• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7367-7369
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• 2013

Background: Inoperable and metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is associated with a poor prognosis and low chemotherapeutic efficiency. Sorafenib is an oral multi-kinase inhibitor exerting its effects via the RAF/MEK/ERK pathway, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) and platelet derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFR-${\beta}$) tyrosine kinases. Randomized studies have shown a significant contribution of sorafenib to life expectancy and quality of life of cancer patients. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy and side effects of sorafenib therapy in Turkey. Materials and Methods: Data for 103 patients (82 males, 21 females) receiving sorafenib therapy in 13 centers from February 2008 to December 2012 were evaluated. Median age was 61 years and median ECOG performance status was 1 (range: 0-2). 60 patients (58%) had hepatitis B, 15 patients (15%) had hepatitis C infection and 12 patients (12%) had a history of alcohol consumption. All of the patients had Child scores meeting the utilization permit of the drug in our country (Child A). Results: A total of 571 cycles of sorafenib therapy were administered with a median of four per patient. Among the evaluable cases, there was partial response in 15 (15%), stable disease in 52 (50%), and progressive disease in 36 (35%). Median progression-free survival was 18 weeks and median overall survival was 48 weeks. The dose was reduced only in 6 patients and discontinued in 2 patients due to grade 3-4 toxicity, 18 patients (17%) suffering hand-foot syndrome, 7 (7%) diarrhea, and 2 (2%) vomiting. Conclusions: This retrospective study demonstrated better efficacy of sorafenib therapy in patients with advanced HCC compared to the literature while progression-free survival and overall survival findings were comparable. The side effect rates indicate that the drug was tolerated well. In conclusion, among the available treatment options, sorafenib is an efficient and tolerable agent in patients with inoperable or metastatic HCC.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2004

Esophageal cancer is an aggressive disease with a poor prognosis. Recently, every effort has been made to improve the long term survival, but the general prognosis for patients with this disease remains poor. In this study, we reviewed 8 years of experiences with esophageal cancer patients managed in our department at Dong-A University Hospital and evaluated the effectiveness of cervical lymph node dissection performed selectively. Material and Method: From January 1995 to August 2003, 70 patients underwent esophagectomy for esophageal cancer in our department. Among them, 51 patients who underwent curative resection, had no double primary tumors and no neoadjuvant therapy were analyzed retrospectively. In most patients, intrathoracic esophagectomy and cervical esophago-gastrostomy was performed. Since 1997, 3-field lymph node dissection was performed selectively. Result: There were 46 men and 15 women. The median age was 60 years. The tumor was located in the upper third part in 10 patients (19%), middle third in 21 (41%), and lower third in 20 (40%). Majority of the patients (90%) had squamous cell carcinoma. Cervical anastomosis was made in 41 patients, and intrathoracic anastomosis in 10. 2-field lymph node dissection was done in 40 patients, and 3-field lymph node dissection in 11. The pathologic staging were as follows: stage I in 9 patients (17.6%), IIA in 20 (39.2%), IIIB in 7 (13.7%), III in 11 (21.6%), IVA in 2 (3.9%), and IVB in 2 (3.9%). The in-hospital mortality was 3.9% (2 patients) and complications occurred in 24 patients (47%). Overall actuarial 1, 3, and 5-year survival rates were 74.4%, 48.4%, and 48.4% including operative mortality. The 4-year survival rate did not differ significantly between 3-field lymph node dissection group (50.5%) and 2-field lymph node dissection group (48.9%). In 3-field lymph node dissection group, the respiratory complications were more frequent and operative time was significantly longer. Conclusion: We think that curative resection for esophageal cancer can be performed with acceptable mortality, and aggressive surgical approach may improve the long term survival. even for advanced stages. Effectiveness of 3-field lymph node dissection needs further investigations.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.135-141
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• 2008

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcomas treated by postoperative radiotherapy. Materials and Methods: The records of 23 patients with retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcomas, who underwent postoperative radiotherapy between 1985 and 2003, were analyzed. The median follow-up period was 77 months (range, $8{\sim}240$ months). A total of 21 patients presented with primary disease, and two patients presented with recurrent disease. Liposarcomas and leiomyosarcomas represented 78% of the diagnosed tumor cases. Moreover, 17 cases were of high grade (grade 2 or 3). The median tumor size was 13 cm (range, $3{\sim}50\;cm$). Complete excision was achieved in 65% of patients. The median radiation dose was 50.4 Gy (range, 45.0 to 59.4 Gy), with conventional fractionation. Results: The 5-year overall, local recurrence-free, and distant metastasis-free survival rates were 68%, 58%, and 71%, respectively. Eleven patients experienced local recurrence, while 9 patients experienced distant metastasis. The most common site for distant metastasis was the liver. A univariate analysis revealed that adjacent organ invasion and age (>60 years) as the significant risk factors contributing to the prediction of poor overall survival. Moreover, multivariate analyses indicated that adjacent organ invasion remained significantly associated with a higher risk of death. In addition, patient age (>60 years) was the other identified risk factor for local recurrence by univariate and multivariate analyses. Except for one case of grade 3 diarrhea, no patient suffered grade 3 or higher complications. Conclusion: Our results were comparable to previous reports in that adjacent organ invasion and patient age (>60 years) were significant predictors of poor survival and tumor recurrence, respectively.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.88-97
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• 2003

Background : Although smoking is a major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), only 10-20% of cigarette smokers develop symptomatic COPD, which suggests the presence of genetic susceptibility. This genetic susceptibility to COPD might depend on variations in the activities of the enzyme that detoxify hazardous chemical products, such as microsomal epoxide hydrolase (mEPHX) and glutathione-S transferase M1 subunit (GSTM1) genes. Methods : The genotypes of 58 patients with COPD, and 79 age matched control subjects, were determined by a polymerase chain reaction, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) for the mEPHX, and multiplex PCR for the GSTM1. Results : GSTM1 was deleted in 53.3% of the subjects. There was no difference in GSTM1 deletion rates between the COPD patients (32/58, 55.2%) and the control subjects (41/79, 51.9%). The combination patterns of two polymorphisms of mEPHX showed slow enzyme activity in 29(21.2%), normal in 73(53.3%) and fast in 32(23.4%). The COPD group (7/57, 12.3%) showed a significantly lower incidence of slow enzyme activity compared to the control subjects (22/77, 28.6%, p<0.05). However, when the COPD and control groups were compared with smokers only, there were no significant differences in the genotypes of GSTM1 and mEPHX. Conclusion : The genotypes of GSTM1 and mEPHX were not significant risk factors of COPD in this cohort of study.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.4517-4525
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• 2016

Background: Sperm DNA damage is underlying aetiology of poor implantation and pregnancy rates but also affects health of offspring and may also result in denovo mutations in germ line and post fertilization. This may result in complex diseases, polygenic disorders and childhood cancers. Childhood cancer like retinoblastoma (RB) is more prevalent in developing countries and the incidence of RB has increased more than three fold in India in the last decade. Recent studies have documented increased incidence of cancers in children born to fathers who consume alcohol in excess and tobacco or who were conceived by assisted conception. The aetiology of childhood cancer and increased disease burden in these children is lin ked to oxidative stress (OS) and oxidative DNA damage( ODD) in sperm of their fathers. Though several antioxidants are in use to combat oxidative stress, the effect of majority of these formulations on DNA is not known. Yoga and meditation cause significant decline in OS and ODD and aid in regulating OS levels such that reactive oxygen speues meditated signal transduction, gene expression and several other physiological functions are not disrupted. Thus, this study aimed to analyze sperm ODD as a possible etiological factor in childhood cancer and role of simple life style interventions like yoga and meditation in significantly decreasing seminal oxidative stress and oxidative DNA damage and thereby decreasing incidence of childhood cancers. Materials and Methods: A total of 131 fathers of children with RB (non-familial sporadic heritable) and 50 controls (fathers of healthy children) were recruited at a tertiary center in India. Sperm parameters as per WHO 2010 guidelines and reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA fragmentation index (DFI), 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxy guanosine (8-OHdG) and telomere length were estimated at day 0, and after 3 and 6 months of intervention. We also examined the compliance with yoga and meditation practice and smoking status at each follow-up. Results: The seminal mean ROS levels (p<0.05), sperm DFI (p<0.001), 8-OHdG (p<0.01) levels were significantly higher in fathers of children with RB, as compared to controls and the relative mean telomere length in the sperm was shorter. Levels of ROS were significantly reduced in tobacco users (p<0.05) as well as in alcoholics (p<0.05) after intervention. DFI reduced significantly (p<0.05) after 6 months of yoga and meditation practice in all groups. The levels of oxidative DNA damage marker 8-OHdG were reduced significantly after 3 months (p<0.05) and 6 months (p<0.05) of practice. Conclusions: Our results suggest that OS and ODD DNA may contribute to the development of childhood cancer. This may be due to accumulation of oxidized mutagenic base 8OHdG, and elevated MDA levels which results in MDA dimers which are also mutagenic, aberrant methylation pattern, altered gene expression which affect cell proliferation and survival through activation of transcription factors. Increased mt DNA mutations and aberrant repair of mt and nuclear DNA due to highly truncatred DNA repair mechanisms all contribute to sperm genome hypermutability and persistant oxidative DNA damage. Oxidative stress is also associated with genome wide hypomethylation, telomere shortening and mitochondrial dysfunction leading to genome hypermutability and instability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report decline in OS and ODD and improvement in sperm DNA integrity following adoption of meditation and yoga based life style modification.This may reduce disease burden in next generation and reduce incidence of childhood cancers.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.155-164
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• 2002

Hypertension is the most frequent disease of chronic circulatory diseases and major intermediate cause or risk of the cerebrovascular disease which is a leading cause of death in Korea. Therefore, management of hypertension is an important issue in Korean healthcare. Especially, therapeutic compliance of hypertensives is very important because the hypertensive patients should receive anti-hypertensive treatment as long as the condition exists. However, many patients drop out of treatment, which is a major problem that needs to be solved through a hypertension control program. This study was carried out to provide basic data and counter measule for the hypertension control program in the community which aimed to keep the patients receiving treatment continuously. In order to investigate compliance of hypertensive patients during three months follow-up and the rate of control of hypertension, the data were collected during February, 2001, by reviewing medical records of 295 hypertensive patients who had been registered to Gunnam-myeon health subcenter before November, 2000. The author also study the dropout reasons by interviewing 58 patients among 68 dropout patients. The results were as follows: 1. Among the 295 subjects, 108(36.6%) were male and 187(63.4%) were female. Statistically, female hypertensives had a higher mean age than male(64.6 vs 66.3, p<0.05). 2. The 54.9% of the patients took anti-hypertensive medicine continuously for the past three months. And 19.3% had drug intermittently, and 25.8% dropped out of treatment. 3. Among several variables, such as sex, age, health insurance, the time taken from a patient's village to the health subcenter, only the last one was found to be significantly related to therapeutic compliance in the contingency table analysis. 4. The dropout reasons by multiple response were as follows, 'no symptom or no problem' (23.9%), 'change to other hospitals'(19.4%), 'geographical barrier'(17.9%), 'change to a neighborhood drugstore' (14.9%), 'immobility'(7.5%), 'economic barrier'(6.0%), 'unsatisfactory services of the health subcenter'(4.4%). 5. The mean blood pressure of 295 subjects was $144.9{\pm}12.9/86.88{\pm}8.6mmHg$. 6. The 32.5% of the subjects were controlled below 140/90mmHg. Conclusions: In order to improve the low rates of treatment and control of hypertension in rural hypertensives, a more active and systematic hypertension control program, including out-reaching follow-up management, is required in rural area. Especially, for health education of hypertensive patients, emphasis should placed on correcting wrong attitude toward hypertension.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.694-704
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• 2016

Various infectious and parasitic diseases are known to be the main factors that cause decline in the global amphibian population. In Korea, commercial frog farms have been running since 2005. However, until now, studies on diseases including studies on parasitic diseases that occur in farm frogs have not been conducted. In this study, we studied and compared the acanthocephalan infection rates and the number of parasites in the body cavity, stomach, and small and large intestines of the Dybowskii's brown frogs collected from inside and outside the frog farms in Inje, Goesan, Gongju and Boryeong. In addition, we classified the acanthocephalan parasites into genera by analyzing their nuclear 18S rRNA genes. On an average, 51.7% of the investigated frogs were infected by acanthocephalans, which belong to the Centrorhynchus genus. The infection rate of the frogs collected in the Inje farm was 15%, significantly lower than those from the Goesan, Gongju and Boryeong farms. The rate in Goesan was 55%, which is lower than Gongju (80%) and Boryeong (90%) although it is not statistically significant. No difference was found in the infection rate and in the number of parasites in male and female frogs and between the groups collected from inside and outside of the farms. The number of infected parasites negatively correlated with the body condition of the frogs. The most parasites were found in the stomach followed by the small and large intestines and the body cavity. This study is the first report on the Centrorhynchus acanthocephalan infection of amphibians in Korea and it suggests the necessity for acanthocephalan parasite management and for conducting further disease-related studies in commercial frog farms.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2014

Purpose: Streptococcus pyogenes is an important cause of invasive diseases in children. We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of invasive infections due to S. pyogenes in children in Korea. Methods: A retrospective study of children under 18 years of age with invasive infections due to S. pyogenes at Seoul National University Children's Hospital between March 1992 and December 2012, and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital between March 2003 and December 2012 was conducted. Demographic factors, clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, treatment, mortality and morbidity of all patients were reviewed. Results: A total of 30 among 36 cases identified as invasive disease due to S. pyogenes were available for review. There was a predominance for male subjects (male:female=2.75:1). The median age was 50 months (range 12 days to 15 years) and 53.3% were under 5 years of age. Skin and soft tissue infections (9/30, 30.0%), bacteremia without identified focus (4/30, 13.3%) and bone and joint infections (6/30, 20.0%) were the most frequent clinical presentations. Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (3/30, 10.0%) pulmonary, abdomen and central nervous system infections (2/30, 6.7%) were also seen. There was a peak in number of patients in year 2012 (9/30, 30.0%). There were no cases of mortality. Erythromycin and clindamycin resistance rates were low by 3.8% and 7.5%, respectively. Conclusion: We studied the clinical presentations of invasive infections due to S. pyogenes during the past 20 years in Korean children. The findings of this study help us understand the characteristics of the disease, enhancing early recognition and prompting adequate antibiotic therapy which is important in reducing morbidity and mortality.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.345-352
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• 2001

Purpose : To evaluate the treatment results and prognostic factors after radiotherapy in stage IIB uterine cervix cancer. Materials and methods : We retrospectively analyzed the records of 90 patients with stage IIB uterine cervix cancer who received radiotherapy between 9/94 and 12/99. Age was ranged from 28 to 79 years (median 57). Tumor size was $\geq4\;cm$ in 64 patients. Preteatment SCC level was measured in 75 patients. Twenty nine patients received conventional radiotherapy (QD) and the others received modified hyper-fractionated radiotherapy (BID). Only 7 patients in BID had tumor size <4 cm. All patients received high dose rate brachytherapy $(4\;Gy\times7\;or\;5\;Gy\times6)$. No Patient received concurrent chemotherapy during radiotherapy. Follow up period was ranging from 9 to 76 months (median 38). Results : The 5-year overall and disease free survival rates were $73.4\%\;and\;71.6\%$, respectively. Local recurrences occurred in $10\%$ of patients, and distant metastasis in $18.9\%$. There was a significant correlation between OS/DFS and tumor size $(<4cm;\;OS\;95.2\%,\;DFS\;91.4\%,\;\geq4cm;\;OS\;63.4\%,\;DFS\;63.4\%)$. Pretreatment SCC level was one of prognostic factors only in univariate analysis. Conclusion : With modified hyperfractionated radiotherapy, there was very low local recurrence rate $(6.6\%)$ and high 5-year overall and disease free survival rate $(75.4\%\;and\;70.5\%)$, which is comparable to results after concurrent chemoradiotherapy in bulky, locally advanced stage IIB uterine cervix cancer.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.615-623
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• 2009

Background: We evaluated the feasibility and the efficacy of Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) lobectomy for treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and we compared the outcomes of VATS lobectomy with those of open lobectomy. Material and Method: From 2003 to March 2008, 133 NSCLC patients underwent VATS lobectomy. The patients were selected on the basis of having clinical stage I disease on the chest CT and PET scan. The outcomes of 202 patients who underwent open lobectomy (OL group) for clinical stage I NSCLC were evaluated to compare their results with those of the patients who underwent VATS lobectomy (the VL group). Result: The number of females and the number of patients with adenocarcinoma and stage IA disease were greater in VL group (p<0.05). There was no operative mortality or major complications in the VL group. Conversion to thoracotomy was needed in 8 cases (6%), which was mostly due to bleeding. The chest tube indwelling time and the length of the postoperative hospital stay were significantly shorter in the VL group (p<0.001). The number of dissected lymph nodes and the size of tumor were significantly smaller in the VL group (p<0.001). For the pathologic stage I patients, there was no significant difference in the three-year survival rates between the two groups (p=0.15). Conclusion: VATS lobectomy is a safe procedure with low operative mortality and morbidity. VATS lobectomy is feasible for early stage NSCLC and it provides outcomes that are comparable to those for open lobectomy. Further long-term data are needed.