• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1599-1603
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• 2012

Objectives: Since methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) maintains the balance of circulating folate and methionine and blocks the formation of homocysteine, its regulation in relation to different cancers has extensively been studied in different populations. However, information on Pakistani breast cancer patients is lacking. The MTHFR gene has two most common mutations that are single nucleotide additions which result in change of amino acids C677T to Ala222val and A1298C to Glu429Ala. Methodology: 110 sporadic breast patients with no prior family history of cancer or any other type of genetic disorders along with 110 normal individuals were screened for mutations in exons 1 to exon 9 using single strand conformational polymorphism, RFLP and sequencing analyzer. Results: The p values for the 677CC, 677CT, and 677TT genotypes were 0.223, 0.006, and 0.077, respectively. Those for the 1298AA, 1298AC, and 1298CC genotypes were 0.555, 0.009, and 0.003, respectively. Conclusions: We found an overall a significant, weak inverse association between breast cancer risk and the 677TT genotype and an inverse association with the 1298C variant. These results for MTHFR polymorphism might be population specific in sporadic breast cancer affected patients but many other factors need to be excluded before making final conclusions including folate intake, population and disease heterogeneity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3125-3130
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is a common cancer affecting women in Malaysia and the use of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) has been associated with delays in getting treatment. The aim of the study was to explore the use of CAM and the influencing factors in the Northern region of Peninsular Malaysia. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study on a convenience sample of 100 Malaysian breast cancer survivors. Findings: The reported use of CAM among the breast cancer survivors was lower than in other studies but the types of CAM used had a similar pattern with nutrition supplements/vitamins being the most common. The factors that positively influenced the use of complimentary/traditional therapy were income and getting information from television or radio. Survivors with access to internet/blogs appear to have lower odds of using complimentary/traditional therapy compared to the respondents who reported no such access. Conclusions: Information transmitted via television and radio appears to have a positive influence on CAM use by breast cancer patients compared to other information sources and it is important to ensure that such information is accurate and impartial.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1495-1504
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• 2012

Objective: Improvements in diet can decrease the cancer rates. The aim of the present study was to determine the relationships between self-perception of diet quality and personality, impulsiveness, stress, coping strategy, sense of coherence, self-efficacy, and social support. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using a multiple-stratified random sampling method based on the Korea Census of 2007. In October 2009, investigators conducted 15-minute face-to-face interviews with 1,530 South Korean volunteers who ranged from 30 to 69 years of age without a history of cancer. Results: Respondents were more likely to perceive that they consumed a healthy diet if they were older than 50 years, lived with a partner, had a monthly family income greater than $4,000 USD, had a low perceived risk of cancer, consumed less alcohol, exercised regularly, had a less agreeable or conscientious personality, had low stress levels, had a high sense of coherence or self-efficacy, and had ample social support. Conclusion: Psychosocial factors, such as personality, stress, sense of coherence, self-efficacy, and social support, are associated with the self-perception of diet quality. Analysis of the factors that contribute to a perceived healthy diet could assist with the design of educational campaigns.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.5-15
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of service and appropriateness of information provided in gastric cancer web sites. Method: The study investigated the status of the web sites retrieved when the keyword "gastric cancer" was searched on seven(7) different Internet portal sites. Among the retrieved information sites, 51 domestic websites, available on June and July 2008, were selected. They were evaluated based on two criteria, quality of service (7 items) and appropriateness of the information (11 items) on a 4-point scale($0{\sim}3$). The analysis of data was done using SPSS 12.0 PC+ program for descriptive statistics and ANOVA tests. Results: Findings revealed that the quality of service provided by the web sites had an average of $1.61{\pm}.55$. The score of information appropriateness was $.79{\pm}.64$. Among the studied websites, only 4(7.8%) scored higher than 22, placing them in the top 30%. Conclusion: This study suggests that most sites do not provide diverse types of gastric cancer-related information and that reliability is important in developing web-based programs related to gastric cancer in order to effectively promote and disseminate health information to the general public.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.581-598
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• 2006

In many epidemiological and medical studies, a number of cancer mortalities in categorical classification may be considered as having Poisson distribution with person-years at risk depending upon time. The cancer mortalities have been evaluated by additive or multiplicative models with regard to background and excess risks based on several covariances such as sex, age at the time of bombings, time at exposure, or ionizing radiation, cigarette smoking habits, duration of smoking habits, etc. An interest herein is to examine an additive, synergistic, or antagonistic relationship between radiation exposures and cigarette smoking habits for cancer mortalities. The results revealed a highly significant antagonistic in uence for cancer mortalities from all non-hematologic findings, lung and respiratory system with negative interaction between radiation exposures and cigarette smoking amounts.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.135-143
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• 2002

Purpose: To explore what particular types of information were important to patients diagnosed with cancer. Methods: Seventy three patients with cancer at an outpatient clinic and hospitalized patients in W Christian Hospital Korea, responded. The structured questionnaire developed by the investigator based on previous studies. Results: There was a significant negative relationship between age and the score of informational need (r=-.307, p<.05). Level of education, and level of monthly income were related to level of informational need. The top three informational priorities according to the time since diagnosis were 'Self care during treatment', 'Health food and diet', 'Likelihood of recurrence', 'Follow up care' and 'Side effects'. The top three informational priorities for patients with breast cancer were 'Likelihood of recurrence', 'Metastasis possibility', 'Treatment options', and 'Side effects. For patients with stomach cancer, they were 'Follow up care', 'Healthy food and diet', 'Likelihood of recurrence', and 'Metastasis possibility', and for patients with colon/rectal cancer, they were 'Side effects', 'Healthy food and diet', 'Likelihood of recurrence', and 'Self care during treatment'. Conclusion: The assessment of information needs based on demographic factors and disease-related factors is critical in helping patients with cancer to manage their illness.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.6889-6894
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• 2015

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer in the world, with a wide variation in incidence rates across different geographical areas. In Iran GC is the most common cancer in males and it is reported to be the third most prevalent after breast and colorectal in females. A geographical information system (GIS) allows investigation of the geographical distribution of diseases. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between gastric cancer and effective climatic factors using GIS. The dispersion distribution and the relationship between environmental factors effective on cancer were measured using Arc GIS. Of all cases, 672 (73.8%) were in males with a sex ratio of 3 to1. The highest incidence by cities was seen in Namin with 137.5 per 100,000. The results of this study showed that the distribution of GC around the Sabalan volcanic mountain was significantly higher than other places in the same province. These results can be considered as a window to future comprehensive research on gastric cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9433-9437
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• 2014

This study provides the first systematic literature review of cervical cancer incidence and mortality as well as human papillomavirus (HPV) genotype prevalence among women with cervical cancer in the Pacific Island countries and territories. The cervical cancer burden in the Pacific Region is substantial, with age standardized incidence rates ranging from 8.2 to 50.7 and age standardized mortality rate from 2.7 to 23.9 per 100,000 women per year. The HPV genotype distribution suggests that 70-80% of these cancers could be preventable by the currently available bi- or quadrivalent HPV vaccines. There are only few comprehensive studies examining the epidemiology of cervical cancer in this region and no published data have hitherto described the current cervical cancer prevention initiatives in this region.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1321-1325
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• 2015

Self-care to prevent cancer and self-management to cope with the disease are two discrete effective mechanisms for improving of control and management of neoplasia. Both them have certain strategies and practices. Often the two are used interchangeably despite their different approaches. Strategies of self-care usually refer to prevention at different levels include primary, secondary and tertiary. In contrast, strategies of self-management are related to management and alleviation of unpleasant cancer-related symptoms and treatment-related side effects for improving the quality of life of cancer survivors. Successful promoting of self-care and self-management strategies need people and survivor empowerment. Within this context, innovative approaches open a new window. In this paper after a brief review of related strategies and practices, we provide an explanation of how cancer portals may play an important role in the empowerment process and what are key potentials for implementing of self-care and self-management strategies for cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1757-1760
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• 2012

Breast cancer is a major cause of death in women worldwide. Mammary tissue expressing xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes metabolically activate or detoxify potential genotoxic breast carcinogens. Deregulation of these xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes is considered to be a major contributory factor to breast cancer. The present study is focused on the expression of the xenobiotic metabolizing gene, CYP1A1, in breast cancer and its possible relationships with different risk factors. Twenty five tumors and twenty five control breast tissue samples were collected from patients undergoing planned surgery or biopsy from different hospitals. Semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western-blotting were used to investigate the expression of CYP1A1 in breast cancer control and disease samples. mRNA expression of CYP1A1 was down-regulated in 40% of breast tumor samples. Down-regulation was also observed at the protein level. Significnat relations were noted with marital status and tumour grade but not histopathological type. In conclusion, CYP1A1 protein expression was markedly reduced in tumor breast tissues samples as compared to paired control tissue samples.