Cancer Statistics in Korea: Incidence, Mortality, Survival, and Prevalence in 2008

PURPOSE: This paper overviews the nationwide cancer statistics including incidence, mortality, survival and prevalence, and their trends in Korea based on the year 2008 cancer incidence data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Incidence data from 1993 to 2008 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and the vital status was followed through December 31, 2009. Mortality data from 1983 to 2008 were obtained from the Korea National Statistics Office. Crude rates and age-standardized rates for incidence, mortality, prevalence and relative survival were calculated. RESULTS: There were 178,816 cancer cases and 68,912 cancer deaths observed during year 2008 and 724,663 10-year cancer prevalent cases as of January 1, 2009 in Korea. The incidence rate for all cancer combined showed an annual increase of 3.1% from 1999 to 2008. CONCLUSION: With significantly increasing cancer incidence, Korea faces a large cancer burden and efficient cancer control programs are essential.ope

Simple coordination complex-derived three-dimensional mesoporous graphene as an efficient bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst

3D mesoporous graphene (mesoG) was synthesized from [Ni<inf>2</inf>(EDTA)] (EDTA = ethylenediaminetetraacetate). The material is comprised of interconnected 4 nm-sized hollow carbon shells composed of 3-4 layers of graphene and exhibits high bifunctional electrocatalytic activity as well as high durability for use in oxygen evolution and reduction reactions. This journal is ??? 2015 The Royal Society of Chemistryopen11

Two distinct red giant branch populations in the globular cluster NGC 2419 as tracers of a merger event in the Milky Way

Recent spectroscopic observations of the outer halo globular cluster (GC) NGC 2419 show that it is unique among GCs, in terms of chemical abundance patterns, and some suggest that it was originated in the nucleus of a dwarf galaxy. Here we show, from the Subaru narrow-band photometry employing a calcium filter, that the red giant-branch (RGB) of this GC is split into two distinct subpopulations. Comparison with spectroscopy has confirmed that the redder RGB stars in the $hk$[=(Ca$-b)-(b-y)$] index are enhanced in [Ca/H] by $\sim$0.2 dex compared to the bluer RGB stars. Our population model further indicates that the calcium-rich second generation stars are also enhanced in helium abundance by a large amount ($\Delta$Y = 0.19). Our photometry, together with the results for other massive GCs (e.g., $\omega$ Cen, M22, and NGC 1851), suggests that the discrete distribution of RGB stars in the $hk$ index might be a universal characteristic of this growing group of peculiar GCs. The planned narrow-band calcium photometry for the Local Group dwarf galaxies would help to establish an empirical connection between these GCs and the primordial building blocks in the hierarchical merging paradigm of galaxy formation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for the publication in ApJ

Prediction of Cancer Incidence and Mortality in Korea, 2011

PURPOSE: To estimate the current cancer burden in Korea, cancer incidence and mortality were projected for the year 2011. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The cancer incidence data from 1999-2008 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and the cancer mortality data from 1993-2009 were obtained from the Korea National Statistics Office. Cancer incident cases and rates in 2011 were projected from fitting a linear regression model on observed age-specific cancer incidence rates against observed years, then multiplying the projected age-specific rates by the age-specific population. For cancer mortality, a similar procedure was applied for projection except that a Joinpoint regression model was used to determine at which year the linear trend significantly changed. RESULTS: A total of 216,809 new cancer cases and 71,036 cancer deaths are projected to occur in Korea in 2011. For all sites combined, the crude incidence rates are projected to be 437.9 and 420.5 and the age-standardized incidence rates are projected to be 336.5 and 279.7 per 100,000 for men and women, respectively. CONCLUSION: Cancer has become an important public health concern in Korea, and as Korea becomes an aged society, the cancer burden will continue to increase.ope

Comparison of the Plasma Metabolome Profiles Between the Internal Thoracic Artery and Ascending Aorta in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery Using Gas Chromatography Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry.

BackgroundThe left internal thoracic artery (LITA) has been used as the first conduit of choice in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) because of excellent long-term patency and outcomes. However, no studies have examined substances other than nitric oxide that could be beneficial for the bypass conduit, native coronary artery or ischemic myocardium. This study was conducted to evaluate differences in metabolic profiles between the LITA and ascending aorta using gas chromatography-time of flight-mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS).MethodsTwenty patients who underwent CABG using the LITA were prospectively enrolled. Plasma samples were collected simultaneously from the LITA and ascending aorta. GC-TOF-MS based untargeted metabolomic analyses were performed and a 2-step volcano plot analysis was used to identify distinguishable markers from two plasma metabolome profiles. Semi-quantitative and quantitative analyses were performed using GC-TOF-MS and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively, after selecting target metabolites based on the metabolite set enrichment analysis.ResultsInitial volcano plot analysis demonstrated 5 possible markers among 851 peaks detected. The final analysis demonstrated that the L-cysteine peak was significantly higher in the LITA than in the ascending aorta (fold change = 1.86). The concentrations of intermediate metabolites such as L-cysteine, L-methionine and L-cystine in the 'cysteine and methionine metabolism pathway' were significantly higher in the LITA than in the ascending aorta (2.0-, 1.4- and 1.2-fold, respectively). Quantitative analysis showed that the concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) was significantly higher in the LITA.ConclusionThe plasma metabolome profiles of the LITA and ascending aorta were different, particularly higher plasma concentrations of L-cysteine and H₂S in the LITA