ABSTRACT
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and an increasingly important issue is to evaluate quality of life (QoL) among these patients. The objective of this study was to appreciate the QoL and associated factors among breast cancer womenundergoing different types of therapy. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 166 breast cancer women from two specialized centres in Baghdad, Iraq, from February 2014 to December 2014. The questionnaire used in this study was “The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B)”. The majority were employee (60.3%), with high school education (63.2%), with no family history of cancer (79.5%). Majority were diagnosed with grade II (56.6%) and tumor size less than 2 cm in diameter (95.8%). The majority of women underwent mastectomy (98.2%), received chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and Tamoxifen therapy (89.8%, 29.5%, and 36.1%; respectively).The study found a significant difference between the quality of life among cancer patients and job, stage of cancer, size of tumor, and radiotherapy. Job, stage of cancer, size of tumor, and radiotherapy significantly influenced the women QoL. Therefore, more attention on these variables is highly recommended when dealing with breast cancer patients undergoing different types of therapy.
ABSTRACT
This study was a prospective clinical trial to investigate the effects of adding combined tocotrienol-tocopherol mixed fraction (TTMF) and vitamin C (TTMF+C) supplementation on coronary biomarkers in non-statin and statin treated patients with hypercholesterolaemia (HC) with moderate coronary risk. A total of 35 patients were randomised at baseline into one of two groups, (G1) TTMF+C (320mg TTMF plus 500mg vitamin C) alone daily and (G2) TTMF+C (320mg TTMF plus 500mg vitamin C) plus atorvastatin 10 mg daily. The entire supplementation were taken for 12 months. Fasting serum samples were taken at baseline, 2weeks, 3months, 6months and 12months post-randomisation and analysed for inflammatory biomarkers; high sensitivity C- reactive protein (hsCRP) and interleukin-6 (IL6). Combination of TTMF and vitamin C supplementation leads to neutral effects on lipid profiles and inflammation; with no added benefit in statin-treated HC patients with moderate coronary risk. This neutral effects may be attributed to the tocopherol composition in TTMF which could possibly attenuate any potential beneficial effects of tocotrienols. Clinical studies using pure tocotrienols in the absence of tocopherols would further confirm this.
ABSTRACT
Background: Health promotion (HP) is getting recognition in most medical school curricula. The aim of this study is to assess students‟ perception of learning outcomes and the main factors affecting these outcomes. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional which involved all year four medical students who completed the population health posting for two successive academic sessions 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. Self-administered questionnaire was used to assess course characteristics, teaching environment and acquired knowledge, skills and attitude. Response to each survey question was described. Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the relation between course characteristics, teaching environment and knowledge, skills and attitude. Path coefficients with corresponding significance test were presented. Results: Three hundred and thirty students with mean age of 22.6 years returned the completed questionnaire. There were about 69.1 % female students and 30.9 % males. Most respondents gave positive feedback regarding course characteristics. However, around 47% were not sure about clarity of the objectives. Students provided favourable responses to the statement evaluating lecturer performance and the class environment including opportunities for learning. Majority of respondents showed favourable response to statement assessing the defined attitude, skills and attitude. Lower higher ratings were observed for statements reflecting respondent autonomy, ability to work in difficult situation and managerial abilities. Path model showed that teaching environment impacted knowledge, skills and attitude, while course characteristic impacted the gained attitude only. Conclusions: Health promotion program is perceived to be sufficient to prepare students for professional life. Teaching environment had more impact on learning outcomes.
ABSTRACT
Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the immunological and histological profiles of adult coeliac patients after commencing Nigella sativa (NS) oil with gluten free diet (GFD) for a period of 1 year ± 1month to prove its validity in treatment of refractory coeliac disease (CD). Methodology: Thirty two adult coeliac patients who all accepted to do endoscopy and duodenal biopsy in addition to serological assessment before and after treatment of GFD alone or with NS oil capsules for a period of 1 year ± 1 month. Duodenal biopsies were interpreted histologically according to modified Marsh criteria and the sera were tested for antigliadin antibody (AGA), anti tissue transglutaminase antibody (tTG) and endomysium antibody (EMA). Results: The response to gluten withdrawal with NS oil for a period of 1 year ± 1 month in CD patients was better than GFD alone with significant response to serological markers. Conclusion: The administration of NS oil with GFD to CD patients leads to a significant decreases more than GFD alone in the levels of all immunological parameters with histological improvement and stop the disease process (P=0.001). Ultimately, the results emerging from this study may substantially improve the immunotherapeutic application of NS in clinical management of refractory CD cases.