• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7543-7550
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• 2013

Objective: To evaluate associations between tea consumption, alcohol drinking and physical activity and breast cancer risk among Chinese females. Methods: Three English databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect and Wiley) and three Chinese databases (CNKI, WanFang and VIP) were independently searched by 2 reviewers up to December 2012, complemented by manual searches. The quality of included studies was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale items. Random-effects models were used to estimate the pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Potential publication bias was estimated through Egger's and Begg's tests. Heterogeneity between studies was evaluated with $I^2$ statistics. Results: Thirty-nine studies involving 13,204 breast cancer cases and 87,248 controls were identified. Compared with non-drinkers, regular tea drinkers had decreased risk (OR=0.79, 95%CIs: 0.65-0.95; $I^2$=84.9%; N=16). An inverse association was also found between regular physical activity and breast cancer risk (OR=0.73, 95%CIs: 0.63-0.85; $I^2$=77.3%; N=15). However, there was no significant association between alcohol drinking and breast cancer risk (OR=0.85, 95%CIs: 0.72-1.02; $I^2$=63.8%; N=26). Most of the results from the subgroup analysis were consistent with the main results. Conclusion: Tea consumption and physical activity are significantly associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer in Chinese females. However, alcohol drinking may not be associated with any elevation of risk.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1749-1752
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• 2012

Colorectal cancer (CRC), now the third most common cancer across the world, is known to aggregate in families. USP7 is a very important protein with an important role in regulating the p53 pathway, which is critical for genomic stability and tumor suppression. We here genotyped eight SNPs within the USP7 gene and conducted a case-control study in 312 CRC patients and 270 healthy subjects in the Chinese Han population. No significant associations were found for any single SNP and CRC risk. Our data eliminate USP7 as a potential candidate gene towards for CRC in the Han Chinese population.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.163-170
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine understanding of chemotherapy of cancer patients after they received individual education on it and their execution of self-care for symptoms. Methods: Thirty-two participants who received individual education on chemotherapy from nurses specializing in education for cancer patients when they started to take chemotherapy were asked to complete the questionnaire on their understanding in education and execution of self-care. Results: Understanding on chemotherapy education of the participants recorded 4.30 on a scale of one to five with five the highest. Regarding self-care for symptoms, all participants carried out one or more methods of self-care except for one person each for vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation. Conclusion: This study showed that cancer patients who received individual education on chemotherapy performed self-care for their symptoms.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.559-564
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• 2015

Background: The participation of women in cervical cancer screening in Malaysia is low. Self-sampling might be able to overcome this problem. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of self-sampling for cervical smear in our country. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 258 community dwelling women from urban and rural settings who participated in health campaigns. In order to reduce the sampling bias, half of the study population performed the self-sampling prior to the physician sampling while the other half performed the self-sampling after the physician sampling, randomly. Acquired samples were assessed for cytological changes as well as HPV DNA detection. Results: The mean age of the subjects was $40.4{\pm}11.3years$. The prevalence of abnormal cervical changes was 2.7%. High risk and low risk HPV genotypes were found in 4.0% and 2.7% of the subjects, respectively. A substantial agreement was observed between self-sampling and the physician obtained sampling in cytological diagnosis (k=0.62, 95%CI=0.50, 0.74), micro-organism detection (k=0.77, 95%CI=0.66, 0.88) and detection of hormonal status (k=0.75, 95%CI=0.65, 0.85) as well as detection of high risk (k=0.77, 95%CI=0.4, 0.98) and low risk (K=0.77, 95%CI=0.50, 0.92) HPV. Menopausal state was found to be related with 8.39 times more adequate cell specimens for cytology but 0.13 times less adequate cell specimens for virological assessment. Conclusions: This study revealed that self-sampling has a good agreement with physician sampling in detecting HPV genotypes. Self-sampling can serve as a tool in HPV screening while it may be useful in detecting cytological abnormalities in Malaysia.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.240-246
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• 2010

Purpose: Advancing genetic knowledge for oncology nurses is especially important in Korea because physicians have launched to incorporate genetic risk assessment and genetic testing into their practice. The purpose of this paper was to identify the effect of the first academic cancer genetic risk assessment and counseling course for Korean nurses. Methods: Thirty-five nurses were recruited and educated from June 8 to 14, 2006 in Seoul, Korea. Two measurement tools were used: 'knowledge about the hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC)' and 'knowledge about the cancer genetics'. Results: Students' score of knowledge about HBOC at pre-education was $12.22{\pm}2.23$ and after education, it increased to $13.62{\pm}1.76$. This change was statistically significant (t=-3.253, p=.003). The score of knowledge about cancer genetics at pre-education was $11.31{\pm}3.44$, and after education it has increased to $16.17{\pm}1.94$. It also was statistically significant (t=-6.92, p=.000). Conclusion: This program was effective to be a starting point for establishing genetic educational planning for the oncology nurses in Korea. This academically-based course is recognized as valuable by oncology nurses. With this new knowledge, nurses can begin to expand their role in delivering comprehensive cancer care services in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.799-809
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an individualized nutritional education programs on nutrient intake and nutritional status of patients with colorectal cancer who are undergoing palliative chemotherapy. Methods: Forty patients with colorectal cancer (19 experimental and 21 control patients) were recruited from a chemotherapy ward at S University Hospital in Seoul, Korea. The experimental group received two individualized nutritional counseling sessions and two telephone counseling sessions over 6 weeks. The control group received nutritional counseling after completion of data collection. Nutritional education included general guidelines for food intake while receiving chemotherapy, dietary guidelines for patients with colorectal cancer, daily meal schedules to overcome cancer, and dietary guideline for each chemotherapy side effect. Data were analyzed using ${\chi}^2$-test and t-test with the SPSS program 17.0. Results: Two group comparison revealed that the experimental group had significantly improved calorie (p=.038) and total protein intake (p=.001), and serum albumin percentage change (p=.040). Body weight did not increase but remained the same as the baseline in both groups. Conclusion: Study results indicate that this individualized nutritional education programs are effective in enhancing nutrient intake and nutritional status of patients with colorectal cancer who are undergoing palliative chemotherapy.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.317-322
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• 2011

Hereditary non-polyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC) is an autosomal dominant inheritance syndrome. HNPCC is the most common hereditary variant of colorectal cancer (CRC), which accounts for 2-5% CRCs, mainly due to hMLH1 and hMSH2 mutations that impair DNA repair functions. Our study aimed to identify the patterns of hMSH2 and hMLH1 mutations in Chinese HNPCC patients. Ninety-eight unrelated families from China meeting Amsterdam or Bethesda criteria were included in our study. Germline mutations in MLH1 and MSH2 genes, located in the exons and the splice-site junctions, were screened in the 98 probands by direct sequencing. Eleven mutations were found in ten patients (11%), with six in MLH1 (54.5%) and five in MSH2 (45.5%) genes. One patient had mutations in both MLH1 and MSH2 genes. Three novel mutations in MLH1 gene (c.157_160delGAGG, c.2157dupT and c.-64G>T) were found for the first time, and one suspected hotspot in MSH2 (c.1168C>T) was revealed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6047-6052
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• 2014

Background: Weight loss during chemotherapy has not been exclusively investigated. Macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 (MIC-1) might play a role in its etiology. Here, we investigated the prognostic value of weight loss before chemotherapy and its relationship with MIC-1 concentration and its occurrence during chemotherapy in patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Materials and Methods: We analyzed 157 inoperable locally advanced or metastatic ESCC patients receiving first-line chemotherapy. Serum MIC-1 concentrations were assessed before chemotherapy. Patients were assigned into two groups according to their weight loss before or during chemotherapy:>5% weight loss group and ${\leq}5%$ weight loss group. Results: Patients with weight loss>5% before chemotherapy had shorter progression-free survival period (5.8 months vs. 8.7 months; p=0.027) and overall survival (10.8 months vs. 20.0 months; p=0.010). Patients with weight loss >5% during chemotherapy tended to have shorter progression-free survival (6.0 months vs. 8.1 months; p=0.062) and overall survival (8.6 months vs. 18.0 months; p=0.022), and if weight loss was reversed during chemotherapy, survival rates improved. Furthermore, serum MIC-1 concentration was closely related to weight loss before chemotherapy (p=0.001) Conclusions: Weight loss both before and during chemotherapy predicted poor outcome in advanced ESCC patients, and MIC-1 might be involved in the development of weight loss in such patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6455-6461
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• 2012

Objective: E-cadherin has been identified as a tumor suppressor in many types of carcinoma. However, some studies recently suggested that the role and expression of E-cadherin might be more complex and diverse. In the present study, we evaluated the prognostic value of E-cadherin expression with reference to levels in membranes and cytoplasm, and the membrane/cytoplasm ratio, in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) after curative hepatectomy. Methods: The expression of E-cadherin was assessed by immunohistochemistry in HCC tissue microarrays from 125 patients, and its prognostic values and other clinicopathlogical data were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were followed for a median period of 43.7 months (range 1 to 126 months). Results: Univariate analysis demonstrated that a high membrane/cytoplasm (M/C) ratio of E-cadherin expression was associated with poor overall survival (OS) (P =0.001) and shorter time to recurrence (TTR) (P=0.038), as well as tumor size, intrahepatic metastasis, and TNM stage. In contrast, neither membrane nor cytoplasmic expression of E-cadherin was related with OS and TTR. Furthermore, multivariate analysis confirmed the M/C ratio to be an independent predictor of OS (P=0.031). ${\chi}^2$ tests additionally showed that the M/C ratio of E-cadherin expression was related with early stage recurrence (P=0.012), rather than later stage recurrence. Conclusion: The M/C ratio of E-cadherin expression is a strong predictor of postoperative survival and is associated with early stage recurrence in patients with HCC.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 1991

Cerebrovascular disease have been replaced by neoplasm as first cause of death on 1980's. So, many epidemiological studies on cancer have been reported. However, most of them were performed on beses of biopy data or of histological examination. We had reported that valuable results could be obtained from surgical data for cancer patients, previously. In this paper, 5,103 surgically treated cancer patients in Daegu-Kyungbuk area during 1985-1989 were analyzed in terms of sex, age and organ. Mean age on male cancer patients was increased, but in the case of female, the trend of age distribution is inverse to other reports. It is considered as regional specificity to cancer incidence and it is due to higher frequency of breast and uterine cervical cancer than other areas. Especially, in the case of breast cancer, the mean age of patients was 30's and be considered as most dangerous cancer to famale.