Risk factors of breast cancer and breast self-examination in early detection: systematic review of awareness among Indian women in community and health care professionals.

Background: This review aims at evaluating the awareness of risk factors for breast cancer (BC) and the knowledge of breast self-examination (BSE) among Indian women and health care professionals (HCPs).

Methods: Literature search was conducted on multiple bibliographic databases with restrictions applied to English peer-reviewed journals.

Results: We reviewed 37 published articles on this topic.

Health-related quality of life of esophageal cancer patients in daily life after treatment: A multicenter cross-sectional study in China.

Background: The improvement of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques has prolonged the survival time of patients with esophageal cancer. Little is known, however, about their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in daily life after treatment.

Methods: Esophageal cancer patients who had been discharged from hospitals more than one year and healthy controls identified by screening were recruited from seven study centers covering eastern, central, and western regions of China.

Hypoxia-Induced Mitogenic Factor Promotes Cardiac Hypertrophy via Calcium-Dependent and Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α Mechanisms.

HIMF (hypoxia-induced mitogenic factor/found in inflammatory zone 1/resistin like α) is a secretory and cytokine-like protein and serves as a critical stimulator of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension. With a role for HIMF in heart disease unknown, we explored the possible roles for HIMF in cardiac hypertrophy by overexpressing and knocking down HIMF in cardiomyocytes and characterizing HIMF gene () knockout mice. We found that HIMF mRNA and protein levels were upregulated in phenylephrine-stimulated cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and our mouse model of transverse aortic constriction-induced cardiac hypertrophy, as well as in human hearts with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Changing cancer survival in China during 2003-15: a pooled analysis of 17 population-based cancer registries.

Background: From 2003 to 2005, standardised 5-year cancer survival in China was much lower than in developed countries and varied substantially by geographical area. Monitoring population-level cancer survival is crucial to the understanding of the overall effectiveness of cancer care. We therefore aimed to investigate survival statistics for people with cancer in China between 2003 and 2015.

Relationship between physical activity, disability, and physical fitness profile in sedentary Latina breast cancer survivors.

Objective: To report baseline data from a physical activity (PA) intervention for Latina breast cancer survivors, and assess the relationship between PA, fitness, and disability.

Methods: Eighty-nine Latina breast cancer survivors from San Juan, PR and Houston, TX (age: 55.4 ± 9.

Smokeless tobacco (SLT) use and cessation in India: Lessons from user and health care provider perspectives.

Background: The use of smokeless tobacco (SLT) is very common in India and leads to well established adverse health effects, particularly oral cancers.

Aim: To understand the perceptions of SLT users and health care providers regarding the prevalence of SLT in the community, awareness about its adverse effects and challenges for cessation METHODS: Key Informant (KI) interviews with SLT users; Focus group discussions (FGDs) with female and male tobacco users and health care providers RESULTS: KI perceptions among users and service providers were more or less similar regarding the extent of SLT use in the community. There was inadequate knowledge of the harm from SLT use, both among SLT users and health care providers.

The efficacy of prostate-specific antigen screening: Impact of key components in the ERSPC and PLCO trials.

Background: The European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) demonstrated that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening significantly reduced prostate cancer mortality (rate ratio, 0.79; 95% confidence interval, 0.69-0.

Reconciling the Effects of Screening on Prostate Cancer Mortality in the ERSPC and PLCO Trials.

Background: The ERSPC (European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer) found that screening reduced prostate cancer mortality, but the PLCO (Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial) found no reduction.

Objective: To evaluate whether effects of screening on prostate cancer mortality relative to no screening differed between the ERSPC and PLCO.

Design: Cox regression of prostate cancer death in each trial group, adjusted for age and trial.

Variability of adverse events in the public health-care service of the Tuscany region.

The objective of the study is to analyze the variation of adverse events (AEs) according to the different structure of hospitals. The study is a multicenter, retrospective study. It involves 4 teaching hospitals (THs) and 32 community hospitals, distributed in 12 local trusts (LTs), of the Tuscany Regional Healthcare Service (RHS).

Association between genetic variants in the promoter region of a novel antisense long noncoding RNA RP11-392P7.6 and colorectal cancer risk.

There is a widespread occurrence of antisense transcripts' regulation on cancer-related genes in cancer biology. RP11-392P7.6 is antisense to the coding region of cancer-related gene GPRC5D, which has been found recently.

[Analysis of the incidence and age characteristics of upper gastrointestinal cancer among 2003-2012 in the high incidence area of esophageal cancer, Cixian County, in Hebei Province].

To investigate the overall incidence and age distribution of upper digestive tract cancer in Cixian county, and to provide a reliable basis of prevention and treatment for upper gastrointestinal cancer. Collected annual incidence rate among 2003-2012 from Cixian cancer registry and abstracted all incidence rate of upper digestive tract cancer. The age-standardized incidence rate by Chinese standard population (ASR China) was calculated using the national population composition of 2000.

[Cost-effectiveness analysis on colorectal cancer screening program].

To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening program in different age groups from the view of health economics. The screening compliance rates, detection rates in different age groups were calculated by using the data from colorectal cancer screening program in Jiashan county, Zhejiang province. The differences in indicator among age groups were analyzed with (2) test or trend (2) test.

[The strategy for establishment of comprehensive cervical cancer prevention and control in the world].

Cervical cancer is one of the most common malignancies among women. Screening programs for cervical cancer have been implemented in many developed countries. Comprehensive systems for cervical cancer prevention and control have improved over the past 30 years, which has led to a significant decline in the morbidity and mortality of cervical cancer.

Role of neutral ceramidase in colon cancer.

Alterations in sphingolipid metabolism, especially ceramide and sphingosine 1-phosphate, have been linked to colon cancer, suggesting that enzymes of sphingolipid metabolism may emerge as novel regulators and targets in colon cancer. Neutral ceramidase (nCDase), a key enzyme in sphingolipid metabolism that hydrolyzes ceramide into sphingosine, is highly expressed in the intestine; however, its role in colon cancer has not been defined. Here we show that molecular and pharmacological inhibition of nCDase in colon cancer cells increases ceramide, and this is accompanied by decreased cell survival and increased apoptosis and autophagy, with minimal effects on noncancerous cells.

Preferential sampling and Bayesian geostatistics: Statistical modeling and examples.

Preferential sampling refers to any situation in which the spatial process and the sampling locations are not stochastically independent. In this paper, we present two examples of geostatistical analysis in which the usual assumption of stochastic independence between the point process and the measurement process is violated. To account for preferential sampling, we specify a flexible and general Bayesian geostatistical model that includes a shared spatial random component.

A randomised trial of the effect of postal reminders on attendance for breast screening.

Background: Some women make an informed choice not to attend breast screening, whereas others may have forgotten about the appointment. We report on a randomised trial that investigates whether a reminder letter affects attendance.

Methods: Women scheduled for a breast screening appointment were randomised to either receive a reminder letter a few days before their breast screening appointment in addition to the standard invitation letter (intervention) or not (control).

Cost-effectiveness of prostate cancer screening: a simulation study based on ERSPC data.

Background: The results of the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) trial showed a statistically significant 29% prostate cancer mortality reduction for the men screened in the intervention arm and a 23% negative impact on the life-years gained because of quality of life. However, alternative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening strategies for the population may exist, optimizing the effects on mortality reduction, quality of life, overdiagnosis, and costs.

Methods: Based on data of the ERSPC trial, we predicted the numbers of prostate cancers diagnosed, prostate cancer deaths averted, life-years and quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) gained, and cost-effectiveness of 68 screening strategies starting at age 55 years, with a PSA threshold of 3, using microsimulation modeling.

Impacts of a population-based prostate cancer screening programme on excess total mortality rates in men with prostate cancer: a randomized controlled trial.

Objectives To assess the effect of screening in terms of excess mortality in the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC). Methods A total of 141,578 men aged 55-69 were randomized to systematic screening or usual care in ERSPC sections in Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. The excess number of deaths was defined as the difference between the observed number of deaths in the prostate cancer (PC) patients and the expected number of deaths up to 31 December 2006.

Saharan dust and associations between particulate matter and daily mortality in Rome, Italy.

Background: Outbreaks of Saharan-Sahel dust over Euro-Mediterranean areas frequently induce exceedances of the Europen Union's 24-hr standard of 50 μg/m3 for particulate matter (PM) with aerodynamic diameter ≤ than 10 μm (PM10).

Objectives: We evaluated the effect of Saharan dust on the association between different PM fractions and daily mortality in Rome, Italy.

Methods: In a study of 80,423 adult residents who died in Rome between 2001 and 2004, we performed a time-series analysis to explore the effects of PM2.

[Correlation of CD82 and hTERT expressions and HPV infection with penile cancer].

Objective: To study the correlation of the expressions of CD82 and hTERT and HPV infection with the clinical pathological features of penile cancer and identify their prognostic significance in the lymphatic metastasis of the disease.

Methods: A total of 44 patients underwent partial or radical penectomy and lymph node dissection. The expressions of CD82 and hTERT were determined by immunohistochemistry, and HPV infection was detected by PCR.

Soy isoflavone intake and estrogen excretion patterns in young women: effect of probiotic administration.

Background: Soy isoflavones may lower breast cancer risk through altered hepatic estrogen metabolism, leading to increased urinary excretion ratios of 2-hydroxyestrone (20HE1) to 16a-hydroxyestrone (16alphaOHE1).

Materials And Methods: Urinary excretion of 20HE1/16alphaOHE1 was measured in 36 healthy, pre-menstrual women before and after ingestion of a soy-protein formula containing 120 mg of isoflavone daily for one month. Since isoflavone absorption and metabolism depends on intestinal bacteria, effects of co-administration of Lactobacillus GG (2 x 10(12)) on estrogen ratios and isoflavone excretion were studied.

Glutathione depletion and recovery after acute ethanol administration in the aging mouse.

Glutathione (GSH) plays an important role in the detoxification of ethanol (EtOH) and acute EtOH administration leads to GSH depletion in the liver and other tissues. Aging is also associated with a progressive decline in GSH levels and impairment in GSH biosynthesis in many tissues. Thus, the present study was designed to examine the effects of aging on EtOH-induced depletion and recovery of GSH in different tissues of the C57Bl/6NNIA mouse.

Phenethyl isothiocyanate and sulforaphane and their N-acetylcysteine conjugates inhibit malignant progression of lung adenomas induced by tobacco carcinogens in A/J mice.

We have shown previously that naturally occurring isothiocyanates derived from cruciferous vegetables and their N-acetylcysteine conjugates inhibit lung adenoma formation induced by tobacco carcinogens in A/J mice at the post-initiation stage. The tumor-inhibitory activity by these compounds is linked with activation of activator protein and induction of apoptosis in lung tissues, suggesting that these compounds may also inhibit the development of adenomas to adenocarcinomas in lung. In this study, the chemopreventive activity of phenethyl isothiocyanate and sulforaphane and their N-acetylcysteine conjugates during progression of lung adenomas to malignant tumors was investigated in A/J mice.