MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted by distribution of a questionnaire developed as part of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey to Form 4 student in 3 schools at Shah Alam.
RESULTS: Prevalence of smoking (current smokers) was 7.5%. Almost half of the children came from families where one or both parents smoked and a third of the parents had no discussion regarding consequences of smoking with them. A large number of students were classified as "triers" as they had tried smoking and were unsure of whether they would not be smoking in the future. Contrary to our expectations, students generally felt smoking did make one feel more uncomfortable and helped one to reduce body weight. Most students seemed to be aware of the ill-effects of smoking on health. They felt they had received adequate information from school regarding the effects on smoking on health.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that even though Form 4 students in Shah Alam were knowledgeable about ill-effects of smoking and were taught so as part of their school curriculum, the prevalence of smoking was still high. Students in the "trier group" represent a potential group of future smokers and strategies targeting tobacco control may be aimed at tackling these vulnerable individuals. Efforts are also needed to help educate secondary school children about common misconceptions and dispel myths associated with cigarette smoking.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study examined NPC patients between 1st January 2001 and 31st December 2005 in Penang General Hospital. Survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and comparisons between groups were made using the log-rank test. Important prognostic factors including patient demographics, tumour and treatment factors were analysed using the Cox proportional hazard model.
RESULTS: A total of 285 patients were identified with a median age of 51 years, 72.6% being males. The majority were Chinese (66%) followed by Malays (31.9%). Primary tumour stages (T stages) 3 and 4 were present in 18.6% and 34% of patients respectively, and nodal disease was present in 80.4%. On overall AJCC staging, 29.1% had stage III and 50.2% had stage IV disease. Some 39.6% of patients had WHO type 3 histology and 7.4% had WHO type 1-2 histology with the remainder having NPC with no subtype reported. Concurrent chemo-irradiation was the commonest treatment received by patients (51.9%) followed by radiotherapy alone (41.8%). The 5 year overall survival and cause specific survival were 33.3% and 42.7% respectively. Age group, T stage, N stage and WHO histological subtype were independent prognostic factors for overall survival on multivariate analysis. For cause specific survival they were T stage and N stage.
CONCLUSION: The 5 years overall survival rate was 33.3%. This low figure is primarily due to late presentation. Efforts to detect NPC at earlier stages in Malaysia are urgently needed. These should include public education to increase awareness of the prevalence of this highly treatable disease.
METHODS: This cross sectional study was conducted among 250 Malaysian women. Data were collected using a self administrated questionnaire which included questions on socio-demographic data, knowledge of breast cancer and awareness of mammography.
RESULTS: Mean age of respondents was 28 ± 9.2 with 69.2% aged 18 to 29 years. The majority had heard about breast cancer (81.2%) and indicated books, magazines and brochures as their source of information (55.2%). However, most did not know about signs and symptoms of breast cancer and many of its risk factors. On multivariate analysis, significant predictors of breast cancer knowledge were age, race, marital status, level of education, occupation, family size and family history of other cancers (p<0.05). Fifty percent of women were aware of mammography, significant predictors being age, occupation, marital status and knowledge of breast cancer (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION: Most women were aware of breast cancer. However, the knowledge about signs and symptoms of breast cancer and awareness of mammography were inadequate. It is recommended that the level of knowledge should be raised among Malaysian women, particularly in the less educated young.
METHODS: A nationally representative survey was employed in 900 elementary, junior high, and senior high schools that were located in 60 regions or 24 provinces of Indonesia. Each school's compliance with SFZ parameters was measured using a closed-ended questionnaire. The dataset was analyzed using frequency distribution, while the chi-square was performed to analyze the measurement effect of each parameter for SFZ compliance.
RESULTS: Java Island is the region with the largest proportion of school units (10%) studied in this study, and the largest group of the schools are high schools (36.1%). In terms of SFZ compliance, 413 (45.9%) of schools had perfect compliance scores of 8, followed by 183 schools (20.3%) with a score of 7 and 107 (11.9%) with a score of 6. It was found that parameter 5, namely cigarette butts found in the school environment, had the largest proportion when a school did not apply SFZ. Cigarette butts were found in 261 (29.0%) schools. Cigarette butts found in schools contributed 7.8 times to not applying SFZ compared to schools where no cigarette cutters were found.
CONCLUSION: Although the SFZ compliance rate in Indonesian schools is 66.2% at least on 7 of 8 existed parameters, this means most of schools still aren't fully complying with the regulations for SFZs. This recent evidence will help decisionmakers to enforce tobacco control, particularly among youth, which form the pillar of national development.
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OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the cytotoxic effects of betel quid and areca nut extracts on the fibroblast (L929), mouth-ordinary-epithelium 1 (MOE1) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (HSC-2) cell lines.
METHODS: L929, MOE1 and HSC-2 cells were treated with 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 g/ml of betel quid and areca nut extracts for 24, 48 and 72 h. MTT assay was performed to assess the cell viability.
RESULTS: Both extracts, regardless of concentration, significantly reduced the cell viability of L929 compared with the control (P<0.05). Cell viability of MOE1 was significantly enhanced by all betel quid concentrations compared with the control (P<0.05). By contrast, 0.4 g/ml of areca nut extract significantly reduced the cell viability of MOE1 at 48 and 72 h of incubation. Cell viability of HSC-2 was significantly lowered by all areca nut extracts, but 0.4 g/ml of betel quid significantly increased the cell viability of HSC-2 (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION: Areca nut extract is cytotoxic to L929 and HSC-2, whereas the lower concentrations of areca nut extract significantly increased the cell viability of MOE1 compared to the higher concentration and control group. Although betel quid extract is cytotoxic to L929, the same effect is not observed in MOE1 and HSC-2 cell lines. Further investigations are needed to clarify the mechanism of action.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study on a convenience sample of 100 Malaysian breast cancer survivors.
FINDINGS: The reported use of CAM among the breast cancer survivors was lower than in other studies but the types of CAM used had a similar pattern with nutrition supplements/vitamins being the most common. The factors that positively influenced the use of complimentary/traditional therapy were income and getting information from television or radio. Survivors with access to internet/blogs appear to have lower odds of using complimentary/traditional therapy compared to the respondents who reported no such access.
CONCLUSIONS: Information transmitted via television and radio appears to have a positive influence on CAM use by breast cancer patients compared to other information sources and it is important to ensure that such information is accurate and impartial.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study aimed to assess the effects of commercial and recombinant bromelain on the cytokinetic behavior of MCF-7 breast cancer cells and their potential as therapeutic alternatives in cancer treatment. Cytotoxic activities of commercial and recombinant bromelain were determined using (sulforhodamine) SRB assay. Next, cell viability assays were conducted to determine effects of commercial and recombinant bromelain on MCF-7 cell cytokinetic behavior. Finally, the established growth kinetic data were used to modify a model that predicts the effects of commercial and recombinant bromelain on MCF-7 cells.
RESULTS: Commercial and recombinant bromelain exerted strong effects towards decreasing the cell viability of MCF-7 cells with IC50 values of 5.13 μg/mL and 6.25 μg/mL, respectively, compared to taxol with an IC50 value of 0.063 μg/mL. The present results indicate that commercial and recombinant bromelain both have anti-proliferative activity, reduced the number of cell generations from 3.92 to 2.81 for commercial bromelain and to 2.86 for recombinant bromelain, while with taxol reduction was to 3.12. Microscopic observation of bromelain-treated MCF-7 cells demonstrated detachment. Inhibition activity was verified with growth rates decreased dynamically from 0.009 h-1 to 0.0059 h-1 for commercial bromelain and to 0.0063 h-1 for recombinant bromelain.
CONCLUSIONS: Commercial and recombinant bromelain both affect cytokinetics of MCF-7 cells by decreasing cell viability, demonstrating similar strength to taxol.