• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.6987-6990
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• 2015

Background: Oral cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers and one of the top ten causes of death in the whole world. Most oral cancers are diagnosed at late stages. Since dentists play a critical role in early detection of oral cancer, they should be knowledgeable and skillful in oral cancer diagnosis. The aim of this study was to survey dentist knowledge about oral cancer in Southern Khorasan Province. Materials and Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with dentists who participated in an in-service educational program at the Faculty of Dentistry of Birjand University of Medical Sciences in spring 2014. A questionnaire including demographic information with 11 questions regarding oral cancer was prepared. The participants were required to be complete the questionnaires within a specific time span. The data were analyzed using SPSS 15 software by t-test and one-way ANOVA at 0.05 confidence level. Results: A total of 73 dentists out of 80 answered the questionnaires - 36 (49.3%) were females and 37 (50.7%) were males. Total mean score of knowledge was $7.91{\pm}1$ of 11. Mean scores of knowledge of male and female participants were $7.70{\pm}1.83$ and $8.13{\pm}1.94$ respectively. Mean knowledge score of general dentists was $7.41{\pm}1.79$ and of dental specialists was $9.44{\pm}1.0$ In spite of higher knowledge score of women compared to men and general dentists compared to dental specialists, these differences were not statistically significant (p=0.09). Tukey testing showed a significant difference between groups with 1-4 years of experience (8.74) and over twenty years of experience (6.50) ( p=0.001). Conclusions: Considering the good knowledge level of young dentists and the specialists and the importance of early diagnosis of oral cancer, it seems necessary to pay more attention to academic education for dentistry students, as well as holding retraining courses for experienced dentists, so that their knowledge not be reduced over time.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.6883-6888
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• 2015

Background: Tobacco smoking is a major cause of preventable disease and death worldwide. Kreteks are clove-flavored cigarettes made from a combination of tobacco and ground-clove mixed with a sauce, smoked widely in Indonesia. Because health and social consequences of kretek smoking are potentially as great as those of traditional cigarettes, this study examines the prevalence of kretek smoking in Indonesia and associated risk factors. Materials and Methods: The study used nationally representative Indonesia Global Adult Tobacco Survey data. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to identify correlates of kretek smoking. Results: One-third of Indonesian adults smoked tobacco of which about 90.0% smoked kreteks. Prevalence of kretek smoking among men (60.9%) was more than 25 times the rate among women (2.3%). Overall, the highest prevalence of kretek use was in the age group 45-54 years (36.5%), followed by 34-44 (35.1%), 25-34 (34.2 %), and 55-64 years (32.8%). By wealth index, prevalence of kreteks smoking among those in the middle index was almost 50% above the rate for the wealthiest group (36.4% vs 24.8% respectively). Logistic regression results showed that being male, being older, having less education, and being less wealthy were significant predictors of kretek smoking, while urban vs rural residence was not. Conclusions: Kretek smoking is common in Indonesia and is entrenched in the sociocultural fabric of the country. However, potential consequences of kretek smoking, particularly as risks for noncommunicable diseases, underscore the importance of a comprehensive approach to tobacco control as outlined in the World Health Organization's MPOWER strategies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.6863-6870
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer accounted for almost 25% of all cancers in women globally in 2012. Although breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in India, there is no organised national breast cancer screening programme. Local studies on the burden of breast cancer are essential to develop effective context-specific strategies for an early detection breast cancer programme, considering the cultural and ethnic heterogeneity in India. This study examined the knowledge, attitudes, and practices about breast cancer in rural women in Central India. Materials and Methods: This community-based cross sectional study was conducted in Wardha district, located in Maharashtra state in Central India in 2013. The sample included 1000 women (609 rural, 391 urban) aged 13-50 years, selected as representative from each of the eight development blocks in the district, using stratified cluster sampling. Trained social workers interviewed women and collected demographic and socio-economic data. The instrument also assessed respondents' knowledge about breast cancer and its symptoms, risks, methods of screening, diagnosis and treatment, as well as their attitudes towards breast cancer and selfreported practices of breast cancer screening. Chi-square and t-test were applied to assess differences in the levels of knowledge, attitude, and practice (the outcome variables) between urban and rural respondents. Multivariable linear regression was conducted to analyse the relationship between socio-demographic factors and the outcome variables. Results: While about two-thirds of rural and urban women were aware of breast cancer, less than 7% in rural and urban areas had heard about breast self-examination. Knowledge about breast cancer, its symptoms, risk factors, diagnostic modalities, and treatment was similarly poor in both rural and urban women. Urban women demonstrated more positive attitudes towards breast cancer screening practices than their rural counterparts. Better knowledge of breast cancer symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment correlated significantly with older age, higher levels of education, and being office workers or in business. Conclusions: Women in rural Central India have poor knowledge about breast cancer, its symptoms and risk factors. Breast self-examination is hardly practiced, though the willingness to learn is high. Positive attitudes towards screening provide an opportunity to promote breast self-examination.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7061-7069
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• 2015

Background: During the past decades, the incidence and mortality rate of stomach cancer has demonstrated a great decrease in the world, but it is still one of the most common and fatal cancers especially among men worldwide, including Iran. The MYC proto-oncogene, which is located at 8q24.1, regulates 15% of genes and is activated in 20% of all human tumors. MYC amplification and overexpression of its protein product has been reported in 15-30% of gastric neoplasias. The aim of this investigation was to find the relative efficacy of CISH (chromogenic in situ hybridization) or IHC (immunohistochemistry) in diagnosis and prognosis of gastric cancer, as well as the relationship of amplification and expression of C-MYC gene with patient survival. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 102 samples of gastric cancer were collected from patients who had undergone primary surgical resection at the Cancer Institute Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, from July 2009 to March 2014. All samples were randomly selected from those who were diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinomas. CISH and IHC methods were performed on all of them. Results: Patients were classified into two groups. The first consisted of stage I and II cases, and the second of stage III and IV. Survival tests for both groups was carried out with referrnce to CISH test reults. Group II (stage III & IV) with CISH+ featured lower survival than those with CISH- (p=0.233), but group I (stage I & II) patients demonstrated no significant variation with CISH+ or CISH- (p=0.630). Kaplan-Meier for both groups was carried out with IHC test findings and showed similar results. This data revealed that both diffuse and intestinal types of gastric cancer occurred significantly more in men than women. Our data also showed that CISH+ patients (43%) were more frequent in comparison with IHC+ patients (14.7%). Conclusions: For planning treatment of gastric cancer patients, by focusing on expanding tumors, which is the greatest concern of the surgeons and patients, CISH is a better and more feasible test than IHC, in regard to sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, CISH can be used as a feasible test for tumor growth and prognosis in stage III and IV lesions. This study also indicated that C-MYC amplification in gastric cancer is correlated with survival in advanced stages.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8063-8067
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• 2014

Background: Cervical cancer is a major public health problem in Bangladesh. Persistence of high risk human papillomavirus (HRHPV) influences the progression of the disease, with an important role in followup for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Objective: To establish application of high risk HPV DNA test in the follow-up of women after treatment of CIN. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional and hospital based study was carried out among 145 CIN treated women during the previous six months to three years at the colposcopy clinic of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, between January 2011 and June 2012. Pap smear and HPV samples were collected and colposcopy was performed to find out the persistence of the disease. Cervical samples obtained were tested for HPV DNA using the Hybrid Capture II (HC-II) test. A cervical biopsy was collected whenever necessary. The results were compared to assess the efficacy of different methods during follow up such as Pap smear, HPV test and colposcopy. Results: Mean age of the recruited women (n=145) was 33.6 (${\pm}7.6$), mean age of marriage was 16.8 (${\pm}2.9$) and mean age of 1st delivery was 18.8 (${\pm}3.5$) years. More than half had high grade CIN before treatment and 115 (79.3%) women were managed by LEEP and 20.7% were managed by cold coagulation. Among the 145 treated women, 139 were negative for HPV DNA and six of them (4.1%) were HPV positive. Sensitivity of Pap smear (40.0) and HPV DNA test (40.0) was poor, but specificity was quite satisfactory (>93.0) for all the tests. Conclusions: The high risk HPV DNA test can be an effective method of identifying residual disease. It can be added to colposcopy and this should be applied to all treated women attending for their first or second post-treatment follow-up visit at 6 months to one year, irrespective of the grade of treated CIN.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8183-8189
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• 2014

Background: A comparative cross-sectional study involving oral cancer patients and healthy individuals was designed to investigate associations between retinol, ${\alpha}$-tocopherol and ${\beta}$-carotene with the risk of oral cancer. Materials and Methods: This study included a total of 240 matched cases and controls where subjects were selected from the Malaysian Oral Cancer Database and Tissue Bank System (MOCDTBS). Retinol, ${\alpha}$-tocopherol and ${\beta}$-carotene levels and intake were examined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) respectively. Results: It was found that results from the two methods applied did not correlate, so that further analysis was done using the HPLC method utilising blood serum. Serum levels of retinol and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol among cases ($0.177{\pm}0.081$, $1.649{\pm}1.670{\mu}g/ml$) were significantly lower than in controls ($0.264{\pm}0.137$, $3.225{\pm}2.054{\mu}g/ml$) (p<0.005). Although serum level of ${\beta}$-carotene among cases ($0.106{\pm}0.159{\mu}g/ml$) were lower compared to controls ($0.134{\pm}0.131{\mu}g/ml$), statistical significance was not observed. Logistic regression analysis showed that high serum level of retinol (OR=0.501, 95% CI=0.254-0.992, p<0.05) and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol (OR=0.184, 95% CI=0.091-0.370, p<0.05) was significantly related to lower risk of oral cancer, whereas no relationship was observed between ${\beta}$-carotene and oral cancer risk. Conclusions: High serum levels of retinol and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol confer protection against oral cancer risk.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3931-3936
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• 2013

Background: Iran is a country with very high incidences of stomach cancer, especially in Northern parts. Here we assessed prognostic value of serum screening biomarkers among people >50 years old for early detection of precancerous lesions in a hot spot for gastric carcinoma in Guilan Province, North Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted on 1,390 residents of Lashtenasha city with the mean age (SD) of 61.8 (9.02) years old (50.8% females) to assess the association of gastrin and the pepsinogen (PG) I/II ratio with premalignant gastric lesions. Blood samples were taken for CBC, blood group, and serologic exams (PGI, PGII, and gastrin 17) from each subject. Expert gastroenterologists performed upper GI endoscopy and ROC curves were generated to determine appropriate cutoff points. Results: Mean values of PGI, PGII, PGI/PGII and gastrin were significantly different between patients with and without atrophy or metaplasia (P<0.05). To diagnose atrophy and intestinal metaplasia, a significantly higher AUC was observed for the PGI/PGII ratio (70 and 72%, respectively) compared to the PGI (56, 55%), PGII (63, 64%) and gastrin (59, 61%) (all p<0.001). Conclusions: Biomarker tests such as the PGI/II ratio can be used in the screening and diagnosis of subjects at high gastric cancer risk in our region.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.31-38
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• 2015

In order to achieve a high speed and high quality silicon wafer bonding, the room-temperature direct bonding using atmospheric pressure plasma and sprayed water vapor was developed. Effects of different plasma fabrication parameters, such as flow rate of $N_2$ gas, flow rate of CDA (clear dry air), gap between the plasma head and wafer surface, and plasma applied voltage, on plasma activation were investigated using the measurements of the contact angle. Influences of the annealing temperature and the annealing time on bonding strength were also investigated. The bonding strength of the bonded wafers was measured using a crack opening method. The optimized condition for the highest bonding strength was an annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ and an annealing time of 2 hours. For the plasma activation conditions, the highest bonding strength was achieved at the plasma scan speed of 30 mm/sec and the number of plasma treatment of 4 times. After optimization of the plasma activation conditions and annealing conditions, the direct bonding of the silicon wafers was performed. The infrared transmission image and the cross sectional image of bonded interface indicated that there is no void and defects on the bonded wafers. The bonded wafer exhibited a bonding strength of average $2.3J/m^2$.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2015

A mineralogical analysis on the factors affecting the luster of pearls was carried out using gravity measurement, optical microscope observation, X-ray diffraction analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. We divided the seawater cultured pearls from Tongyeong into the following four types based on luster and shape; good luster and round (LR), lackluster and round (LLR), lackluster and baroque (LLB), and lackluster and two nucleus (LTN) pearls. Pearls with high-quality luster had slightly lower specific gravity as compared to pearls with low-quality luster, but both these types of pearls are within the specific gravity range of commercial pearls. Regarding the cross-sectional thickness of the mother-of-pearl layer, LR pearls showed a uniform thickness of about 0.3 mm in average. On the other hand, LLR pearls were characterized by relatively thinner, but uniform thickness. LTN and LLB pearls showed a tendency of significantly large variation in thickness even within a single pearl. For the surface of pearls, pearls with high-quality luster showed narrower and clearer growth lines of aragonite crystals as compared to pearls with low-quality luster. Pearls with high-quality luster were characterized by fewer aragonite crystal lattice defects as compared to pearls with low-quality luster, and the former showed parallel arrangement, thinner thickness, and less difference in thickness on the surface and inside. If a pearl has a prismatic layer, it is composed of aragonite with calcite in the prismatic and nacreous layer, and calcite content is very high in the lackluster pearl. Pearls without a prismatic layer were devoid of calcite irrespective of their quality of luster, and were composed of aragonite.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.587-602
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• 2017

Correlations of soil and leaf nutrients and growth of young 'Enterprise' apple (Malus ${\times}$ domestica Borkh.) trees were analyzed with tree damage, such as Japanese beetle (JB; Popillia japonica Newman)-damaged leaves, vole damage to trunk, tree mortality, and weed density in a certified organic orchard in warm and humid environment of Southern USA. Interaction treatments of four mulch and three fertilizers were applied around trees as follows: mow-and-blow (MB), shredded paper (SP), wood chips (WC), and green compost (GC) as a mulch, with no fertilizer (NF), poultry litter (PL), and commercial organic fertilizer (CF) as a fertilizer applied in April. Vole damage to trunk and weed density were little correlated with mineral nutrients and tree growth. JB-damaged leaves were highly stimulated to 26.5% in GC-treated plots while tree mortality were increased by MB treatments. Biomass production per tree was approximately 3,700 g on the WC- and GC-treated plots, which was two times higher than those values observed on the other two mulch plots. JB-damaged leaves tended to get worse when nutrients in soil and leaf increased through the correlation analysis, with a strong positive relationship ($r^2=0.585$) observed between JB-damaged leaves and trunk cross sectional area, a vegetative indicator. Tree mortality was more negatively associated with nutrient contents and growth of trees than those of soil nutrients. Wood chips was considered for a local organic mulch materials to increase organic matter contents and to produce healthy young trees in Southern USA, with control insect, such as beetle, and vole density in an orchard habitat.