• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5557-5563
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• 2015

Background: Cholelithiasis is associated in 54%-98% of patients with carcinoma of the gallbladder, and a high incidence among females suggests a role of female hormones in the etiology of the disease. Cytochrome $P450C17{\alpha}$ (CYP-17) is a key enzyme involved in estrogen metabolism and polymorphisms in CYP-17 are associated with altered serum levels of estrogens. Thus, we investigated whether the CYP-17 MspA1 gene polymorphism might impact on risk of gall bladder cancers or gallstones, as well as to determine if this gene polymorphism might be linked with estrogen serum levels and lipid profile among the North Indian gall bladder cancer or gallstone patients. Materials and Methods: CYP-17 gene polymorphisms (MspA1) were genotyped with PCR-RFLP in cancer patients (n=96), stone patients (n=102), cancer + stone patients (n=52) and age/sex matched control subjects (n= 256). Lipid profile was estimated using a commercial kit and serum estrogen was measured using ELISA. Results: The majority of the patients in all groups were females. The lipid profile and estrogen level were significantly higher among the study as compared to control groups. The frequency of mutant allele A2 of CYP17 MspA1 gene polymorphism was higher among cancer (OR=5.13, 95% CI+3.10-8.51, p=0.0001), stone (OR=5.69, 95%CI=3.46-9.37, p=0.0001) and cancer + stone (OR=3.54, 95%CI=1.90-6.60, p=0.0001) when compared with the control group. However there was no significant association between genotypes of CYP17 MspA1 gene polymorphism and circulating serum level of estrogen and lipid profile. Conclusions: A higher frequency of mutant genotype A1A2 as well as mutant allele A2 of CYP-17 gene polymorphism is significantly associated with risk of gallbladder cancer and stones. Elevated levels of estrogen and an altered lipid profile can be used as predictors ofgall bladder stones and cancer in post menopausal females in India.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5773-5777
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• 2015

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is thought to develop from precancerous dysplastic lesions through multistep processes of carcinogenesis involving activation of oncogenes and loss of tumor suppressor genes. The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her-2/neu [erbB-2]), a cell membrane glycoprotein, is a growth factor receptor that has receptor tyrosine kinase activity. Her2/neu activation plays a central role in cell proliferation and survival. It has been shown that overexpression of Her2/neu increases the rate of cell division and growth, leading to precancerous changes. The aim of the present study was to compare the serum and salivary Her2/neu levels between cases with premalignant and malignant oral lesions. Materials and Methods: Fasting blood samples and unstimulated saliva by passive drooling were collected from three groups of healthy control (n=20), premalignant disorder (PMD) (n=20) and OSCC (n=25) subjects. The HER2 extracellular domain (HER2 ECD) levels were measured using ELISA. Results: The levels of serum Her2/neu showed no significant differences between any of the groups but on the other hand salivary Her2/neu levels were found to be significantly (p<0.05) higher when compared between control (median 68.7 pg/ml, range: 21.5 - 75.8) and OSCC (median 145.6 pg/ml, range: 45.1-191.1). A similar trend was observed when comparing between PMD (median 43.3, range: 22.1 -94.7) and OSCC with a statistical significance of p<0.05. Conclusions: Our study provided evidence of increased salivary Her2/neu in OSCC when compared to PMD and control which was not the case for serum levels. This suggests that probably Her2/neu is not highly amplified as in breast cancer so as to be reflected in serum. Since saliva is in local vicinity of the OSCC, even a mild increase might be mirrored. On the whole, this study proposes Her2/neu as marker for distinguishing premalignant and malignant conditions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.4959-4964
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• 2015

Background: To assess the immunohistochemical expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) neu receptor in breast cancer and their associations with various clinicopathological characteristics. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of women who presented with primary, unilateral breast cancer in the Department of Medical Oncology at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Delhi, India during the period from January 2008 to December 2011. Data were retrieved from the medical records of the hospital including both early and locally advanced cancer cases. ER, PgR and HER2neu expression in these patients was assessed and triple negative patients were identified. Associations of triple negative and non-triple negative groups with clinicopathological characteristics were also evaluated. Results: A total of 1,284 women (mean age 52.1 years, 41.9% premenopausal) were included in the analysis. Hormone receptor positivity (ER and/or PgR) was seen in 63.4% patients, while 23.8% of tumors were triple negative. Only 23.0% were HER2 positive. Around 10.0% of tumors were both ER and HER2 positive. ER and PgR positivity was significantly associated with negative HER2 status (p-value <0.0001). Younger age, premenopausal status, higher tumor grade, lymph node negativity, advanced cancer stage, and type of tumor were strongly associated with triple negativity. Significantly, a smaller proportion of women had ductal carcinoma in situ in the triple negative group compared with the non-triple negative group (35.6% versus 60.8%, p-value<0.01). Conclusions: The present analysis is one of the largest studies from India. The majority of the Indian breast cancer patients seen in our hospital present with ER and PgR positive tumors. The triple negative patients tended to be younger, premenopausal, and were associated with higher tumor grades, negative lymph nodes status and lower frequency of ductal carcinoma in situ.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.3163-3167
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• 2014

Background: Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) plus radiotherapy is equivalent to modified radical mastectomy (MRM) in terms of outcome. However there is wide variation in mastectomy rates dependent both on tumour and patient characteristics. Objective: This study aimed to assess the determinants of surgery choice in Asian patients with early breast cancer in a middle-income country. Materials and Methods: 184 patients with early breast cancer treated between Jan 2008 and Dec 2010 were recruited to complete a questionnaire. Chi-square test was used to analyze the association between surgery choice and demographic and tumour factors, surgeon recommendation, family member and partner opinions, fear of recurrence, avoidance of second surgery, fear of disfigurement, interference with sex life, fear of radiation and loss of femininity. Results: 85 (46%) had BCS while 99 (54%) had mastectomy. Age >60, Chinese ethnicity, lower education level, and larger tumour size were significantly associated with mastectomy. Surgeon recommendation was important in surgery choice. Although both groups did not place much importance on interference with sex life, 14.1% of the BCS group felt it was very important compared to 5.1% in the mastectomy group and this was statistically significant. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of the other factors. When analyzed by ethnicity, significantly more Malay and Indian women considered partner and family member opinions very important and were more concerned about loss of femininity compared to Chinese women. There were no statistical differences between the three ethnic groups in terms of the other factors. Conclusions: When counseling on surgical options, the surgeon has to take into account the ethnicity, social background and education level, age and reliance on partner and family members. Decision-making is usually a collective effort rather than just between the patient and surgeon, and involving the whole family into the process early is important.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2743-2746
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• 2013

Background: Dilantin sodium (phenytoin) is an antiepileptic drug, which is routinely used to control generalized tonic clonic seizure and partial seizure episodes. A few case reports of oral squamous cell carcinomas arising from regions of phenytoin induced gingival overgrowth (GO), and overexpression of mitogenic factors and p53 have presented this condition as a pathology with potential to transform into malignancy. We recently investigated the genetic status of p53 and H-ras, which are known to be frequently mutated in Indian oral carcinomas in GO tissues and found them to only contain wild type sequences, which suggested a non-neoplastic nature of phenytoin induced GO. However, besides p53 and H-ras, other oncogenes and tumor suppressors such as PIK3CA, p14ARF, p16INK4a and $p21^{Waf1/Cip1}$, are frequently altered in oral squamous cell carcinoma, and hence are required to be analyzed in phenytoin induced GO tissues to be affirmative of its non-neoplastic nature. Methods: 100ng of chromosomal DNA isolated from twenty gingival overgrowth tissues were amplified with primers for exons 9 and 20 of PIK3CA, exons $1{\alpha}$, $1{\beta}$ and 2 of p16INK4a and p14ARF, and exon 2 of $p21^{Waf1/Cip1}$, in independent reactions. PCR amplicons were subsequently gel purified and eluted products were sequenced. Results: Sequencing analysis of the twenty samples of phenytoin induced gingival growth showed no mutations in the analyzed exons of PIK3CA, p14ARF, p16INK4a and $p21^{Waf1/Cip1}$. Conclusion: The present data indicate that the mutational alterations of genes, PIK3CA, p14ARF, p16INK4a and $p21^{Waf1/Cip1}$ that are frequently mutated in oral squamous cell carcinomas are rare in phenytoin induced gingival growth. Thus the findings provide further evidence that phenytoin induced gingival overgrowth as a non-neoplastic lesion, which may be considered as clinically significant given the fact that the epileptic patients are routinely administered with phenytoin for the rest of their lives to control seizure episodes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3431-3436
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• 2016

Background: Carcinogenesis is a multifaceted intricate cellular mechanism of transformation of the normal functions of a cell into neoplastic alterations. Metastasis may result in failure of conventional treatment and death Hence, research on metastatic suppressors in cancer is a high priority. The metastatic suppressor gene CD82, also known as KAI1, is a member of the transmembrane 4 superfamily which was first identified in carcinoma of prostate. Little work has been done on this gene in breast cancer. Herein, we aimed to determine the gene and protein level expression of CD82/KAI1 in breast cancer and its role as a prognosticator. Materials and Methods: In this study, 83 histologically proven cases of breast cancer and a similar number of controls were included. Patient age ranged from 18-70 years. Quantitative Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (q-RT PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to investigate KAI1 expression at gene and protein levels, respectively. Statistical analysis was done to correlate expression of KAI1 and clinicopathological parameters. Results: It was revealed that: (i) KAI1 was remarkably diminished in metastatic vs non metastatic breast cancer both at the gene and the protein levels (P < .05); (ii) KAI1 expression levels were strongly correlated with TNM staging, histological grade and advanced stage (p<0.001) and no association was found with any other studied parameter; (iii) Lastly, a significant correlation was observed between expression of KAI1 and overall median survival of BC patients (P = 0.04). Conclusions: Our results suggest that lack of expression of the KAI1 might indicate a more aggressive form of breast cancer. Loss of KAI1 may be considered a significant prognostic marker in predicting metastatic manifestation. When evaluated along with the clinical and pathological factors, KAI1 expression may be beneficial to tailor aggressive therapeutic strategies for such patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3499-3503
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• 2016

Our recent studies conducted in South America have shown that mycotoxin contamination of red chili peppers (RCPs) may be associated with an increased risk of gallbladder cancer (GBC). Whether this relationship exists in India, a country with a high incidence of GBC and high consumption of RCPs, is unclear. We therefore measured concentrations of aflatoxins (AFs) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in RCPs from areas of low, medium, and high incidence of GBC in India, and compared these concentrations with GBC incidence in each area. Twenty-one RCP samples were collected from nine cities (eight from a low-incidence area, five from a medium-incidence area, and eight from a high-incidence area). Concentrations of AFs and OTA were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography. No significant differences in mean concentrations of AFs and OTA were found in the three areas. AFB1 levels in the low-incidence area ($10.81{\mu}g/kg$) and high-incidence area ($12.00{\mu}g/kg$) were more than 2.2 and 2.4 times higher compared with the maximum permitted level of AFB1 in spices ($5.0{\mu}g/kg$) set by the Commission of the European Communities, or that ($4.4{\mu}g/kg$) obtained in our previous study in Chile. Our results show that the mean concentrations of mycotoxins in RCPs are similar among the three areas in India with different incidences of GBC. Further studies with human subjects are needed to evaluate any association between AFB1 and GBC.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.1527-1533
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• 2001

Garole is a prolific, rare, less known and small size Indian sheep breed found in low and humid Sunderban region of West Bengal. Although information on stored Garole ram liquid semen upto 24 h is available, but there is a need to further investigate the short-term and long-term preservability of Garole ram semen for extensive utilization of this valuable germplasm by artificial insemination. The aim of the present study was to apply computer-assisted sperm analysis technique for assessing the motion characteristics of Garole ram semen stored (i) in liquid state at refrigeration temperature for short-term preservation upto 48 h and (ii) in frozen state at $-196^{\circ}C$ for long-term preservation after packaging in mini straws. Short-term preservation had a significant effect on motility (p<0.01) as the motility progressively decreased from 90.1% at 0 h to 85.5% and 73.2% after 24 and 48 h of storage, respectively. Although the decline in rapid moving sperms was also significant (p<0.01) on storage but the decrease was more pronounced at 48 h as compared to 24 h of storage period. Storage of chilled semen had also a significant effect on % linearity (p<0.05), % straightness (p<0.01), sperm velocities (p<0.01), amplitude of lateral head displacement (p<0.01) and beat frequency (pO.Ol) of spermatozoa. The replication had a significant effect for all the variables except average path and straight line velocity. However, the interactions of short-term storage and replication were non-significant for most of the variables except % of medium moving sperms, sperm velocities and beat frequency. On long-term preservation of Garole ram spermatozoa under controlled conditions the mean post-thaw recovery of 70.4 and 71.4% motile spermatozoa was achieved having 48.8 and 48.9% of rapidly motile spermatozoa, respectively in both the replicates. The effect of replication on cryopreservation was significant (p<0.05) on amplitude of lateral head displacement and beat frequency, but there was no significant effect on motility, rapidly motile spermatozoa, linearity, straightness and sperm velocities of frozen-thawed spermatozoa. It can be concluded from these results that an average 70% motility can be achieved on storage of Garole ram semen in chilled liquid state upto 48 h or in liquid nitrogen after freezing under controlled conditions in straws. However, further studies are required to evaluate the fertility of short-term and long-term preserved Garole ram semen for extensive use of this prolific sheep breed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5275-5279
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• 2013

Background: The XRCC1 (X-ray repair cross complimenting group-I) gene in BER (base excision repair) pathway is essential for DNA repair process. Polymorphisms in this gene are associated with variations in the repair efficiency which might predispose individuals to development of various cancers. Two variants of XRCC1gene (at codon 399), Gln/Gln and Arg/Gln, have been shown to be related to lowered DNA repair capacity and increased genomic instability in multiple studies. Hence our investigation focused on genotyping these variants to correlate with other multiple risk factors in lung cancer (NSCLC) patients since we hypothesized that these variants of the XRCC1 gene might influence disease susceptibility. Materials and Methods: We examined the frequency of the polymorphism in one hundred cases and an almost equal number of controls after recording their demographics with a structured questionnaire. Genomic DNA from blood samples was extracted for PCR studies, followed by RFLP to determine the variants. The significance of the data was statistically analyzed. Results: The three genotypes in cases and controls were Arg/Arg (40% and 54.45%); Gln/Gln (19% and 9.90%), and Arg/Gln (41.0% and 35.64%) respectively. Among these 3 genotypes, we found Gln/Gln and Arg/Gln to show association with lung cancer. Correlating these genotypes with several parameters, we also found that these two variants were associated with risk in males (p<0.05) and with smoking habits (p<0.05). In females Arg/Gln genotype showed association with stage of the disease (p=0.04). This is the first report in South Indian scenario where Arg399Gln genotypes were found to be associated with stage of the disease in females. Conclusions: It is concluded that XRCC1 genotypes Gln/Gln and Arg/Gln may influence cancer susceptibility in patients with smoking habits and these functional SNPs in XRCC1 gene may act as attractive candidate biomarkers in lung cancer for diagnosis and prognosis.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.5-11
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• 2012

The core objective of this research article is to investigate different challenges and opportunities in management as well as start-ups of small businesses in India. The prudence behind this research is to examine various problems in front of the small businesses and to offer vital support and cooperation to overcome those with the support of concerned institutions through consultancy and training programs. The researchers have an intention to make available the research results to the governmental agencies, concerned small business institutions and also to the educational institutions which are continually design plans, programs, policies and strategies to upgrade the managerial and technical dexterities of the small business Indian operators. After thorough revision of relevant literature on small businesses and its management, the researchers used a well structured questionnaire and in-depth personal interviews with 586small business operators selected from manufacturing, trading (retailing and wholesaling), finance, servicing/repair businesses which are located in the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh in India. The researchers have used convenience sampling and collected data was analyzed with the support of Microsoft Excel and frequency distribution. Noticeably, majority of the small businessmen in India are facing myriad number of challenges both in management and at the time of establishment of their business operations. In particular, 72.47 percent of small businesses operators' have substantiated their strong opinion towards the challenges they are facing particularly finance, marketing and other problems while managing their businesses. The researchers also attempted to get the opinions on problems of the various categories of small businesses while starting their operations. A staggering 68percent of respondents identified the problems related to preparation of business plan, location selection, marketing and other problems like lack of proper credit facilities, skilled manpower, and other infra related problems while setting up of their businesses. On an average, 64.62 and 63.51 percent of small businesses are facing various kinds of problems both at the time of day-to-day management as well as start-up of their businesses respectively. The present research confined with the opinions of only four categories of small business operators particularly from the manufacturing, finance, trading (retailing and wholesaling), and servicing/repair which are continuing their business operations from the nine coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh in India. The present study emphatically provides concrete information required to the business community for identifying an assortment of challenges faced by different small business operators in managing and at the time of their inception. This research paper is first of its kind from this part of the world by offering extensive and credible information required for prospective entrepreneurs in facing the dynamic challenges in managing their business. Furthermore, this research presents invaluable inputs to the stakeholders like all types of governments, policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and educators' about the various impediments faced by the small business community in India.