• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.1581-1584
• /
• 2014

Background: The overall prognosis for cancers of unknown primary (CUP) is poor, median overall survival (OS) being 6-12 months. We evaluated our multicentric retrospective experience for CUP administered docetaxel and cisplatin combination therapy. Materials and Methods: A total of 29 patients that were pathologically confirmed subtypes of CUP were included in the study. The combination of docetaxel ($75mg/m^2$, day 1) and cisplatin ($75mg/m^2$, day 1) was performed as a first line regimen every 21 days. Results: The median age was 51 (range: 27-68). Some 17 patients had multimetastatic disease on the inital diagnosis. Histopathological diagnoses were well-moderate differentiated adenocarcinoma (51.7%), undifferentiated carcinoma (27.6%), squamous cell cancer (13.8%), mucoepidermoid carcinoma (3.4%) and neuroendocrine differentiated carcinoma (3.4%). Median number of cycles was 3 (range: 1-6). Objective response rate was 37.9% and clinical benefit was 58.6%. Median progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 6 months (range: 4.3-7.7 months) and 16 months (range: 8.1-30.9 months), respectively. Fourteen patients (60.8%) were treated in a second line setting. There was no treatment related death. Most common toxicities were nausia-vomiting (44.6%) and fatigue (34.7%), serious cases (grade 3/4) suffering nausia-vomiting (10.3%), neutropenia (13.8%) and febrile neutropenia (n=1). Conclusion: The combination of cisplatin and docetaxel is an effective regimen for selected patients with CUP.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.95-105
• /
• 2009

Land Use Changes (LUCs) have effects on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon stocks in soil and vegetation. Therefore, predictions for LUC are very important for achieving quantitative targets of $CO_2$ reduction rates. Some research exists on carbon fluxes and carbon cycles to estimate carbon stocks in terrestrial ecosystems in Korea. However, these researches have limitations in terms of helping us understand future potential reductions of $CO_2$ that reflect the influence of LUC. The aim of this study is to analyze the reduction levels of $CO_2$ emissions while considering LUC scenarios that effect carbon fluxes for LCS basic study in the year 2030. In this study, a common approach to model the effects of LUC on carbon stocks is the use of CA-Markov technical process with LUC patterns in the past. Potential reduction of $CO_2$ is calculated by change of land use that contains different soil organic carbon, each land use type, and biomass in vegetation. An IPCC analytical method of natural carbon sink and coefficient results from previous study in Korea is used as a calculation method for potential reduction of $CO_2$. As a result, 12,419 KtC will be reduced annually, which is 8.3% percent of 2005 $CO_2$ emissions in Korea. This will result in 3,226 hundred million won of economic efficiency. In conclusion, conservation of natural carbon sinks is necessary even if the amount of potential reduction change is little.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.12
• /
• pp.4853-4858
• /
• 2015

Background: Colorectal cancer is the most common gastrointestinal cancer in Oman with an increasing incidence. We here report the presenting features, treatment outcomes and survival in a University hospital in Oman and compare our data with regional and international studies. Materials and Methods: Medical records of patients with colorectal cancer were reviewed retrospectively between June 2000 and December 2013 and were followed until June 2014. Results: A total of 162 patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The majority were males (58.6%), with a median age of 56 years. Rectum was involved in 29.6% of patients, followed by ascending and sigmoid colon. The majority of patients had stage III (42.6%) and stage IV (32.7%) disease at presentation. K-Ras status was checked for 79 patients, and 41 (51.9%) featured the wild type. Median relapse free survival was 22 months. Median overall survival for all patients was 43 months. Observed 5 year overall survival (OS) for stages I, II and III was 100%, 60% and 60% respectively. On Log rank univariate analysis, age, BMI, diabetes, hypertension, metformin use, stage, clinical nodal status for rectal cancer, pathological T and nodal status, site of metastasis, surgical intervention, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy regimen, no of cycles of chemotherapy, response, RFS, site of recurrence and administration of $2^{nd}$ line chemotherapy were significant factors affecting OS. On Cox regression multivariate analysis none of the factors independently affected the OS. Conclusions: The majority of patients present with advanced disease and at young age. The survival rates are comparable to the published regional and international literature.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.20
• /
• pp.8715-8718
• /
• 2014

Background: ABVD (doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine (Vb) and dacarbazine) is the standard regimen in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL).Vincristine (O) is a mitotic spindle agent like Vb. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of O as a part of ABOD in HL. Materials and Methods: Patients who had ABOD were enrolled. Stage I-II HL were evaluated for unfavorable risk factors according to NCCN. National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria was used for toxicity. Results: Seventy-nine HL patients in our center between 2003 and 2007 were evaluated retrospectively. Median follow-up was 54 months. Most of the patients were male in their third decade. Median ABOD cycles were 6 (2-8). Primary refractory disease rate was 17.7% whereas it was 5.1% for early relapse and 5.1% for late relapse disease. Response rates were as 82.3% for complete response, 11.4% for partial response, 5.1% for stable disease and 1.3% for progressive disease. Half of relapsed patients had autologous stem cell transplantation. Estimated 5-year failure-free survival was 71% and significantly longer in early stage patients without risk factors, bulky disease or radiotherapy (RT) (p=0.05, p<0.0001, p=0.02; respectively). Estimated 5-year overall survival was 74% and significantly longer in those who had no RT (p=0.001). Dose modification rate was 5.1% and chemotherapy delay rate was 19%. There were no toxicity-related deaths. Conclusions: ABOD seems to be effective with managable toxicity in HL, even in those with poor prognostic factors.

• CELLMED
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.6.1-6.6
• /
• 2016

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) has now become more common in occurrence in women of reproductive age, particularly in urban and semi-urban population in India. So there is a need to investigate this phenomenon taking into consideration various aspects including possible treatment method to ameliorate/eradicate this syndrome, which has far reaching socio-economic impact and consequences, in view of infertility and irregular menstrual cycles frequently associated with this syndrome. Homeopathy is a branch of traditional alternative medicine which is gaining popularity in India and some other developing countries, as also in some of the developed countries in Europe. With this background scenario, we have made an attempt to treat cases of confirmed PCOS and tried to compare the relative efficacy of two potentized homeopathic drugs, namely, Lycopodium clavatum (Lyco) and Calcarea carbonica (Calc), most frequently used by homeopathic practitioners, selecting different potencies of the drugs, depending on condition/guiding symptom(s) of the patients. While the main focus was pointed on total/partial removal of cysts, data pertaining to different PCOS associated symptoms were also compared for the sake of learning if the two drugs had differential effects on these symptoms also. The study parameters in this investigation included: regularity/irregularity of menstrual cycle, presence/absence of acne, hirsutism, male type alopecia, acanthosis nigricans, body/mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio. Overall results provided clear evidences that both these homeopathic drugs had great ameliorating effects on PCOS, although each drug had a little different effect in respect of the individual parameters of this study.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
• /
• v.36 no.7
• /
• pp.590-606
• /
• 2009

We present a static analyzer that detects memory leaks in C programs. It achieves relatively high accuracy at a relatively low cost on SPEC2000 benchmarks and several open-source software packages, demonstrating its practicality and competitive edge against other reported analyzers: for a set of benchmarks totaling 1,777 KLOCs, it found 332 bugs with 47 additional false positives (a 12.4% false-positive ratio), and the average analysis speed was 720 LOC/sec. We separately analyze each procedure's memory behavior into a summary that is used in analyzing its call sites. Each procedural summary is parameterized by the procedure's call context so that it can be instantiated at different call sites. What information to capture in each procedural summary has been carefully tuned so that the summary should not lose any common memory-leak-related behaviors in real-world C program. Because each procedure is summarized by conventional fixpoint iteration over the abstract semantics ('a la abstract interpretation), the analyzer naturally handles arbitrary call cycles from direct or indirect recursive calls.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.235-245
• /
• 2017

Purpose: Reported insomnia and decreased sleep quality are common among older adults. The purpose of this study was to identify factors contributing to insomnia and decreased sleep quality among elderly persons living within a community. The data will be verified with Actigraph which is a non-invasive measurement of rest/activity cycles. Methods: 137 participants over 65 years old were recruited from a senior welfare center. Their mean age was $74.07{\pm}5.18years$ old and majority was women (69.3%). The quality and quantity of nighttime sleep were assessed using Varren-synder-Halper Sleep Scale and a sleep log. Depression and fatigue were assessed using Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form and Fatigue Severity Scale, respectively. Pain was assessed using 11-point Numeric rating scale. An actigraph was used to verify the self-reported sleep. Results: Ninety-two participants (67.2%) reported insomnia. Sixty-eight subjects (49.6%) reported good sleep. Of the participants, 56.2% reported depression and 33.6% reported fatigue. In logistic regression, depression was related to insomnia (OR=3.09, p=.003). Sleep quality was related to depression (OR=2.13, p=.045) and fatigue (OR=2.24, p=.044). The data from the Sleep logs correlated with data obtained from the actigraph. Conclusion: Depression significantly influenced insomnia and sleep quality whereas fatigue only influenced sleep quality. Thus, depression and fatigue should be closely monitored among elderly persons with sleep disturbances.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.60 no.6
• /
• pp.167-174
• /
• 2017

Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) is one of the most common forms of community-acquired pneumonia in children and adolescents. Outbreaks of MPP occur in 3- to 7-year cycles worldwide; recent epidemics in Korea occurred in 2006-2007, 2011, and 2015-2016. Although MPP is known to be a mild, self-limiting disease with a good response to macrolides, it can also progress into a severe and fulminant disease. Notably, since 2000, the prevalence of macrolide-resistant MPP has rapidly increased, especially in Asian countries, recently reaching up to 80%-90%. Macrolide-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MRMP) harbors a point mutation in domain V of 23S rRNA with substitutions mainly detected at positions 2063 and 2064 of the sequence. The excessive use of macrolides may contribute to these mutations. MRMP can lead to clinically refractory pneumonia, showing no clinical or radiological response to macrolides, and can progress to severe and complicated pneumonia. Refractory MPP is characterized by an excessive immune response against the pathogen as well as direct injury caused by an increasing bacterial load. A change of antibiotics is recommended to reduce the bacterial load. Tetracyclines or quinolones can be alternatives for treating MRMP. Otherwise, corticosteroid or intravenous immunoglobulin can be added to the treatment regimen as immunomodulators to downregulate an excessive host immune reaction and alleviate immune-mediated pulmonary injury. However, the exact starting time point, dose, or duration of immunomodulators has not been established. This review focuses on the mechanism of resistance acquisition and treatment options for MRMP pneumonia.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.392-402
• /
• 2010

Black carbon (BC) concentrations were measured with an aethalometer (AE-16, 880 nm) at time interval of 5-min at an urban site of Gwangju over a year 2008. 24-hr filter-based integrated measurements of $PM_{2.5}$ particles were also made at the same site during the winter and summer intensive periods to test any optical loading bias in the raw BC data measured by aethalometer. BC concentration was higher in winter than in summer, possibly due to increase in emissions from energy consumption and poor dispersion with reduction of boundary layer in winter. Also temporal cycles of BC indicate that short-term transient spikes were common, occurring primarily during the rush-hour periods. A similar feature was also observed in diurnal concentration cycle of CO, mainly emitted from motor vehicles. When both low wind speed and weather patterns such as mist, haze and etc were combined, high BC concentrations frequently occurred. The amount of optical loading effect described by the "k" factor showed the seasonal variation, ranging from 0.0003 to 0.0036. This implies that optical loading effect is not seen at all times. From the comparison between the filter-based elemental carbon (EC) and aethalometer BC data, it was found that the loading compensated BC values were more reasonable than the raw BC ones reported from the aethalometer.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.126-131
• /
• 2005

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of induction chemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin in locally advanced head and neck cancer. Materials and Methods: Between June 1998 and December 2004, 30 patients were enrolled and among them, 20 patients were evaluable. Patients were treated with docetaxel $75mg/m^2$ and cisplatin $60mg/m^2$ on day 1 every 21 days. Results: The median age was 71(range 54-80) years old. All 20 patients were male. Nineteen patients had pathologically squamous cell carcinoma and 1 had undifferentiated carcinoma. Fourteen of 20 patients(70%) demonstrated an objective response with two(10%) achieving a complete clinical response and eleven(60%) a partial response. The median response duration was 5.3(1.6-32.1) months and the median time to progression was 5.6(1.4-33.8) months. The median overall survival of all patients was 14(range 2.2-34) months. The median overall survival of responders was 17.5(range 5-34) months and that of non-responders was 3.2(range 2.2-23) months, but it was not statistically significant(p=0.106). During a total of 92 cycles, granulocytopenia worse than CTC(Common toxicity criteria) grade 2 occurred in 6%, thrombocytopenia in 2%, and anemia in 3%, respectively. Non-hematologic toxicities were minor and easily controlled. Conclusion: The induction chemotherapy of docetaxel and cisplatin has moderate efficacy with acceptable toxicities in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer.