• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3729-3734
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• 2015

Background: Although cervical cancer is preventable and early screening might decrease the associated mortality, challenges faced by the women and health care providers can postpone early detection. This qualitative study aimed to establish patient and provider perceptions about personal and socio-cultural barriers for cervical cancer screening in Mashhad, Iran. Materials and Methods: In the present study, which was conducted in 2012, eighteen participants, who were selected purposefully, participated in individual in-depth, semi-structured interviews, which were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using conventional content analysis and Atlas-Ti software. Results: One theme and two categories were derived from data including: cognitive/behavioral factors (lack of a community-based approach to cervical cancer, lack of awareness, wrong attitude and lack of health seeking behaviors) and socio/cultural issues (socio-cultural invasion, mismatch between tradition, modernity and religious, extra marital relationships and cultural taboos). Conclusions: Providing community based approach education programs and employing social policy are needed for preventing of cervical cancer in Iran.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6477-6480
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• 2015

Purpose: Given the importance of sun protection in the prevention of skin cancer, this study was designed to determine predictors of sun-protective practices among a sample of Iranian female college students based on protection motivation theory (PMT) variables. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 201 female college students in Iran University of Medical Sciences were selected. Demographic and PMT variables were assessed with a 67-item questionnaire. Multiple linear regression was used to identify demographic and PMT variables that were associated with sun-protective practices and intention. Results: one percent of participants always wore a hat with a brim, 3.5% gloves and 15.9% sunglasses while outdoors. Only 10.9% regularly had their skin checked by a doctor. Perceived rewards, response efficacy, fear, self-efficacy and marital status were the five variables which could predict 39% variance of participants intention to perform sun-protective practices. Also, intention and response cost explained 31% of the variance of sun-protective practices. Conclusions: These predictive variables may be used to develop theory-based education interventions to prevent skin cancer among college students.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7029-7035
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• 2014

Certain types of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are undoubtedly involved in genesis of human malignancies. HPV plays an etiological role in cervical cancer, but also in many vaginal, vulvar, anal and penile cancers, as well as head and neck cancers. In addition, a number of non-malignant diseases such as genital warts and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis are attributable to HPV. Moreover, HPV forms have detected in several other cancers including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, lung, prostate, ovarian, breast, skin, colorectal and urinary tract cancers, but associations with etiology in these cases is controversial. The aim of this systematic assessment was to estimate the prevalence of HPV infection and HPV types in HPV-associated cancers, HPV-related non-malignant diseases and in cancers that may be associated with HPV in Iran. The present investiagtion covered 61 studies on a variety of cancers in Iranian populations. HPV prevalence was 77.5 % and 32.4% in cervical cancer and head and neck cancers, respectively. HPV was detected in 23.1%, 22.2%, 10.4%, 30.9%, 14% and 25.2% of esophageal squamous cell, lung, prostate, urinary tract cancers, breast and skin cancers, respectively. HPV16 and 18 were the most frequent HPV types in all cancers. The findings of present study imply that current HPV vaccines for cervical cancer may decrease the burden of other cancers if they are really related to HPV.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5257-5260
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• 2015

Rates based on age-adjusted incidence of colorectal cancers over a 10-year period in Kerman, the biggest province of Iran, were estimated from 2003 to 2013. Data were obtained from the population-based cancer registry unit of Kerman University of Medical Sciences (CR-KMU). Information included age, sex, city, ICD-O and year of registry. Our trend analyses cover 3.91% of the Iranian population. The data set comprised cases diagnosed from 2003 to 2013.The population of over 20 years was interpolated using 2003 and 2010 censuses. Then, truncated age-adjusted incidence rates were calculated. Increase was noted from 2003-2009 to 2010-2013 for 731 cancer cases considered in the analysis. The increases was most prominent in 2009. Totally, the frequency of the cancer was greater in males. Moreover, calculating truncated age-adjusted incidence rate indicated that the most prevalent age of colorectal incidence was in the 50-59 year age group except in 2007-2008 and 2012- 2013, when greatest incidences occurred in people aged 60-69 years. Our data revealed that the incidence rates of colorectal cancer have increased over the past decade in our region of Iran.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.4955-4958
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• 2015

Background: Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer worldwide. It has an increasing trend. This study investigated the epidemiological trend and morphological changes in skin cancer in Iran. Materials and Methods: This study was done using existing data, extracted from the National Cancer Registry System and the Disease Management Center of Iranian Ministry of Health between 2003 and 2008. Data on epidemiologic trend was analyzed using Joinpoint software package. Results: The incidence of skin cancer is increasing in Iran, and more in men than women. There was a declining trend for basal cell carcinoma. Basal squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma had an increasing trend. The increase of skin cancer was related to squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusions: Our findings indicated that the increase of skin cancer was attributed to squamous cell carcinoma. It is necessary to be planning for the control and prevention of this disease as a priority for health policy makers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6315-6319
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• 2014

Background: Immunohistochemical markers are considered as important factors in diagnosis of malignant astrocytomas. The aim of the current study was to investigate the frequency of the immunohistochemical markers neurofilament protein (NFP) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in malignant astrocytoma tumors in Firoozgar and Rasool-Akram hospitals from 2005 to 2010. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, immunohistochemical analysis of NFP and GFAP was performed on 79 tissue samples of patients with the diagnosis of anaplastic and glioblastoma multiform (GBM) astrocytomas. Results: The obtained results demonstrated that all patients were positive for GFAP and only 3.8% were positive for NFP. There was no significant association between these markers and clinical, demographic, and prognostic features of patients (p>0.05). Conclusions: NFP was expressed only in GBMs and not in anaplastic astrocytomas. It would be crucial to confirm the present findings in a larger number of tumors, especially in high grade gliomas.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2789-2800
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• 2013

Background: The aim of this systematic review was to investigate whether stem cells could be effectively applied in targeted therapy of breast cancer. Material and Method: A systematic literature search was performed for original articles published from January 2007 until May 2012. Results: Nine studies met the inclusion criteria for phase I or II clinical trials, of which three used stem cells as vehicles, two trials used autologous hematopoetic stem cells and in four trials cancer stem cells were targeted. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were applied as cellular vehicles to transfer therapeutic agents. Cell therapy with MSC can successfully target resistant cancers. Cancer stem cells were selectively targeted via a proteasome-dependent suicide gene leading to tumor regression. $Wnt/{\beta}$-catenin signaling pathway has been also evidenced to be an attractive CSC-target. Conclusions: This systematic review focused on two different concepts of stem cells and breast cancer marking a turning point in the trials that applied stem cells as cellular vehicles for targeted delivery therapy as well as CSC-targeted therapies. Applying stem cells as targeted therapy could be an effective therapeutic approach for treatment of breast cancer in the clinic and in therapeutic marketing; however this needs to be confirmed with further clinical investigations.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.61-63
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• 2009

Although Toxoplasma gondii infection generally shows subclinical courses in adults, it may have severe pathologic effects on the fetus. For a survey of toxoplasmosis in Shahr-e-Rey area, south of Tehran, Iran, we conducted a serological study on 1,187 general populations using indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test. In this cross sectional study, cases were selected randomly by a local primary health care (PHC) system. Blood samples were collected in microcapillary tubes and sera were examined by IFA after centrifugation. It has been shown that 68.3% of cases in all age groups had IFA titer of 1:10 and higher, which we consider as positive cases, and the rate for 1:400 or over was 30.2%. There was meaningful correlation between anti-Toxoplasma antibody titers and age, sex, and occupation of subjected people (P < 0.05%). The incidence was higher in females and highest in the children age group (10-14 years old). The present study demonstrates high prevalence of Toxoplasma infection among the people in south of Tehran, Iran.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.1120-1125
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• 2016

The neutron decay constant, ${\alpha}$, and effective delayed neutron fraction, ${\beta}_{eff}$, are important parameters for the control of the dynamic behavior of nuclear reactors. For the heavy water zero power reactor (HWZPR), this document describes the measurements of the neutron decay constant by noise analysis methods, including variance to mean (VTM) ratio and endogenous pulse source (EPS) methods. The measured ${\alpha}$ is successively used to determine the experimental value of the effective delayed neutron fraction as well. According to the experimental results, ${\beta}_{eff}$ of the HWZPR reactor under study is equal to 7.84e-3. This value is finally used to validate the calculation of the effective delayed neutron fraction by the Monte Carlo methods that are discussed in the document. Using the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP)-4C code, a ${\beta}_{eff}$ value of 7.58e-3 was obtained for the reactor under study. Thus, the relative difference between the ${\beta}_{eff}$ values determined experimentally and by Monte Carlo methods was estimated to be < 4%.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.709-726
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• 2016

Corrugated-core sandwich panels are prevalent for many applications in industries. The researches performed with the aim of optimization of such structures in the literature have considered a deterministic approach. However, it is believed that deterministic optimum points may lead to high-risk designs instead of optimum ones. In this paper, an effort has been made to provide a reliable and robust design of corrugated-core sandwich structures through stochastic and probabilistic multi-objective optimization approach. The optimization is performed using a coupling between genetic algorithm (GA), Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) and finite element method (FEM). To this aim, Prob. Design module in ANSYS is employed and using a coupling between optimization codes in MATLAB and ANSYS, a connection has been made between numerical results and optimization process. Results in both cases of deterministic and probabilistic multi-objective optimizations are illustrated and compared together to gain a better understanding of the best sandwich panel design by taking into account reliability and robustness. Comparison of results with a similar deterministic optimization study demonstrated better reliability and robustness of optimum point of this study.