• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.3-10
• /
• 2014

The Japan National Committee for the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and UICC-Asia Regional Office (ARO) organized an international session as part of the official program of the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Cancer Association to discuss the topic "What is cost-effectiveness in cancer treatment?" Healthcare economics are an international concern and a key issue for the UICC. The presenters and participants discussed the question of how limited medical resources can be best used to support life, which is a question that applies to both developing and industrialized countries, given that cancer treatment is putting medical systems under increasing strain. The emergence of advanced yet hugely expensive drugs has prompted discussion on methodologies for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) that seek to quantify cost and effect. The session benefited from the participation of various stakeholders, including representatives of industry, government and academia and three speakers from the Republic of Korea, an Asian country where discussion on HTA methodologies is already advanced. In addition, the session was joined by a representative of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) of the United Kingdom, which has pioneered the concept of cost-effectiveness in a medical context. The aim of the session was to advance and deepen understanding of the issue of cost-effectiveness as viewed from medical care systems in different regions.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.109-119
• /
• 2010

Purpose: This study was a part of a drive to develop a community health center-based hospice management model which is concerned with hospice care at a community health care setting and available resources of the local community. Methods: Development of a community health center-based hospice management model involved evaluation of existing hospice-related research, including literature review, and research on hospice facilities at the study site, as well as evaluation of model operation. The latter involved community health center-based hospice test operation, and evaluation of test operation by a research team, including of a nursing professor majoring in hospice care and staffs from a community health center in Busan metropolitan city, regional cancer center, and regional terminal cancer patient medical institute. The study was conducted in the 2008 calendar year. Results: The community health center-based hospice management model provides service linked with local community resources, focusing on the local community health center. Financial and administrative assistance is provided by the regional cancer center, with collaboration from academic health care professionals who guide the operation management. The community health center hospice nurse in consultation with a visiting nurse team registers terminally-ill cancer patients and, after assessment, the hospice team prioritize hospice care during team meeting. Care is delivered by staffs and volunteers. Conclusion: The developed community health center-based hospice operation management model maximally utilizes available community health resources to produce qualitative improvement of regional health and welfare policy through improving the lives of home-based cancer patients and their family who are in medical blind spot.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.3921-3924
• /
• 2013

Background: To investigate the role of surgical treatment for locally advanced esophageal cancer, we compared the outcomes of chemoradiotheroy alone (CRT) to postoperative chemoradiotherapy (S/CRT), using, Regional Radiotherapy Center, database. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in North-West of Iran, included of 255 consecutive patients with esophageal cancer. Eligible operable and non-operable, were treated with S/CRT and CRT respectively. Radiotherapy (RT) was delivered at 1.8-2 Gy/day for five consecutive days in a given week. Chemotherapy (CT) consisted of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil. Results: From March 2006 to March 2011 255 patients: male/female 129/96, median age 68 (35-90), squamous/adeno 213/12, received CRT/S+CRT 166/59, median radiation dose $45{\pm}13.6Gy$, Median survival 13.5 (11-15), overall survival (OS) One/Two/Three 57/21/16%, Died/alive 158/97, Univariate analysis prognostic factors: age/stag/differentiation/dose of RT/fraction/treatment, Multivariate analysis predictor factor: dose of RT/fraction. Conclusions: Although this treatment offers some possibility for improvement of patients with esophageal cancer, there remains a significant need for development of new drug and new therapeutic approaches that can substantially impact survival.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.13
• /
• pp.5493-5498
• /
• 2015

Due to the lack of nationwide population-based cancer registration, the total cancer prevalence in Iran is unknown. Our previous work in which we used a basic network scale-up (NSU) method, failed to provide plausible estimates of total cancer prevalence in Kerman. The aim of the present study was to estimate total and partial prevalence of cancer in southeastern Iran using an adapted version of the generalized network scale-up method. A survey was conducted in 2014 using multi-stage cluster sampling. A total of 1995 face-to-face gender-matched interviews were performed based on an adapted version of the NSU questionnaire. Interviewees were asked about their family cancer history. Total and partial prevalence were estimated using a generalized NSU estimator. The Monte Carlo method was adopted for the estimation of upper/lower bounds of the uncertainty range of point estimates. One-yr, 2-3 yr, and 4-5 yr prevalence (per 100,000 people) was respectively estimated at 78 (95%CI, 66, 90), 128 (95%CI, 118, 147), and 59 (95%CI, 49, 70) for women, and 48 (95%CI, 38, 58), 78 (95%CI, 66, 91), and 42 (95%CI, 32, 52) for men. The 5-yr prevalence of all cancers was estimated at 0.18 percent for men, and 0.27 percent for women. This study showed that the generalized familial network scale-up method is capable of estimating cancer prevalence, with acceptable precision.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.8
• /
• pp.3273-3277
• /
• 2015

Network scale up (NSU) is a novel approach to estimate parameters in hard to reach populations through asking people the number of individuals they know in their active social network. Although the method have been used in hidden populations, advantages of NSU indicate that exploration of applicability to disease like cancer might be feasible. The aim of this study was to assess the application of NSU to estimate the size of the population of breast, ovarian/cervical, prostate, and bladder cancers in the South-east of Iran. A total of 3,052 (99% response rate) Kermanian people were interviewed in 2012-2013. Based on NSU, participants were asked about if they know any people on their social network who suffered from breast, ovarian/cervical, prostate, and bladder cancers, if yes, they should enumerate them. A total of 1,650 persons living with four types of cancers (breast, ovary/cervix, prostate, and bladder) were identified by the respondents. Totally, the prevalence of people living with the four types of cancers was 228.4 per 100,000 Kermanian inhabitants. The most prevalent cancer was breast cancer, at 168.9 per 100,000, followed by prostate cancer with 116.9, ovarian/cervical cancer with 99.8, and bladder cancer with 36.3 per 100000 Kerman city population. NSU values provide a usable but not very precise way of estimating the size of subpopulations in the context of the four major cancers (breast, ovary/cervix, prostate, and bladder).

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.141-147
• /
• 2007

Cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine), which comes from Cordyceps militaris, the Chinese medicinal fungal genus Cordyceps, is used in the treatment of various diseases such as cancer and chronic inflammation. We recently reported that cordycepin has a novel antiplatelet effect through the down regulation of $[Ca^{2+}]_{i}$ and the elevation of cGMP/cAMP production. In this study, we further investigated the effect of cordycepin on collagen-induced platelet aggregation in the presence of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG)- or cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA)-inhibitor. PKG inhibitor Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS potentiated the collagen-induced platelet aggregation, but PKA inhibitor Rp-8-Br-cAMPS did not. However, both Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS and Rp-8-Br-cAMPS reduced inhibition by cordycepin of collagen-induced platelet aggregation. Moreover, cordycepin inhibited $Ca^{2+}-dependent$ phosphorylation of both 47 kDa- and 20 kDa-protein in the presence of both PKG inhibitor and PKA inhibitor. Taken altogether, these results suggest that the inhibitory effect of cordycepin on collagen-induced platelet aggregation is associated with cGMP/PKG- and cAMP/PKA-pathways, and thus cordycepin may be an efficacious intervention against platelet aggregation-mediated thrombotic disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.12
• /
• pp.4853-4858
• /
• 2015

Background: Colorectal cancer is the most common gastrointestinal cancer in Oman with an increasing incidence. We here report the presenting features, treatment outcomes and survival in a University hospital in Oman and compare our data with regional and international studies. Materials and Methods: Medical records of patients with colorectal cancer were reviewed retrospectively between June 2000 and December 2013 and were followed until June 2014. Results: A total of 162 patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The majority were males (58.6%), with a median age of 56 years. Rectum was involved in 29.6% of patients, followed by ascending and sigmoid colon. The majority of patients had stage III (42.6%) and stage IV (32.7%) disease at presentation. K-Ras status was checked for 79 patients, and 41 (51.9%) featured the wild type. Median relapse free survival was 22 months. Median overall survival for all patients was 43 months. Observed 5 year overall survival (OS) for stages I, II and III was 100%, 60% and 60% respectively. On Log rank univariate analysis, age, BMI, diabetes, hypertension, metformin use, stage, clinical nodal status for rectal cancer, pathological T and nodal status, site of metastasis, surgical intervention, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy regimen, no of cycles of chemotherapy, response, RFS, site of recurrence and administration of $2^{nd}$ line chemotherapy were significant factors affecting OS. On Cox regression multivariate analysis none of the factors independently affected the OS. Conclusions: The majority of patients present with advanced disease and at young age. The survival rates are comparable to the published regional and international literature.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.679-687
• /
• 2019

Litsea populifolia, a plant species of the Lauraceae family, is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical areas of Asia. The phylogenetic relationships and botanical characteristics of L. populifolia have been reported; however, its anti-oxidative and anti-cancer activities remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the anti-oxidative and anti-cancer effects of ethanol extracts of L. populifolia (EELP) together with the molecular mechanism of its anti-cancer activity in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. EELP showed significant anti-oxidative effects with a 50% inhibitory concentration at $11.71{\mu}g/ml$, which was measured by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assay. EELP exhibited cytotoxic activity and induced cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase in A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner, whereas EELP did not have the cytotoxic effect on the normal human lung cell line IMR90. Treatment with EELP also resulted in a decreased expression of G1/S transition-related molecules-including cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 2, CDK6, cyclin D1, and cyclin E-both for the transcription and translation levels. EELP-induced G1 arrest was associated with the phosphorylation of checkpoint kinase 2 (CHK2), p53, cell division cycle 25 homolog A (CDC25A), and the reduction of CDC25A expression in A549 cells. Collectively, these results suggest that EELP may exert an anti-cancer effect by cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase through both p53-dependent and p53-independent (ATM/CHK2/CDC25A/CDK2) pathways in A549 cells.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 1998.10b
• /
• pp.185-186
• /
• 1998

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.8
• /
• pp.3435-3442
• /
• 2015

Objective : To provide background information for strengthening cervical cancer prevention in the Pacific by mapping current human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and cervical cancer screening practices, as well as intent and barriers to the introduction and maintenance of national HPV vaccination programmes in the region. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey among ministry of health officials from 21 Pacific Island countries and territories (n=21). Results: Cervical cancer prevention was rated as highly important, but implementation of prevention programs were insufficient, with only two of 21 countries and territories having achieved coverage of cervical cancer screening above 40%. Ten of 21 countries and territories had included HPV vaccination in their immunization schedule, but only two countries reported coverage of HPV vaccination above 60% among the targeted population. Key barriers to the introduction and continuation of HPV vaccination were reported to be: (i) Lack of sustainable financing for HPV vaccine programs; (ii) Lack of visible government endorsement; (iii) Critical public perception of the value and safety of the HPV vaccine; and (iv) Lack of clear guidelines and policies for HPV vaccination. Conclusion: Current practices to prevent cervical cancer in the Pacific Region do not match the high burden of disease from cervical cancer. A regional approach, including reducing vaccine prices by bulk purchase of vaccine, technical support for implementation of prevention programs, operational research and advocacy could strengthen political momentum for cervical cancer prevention and avoid risking the lives of many women in the Pacific.