• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.74-87
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• 2017

Purpose: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been shown to improve survival in locally advanced gastric cancer, but it is associated with significant toxicity. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity have been studied in several types of cancers and have been reported to be associated with higher chemotherapy toxicity and morbi-mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sarcopenia/sarcopenic obesity in patients with gastric cancer, as well as its association with chemotherapy toxicity and long-term outcomes. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using an academic cancer center patient cohort diagnosed with locally advanced gastric cancer between January 2012 and December 2014 and treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We analyzed body composition (skeletal muscle and visceral fat index) in axial computed tomography images. Results: A total of 48 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was $68{\pm}10years$, and 33 patients (69%) were men. Dose-limiting toxicity was observed in 22 patients (46%), and treatment was terminated early owing to toxicity in 17 patients (35%). Median follow-up was 17 months. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were found at diagnosis in 23% and 10% of patients, respectively. We observed an association between termination of chemotherapy and both sarcopenia (P=0.069) and sarcopenic obesity (P=0.004). On multivariate analysis, the odds of treatment termination were higher in patients with sarcopenia (odds ratio=4.23; P=0.050). Patients with sarcopenic obesity showed lower overall survival (median survival of 6 months [95% confidence interval {CI}=3.9-8.5] vs. 25 months [95% CI=20.2-38.2]; log-rank test P=0.000). Conclusions: Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were associated with early termination of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer; additionally, sarcopenic obesity was associated with poor survival.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.251-264
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the current state of clinical nursing education at hospitals. Methods: Questionnaires were sent out to 236 hospitals which have over 300 beds. Out of these, 116 hospitals responded, and the collected data was analyzed by mean, frequency, t-test, and ANOVA test. Results: These hospitals have teaching agreements with 4.2 nursing colleges and clinical education lasts 8 months. Clinical education status regarding hospital characteristics, between a university hospital, non-university hospitals, among advanced general hospitals, general hospitals, and special hospitals showed statistical differences in colleges per hospital and nurses' degree. 37.9% of cases have no internal regulation for nursing education, and in 68.1% of cases, students' practice was limited to simple nursing care. The current primary guide for student's practice was head nurse (61.25%), and the course professor took charge of mainly the conference. The difficulties as an educational hospital are increases in work load, difficulties in teaching, excessive number of students, simultaneous practical training, complaints from patients, lack in training manpower, and stress. Conclusion: This study determined that the big hospitals are heavily burdened by nursing education and that it will be necessary to establish standards for educational hospitals to ensure higher quality education.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1049-1052
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to evaluate expression and prognostic value of matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. CRC tissues and corresponding distal normal mucosa tissues of 118 CRC patients were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Correlations between MMP-7 expression, patients' clinic pathological features, and overall survival rate were analyzed. We found that positive expression of MMP-7 in CRC tissues was significantly higher than that in distal normal mucosa (61.0% vs. 39.8%, p =0.001). Poor histological differentiation, advanced clinical stage and lymph node metastasis were significantly correlated with MMP-7 expression in CRC. The overall survival rate was significantly higher in the MMP-7 negative group than the positive group (Log-rank test= 9.957, p= 0.002). MMP-7 appeared as a significant independent prognostic factor through multivariate survival analysis. Collectively, we found MMP-7 expression to be correlated with progression and metastasis of CRC and thus could be used as a predictive marker of prognosis in CRC patients.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.63 no.7
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• pp.272-277
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• 2020

Background: The optimal management of perianal abscess in children is controversial. Purpose: To evaluate the efficiency of conservative treatment of perianal abscess in children and identify parameters that predict therapy failure. Methods: All cases of children younger than 14 years of age with perianal abscesses between 2001-2016 were evaluated. Results: Of the 113 enrolled patients, 64 underwent subsequent surgery for advanced disease (primary surgery group). Conservative treatment was initiated in 49 patients (primary conservative group) but was stopped because of inefficiency in 25 patients, who were referred for surgery after a median 7.03 days (range, 2 to 16 days). The other 24 patients (48%) initially achieved complete remission after conservative treatment, but 10 were readmitted after a median 34 months (range, 3 to 145 months) with recurrent disease. There were no significant differences in permanent success after conservative treatment between infants (10 of 29, 34%) and older children (4 of 20 [20%], P=0.122). Overall, conservative treatment alone was effective in only 14 of 113 patients. Recurrence after surgery occurred in 16 patients (25%) in the primary surgery group and 11 patients (22%) in the primary conservative group (P=0.75). Univariate analysis of predictors for conservative treatment failure revealed inflammatory values (C-reactive protein and white blood count, P=0.017) and abscess size (P=0.001) as significant parameters, whereas multivariate analysis demonstrated that only abscess size (odds ratio, 3.37; P=0.023) was significant. Conclusion: Conservative treatment of perianal abscess is permanently efficient in only a minority of children but is not associated with a higher recurrence rate after subsequent surgery. Abscess size is a predictor for therapy failure.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.489-493
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• 2016

PURPOSE. This in-vitro study aimed to evaluate the fracture resistances and failure modes of endodontically treated mandibular premolars restored with endocrowns and conventional post-core retained crowns. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Thirty mandibular premolars were assigned into three groups (n=10): GI, intact teeth; GE, teeth with endocrowns; GC, teeth with conventional post-core supported crowns. Except for the teeth in group GI, all specimens were cut to 1.5 mm above the cementoenamel junction and endodontically treated. Both endocrowns and conventional crowns were fabricated from lithium-disilicate blocks using a CEREC 3D CAD/CAM unit. All specimens were subjected to thermocycling and then to $45^{\circ}$ oblique compressive load until fracture occurred. The fracture resistance and failure mode of each specimen were recorded. Data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA and LSD Post Hoc Test (${\alpha}=.05$). RESULTS. The fracture resistances of GE and GC were significantly lower than that of GI (P<.01), while no significant difference was found between GE and GC (P=.702). As of the failure mode, most of the specimens in GE and GC were unfavorable while a higher occurrence of favorable failure mode was presented in GI. CONCLUSION. For the restoration of mandibular premolar, endocrown shows no advantage in fracture resistance when compared with the conventional method. Both of the two methods cannot rehabilitate endodontically treated teeth with the same fracture resistances that intact mandibular premolars have.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent and the nature of biological nursing science education for clinical nurses in general hospital. Methods: Five advanced general hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi province were conveniently sampled. Contents of education for nurses conducted by the hospital nursing department from January 1 to December 31 of 2015 were collected. Contents of education included biological nursing science and the scope of inclusion and time of assignment were analyzed. Results: A total of 271 cases of nursing education data were collected and 223 cases were analyzed after excluding 48 cases whose contents were not confirmed. Biological nursing science was included in the contents of education for 117 cases (52.5%), but not for 106 cases (47.5%). Regarding the frequency of the biological nursing science education contents, 'pathophysiology'was the most frequently included (n= 286), followed by 'structure and function of the human body' (n= 191), 'mechanisms and effects of drugs' (n= 114) and 'clinical microbiology' (n= 43). Conclusion: Results of this study confirmed that the education for clinical nurses included a lot of biological nursing science related contents. These results can be used as basis for the development of curriculum and training course for nurses.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2016

Objective: The aim of this study was to report a case series of in vitro matured (IVM) oocyte freezing in gynecologic cancer patients undergoing radical surgery under time constraints as an option for fertility preservation (FP). Methods: Case series report. University-based in vitro fertilization center. Six gynecologic cancer patients who were scheduled to undergo radical surgery the next day were referred for FP. The patients had endometrial (n=2), ovarian (n=3), and double primary endometrial and ovarian (n=1) cancer. Ex vivo retrieval of immature oocytes from macroscopically normal ovarian tissue was followed by mature oocyte freezing after IVM or embryo freezing with intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Results: A total of 53 oocytes were retrieved from five patients, with a mean of 10.6 oocytes per patient. After IVM, a total of 36 mature oocytes were obtained, demonstrating a 67.9% maturation rate. With regard to the ovarian cancer patients, seven IVM oocytes were frozen from patient 3, who had stage IC cancer, whereas one IVM oocyte was frozen from patient 4, who had stage IV cancer despite being of a similar age. With regard to the endometrial cancer patients, 15 IVM oocytes from patient 1 were frozen. Five embryos were frozen after the fertilization of IVM oocytes from patient 6. Conclusion: Immature oocytes can be successfully retrieved ex vivo from macroscopically normal ovarian tissue before radical surgery. IVM oocyte freezing provides a possible FP option in patients with advanced-stage endometrial or ovarian cancer without the risk of cancer cell spillage or time delays.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.613-621
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• 2013

Purpose: To identify the extents of nursing professionalism, clinical decision making abilities and job performance of advanced practice nurses and investigate the relationship among the variables Methods: Participants, selected by a convenience sampling method, were 135 advanced practice nurses working in 4 tertiary care general hospitals in 'B' Metropolitan City and in 1 tertiary care general hospital in 'J' city. Data collection was done from January 15 to February 28, 2013 using self-reporting questionnaires. Results: The average score for nursing professionalism of study participants was $81.19{\pm}7.56$. for clinical decision making abilities, $140.42{\pm}9.62$ and for job performance, $102.54{\pm}10.30$. These averages are relatively high. The relationship between the extent of nursing professionalism and the extent of clinical decision making abilities showed an intermediate level positive correlation (r=.45, p<.001). The relationship between the extent of nursing professionalism and the extent of job performance was also an intermediate level positive correlation (r=.42, p<.001). The extent of clinical decision making abilities and the extent of job performance was an intermediate level positive correlation (r=.41, p<.001). Conclusion: Developing a program, which can improve nursing professionalism and clinical decision making abilities of nurse, is required to enhance their job performance.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.604-615
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate cancer-specific survival (CSS) and associated risk factors in elderly gastric cancer (EGC) patients. SUBJECTS/METHODS: EGC patients (≥ 70 yrs) who underwent curative gastrectomy between January 2013 and December 2017 at our hospital were included. Clinicopathologic characteristics and survival data were collected. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to extract the best cutoff point for body mass index (BMI). A Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine the risk factors for CSS. RESULTS: In total, 290 EGC patients were included, with a median age of 74.7 yrs. The median follow-up time was 31 (1-77) mon. The postoperative 1-yr, 3-yr and 5-yr CSS rates were 93.7%, 75.9% and 65.1%, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed risk factors for CSS, including age (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.15), intensive care unit (ICU) admission (HR = 1.73; 95% CI, 1.08-2.79), nutritional risk screening (NRS 2002) score ≥ 5 (HR = 2.33; 95% CI, 1.49-3.75), and preoperative prognostic nutrition index score < 45 (HR = 2.06; 95% CI, 1.27-3.33). The ROC curve showed that the best BMI cutoff value was 20.6 kg/m². Multivariate analysis indicated that a BMI ≤ 20.6 kg/m² (HR = 2.30; 95% CI, 1.36-3.87), ICU admission (HR = 1.97; 95% CI, 1.17-3.30) and TNM stage (stage II: HR = 5.56; 95% CI, 1.59-19.43; stage III: HR = 16.20; 95% CI, 4.99-52.59) were significantly associated with CSS. CONCLUSIONS: Low BMI (≤ 20.6 kg/m²), ICU admission and advanced pathological TNM stages (II and III) are independent risk factors for CSS in EGC patients after curative gastrectomy. Nutrition support, better perioperative management and early diagnosis would be helpful for better survival.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 2020

Purpose: The objective of this study was to compare and analyze the work environment, role conflict, and job embeddedness between comprehensive nursing care service (CNCS) ward nurses and general ward nurses. Methods: This descriptive research study involved 70 CNCS ward nurses and 69 general ward nurses working at an advanced general hospital in Seoul. Data were collected using the structured questionnaire from March 27 to April 14, 2019 and analyzed with the SPSS 24.0 program. Results: The work environment of the CNCS ward nurse was higher than that of the general ward nurse (t=4.38, p<.001), and the role conflict of the CNCS ward nurse was lower than that of the general ward nurse (t=-2.09, p=.038). However, job embeddedness did not show any statistically significant difference (t=0.22, p=.824). Conclusion: The results of this study show that the introduction of CNCS ward has shown improvement in the work environment and strengthened the establishment of the roles in their team, while maintaining the job embeddedness of nurses. These results indicate that improvements in the work environment, such as nurse staffing and material support, would contribute to the qualitative enhancement of nursing and that it would need to extend the introduction of CNCS wards.