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Objective To identify factors that affect the participation of female immigrants in their 20s in the national cervical cancer screening programs. Methods Data were obtained from the National Health Insurance Services from 2016 to 2017. A total of 17,730 women who agreed to undergo cervical cancer screening during 2016–2017 were included in the study. Results Of the 17,730 women, 8,149 (46%) participated in cervical cancer screening, whereas, 9,581 (54%) did not. Logistic regression analysis of factors related to cervical cancer screening showed that the odds ratio (OR) of screening was higher in short duration of stay (OR, 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03–1.35), Chinese nationality (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.28–1.59), unemployment (OR, 1; 95% CI, reference), participation in general health screening (OR, 4.16; 95% CI, 3.24–5.33), and comorbidities (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.09–1.24) when compared to the other populations. The highest OR was associated with participation in general health screening. Conclusion Appropriate programs should be developed to increase participation of socially vulnerable groups in cervical cancer screening. Such programs will improve awareness regarding cervical cancer screening and reduce disparities in healthcare.

The sociomedical environment is changing. In the traditional physician-patient relationship, the physician was authoritative and the patient was obedient. The contractual relationship featured patient consent to the physician’s decision. Today, the physician must explain fully the planned medical treatment, and any alternative, to the patient, who has the right to choose her treatment after considering the benefits and side-effects. The Korean Society of Gynecologic Oncology thus decided to standardize the surgical consent forms to meet the legal requirements of modern medicine, improve patient understanding of the surgical details, and protect medical staff from legal disputes. To determine the format and content, subcommittees for each cancer type collected and reviewed all relevant articles and the current consent forms of domestic medical institutions. After several meetings, 16 basic items to be included for each type of gynecologic cancer were selected. Also, to help patients understand the surgical details, figures were included. The revised forms were legally reviewed in terms of the appropriateness of the format and content. We also developed English versions to provide adequate information for foreign patients. We hope that these efforts will promote trust between patients and physicians, and contribute to effective treatment by laying a foundation of mutual respect.

Objective The three major gynecologic cancers are cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancer. This study aimed to describe the 19-year trends and survival rates in cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancer in a Korean female population. Methods We searched the Korea Central Cancer Registry to identify patients with gynecologic cancer between 1999 and 2017. Age-standardized rates and annual percent changes were calculated. The relative survival rate (RSR) was reported by histology, age, and stage for each gynecological cancer. Results The total number of cervical, endometrial, primary peritoneal, ovarian epithelial, fallopian tube (POFT) cancer was 134,863, with the number of cases increasing every year: 6,077 in 1999 to 8,011 in 2017. The incidence of cervical cancer has decreased; however, that of POFT and endometrial cancer has increased. The 5-year RSR of cervical, POFT, and endometrial cancer was reported to be 80.8%, 61.4%, and 88.1%, respectively. In the case of cervical cancer, squamous cell carcinoma showed better survival than other histology (82.8% vs. 73.5%). Furthermore, in the case of endometrial cancer, endometrioid histology had substantially better 5-year RSR than the others (93.2% vs. 76.5%). Contrastingly, in the case of ovarian cancer, serous carcinoma had worse 5-year RSR than other types of histology. Conclusion The incidence rates for gynecologic cancers increased from 2005 to 2017, with an annual increase of 2.76 per year until 2017. Endometrial cancer had the highest RSR, while ovarian cancer had the lowest. Active cancer screening and the introduction of effective treatments might have contributed to the improved RSRs of gynecologic cancers.

Background Postoperative thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression therapy is recommended for patients with intermediate- and high-risk differentiated thyroid cancer to prevent the recurrence of thyroid cancer. With the recent increase in small thyroid cancer cases, the extent of resection during surgery has generally decreased. Therefore, questions have been raised about the efficacy and long-term side effects of TSH suppression therapy in patients who have undergone a lobectomy. Methods This is a multicenter, prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial in which 2,986 patients with papillary thyroid cancer are randomized into a high-TSH group (intervention) and a low-TSH group (control) after having undergone a lobectomy. The principle of treatment includes a TSH-lowering regimen aimed at TSH levels between 0.3 and 1.99 μIU/mL in the low-TSH group. The high-TSH group targets TSH levels between 2.0 and 7.99 μIU/mL. The dose of levothyroxine will be adjusted at each visit to maintain the target TSH level. The primary outcome is recurrence-free survival, as assessed by neck ultrasound every 6 to 12 months. Secondary endpoints include disease-free survival, overall survival, success rate in reaching the TSH target range, the proportion of patients with major cardiovascular diseases or bone metabolic disease, the quality of life, and medical costs. The follow-up period is 5 years. Conclusion The results of this trial will contribute to establishing the optimal indication for TSH suppression therapy in low-risk papillary thyroid cancer patients by evaluating the benefit and harm of lowering TSH levels in terms of recurrence, metabolic complications, costs, and quality of life.

Jujube witches’ broom (JWB) disease is a high-risk plant disease that occurred on and devastated jujube orchards throughout South Korea in the 1950s. Recently, as the jujube cultivation area has been significantly increased nationwide, we investigated the disease in jujube orchards in the Boeun region to obtain basic information for proactively evaluating the risk of JWB outbreaks from 2017 to 2019. A field trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of the trunk injection of Sungbocycline (a. i. oxytetracycline calcium alkyl trimethyl ammonium 17%, OTC). The incidence of JWB disease was very low in Boeun, but it was gradually increased mainly in the area and on the farms where it had occurred previously. The trunk injection with OTC was most effective in the early stages of growth. However, even though the trees were treated with OTC, disease symptoms appeared in other healthy branches in severely affected trees. When the tree was first injected with OTC in June, the control efficacy of second injection was higher one month after the first injection than five months. These results suggest that early diagnosis based on various symptoms and early control based on them can be very effective in preventing JWB disease in advance and increasing control efficacy.

Genetic engineering is being used to enhance disease resistance and nutritional value of crops including rice plant. Considering the fast-growing agricultural biotechnology and rapidly increasing global area of transgenic crops, the risk evaluation on environment is necessary. In this study, we surveyed the difference of disease occurrence between transgenic rice variety, Iksan526 transformed with peanut stilbene synthase gene and non-transgenic rice varieties, Dongjin and Nampyeong in the field. Moreover, the possibility of gene transfer from transgenic rice to bacterial and fungal pathogens was investigated. The results of this study indicated that there was no significant difference in the occurrence and severity of the diseases between Iksan526 and Dongjin or Nampyeong. In addition, the results suggested that rice pathogen, such as Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, Rhizoctonia solani and Magnaporthe grisea did not take up stilbene synthase and bar genes under natural conditions. Moreover the transformed DNA was not transferred to the pathogens even in repetitive contacts.

Resvestrol has been known to inhibit bacterial and fungal growth in vitro, and can be accumulated in plant to concentrations necessary to inhibit microbial pathogens. Hence, stilbene synthase gene has been used to transform to synthesize resveratrol in heterologous plant species to enhance resistance against pathogens. In the present study, we investigated the antimicrobial activities of resveratrol and piceid to bacterial and fungal pathogens, which causing severe damages to rice plants. In addition, disease resistance was compared between transgenic rice varieties, Iksan 515 and Iksan 526 transformed with stlibene synthase gene and nontransgenic rice varieties, Dongjin and Nampyeong. Minimum inhibitory concentration of resveratrol for Burkolderia glumae was 437.5 μM, and the mycelial growth of Biplaris oryzae was slightly inhibited at concentration of 10 μM. However, other bacterial and fungal pathogens are not inhibited by resveratrol and piceid. The expression of the stilbene synthase gene in Iksan 515 and Iksan 526 did not significantly enhanced resistance against bacterial grain rot, bacterial leaf blight, sheath blight, and leaf blight. This study is the first report on the effect of resveratrol and piceid against pathogens of rice plant, and changes of disease resistance of transgenic rice plants transformed with stilbene synthase gene.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine whether Hominis Placental pharmacopuncture solution (HPPS) combined with zinc-oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NP) activates RAW 264.7 cells. Methods: We soaked ZnO nanoparticles in the Hominis Placenta pharmacopuncture solution, thereby making a combined form (ZnO NP HPPS). The effect of ZnO NP HPPS on the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was measured by 2’, 7’-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) assay. The effect of ZnO NP HPPS on NF-κ B was measured by using a luciferase assay. The effect of ZnO NP HPPS on the cytokine expression was assessed by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The cellular uptake of ZnO NP HPPS was measured by using a flow cytometric analysis, and cellular structural alterations were analyzed by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results: Neither the HPPS nor the ZnO NPs induced intracellular ROS production in RAW 264.7 cells. Neither of the materials activated NF-κ B or it’s dependent genes, such as TNF-α, IL-1, and MCP-1. However, ZnO NP HPPS, the combined form of ZnO NPs and HPPS, did induce the intracellular ROS production, as well as prominently activating NF-κ B and it’s dependent genes. Also, compared to ZnO NPs, it effectively increa-sed the uptake by RAW 264.7 cells. In addition, cellular structural alterations were observed in groups treated with ZnO NP HPPS. Conclusions: Neither ZnO NP nor HPPS activated RAW 264.7 cells, which is likely due to a low cellular uptake. The ZnO NP HPPS, however, significantly activated NF-κ B and up-regulated its dependent genes such as TNF-α, IL-1, and MCP-1. ZnO NP HPPS was also more easily taken into the RAW 264.7 cells than either ZnO NP or HPPS.

Protein chip system is a next generation chip technology, which can be used as one of the most important tools for proteomics research. Protein chip system uses different methods to immobilize proteins and detect protein binding on sensor chips from DNA chip system. Protein chip system has a very wide range of applications, including protein interaction study, discovery of disease marker, differential protein expression profiling, peptide mapping, and protein purification.