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Background: The concern surrounding the physical and mental health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among patients with breast cancer emerged during COVID-19. However, there is a lack of sufficient studies that have specifically addressed this issue. It is crucial to emphasize the evaluation of this aspect as it significantly impacts the enhancement of future physical and mental HRQoL for these patients. Purpose: This study investigated the determinants of physical and mental HRQoL among patients with breast cancer during COVID-19. Methods: In a cross-sectional study conducted between September and October 2022, participation involved 260 patients diagnosed with breast cancer, selected through convenience sampling. Our observation focused on assessing the outcomes of physical and mental HRQoL using the Short Form (SF-12) questionnaire for data collection. Additionally, the data underwent analysis via binary logistic regression. Results: Respondents aged <50 years (p=0.010; aOR=2.08; 95% CI=1.18-3.67), unemployed (p=0.022; aOR=2.29; 95% CI=1.16-4.53), and had high depression (p=0.026; aOR=2.41; 95% CI=1.13-5.12) have a more likelihood to have low physical HRQoL. In addition, unemployed respondents (p=<0.001; aOR=4.15; 95% CI=2.14-8.04) and had high anxiety (p=0.004; aOR=2.71; 95% CI=1.38-5.33) have more likelihood to have low mental HRQoL. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that anxiety, depression, and unemployed respondents were associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing lower physical and mental HRQoL. Nurses and healthcare workers should prioritize addressing psychological issues such as anxiety and depression among breast cancer patients, emphasizing the necessity for interventions aimed at alleviating these concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iodine intake can affect thyroid and breast cells, and urinary iodine concentration (UIC) is an effective biomarker for iodine intake., Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the correlation between urinary iodine concentration in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) and breast cancer (BC) subjects., Methods: The study consisted of 80 subjects divided into case (20 DTC and 20 BC subjects) and control (40 subjects). Morning urine or spot urine was used for UIC measurement., Results: In thyroid cancer, UIC median patients and controls were 195.45 ± 133.61 µg/L and 145 ± 39.64 µg/L, respectively, with p =0.33. The UIC median of PTC subjects was significantly higher compared to FTC subjects, 227.12±130.98 μg/L versus 68.75±22.95 μg/L, p=0.00, and papillary thyroid cancer is closely related to a high iodine excretion in urine with contingency coefficient  (c)=0.722. In BC patients, regardless of subtypes, breast cancer subjects showed a significantly lower iodine excretion level. The median of UIC patients and controls were 80.05 ± 38.24 µg/L and 144.25 ± 36.79 µg/L, respectively, p=0.000., Conclusions: Iodine urine concentrations strongly correlate with the type of DTC histopathology, and in BC subjects, IUC was significantly lower compared to the control.

Background: Various environmental factors have been suspected to be associated with the risk of developing Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC). Volatile nitrosamines found in salted fish are thought to be carcinogenic substances for NPC. Nitrosamines are activated by the CYP2E1 enzyme. Several studies investigated the relationship between polymorphism in the CYP2E1 gene and susceptibility to NPC, but the results obtained were inconsistent., Aim: This study was conducted to analyze the association of the CYP2E1 rs2031920 polymorphisms with the incidence of NPC in the Minangkabau ethnic group., Methods: The subjects of this study were newly diagnosed NPC Minangkabau ethnic patients, while the controls were healthy people. A total of 23 cases of NPC and 23 aged (± 3 years) and sex-matched controls participated in the study. The method used to identify these polymorphisms is PCR sequencing., Results: On recent study we found CYP2E1 rs2031920 gene polymorphism in both the NPC and control groups, in the NPC group there were 8.7% heterozygote mutants while in the control group there were 26.1% heterozygote mutants, and there were no homozygote mutants in the two groups, and statistically none a significant relationship between CYP2E1 gene polymorphism and the incidence of NPC, with p > 0.05., Conclusion: Our study reveals that there is no association of CYP2E1 gene polymorphism (rs2031920) with the incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the Minangkabau ethnic group., (Copyright: © 2019 Sukri Rahman, Eti Yerizel, Daan Khambri, Djong Hon Tjong.)

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the outcome of trastuzumab therapy for 6 or 12 months in patients with HER2 positive operable breast cancer who followed the national health insurance system in Indonesia. Methods: Data were extracted from medical records of Dr. M Djamil General Hospital Padang and Dharmais Cancer Hospital/ National Cancer Center Jakarta for post-operative breast HER-2 positive cancer patients treated with trastuzumab for 6 or 12 months who had been followed up for at least 5 years (January 1st in 2010 until December 31st in 2015). Disease free survival and overall survival rates and their relationship with trastuzumab duration was investigated using survival analysis (the Kaplan-Meier method and log rank test). Data were analyzed using the STATA program. Results: A total of 121 women fulfilled the criteria of the study, 80 who had received trastuzumab for 6 months and 41 patients who received 12 months’ therapy. Disease free survival was 54 months (95% CI 45-63) compared with 63 months (95% CI 54-72), respectively. The log-rank test p value was 0.048 so the 12 months’ treatment regime did result in a significantly lower probability of recurrence compared with the 6 months’ regime (HR = 2.6). Analysis of the overall survival rate revealed median survival of 57 months (95% CI 49-64) for 6 months’ therapy compared to 62 months (95% CI 53-72) for 12 months. However, the log-rank test p value of 0.073 indicated that the extra six months of therapy did not decrease the probability of death (HR = 2.4). Conclusion: Trastuzumab therapy for 12 months reduced the recurrence rate in post-operative breast HER-2 positive cancer patients but did not significantly reduce mortality., (Creative Commons Attribution License)