A research team at the National Cancer Center has developed new chemotherapy to increase the necrosis rate of osteosarcoma, a rare, incurable cancer.When treating osteosarcoma, the necrosis rate by preoperative chemotherapy has an essential effect on the prognosis and survival rate of the disease as hospitals perform preoperative chemotherapy to necrotize as much tumor cells as possible be
Korean cancer patients are rushing to pharmacies to buy fenbendazole, a dog parasiticide, as a YouTube video has gone viral claiming that the drug cured a U.S. terminal cancer patient.The YouTube video mentions Joe Tippens, a U.S. patient diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in 2016. According to the video, doctors told Tippens that he had only three months as cancer had spread to his who
Researchers at Samsung Medical Center have published a new indicator that can predict the surgery outcome of constrictive pericarditis.The team, led by Professors Oh Jae-gun and Yang Jung-hoon, developed the new index after analyzing 113 patients who had undergone pericardiectomy to treat constrictive pericarditis between 2005 and 2013."A person's heart is wrapped in two layers of thin
Korea has become a popular summer vacation destination for foreigners over the past few years. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, foreigners visiting Korea during summer vacation months of June to August reached about four million in number in 2018, a 26.57 percent increase from the same period in 2017.While no vaccination is mandatory for foreigners to enter Korea, the World Health
A research team at St. Mary’s hospital has found that patients who have psoriasis are at higher risk of suffering from mental illness, including anxiety, depression, and neuropsychiatric disorders.The team confirmed such theories after analyzing 12,762 patients diagnosed with psoriasis and mental illness from 2002 to 2013 based on data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Servic
Vaginal microbiome in pregnant women could be used as an indicator to predict premature birth, a Korean research team said in a study.The team, led by Kim Young-ju, a professor at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Ewha Womans University Medical Center, released the results of the study on Tuesday, concluding that microorganisms like Weissella and Bacteroides may play a significan
Indoor radon exposure increases tumor gene mutation in non-smoking patients with lung cancer, according to a study led by Professor Lim Sun-min at CHA Bundang Medical Center’s Medical Oncology Division.The study, reportedly the first to confirm that radon exposure was involved in gene mutation in lung cancer, was published in the online edition of international journal Lung Cancer. The
Women who are living by herself, earning low incomes, and having poor knowledge about osteoporosis are likely to miss osteoporosis tests and treatment benefits, a local study showed.The Korean Society for Bone and Mineral Research (KSBMR)’s study, “Factors affecting willingness to get assessed and treated for osteoporosis,” has been published on the online issue of Osteoporosis International a
A research team at Konkuk University’s School of Medicine has developed a new gene testing method for lung cancer, and U.K. science journal Research Outreach recently introduced the findings.The team consists of Lee Kye-young, head of the precision medicine lung cancer center, Hur Jae-young, a professor at the pathology department, and Professor Kim Hee-jeong of the pulmonary medicine departme
Korea’s state-supported precision medicine project group, dubbed K-Master, has completed analyzing about 2,000 pieces of genomic data of cancer patients, the head of the group said.It started 13 clinical trials for precision medicine last year and plan to conduct seven more this year, he said.The project group is also beta-testing a portal for researchers to share accumulated data of c
Researchers at Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology (KRIBB) and Japan’s Kanazawa University have discovered new genes that expedite gastritis and gastric cancer and identified their functions.KRIBB expects the new findings will contribute significantly to the development of early gastric cancer diagnostic markers and therapeutic agents using the genes.The team, led by Pro
Direct-acting antivirals showed a clinical effect on chronic hepatitis C patients, according to a large cohort study published in the Lancet, a medical journal. The study results revealed that chronic hepatitis C patients who were treated with the direct-acting antivirals were 52 percent less likely to die prematurely than those who were not treated, and 34 percent less likely to develop hepa
Physical abnormalities caused by metabolic syndrome raised the prevalence of prostate cancer, a local study showed. Metabolic syndrome refers to a set of metabolic conditions that lead to heart disease. Such conditions include insulin resistance, hypertension, abnormal cholesterol, and high clotting risk.A research team led by Professors Yoo Sang-jun and Jeong Hyeon at Urology Department of Se
Researchers at Korea University Guro Hospital (KUGH) have developed a predictive model of type 2 diabetes by combining electronic medical records (EMR) and machine learning technology based on Big Data Analysis.The research team, led by Professor Nah Seung-woon at KUGH’s Cardiovascular Center, analyzed 8,454 non-diabetic patients with 28 patient information extracted from EMR. The prevalen
The ECV (extracellular volume) values, obtained through cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are the strong indicators to predict the degree of myocardial fibrosis in patients with aortic stenosis, a local study said.Cardiology Professor Park Sung-ji and Cardiac Radiology Professor Kim Sung-mok at Samsung Medical Center’s Heart Vascular and Stroke Institute said they made such conclusion
“Academics have already proved that radon is one of the causes of lung cancer. It is an environmental carcinogen that needs attention.”“If the news report about the excessive level of radon in sanitary pads is true, such pads could endanger the health of women who wear them. I’m also worried about the health of workers who manufactured the pads. During manufacturing, dust would have been blown
Experimental & Molecular Medicine (EMM), a life science journal by the Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ranked No. 1 in journal impact factor (JIF) among local journals.JIF gauges the yearly average number of citations to recent articles published in a journal. The measure reflects the journal’s status and research power.Hong Seong-tae, publishing director at the
The National Health Insurance Assessment and Service (HIRA) urged citizens to take caution as sunburn patients are increasing in number annually with a majority of the cases happening in August.According to medical big data of the HIRA, the number of patients suffering from sunburn increased from 8,868 in 2014 to 10,991 in 2015, 11,743 in 2016, and 11,106 in 2017.Because many people self-m
The ongoing monsoon season will be over soon, and the summer vacation season starts in earnest in mid-July. Most salaried people say they get their annual energy from vacations. Now is the time for them to give a finishing touch to their vacation plans. People need to remain healthy to enjoy their vacations. Especially important in this regard is the health of the waist – often called the pil
A study has found that Koreans are having a hard time managing their stress levels, which in turn is affecting their sexual intercourse satisfaction.The research, conducted by Tenga, a global sexual healthcare company, surveyed 1,000 Korean men and women aged between 18 and 74 to examine the correlation between stress levels and sexual satisfaction.More than half (59 percent) of the Korean