• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.957-962
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• 2012

Objective: Rapidly increasing colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence in Malaysia and the introduction of cutting edge new treatments, which prolong survival, mean that treatment outcome measures meed to be evaluated, including consideration of patient's quality of life (QoL) assessment. There are limited data on QoL in CRC patients, especially in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was performed focusing on cancer stages and age groups. Methods: The cross sectional study was conducted from June to September 2011 at three public tertiary hospitals with the EORTC QLQ C-30 questionnaire in addition to face to face interview and review of medical records of 100 respondents. Results: The mean age was 57.3 (SD 11.9) years with 56.0% are males and 44.0% females, 62% of Malay ethnicity, 30% Chinese, 7% Indian and 1% Sikh. Majority were educated up to secondary level (42%) and 90% respondents had CRC stages III and IV. Mean global health status (GHS) score was 79.1 (SD 21.4). Mean scores for functional status (physical, emotional, role, cognitive, social) rangeds between 79.5 (SD 26.6) to 92.2 (SD 13.7). Mean symptom scores (fatigue, pain, nausea/vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, insomnia, dyspnoea, loss of appetite) ranged between 4.00 (SD 8.58) to 20.7 (SD 30.6). Respondents role function significantly deteriorates with increasing stage of the disease (p=0.044). Females had worse symptoms of pain (p=0.022), fatigue (p=0.031) and dyspnoea (p=0.031). Mean insomnia (p=0.006) and diarrhea (p=0.024) demonstrated significant differences between age groups. Conclusion: QOL in CRC patients in this study was comparable to that in other studies done in developed countries. Pain, fatigue and dyspnoea are worse among female CRC patients. Given that functions deteriorates with advanced stage of the disease at diagnosis, a systematic screening programme to detect cases as early as possible is essential nationwide.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1907-1910
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• 2012

Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer and the fifth cause of cancer death in Iranian women. Early detection and treatment are important for appropriate management of this disease. Mammography and ultrasonography are used for screening and evaluation of symptomatic cases and the main diagnostic test for breast cancer is pathological. In this study we evaluated mammography and ultrasonography as diagnostic tools. Methods: In this cross-sectional study 384 mammography and ultrasonography reports for 255 women were assessed, divided into benign and malignant groups. Suspected cases were referred for pathology evaluation. The radiologic and pathologic reports were compared and also comparison was performed based on age groups (more and less than 50 years old), history of breastfeeding and gravidity. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS. Results: The mean ages of malignant and benign cases were $49{\pm}11.6$ and $43{\pm}11.2$ years, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity for mammography were 73% and 45%, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity for ultrasonography were 69% and 49%, respectively. There were statistical differences between specificity of mammography in patients based on factors such as history of gravidity, breastfeeding and sensitivity in patients equal or more than 50 years old and less. Conclusion: Factors affecting different results in mammography and ultrasonography reports were classified into three groups, consisting of skill, experience and training of medical staff, and setting of instruments. It is recommended that health managers in developing countries pay attention the quality of setting and man power more than current status. Policy-makers and managers must establish guidelines regarding breast imaging in Iran.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.809-813
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• 2012

In spite of screening and early diagnostic tests, the upward trend of breast cancer has become a matter of great concern in both developed and developing countries. The data collected by Population Based Cancer Registry in Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, a regional cancer centre in Kolkata, from 1997 to 2004 gives an insight about the scenario of Breast Cancer in this part of Eastern India.The total no of female breast cancer cases were steadily increasing from 1997 to 2001 and only slightly lower from 2002 to 2004. and majority were in the 40-49 year old age group during this period. The next most commonly affected age group was 50-59 years. Regarding the distribution according to treatment, the main modality was surgery and radiotherapy followed by combined surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and then combined surgery and chemotherapy. The commonest type was ductal followed by lobular cancer. In this eight year study in CNCI, status of patients on last day of the respective year was assessed. Number of patients alive was 43.5% in 1997. The percentage gradually increased up to 2000 and then gradually decreased to 47.4% in 2004. Also with every passing year, percentage mortality gradually decreased from 25.7% in 1997 to 16.8% in 2004. Better pattern of care (diagnosis and treatment) was reflected in this picture. However, lost to follow up, which also implies non compliance to treatment, increased to 30.8% in 1997 to 35.8% in 2004. Due to the small number of male breast cancers, only female cases were considered. In conclusion, breast cancer continues to be a major problem in Kolkata, India.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3647-3650
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• 2016

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the major health problems worldwide. However, limited studies have been reported from ASEAN countries. This study was conducted to evaluate clinical characteristics and survival of colorectal cancer cases aged <65 years and ${\geq}65$ years in the central region of Thailand. Materials and Methods: Clinical information, histological features, endoscopic findings and treatment outcome were collected and reviewed from Thammasat University Hospital, Pathumthani, Thailand between November 2011 and October 2015. Results: A total of 121 colorectal cancer patients, comprising 69 men and 52 women with a mean age of 65.8 years, were included. There were 57 aged <65 years and 64 aged ${\geq}65$ years. Common presenting symptoms were abdominal pain (37%), weight loss (34%) and anemia (32%). Mean duration of symptoms prior to diagnosis was 173 days. However, longer diagnosis time was demonstrated in patients aged <65 years than age more than ${\geq}65$ years (119.4 vs 58.4 days, P-value=0.30). Colonic fungating mass was the most common endoscopic finding (64.4%) and the location was significantly more commonly left than right side of the colon, both in younger and elderly groups (87.7% vs 12.3%, P=0.02 and 70.3% vs 29.7%, P=0.02, respectively). Adenocarcinoma with moderated differentiated was the most common histology (67.3%). More than half of the patients presented with advanced stage (28.9% with TNM stage 3 and 38.8% TNM stage 4, respectively). Overall 1-year and 5-year survival rates were 76.9% and 5%. Conclusions: Most colorectal cancer patients in Thailand have adenocarcinomas and present at advanced stage with poor prognosis. Screening of high risk patients and early detection might be essential factors to improve the treatment outcome and overall survival rate of colon cancer patients in Thailand and other ASEAN countries.

• The Journal of the Korean life insurance medical association
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• v.15
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• pp.93-98
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• 1996

During the period from January to September 1995, 1.010 Women(premenopausal 466 cases and postmenopausal 544 cases) of employees and family member were observed for bone mineral density of lumbar spine using Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry(DEXA) at Medical Department of Korea Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Results obtained were as follows: 1) In premenopausal women 466 cases, the ratio of decreased bone mineral density of lumbar spine according to age groups shows 3rd decade were 5 cases(9.80%) among 51 cases, 4th decade were 31 cases(8.68%) among 357 cases, and 5th decade were 10 cases(17.24%) among 58 cases. 2) In postmenopausal women 544 cases, the ratio of decreased bone mineral density of lumbar spine according to age groups shows 3rd decade were 2 cases(66.67%) among 3 cases, 4th decade were 28 cases(31.11%) among 90 cases, 5th decade were 168 cases(48.70%) among 345 cases, 6th decade were 73 cases(73.0%) among 100 cases, and 7th decade were 4 cases(66.67%) among 6 cases. 3) Bone mineral density begins to decrease with age as early as the 4th decade, even in the premenopausal state. In the 4th decade, premenopausal women exhibit an average 8.68% decrease in bone density. Postmenopausal women in this same age group, however, demonstrate an average bone density decrease of 31.11%.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.558-565
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• 2013

Mammography, the process of using X-ray to examine the woman breast, is the one of the effective tools for detecting breast cancer at an early state. In screening mammogram, Computer-Aided Detection(CAD) system helps radiologist to diagnose cases by detecting malignant masses. A mass is an important lesion in the breast that can indicate a cancer. Due to various shapes and unclear boundaries of the masses, detecting breast masses is considered a challenging task. To this end, CAD system detects a lot of regions of interest including normal tissues. Thus it is important to develop the well-organized classifier. In this paper, we propose an enhanced sparse representation (SR) based classifier using Fisher discrimination dictionary learning. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing support vector machine (SVM) classifier.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.384-393
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to determine the nutritional support in patients treated in medical intensive care units (MICUs) by evaluating the extent of current nutritional support using the patient care plan and considering the association between nutritional status and the amount of nutrition supplied. From April to December 2010, 114 patients (age ${\qeq}$ 18 years) admitted to the MICU and who underwent nutritional support for > 5 days were included. Descriptive statistics showed that the 114 patients received nutritional support within 1.2 ${\pm}$ 0.7 days and for 16.2 ${\pm}$ 11.7 days in the MICUs. The total delivered/required caloric ratio was 81.08 ${\pm}$ 27.31%, and the protein ratio was 80.32 ${\pm}$ 28.93%. Patients who received > 80% of required calories and protein showed improved nutritional status (p < 0.05). The results showed that adequate nutritional support is crucial to critically ill patients. We suggest early nutritional screening using simple tools such as periodic monitoring and management to recalculate nutritional status and nutritional requirements and nutritional support using a multidisciplinary method. Systematic nutritional support teams are needed to provide adequate nutritional support for patients in the MICU.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5845-5851
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• 2014

Reducing fear of cancer is significant in developing cancer screening interventions, but the levels of fear may vary depending on the degrees of media exposure as well as individuals' socioeconomic positions (SEP). However, few studies have examined how the SEP influences the fear of cancer under the moderating process of general and specific forms of media exposure. We investigated the moderating effect of media exposure on the relationship between SEP and the level of fear of cancer by assuming that cancer knowledge is a covariate between those two. In particular, this study examined how exposure to both general and specific media changes the series of processes from SEP to fear of cancer. We conducted path analyses with three types of media - television, radio and the Internet- using data from a health communication survey of 613 adults in Massachusetts in the United States. We found that SEP influences cancer knowledge directly and fear of cancer indirectly, as moderated by the level of media exposure. Health-specific exposure, however, had a more consistent effect than general media exposure in lowering the fear of cancer by increasing knowledge about cancer. A higher level of health-specific exposure and greater amount of cancer knowledge lessened the fear of cancer. In addition, the more people were exposed to health information on television and the Internet, the lower the level of fear of cancer as a result. These findings indicate a relationship between SEP and fear of cancer, as moderated by the level and type of media exposure. Furthermore, the findings suggest that for early detection or cancer prevention strategies, health communication approaches through mass media need to be considered.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.791-793
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• 2013

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers. The aim of this study is determination its trends in Kerman province and individual cities separately until year 2016. This analytical and modeling study was based of cancer registry data of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, collected during 2001-2010. Among 20,351 cancer case, 792 were colorectal cancer cases in age group 18-93 years with a mean of 59.4 and standard deviation of 15.1. By applying time series and data trends, incidences were predicted until 2016 for the province and each city, with adjustment for population size. In colorectal cases, 413 (52%) were male, and 379 (48%) were female. The annual increasing rate in Kerman province overall was and can be expected to be 6%, and in the cities of the province Rafsanjan, Bardsir, Bam, Kerman, Baft, Sirjan, Jiroft, Kahnuj and Manujan had an increasing range from 5 to 14% by the year 2016. But in Ravar, Zarand and Shahrbabak reduction in rates of at least 2% could be predicted. The time series showed that the trend of colorectal cancer in female will increase 15% and in male 7% by year 2016. Given the trend of this cancer is increasing so that resources will be consumed in the treatment of the patients, efforts shoudlbe focused on prevention and early diagnosis of the disease. Screening could have an important role leading to improved survival.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2017

Objectives : To introduce a rare case of a patient with Progressive Bulbar Palsy (PBP) and suggest the possibility of treatment using electroacupuncture and Korean Medicine. Methods : A 61-year-old man with PBP, complaining of dysarthria, was treated with electroacupuncture and Korean Medicine, from June 16 to July 10, 2015. Improvements in symptoms were measured using the speech mechanism screening test (SMST), measurement of tongue and orbicularis oris motility, and speech handicap index (SHI). Results : The scores of SMST, motility of tongue and orbicularis oris showed a tendency for gradual improvement with 25 days of Korean Medicine Treatment after admission, but conversation was still impossible. In SHI scores, one point increased in the speech domain and one point decreased in the psycho-social domain, and three points increased in the other domain. Conclusion : Electroacupuncture and Korean Medicine Treatment improved dysarthria caused by PBP, but not completely. Korean Medicine Treatment seems effective in the management of accompanying symptoms such as black hairy tongue, dry mouth, and general condition. The symptoms of PBP are similar to those of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and there is controversy regarding the classification of PBP. The most important aspect of treating a patient with PBP is an early diagnosis and devising appropriate rehabilitation strategies.