• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권22호
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• pp.9767-9771
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• 2014

Background: Social support is an important factor in psycho-social well-being of cancer survivors. There is little information about level of social support and its predictors among cancer survivors in Iran or other Middle Eastern countries. The aims of present study were to determine the social support and its prediction factors among Iranian cancer survivors. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study 187 cancer patients in one educational center and one private oncology office in northwest of Iran participated using a convenient sampling method. The data collection tool consisted of a researcher-prepared checklist and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support Assessment (MSPSS). Data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software with descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: The total score of MSPSS was 68 from a possible score between 7 and 84. Participants believed that they received a high level of support from their family members and significant others. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that single and depressed cancer survivors and participants with lower levels of physical activity believed that they received lower levels of social support. Conclusions: Iranian cancer survivors receive high levels of social support and family members are the most important source of this support. In planning any supportive care program for Iranian cancer survivors this strength should be considered. Especially, single and depressed and patients with lower levels of physical activity need more attention.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권7호
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• pp.2971-2974
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• 2015

TP53 is assumed to be a very important tumour suppressor gene, as illustrated by recent reports that have shown effects of its polymorphisms on breast cancer risk. Arg72Pro and PIN3(16bp duplication) polymorphisms are proposed to have an effective role in structural changes of p53 and have therefore attracted interest as a risk factor for breast cancer in different populations. The aim of this study was to examine and determine whether p53 codon 72 and PIN3 Ins16 bp may be associated with an increased risk for breast cancer in female patients from the northwest of Iran. Genotyping was performed by PCR-RFLP (polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism) method for a total of 100 women with breast cancer and 100 healthy women without any background of cancer, focusing on the TP53 Arg72Pro-16Del/Ins haplotypes and the combined genotypes. The results in this study established no statistical significant distinctions between the genotypes and a llele frequency were found for Arg72Pro and PIN3 Ins 16 bp polymorphisms between patients and controls.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권13호
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• pp.5499-5505
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• 2015

Background: Providing care for hematologic cancer patients may lead to many negative complications in different aspects of life in their family caregivers. Based on a wide review of relevant literature, there are limited data about the burden of giving care for hematologic cancer patients on their primary family caregivers in Iran or other Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the cancer care burden on primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients, in terms of physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and financial aspects. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 151 primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients referred to two cancer care centers in East Azerbaijan Province in northwest of Iran participated. The Financial Distress/Financial Well-being Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Vaux Social Support Questionnaire, Spiritual Well-being Scale, and SF-36 were used for data collection. Data analysis was performed with SPSS software. Results: The findings of this study indicated that the primary family caregivers experience a high level of financial distress and a significant percentage of them suffered from anxiety and depression. In addition, the physical quality of life in these caregivers was moderate. On the other hand, spiritual health and social support of participants was at an acceptable level. Conclusions: Iranian primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients experience many problems in physical, psychological, and financial aspects of their life. Therefore, developing care plans for reducing these problems appears necessary.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권12호
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• pp.6277-6283
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• 2012

Background: Northern Iran counts as one of the highest prevalence regions for esophageal cancer (EC) worldwide. This study was designed to assess the epidemiologic aspects of EC in north central and northwest Iran over a 10 year period. Materials and Methods: The Guilan cancer registry study (GCRS) is a population-based cancer registry study featuring retrospective (1996-2003) and prospective (2004-2005) phases. A detailed questionnaire based on WHO standards for cancer registratration was applied to gather the required information. Two trained physicians coded information using ICD-O-3 in close coordination with an expert pathologist. Results: A total of 19,936 cases of malignancy (mean age $55.4{\pm}18.0$ years, range: 1-98 years) were registered, including 1,147 cases (670 males, 447 female; mean age: $64.0{\pm}11.5$ years) of EC. In 1996 the male/female ratio among patients with EC was 1.25 which increased to 1.53 in 2005. The lower third of the esophagus still remained the most common site of tumors. The average age-standardized rate (ASR) was 6.9 and 4.1 per $10^5$ men and women, respectively. In 1996, the ASRs were 7.2 and 5.2 per $10^5$ men and women which decreased to 6.9 and 4.1 per $10^5$ in 2004-2005. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was the most prevalent histological subtype of EC accounting over 80% of cases. Conclusions: However the prevalence of adenocarcinoma (ADC) showed an increase to 18.4%. Guilan province may be considered a relatively low incidence region for EC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권9호
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• pp.3923-3926
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• 2015

Background: Lung cancer is a fatal malignancy with high mortality and short survival time. The aim of this study was to estimate survival rates of Iranian patients with lung cancer and its associate predictive factors. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 355 patients admitted to hospitals of West Azerbaijan in the year 2007. The patients were followed up by phone calls until the end of June 2014. The survival rate was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test for comparison. The Cox's proportional hazard model was used to investigate the effect of various variables on patient survival time, including age, sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance, smoking status, tumor type, tumor stage, treatment, metastasis, and blood hemoglobin concentration. Results: Of the 355 patients under study, 240 died and 115 were censored. The mean and median survival time of patients was 13 and 4.8 months, respectively. According to the results of Kaplan-Meier method, 1, 2, and 3 years survival rates were 39%, 18%, and 0.07%, respectively. Based on Cox regression analysis, the risk of death was associated with ECOG group V (1.83, 95% CI: 1 Conclusions: The survival time of the patients with lung cancer is very short. While early diagnosis may improve the life expectancy effective treatment is not available.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권14호
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• pp.6067-6071
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• 2015

Background: Gastric cancer accounts for about 8% of the total cancer cases and 10% of total cancer deaths worldwide. It is the second lethal cancer after esophageal cancer and is considered the fourth most common cancer in north and northwest Iran. The bcl2 family has a key role in the regulation of apoptosis and change in its expression can contribute to cancer. This study initially scheduled to determine the expression of bcl2 gene in tissue samples of adenocarcinoma cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 10 samples of gastric adenocarcinoma and 10 of normal tissues from Sari hospital were selected and after DNA extraction from tissues, bcl2 gene expression assayed by real-time PCR. Results: Our results demonstrated higher expression of the bcl2 gene in control compared with cancer and marginal cancer tissues. Conclusions: On one hand BCL2 plays an important role as an oncogene to inhibit apoptosis; on the other hand, it can initiate cell cycle arrest at G0 stage. Our observed association between its expression and patient survival is quite conflicting and may be tissue-specific. The data suggest expression both tumoural and non-tumoral(marginal) groups have lowered expression than controls (P>0.05). Due to the low number of samples we could not examine the relationship with clinicopathological features. However, bcl-2 expression may be important for prognostic outcome or a useful target for therapeutic intervention.

• Advances in environmental research
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• 제4권4호
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• pp.233-246
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• 2015

High amounts of air pollution in crowded urban areas are always considered as one of the major environmental challenges especially in developing countries. Despite the errors in air pollution prediction, the forecasting of future data helps air quality management make decisions promptly and properly. We studied the air quality of the Aqdasiyeh location in Tehran using factor analysis and the Box-Jenkins time series methods. The Air Quality Control Company (AQCC) of the Municipality of Tehran monitors seven daily air quality parameters, including carbon monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Monoxide (NO), Nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$), $NO_x$, ozone ($O_3$), particulate matter ($PM_{10}$) and sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$). We applied the AQCC data for our study. According to the results of the factor analysis, the air quality parameters were divided into two factors. The first factor included CO, $NO_2$, NO, $NO_x$, and $O_3$, and the second was $SO_2$ and $PM_{10}$. Subsequently, the Box- Jenkins time series was applied to the two mentioned factors. The results of the statistical testing and comparison of the factor data with the predicted data indicated Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (0, 0, 1) was appropriate for the first factor, and ARIMA (1, 0, 1) was proper for the second one. The coefficient of determination between the factor data and the predicted data for both models were 0.98 and 0.983 which may indicate the accuracy of the models. The application of these methods could be beneficial for the reduction of developing numbers of mathematical modeling.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권10호
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• pp.4185-4192
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• 2015

Background: A protective effect of resistant starch (RS) containing foods on carcinogenesis has been shown from several lines of experimental evidence for gastrointestinal cancers. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between RS contained foods and breast cancer (BC) risk in a hospital-based, age- and origin-matched, case-control study. Materials and Methods: A validated, semi-quantitative, food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was completed by 306 women newly diagnosed with BC aged 25 to 65 years, and 309 healthy women as matched controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were estimated using conditional logistic regression models. Results: Reduced BC risk was associated with the highest tertile of whole-wheat bread and boiled potato consumption with adjusted ORs at 0.34 (95%CI: 0.19-0.59) and 0.61 (95%CI: 0.37-0.99), respectively. Among consumers of whole-wheat bread, the protective role of cereals remained relatively apparent at higher intakes level of fiber rich breads at adjusted models (OR=0.53, 95%CI: 0.28-1.01). Moreover, high intake of legumes was found out to be a significant protective dietary factor against risk of BC development with an OR of 0.01 (95%CI: 0.03-0.13). However, consumption of white bread and biscuits was positively related to BC risk. Conclusions: Our results show that certain RS containing foods, in particular whole wheat bread, legumes and boiled potato may reduce BC risk, whereas higher intake of white bread and biscuits may be related to increased BC risk.

• 헤리티지:역사와 과학
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• 제48권3호
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• pp.186-203
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• 2015

이 글은 실크로드라는 이름으로 더 많이 알려진 중앙유라시아 미술사 연구의 성과와 과제에 대해 살펴본 것이다. 이 글에서 다루는 '중앙유라시아'의 공간 범주는 중국 신강, 티베트, 몽골, 러시아 및 구소련 공화국, 인도 북부, 이란, 터키이며, 30년 이상 거쳐 온 이 지역 미술사 연구의 지적 모색 과정을 크게 되짚어 보고, 이를 통해 앞으로 나아가야할 바를 생각해보려 하였다. 한국의 중앙유라시아 미술사 연구는 학문적 연륜은 짧지만, 2015년 현재 인도서북부, 중국 신장, 돈황 등 몇몇 분야의 괄목할만한 발전이 있었다. 발전의 뒤에는 1990년 중앙유라시아로 현지답사가 가능해지면서 실견이 가능해진 환경도 있지만, 중앙아시아학회, 서울대 중앙유라시아연구소와 같은 연구기관이 후학들에게 마련해 준 '학문의 장(場)'이 있었다. 두 학술단체는 비록 느리지만 꾸준히 중앙유라시아 미술사 관련 연구로 학자들의 관심을 유도하고 연구자들을 배출해냈다. 2012년 이후로는 갑자기 상황이 많이 바뀌었다. 관이 주도하는 국제학술대회가 우후죽순처럼 개최되었기 때문이다. 실크로드를 한반도로 연장하고, 궁극에는 '중앙유라시아의 이니셔티브'를 확보하려는 것이다. 2015년 현재, 대중들의 관심은 높아졌고, 1980년 이후 두 번째 열풍이 불고 있다. 물론 최근의 국제학술대회가 목표와 지향점이 미리 설정되어 있어 객관성이 담보되거나 발표자가 자신의 목소리를 내기는 어렵다는 문제가 있기는 하지만, 틀림없는 사실은 관심이 높아진 만큼 발전 가능성이 커졌다는 것이다. 지금 이 시점에서 무엇보다 중요한 것은 말할 필요도 없이 중앙유라시아 미술사를 체계적이고 전문적으로 연구할 신진 연구자의 양성이다. 한국문화와 세계 문화가 만나 소통하고 이를 기반으로 신개념 문화를 만들어 내려면 말이다. 위의 과제가 해결되지 않는다면 한국 유라시아 미술사 연구는 자칫 오랫동안 공회전할 가능성이 있다.