• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.56-66
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• 2022

Purpose: Nutritional problems after gastrectomy affect continuation of postoperative chemotherapy. There have been no studies limited to total gastrectomy, which is particularly prone to nutritional problems. In this study, we aimed to investigate the factors that predict the continuation of postoperative chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: We included 101 patients who underwent curative total gastrectomy and postoperative chemotherapy at Hiroshima Memorial Hospital. The effects of 37 factors, including perioperative inflammatory, nutritional, and tumor status, on the persistence of postoperative chemotherapy were analyzed. Results: In univariate analysis of preoperative factors, age, carbohydrate antigen 19-9, platelet-to-neutrophil ratio, Onodera's prognostic nutritional index (PNI), controlling nutritional status score, and nutritional risk screening (NRS-2002) score were significantly associated with the duration of postoperative chemotherapy. In multivariate analysis of preoperative factors, age (≥74 years) was an independent factor for a shorter duration of postoperative chemotherapy (hazard ratio [HR], 5.24; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.19-12.96; P<0.01). In univariate analysis of factors before postoperative chemotherapy, intraoperative blood loss, perioperative weight loss rate, postoperative performance status, PNI, albumin-to-bilirubin index, and NRS-2002 score were significantly associated with the duration of postoperative chemotherapy. In multivariate analysis of factors before postoperative therapy, age (≥74 years) (HR, 5.75; 95% CI, 1.90-19.49; P<0.01) and PNI (<39) (HR, 3.29; 95% CI, 1.26-8.56; P=0.02) were independent factors for a shorter duration of postoperative chemotherapy. Conclusions: Age and PNI are useful predictors of postoperative chemotherapy intolerance after total gastrectomy and may determine the treatment strategy and timing of chemotherapy initiation.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.159-171
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• 2024

Purpose: Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in Korea, and the proportion of upper-third gastric cancers has been steadily increasing over the last two decades. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of tumor location on gastric cancer prognosis. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 2,466 patients who underwent gastrectomy for pathologically proven gastric cancer between January 2011 and December 2016. The patients were divided into an upper-third group (U group; n=419, 17.0%) and a middle- and lower-third group (ML group; n=2,047, 83.0%). Clinicopathological characteristics, overall survival (OS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) after surgery were compared. Results: The U group had more advanced disease than the ML group and a higher incidence of N3b disease for T3 (12.0% vs. 4.9%, p=0.023) and T4 tumors (33.3% vs. 17.5%, p=0.001). The 5-year RFS rate for stage III disease was marginally lower in the U group than that in the ML group (47.1% vs. 56.7%, p=0.082). The upper third location was an independent prognostic factor for both OS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.350; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.065-1.711) and RFS (HR, 1.430; 95% CI, 1.080-1.823). Conclusions: Upper-third gastric cancer shows extensive node metastasis compared to those located more distally in ≥T3 tumors. The upper third location is an independent prognostic factor for both OS and RFS and may have an adverse impact on RFS, particularly in patients with stage III gastric cancer.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: Measurement of electrical conductivity of saturated soil paste ($EC_e$) for assessment of soil salinity is time-consuming, and thus conversion of EC of 1:5 soil-water extract ($EC_{1:5}$) to $EC_e$ using a dilution factor may be of help to monitor salinity of huge number of soil samples. This study was conducted to evaluate the dilution factor for reclaimed tideland (RTL) soils of South Korea. METHODS AND RESULTS: Soil samples (n=40) were collected from four RTLs, and analyzed for $EC_{1:5}$, $EC_e$, and cation compositions of 1:5 soil-water extract. The dilution factor (8.70) was estimated by regression analysis between $EC_{1:5}$ and $EC_e$, and the obtained dilution factor was validated by applying to an independent data set (n=96) of $EC_{1:5}$ and $EC_e$. The $EC_e$ measured and predicted was strongly correlated ($r^2=0.74$, P<0.001), but $EC_e$ was overestimated by 16% particularly for the soils with high clay content and low sodium adsorption ratio (SAR). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that using the dilution factor to convert $EC_{1:5}$ to $EC_e$ is feasible method to monitor changes in the soil salinity of the study RTL. However, overestimation of $EC_e$ should be cautioned for the soils with high clay content and low SAR.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.115-123
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of teaching communication training using $Gagn{\acute{e}}^{\prime}s$ 9 events of instruction and video clip on communication competency and interpersonal relations of nursing students. Methods: The participants were 79 nursing students (41 in the intervention group, 38 in the control group). A nonequivalent control group design was used. The research was carried out from September 7 to November 20, 2015. Teaching communication skills using $Gagn{\acute{e}}^{\prime}s$ 9 events of instruction and video clip were provided to the intervention group 180 minutes/session once a week for 9 weeks. Data were analyzed using chi-square test, independent t-test and ANCOVA with SPSS/PC version 21.0. Results: The intervention group reported significantly higher scores of communication competency(F=8.41, p=.005) and interpersonal relations(F=8.97 p=.004) compared to those of the control group at the completion of the intervention. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that $Gagn{\acute{e}}^{\prime}s$ 9 events of instruction and video clip is an effective communication training for improving communication competency and interpersonal relations in nursing students. A randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm the value of communication training using $Gagn{\acute{e}}^{\prime}s$ 9 events of instruction and video clip for nursing students.

• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.54-64
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to optimally allocate the human resources to tasks while minimizing the total daily human resource costs and smoothing the human resource usage. The human resource allocation problem (hRAP) under consideration contains two kinds of special constraints, i.e. operational precedence and skill constraints in addition to the ordinary constraints. To deal with the multiple objectives and the special constraints, first we designed this hRAP as a network problem and then proposed a Pareto multistage decisionbased genetic algorithm (P-mdGA). During the evolutionary process of P-mdGA, a Pareto evaluation procedure called generalized Pareto-based scale-independent fitness function approach is used to evaluate the solutions. Additionally, in order to improve the performance of P-mdGA, we use fuzzy logic controller for fine-tuning of genetic parameters. Finally, in order to demonstrate the applicability and to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, P-mdGA is applied to solve a case study in a hotel, where the managers usually need helpful automatic support for effectively allocating hotel staff to hotel tasks.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.141-154
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• 1996

Intrinsic layers of homoepitaxial InP grown by the hydride vapor phase epitaxy (VPE) technique were investigated by Fourier-transform photoluminescence(FTPL) and variable temperature Hall measurements. The effect of process variables (i.e., source zone temperature and inlet mole fractions of HCl and $PH_{3}$) on the backgroudn impurity levels was investigated. The background carrier concentration was found to decrease with decreasing source zone temperature and increasing HCl, but was relatively independent of $PH_{3}$ for the range of mole fraction studied. The presence of background donors and acceptors was clearly verified in the FTPL spectra, and the major impurities were tentatively identified as Si donors and Zn acceptors as well as some unidentified acceptors.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.344-354
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• 2019

Purpose: No standard technique has been established for esophagojejunal anastomosis during laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) for gastric cancer owing to the technical difficulty and high complication rate of this procedure. This study was performed to compare the short-term outcomes of circular and linear stapling methods after LTG. Materials and Methods: A total of 106 patients treated between July 2010 and July 2018 were divided into 2 groups according to the following anastomosis procedures: hemi-double-stapling technique (HDST; circular stapling method; group C, n=77) or overlap method (linear stapling method; group L, n= 29). The clinicopathological features and postoperative outcomes, including complications, were analyzed. Multivariate analysis was performed using a logistic regression model to identify the independent risk factors for anastomotic complications. Results: The incidence of anastomotic complications was significantly higher in group C than in group L (28.0% vs. 6.9%, P=0.031). The incidence of anastomosis leakage did not differ between the groups (6.5% vs. 6.9%, P=1.000). However, anastomosis stricture occurred only in group C (13% vs. 0%, P=0.018). Multivariate analysis showed that the anastomosis type was significantly related to the risk of anastomotic complications (P=0.045). Conclusions: The overlap method was superior to the HDST with respect to anastomotic complications, especially anastomosis stricture.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.199-203
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluation the effect of shade on all ceramic restoration based zirconia according to cooling rate on Firing. Methods: 10 specimens applied to the dentin porcelain were made on the zirconia. After 5 specimens of the first group were burned in the furnace, these were put out rapidly. And after 5 specimens of the second group were burned in the furnace, these were put out slowly later 15 min. All specimens were measured $L^*$, $a^*$, $b^*$ using spectrophotometer, there were calculated 10 mean(SD) of descriptive statistics with SPSS program. These data were used for ${\Delta}E^*$ with color difference equation. Independent t tests were performed between 2 groups. Results: $L^*$, $a^*$, $b^*$ of 2 groups was statistically significant respectively (p<0.001), ${\Delta}E^*$ was 4.55 value. Conclusion: This study showed effect of shade on all ceramic restoration based zirconia according to cooling rate on Firing.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.315-328
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• 2019

Purpose: To investigate the clinical value of serum miR-221-3p and miR-122-5p expression levels in the diagnosis and prognosis of gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: Serum samples from 141 gastric cancer cases (gastric cancer group), 110 gastric polyps (gastric polyp group), and 75 healthy people (healthy control) were used to detect miR-221-3p and miR-122-5p expression using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: Serum miR-221-3p expression was significantly higher in the gastric cancer group than in the gastric polyp group, and it was significantly lower than that before operation. The miR-221-3p expression was significantly higher in the death group than in the survival group. The proliferation and migration ability significantly increased and the apoptosis rate significantly decreased by miR-221-3p transfection in gastric cancer cells. In contrast, the function of miR-122-5p in gastric cancer cells was opposite of miR-221-3p. Serum miR-221-3p expression was negatively correlated with that of miR-122-5p in gastric cancer. Serum miR-221-3p and miR-122-5p expressions were significantly correlated with the degree of differentiation, tumor, node, metastasis stage, lymph node metastasis, and invasion depth. miR-221-3p and miR-122-5p expression levels were independent prognostic factors for postoperative gastric cancer. In the diagnosis and predicting prognosis of gastric cancer, receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that the area under curve of combined detection of serum miR-221-3p and miR-122-5p expression had a greater diagnostic effect than either single maker. Conclusions: The miR-221-3p and miR-122-5p are involved in the development of gastric cancer, and they have important clinical values in gastric cancer diagnosis and prognosis.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.322-328
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• 2010

Fermented skate is a traditional Korean food popular in Southwestern area of Korea. It has a characteristic flavor and alkaline pH. In this study we tried to determine the microbial flora in fermented skate using two different approaches. In culture-independent method, we amplified V2 region of 16S rRNA gene by PCR and cloned them into pUC18 plasmid to construct 16S rDNA fragment library. BLAST searches for the sequences obtained from this library revealed that uncultured bacterium clone 054E11.b was the most dominant flora in this fermented fish. In culture-dependent method, we diluted suspension of skate and spreaded on MRS, PCA, and MacConkey plates. We identified colonies grown on those plates by using PCR amplification of V2 region of 16S rRNA and DNA sequencing. BLAST searches of those DNA sequences resulted in totally different species with the observations from the 16S rDNA library analysis. Discrepancies of results obtained from both approaches suggest that the agar plates used in culture-dependent method may be different from the real condition of fermented skate. Therefore, results from culture-independent approach using 16S rDNA fragment library analysis may reflect real microbial flora in fermented skate.