• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5459-5462
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• 2015

This case series study was performed for all 83 children below 14 years old suffering from cancer during 2010-2013 who were registered in Ardabil pediatric cancer registry (APCR). The required data were collected by questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS.19 statistical methods software. Some 51 (61.4%) of cases were male. The mean age of patients was 5.8 years. Of the total, 60 (72.3%) of cases were from urban areas. Results showed that leukemia with 54.2%, CNS with 12% and neuroblastoma with 8.4% were the most prevalent childhood malignancies in Ardabil province. Based on the under 14 year old population estimated from Ardabil province, the cumulative incidence rate was 95.4 patients per one million. The incidence rate was relatively high so that childhood cancers should be considered as an important issue in health policy making in Ardabil province of Iran.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.3907-3909
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• 2014

Background: Cytogenetic abnormalities have important implications in diagnosis and prognosis of acute leukemia and are now considered an important part of the diagnostic workup at presentation. Karyotype, if known at the time of diagnosis, guides physicians to plan appropriate management strategies for their patients. Aim and Objectives: To determine the cytogenetic profile of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in Pakistani children in order to have insights regarding behavior of the disease. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of all the cases of ALL (<15years old) diagnosed at Aga Khan University from January 2006 to June 2011 was performed. Cytogenetic analysis was made for all cases using the trypsin-Giemsa banding technique. Karyotypes were interpreted using the International System for Human Cytogenetic Nomenclature (ISCN) criteria. Results: A total of 153 patients were diagnosed as ALL during the study period, of which 127 samples successfully yielded metaphase chromosomes. The male to female ratio was 1.8:1. A normal karyotype was present in 51.2% (n=65) of the cases whereas 48.8% (n=62) had an abnormal karyotype. Most of the abnormal cases showed hyperdiploidy(13.4%) followed by t(9;22)(q34;q11.2) (7.08%). Conclusions: This study revealed a relative lack of good prognostic cytogenetic aberrations in Pakistani children with ALL.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.431-435
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• 2015

Background: Although childhood cancer is a rare disease, 100,000 children younger than 15 years of age die from cancer each year, the majority of them in developing countries. More data need to be gathered and published particularly in developing countries to better understand the scale of the problem. Aims: This study aimed to describe the patterns of childhood cancers in Saudi Arabia over a period of ten years (1999-2008). Materials and Methods: This descriptive retrospective study was based on secondary data from the Saudi Cancer Registry from 1999 to 2008. All Saudi cases (both genders), under the age of 15 years, who were diagnosed with cancer during the study period, were included in this study. Results: Childhood cancer in Saudi Arabia, in the period between 1999 and 2008, accounted for about 8% of total cancer cases. The most common encountered cancers were leukemia (34.1%), followed by lymphoma (15.2%), brain (12.4%), and kidney cancers (5.3%). The overall incidence of childhood cancers increased from 8.8 per 100,000 in 1999 to 9.8 per 100,000 in 2008. The incidence rates of cancers per 100,000 in the years 1999 and 2008 were generally higher among males, (9.4 and 11.5 in males vs. 8.3 and 8.1 in females). The highest incidence rate in the surveyed years was apparent in the birth to age 4 years group. Conclusions: Cancer is an important public health problem in Saudi Arabia and a major ascending contributor to mortality and morbidity in children. More studies are required to describe the patterns of childhood cancers and related risk factors in Saudi Arabia.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.150-158
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• 2019

Soil contaminated with heavy metals from artisanal gold mining in Anka Local Government Area in Northwestern Nigeria was investigated to evaluate the human health risk as a result of heavy metals. Measured concentration of heavy metals and exposure parameters were used to estimate human carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk. GIS-based Kriging method was utilized to create a prediction maps of human health risks and probability maps of heavy metals concentrations exceeding their threshold limits. Hazard index calculation showed that 21 out of 23 locations are posing non-cancer risk for children. Adults and children are at high cancer risk in all locations as the total cancer risk exceeded $1{\times}10^{-6}$ (the lower limit CTR value). Kriging model showed that only a very small area in Anka has a hazard index of less than unity and cumulative target risk of less than $1{\times}10^{-4}$, indicating a significant carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks for children. The probability of heavy metals to exceed their threshold concentrations around the study area was also found to be high.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.601-605
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• 2007

The cure rate of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children dramatically improved over past 5 decades from zero to about 80%. The main cause of improvement is owing to the development of chemotherapy by multicenter clinical trial of large study groups with the understanding of leukemia biology. Recently, pediatric ALL protocols were applied to the treatment of adolescent and even adult ALL patients. For nearly 30 years, clinical factors have been used to risk-stratify therapy for children with ALL, so that the most intensive therapies are reserved for those patients at the highest risk of relapse. The risk groups of ALL are divided as standard- (low- plus intermediate-), high- and very high-risk group according to the prognostic factors, and treatment results improved by this risk based treatment. The factors used to risk-stratify therapy include age, gender, presenting leukocyte count, immunophenotype, cytogenetic aberrations including ploidy and translocations, and initial response after 1 to 2 weeks of therapy. But treatment efficacy is the most important determinant and can abolish the clinical significance of most, if at all, prognostic factors. Today, in the era of intensive, multiagent regimens, there is increasing evidence that we have reached the limits of prognostic significance of currently applied clinical risk factors in childhood ALL. As the cure rate of ALL is about 80%, introducing new prognostic factors such as new molecular prognostic markers, new methods of assessment about minimal residual disease, and pharmacogenetic study, with the development of stem cell transplantation and molecular targeted therapy are needed to cure residual 20% of childhood ALL patients without short and long term complications.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.2043-2048
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• 2013

The purpose of this study mas to profile older breast cancer survivors in Malaysia. In a survey study, a custom made questionnaire was administered to 69 breast cancer patients and survivors between 60 and 84 years of age in Peninsular Malaysia. The main ethnic group recorded was Chinese, followed by Malay and Indian. The majority of women were married (87%) and had children (84.1%). Just over half (53.6%) had primary and secondary education, whereas 24.7% had higher education. Fifty five percent of the study participants made their own decision on treatment, 60.8% exercised at least 3 times in a week, and 56.6% sought information from specialists. Our study suggests that older breast cancer survivors are aware of the importance of exercise in their daily lives and make attempts to be cancer free (e.g. doing exercise, recreational activity and have good relationships with friends and family).

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.31-34
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• 2017

Tumor lysis syndrome is a serious complication of malignancy, resulting from the massive and rapid release of cellular components into the blood. Generally, it occurs after initiation of chemotherapy. The onset of spontaneous tumor lysis syndrome (STLS) before anti-cancer treatment is rare and occurs mostly in Burkitt lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. There are only a few case reports in children. Here, we report a case of STLS secondary to T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which presented with urinary stone and subsequent acute kidney injury with severe hyperuricemia. Occult malignancy should be considered in case of unexplained acute kidney injury with extreme hyperuricemia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2039-2044
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• 2014

This study was conducted in order to obtain a screening and early detection reference for children whose mothers had been diagnosed with cancer. Data for 276 mother-child pairs with malignant tumors were analyzed. The distribution of cancers in affected families was generally similar to that of the general Chinese population, and correspondingly breast cancer was the most common malignancy amongst daughters whose mother had cancer (32.7%). The most prevalent cancer amongst sons with affected mothers was gastric cancer, rather than lung cancer. Daughters were more likely to have the same kind of malignant tumor as their mother (P<0.05), and were more likely to develop breast cancer than any other malignant disease if their mother had a breast tumor (P<0.0001). Likewise, if the mother was diagnosed with breast or gynecological cancer, the daughter was more likely to be diagnosed with breast or gynecological cancer than any other cancer (P<0.01). Daughters and sons developed malignant diseases 11 and 6.5 years earlier than their mothers, respectively (P<0.0001).Women with a mother who suffered cancer should be screened for malignancy from 40 years of age especially for breast, lung, and gynecological cancers. For men with affected mothers, screening should start when they are 45 years old focusing particularly on lung and digestive system cancers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6379-6384
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• 2013

S-benzyl-cysteine (SBC) is a structural analog of S-allylcysteine (SAC), which is one of the major water-soluble compounds in aged garlic extract. In this study, anticancer activities and the underlying mechanisms of SBC action were investigated and compared these with those of SAC using human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells. SBC significantly suppressed the survival rate of SGC-7901 cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, and the inhibitory activities of SBC were stronger than those of SAC. Flow cytometry revealed that SBC induced G2-phase arrest and apoptosis in SGC-7901 cells. Typical apoptotic morphological changes were observed by Hoechst 33258 dye assay. SBC-treatment dramatically induced the dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential (${\Delta}{\Psi}m$), and enhanced the enzymatic activities of caspase-9 and caspase-3 whilst hardly affecting caspase-8 activity. Furthermore, Western blotting indicated that SBC-induced apoptosis was accompanied by up-regulation of the expression of p53, Bax and the down-regulation of Bcl-2. Taken together, this study suggested that SBC exerts cytotoxic activity involving activation of mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis through p53 and Bax/Bcl-2 pathways in human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.418-431
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to identify factors influencing oncofertility and to explore the oncofertility experiences of patients with gynecological cancer using quantitative and qualitative methods, respectively. Methods: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was conducted. The quantitative study involved 222 patients with gynecological cancer recruited from online cafes and hospitals. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 28. For qualitative research, eight patients with gynecological cancer were interviewed. Data were analyzed using theme analysis method. Results: Oncofertility performance was quantitatively assessed in 40 patients (18.0%). Factors that significantly affected oncofertility were fertility preservation awareness (odds ratio [OR] = 14.97, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.22~53.08), number of children planned before cancer diagnosis (OR = 6.08, 95% CI: 1.89~19.62; OR = 5.04, 95% CI: 1.56~16.29), monthly income (OR = 3.29, 95% CI: 1.23~8.86), social support (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.01~1.17), and anxiety (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.66~0.95). Qualitative results showed three theme clusters and eight themes: (1) themes for determinant factors affecting oncofertility selection: 'desire to have children' and 'special meaning of the uterus and ovaries;' (2) themes for obstructive factors affecting oncofertility selection: 'fertility preservation fall behind priorities,' 'confusion caused by inaccurate information,' and 'my choice was not supported;' (3) themes for support factors affecting oncofertility selection: 'provide accurate and reasonable information about oncofertility,' 'addressing the healthcare gap,' and 'need financial support for oncofertility.' Conclusion: Financial support, sufficient information, social support, and anxiety-relief interventions are required for oncofertility in patients with gynecological cancer.