• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7467-7472
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is known to be one of the most prevalent cancers among women in both developing and developed countries. The incidence of breast cancer in Pakistan has increased dramatically within the last few years and is the second country after Israel in Asia to have highest proportional cases of breast cancer. However, there are limited data for breast cancer available in the literature from Pakistan. Objectives: The study was conducted to bring to light the common clinical presentation of breast cancer and to evaluate the frequency of established risk factors in breast carcinoma patients and furthermore to compare the findings between premenopausal and postmenopausal women in Pakistan. Materials and Methods: A 6 months (from July 2012 to Dec 2012) cross sectional survey was conducted in Surgical and Oncology Units of Civil Hospital, Karachi. Data were collected though a well developed questionnaire from 105 female patients diagnosed with carcinoma of breast and analyzed using SPSS version 17. Institutional ethical approval was obtained prior to data collection. Results: Out of 105 patients, 43 were premenopausal and 62 were postmenopausal, 99 being married. Mean age at diagnosis was $47.8{\pm}12.4years$. A painless lump was the most frequent symptom, notived by 77.1%(n=81). Some 55.2% (n=58) patients had a lump in the right breast and 44.8%(n=47) in the left breast. In the majority of cases, the lump was present in upper outer quadrant 41.9% (n=44). Mean period of delay from appearance of symptoms to consulting a doctor was $5.13{\pm}4.8months$, from the shortest 1 month to the longest 36 months. Long delay (> 3 months) was the most frequent figure 41.9%. Considering overall risk factors most frequent were first pregnancy after 20 years of age (41%), physical breast trauma (28.6%), lack of breast feeding(21.9%), and early menarche <11 years (19%), followed by null parity (16.2%), consumption of high fat diet (15.2%), family history of breast cancer or any other cancer in first degree relatives (9.5% and 13.3%, respectively). Some of the less common factors were late menopause >54 years (8.6%), use of oral contraceptive pills (10.5%), use of hormone replacement therapy (4.7%),smoking (4.7%) and radiation (0.96%). Significant differences (p<0.005) were observed between pre and post menopausal women regarding history of physical breast trauma, practice of breast feeding and parity. Conclusions: A painless lump was the most frequent clinical presentation noted. Overall age at first child > 20 years, physical breast trauma, lack of breast feeding, early menarche <11 were the most frequent risk factors. Physical breast trauma, lower parity, a trend for less breast feeding had more significant associations with pre-menopausal than post-menopausal onset. Increase opportunity of disease prevention can be obtained through better understanding of clinical presentation and risk factors important in the etiology of breast cancer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.159-167
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• 2001

The objective of this study is to examine the factors affecting bone mineral density in pre- and postmenopausal women. The subject were 30 Korean premenopausal women with mean ages of 33.6 years, and 30 Korean post menopausal women with mean ages of 63.3 years without diagnosed diseases. Data for food and nutrient intake were obtained by the24-hour recall method. BMD of lumbar spine and femoral neck were measured by the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Anthropometric measurement were made, and a blood sample was taken for assay osteocalcin. The results are summarized as follows: 16.67% of the subjects in the premenopausal women and 87.33% of the subjects in the postmenopausal women was less than the korean RDA level exceping phosphorus and vitamin C. In the premenopausal women, BMD of lumbar spine is correlated significantly with anthropometric measurement such as weight, waist circumference, BMI, and body fat mass BMD of femoral neck for the premenopausal women is correlated significantly with weight, BMI, waist circumference, body fat mass, hip circumference, and BMDs of both site are negatively correlated with lean body mass, total body water, but they are not related with intake of nutrients in this study. In the postmenopausal women group, BMDs of both site are not significantly correlated with anthropometric measurement, but BMD of lumbar spine showed positive relation with intake of energy, protein, and carbohydrate. In conclusion, adequate nutrient intake, especially energy, protein have been suggested to prevent the loss of bone mineral density in the postmenopausal women. Also, adequate body weight and BMI have been suggested in the premenopausal women.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.20-30
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to verify the effects of H Gambitang (GB-001) on body composition and basal metabolic rate in pre- and post-menopausal obese woman retrospectively. Methods: The study was conducted on 57 middle-aged obese women. They were divided into two groups; pre-menopausal obesity group (Pr-MOG; n=34) and post-menopausal obesity group (Po-MOG; amenorrhea was continued to 14~48 month, n=23) with no significant difference of age, height, body weight and body mass index. All subjects took herbal medicine 3 times a day, for 6 weeks during treatment period. The weight, height, body fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, and basal metabolic rate of all subjects were measured on first visit. The following measurements were repeated after 2 weeks (2nd), 4 weeks (3rd) and 6 weeks (4th) with Inbody 370 (Biospace) equipment to identify changes of body fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, and basal metabolic rate. Results are represented as mean and standard deviation. Results: Po-MOG showed significantly lower decrease rate in weight reduction on 2~6 weeks while significantly higher decrease rate in skeletal muscle reduction on 4~6 weeks. There were no significant differences between two groups in body fat reduction rate and basal metabolic increasing rate. Conclusions: H Gambitang (GB-001) can be used not only in Pr-MOG but in Po-MOG in weight loss although the effect can be lower in Po-MOG. To prevent skeletal muscle mass loss in Po-MOG, following study on adjusting dose and components of H Gambitang (GB-001) thought to be necessary.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.683-694
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• 2004

The objective of this study is to improve the health related quality of life through the efficient weight reduction by analyzing the ecological factors related to completion of weight reduction program in the obese premenopausal women aged 20-29 years. The factors influencing completion of obesity management programs in the obese women were the preferences of sweet and salt taste, health related quality of life (general health, role emotional), eating attitude scores, and regularity of mealtime scores. The finding that the completion of obese management programme were improved if the health-related quality of life was high and the physiological status related symptoms of stress, depress, and eating disorder were good has implications for the treatment of obesity. The questionnaire used this study can be available to develop the obesity assessment sheets which is required the exploration of the characteristics of obese women and the tailored multi-disciplinary obesity management program. Moreover, the obesity assessment sheets will make a contribution to determine types of the programs that is suitable for obesity women before starting an obesity management program.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.758-771
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• 1996

This study attempted to define reference data for the distribution of vitamin d status and to explore the relationship between vitamin D status and related biochemical indices in Korean women. The vitamin D status of 179 Korean women aged from 20 to 75 years was analyzed by using HPLC(High Pressure Liquid Chromatography). Related biochemical indices such as iPTH, alkaline phosphatase, creatinine, albumin, Ca, Mg and P were also measured. The mean serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D were s25.8ng/ml and 89.8pg/ml, respectively. Low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (<25nmol/L) was found in 29 subjects(16.5%). There was a significantly progressive decrease in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D with increasing age(p<0.05). After in their, there was a dramatical reduction in 25-hydroxyvitamin D(p<0.05). It was also significant in post-menopasusal women compared with pre-menopausal women(p<0.000). Serum alkaline phosphatase levels increased significantly with age(p<0.001). Whereas serum calcium and phosphorus levels remained constant with age. Serum 250-hydroxyvitamin D was invesely related to iPTH (p<0.05) and alkaline phophatase (p<0.001).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2929-2932
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• 2014

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performances of risk of malignancy index (RMI), CA-125 and ultrasound score in differentiating between benign and borderline or malignant ovarian tumors and find the best diagnostic test for referral of suspected malignant ovarian cases to gynaecologic oncologists. Materials and Methods: This prospective study covered 467 women with pelvic tumors scheduled for surgery at our hospital between July 2011 and July 2013. The RMI was obtained from ultrasound score, CA125 and menopausal status. The diagnostic values of each parameter and the RMI were determined and compared using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences Version 14.0.1. Results: In our study, 61% of ovarian tumors were malignant in the post-menopausal age group. RMI with a cut-off 150 had sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 97% in detecting ovarian cancer. CA-125>30 had a sensitivity of 84% and a specificity of 83%. An ultrasound score more than 2 had a sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 81%. RMI had the least false malignant cases thus avoiding unnecessary laparotomies. Ultrasound when used individually had the best sensitivity but poor specificity. Conclusions: Our study has demonstrated the RMI to be an easy, simple and applicable method in the primary evaluation of patients with pelvic masses. It can be used to refer suspected malignant patients to be operated by a gynaecologic oncologist. Other models of preoperative evaluation should be developed to improve the detection of early stage invasive, borderline and non-epithelial ovarian cancers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.346-352
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• 2013

Objectives: To estimate the effect of medical conditions in the population of Korea on breast cancer risk in a case-control study. Methods: The cases were 3242 women with incident, histologically confirmed breast cancer in two major hospitals interviewed between 2001 and 2007. The controls were 1818 women each admitted to either of those two hospitals for a variety of non-neoplastic conditions. Information on each disease was obtained from a standardized questionnaire by trained personnel. Odds ratios (ORs) for each disease were derived from multiple logistic regression adjusted for age, age of menarche, pregnancy, age of first pregnancy, and family history of breast cancer. Results: Among all of the incident breast cancer patients, pre-existing diabetes (OR, 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99 to 1.78), hypertension (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.18 to 1.83), thyroid diseases (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.58), and ovarian diseases (OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.35) were associated with an increased risk of breast cancer when other factors were adjusted for. In a stratified analysis by menopausal status, pre-existing hypertension (pre-menopause OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.48 to 1.34 vs. post-menopause OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.44 to 2.43; p-heterogeneity <0.01) and ovarian disease (pre-menopause OR, 4.20; 95% CI, 1.91 to 9.24 vs. post-menopause OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.91; p-heterogeneity 0.01) showed significantly different risks of breast cancer. Conclusions: Our results suggest the possibility that medical conditions such as hypertension affect breast cancer development, and that this can differ by menopausal status. Our study also indicates a possible correlation between ovarian diseases and breast cancer risk.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.291-301
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• 2004

We studied the effects of soy isoflavones supplementation with exercise on bone mineral density and the urinary excretion of deoxypyridinoline as an index of bone resorption rates in postmenopausal women. A total of 67 postmen-opausal women were assigned to Isoflavone (90 mg/day) or placebo groups. These group were further divided into groups that undergone a regular exercise or a rather sedentary state performing daily activity only. Four groups were Placebo-control group (n = 16), Placebo-exercise group (n = 16), Isoflavone-sedentary group (n = 19) and Isofla-vone-exercise group (n = 16). After the intervention, we compared anthropometric mesurement, dietary recall, bone mineral density (femoral neck, lumbar spine), urinary deoxypyridinoline between the groups and between the pre and post studies. There were no significant differences between the four groups in terms of average age, height, weight, period after menopause at the baseline. The average age of the subjects were 55.2 yrs, average height, weight, period after menopause were 154.7 cm, 59.3 kg, 5.58 yrs, respectively. After eight week intervention period, there were no significant differences between the four groups in bone mineral density, but urinary deoxypyridinoline excretion was significantly decreased both in Isoflavone-sedentary and Isoflavone-Exercise groups. These results suggest that Isofla-vone supplementation alone or with exercise may be preventive measures through the decrease of bone reabsorption rate in post-menopausal subjects. Whereas exercise alone did not appear to be an effective measure in bone loss with these subjects.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.496-500
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• 2013

Objective : To evaluate the successful fusion rate in postmenopausal women with single-level anterior cervical discectomy and successful fusion (ACDF) and identify the significant factors related to bone successful fusion in pre- and postmenopausal women. Methods : From July 2004 to December 2010, 108 consecutive patients who underwent single-level ACDF were prospectively selected as candidates. Among these, the charts and radiological data of 39 women were reviewed retrospectively. These 39 women were divided into two groups : a premenopausal group (n=11) and a postmenopausal group (n=28). To evaluate the significant factors affecting the successful fusion rate, the following were analyzed : the presence of successful fusion, successful fusion type, age, operated level, bone mineral density, graft materials, stand-alone cage or plating with autologous iliac bone, subsidence, adjacent segment degeneration, smoking, diabetes mellitus, and renal disease. Results : The successful fusion rates of the pre- and postmenopausal groups were 90.9% and 89.2%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the successful fusion rate or successful fusion type between the two groups. In the postmenopausal group, three patients (10.8%) had successful fusion failure. In the postmenopausal group, age and subsidence significantly affected the successful fusion rate (p=0.016 and 0.011, respectively), and the incidence of subsidence in patients with a cage was higher than that in patients with a plate (p=0.030). Conclusion : Menopausal status did not significantly affect bone successful fusion in patients with single-level ACDF. However, in older women with single-level ACDF, the combination of use of a cage and subsidence may unfavorably affect successful fusion.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.5-11
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the bone mineral content of women who went through osteoporotic menopause and that of women who are healthy. For the purpose, this researcher sampled some women and divided them into three groups. Group 1 consisted of women who were pre-menopausal and healthy, group 2, women who were post-menopausal and health and group 3, women who went through osteoporotic menopause. The researcher measured the bone density of all the subjects and compared its difference among the three groups. Then the researcher compared and analyzed the influences of bone density on the spine among women of each group or those of all the groups. Among all regions of the spine, that of most region was spongiosa which was ovally shaped. The researcher measured the bone mineral content of spongiosa which existed in a particular section of the spine between T12 and L4. Findings of the study can be summarized as follows. The older women were, the lower their bone density was. Especially, women who had osteoporosis were significantly lower in bone density than those who were healthy. In all women, except those of group 1, bone density more and more lowered as the measured region of the spine gradually moved from T12 to L4. From a statistical view, the bone density of the entire vertebral body could discriminate the groups 1, 2 and 3. But it was not possible to discriminate between the groups 2 and 3 only with the bone density of the most interested region as mentioned above.