• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2014

Objectives : Breast cancer has been the most prevalent female cancer in South Korea since 2001. Early detection of this disease is the most effective strategy for reducing mortality. The objective of this study was to identify factors which could predict advanced stage at diagnosis of breast cancer. Methods : Participants who were initially diagnosed with breast cancer and referred to the Stress Clinic of the Breast Cancer Center at Kyungpook National University Hospital were included. Through a semi-structured interview, the authors investigated psychosocial variables such as the extent of marital and family functioning and emotional-economic family burden as well as sociodemographic and health behavior-, health characteristic- and cancer-related variables. Results : Data were collected from 219 participants. One hundred and twenty(54.8%) subjects were diagnosed with advanced-stage breast cancer. Variables that were significantly different between the advanced-stage and early-stage groups included : monthly breast self examination(p<0.000), annual mammographic screening(p<0.000), mode of tumor detection(p<0.000), nature of the first symptoms(p<0.000), time to treatment after diagnosis(p<0.000), overloaded economic and family burden(p=0.018), marital functioning(p<0.000) and family functioning(p<0.00). Logistic regression analysis indicated that irregular annual mammography screening(OR=7.431 ; 95% CI 2.407-22.944) or a lack of screening(OR=25.299 ; 95% CI 7.855-81.482) and a dysfunctional marital relationship(OR=4.772 ; 95% CI 2.244-10.145) were significantly associated with advanced stage at diagnosis of breast cancer. Conclusions : We reconfirmed screening behavior to be a risk factor for delayed diagnosis of breast cancer. Our findings also emphasized the importance of psychosocial factors such as marital functioning in early detection of breast cancer. Psychiatric consultation in the area of martial functioning could be beneficial for increasing early detection in breast cancer.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.68-74
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• 2009

Objectives : Illness behavior is defined as the persistence of an adaptive/maladaptive mode of perceiving, evaluating and responding to health status and symptoms according to the status. In a cognitive aspect, somatizing symptoms are regarded as being originated from distortions, including magnification and/or amplification, of perceiving, evaluating and responding to symptoms such as bodily sensations. That is somatization may be explained by maladaptive illness behavior. In this study, we tried to investigate differences of illness behavior in depressive patient according to the presence of somatization. Methods : We divided 45 patients who were diagnosed as depression with ICD-10 diagnostic criteria into two groups(somatizing and non-somatizing group) according to the somatization subscale of Korean Depression Scale and compared two groups in the differences of illness behavior using the Illness Behavior Questionnaire. Results : Somatizing group showed significantly higher scores than non-somatizing group on the disease affirmation subscale($6.79{\pm}2.08$ vs. 4.76, p=0.003) and the denial subscale($3.25{\pm}1.22$ vs. $2.10{\pm}1.41$, p=0.006). There were no significant differences between two groups on the general hypochondriasis subscale and the affective unstability subscale. In a logistic regression analysis, somatizing group also showed higher odds ratio (OR) scores on the disease affirmation subscale(OR=1.418, p=0.089) and the denial subscale(OR=1.880, p=0.083). Conclusion : The disease affirmation and denial may be a discriminative mechanism of somatization in depressive patients. These subscales of Illness Behavior Questionnare could be useful markers, and psychiatric illnesses with somatizing and depressive symptoms may be differentially diagnosed and be predicted through these subscales.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.5-16
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• 2009

Against the backdrop of the increasing trend towards economic globalisation, many international firms are indicating that decisions on how to enter foreign markets remains one of the key strategic challenges confronting them. Despite the rich body of literature on the topic, the fact that these challenges have continued to dominate global marketing strategy discourses point to someevident lacunae. Accordingly, this paper considers the variables, categorised in terms of firm contexts (standardisation, market research, competition, structure, competitive advantage) and host country-contexts (economic development, cultural differences, regulation and political risk), which influence the degree of involvement of UK companies in overseas markets. Following hypotheses were drawn from literature review: H1: The greater the level of competition, the higher the degree of involvement in the overseas market. H2: The more centralised the firm's organisation structure, the higher the degree of involvement in the overseas market. H3a: The adoption of a low cost-approach to competitive advantage will lead to a higher degree of involvement. H3b: The adoption of an innovation-approach to competitive advantage will lead to a higher degree of involvement. H3c: The adoption of a market research approach to competitive advantages will lead to a higher degree of involvement. H3d: The adoption of a breadth of strategic target-approach to competitive advantage will lead to a lower degree of involvement. H4: The higher the degree of standardisation of the international marketing mix the higher the degree of involvement. H5: The greater the degree of economic development in the host market, the higher the degree of involvement. H6: The greater the cultural differences between home and host countries, the lower the degree of involvement. H7: The greater the difference in regulations between the home country and the host country, the lower the degree of involvement. H8: The higher the political risk in the host country, the lower the degree of involvement. A questionnaire instrument was constructed using, wherever possible, validated measures of the concepts to serve the aims of this study. Following two sets of mailings, 112 usable completed questionnaires were returned. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze data. Statistically, the paper suggests that factors relating to the level of competition, competitive advantages and economic development are strong in influencing foreign market involvements. On the other hand, unexpectedly, cultural factors (especially individualism/collectivism and low and high power distance dimensions) proved to have weak moderating effects. The reason for this, in part, is due to the pervading forces of globalisation and the attendant effect on global marketing. This paper has contributed to the general literature in a way that point to two mainimplications. First, with respect to research on national systems, the study may hold out some important lessons especially for developing nations. Most of these nations are known to be actively seeking to understand what it takes to attract foreign direct investment, expand domestic market and move their economies from the margin to the mainstream global economy. Second, it should be realised that competitive conditions remain in constant flux (even in mature industries and mature economies). This implies that a range of home country factors may be as important as host country factors in explaining firms' strategic moves and the degree of foreign market involvement. Further research can consider the impact of the home country environment on foreign market involvement decisions. Such an investigation will potentially provide further perspectives not only on the influence of national origin but also how home country effects are confounded with industry effects.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.332-340
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• 2001

Flowable composite resin has lower filler content, increased flow, and lower modules of elasticity. It is suggested that flowable composite resin can be bonded to the tooth structure intimately and absorb or dissipate the stress. Therefore, it may be advantageous to use flowable composite resin for the base material of class II restoration and for the class V restoraton. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the microleakage and shear bond strength of four flowable composite resins (Aeliteflo, Flow-It, Revolution, Ultraseal XT Plus) compared to Z100 using Scotchbond Multi Purpose dentin bonding system. To evaluate the microleakage, notch-shaped class V cavities were prepared on buccal and lingual surfaces of 80 extracted human premolars and molars on cementum margin. The teeth were randomly divided into non-thermocycling group (group 1) and thermocycling group (group 2) of 40 teeth each. The experimental teeth of each group were randomly divided onto five subgroups of eight samples (sixteen surfaces). The Scotchbond Multi-Purpose and composite resin were applied for each group following the manufacturer's instructions. the teeth of group 2 were thermocycled five hundred times between 5$^{\circ}C$ and 55$^{\circ}C$. The teeth of group 2 were placed in 2% methylene blue dye for 24 hours, then rinsed with tab water. The specimens were embedded in clear resin, and sectioned longitudinally with a diamond saw. The dye penetration on each of the specimen were observed with a stereomicioscope at $\times$20 magnification. To evaluate the shear bond strength, 60 teeth were divided into five groups of twelve teeth each. The experimental teeth were ground horizontally below the dentinoenamel junction, so that no enamel remained. After applying Scotchbond Multi-Purpose on the dentin surface, composite resin was applied in the shape of cylinder. The cylinder was 4mm in diameter and 2mm in thickness. Shear bond strength was measured using Instron with a cross-head speed of 0.5mm/min. After shear bond strength measurement, mode of failure was evaluated with a stereomicroscope at $\times$30 magnification. All data were statistically analyzed by One Way ANOVA and Student-Newman-Keuls method. The correlation between microleakage and shear bond strength was analyzed by linear regression. The results of this study were as follows ; 1. In non-thermocycling group, the leakage value of Z100 was significantly lower than those of flowable composite resins at the enamel and dentin margin, margin, except that Revolution showed the lower leakage value than that of Z100 at the dentin margin (p<0.05). 2. In thermocycling group, the leakage values of Z100 and Ultraseal XT Plus were lower than those of other subgroup at the enamel and dentin margin, except that Flow-It showed the lower leakage value than that of Ultraseal XT Plus at the dentin margin (p<0.05). 3. The leakage value of Z100 and Ultraseal XT Plus in thermocycling group were not higher than that in non-thermocycling group at the enamel margin. The leakage value of Z100 in thermocycling group was not higher than that in non-thermocycling group at the dentin margin (p<0.05). 4. As for the shear bond strength measurement, there were no statistically significant differences among groups (p<0.05). The shear bond strengths given in descending order were as follows: Z100(16.81$\pm$2.98 MPa), Flow-It(14.8$\pm$4.43 MPa), Aeliteflo(14.34$\pm$3.69 MPa), Revolution(13.46$\pm$4.23 MPa), Ultraseal XT Plus(12.83$\pm$3.16 MPa). 5. Failure modes of all specimens were adhesive failures. 6. There was no correlation between microleakage and shear bond strength.