Awareness and health-enhancing behavior of oral cancer among high school students

Introduction. An increase in head and neck cancers has been observed. Recent findings show an association between those cancers and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection. It is known that HPV infections lead to oral cancers, especially among adolescents. Material and methods. An author-delivered questionnaire was carried out among 774 high school students. The survey covered questions about epidemiology, lifestyle, dental behavior, and oral cancer prevention and risk factors. Results. 29.1% of students smoke or vape. 34.9% of respondents think that HPV infections can cause oral cancer. It is believed that transmission occurs through sexual activity (72.2%), vertical (47.5%), horizontal (23.8%), and auto-transmission (14.6%). 20.4% of interviewees noticed changes in their oral mucosa and 20.0% perform mouth self-examination. Conclusions. Students do not have adequate knowledge of oral cancer. Smoking and drinking are still at a high level. The lack of knowledge prevailed in technical schools. Participants attending classes with an advanced curriculum in science had better lifestyle habits than others. There is a need to improve head and neck cancers education and awareness among youth attending technical schools and schools with non-scientific curriculums

Awareness and health-enhancing behavior of oral cancer among high school students

Introduction. An increase in head and neck cancers has been observed. Recent findings show an association between those cancers and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection. It is known that HPV infections lead to oral cancers, especially among adolescents. Material and methods. An author-delivered questionnaire was carried out among 774 high school students. The survey covered questions about epidemiology, lifestyle, dental behavior, and oral cancer prevention and risk factors. Results. 29.1% of students smoke or vape. 34.9% of respondents think that HPV infections can cause oral cancer. It is believed that transmission occurs through sexual activity (72.2%), vertical (47.5%), horizontal (23.8%), and auto-transmission (14.6%). 20.4% of interviewees noticed changes in their oral mucosa and 20.0% perform mouth self-examination. Conclusions. Students do not have adequate knowledge of oral cancer. Smoking and drinking are still at a high level. The lack of knowledge prevailed in technical schools. Participants attending classes with an advanced curriculum in science had better lifestyle habits than others. There is a need to improve head and neck cancers education and awareness among youth attending technical schools and schools with non-scientific curriculums

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Expression of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1α in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer with Metastasis to Lymph Nodes

A great number of scientific studies have shown that the development of different TNBC forms is closely associated with the induction of various signaling pathways and that TNBC cells show greater sensitivity to different drugs. Recent studies showed hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) was strongly correlated to clinicopathological features in many types of cancers. This molecule seems to play a significant role in the development of different tumors and breast cancer among them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between immunohistochemical expression of novel prognostic marker—HIF-1α—and clinicopathological features for patients with triple-negative breast cancer. Among 162 breast cancer patients, we identified 111 (68.5%) subjects with triple-negative breast cancer. In our study, TNBC was most commonly assessed as G2 and G3 (52.2%; 45.1%), pT1 and pT2 (34.2%; 62.1%), and pN1 and pN2 (45%; 41.4%). TNBC more often presented HIF-1α expression (43.2%) than non-TNBC (35.2%). TNBC subgroup demonstrated significant correlation between HIF-1α expression and tumor size (pT1–pT4) (p = 0.021), which may suggest that HIF-1 alpha expression in this group of patients may be an additional and significant marker in the evaluation of the advance of the disease, affecting therapeutic decisions

The multidirectional role of osteopontin in cancer

Osteopontin (OPN) was described for the first time as a potential marker of neoplastic transformation by Senger et al. in 1979. Studies suggesting an important role of OPN in oncology, allergology, nephrology and cardiology have been published for many years. However, the largest number of articles pertains to the role of OPN in neoplastic transformation and will surely facilitate future determination of OPN levels in blood or cancer tissues with the pur­pose of disease diagnosing, staging, prognosing metastases and monitoring the treatment effectiveness. Numerous studies showed that high OPN expression levels accompany metastases formation; the protein was also confirmed to be involved in stimulation of cell proliferation and formation of new blood vessels, i.e. angiogenesis. OPN was also shown to be capable of binding the CD-44 receptors, which facilitates migration and invasion of cancer cells into the blood vessels. Correlation was also demonstrated between OPN expression and the time to disease recurrence and overall survival in patients with breast cancer, gastric cancer, hepatocellular cancer, hormone-depen­dent prostate cancer, kidney cancer and endometrial cancer. The exact mechanism responsible for OPN’s role in neoplastic transformation remains unclear and numerous research studies are conducted in this area

Prevalence of PgR, ER and HER2+ receptors among women with breast cancer by age in Poland

Introduction. Prevalence of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PgR) and human epidermal growth factor receptors (HER2) vary by age among women with breast cancer (BC). Such variation has a large significance for the prognosis and treatment process. This study characterizes the prevalence of breast cancer subtypes by age in a hospital sample in Poland. Material and methods. The study population included 735 women with BC aged 27–91 years old (ICD-10: C50) and treated in the years 2009–2011 in the Military Institute of Medicine in Warsaw. Subjects were divided into 2 age categories — 27–44 and 45+ — which included 66 (9%) and 669 (91%) women respectively. In each group prevalence of PgR, ER and HER2+ receptors was investigated. Results. In both age groups the most frequent BC subtype was luminal A (hormone dependent BC — with PgR and ER receptor expression) — 27–44 years old — 44% and 45+ years old — 56%. The lowest number of cases in the age group 27–44 was luminal B (triple positive breast cancer) — about 15% of cases and for 45+ age group — HER2+ BC — about 11%. Discussion. Performed research shows relationship between growing age of diagnosis and presence of more desirable features of BC among women aged 55 and more, such as expression of steroid receptors or lack of expression of HER2 receptors, which is a good prognostic indicator for treatment outcomes. In the same time, many studies suggest that more aggressive types of breast cancer (basal-like — triple negative) are more characteristic for younger age groups (under 45 years old and younger women in perimenopausal age). Same results have been obtained in own study. Conclusions. A high incidence of BC in older age groups (45+) and more frequent occurrence of aggressive types of BC among younger women (27–44 years old) indicate the need to educate women from both age groups about risk factors and early symptoms of the disease. As we still have not recognized all BC risk factors, education about well-known agents, such as alcohol intake, overweight and obesity, play significant role in decrease of BC incidence and mortality

Ocena wiedzy uczniów warszawskich szkół średnich na temat skutków zdrowotnych wynikających z nadmiernego korzystania z promieniowania ultrafioletowego (UV) = Knowledge assessment about health effects caused by excessive use of ultraviolet radiation (UV) among high school students in Warsaw

Koczkodaj Pawel, Sobol Maria, Badowska-Kozakiewicz Anna Maria. Ocena wiedzy uczniów warszawskich szkół średnich na temat skutków zdrowotnych wynikających z nadmiernego korzystania z promieniowania ultrafioletowego (UV) = Knowledge assessment about health effects caused by excessive use of ultraviolet radiation (UV) among high school students in Warsaw. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2016;6(5):94-110. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.51293 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/3512 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 755 (23.12.2015). 755 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7 © The Author (s) 2016; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 05.04.2016. Revised 25.04.2016. Accepted: 10.05.2016. Ocena wiedzy uczniów warszawskich szkół średnich na temat skutków zdrowotnych wynikających z nadmiernego korzystania z promieniowania ultrafioletowego (UV) Knowledge assessment about health effects caused by excessive use of ultraviolet radiation (UV) among high school students in Warsaw Paweł Koczkodaj1, Maria Sobol2, Anna Maria Badowska-Kozakiewicz3 Pawel Koczkodaj1, Maria Sobol2, Anna Maria Badowska-Kozakiewicz3 Zakład Biofizyki i Fizjologii Człowieka, Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny Department of Human Biophysics and Physiology, Medical University of Warsaw Słowa kluczowe: promieniowanie ultrafioletowe (UV), choroby skóry, czerniak, profilaktyka, edukacja zdrowotna. Key words: ultraviolet radiation (UV), skin diseases, melanoma, prevention, health education. Streszczenie 1. Wprowadzenie i cel pracy Promieniowanie ultrafioletowe jest obecne w codziennym życiu każdego człowieka. Stale rosnąca liczba nowych przypadków nowotworów złośliwych skóry w Polsce i na świecie może sugerować brak odpowiedniej wiedzy w zakresie fotoprotekcji. Podnoszenie świadomości społecznej, szczególnie wśród młodych ludzi, odnośnie skutków zdrowotnych nadmiernego działania promieniowania UV, pełni kluczową rolę w odniesieniu do ich obecnego i przyszłego stanu zdrowia. Celem przeprowadzonego badania była ocena poziomu wiedzy uczniów warszawskich szkół średnich na temat skutków zdrowotnych wynikających z nadmiernego korzystania z promieniowania ultrafioletowego, a także poznanie zachowań zdrowotnych młodych osób podczas korzystania z promieniowania UV. 2. Materiał i metodyka Zbadano 153 uczniów warszawskich szkół średnich. Rozkład płci był losowy, przedział wiekowy badanych wynosił od 17 do 19 lat. Badanie zostało przeprowadzone przy pomocy autorskiego kwestionariusza w wersji papierowej, składającego się z 29 pytań. Do zbadania związku między wybranymi cechami został zastosowany test niezależności chi-kwadrat (χ2) (pakiet STATISTICA12). W testach przyjęto poziom istotności p≤0,05. W zależności od liczebności zastosowano właściwe poprawki do testu chi-kwadrat. 3. Wyniki i wnioski Nie wystąpiła zależność pomiędzy takimi cechami jak: korzystanie z urządzeń opalających i postrzeganie poparzenia skóry jako czynnika kancerogennego, korzystanie z solarium i regularne przeglądanie znamion barwnikowych, wystąpienie czerniaka złośliwego skóry w przeszłości w rodzinie i korzystanie z urządzeń opalających, wystąpienie poparzenia skóry i częstość stosowania preparatów z filtrem UV. Powyższe wyniki mogą świadczyć o niekompletności wiedzy ankietowanych w zakresie wpływu UV na zdrowie człowieka. Abstract 1. Introduction and aim Ultraviolet radiation is present in the daily life of every human being. The constantly growing number of new cases of skin cancer in Poland and in the world can suggest a lack of adequate knowledge of photoprotection. Raising public awareness, especially among young people about the health effects of excessive UV radiation use, plays a key role in relation to their current and future health. The aim of the study was to assess the level of knowledge among high school students in Warsaw about the health effects resulting from excessive use of ultraviolet radiation, as well as knowledge concerning health behaviors of young people using UV radiation. 2. Material and methods The study group consists of 153 students from Warsaw high schools. The gender distribution was random, the age range of the respondents was 17 to 19 years. The study was conducted using paper questionnaire, consisting of 29 questions. To examine the relationship between the selected traits has been applied test of independence chi-square (χ2) (STATISTICA12 package). In tests the level of significance was p≤0.05. Depending on the size used appropriate amendments to the chi-square test. 3. Results and conclusions There was no relationship between such features as: the use of tanning devices and perception of skin burns as a carcinogenic factor, the use of the solarium and regularly reviewing pigmented moles, the occurrence of malignant melanoma of the skin in the past in the family and the use of tanning devices, the occurrence of skin burns and frequency of use of formulations with UV protection. This may indicate incomplete knowledge of the respondents in terms of the impact of UV on human health

Cyclooxygenase-2 and Bcl-2 expression in patients with triple-negative breast cancer

Introduction. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a rare type of breast cancer associated with lack of expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors and HER2 protein, characterized by poor outcome and chemotherapy resistance. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a constitutional enzyme responsible for prostaglandin synthesis, present in neoplastic cells and premalignant lesions. B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) protein is considered to be one of the most potent apoptosis-regulating agents, assuring body homeostasis. Aim. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the immunohistochemical (IHC) profile of COX-2 and Bcl-2 expression in patients suffering from TNBC in order to obtain more detailed data on additional factors negatively influencing TNBC outcome. Material and methods. The IHC evaluation of COX-2 and Bcl-2 expression among 21 women with diagnosis of TNBC was performed. Results. The most common histological subtype was invasive ductal cancer of no special type. COX-2 was present in all examined samples with moderate to strong expression detected in 20 of 21 cases. There was a positive correlation between histological grade (G) and COX-2 expression (p=0.002). Bcl-2 was present in all examined samples. The analysis has shown that tumours presenting highy positive expression of Bcl-2 accounted for the majority of examined cases (57.2%). Conclusions. Achieved results might lead to a conclusion that COX-2 and Bcl-2 high expression in TNBC may be linked with tumour aggressiveness and poor overall survival. However, before their consideration as additional markers used in routine histological examination and grading in breast cancer, further studies are necessary

Apocrine breast carcinoma as an extremely rare breast cancer subtype – histopathological characteristics

Apocrine carcinoma (AC) is a distinctive and rare type of malignancy, counted for 0.3–4% of all breast cancer cases. It does not have a particular clinical or radiological features, although it is characterized by the apocrine morphology, estrogen receptor-negative and androgen receptor-positive profile. In the present study, among 1122 patients with breast cancer only 5 of them were diagnosed with apocrine carcinoma (0.4%). All patients were above 50 years old (51–63, mean: 57). Tumor size varied from 1.4 cm to 3.8 cm with a mean size of 2.4 cm, while mean size of all 1122 studied cases counted for 1.9 cm. Two tumors were classified as high-grade (G3), 2 as G2, and 1 as G1. Four tumors out of 5 did not affect lymph nodes (pN0 stage), whereas 1 was classified as pN2 with 9/19 regional lymph nodes affected. This observation was consistent with the whole studied group, in which pN0 stage made up the largest percentage. Presented results suggest that AC is less frequent in premenopausal patients. AC tends to present as invasive malignancy without nodal involvement and is usually characterized by relatively less aggressive biological behavior compared to other histological types of breast cancer. Due to the fact that AC is definitely a rare type of breast cancer, modern medicine has still limited treatment options to offer. Further research needs to be conducted in order to develop target therapies for this carcinoma

Immunohistochemical evaluation of osteopontin expression in triple-negative breast cancer

Introduction Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with lack of expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors and HER2 and is the subgroup of breast cancers with the worst prognosis. Osteopontin is a phosphorylated glycoprotein whose overexpression may occur in pathological states such as cancers. The main purpose of our study was to evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of osteopontin in connection with the analysis of recognized clinical and pathological prognostic factors in primary sites of TNBC with and without lymph node metastases. Material and methods The immunohistochemical evaluation of osteopontin expression in 35 women with TNBC, chosen from a group of 726 patients, was performed. The material came from the excisional biopsies of primary breast cancers and total mastectomies. Results All patients showed expression of osteopontin, in most cases the expression of osteopontin rated at [+] (57.1%) and [++] (42.9%). Our study analyzed the relationship between the expression of osteopontin and traditional prognostic markers, such as the tumor grade, size, and lymph node involvement. We found a strong relationship only between the expression of osteopontin and the presence of lymph node metastases (p ≤ 0.0001). 93% of patients for whom the expression of osteopontin was determined at [++] had metastasis to lymph nodes and, for comparison, only 15% of women for whom the expression of osteopontin was rated at [+] showed the presence of metastases in the lymphatic nodes. Conclusions There is a correlation between osteopontin expression and the presence of lymph node metastases in TNBC, suggesting that osteopontin plays an important role in the invasiveness of TNBC