• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.4443-4448
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• 2014

Background: A number of studies have reported the association of X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) Arg399Gln polymorphism with susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the results were inconsistent and inconclusive. The aim of this study was to comprehensively explore the association of XRCC1 Arg399Gln variant with HCC risk. Materials and Methods: Systematic searches of PubMed, Elsevier, Science Direct, CNKI and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database were performed. Pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was calculated to estimate the strength of association. Results: Overall, we observed an increased HCC risk among subjects carrying XRCC1 codon 399 Gln/Gln, Arg/Gln and Gln/Gln+Arg/Gln genotypes (OR=1.20, 95%CI: 1.05-1.38, OR=1.16, 95%CI: 1.05-1.28, and OR=1.14, 95%CI: 1.04-1.24, respectively) based on 20 studies including 3374 cases and 4633 controls. In subgroup analysis, we observed an increased risk of XRCC1 codon 399 Gln/Gln, Arg/Gln and Gln/Gln+Arg/Gln polymorphisms for HCC in hospital-based study (OR=1.25, 95%CI: 1.03-1.51, OR=1.21, 95%CI: 1.07-1.36 and OR=1.18, 95%CI: 1.06-1.31, respectively) and in Asian population (OR=1.19, 95%CI: 1.03-1.38, OR=1.17, 95%CI: 1.04-1.30 and OR=1.14, 95%CI: 1.04-1.25, respectively). Limiting the analysis to the studies with controls in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), we observed an increased HCC risk among Gln/Gln, Arg/Gln and Gln/ Gln+Arg/Gln genotype carriers (OR=1.17, 95%CI: 1.05-1.29, OR=1.12, 95%CI: 1.00-1.25 and OR=1.11, 95%CI: 1.02-1.21, respectively). Conclusions: This updated meta-analysis results suggest that XRCC1 Arg399Gln variants may contribute to HCC risk. Well-designed studies with larger sample size were required to further verify our findings.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.497-509
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• 2007

Bone morphogenetic proteins(BMPs) are regarded as members of the transforming growth $factor-{\beta}$ superfamily with characteristic features in their amino acid sequences. A number of studies have demonstrated the biologic activities of BMPs, which include the induction of cartilage and bone formation. Recently there was a attempt to overcome a limitation of mass production, and economical efficieny of rh-BMPs. The method producing PTD by using bacteria have advantages of acquiry a mass of proteins. Hences, a new treatment which deliver protein employed by protein transduction domain(PTD) has been tried. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bone regenerative effect of TATBMP-2 and TAT-HA2-BMP-2 employed by PTD from HlV-1 TAT protein for protein translocation in the rat calvarial model. An 8mm calvarial, critical size osteotomy defect was created in each of 32 male Spraque-Dawley rats(weight $250{\sim}300g$). The animals were divided into 4 groups of 32 animals each (4 animals/group/healing interval). The defect was treated with TATBMP-2/ACS(Absorbable collagen sponge) (TATBMP-2 0.1mg/ml), TAT-HA2-BMP-2/ACS(TAT-HA2-BMP-2 0.1mg/ml), ACS alone or left untreated for surgical control(negative control). The rats were sacrificed at 2 or 8 weeks postsurgery, and the results were evaluated histologically. The results were as follows: New bone formation were not significantly greater in the TATBMP-2/ACS group relative to negative, and positive control groups. New bone was evident at the defect sites in TAT-HA2-BMP-2/ACS group relative to negative, positive control and TATBMP-2 groups. There were a little bone regeneration in TATBMP-2 groups. While, enhanced local bone formation were observed in TAT-HA2-BMP-2 group. But, The results was not the same in all rat defects. Therefore, further investigations are required to develop a method. which disperse homogenously, and adhere to target cells.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.275-307
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• 2010

In the presidential new-year address in January 2, 2009, the President declared that 17 kinds of new driving force of growth that could create high-added value be selected to step up job creation and an increase in national wealth. The Ministry of Strategy & Finance announced plans for the 17 kinds of new driving force of growth after the presidential address. Specifically, that ministry announced an ambitious plan to select health care service named 'Global Health Care' as one of the five service industries that could create high-added value in a move to provide jobs to approximately 7,000 people and produce pervasive economic effects coming up to a trillion and 10 billion won. To attain the goal, several action plans were mapped out to globalize domestic medical institutions, to rearrange the relevant law and system for the purposes of raising awareness of domestic medical institutions among foreign patients and improving their accessibility and post-satisfaction level, and to lure lots of foreign patients through financial assistance. At the same time, the government announced plans to lure severe patients such as those in want of surgery or organ transplant, cancer patients or patients with heart diseases to create high-added value on a long-term basis. Thus, the government announced that it planned to formulate such strategies and to enter an agreement with foreign governments to attract plenty of foreign patients. In fact, however, there are little full-scale evaluation of medical tourism though it's been a year since it was introduced, and there are few actual efforts to implement what the government announced, either. According to the results of the evaluation of medical tourism, domestic hospitals are said to undergo little significant changes after the introduction of medical tourism, which shows that they take a dim view of medical tourism instead of having expectations for that. The medical tourism industries in major Asian countries have been dynamized, and there are several factors of their success. First of all, they are successful in creating new market opportunities by incorporating related industries such as medicine, tourism and IT and in developing medical tourism products and differentiated marketing by taking advantage of their competitive edge. They have offered full-fledged assistance to this sector, and another reason is the improved international credibility of their medical service. If our country fails to pinpoint our problems in consideration of the cases of the Asian countries or to provide appropriate financial aid, our country is bound to lag behind them. Given this reality, how to assess medical tourism and what challenges this sector is confronted with are discussed.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.281-288
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• 2001

Background : The most common anterior mediastinal tumors originate from the thymus. Among them, thymic carcinomas occur as an early local invasion and wide spread metastases. However, when squamous cell carcinoma in the thymus or mediastinum is identified, an occult primary lung cancer must be excluded because the histologic types resemble those found more typically in the lung. CD5 and cytokeratin immunohistochemical staining is useful in evaluating biopsy samples from those tumors. Squamous cell carcinoma of an unknown primary origin in the mediastinum is a rare occurrence and there are only a handful of case reports. Here we describe a case with an anterior mediastinal mass of squamous cell carcinoma with unknown primary origin. A resection of the mediastinal mass without an association with the lung was performed. Immunohistochemical stallings were positive using cytokeratin 13, and negative using CD5 and cytokeratin 7. This was followed by chemotherapy for presumed thymic carcinoma.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.196-202
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• 2011

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), or epigallocatechin 3-gallate, is the ester of epigallocatechin and gallic acid, and is a type of catechin. EGCG may be therapeutic for many disorders including diabetics and some types of cancer. However it is unknown whether EGCG can induce transdifferentiation of pancreatic cells in pancreatitis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of EGCG on the expression of pancreatic regenerating related markers in pancreatic AR42J cells, a model of pancreatic progenitor cells. AR42J cells, differentiated with betacellulin and activin A, were cultured with/without EGCG in a time-dependent manner. Cell growth rate, levels of mRNA, and protein expression were examined with the MTT assay, quantitative PCR, and Western blots, respectively. The results showed that AR42J cell growth rates were inhibited by EGCG in a dose-dependent manner. mRNA and protein expression of amylase, insulin and neurogenin 3 (ngn 3) increased in AR42J cells treated with EGCG. Additionally, we demonstrated that the signal transduction pathway of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase is active in EGCG-treated AR42J cells. ERK and JNK phosphorylation decreased in cells treated with EGCG but not p38 phosphorylation. Activation of the p38 MAP kinase pathway was confirmed by specific MAP kinase pathways inhibitors: U0126 for ERK, SP600126 for JNK, and SB203580 for p38. Activated p38 phosphorylation was inhibited by the specific p38 inhibitor SB203580 but p38 phosphorylation was inhibited with increased EGCG treatment. The ERK and JNK MAP kinase pathways were not affected by EGCG treatment. Although further studies are needed, these results suggest that EGCG affects the induction of pancreatic cell regeneration by increasing the ngn 3 protein and mRNA expression and activating the p38 MAP kinase pathway.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1441-1446
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• 2014

Squamous cell/adenosquamous carcinoma (SC/ASC) of the gallbladder are rare tumors and there are few clinical reports in the literature. Herein we report our clinical experience with 46 patients with SC/ASC and 80 with adenocarcinoma (AC). Expression of EphB1 and Ephrin-B in each tumor was determined using immunohistochemical methods for determination of correlations with prognosis. There was no difference in EphB1 and Ephrin-B expression between SC/ASC and AC tumors (P>0.05), but greater expression in those less than 3 cm in diameter, stage I or II (TNM stage), with no lymph node metastases, with no local invasion and treated with radical resection was apparent. Expression of EphB1 (P<0.05) and Ephrin-B (P<0.01) was higher in well differentiated than in poorly differentiated AC tumors. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that degree of differentiation, tumor diameter, lymph node metastases, local invasion, surgical approach and expression rate of EphB1 and Ephrin-B were closely related to the survival of SC/ASC (P<0.05) and AC patients (P<0.01). Patients with tumors that positive expressed EphB1 and Ephrin-B, whether it is SC/ASC ($P_{SC/ASC}$ =0.000) or AC ($P_{AC}$ =0.000 or $P_{AC}$ =0.002) had longer survival than those negative expression. Cox multivariate analysis indicated a negative correlation between expression of EphB1 or Ephrin-B and overall survival. Hence, EphB1 and Ephrin-B could be regarded as independent good prognostic factorsand important biological markers for SC/ASC and AC of gallbladder.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.5049-5053
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• 2014

Background: To investigate the expression of CD44v3 and vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) and their relationship with lymph node metastasis in squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) of the uterine cervix. Materials and Methods: Expression of CD44v3 and VEGF-C was analyzed in 109 cases of cervical SCC by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The relationship was analyzed between expression and the patient age, histological differentiation, formation of tumor emboli in lymphoid vessels, lymph node metastasis, FIGO staging, and TNM classification. Results: Expression rates for both CD44v3 and VEGF-C were 43.1% in cervical SCC. The cells with positive immunohistochemical staining of CD44v3 were distributed mainly around the keratin pearls in well differentiated carcinomas, but distributed diffusely in the moderately and poorly differentiated lesions. VEGF-C was found stained positively in most of the tumor cells. There were differences in expression between normal epithelium and atypical hyperplasia as well as carcinoma. Both CD44v3 and VEGF-C were found to be associated positively with lymph node metastasis and TNM classification (both p=0.000). Neither CD44v3 nor VEGF-C was found to be associated with patient age, histological differentiation, formation of tumor emboli in lymphoid vessels and FIGO staging. CD44v3 was found to be associated with VEGF-C positively (p=0.000). Conclusions: Abnormal expression of CD44v3 and VEGF-C is associated closely with the lymph node metastasis in cervical SCC, and these agents may cooperate in carcinogenesis and development of metastatic lesions.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.239-246
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• 2013

Purpose: We explored whether the deep inspiration breath hold (DIBH) technique using Abches during left-sided breast irradiation was effective for minimizing the amount of radiation to the heart and lung compared to free breathing (FB). Materials and Methods: Between February and July 2012, a total of 25 patients with left-sided breast cancer underwent two computed tomography scans each with the DIBH using Abches and using FB after breast-conserving surgery. The scans were retrospectively replanned using standardized criteria for the purpose of this study. The DIBH plans for each patient were compared with FB plans using dosimetric parameters. Results: All patients were successfully treated with the DIBH technique using Abches. Significant differences were found between the DIBH and FB plans for mean heart dose (2.52 vs. 4.53 Gy), heart V30 (16.48 vs. $45.13cm^3$), V20 (21.35 vs. $54.55cm^3$), mean left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) dose (16.01 vs. 26.26 Gy, all p < 0.001), and maximal dose to $0.2cm^3$ of the LAD (41.65 vs. 47.27 Gy, p = 0.017). The mean left lung dose (7.53 vs. 8.03 Gy, p = 0.073) and lung V20 (14.63% vs. 15.72%, p = 0.060) of DIBH using Abches were not different significantly compared with FB. Conclusion: We report that the use of a DIBH technique using Abches in breathing adapted radiotherapy for left-sided breast cancer is easily feasible in daily practice and significantly reduces the radiation doses to the heart and LAD, therefore potentially reducing cardiac risk.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.4169-4173
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• 2016

Background: Mesotheliomas are relatively rare tumors in Lebanon. The only previous study goes back to 14 years ago, when we published epidemiological characteristics of mesotheliomas in Lebanon, showing that the pleural location accounted for the vast majority of cases, with clear evidence of asbestos exposure from the Eternit factory of Chekka region. The objective of this current study was to estimate the incidence of mesothelioma in the past decade and to identify its epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic characteristics, making comparisons with our first study published in 2001. Materials and Methods: Between 2002 and 2014, patients diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma at Hotel-Dieu de France University Hospital were investigated. Epidemiological data focusing on asbestos exposure history were collected from medical records and interviews with the families. Results: A total of 26 patients were diagnosed with mesothelioma, 21 of which were successfully investigated. The mean age of these 21 patients is 62.5 (19-82). Only 3 (14.29%) are women. 18 (85.71%) were smokers. Among the 21 available mesotheliomas, 15 (71.4%) are pleural, while 5 (23.8%) are peritoneal and 1 (4.8%) pericardial. Only 60% of patients with pleural mesothelioma and 50% of those with an obvious exposure to asbestos lived and/or worked in Chekka region. The mean time of asbestos exposure in patients with mesothelioma is 24.5 (1-50) years and the mean latency is 37.4 (4-61) years. Of the 21 patients, 10 (47.6%) underwent surgery during their treatment, 16 (76.2%) received chemotherapy and 3 (14.3%) received best supportive care. Conclusions: Compared to the previous study (1991-2000), substantial changes in the epidemiology of mesothelioma in Lebanon were observed, such as an increase in peritoneal localizations and a lower correlation with Chekka region asbestos contamination.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.144-150
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• 2008

Multimodal cancer therapy including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy could not only improve the prognosis of malignancy but also reduce the dosage and toxicity of cancer drug for treatment of malignant tumor. The effects of radiotherapy are generally localized, additive, and accumulative, and depend on dosage, site and cell sensitivity. However, in growing individuals, the dental and skeletal sequelae to radiotherapy result in dental or facial abnormalities that are irreversible : arrested root development, disturbances in enamel formation, microdontia, anodontia, altered tooth eruption and mandibular or maxillary hypoplasia. Especially, the teeth which are developing is affected according to the stage. We report three cases of developmental disturbance of permanent teeth after radiotherapy. These children had received radiotherapy for malignant tumor at the age of 3 to 4 years, in which root hypoplasia, short tapered root and early apex closure were observed. For the management of radiation caries and radiotherapy-related teeth, periodic recall check and oral hygiene instruction are required.