Earticle

현재 글로벌 무역 구조는 규칙 기반 세계화에서 권력 기반 지정학적 경제로의 전환이라는 패러다임 변화를 겪고 있다. 트럼프 2차 행정부 ("트럼프 2.0")가 "미국 우선주의" 정책을 실행에 옮기면서, 그 결과로 나타나는 무역 정책의 변동성은 글로벌 공급망에 중대한 외생적 충격으 로 작용하고 있다. 본 연구는 미국-멕시코-캐나다 협정(USMCA) 체제를 중심으로 이러한 변동 성이 국제 무역 흐름에 미치는 구조적 영향을 실증적으로 분석하였다. 2018~2019년의 관세 부 과 사례가 주로 거래적 성격을 띠었던 것과는 달리, 2025년에 관찰되는 정책들은 산업 주권을 위한 구조적 도구로 작용하여 주요 수출 지향 경제의 위험 계산 방식을 근본적으로 변화시키 고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 주요 목적은 새 행정부의 공격적인 관세 정책이 초래하는 실제 위험과 그것이 국내 수출 산업에 미치는 구체적인 영향을 분석하는 것이다. 본 논문은 국제 무역 및 관세 행정 데 이터를 중심으로 한 포괄적인 메타데이터 분석 접근 방식을 활용하여 이질적인 데이터 세트를 종합하고 기업에 부과되는 "불확실성 비용"을 정량화하였다. 분석은 특히 북미 가치 사슬에 깊이 통합되어 있지만 원산지 규정(ROO)의 강화된 시행과 보편적 기본 관세의 위협으로 인해, 장벽이 높아진 자동차 및 철강과 같은 주요 부문의 취약성을 대상으로 하는데에 그 차별성이 있다 하겠다. 연구 결과는 "트럼프 2.0" 체제가 강력한 비관세 장벽으로 작용하여 "양분된 위험" 환경을 조 성한다는 것을 명확하게 보여주고 있다. USMCA 지역은 지역 공급망을 통합하는 것을 목표로 하지만, 행정부의 무역 권한의 변동성은 비회원국 경제에 심각한 적응 비용을 부과하여 기존 자유 무역 협정의 이점을 사실상 무력화하고 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 기존의 "적시 생산 (Just-in-Time)" 효율성 모델이 더 이상 실현 가능하지 않는 것으로 결론 내릴 수 있겠다. 대신, 이는 "만일의 사태에 대비한" 복원력으로의 전략적 전환을 제안하며, 지정학적 경제 분열의 영향을 완화하기 위해 물류 네트워크의 근본적인 재구성과 선제적 정책 대응이 필요한 정책 제언으로서의 가치를 가지고 있다고 분석하였다.

Purpose : This study empirically investigates the structural implications of this volatility on international trade flows, with a specific focus on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) framework. Unlike the tariff episodes of 2018-2019, which were largely transactional, the policies observed in 2025 manifest as structural tools for industrial sovereignty, fundamentally altering the risk calculus for major export-oriented economies. Research design, data, methodology : The primary objective of this research is to analyze the realized risks of the new administration’s aggressive tariff policies and their specific impact on domestic export industries. Utilizing a comprehensive meta-data analysis approach centered on international trade and customs administration data, this paper synthesizes heterogeneous datasets to quantify the "ambiguity costs" imposed on firms. The analysis specifically targets the vulnerability of key sectors—such as automotive and steel—that are deeply integrated into North American value chains but face heightened barriers due to stricter enforcement of Rules of Origin (ROO) and the threat of universal baseline tariffs. Results : The findings reveal that the "Trump 2.0" regime functions as a formidable non-tariff barrier, creating a "bifurcated risk" environment. While the USMCA region aims to consolidate regional supply chains, the volatility of executive trade authority imposes severe adaptation costs on non-member economies, effectively neutralizing the benefits of traditional free trade agreements. Conclusions : Consequently, this study argues that the prevailing "Just-in-Time" efficiency model is no longer viable. Instead, it proposes a strategic pivot toward "Just-in-Case" resilience, necessitating a fundamental reconfiguration of logistics networks and proactive policy responses to mitigate the impacts of geoeconomic fragmentation.

Qualitative meta-synthesis is an emerging method for synthesis of findings of qualitative studies. Based on a qualitative meta-synthesis study on the lived experiences of immigrant Asian nurses working in Western countries (Xu, 2007), this paper discusses several methodological issues and challenges encountered during the data collection and analysis processes and strategies used to resolve them. These issues and challenges include, but are not limited to: adequacy of qualifying studies and inclusion criteria; availability and accessibility of qualified studies; publication bias; quality versus quantity of primary studies; studies containing both quantitative and qualitative data; studies based on identical samples; separation of relevant data for analysis; and validity of synthesis findings. The strategies used (or desired) to resolve these issues and challenges were illustrated with exemplars from the published meta-synthesis study. This paper argues and concludes that: (a) the quality of qualified available studies is more essential for a qualitative meta-synthesis study and the quality versus quantity issue must be dealt with in context and perspective; (b) creativity and flexibility consistent with the principles and spirit of qualitative inquiry is required in resolving these issues; and (c) working within multiple constraints, the meta-synthesist frequently has to settle with less than ideal solutions during the research process in the real world. [Asian Nursing Research 2008;2(3):173?183]

하천 관리에서 중요한 인자인 유사량의 산정은 매우 중요하나 다양한 조건에서 적용할 수 있는 신뢰성 높은 소류사량 산정식은 거의 없는 것으로 알려져 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 최신 소류사량 메타데이터를 활용하여 기존 경험식들의 적용 가능성을 평가하고, 적용성에 영향을 미치는 요인을 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 실험 수로에서 수집한 자료에 대해 기존 경험식들이 일치도 지수 0.65 이상의 유의미한 설명력을 보였으나, 자연 하천 자료에 대해서는 대부분 0.51 이하로 나타났다. 이는 자연 하천의 수리 특성이 실험 수로보다 복잡하고, 하천 마찰 응력 산정의 불확도가 크기 때문으로 판단된다. 산정식의 정확도를 개선하기 위해 추가적인 설명변수를 도입하는 방안, 실측이 어려운 바닥 마찰 응력을 대신할 대체 소류력 변수를 활용하는 방안, 양상 변동(regime shift)을 반영한 산정식 개발을 대안으로 제시하였다. 이러한 새로운 접근은 다양한 조건에서 소류사량 산정의 정확도를 높이는 데 기여할 것으로 기대된다.

Accurate estimation of sediment transport is crucial for river management. However, currently, there are no sediment transport equations widely applicable under diverse conditions. This study evaluates the applicability of existing sediment transport equations using the latest sediment transport metadata and analyzes factors influencing their applicability. For laboratory flume data, existing equations demonstrated meaningful explanatory power with the index of agreement (IoA) exceeding 0.65. In contrast, for natural river data, IoA values were mostly below 0.51, indicating limited applicability. This discrepancy is likely due to the greater complexity of hydraulic characteristics in natural rivers and the higher uncertainty in estimating shear stress compared to laboratory conditions. To improve the accuracy of the empirical equation, this study proposes several alternatives; introducing additional explanatory variables, utilizing alternative sediment transport parameters to replace shear stress, and developing equations that account for regime shifts. These approaches are expected to improve the accuracy of sediment transport estimation across various conditions.

전 세계적으로 변화하고 있는 흐름 중에 공통적으로 꼽을 수 있는 것 중 하나로 특허 및 지식 재산권의 중요성이 증대되었다는 점을 들 수 있다. 이러한 특허에 대한 연구도 활발히 진행되고 있다. 특허 검색에서의 대부분의 연구는 특허 자체의 키워드들을 중심으로 하여 자연어 처리 등의 방법을 이용하고 있다. 물론 특허의 본질 자체가 단어가 가지는 포함 관계 및 그 단어에 해석에 특허의 범위 가 결정될 만큼 키워드가 중요하나 특허 네트워크 구조 정보에 관한 연구는 미흡한 것이 사실이다. 기 존의 웹 검색과는 다르게 특허의 네트워크 구조는 이전 특허를 참조하도록 하여 시계열 구조를 띄고 있으며 이 또한 나라별로 상이하여 각 나라별특허를 하나의 프레임 워크로 분석 하기란 불가능한 일 이다. 본 연구에서는 이종 네트워크(Heterogeneous Information Network)를 통하여서 각 나라별 특 허 모두 하나의 네트워크로 표현 가능하도록 소개하였고 이를 통해 특허별 유사도방법을 제안하였다. 또한 실험을 통하여 기존의 키워드 분석방법 보다 해당 방법이 가지는 장점을 실험을 통해 살펴보았다.

The one of things considered recently for global flow is intellectual property including patent. Therefore Patent has actively researched. In the patent IR, almost researchs bring keyword into focus, that one of example is NLP (Natural Language Processing). Actually, the kewords of patent is important because this one decide right of patent. And It is true that studies of petent topology are not enough. Unlike traditional web search environment, Patent network has feature of time series becase of reference network, and also referece rules differ from country to country. It is imposible to analysis using one reference network including whole kind patent. In this paper, we introduce new patent network as patent informations convert heterogeneous information network that all kind patent can expressed, and compute patent similarity. finally we suggest new homogeneous network that is non reference network.

국내에서는 이야기 그림 검사가 우울과 공격성의 변별뿐만 아니라, 정서, 자아개념, 관계 등의 변인들을 선별할 수 있는지에 대한 반응특성 연구들이 수행되고 있다. 각각의 연구들은 연구설계에 있어서 모집단의 특징과 변인이 다르고 또 일관적이거나 상반되는 결과를 지닐 수 있기 때문에 이를 통계적인 검증을 통해 하나의 결과로 일반화하는 것이 필요하다. 본 연구의 목적은 한국에서 아동과 청소년의 정서내용, 자기상, 관계 등 치료적 변인을 식별할 수 있는 능력을 갖고 있는지 입증하는데 있다. 이를 위해 2020년 6월까지 한국에서 발행된 연구를 대상으로 PRISMA 4단계를 거쳐 최종 선정된 15편을 메타분석하였고, 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 정서내용 및 자기상 척도 모두 통계적으로 유의한 효과크기를 갖고 있었다. 둘째, 연구대상에 따른 효과크기에서 정서내용 척도는 아동과 청소년 간의 유의한 차이가 없지만, 자기상 척도는 대상간 유의한 차이가 있었다. 셋째, 연구 변인에 따른 효과크기에서 정서내용 척도는 연구 변인 간 유의한 차이가 없고, 자기상 척도는 연구 변인 간 유의한 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 한국의 아동 및 청소년 대상에게 이야기 그림 검사가 정서, 자아개념, 관계를 포함한 변인에 대해 변별력을 갖고 있음을 입증하였다.

In Korea, the Draw-a-Story (DAS) assessment is conducted to distinguish between depression and aggression and screen for the variables of emotion, self-concept, and relationship through response characteristics. Given that each study has different population characteristics and variables in their research design, resulting in consistent or contradictory results, it is of the utmost importance to use statistical validation to generalize individual results effectively. The objective of this study is to verify the power of the DAS assessment to differentiate therapeutic variables such as emotion, self, and relationship of children and adolescents in Korea. To this end, we employed the PRISMA flowchart to sift through research papers published in Korea by June 2020 and selected the final 15 studies for meta-analysis. The results are as follows. The first, both emotional contents and self-image scales have statistically significant effect sizes. The second, the emotional contents scale shows no significant differences between children and adolescents regarding effect sizes by research subjects. However, the self-image scale exhibits significant differences between the two types of study participants. The third, in terms of effect sizes by research variables, the emotional contents scale shows no significant differences among research variables, whereas the self-image scale presents significant differences. This study demonstrated the validity of the DAS assessment in differentiating multiple variables, including emotions, self, and relationships of Korean children and adolescents.

The study aims to provide a holistic view of mass communication research trends of journalism, political communication, public relations, advertising from 1995-2018. I draw a comparative study of the four fields across productivity, theories, thematic concepts, and methods through text-mining and network analysis with the large bibliographic dataset (articles n=53,306). I found that journalism and political communication have shown productive growth while public relations and advertising have been stagnant over time. In addition, journalism and political communication have close theoretical and thematical relationships, whereas PR and advertising are the most different from any other fairs of the four fields. I verified the transition of data gathering trends from the survey to experiments in mass communication research. I hope the findings of this study help to take our course in future mass communication research at the ages of big data.

Meta-analysis is a statistical integration method that delivers an opportunity to overview the entire result of integrating and analyzing many quantitative research results. Meta-analysis is sometimes expressed as an analysis of another analysis. Commonly, factors of metabolic syndrome can be defined as abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low high density lipoprotein cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and elevated fasting glucose. This study will find meaningful mediator variables for criterion variables that affect before and after the metabolic syndrome studies, on the basis of the results of a meta-analysis. We reviewed a total of 15 studies related to metabolic syndrome published in Korea between 1998 and 2016, where a cause and effect relationship is established between variables that are specified in the conceptual model of this study. The result of this meta-analysis, the path between pre and post in the fasting blood glucose showed the biggest effect size (r = -.669). Therefore, the effect of the dietary intervention for the fasting blood glucose shows an explanatory power of 45%. The second biggest effect size (r = -.302) was found in the path between pre and post in the systolic blood pressure. The third biggest effect size (r = -.264) was reported in the path between pre and post in the triglyceride. Also, one of the smallest effect size (r = -.114) was obtained in the path between pre and post in the diastolic blood pressure. Thus, we present the theoretical and practical implications of these results.

학생들의 교과목 이수 실태는 교과목 편성과 이수체계의 문제를 도출하는데 유용한 자료가 될 수 있지만, 한국의 대학에서 대학생들이 졸업 전에 어떤 과목을 얼마나 이수하는지에 대한 실증 적인 연구결과는 거의 없다. 이에 본 연구에서는 서울소재 한 사립대학에서 졸업 때까지 이수한 전공 교과목과 교양 교과목을 분석하고, 전공별, 성별 과목선택의 특성을 파악하여 대학 교육과 정과 이수체계가 가진 문제와 시사점을 도출하고자 하였다. 이 대학 졸업생들의 교과목 이수 실 태 분석 결과 모든 단과대학 학생들은 단일 전공 교과목을 절반 가까이 이수하였고, 일부 단과대 학 학생들은 절반을 훨씬 넘는 교과목을 단일 전공에서 이수한 것으로 나타났다. 이수한 교양 교 과목 중에서 수학, 기초과학, 경제학, 통계학 등 전공기초 교과목으로 분류될 수 있는 교과목의 비율이 높아, 전공에 의한 교양과정의 잠식의 우려가 실재하고 있음을 나타냈다. 졸업생들이 이수 한 교양교과목 분석을 통해 타 학문영역보다는 자신의 전공과 인접한 학문영역의 교과목에 대한 선호와 수학 및 기초과학에 대한 기피가 있음도 확인하였다. 빠르게 변화하는 현대사회에서 학생 들이 성공적으로 적응하고 평생학습자로 살아가도록 하기 위해서서는 학생들이 단일 전공의 교 과목 수강에 지나치게 치중하는 것은 바람직하지 못하다. 따라서 대학은 전공교육의 개방성을 확 대하고, 타 학문 영역에 대한 접근성을 향상하기 위해 교양교육과정을 구성하고 이수체계를 구조 화할 필요가 있다. 이번 연구는 사립대학 한곳을 대상으로 진행한 것이어서 한국대학 전체로 일 반화하기에는 한계가 있으나 그간 학계에서 지적되어온 전공중심의 한국고등교육, 교양교육과정 의 구조적 한계 및 이를 심화하는 대학의 문화와 일맥상통하는 것이어서 나름의 의미를 가진다.

Every students are required to select certain credits of courses within a degree program prior to each semester. It is of great importance for higher education to provide well structured courses to maximize the study outcomes of each students during their degree programs. Thus the statistical data such as the course selection pattern of each students, the decision to change the programs and the selection of dual-diploma programs would provide important informations for higher education administrations to make better structured courses. However, unfortunately, such data are scarce. Here we analyzed students’ pattern of course preferences during their degree program. Our results showed that students selected more basic- and major-related courses rather than interdisciplinary classes. It is not desirable for students taking too many major-related courses to become a successful life-long learner in modern society. Thus higher educations needs to develop well structured courses by providing open-ended major courses and interdisciplinary courses. It should be cautious to generalize our results, which has been focused on the case of a private university. However, our data also represent the similar problems of the major centered Korean higher education and the structural limitations of the liberal arts curriculum.

Background/Aims: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and fatty liver (FL) often co-exist, but natural history data of this dual condition (CHB-FL) are sparse. Via a systematic review, conventional meta-analysis (MA) and individual patient-level data MA (IPDMA), we compared liver-related outcomes and mortality between CHB-FL and CHB-no FL patients. Methods: We searched 4 databases from inception to December 2021 and pooled study-level estimates using a random- effects model for conventional MA. For IPDMA, we evaluated outcomes after balancing the two study groups with inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) on age, sex, cirrhosis, diabetes, ALT, HBeAg, HBV DNA, and antiviral treatment. Results: We screened 2,157 articles and included 19 eligible studies (17,955 patients: 11,908 CHB-no FL; 6,047 CHB-FL) in conventional MA, which found severe heterogeneity (I2=88?95%) and no significant differences in HCC, cirrhosis, mortality, or HBsAg seroclearance incidence (P=0.27?0.93). IPDMA included 13,262 patients: 8,625 CHB-no FL and 4,637 CHB-FL patients who differed in several characteristics. The IPTW cohort included 6,955 CHB-no FL and 3,346 CHB-FL well-matched patients. CHB-FL patients (vs. CHB-no FL) had significantly lower HCC, cirrhosis, mortality and higher HBsAg seroclearance incidence (all P≤0.002), with consistent results in subgroups. CHB-FL diagnosed by liver biopsy had a higher 10-year cumulative HCC incidence than CHB-FL diagnosed with non-invasive methods (63.6% vs. 4.3%, P<0.0001). Conclusions: IPDMA data with well-matched CHB patient groups showed that FL (vs. no FL) was associated with significantly lower HCC, cirrhosis, and mortality risk and higher HBsAg seroclearance probability.

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of death in male populations across the globe. With the advent of gene expression arrays, many microarray studies have been conducted in prostate cancer, but the results have varied across different studies. To better understand the genetic and biologic mechanisms of prostate cancer, we conducted a meta-analysis of two studies on prostate cancer. Eight key genes were identified to be differentially expressed with progression. After gene co-expression analysis based on data from the GEO database, we obtained a co-expressed gene list which included 725 genes. Gene Ontology analysis revealed that these genes are involved in actin filament-based processes, locomotion and cell morphogenesis. Further analysis of the gene list should provide important clues for developing new prognostic markers and therapeutic targets.

Background: RASSF1A has been reported to be a candidate tumor suppressor in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the association between RASSF1A promoter methylation and NSCLC remains unclear, particularly in regarding links to clinicopathologic features. Methods: Eligible studies were identified through searching PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. Studies were pooled and odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Funnel plots were also performed to evaluate publication bias. Results: Nineteen studies involving 2,063 cases of NSCLC and 1,184 controls were included in this meta-analysis. A significant association was observed between RASSF1A methylation and NSCLC in the complete data set (OR = 19.42, 95% CI: 14.04-26.85, P < 0.001). Pooling the control tissue subgroups (heterogeneous/autologous) gave pooled ORs of 32.4 (95% CI, 12.4-84.5) and 17.7 (95% CI, 12.5-25.0) respectively. Racial subgroup (Caucasian/Asian) analysis gave pooled ORs of 26.6 (95% CI, 10.9-64.9) and 20.9 (95% CI, 14.4-30.4) respectively. The OR for RASSF1A methylation in poorly-differentiated vs. moderately/well-differentiated NSCLC tissues was 1.88 (95% CI, 1.32-2.68, P<0.001), whereas there were no significant differences in RASSF1A methylation in relation to gender, pathology, TNM stage and smoking behavior among NSCLC cases. Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggests a significant association between RASSF1A methylation and NSCLC, confirming the role of RASSF1A as a tumor suppressor gene. Large-scale and well-designed case-control studies are needed to validate the associations identified in the present meta-analysis.

Background: Despite the global increase in nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD), clinical characteristics show geographical variations. We investigated the clinical characteristics of patients with NTM-PD in South Korea. Methods: We systematically reviewed articles concerning patients with NTM-PD in South Korea until February 2022. Individual participant data, regardless of treatment, were collected using a standard case report form. Results: Data of 6,489 patients from 11 hospitals between 2002 and 2019 were analyzed. The mean age was 61.5±11.7 years, of whom 57.7% were women. Mycobacterium avium (41.4%) and Mycobacterium intracellulare (38.4%) comprised most of the causative species, followed by Mycobacterium abscessus subspecies abscessus (8.6%) and M. abscessus subspecies massiliense (7.8%). Bronchiectasis (59.4%) was the most common pulmonary comorbidity. Although reported cases of NTM-PD increased over the years, the proportions of causative species and radiologic forms remained similar. Distinct clinical characteristics were observed according to age and sex. Men were older at the time of diagnosis (median 63.8 years vs. 59.9 years, p<0.001), and had more cavitary lesions than women (38.8% vs. 21.0%, p<0.001). The older group (≥65 years) had higher proportions of patients with body mass index <18.5 kg/m² (27.4% vs. 18.6%, p<0.001) and cavitary lesions (29.9% vs. 27.6%, p=0.009) than the younger group. Conclusion: We conducted a meta-analysis of the clinical characteristics of patients with NTM-PD in South Korea, and found age- and sex-related differences in disease-specific severity. Further investigation would enhance our comprehension of the nature of the disease, and inherited and acquired host factors.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Many studies have revealed an association between fat mass and the obesity-related gene (FTO) and obesity. On the other hand, no meta-analysis was conducted with data from only Koreans. Therefore, this study performed a meta-analysis using Korean data to provide evidence for the association between FTO single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the risk of obesity among Korean adults. SUBJECT/METHODS: Meta-analysis was finally conducted with data extracted from seven datasets of four studies performed on Korean adults after the screening passed. Five kinds of FTO SNPs (rs9939609, rs7193144, rs9940128, rs8050136, and rs9926289) were included, and the relationship between FTO SNPs and body mass index (BMI) was investigated using linear regression with an additive model adjusted for covariants, such as age, sex, and area. RESULTS: The minor alleles of FTO SNPs were associated with increased BMI (odds ratio [OR], 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21-1.42). In sub-group analysis, FTO rs9939609 T>A was significantly associated with BMI (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.06-1.42). The other FTO SNPs together were significantly associated with BMI (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.25-1.49). The publication bias was not observed based on Egger's test. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis showed that minor alleles in the FTO SNPs were significantly associated with an increased BMI among Korean adults. This meta-analysis is the first to demonstrate that minor alleles in the FTO SNPs contribute significantly to the increased risk of obesity among Korean adults using data from a Korean population.

Background: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can predict the clinical response to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. However, EGFR mutations may be different in primary tumors (PT) and metastatic lymph nodes (MLN). The aim of this study was to compare EGFR mutations between PT and the corresponding MLN in NSCLC patients, and provide some guidelines for clinical treatment using TKI therapy. Materials and Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed with several research databases. Relative risk (RR) with the 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to investigate the EGFR mutation status between PT and the corresponding MLN. A random-effects model was used. Results: 9 publications involving 707 patients were included in the analysis. It was found that activation of EGFR mutations identified in PT and the corresponding MLN was 26.4% (187/707) and 19.9% (141/707), respectively. The overall discordance rate in our meta-analysis was 12.2% (86/707). The relative risk (RR) for EGFR mutation in PT relative to MLN was 1.33 (95%CI: 1.10-1.60; random-effects model). There was no significant heterogeneity between the studies ($I^2$=5%, p=0.003). Conclusions: There exists a considerable degree of EGFR mutation discrepancy in NSCLC between PT and corresponding MLN, suggesting that tumor heterogeneity might arise at the molecular level during the process of metastasis.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the characteristic expression patterns of advanced periodontitis in 2 cohort data sets analyzed using different microarray platforms, and to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) through a meta-analysis of both data sets. Methods: Twenty-two patients for cohort 1 and 40 patients for cohort 2 were recruited with the same inclusion criteria. The 2 cohort groups were analyzed using different platforms: Illumina and Agilent. A meta-analysis was performed to increase reliability by removing statistical differences between platforms. An integrative meta-analysis based on an empirical Bayesian methodology (ComBat) was conducted. DEGs for the integrated data sets were identified using the limma package to adjust for age, sex, and platform and compared with the results for cohorts 1 and 2. Clustering and pathway analyses were also performed. Results: This study detected 557 and 246 DEGs in cohorts 1 and 2, respectively, with 146 and 42 significantly enriched gene ontology (GO) terms. Overlapping between cohorts 1 and 2 was present in 59 DEGs and 18 GO terms. However, only 6 genes from the top 30 enriched DEGs overlapped, and there were no overlapping GO terms in the top 30 enriched pathways. The integrative meta-analysis detected 34 DEGs, of which 10 overlapped in all the integrated data sets of cohorts 1 and 2. Conclusions: The characteristic expression pattern differed between periodontitis and the healthy periodontium, but the consistency between the data sets from different cohorts and metadata was too low to suggest specific biomarkers for identifying periodontitis.

This study aims to overview research articles on extrasolar planets using Kepler mission data during the period of 2009-2015 in order to discover research trends in them. Kepler space observatory is a NASA space observatory for extrasolar planet expedition launched in March 2009, contributed to the discovery and tracking of extrasolar planets and its candidates. In order to achieve the goal of this study, we classified research subjects from studies on Kepler mission data year by year and found the most frequent research topics each year. We also conducted a comparative analysis on the research subjects based on time series and examined any changes with respect to the goal of Kepler mission. Statistical meta-analysis is employed as the analysis method for the key words presented in the research articles. This study is a part of on-going research to find the correlation between the physical parameters of the host star and extrasolar planets. The results of this study could offer new directions in researches utilizing Kepler mission data as those meta-analyses in social sciences often suggest new opportunities. We have high expectations that more extrasolar planet studies will follow as we make further progresses in various analyses.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to introduce methods to use all of the information without omission when individual studies provide multiple effect sizes according to multiple cut-off values (thresholds) during diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) for data integration. For diagnostic test meta-analysis, a general performance method for synthesizing data according to one cut value in one study and a performance method for synthesizing data according to two or more cut values in one study were compared and analyzed. METHODS: As sample data for meta-analysis of DTA studies, 13 DTA studies on prostate cancer (34 effect sizes including total cut-offs) were collected. The summary statistics were calculated and the summary line was analyzed using the “meta”, “mada”, and “diagmeta” packagesof the R software. RESULTS: The summary statistics of the random effect model univariate analysis of the “meta” package with a single cut-off corresponding to the highest Youden index in a single study and those of the bivariate analysis of the “mada” package were highly similar. However, in the bivariate analysis of the “diagmeta” package including all cut-off values, the sensitivity decreased and the specificity increased as the amount of data increased. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the heterogeneity of the summary receiver op erating characteristic curve and the use of all given cut-offs, the use of the bivariate analysis model of the “diagmeta” package is recommended. This study focused on practical methods of DTA rather than theoretical concepts for use by researchers whose fields of study are non-statistics related. By performing this study, we hope that many researchers will use R software to determine the DTA more easily, and that there will be greater interest in related research.

Objectives. Obesity is considered to be one of the most important risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but less is known about the role of ethnicity in OSA. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interethnic difference of obesity-related phenotypes in OSA and to reveal the role of ethnicity in OSA. Methods. We searched MEDLINE, LILACS, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library using the key words “sleep apnea,” “body mass index,” “neck circumference,” “waist circumference,” “waist to hip ratio,” etc. Inclusion criteria were adults over 18 years of age, and studies that included polysomnography, obesity-related parameters, and a clear demarcation of ethnicity in the patient population. Included studies were reviewed by 2 independent reviewers. The following information was collected for controls and OSA: number, age, gender, country, ethnicity (Asian or Caucasian), study design, apnea-hypopnea index/respiratory disturbance index, body mass index (BMI), neck circumference (NC), waist circumference (WC), and/or waist to hip ratio (WHR). Results. A total of 8,312 publications were retrieved with a subsequent 19 manuscripts that met the selection criteria. A total of 2,966 patients were included for analysis. The main findings were as follows: There was no difference in BMI, WC, and WHR between patients with OSA and controls after accounting for publication bias; Patients with OSA have greater NC than controls (standard mean difference, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.63 to 1.14); and There was no difference in NC between Asian and Caucasians patients (P=0.178). Conclusion. OSA might not be related with BMI, WC, and WHR. Only NC demonstrated a strong association with OSA, and this finding was not different between Asians and Caucasians.