• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6087-6094
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• 2014

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to invesitigate the impact of significant clinico-pathological prognostic factors on survival rates and to identify factors predictive of poor outcome in patients with ovarian carcinoma. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart review of 74 women with pathologically proven ovarian carcinoma who were treated between January 2006 and April 2011 was performed. Patients were investigated with respect to survival to find the possible effects of age, gravida, parity, menstruel condition, pre-operative Ca-125, treatment period, cytologic washings, presence of ascites, tumor histology, stage and grade, maximal tumor diameter, adjuvan chemotherapy and cytoreductive success. Also 55 ovarian carcinoma patients were investigated with respect to prognostic factors for early 2-year survival. Results: The two-year survival rate was 69% and the 5-year survival rate was 25.5% for the whole study population. Significant factors for 2-year survival were preoperative CA-125 level, malignant cytology and FIGO clinical stage. Significant factors for 5-year survival were age, preoperative CA-125 level, residual tumor, lymph node metastases, histologic type of tumor, malignant cytology and FIGO clinical stage. Logistic regression revealed that independent prognostic factors of 5-year survival were patient age, lymph node metastasis and malignant cytology. Conclusions: We consider quality registries with prospectively collected data to be one important tool in monitoring treatment effects in population-based cancer research.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1919-1924
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• 2014

Background: In India, breast cancer is the leading malignancy among women in a majority of the cancer registries. Therefore it is important to understand screening practices and its predictors, including in rural areas with high female literacy and good health indices. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study with multistage sampling was conducted in Vypin Block, Ernakulam district, Kerala, India. Four Panchayats (self administration units) were randomly chosen and a woman in every second household was invited to participate from the tenth ward of each. Thus a total of 809 women were interviewed. Results: The majority of the repondents (82.1%) were not aware of risk factors and about a third (37.9%) were not aware of symptoms of breast cancer. About half of the population studied (46.6%) had undergone screening. Age (35-50 years), being married, health professionals as source of information and working were significant predictors of screening. Logistic regression showed that older women (35-50 yrs) were more likely to practice screening. Out of the never screened, about a third (35%) were desirous of doing it, but had not for various reasons and 53.5% were not willing to screen. The reasons identified for not screening among those desirous of doing it were grouped into knowledge 66 (43.4%), resources 23 (15.1%) and psychosocial 32(21.1%) factors. Unmarried women were significantly more likely to express factors related to all the three domains. Conclusions: This study showed that in spite of the absence of a population-based screening program, about half of the study population had undergone some type of screening. The older women (35-50 years) in particular were significantly more likely to practice screening. At this critical juncture, a high quality breast cancer awareness and screening initiative can help to consolidate the gains and tackle knowledge, resource and psychosocial barriers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.6189-6193
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• 2013

In December 2011, the Cancer Research Centre of the Cancer Institute of Iran sponsored a 3-day workshop on "Cancer Registration Principle and Challenges in Iran", which convened cancer registry experts. The objectives of the workshop were: to introduce standard cancer registration, to review the policy and procedure of cancer registration in Iran, and to review the best practices in the cancer registries in Iran. Challenges to cancer registration were discussed and recommendations were developed. The workshop was evaluated by participants for better organization of subsequent workshops. The objective of publication of this report is that based on Cancer in 5 Continents, many low- or middle-income countries do not meet the criteria for a standard population-based cancer registry (PBCR); on the other hand cancer is the most important cause of mortality and the essential part of any cancer control program is the cancer registry. Therefore this report focuses on problems and challenges of PBCR and provides recommendations which might help other developing countries to decrease their PBCR defects.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5817-5823
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• 2013

Background: It is important to understand the perceptions of oncologists to understand the comprehensive picture of clinical presentation of breast cancer. In the absence of clear evidence, clinical practice involving patients of breast cancer in India should provide insights into stages of breast cancer with which women present to their clinics and mode of screening of breast cancer prevalent in Andhra Pradesh. Materials and Methods: A qualitative study was conducted to understand the perceptions of oncologists regarding clinical presentation of breast cancer, stages at which women present to clinics, and mode of screening of breast cancer prevalent in Andhra Pradesh. In-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted with ten practising oncologists from various public and private cancer hospitals in Hyderabad city to understand their perspectives on breast cancer and screening. The data were triangulated to draw inferences suitable for the current public Health scenario. Results: Late presentation was indicated as the most important cause of decreased survival among women. Most women present at Stage 3 and 4 when there is no opportunity for surgical intervention. The results indicate that there is a huge gap in awareness about breast cancer, especially in rural areas and among poor socioeconomic groups. Even despite knowledge, most women delay in reporting due to reasons like fear, embarrassment, cost, ignorance, negligence, and easy going attitude. Conclusions: It is important to improve awareness about breast cancer and screening methods for promoting early screening. The study inferred that it would be beneficial to establish cancer registries in rural areas. Also, the policymakers need to make key decisions which among three methods (breast self examination (BSE), clinical breast examination and mammography) can best be used as a screening tool and how to successfully implement population wide screening program to prevent mortality and morbidity from breast cancer in India.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.93-99
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• 2016

Completeness is an important indicator of data quality in cancer registry programs. This study aimed to estimate the completeness of registered cases in a population based cancer registry program implemented in five provinces of Iran. Capture-recapture methods were used to estimate the number of cases that may have been missed and to estimate rates of completeness for different categories of age, year, and sex. The data used for this study were obtained from three sources: 1) National Pathology Database; 2) National Hospital Discharge Database; and 3) National Death Registry Database. The three sources were linked and duplicates were identified based on first name, last name, father's names, and date of birth, ICD code, and case's residency address using Microsoft Excel. Removing duplicates, the three sources reported a total of 35,643 cases from March 2008 to March 2011. Running many different multivariate models of capture-recapture and controlling for source dependencies revealed an overall under-reporting of 49% in all five registries combined. The estimated completeness differed based on age, sex, and year. The overall completeness was higher for males than females (71.2% for males and 59.9% for females). Younger age had lower rates of completeness compared to older age (38.1% for <40 years, 55.4% for 40-60 years, and 76.7 for >60 years). The results of this study indicated a moderate to severe (depending on the age, sex and year) degree of completeness in the population based cancer registration of Iran.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3499-3503
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• 2015

Background: Cancer has become an epidemic disease. Nearly ten million new cancer cases are diagnosed annually in the world and out of these about half are from the developing world. To appropriately plan for treatment, management and prevention of the disease, it becomes necessary to study the trends about morbidity caused by cancers. Materials and Methods: Data for patients diagnosed with any form of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers was extracted from records maintained in the outpatient department registers of the Oncology Department of Government Medical College and Hospital in Chandigarh from 1999 to 2012. Trends were analysed for different categories of GI cancers for the period of 12 years. Results: In present study GI cancers accounted for 23 % of all registered cases (n-9603) of carcinomas. Males predominated for all GI cancers except in the gall bladder. Gastrointestinal cancers as a proportion of total cancers increased from 21% in 1999 to 25.9% in 2012 with a significant increasing trend in our series (${\chi}^2$ for linear trend=9.36, p<0.003). Cancers of the tonsil, oral cavity and pharynx taken together showed an increasing trend over the years (${\chi}^2$ for trend=55.2, p<0.001) whereas cancers of the lower GI (${\chi}^2=19.6$, p<0.0001) and gall bladder (${\chi}^2=19.5$, p<0.0001) showed a declining trend in our series. Conclusions: GI cancers form a significant proportion of all cancers reporting to our data. In depth studies to ascertain the reasons for the changing trends are required to design intervention programs. Further information is necessary from cancer registries and from the hospital records of oncology departments.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1745-1754
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• 2016

Background: The prime output of Hospital Based Cancer Registries is stage and treatment based survival to evaluate patient care, but because of challenges of obtaining follow-up details a separate study on Patterns of Care and Survival for selected sites was initiated under the National Cancer Registry Programme of India. The results of stage and treatment based survival for head and neck cancers by individual organ sites are presented. Materials and Methods: A standardized Patient Information Form recorded the details and entered on-line at www.hbccrindia.org to a central repository - National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research. Cases from 12 institutions diagnosed between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2008 comprised the study subjects. The patterns of treatment were examined for 14053 and survival for 4773 patients from five institutions who reported at least 70% follow-up as of 31 December 2012. Results: Surgical treatment with radiation for cancer tongue and mouth showed five year cumulative survival (FCS) of 67.5% and 60.4% respectively for locally advanced stage. Chemo-radiation compared to radiation alone showed better survival benefit of around 15% in both oro and hypo-pharyngeal cancers and their FCS was 40.0%; Hazard Ratio (HR):1.5;CI=1.2-1.9) and 38.7%; (HR):1.7; CI=1.3-2.2). Conclusions: The awareness about the requirement of concurrent chemo-radiation in specifically cancers of the oro and hypopharynx has to be promoted in developing countries. The annual (2014) estimate number of new Head and Neck cancers with locally advanced disease in India is around 140,000 and 91,000 (65%) patients do not receive the benefit of optimal treatment with ensuing poorer survival.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5367-5370
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• 2013

Background: Having knowledge or estimation of cancer incidence is necessary for planning and implementation of any cancer prevention and control programs. Population-based registries provide valuable information to achieve these objectives but require extra techniques to estimate the incidence rate. The present study aimed to estimate the esophageal cancer incidence using a log-linear method based on Tehran population-based cancer registry data. Materials and Methods: New cases of esophageal cancer reported by three sources of pathology reports, medical records, and death certificates to Tehran Metropolitan Area Cancer Registry Center during 2002-2006 were entered into the study and the incidence rate was estimated based on log-linear models. We used Akaike statistics to select the best-fit model. Results: During 2002-2006, 1,458 new cases of esophageal cancer were reported by the mentioned sources to the population-based cancer registry. Based on the reported cases, cancer incidence was 4.5 per 100,000 population and this was estimated to be 10.5 per 100,000 by the log-linear method. Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that an estimated incidence for 2004 of 8.3 per 100,000 population could be a good benchmark for the incidence of esophageal cancer in the population of Tehran metropolis.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.213-217
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• 2007

Objectives : This study aimed to calculate the survival rates of cancer patients in Jeju Island residents from 2000 to 2001, based on their major primary sites of occurrence. Methods : Data were extracted from the database of the Jejudo Cancer Registry (JCR). The eligible population comprised 2,382 cancer cases, whose cancers were diagnosed from 1 January 2000 through 31 December 2001. Of the eligible population, 1,438 patients with 5 major cancers defined by the level of incidence rates were selected as the study participants. The period of survival for each case was calculated from the date of first diagnosis to the date of death, or the end of follow-up, i.e., 31 December 2003. The observed survival rates (OSR) and relative survival rates (RSR) were calculated according to sex, age-group, and primary sites of occurrence. Results : The 3-year OSR and RSR in 5 major cancers were higher in women than in men except 75 year-old over group. The 3-year RSR of stomach, colorectum, liver, and lung in both sexes were 61.0%, 62.6%, 24.7%, and 22.8%, respectively. The respective rates in JCR showed some statistically significant differences from those in the Korea Central Cancer Registry (KCCR). Conclusions : These results would suggest some clues about prognostic factors of major cancers in Korean, and could apply to planning and evaluating of cancer control strategies in Jeju Island.

• Review of Korean Society for Internet Information
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.63-76
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• 2013

This short report introduces the general background why Brazil conference is being prepared and what topics would be undertaken and what goals are being taken into account. It overviews what differences from traditional telecommunication governance, internet governance has had in its historical development and how such differences had been formed from its technological differences and the regulatory policy shift from common carrier regulation to privatization. Moreover, the fact that open, voluntary, bottom-up, diverse stakeholder's participation had evolved throughout the historical development of the internet, had established the present multistakeholder governance model from technological standardization to addressing scheme policies. ICANN, which has governed internet addressing schemes since the earlier 2000s, had developed address policies including IANA function from Jon Postel and technical community's legacy management system into contract based formation between ICANN and gTLD, ccTLD registries. And it made dispute resolution policies responding to trademark disputes and resolved gTLD monopoly issue by introducing new TLD generation and the separation of registry and registar. However, there had been challenges on the legitimacy of ICANN due to its dependency on the Federal Government of the U.S. particularly in its oversight role over ICANN and IANA contract. WSIS raised up internet governance issues including addressing governance, and set up IGF as a discussion platform for multistakeholders to discuss and share all views on other internet related public policies. IGF's loose and non-binding discussion once frustrated governments and other stakeholders, but more focused discussion and visible outcomes have consolidated its unique role for internet governance discourses. Particularly, IGF addressed many emerging internet related issues like cybersecurity, privacy, net neuratlity, development related issues. WTPF of 2013, after WCIT debate on whether traditional telecommunication regulation could be applied to internet infrastructure, suggested other governance issues such as the transition to ipv6, IXP coordination etc. How to make sure the legitimacy of internet addressing governance and how and where other internet related public policies could be undertaken are fundamental tasks for internet governance. Brazil conference, which has been motivated by the breakdown of trust in internet governance from NSA mass surveillance revealed by Snowden, faces these questions and try to make consensus on principles, institutions and roadmap for internet governance in multistakeholder participation way.