Breast Cancer Knowledge and Preventive Behavior Among Filipino Women in a Rural Area: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer are high among Filipino women. The lack of knowledge on preventive behavior and early detection related to breast cancer is considered a reason. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the association between knowledge about breast cancer and selected sociodemographic characteristics, daily life factors, reproductive factors, and perceived breast cancer risk factors. Patients and Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. The study population consisted of 527 women. Interviews were conducted by the investigators. The contents of the questionnaire collected basic characteristics of the respondents, including their sociodemographic profiles, their knowledge of breast cancer risk factors, preventive behaviors, early detection, and their daily life and reproductive factors. Predictor variables were analyzed using a Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and a t-test. Multivariate logistic regression was applied for any significant differences (P < 0.005) among the predictor variables. One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s HDS were used to evaluate the association between education level and reproductive factors. Results: Less than half of the women (42.7%) had knowledge on breast cancer risk factors, and an equivalent number had knowledge on breast cancer symptoms. Women with higher educational levels were noted to give birth to their first child at a significantly older age and have a significantly lower number of childbirths. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that body mass index, education history, knowledge about symptoms, knowing how to conduct a breast self-examination, family history of cancer, and passive smoking could predict breast cancer knowledge. Conclusions: Women who were aware of risk factors for breast cancer possessed a higher education level and had knowledge of the association of risk factors with preventive behaviors and early detection. However, a minority of women (42.7%) knew enough about breast cancer, preventive behaviors, and what actions to take for early detection

Occupational radiation monitoring at a large medical center in Japan

Occupational radiation dose monitoring is a method of ensuring that radiation levels are within the regulatory limits. Our objective in this study was to evaluate the radiation doses experienced by personnel at a radiology facility between 2001 and 2010. Overall, 2418 annual dose records for workers who were categorized into four occupational groups were analyzed. The groups included: (1) radiologists, (2) radiologic technologists, (3) nurses, and (4) other workers, who belong to other hospital departments, but who participate partially in some radiologic procedures. The dose distribution was found to be skewed, with 76 % of personnel having received no measurable doses and almost 2 % having received doses of more than 2 mSv. The weighted-average annual doses ranged from 0.13 to 0.57, 0.9 to 2.12, 0.01 to 0.19, and 0.01 to 0.09 mSv for the radiologists, radiologic technologists, nurses, and the other workers, respectively. The radiologic technologists received the highest radiation exposure among the four groups. It was found that the average annual doses were decreasing over time for the radiologists, radiologic technologists, and others, whereas they were increasing for the nurses. Nurses play an important role in assisting radiologists and patients during various radiologic procedures, which might have increased their average annual dose. During the 10-year period of this study, there was no incidence of a dose exceeding the annual dose limit of 20 mSv. Furthermore, there was no detectable neutron exposure.The authors wish to thank Professor Sadayuki Murayama for his valuable help with this work. Also, thanks to Ms. Midori Miyagi for assisting in Japanese-to-English communications

Phase II trial of radiotherapy after hyperbaric oxygenation with chemotherapy for high-grade gliomas

We conducted a phase II trial to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of radiotherapy immediately after hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) with chemotherapy in adults with high-grade gliomas. Patients with histologically confirmed high-grade gliomas were administered radiotherapy in daily 2 Gy fractions for 5 consecutive days per week up to a total dose of 60 Gy. Each fraction was administered immediately after HBO with the period of time from completion of decompression to irradiation being less than 15 min. Chemotherapy consisted of procarbazine, nimustine (ACNU) and vincristine and was administered during and after radiotherapy. A total of 41 patients (31 patients with glioblastoma and 10 patients with grade 3 gliomas) were enrolled. All 41 patients were able to complete a total radiotherapy dose of 60 Gy immediately after HBO with one course of concurrent chemotherapy. Of 30 assessable patients, 17 (57%) had an objective response including four CR and 13 PR. The median time to progression and the median survival time in glioblastoma patients were 12.3 months and 17.3 months, respectively. On univariate analysis, histologic grade (P=0.0001) and Karnofsky performance status (P=0.036) had a significant impact on survival, and on multivariate analysis, histologic grade alone was a significant prognostic factor for survival (P=0.001). Although grade 4 leukopenia and grade 4 thrombocytopenia occurred in 10 and 7% of all patients, respectively, these were transient with no patients developing neutropenic fever or intracranial haemorrhage. No serious nonhaematological or late toxicities were seen. These results indicated that radiotherapy delivered immediately after HBO with chemotherapy was safe with virtually no late toxicity in patients with high-grade gliomas. Further studies are required to strictly evaluate the effectiveness of radiotherapy after HBO for these tumours

Cell-Surface Marker Signatures for the Isolation of Neural Stem Cells, Glia and Neurons Derived from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Neural induction of human pluripotent stem cells often yields heterogeneous cell populations that can hamper quantitative and comparative analyses. There is a need for improved differentiation and enrichment procedures that generate highly pure populations of neural stem cells (NSC), glia and neurons. One way to address this problem is to identify cell-surface signatures that enable the isolation of these cell types from heterogeneous cell populations by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS).We performed an unbiased FACS- and image-based immunophenotyping analysis using 190 antibodies to cell surface markers on naïve human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and cell derivatives from neural differentiation cultures. From this analysis we identified prospective cell surface signatures for the isolation of NSC, glia and neurons. We isolated a population of NSC that was CD184(+)/CD271(-)/CD44(-)/CD24(+) from neural induction cultures of hESC and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC). Sorted NSC could be propagated for many passages and could differentiate to mixed cultures of neurons and glia in vitro and in vivo. A population of neurons that was CD184(-)/CD44(-)/CD15(LOW)/CD24(+) and a population of glia that was CD184(+)/CD44(+) were subsequently purified from cultures of differentiating NSC. Purified neurons were viable, expressed mature and subtype-specific neuronal markers, and could fire action potentials. Purified glia were mitotic and could mature to GFAP-expressing astrocytes in vitro and in vivo.These findings illustrate the utility of immunophenotyping screens for the identification of cell surface signatures of neural cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells. These signatures can be used for isolating highly pure populations of viable NSC, glia and neurons by FACS. The methods described here will enable downstream studies that require consistent and defined neural cell populations