Search

This study evaluated the in vitro radical scavenging activities of edible tree sprouts, particularly those of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), hydroxyl radical, and singlet oxide radical, to assess their antioxidant activities. Additionally, stigmasterol (ST) and β-sitosterol (BS) were analyzed using HPLC/UV. The edible sprouts of Eleutherococcus senticosus (ESC) and Morus alba (MAB) exhibited the highest DPPH scavenging activity among other edible sprouts. A reverse-phase column was used in an isocratic elution system, after which UV detection was performed at 210 nm. ST and BS analyses indicated that ESC sprouts contained the highest amounts of ST (9.99 mg·g− 1 extract), whereas MAB sprouts contained the highest concentrations of BS (14.69 mg·g− 1 extract). In conclusion, the highest antioxidant activity was observed in the edible sprouts with the highest phytosterol content. Therefore, our findings provide a theoretical basis for the development of plant-based functional foods or supplements with antioxidant properties.

Mountain-grown ginseng has free radical scavenging activity and suppresses inflammation. We evaluated the anti-skin-aging effects of tissue-cultured mountain-grown ginseng (TG) and its major ginsenosides. The effect of three extracts of TG and ginsenosides Rg1 (1), Rf (2), Rb1 (3), Re (4), and Rd (5) on the secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and collagen type I alpha 1 (COLIA1) was compared with that of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) stimulation of human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs), as determined via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. An analytical high-performance liquid chromatographic method with evaporative light-scattering detection (HPLC/ELSD) was developed for the simultaneous determination of the major ginsenosides in TG obtained via supercritical fluid CO

Purpose This study aimed to investigate the impact of postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) in de novo metastatic breast cancer (dnMBC) patients undergoing planned primary tumor resection (PTR) and to identify the subgroup of patients who would most benefit from PORT.Materials and Methods This study enrolled 426 patients with dnMBC administered PTR alone or with PORT. The primary and secondary outcomes were overall and progression-free survival (OS and PFS), respectively.Results The median follow-up time was 53.7 months (range, 3.1 to 194.4). The 5-year OS and PFS rates were 73.2% and 32.0%, respectively. For OS, clinical T3/4 category, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), postoperative chemotherapy alone were significantly poor prognostic factors, and administration of PORT failed to show its significance. Regarding PFS, PORT was a favorable prognostic factor (hazard ratio, 0.64; 95% confidence interval, 0.50 to 0.82; p < 0.001), in addition to T1/2 category, ≤ 5 metastases, and non-TNBC. According to the multivariate analyses of OS in the PORT group, we divided the patients into three groups (group 1, T1/2 and non-TNBC [n=193]; group 2, T3/4 and non-TNBC [n=171]; and group 3, TNBC [n=49]), and evaluated the effect of PORT. Although PORT had no significance for OS in all subgroups, it was a significant factor for good prognosis regarding PFS in groups 1 and 2, not in group 3.Conclusion PORT was associated with a significantly better PFS in patients with dnMBC who underwent PTR. Patients with clinical T1/2 category and non-TNBC benefited most from PORT, while those with TNBC showed little benefit.

Saikosaponin derivatives such as saikosaponins A, B1, B2, B3, B4, C, and D present in Bupleurum falcatum were analyzed by a high performance liquid chromatograph equipped with an evaporative light scattering detector, using different extraction solvents (water and 70% ethanol). The samples were injected into a YMC Pack Pro C18 column and separated using a gradient elution system with a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and water at a flow rate of 1.1 mL/min. The content of saikosaponin derivatives was higher in 70% ethanol extract than in water extract. This study provides an efficient analytical method for determining the optimal conditions for extraction of saikosaponin derivatives, which can be used as a basis for development of functional foods and pharmaceutical products from B. falcatum.

Qantitative analysis of six compounds: (+)-catechin, benzoic acid, gallic acid methyl ester, paeonol, paeoniflorin, and albiflorin from Paeonia lactiflora extracts was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography and an ultraviolet (UV) detector, following different extraction methods. A reverse-phase column was used in a gradient elution system, and UV detection was performed at 280 nm. The results showed that the quantity of paeoniflorin was the highest in ethanol and water extracts (73.89 and 57.87 mg/g, respectively) among the six compounds. This study contributes a good analysis method for the contents of P. lactiflora and would be propitious for developing medicines and functional foods.

We investigated the relationship of physical activity with dietary habits and quality of life (QoL) in breast cancer survivors in accordance with the recommendations of the American Cancer Society. Data of 928 breast cancer survivors were obtained from the KROG 14-09 study to measure QoL in early phase after adjuvant radiotherapy. According to the extent of physical activity, survivors were divided into four groups: inactivity (0–149 min/week, N = 144), regular activity (150–450 min/week, N = 309), moderate activity (451–900 min/week, N = 229), and marked activity (901–1800 min/week, N = 164) excluding hyperactivity (> 1800 min/week, N = 82) as it is a difficult condition to recommend to survivors. Global physical activity questionnaire, 5-dimensional questionnaire by EuroQoL (EQ-5D-3L), QoL Questionnaire–breast cancer (QLQ-BR23) from EORTC, and dietary habits were surveyed. A linear-to-linear association test for EQ-5D-3L and Kruskal–Wallis analysis for QLQ-BR23 and dietary habit were conducted. Overall, 15.5% respondents (144/928) were classified as physically inactive. The trends of frequent intake of fruits (p = 0.001) and vegetable (p = 0.005) and reluctance toward fatty food (p

We isolated and purified phenolic acids and flavonoids from the ethanolic extract of

PurposeTo evaluate the role of postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) in patients with node-negative breast cancer of 5cm or larger tumors undergoing mastectomyMaterials and MethodsMedical records of 274 patients from 18 institutions treated with mastectomy between January 2000 and December 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Among these, 202 patients underwent PMRT, while 72 did not. Two hundred and forty-one patients (88.0%) received systemic chemotherapy, and 172 (62.8%) received hormonal therapy. Patients receiving PMRT were younger, more likely to have progesterone receptor-positive tumors, and received adjuvant chemotherapy more frequently compared with those without PMRT (p

Purpose Information on tubular carcinoma (TC) of breast is limited due to its rarity. A multi-institutional study was performed to investigate the prognosis and failure patterns of TC compared to invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). Materials and methods We collected retrospective data on 205 patients with TC from eleven institutions. For each TC case, 3 cases with IDC were matched according to similar size, t-stage, and n-stage from the same institution. Patterns of failure, disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed and compared between the groups. Results DFS at 5 years was 98.8% and 97.3% and OS at 5 years was 99.5% and 99.6% in TC and IDC, respectively. Among the patients with TC, 5 patients (2.4%) developed contralateral breast cancer, while 3 patients (0.5%) presented with contralateral breast cancer in patients with IDC. Conclusions The TC of breast presents an excellent prognosis, but the contralateral breast cancer tends to be more frequently observed compared to IDC in Korean women.

Background and purpose To validate the ESTRO guideline on clinical target volume (CTV) delineation for breast cancer using a multi-centre dataset. Materials and methods Patients with axial imaging of gross locoregional recurrence (LRR) were identified from 10 participating institutions. All patients received RT, albeit not to all regional node. The location of LRR was transferred to the corresponding area on representative axial computed tomography images and compared with ESTRO-CTV. Results The locations of LRRs in 234 patients with 337 recurrence lesions were mapped. The ESTRO-CTV encompassed 97.6% of all LRRs, except in lymph node level 4 and the pectoralis muscle. Although 8.8% of level 4 failures occurred outside the ESTRO-CTV, cranial to the subclavian artery, all nodes were located within 6 mm cranially. Another 20% occurred posterolateral to anterior scalene muscles; however, 11/16 cases had simultaneous multiple lymph node recurrences, and 8/16 initially had N2-3 tumours. Local recurrence at the pectoralis muscle was prominent in patients undergoing mastectomy but not breast-conservation surgery (28% vs. 2.9%, P = .001). Conclusions Our mapping data demonstrated that the ESTRO-CTV, with some considerations, successfully encompassed most LRRs in patients undergoing contemporary management, thus validating ESTRO-CTV to be valuable for highly conformal radiation therapy techniques.

Objective The aim of this study was to describe the principle of the Cheil HPV DNA Chip assay and evaluate its accuracy. In order to quantify the human papillomavirus (HPV) load and identify HPV genotypes simultaneously, this assay combined the two methods: SYBR Green quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA microarray. Methods We designed novel consensus primer sets that target the conserved region of the HPV L1 gene for quantifying and detecting a broad range of HPV types by quantitative real-time PCR. Subsequently, using the PCR products, DNA microarray was performed with 36 HPV type-specific probes. To validate this method, direct sequencing and correlation analysis among HPV genotype, viral load, and cytological abnormality was performed by Cohen`s kappa values, two-sided McNemar chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and odds ratios. Results The kappa value of the Cheil HPV DNA Chip was 0.963 (95% confidence interval, 0.919 to 0.98), which was significantly higher than the value of 0.527 (95% confidence interval, 0.447 to 0.59) obtained using a conventional HPV DNA Chip. HPV16 (χ2=62.28, P

To investigate whether combined chemoradiotherapy (CTRT) confers a benefit for survival outcome over radiotherapy (RT) alone after primary surgery in patients with FIGO stage IIIC endometrial adenocarcinoma.We conducted a multicenter retrospective study of patients with surgical stage IIIC endometrial cancer from 1990 to 2011. Adjuvant RT alone was performed in 85 patients (40.3%) and adjuvant CTRT in 126 patients (59.7%). Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model.Stage IIIC1 and stage IIIC2 accounted for 63% and 37%, respectively. FIGO IIIC2 had a higher recurrence rate than FIGO IIIC1 (38.5% vs. 29.3%, p=0.172). Five-year OS and DFS were lower in FIGO IIIC2 than FIGO IIIC1 (85.1% vs. 76.9%, p=0.417; 71.0% vs. 59.2%, p=0.108, respectively). Eighteen patients (13.5%) in stage IIIC1 developed PALN recurrence, whereas only one (3.3%) in stage IIIC2 had PALN recurrence (p=0.001). In multivariate analysis, predictors of DFS were parametrial invasion (HR, 3.49; 95% CI, 1.83-6.64; p0.001), higher grade (HR, 2.78; 95% CI, 1.31-5.89; p=0.008), and3 positive pelvic nodes (HR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.11-3.05; p=0.019). Combined CTRT did not affect DFS or OS in IIIC1 and IIIC2 compared with RT alone.CTRT showed comparable survival outcome to RT alone. Half of relapses (46%) in stage IIIC1 occurred in PALN region, whereas relapse in stage IIIC2 primarily occurred in distant metastasis (90%). Future randomized studies are needed to determine which subgroup may be most likely to benefit from CCRT.

Purpose: To investigate disease-free survival (DFS) and prognostic factors following the administration of postoperative (chemo)radiotherapy in patients with early-stage cervical cancers. Methods: The medical records of 1,069 patients from 10 participating institutions were reviewed. Statistically and clinically established factors were considered as candidates for constructing the prediction model. This model was validated, using bootstrapping to correct for optimistic bias. Results: The 5-year DFS rate was 81.1%, with a median follow-up period of 59.6 months. The statistically significant prognostic factors were as follows: pelvic lymph node metastasis, histologic type, parametrial invasion, lymphovascular space invasion, and tumor size. The nomogram for DFS was constructed, and it demonstrated a good discrimination performance, with an internally validated concordance index of 0.72. Conclusions: Our predictive model exhibited accurate predictions and may be useful in designing clinical trials to study if further chemotherapy can reduce the recurrence of disease in high-risk patients.

We evaluated the dietary habits of breast cancer survivors and investigated the relationship with quality of life (QoL), with 1,156 survivors recruited from 17 institutions. We used the Questionnaire Survey of Dietary Habits of Korean Adults (Q-DH-KOR) comprising 25 questions. The following indices were derived as follows: (1) quality of healthy dietary habits (Q-HD)-eight questions on number of meals, regularity, quantity, duration, skipping breakfast, dinner with companion(s), overeating and late-night snacks; (2) habits of nutritional balance (H-NB)-questions on consuming five food categories (grains, fruits, proteins, vegetables and dairy products); and (3) habits of unhealthy foods (H-UF)-questions on consuming three food categories (fatty, instant and fast foods). The times and regularity of meals, frequency of skipping breakfast, dinner with companion(s) and overeating were better in groups with high symptomatic and functional QoL. Symptomatic QoL positively affected Q-HD and H-NB (p < 0.001 and p = 0.024 respectively) and negatively affected H-UF (p = 0.02). Breast cancer survivors more frequently ate from the fruit, protein and vegetable categories than did the control group, with lower H-UF and higher Q-HD values (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001 respectively). Our findings supported the relationship between QoL and dietary habit and showed healthier dietary habits of breast cancer survivors than controls.

Definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by brachytherapy is a standard treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer. During CRT, marked reduction of cervical tumor is often observed in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The primary aim of this study was to assess the association between tumor response in MRI using FIGO classification and clinical outcomes.Multi-institutional data were retrospectively reviewed to identify the significance of MR tumor response on tumor recurrence and patient survival. 225 patients with histologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, staged as FIGO Ib2-IVa on initial pelvic MRI, were included. Post-CRT MRI was performed median 35days after the beginning of CRT and before brachytherapy. A median 54Gy of external radiation was given with weekly cisplatin during CRT.112 (49.7%) of the 225 patients showed a positive response in post-CRT MRI and were named the responsive arm. After a median follow-up time of 36.2months, the responsive arm had significantly lower para-aortic recurrence (7.5% vs. 12.4%; p=0.04) and distant metastasis (13.2% vs. 27.6%; p=0.03) rates than did the non-responsive arm. The responsive arm had significantly higher 3-year cause-specific survival rate (94.6% vs. 81.1%, p0.01) than did the non-responsive arm. In the multivariate analysis, tumor size (hazard ratio, 1.91 and 95% confidence interval, 1.07-3.43; p=0.028) and positive MR response (hazard ratio, 1.75 and 95% confidence interval, 1.06-2.27; p=0.045) were significant factors for recurrence-free survival CONCLUSION: Early tumor response evaluation with MRI using FIGO classification effectively predicted distant tumor metastasis and disease-specific survival in locally advanced cervical cancer.

Backgrounds Quality of life (QoL) has become a major concern as the survival time of breast cancer increases. We investigated the changes in QoL through comprehensive categorical analysis, for the first three years after breast cancer treatment including radiotherapy. Methods A total of 1156 patients were enrolled from 17 institutions. All survivors were grouped according to a surveillance period of 9–15 months (first year), 21–27 months (second year), and 33–39 months (third year) from the end of radiotherapy. The 5-dimensional questionnaire by the EuroQol group (EQ-5D) and the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire; breast cancer specific module (QLQ-BR23) were checked by self-administrated method. Results First, second and third year groups comprised 51.0, 28.9, and 21.0%. In EQ-5D-3 L (3-Likert scale) analysis, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression categories showed lower QoL. In multivariate analyses of EQ-5D-VAS (visual-analogue scale), categories of pain/discomfort and self-care were improved with time; axillary dissection was a significant clinical factor deteriorates pain/discomfort, self-care and usual activities. In QLQ-BR23 analysis, the lowest scored category was sexual activity, followed by sexual enjoyment, future perspective, and hair loss, and the best scored category was breast symptoms. In multivariate analyses, arm symptoms, breast symptoms and body image were improved with time. Conclusions Categories of pain/discomfort and self-care in EQ-5D-VAS, arm/breast symptoms and body image in QLQ-BR23 were improved, while categories of anxiety/depression and future perspective BR23 were not, suggesting necessity of psychosocial support. This research provides comprehensive information on the categorical aspects of QoL and changes during early follow-up after breast cancer treatment.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of radiotherapy (RT) in patients who underwent hysterectomy for uterine carcinosarcoma (UCS). METHODS Patients with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage I-IVa UCS who were treated between 1990 and 2012 were identified retrospectively in a multi-institutional database. Of 235 identified patients, 97 (41.3%) received adjuvant RT. Twenty-two patients with a history of previous pelvic RT were analyzed separately. Survival outcomes were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS Patients with a previous history of pelvic RT had poor survival outcomes, and 72.6% of these patients experienced locoregional recurrence; however, none received RT after a diagnosis of UCS. Univariate analyses revealed that pelvic lymphadenectomy (PLND) and para-aortic lymph node sampling were significant factors for locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRRFS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Among patients without previous pelvic RT, the percentage of locoregional failure was lower for those who received adjuvant RT than for those who did not (28.5% vs. 17.5%, p=0.107). Multivariate analysis revealed significant correlations between PLND and LRRFS, distant metastasis-free survival, and DFS. In subgroup analyses, RT significantly improved the 5-year LRRFS rate of patients who did not undergo PLND (52.7% vs. 18.7% for non-RT, p

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to acquire information on brachytherapy resources in Korea through a national survey of radiation oncologists. METHODS Between October 2014 and January 2015, a questionnaire on the current status of brachytherapy was distributed to all 86 radiation oncology departments in Korea. The questionnaire was divided into sections querying general information on human resources, brachytherapy equipment, and suggestions for future directions of brachytherapy policy in Korea. RESULTS The response rate of the survey was 88.3%. The average number of radiation oncologists per center was 2.3. At the time of survey, 28 centers (36.8%) provided brachytherapy to patients. Among the 28 brachytherapy centers, 15 (53.5%) were located in in the capital Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan areas. All brachytherapy centers had a high-dose rate system using (192)Ir (26 centers) or (60)Co (two centers). Among the 26 centers using (192)Ir sources, 11 treated fewer than 40 patients per year. In the two centers using (60)Co sources, the number of patients per year was 16 and 120, respectively. The most frequently cited difficulties in performing brachytherapy were cost related. A total of 21 centers had a plan to sustain the current brachytherapy system, and four centers noted plans to upgrade their brachytherapy system. Two centers stated that they were considering discontinuation of brachytherapy due to cost burdens of radioisotope source replacement. CONCLUSION The present study illustrated the current status of brachytherapy in Korea. Financial difficulties were the major barriers to the practice of brachytherapy.