METHODOLOGY: A total of 396 students from the Management and Science University (MSU) participated during the semester of March 2010. Stratified random sampling was used and consent was obtained before the questionnaire was distributed. ANOVA and the t-test were used for the univariate analysis and multiple linear regression was used for the multivariate analysis.
RESULTS: The participants ages ranged from 18 to 27 years (Mean ± SD = 23.3 ± 1.57), more than half being female (62.4%). The majority were 23 years old or younger, single, Malay and from non-Medical and Health Science faculties and with a family monthly income of less than 10,000 Ringgits Malaysia(79.5%; 99%, 65.9, 52.5%, 63.9%; respectively). Only 18.4% of participants reported a family history of cancer. About 32.1% had a medical check-up in the previous 12 months and 17.4% were smokers. Multivariate analysis showed the faculty type to be significantly associated with knowledge of cancer prevention (p = 0.04). Regular medical check-ups were associated with attitudes and practices of cancer prevention (p = 0.04, p=0.003 respectively), the latter being significantly influenced by sex, family history of cancer and smoking (p = 0.034, p=0.013, p=0.002; respectively).
CONCLUSION: The majority of participants had poor knowledge of nutrition as related to cancer prevention. Attention should be given to regular medical check-ups, awareness of family history and smoking influence.
METHODS: This was a cross sectional study among a total of 163 breast cancer patients. Series of measurements including anthropometry, biochemical, and dietary were employed to assess patients' nutritional status while physical function was assessed by handgrip strength. HRQoL of patients was determined using European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC-QLQ-C30) version 3.0. Multiple linear regression was used to identify factors associated with HRQoL.
RESULTS: Breast cancer patients perceived moderately their overall quality of life (QoL), with the mean global health status (GHS) score of 69.12. Emotional functioning was the poorest functional scale while fatigue was the most distressing symptom presented by the patients. Approximately 20% of patients had low corrected arm muscle area while more than half had low hemoglobin level. More than 90% of patients did not meet the overall dietary recommendation and had poor handgrip strength. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) was associated with GHS (β: 0.906; 95% CI: 0.22, 1.56) and cognitive functioning (β: -1.543; 95% CI: -3.07, -0.01). Handgrip strength was positively associated with most of HRQoL outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer patients reported overall good nutritional status and moderate QoL during treatment. Being well-nourished improved HRQoL and handgrip strength could be a potential proxy for functional outcomes as well as overall QoL.
METHODS: The synthesis involved reacting ethylenediamine and KCl with Zn metal. The complex formed was characterized using a conductometer, UV-Vis spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, and XRD, while the activity was measured against HeLa cells.
RESULT: The synthesis yielded a 56.12% conversion with a melting point of 198-200 oC and a conductivity value of 2.02 mS/cm. The Zn(en)Cl2 complex showed potential activity against HeLa cells with an IC50 value of 898.35 µg/mL, which was evidenced by changes in the morphological structure of HeLa cells. Its interaction with DNA targets was investigated by employing molecular docking.
CONCLUSION: The observed data indicated that the Zn(en)Cl2 complex bound to DNA at the nitrogenous base Guanine (DG) by coordinate covalent bonds. Interestingly, DG maintained interaction with the complex until the end of the docking simulation. Additionally, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was conducted, and the results showed that Zn(en)Cl2 remained bound to the DNA binding pocket all through the process.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: A sample of 85 patients diagnosed with superficial bladder tumours was selected to be used in fitting the non-mixture cure model. In order to estimate the parameters of the suggested model, which takes into account the presence of a cure rate, censored data, and covariates, we utilized the maximum likelihood estimation technique using R software version 3.5.7.
RESULT: Upon conducting a comparison of various parametric models fitted to the data, both with and without considering the cure fraction and without incorporating any predictors, the EE distribution yields the lowest AIC, BIC, and HQIC values among all the distributions considered in this study, (1191.921/1198.502, 1201.692/1203.387, 1195.851/1200.467). Furthermore, when considering a non-mixture cure model utilizing the EE distribution along with covariates, an estimated ratio was obtained between the probabilities of being cured for placebo and thiotepa groups (and its 95% confidence intervals) were 0.76130 (0.13914, 6.81863).
CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicate that EE distribution is the optimal selection for determining the duration of survival in individuals diagnosed with bladder cancer.
OBJECTIVES: To design and perform a simple surveillance on OLP patients based on colour-coded topography mouth maps (TMM).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three colour-coded TMM were employed: red for OLP in high risk oral mucosal sites, yellow for cases showing improvement and green for asymptomatic lesions at each recall visit. In this preliminary study, these were applied on 30 histologically confirmed OLP individuals attending the Oral Medicine Clinic at the Department of Oral Pathology, Oral Medicine and Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya. The sites and extent of OLP lesions were charted on either red, yellow or green TMM based on defined criteria. This surveillance evaluated OLP in relation to patientandapos;s age, race, gender, underlying systemic conditions, oral habits, initial onset of OLP, oral manifestations and presence/absence of clinically suspicious areas.
RESULTS: Study sample comprised 4 (13.3%) Malays, 9 (30.0%) Chinese and 17 (56.7%) Indians. Most OLP patients belong to the green TMM (n= 14, 46.6%) group followed by red (n= 11, 36.7%) and yellow (n= 5, 16.7%) groups. Of the 11 cases with red TMM, rebiopsy was performed on 4 cases but no dysplasia was detected. Any local confounding factors namely periodontal disease or faulty dental restorations were managed accordingly.
CONCLUSIONS: TMM is simple to use and aided the clinicians in terms of time saving and patient management. Hence, follow-up of OLP patients can be carried out more efficiently and appropriately. TMM can be used for surveillance of other oral precancerous lesions and conditions.
METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients with T3-4, N2 M0 breast cancer diagnosed between January 2005 and December 2008 and who received at least one cycle of neoadjuvant chemotherapy were eligible for this study. Thirty-four patients were identified from the Chemotherapy Daycare Records and their medical records were reviewed retrospectively. The neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen administered was at the discretion of the treating oncologist. Breast tumour size and nodal status was assessed at diagnosis, at each cycle and before surgery.
RESULTS: All 34 patients had invasive ductal cancer. The median age was 52 years (range 27-69). 65% had T4 disease and 76% were clinically lymph node positive at diagnosis. The median size of the breast tumour at presentation was 80 mm (range 42-200 mm). Estrogen and progesterone receptor positivity was seen in less than 40% and HER2 positivity, by immunohistochemistry, in 27%. The majority (85%) of patients had anthracycline based chemotherapy, without taxanes. The overall response rate (clinical CR+PR) was 67.6% and pathological complete responses were apparent in two (5.9%). 17.6% of patients defaulted part of their planned treatment. Recurrent disease was seen in 44.1% and the median time to relapse was 11.3 months. The three year disease free and overall survival rates were 52.5% and 58% respectively.
CONCLUSION: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced breast cancer in a Malaysian setting confers response and pCR rates comparable to published clinical trials. Patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy are at risk of defaulting part of their treatment and therefore their concerns need to be identified proactively and addressed in order to improve outcomes.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of CINV (i.e., acute and delayed) on breast cancer patients QOL and to discern opinions related with antiemetic guidelines used dependent on the three main races in Malaysia (Malay, Chinese, Indian).
METHODS: In this longitudinal prospective observational study, 158 breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy were interviewed and valid questionnaires (MANE and ONEM) were used to report the impact of CINV on their QOL within the first 24 hours and after 3 to 5 days of chemotherapy treatment.
RESULTS: The main result was that delayed CINV has an impact on QOL greater than acute CINV. The impact of nausea was reportedly higher than that of vomiting. Also differences in race i.e., genetic polymorphisms (pharmacogenomics) influenced the utility of antiemetic treatments and patients opinions.
CONCLUSION: Based on the results of our study a new guideline for antiemetic treatment should be used to reduce the impact of CINV on QOL, taking into account variation in genetic polymorphisms among the three races in Malaysia.
METHODS AND MATERIALS: This retrospective study used data from 5 consecutive patients with NPC who were treated with bolus for large neck nodes using IMRT from November 2011-January 2012 in our institute. All these patients were treated radically with IMRT according to our institution's protocol. Re-planning with IMRT without bolus for these patients with exactly the same target volumes were done for comparison. Comparison of the plans was done by comparing the V70 of PTV70-N, V66.5 of PTV70-N, V65.1 of PTV70-N and the surface dose of the PTV70-N.
RESULTS: The mean size of the largest diameter of the enlarged lymph nodes for the 5 patients was 3.9 cm. The mean distance of the GTV-N to the skin surface was 0.6 cm. The mean V70 of PTV70-N for the 5 patients showed an absolute advantage of 10.8% (92.4% vs. 81.6%) for the plan with bolus while the V66.5 of PTV70-N had an advantage of 8.1% (97.0% vs. 88.9%). The mean V65.1 also had an advantage of 7.1% (97.6% vs. 90.5%). The mean surface dose for the PTV70-N was also much higher at 61.1 Gy for the plans with bolus compared to only 23.5 Gy for the plans without bolus.
CONCLUSION: Neck node bolus technique should be strongly considered in the treatment of NPC with enlarged lymph nodes treated with IMRT. It yields a superior dosimetry compared to non-bolus plans with acceptable skin toxicity.
METHODS: Search for related literature on salted fish,
smoking and alcohol consumption were performed via Science Direct, PubMed databases and Google Scholar. Articles
included in this study were from 2009 to 2017, with specific focus on salted fish, smoking and alcohol consumption
as risk factors of NPC. This study excluded all articles published prior to 2009 and articles involving other cancers.
Data were extracted independently by two different researchers and harmonized. Meta-analysis was conducted on the
obtained data, by using R package Meta to create funnel and forest plots.
RESULTS: The meta-analysis revealed that
salted fish, smoking and alcohol consumption were significantly associated to NPC risk with random effect model score
showing OR of 1.41 at 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.13-1.75 (P<0.01), OR of 1.89 at 95 % CI of 1.49 - 2.38, and
OR: 1.42 at 95 % CI of 1.23 - 1.65 respectively. Our results also revealed significant association of salted meat, salted
vegetables, house type, wood dust exposure associated with NPC risk with p values less than 0.05.
CONCLUSION: This
study proposes that salted fish intake, smoking and alcohol consumption might be linked to NPC risk in Asians. Further
studies are necessary to ascertain the molecular mechanisms and clarify if the associated path that could function as
therapeutic target.
METHODS: The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of PTZ and TFP in SW1116, SW480, HCT-15, and COLO205 colon cancer cell lines are measured using MTT. Western blot and immunocytochemistry were used to determine the expression of PCNA, cyclin D1 (CD1), and POPDC proteins. Cell migration was observed using a scratch wound-healing assay.
RESULTS: Treatment with PTZ and TFP inhibited colon cancer cells growth in a dose-dependent manner. PTZ and TFP significantly inhibited the activation of proliferation markers, PCNA and CD1, and the migration of colon cancer cells. Furthermore, POPDC protein was significantly suppressed in all cell types of colon cancer, particularly in SW480. Finally, the CaM antagonist upregulates the POPDC1 expression in colon cancer cells.
CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that CaM antagonists suppress colon cancer cells proliferation via downregulation of CD1 and PCNA. In addition, POPDC protein could be used as a biomarker in colon cancer, and CaM antagonist could be used to regulate POPDC1 expression. This study suggests that targeting POPDC1 with CaM inhibition could be a potential therapeutic strategy for colon cancer treatment.
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METHODOLOGY: MCM2, 4, 5 and 7 genes expression profiles were evaluated in three cervical tissue samples each of normal cervix, human papillomavirus (HPV)-infected low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), using Human Transcriptome Array 2.0 and validated by nCounter® PanCancer Pathway NanoString Array. Immunohistochemical expression of MCM2 protein was semi-quantitatively assessed by histoscore in tissue microarrays containing 9 cases of normal cervix, 10 LSIL, 10 HSIL and 42 cases of SCC.
RESULTS: MCM2, 4, 5 and 7 genes expressions were upregulated with increasing fold change during the progression from LSIL to HSIL and the highest in SCC. MCM2 gene had the highest fold change in SCC compared to normal cervix. Immunohistochemically, MCM2 protein was localised in the nuclei of basal cells of normal cervical epithelium and dysplastic-neoplastic cells of CIN and SCC. There was a significant difference in MCM2 protein expression between the histological groups (P = 0.039), and histoscore was the highest in HSIL compared to normal cervix (P = 0.010).
CONCLUSION: The upregulation of MCM genes expressions in cervical carcinogenesis reaffirms MCM as a proliferative marker in DNA replication pathway, whereby proliferation of dysplastic and cancer cells become increasingly dysregulated and uncontrolled. A strong expression of MCM2 protein in HSIL may aid as a concatenated screening tool in detecting pre-cancerous cervical lesions.