.83 to 55,174 copies/cell (median 5.90). Disease progression, observed in 10 cases (48%), was not significantly associated with any clinicopathologic variables. However, the group of patients with progressive disease tended to have a higher rate of pelvic lymph node metastasis (50% versus 9%, p=0.063) and a lower median value of HPV18 DNA viral load (4.37 versus 8.17 copies/cell, p=0.198) compared to the non-recurrent group. When stratified by a cut-off viral load value of 5.00 copies/cell, the group of patients with viral load ${\leq}5.00$ copies/cell had a significantly shorter disease-free survival than the group with viral load >5.00 copies/cell (p=0.028). The group with a lower viral load also tended to have a higher rate of disease progression (75% versus 31%, p=0.080). No significant difference in the other clinicopathologic variables between the lower and higher viral load groups was identified. Conclusion: HPV18 DNA viral load may have a prognostic value in patients with early-stage NECA of the cervix. A low viral load may be predictive of shortened disease-free survival in these patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1751-1755
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• 2014

Background: In this study prognostic correlations of histopathologic parameters and the Ki-67 proliferation index and as well as the diagnostic value of immunohistochemical markers in pheochromocytomas were evaluated. Materials and Methods: A total of 22 patients diagnosed with a pheochromocytoma between 2000-2010 in Izmir Katip Celebi University Ataturk Training and Research Hospital were included. Diagnostic value of the PASS scoring system, and prognostic correlations of histopathologic parameters and Ki-67 proliferation index were investigated. SPSS for Windows 17.0 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: There was no statistically significant correlation between recurrence and clinicopathologic parameters or the PASS score (PASS>4). In addition, there were no statistically significant correlations between PASS score and clinicopathologic parameters, such as diameter (5 cm), weight (>100g), gender (female/male ratio) and age (25-45/45-55/>55). Besides, there were no significant correlation between diameter and clinicopathological parameters and also recurrence. However, there was a statistically significant correlation between Ki-67 proliferation index and capsule invasion (p=0.047). Conclusions: Some but not most of the findings in our study were concordant with the literature. To clarify relationships, investigations with standard scoring systems which are not affected by subjective factors and feature appropriate histopathological criteria should be made on larger study groups.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.3547-3553
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• 2014

Background: The prognostic value of serum alkaline phosphatase (S-ALP) has not been fully validated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Materials and Methods: S-ALP levels were measured in 601 patients newly diagnosed with NPC before radical treatment, and possible associations of these levels with 5-year overall survival (OS) and tumor-free survival (TFS) were explored using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Elevated pretreatment S-ALP (>85 U/L) was significantly less frequent among patients classified as T1+2 or stage I+II than among those classified as T3+4 or stage III+IV. Multivariate analysis showed that elevated pretreatment S-ALP (>85 U/L), age, T classification and N stage were independent predictors of poor OS and TFS. Conclusions: Pretreatment S-ALP may be a reliable biomarker to evaluate the long-term prognosis of patients with NPC.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.466-471
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• 2012

Objective : The aim of this study was to devise an objective clustering method for magnetoencephalography (MEG) interictal spike sources, and to identify the prognostic value of the new clustering method in adult epilepsy patients with cortical dysplasia (CD). Methods : We retrospectively analyzed 25 adult patients with histologically proven CD, who underwent MEG examination and surgical resection for intractable epilepsy. The mean postoperative follow-up period was 3.1 years. A hierarchical clustering method was adopted for MEG interictal spike source clustering. Clustered sources were then tested for their prognostic value toward surgical outcome. Results : Postoperative seizure outcome was Engel class I in 6 (24%), class II in 3 (12%), class III in 12 (48%), and class IV in 4 (16%) patients. With respect to MEG spike clustering, 12 of 25 (48%) patients showed 1 cluster, 2 (8%) showed 2 or more clusters within the same lobe, 10 (40%) showed 2 or more clusters in a different lobe, and 1 (4%) patient had only scattered spikes with no clustering. Patients who showed focal clustering achieved better surgical outcome than distributed cases (p=0.017). Conclusion : This is the first study that introduces an objective method to classify the distribution of MEG interictal spike sources. By using a hierarchical clustering method, we found that the presence of focal clustered spikes predicts a better postoperative outcome in epilepsy patients with CD.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.12-28
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• 2023

Introduction This study reports case series of Soyangin patients with coldness in hands and feet using Sasang constitutional medicine approach. This study suggests a value of using constitutional medicine indicators as both prognostic and diagnostic tools. Methods Among patients who visited an outpatient clinic, 7 patients were selected based on the criteria. These selected patients were exclusively treated with herbal medicine and monitored every 2 to 4 weeks retrospectively. Results The average treatment period was 8 weeks. Patients with a favorable pattern showed the improvement within 8 weeks, while those with an unfavorable pattern required more time. Discussion This study confirms the significance of Sasang constitutional medicine approach in Soyangin exterior cold syndrome with coldness in hands and feet. It also validates the current coldness in hands and feet as meaningful diagnostic indicator of Soyangin exterior cold syndrome. Furthermore, it highlights the value of original symptoms as prognostic tools.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.173-179
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• 2011

Purpose: It is difficult to obtain biopsies from gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) prior to surgery because GISTs are submucoal tumors, despite being the most common nonepithelial neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract. Unlike anatomic imaging techniques, PET-CT, which is a molecular imaging tool, can be a useful technique for assessing tumor activity and predicting the malignant potential of certain tumors. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of PET-CT as a pre-operative prognostic factor for GISTs by analyzing the correlation between the existing post-operative prognostic factors and the maximum SUV uptake (SUVmax) of pre-operative 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) PET-CT. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 26 patients who were diagnosed with gastric GISTs and underwent surgery after being examined with pre-operative FDG PET-CT. An analysis of the correlation bewteen (i) NIH risk classification and the Ki-67 proliferation index, which are post-operative prognostic factors, and (ii) the SUVmax of PET-CT, which is a pre-operative prognostic factor, was performed. Results: There were significant correlations between (i) SUVmax and (ii) Ki-67 index, tumor size, mitotic count, and NIH risk group (r=0.854, 0.888, 0.791, and 0.756, respectively). The optimal cut-off value for SUVmax was 3.94 between "low-risk malignancy" and "high-risk malignancy" groups. The sensitivity and specificity of SUVmax for predicting the risk of malignancy were 85.7% and 94.7%, respectively. Conclusions: The SUVmax of PET-CT is associated with Ki-67 index, tumor size, mitotic count, and NIH classification. Therefore, it is believed that PET-CT is a relatively safe, non-invasive diagnostic tool for assessing malignant potential pre-operatively.