PURPOSE: Keratomileusis was performed in rabbits to investigate the effects of corneal epithelium on the corneal stromal keratocyte apoptosis and the effect of human IL-1alpha and TNFalpha on apoptotic genes in human corneal stromal cells was evaluated. METHODS: Fifty six New Zealand white rabbits underwent corneal flap procedure and corneal epithelium was inserted between the corneal flap and underlying stroma. Keratocyte apoptosis was detected with the TUNEL assay. Gene array technique was used to evaluate changes in apoptosis gene in human stromal fibroblasts in response to human recombinant IL-1alpha and TNFalpha in vitro. RESULTS: Keratocyte apoptosis was significantly greater in group for flap with insertion of peripheral epithelium at 4 hours after surgery(p=0.0249). IL-1alpha or TNFalpha regulated the expression of several genes (insulin like growth factor, stress activated protein kinase, GTP binding protein, IGFBP4) up and down in human stromal fibroblasts in culture. CONCLUSIONS: We think that the differences in the stromal cell apoptosis after keratomileusis were due to stromal cell response to various factors of inserted corneal epithelium. We found various new apoptosis gene expression in cultured human keratocytes mediated by IL-1alpha and TNFalpha that were secreted in corneal epithelium. These genes likely trigger the apoptosis of keratocyte following epithelial insertion associated with corneal surgery.
Apoptosis* ; Epithelium ; Epithelium, Corneal* ; Fibroblasts ; Gene Expression ; GTP-Binding Proteins ; Humans ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ ; Protein Kinases ; Rabbits ; Stromal Cells ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

We conducted a prospective study of 30 cases which had unilateral congenital blepharoptosis on visual acuity, refractive error, degree of ptosis, levator function, axial length and stereoacuity. A comparison of visual acuity between ptotic and healthy eyes revealed a reduction of visual acuity, but nearly same incidence of myopia in the ptotic eyes. But astigmatism in the ptotic eye was shown higher incidence with a borderline statistic significance(healthy eye 7/30, ptotic eye 14/30, p=0.056). Axial length for ptotic eyes was longer than healthy eye with statistic significance (22.80 +/- 1.46 vs 22.64 +/- 1.40mm, p=0.029). Strabismus was found in 4 cases; of them, 3 exotropia and remaining 1 hypertropia. Stereoacuity was more than 80 seconds except 7 cases which were amblyopic case. We concluded that in case of unilateral congenital ptosis, axial length was longer than healthy eye but incidence of myopia was nearly similar.
Astigmatism ; Blepharoptosis ; Exotropia ; Incidence ; Myopia ; Prospective Studies ; Refractive Errors* ; Strabismus ; Visual Acuity

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate chemotherapy patterns and changes in quality of life (QOL) during first-line palliative chemotherapy for Korean patients with unresectable or metastatic/recurrent gastric cancer (GC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thiswas a non-interventional, multi-center, prospective, observational study of 527 patients in Korea. QOL assessments were conducted using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaires (QLQ)-C30 and QLQ-STO22 every 3 months over a 12-month period during first-line palliative chemotherapy. The specific chemotherapy regimens were selected by individual clinicians. RESULTS: Most patients (93.2%) received combination chemotherapy (mainly fluoropyrimidine plus platinum) as their first-line palliative chemotherapy. The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 8.2 and 14.8 months, respectively. Overall, “a little” changes (differences of 5-10 points from baseline)were observed in some of the functioning or symptom scales; none of the QOL scales showed either “moderate” or “very much” change (i.e., ≥ 11 point difference from baseline). When examining the best change in each QOL domain from baseline, scales related to some aspects of functioning, global health status/QOL, and most symptoms revealed significant improvements (p < 0.05). Throughout the course of first-line palliative chemotherapy, most patients' QOL was maintained to a similar degree, regardless of their actual response to chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: This observational study provides important information on the chemotherapy patterns and QOL changes in Korean patientswith advanced GC. Overall, first-line palliative chemotherapy was found to maintain QOL, and most parameters showed an improvement compared with the baseline at some point during the course.
Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy* ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Global Health ; Humans ; Korea ; Observational Study ; Prospective Studies ; Quality of Life* ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Weights and Measures

Purpose: Survival probability changes over time in cancer survivors. This study examined conditional survival in patients undergoing curative resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: Five-year conditional recurrence-free survival (CRFS), conditional overall survival (COS), and conditional relative survival (CRS) up to 10 years after surgery were calculated in patients who underwent NSCLC resection from 1994 to 2016. These rates were stratified according to age, sex, year of diagnosis, pathological stage, tumor histology, smoking status, comorbidity, and lung function. Results: Five-year CRFS increased from 65.6% at baseline to 90.9% at 10 years after surgery. Early differences in 5-year CRFS according to stratified patient characteristics disappeared, except for age: older patients exhibited persistently lower 5-year CRFS. Five-year COS increased from 72.7% to 78.3% at 8 years and then decreased to 75.4% at 10 years. Five-year CRS increased from 79.0% at baseline to 86.8% at 10 years. Older age and higher pathologic stage were associated with lower 5-year COS and CRS up to 10 years after surgery. Female patients, those with adenocarcinoma histology, non-smokers, patient without comorbidities and had good lung function showed higher COS and CRS. Conclusion CRFS improved over time, but significant risk remained after 5 years. CRS slightly improved over time but did not reach 90%, suggesting significant excess mortality compared to the general population. Age and stage remained significant predictors of conditional survival several years after surgery. Our conditional survival estimates should help clinicians and patients make informed treatment and personal life decisions based on survivorship status.

PURPOSE: We investigated the clinical outcome of bone marrow (BM) involvement in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who received rituximab-based therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 567 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL treated with rituximab-CHOP (RCHOP) between November 2001 and March 2010 were included in the current study. All of the patients underwent a BM study at the initial staging and the clinical characteristics and prognosis of these patients with or without BM involvement were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: The total cohort included 567 patients. The overall incidence of BM involvement was 8.5%. With a median follow-up duration of 33.2 months (range, 0.1 to 80.7 months) for patients who were alive at the last follow-up, the five-year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) rate in patients without BM involvement (76.3% and 67.5%, p<0.001) was statistically higher than that in patients with BM involvement (44.3% and 40.1%, p<0.001). In multivariate analysis, among total patients, BM involvement showed a significant association with OS and EFS. In univariate and multivariate analyses, even among stage IV patients, a significant association with worse EFS was observed in the BM involvement group. CONCLUSION: BM involvement at diagnosis affected the survival of patients with DLBCL who received RCHOP. Although use of RCHOP can result in significant improvement of the therapeutic effect of DLBCL, BM involvement is still a negative prognostic factor of DLBCL patients in the era of rituximab.
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived ; B-Lymphocytes ; Bone Marrow ; Cohort Studies ; Disease-Free Survival ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymphoma, B-Cell ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prognosis ; Rituximab