• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.9
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• pp.917-929
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• 2006

Over the last several decades there has been a remarkable change in the therapeutic strategy of congenital heart disease. Development of new tools and devices, accumulations of experience, technical refinement have positively affected the outcome of interventional treatment. Many procedures including atrial septostomy, balloon valvuloplasty, balloon dilation of stenotic vessel with or without stent implantation, transcatheter occlusion of abnormal vascular structure, transcatheter closure of patent arterial duct and atrial septal defect, are now performed as routine interventional procedures in many institutes. In diverse conditions, transcatheter techniques also provide complementary and additive role in combination with surgery. Intraoperative stent implantation on stenotic vessels, perventricular device insertion, and hybrid stage 1 palliative procedure for hypoplastic left heart syndrome have been employed in high risk patients for cardiac surgery with encouraging results. Transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defect has been performed safely showing comparable result with surgery. Investigational procedures such as percutaneous valve insertion and valve repair are expected to replace the role of surgery in certain group of patients in the near future. Continuous evolvement in this field will contribute to reduce the risk and suffering from congenital heart disease, while surgery will be still remained as a gold standard for significant portion of congenital heart disease.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 1996

The primary treatment of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma is at this time, mainly based on radiotherapy. In most studies for patient treated with radiotherapy, overall 5-year survival rate is in the range of 35 to 55%. Obviously, these therapeutic results may be influenced by various factors such as clinical stages, histopathological types and radiation techniques, etc. Though the radiotherapy had a good therapeutic result, there is a limitation to apply the radiotherapy only in cases of the advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Anatomical complexity of the skull base and difficulties in complete surgical intervention were the trouble of the surgery but in the case of radiation failure, there is no adequate choice of other curative modalities. So it is appropriate to investigate whether surgical resection may improve the outcome of treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The purpose of this papaer is to report our surgical experience of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma, then to take into consideration of the new model of treatment strategy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1033-1036
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• 2001

With improvements in diagnostic imaging techniques for the brain, pituitary tumors without neurological signs or symptoms have occasionally been found. To evaluate therapeutic strategy for incidentally found pituitary tumors ("pituitary incidentaloma"), we analyzed the result of magnetic resonance imaging findings and of ophthalmological and endocrinological studies in 3 cases with follow up. Incidentally found functioning tumors were excluded. All of 3 cases is greater than 10mm in tumor size("pituitary macroincidentaloma"). The follow-up period was 49 months, 16 months and 6 months(mean, 25.3 months) in each case. There was no evidence of tumor enlargement, endocrinological problems and visual field defect during follow-up period. Patients with pituitary incidentalomas usually follow a benign course and neurosurgical intervention is not initially required in the management even those greater than 10mm in diameter. Observation over time may be good approach to the patient with a pituitary macroincidentaloma to avoid the unnecessary risk for surgery in a patients with a stable mass.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2002

Recently, stem cell-mediated gene therapy is emerging as a novel therapeutic approach. For the successful gene modification of stem cells, the development of a suitable gene transfer technique needs to be preceded. This review focuses on the various gene transfer techniques based on nonviral and viral vectors, and physical methods. The advantages and disadvantages of each gene transfer method are compared, and the general properties of these vectors are discussed in relation to the gene transfer in stem cell research. This review also highlights the therapeutic application of stem cell-mediated gene therapy. The choice of gene transfer vectors may vary depending on the type of the stem cells and the target of stem cell therapy. Of various gene transfer methods, viral vector-based gene therapy has been emphasized due to the higher transfection efficiency. The current status and up-to-date findings of stem cell-mediated gene therapy are discussed in the viewpoint of the various targets of stem cell therapy such as the modification of stem cell potency, the acceleration of regeneration process and the formation of expressional organization.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.11
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• pp.1152-1157
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• 2006

Inherited metabolic disease is rare disorders that show symptoms mainly in pediatric age and early treatment is important for preventing complications of the disease. Recent development in molecular and biochemical techniques help clinicians with proper diagnosis of patients, however, many of the disease still remain lack of effective therapeutic strategies. Better understanding on biochemical and molecular basis of pathogenesis of the disease combined with advanced medical care would provide new sight on the disease that can also improve the quality of life and long-term prognosis of patients. Traditionally, there are several modalities in the treatment of metabolic diseases depend on the biochemical basis of the disease such as diet restriction, removing or blocking the production of toxic metabolites, and stimulating residual enzyme activity. The inherited metabolic disease is not familiar for many clinicians because the diagnosis is troublesome, treatment is complicated and prognosis may not as good as expected in other diseases. Recently, new therapeutic regimens have been introduced that can significantly improve the medical care of patients with metabolic disease. Enzyme replacement therapy has showed promising efficacy for lysosomal storage disease, bone marrow transplantation is effective in some disease and gene therapy has been trying for different diseases. The new trials for treatment of the disease will give us promising insight on the disease and most clinicians should have more interest in medical progress of the metabolic disease.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.171-174
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• 2004

Angiogenesis, the formation of new capillaries from existing vessels, increases oxygenation and nutrient supply to ischemic tissue and allows tumor growth and metastasis. As such, angiogenesis targeting provides a novel approach for cancer treatment with easier drug delivery and less drug resistance. Therapeutic anti-angiogenesis has shown impressive effects in animal tumor models and are now entering clinical trials. However, the successful clinical introduction of this new therapeutic approach requires diagnostic tools that can reliably measure angiogenesis in a noninvasive and repetitive manner. Molecular imaging is emerging as an exciting new discipline that deals with imaging of disease on a cellular or genetic level. Angiogenesis imaging is an important area for molecular imaging research, and the use of radiotracers offers a particularly promising technique for its development. While current perfusion and metabolism radiotracers can provide useful information related to tissue vascularity, recent endeavors are focused on the development of novel radioprobes that specifically and directly target angiogenic vessels. Presently available proges include RGD sequence containing peptides that target ${\alpha}_v\;{\beta}_3$ integrin, endothelial growth factors such as VEGF or FGF, metalloptoteinase inhibitors, and specific antiangiogenic drugs. It is now clear that nuclear medicine techniques have a remarkable potential for angiogenesis imaging, and efforts are currently continuing to develop new radioprobes with superior imaging properties. With future identification of novel targets, design of better probes, and improvements in instrumentation, radiotracer angiogenesis imaging promises to play an increasingly important role in the diagnostic evaluation and treatment of cancer and other angiogenesis related diseases.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.200-209
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• 1993

The primary treatment of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma is, at this time, mainly based on radiotherapy. In most studies for patient treated with radiotherapy, overall 5-year survival rate is in the range of 35 to 55%. Obviously, these therapeutic results may be influenced by various factors such as clinical stages, histopathological types and radiation techniques, etc. Though the radiotherapy had a good therapeutic result, there is a limitation to apply the radiotherapy only in cases of the advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Anatomical complexity of the skull base and difficulties in complete surgical intervention were the trouble of the surgery but in the case of radiation failure, there is no adequate cholice of other curative modalities. So it is appropriate to investigate whether surgical resection may improve the results of treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The purpose of this paper is to report the surgical experience with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, then to take into consideration of the new model of treatment strategy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.49 no.10
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• pp.91-101
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to find a therapeutic intervention for a couple in the pre-divorce stage. We used data from the case study to examine the factors related to marital conflict and enhancements related to the family of origin. Our sample was the couple in pre-divorce stage who has been married for 3 years. The therapeutic intervention methods used were taken from Positive Psychology, Family Systems Theory, Communication Theory, and Solution-Focused Therapy. We counseled the couple once a week for 10 sessions from $5^{th}$ October to $7^{th}$ December in 2010. Our objective was to give a positive perspective on the couple who was in the pre-divorce stage. We also provided clear-cut, practical techniques for responding productively to inappropriate expressions of anger. The couple acquired strategies to make their relationship work more effectively. Finally, the couple set their family goals for adjustment instead of divorce.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.74-81
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• 2006

Molecular targeting may be defined as the specific concentration of a diagnostic or therapeutic tracer by its Interaction with a molecular species that is distinctly present or absent in a disease state. Monoclonal antibody (mAb) is one of the successful agents for targeted therapy in cancer. To enhance the therapeutic effect, the concept of targeting radionuclides to tumors using radiolabeled mAbs against tumor-associated antigens, radioimmunotherapy, was proposed. The efficacy of radioimmunotherapy, however, has to be further optimized. Several strategies to improve targeting of tumors with radiolabeled mAbs have been developed, such as the use of mAb fragments, the use of high-affinity mAbs, the use of labeling techniques that are stable in vivo, active removal of the radiolabeled mAb from the circulation, and pretargeting strategies. Until now, however, there are many kinds of obstacles to be solved in the use of mAb for the targeted therapy. Major technical challenges to molecular targeting are related to the rapid and specific delivery of tracers to the target, the elimination of unwanted background activity, and the development of more specific targets to create a cytocidal effect. further development of this field will be determined by success in solving these challenges.

• Korean Circulation Journal
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.367-386
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• 2023

Ischemic heart disease remains the primary cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite significant advancements in pharmacological and revascularization techniques in the late 20th century, heart failure prevalence after myocardial infarction has gradually increased over the last 2 decades. After ischemic injury, pathological remodeling results in cardiomyocytes (CMs) loss and fibrosis, which leads to impaired heart function. Unfortunately, there are no clinical therapies to regenerate CMs to date, and the adult heart's limited turnover rate of CMs hinders its ability to self-regenerate. In this review, we present novel therapeutic strategies to regenerate injured myocardium, including (1) reconstruction of cardiac niche microenvironment, (2) recruitment of functional CMs by promoting their proliferation or differentiation, and (3) organizing 3-dimensional tissue construct beyond the CMs. Additionally, we highlight recent mechanistic insights that govern these strategies and identify current challenges in translating these approaches to human patients.