• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.27-34
• /
• 2012

Objectives: The analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) is a useful non-invasive tool to investigate the autonomic nerve function. Previous studies on the relationship between HRV and depression have been reported controversial results. Similarly, the correlation between the serum lipids and depression is debatable. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between heart rate variability, lipid profile and depression. Methods: A total of 42 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 32 age and sex-matched normal subjects who had no previous history of major medical and mental illnesses were recruited for this study. A structured-interview was used to assess the general characteristics and psychiatric illness. HRV measures were assessed by time-domain and frequency-domain analyses. Psychological symptoms were measured using the Hamilton rating scale for anxiety (HAM-A), Hamilton rating scale for depression (HAM-D). In addition, the evaluation for lipid profile was performed by blood test. Results: In serum lipid profile test, MDD group showed higher cholesterol ($197.68{\pm}42.94$ mg/dL vs. $176.85{\pm}34.68$ mg/dL, p=0.044), TG ($139.45{\pm}92.54$ mg/dL vs. $91.4{\pm}65.68$ mg/dL, p=0.018), LDL ($130.03{\pm}33.18$ vs. $106.62{\pm}27.08$, p=0.004) level than normal control group. In HRV time domain analyses, the standard deviation of the NN interval (SDNN) was decreased in MDD group than normal control group, but was not significant ($32.82{\pm}14.33$ ms vs. $40.36{\pm}21.40$ms, p=0.078). ApEn (Approximate Entrophy) was significantly increased in MDD group than normal control group ($1.13{\pm}0.11$ vs. $0.91{\pm}0.18$, p<0.001). ApEn was correlated with LDL level (r=0.277, p=0.028), HAM-D scores (r=0.534, p<0.001) and HAM-A scores (r=0.470, p<0.001). Conclusions: MDD patients showed increased ApEn, one of the HRV measurement. And this ApEn was correlated with LDL, HAM-D and HAM-A scores. In this study, the analysis of ApEn would be a useful test of MDD.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.167-172
• /
• 2006

Purpose: The laparoscopy assisted gastrectomy has been increasingly reported as the treatment of choice for early gastric cancer. However, expert surgeons, who have performed a conventional open gastrectomy for a long time, tend to have a negative attitude toward laparoscopic procedures. The aim of this study was to determine the learning curve of a laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) for a surgeon expert in performing an open gastrectomy and to analyze the factors that have an effect on a LADG. Materials and Methods: Between April 2005 and March 2006, 62 patients underwent a LADG with D1+beta lymph-node dissection. The 62 patients were divided into 10 sequential groups with 6 cases in each group (the last group was 8 cases), and the time required to reach the plateau of the learning curve was determined by examining the average operative times of these 10 groups. Other factors, such as sex, BMI, complications, transfusion requirements, the number of retrieved lymph nodes, and change of postoperative hemoglobin level, were also analyzed. Results: With the $5^{th}$ group (after 30 cases), the operative time reached a plateau (average: 170 min/operation). The differences between before the $30^{th}$ case and after the $31^{st}$ case with respect to changes in the postoperative hemoglobin level, the number of retrieved lymph nodes, the transfusion requirements, and the complications rate were not significant. Conclusion: According to an analysis of the operative time, experience with 30 LADGs in patients with early gastric cancer is the point at which the plateau of the learning curve (7 months) is reached. Abundant experience with a conventional open gastrectomy and a well-organized laparoscopic surgery team are important factors in overcoming the learning curie earlier.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.164-171
• /
• 2013

Purpose: Laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer has gained acceptance and popularity worldwide. However, laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer is still controversial. Therefore, we propose this prospective randomized controlled multi-center trial in order to evaluate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopy assisted D2-gastrectomy for advanced stage gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: Patients undergoing distal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer staged cT2/3/4 cN0/1/2/3a cM0 by endoscopy and computed tomography are eligible for enrollment after giving their informed consent. Patients will be randomized either to laparoscopyassisted distal gastrectomy or open distal gastrectomy. Sample size calculation revealed that 102 patients are to be included per treatment arm. The primary endpoint is the non-compliance rate of D2 dissection; relevant secondary endpoints are three-year disease free survival, surgical and postoperative complications, hospital stay and unanimity rate of D2 dissection evaluated by reviewing the intraoperative video documentation. Discussion: Oncologic safety is the major concern regarding laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. Therefore, the non-compliance rate of clearing the N2 area was chosen as the most important parameter for the technical feasibility of the laparoscopic procedure. Furthermore, surgical quality will be carefully reviewed, that is, three independent experts will review the video records and score with a check list. For a long-term result, disease free survival is considered a secondary endpoint for this trial. This study will offer promising evidence of the feasibility and safety of Laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. Trial Registration: NCT01088204 (international), NCCCTS-09-448 (Korea).

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.150-155
• /
• 2003

Background: We investigated the effect of donor marrow T cell depletion, administration of FK506, cyclosporin A (CSA), and 3-deazaadenosine (DZA) on graft versus host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic murine hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Methods: We used 4 to 6 week old Balb/c ($H-2^d$, recipient), and C3H/He ($H-2^k$, donor) mice. Total body irradiated recipients received $1{\times}10^7$ bone marrow cells (BM) and $0.5{\times}10^7$ splenocytes of donor under FK506 (36 mg/kg/day), CSA (5 mg/kg/day, 20 mg/kg/day), and DZA (45 mg/kg/day), which were injected intraperitoneally from day 1 to day 14 daily and then three times a week for another 2 weeks. To prevent the GVHD, irradiated Balb/c mice were transplanted with $1{\times}10^7$ rotor-off (R/O) cells of donor BM. The severity of GVHD was assessed daily by clinical scoring method. Results: All experimental groups were well grafted after HSCT. Mice in experimental group showed higher GVHD score and more rapid progression of GVHD than the mice with R/O cells (R/O group) (p<0.01). There were relatively low GVHD scores and slow progressions in FK506 and low dose CSAgroups than high dose CSA group (p<0.01). The survival was better in FK506 group than low dose CSA group. All mice treated with CSA died within 12 days after HSCT. The GVHD score in DZA group was low and slow in comparison with control group (p<0.05), but severity and progression were similar with low dose CSA group (p=0.11). All mice without immunosuppressive treatment died within 8 days, but all survived in R/O group (p<0.01). Survival in low dose CSA group was longer than in control group (p<0.05), but in high dose CSA group, survival was similar to control group. The survival benefit in DZA group was similar with low dose CSA group. FK506 group has the best survival benefit than other groups (p<0.01), comparable with R/O group (p=0.18), although probability of survival was 60%. Conclusion: We developed lethal GVHD model after allogeneic murine HSCT. In this model, immunosuppressive agents showed survival benefits in prevention of GVHD. DZA showed similar survival benefits to low dose CSA. We propose that DZA can be used as a new immunosuppressive agent to prevent GVHD after allogeneic HSCT.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.40-52
• /
• 2009

Franchising is one of the fastest growing types of business. It is already popular and well-known in the U.S., and has been growing in many other countries including Korea. Furthermore, many Korean franchising companies have expanded their business overseas actively. According to the data by the Ministry of Industry and Resource, 82 companies out of a sample of 500 franchising companies are already operating in many foreign countries and 48% of them have started their foreign business since 2006. This clearly indicates the fast growing current trend of foreign operation by Korean franchising companies. In spite of the fast growing trend of foreign expansion in the industry, academic research on internationalization of franchising companies is extremely difficult to find. Accordingly, academic research on the issue is necessary and urgent in Korea. Among the various research questions on internationalization of franchising business, this study intends to investigate the difference in organizational factors between the franchising companies doing foreign operation and those doing business only domestically. More specifically, this research has the following purposes. First, considering the lack of theoretical basis of previous studies, resource-based theory and agency theory are employed as the theoretical bases. Second, this study explains the difference in internationalization based on organizational factors such as company size, history and growth rate. Third, the five hypotheses regarding the difference in organizational factors are presented and tested empirically, which is the first attempt in the area of this topic. Finally, the study attempts to clarify the conflicting implications among theories regarding some organizational factos such as growth rate. As the theoretical background, resource-based theory and agency theory are discussed. According to resource-based theory, a firm can grow continuously when it has competence and resource, and also the ability to develop them. The competence and resource can include capital, human resource, management skill, market information, ability to manage risk, etc. Meanwhile, agency theory views the relationship between franchisor and franchisee as an agency relationship. In agency theory, bonding capability and monitoring capability are the two key factors which promote internationalization of franchising companies. Based on the two theories, a conceptual model is designed. The model consists of two groups of variables. One is organizational factors including size, history, growth rate, price bonding and geographic dispersion. The other is whether a franchising company is operating overseas or not. We developed the following five research hypotheses basically describing the relationship between organizational factors and internationalization of franchising companies. H1: The size of franchising companies operating overseas is larger than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H2: The history of franchising companies operating overseas is longer than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H3: The growth rate of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H4: The price bonding of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H5: The geographic dispersion of franchising companies operating overseas is wider than that of franchising companies operating domestically. Data for the analyses are obtained from 2005 Korea Franchise Survey data co-generated by Ministry of Industry and Resource, GS1 Korea, and Korea Franchise Association. Out of 2,804 population companies, 2,489 companies are excluded for various reasons and 315 companies are selected as the final sample. Prior to hypotheses tests, validity and reliability of the measures of size, history, growth rate and price bonding are examined for further analyses. Geographic dispersion is not validated since it is measured using nominal data. A series of independent sample T-tests is used to find out whether there exists any significant difference between the companies internationalized and those operating only domestically for each organizational factor. Among the five factors, size and geographic dispersion show significant difference, growth rate and price bonding do not reveal any difference and, finally, history factor shows conflicting results in the difference depending on how to measure it.