• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.97-105
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• 1994

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the smear layer removing efficiency of two root canal preparation techniques. Twelve single-rooted teeth were used in two groups of six each. Group 1 was biomechanically prepared by hand using a K-file with a high volume of normal saline irrigation. Group 2 was. prepared by using ultrasonically activated K-file with a constant high volume of normal saline irrigation. After the experimental procedures, each root was split saggitally. The removing efficiency of the preparation methods were assessed in terms of surface condition of the canal walls at three levels, those coronal, middle, and apical thirds. On the basis of remaining debris, presence of smear layer, and patency of dentinal tubules, each canal was evaluated according to a scale form 0 to 2. A statistical analysis was used to indicated any significant differences in surface condition between the two methods. There was no statistical significance between hand instrumentation and ultrasonic instrumentation at the cervical third but removing efficiency of ultrasonic instrumentation was superior. No statistically significant differences were obhserved for middle or apical third.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.231-239
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• 2001

This paper proposes a region segmenting method for the Pap-smear image. The proposed method uses a pixel classifier based on neural network, which consists of four stages : preprocessing, feature extraction, region segmentation and postprocessing. In the preprocessing stage, brightness value is normalized by histogram stretching. In the feature extraction stage, total 36 features are extracted from $3{\times}3$ or $5{\times}5$ window. In the region segmentation stage, each pixel which is associated with 36 features, is classified into 3 groups : nucleus, cytoplasm and background. The backpropagation network is used for classification. In the postprocessing stage, the pixel, which have been rejected by the above classifier, are re-classified by the relaxation algorithm. It has been shown experimentally that the proposed method finds the nucleus region accurately and it can find the cytoplasm region too.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2001

Whlie cytologic characteristics of squamous dysplasia, carcinoma in situ, and invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix are well documented, relatively few studios have dealt with the cellular features of microinvasive carcinoma. In order to describe the cellular characteristics of microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma, we retrospectively reviewed 45 cervovaginal smears(15 carcinoma in situ, 15 microinvasive cancer, 15 invasive cancer) which were confirmed by histologic examination of specimens obtained by hysterectomy at the Seoul National University Hospital during S years from 1995 to 1999. The cytologic features about tumor diathesis, inflammatory background, ceil arrangement, anisonucleosis, nuclear membrane irregularity, nuclear chromatin pattern, and nucleoli were observed. The cytologlc characteristics of microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix are syncytial pattern, mild tumor diathesis, the irregularity of nuclear membrane, irregularly distributed nuclear chromatin, and occurrence of micronucleoli. But, correlation between the depth of Invasion and the cytologic feature had limited value.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 1994

We studied cervical cytology of 175 cases of histologically confirmed microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix in Cheil General Hospital from 1991 to 1993. Excluding 32 cases of insufficient smear, 143 cases were reviewed in view of background, cellularity, smear pattern, nuclear chromatin and presence of nucleoli. The characteristic findings of microinvasive carcinoma were syncytia and/or individual tumor cells in the focally necrotic inflammatory background. Nuclear chromatin was clear or fine. Nucleoli were observed in 55%. The prediction rate of microinvasive carcinoma was 74%. There is no significant relationship between the cellular features and depth of invasion.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10071-10077
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• 2015

Background: Cervical cancer has become a major public health problem worldwide. Iran, like other developing countries, is facing a number of challenges in managing the disease. This qualitative study documents challenges encountered in cervical cancer preventing programs in Iran. Materials and Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 28 participants including eleven patients with cervical cancer, three gynecologic oncologists, five specialists in Obstetrics and Gynecology, five midwives, three health care managers and one epidemiologist in Mashhad Iran, between May and December of 2012. The sample was selected purposively until data saturation was achieved. Data credibility verified via allocated sufficient time for data collection, using member checking and peer debriefing. Data analysis was carried out using conventional content analysis approach with ATLAS. ti software. Results: Findings from data analysis demonstrated 2 major themes and 6 categories about challenges of providing cervical cancer prevention programs including: individual and social challenges (cognitive/behavioral challenges and socio/cultural challenges) and health system challenges (stewardship, financing, competency of health care providers and access to services). Each category included some subcategories. Conclusions: Managing the cervical cancer prevention programs need to include the consideration of individuals, health care providers and health system challenges. Addressing the low level of knowledge, negative attitudes, socio cultural challenges, Poor intersectional collaboration and coordination and intra-sectional management, financing and competency of health care providers are essential steps toward significantly reducing the burdens of cervical cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3489-3494
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• 2016

Background: A major problem with cervical cancer screening in countries which have no organized national screening program for cervical cancer is sub-optimal participation. Implementation of self-sampling method may increase the coverage. Objective: We determined the agreement of cytological diagnoses made on samples collected by women themselves (self-sampling) versus samples collected by physicians (Physician sampling). Materials and Methods: We invited women volunteers to undergo two procedures; cervical self-sampling using the Evalyn brush and physician sampling using a Cervex brush. The women were shown a video presentation on how to take their own cervical samples before the procedure. The samples taken by physicians were taken as per routine testing (Gold Standard). All samples were subjected to Thin Prep monolayer smears. The diagnoses made were according to the Bethesda classification. The results from these two sampling methods were analysed and compared. Results: A total of 367 women were recruited into the study, ranging from 22 to 65 years age. There was a significant good agreement of the cytological diagnoses made on the samples from the two sampling methods with the Kappa value of 0.568 (p=0.040). Using the cytological smears taken by physicians as the gold standard, the sensitivity of self-sampling was 71.9% (95% CI:70.9-72.8), the specificity was 86.6% (95% CI:85.7-87.5), the positive predictive value was 74.2% (95% CI:73.3-75.1) and the negative predictive value was 85.1% (95% CI: 84.2-86.0). Self-sampling smears (22.9%) allowed detection of micro-organisms better than physicians samples (18.5%). Conclusions: This study shows that samples taken by women themselves (self-sampling) and physicians have good diagnostic agreement. Self-sampling could be the method of choice in countries in which the coverage of women attending clinics for screening for cervical cancer is poor.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2643-2646
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• 2012

Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the major etiological agent of cervical cancer, a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in women worldwide. Screening strategies for reducing the burden of HPV-mediated carcinogenesis are emerging as an effective means for cervical cancer control and prevention in developing countries. Our study, therefore, aimed to identify HPV infection status in North Indian women during random population screening. Methodology: Cervical/vaginal exfoliated cells and/or Pap smear specimens were collected from 890 women of North Indian ethnicity residing in Lucknow and adjoining areas, during random population screening from June 2009-March 2012. HPV viral loads in clinical specimens were determined by the Hybrid Capture (hc)-2 HPV DNA assay, and subsequently, positive/negative/borderline HPV status was calculated. Results: The HPV incidence in the present study was 11.7%. 751 out of a total of 890 women (84.4%) participating in our HPV screening program were HPV negative (HPV -), 104 (11.7%) tested positive (HPV +) while 35 (3.9%) showed borderline (HPV $^*$) infection status. Furthermore, in the HPV + subjects (N=104), 18 (17.3%) showed strong positivity. We observed that HPV positivity tends to increase with age in North Indian women; the higher the viral load with increasing age, higher is the susceptibility to HPV-mediated cervical cancer. Conclusions: HPV viral load/genotyping may help in identifying women at risk of developing cervical cancer. However, cost-effective HPV screening protocols with a wider population coverage are warranted so as to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in women worldwide in the vaccine-era.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.351-358
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• 2003

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of Desexualization Care guided by dramaturgical interaction on women's embarrassment during cervical cancer screening. Method: This study was carried out in a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized post-test only design. 62 women who had cervical cancer screening were' conveniently recruited from a university hospital health promotion center. Embarrassment was measured under four distinctive sub-dimensions by the method of self-reported questionnaire and blood pressure and pulse rates monitoring. The data of control group had a conventional pap smear were collected in advance and then those of experimental group were gathered after completing data collection in the control group. Women in experimental group were provided with a newly developed cervical cancer screening programme in which interdisciplinary team conducted dramaturgical interaction. Result: There was no significant difference in the scores of VAS between the two groups. The score of physiological response of Embarrassment Measurement Scale was significantly lower in experimental group than in the control group (p <.05), while no significant difference was found in cognitive-emotional, non-verbal and verbal behavioral responses between the two groups. There was also no significant difference in blood pressure and pulse rates between the two groups during cervical s creening. Conclus ion: Desexualization Care guided by dramaturgical interaction during cervical screening was found to have positive effect on physiological response of women's embarrassment. Further research for identifying other main variables which might have influenced on women's embarrassment is needed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.559-564
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• 2015

Background: The participation of women in cervical cancer screening in Malaysia is low. Self-sampling might be able to overcome this problem. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of self-sampling for cervical smear in our country. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 258 community dwelling women from urban and rural settings who participated in health campaigns. In order to reduce the sampling bias, half of the study population performed the self-sampling prior to the physician sampling while the other half performed the self-sampling after the physician sampling, randomly. Acquired samples were assessed for cytological changes as well as HPV DNA detection. Results: The mean age of the subjects was $40.4{\pm}11.3years$. The prevalence of abnormal cervical changes was 2.7%. High risk and low risk HPV genotypes were found in 4.0% and 2.7% of the subjects, respectively. A substantial agreement was observed between self-sampling and the physician obtained sampling in cytological diagnosis (k=0.62, 95%CI=0.50, 0.74), micro-organism detection (k=0.77, 95%CI=0.66, 0.88) and detection of hormonal status (k=0.75, 95%CI=0.65, 0.85) as well as detection of high risk (k=0.77, 95%CI=0.4, 0.98) and low risk (K=0.77, 95%CI=0.50, 0.92) HPV. Menopausal state was found to be related with 8.39 times more adequate cell specimens for cytology but 0.13 times less adequate cell specimens for virological assessment. Conclusions: This study revealed that self-sampling has a good agreement with physician sampling in detecting HPV genotypes. Self-sampling can serve as a tool in HPV screening while it may be useful in detecting cytological abnormalities in Malaysia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3645-3651
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• 2012

Conventional pap smear (CPS) examination has been the mainstay for early detection of cervical cancer. However, its widespread use has not been possible due to the inherent limitations, like presence of obscuring blood and inflammation, reducing its sensitivity considerably. Automated methods in use in developed countries may not be affordable in the developing countries due to paucity of resources. On the other hand, manual liquid based cytology (MLBC) is a technique that is cost effective and improves detection of precursor lesions and specimen adequacy. Therefore the aim of the study was to compare the utility of MLBC with that of CPS in cervical cancer screening. A prospective study of 100 cases through MLBC and CPS was conducted from October 2009 to July 2010, in a Medical College in India, by two independent pathologists and correlated with histopathology (22 cases). Morphological features as seen through MLBC and CPS were compared. Subsequently, all the cases were grouped based on cytological diagnosis according to two methods into 10 groups and a subjective comparison was made. In order to compare the validity of MLBC with CPS in case of major diagnoses, sensitivity and specificity of the two methods were estimated considering histological examination as the gold standard. Increased detection rate with MLBC was 150%. The concordance rate by LBC/histopathology v/s CPS/histopathology was also improved (86% vs 77%) The percentage agreement by the two methods was 68%. MLBC was more sensitive in diagnosis of LSIL and more specific in the diagnosis of inflammation. Thus, MLBC was found to be better than CPS in diagnosis of precursor lesions. It provided better morphology with increased detection of abnormalities and preservation of specimen for cell block and ancillary studies like immunocytochemistry and HPV detection. Therefore, it can be used as alternative strategy for cervical cancer prevention in limited resource settings.