Insulin signaling and its application.

The discovery of insulin in 1921 introduced a new branch of research into insulin activity and insulin resistance. Many discoveries in this field have been applied to diagnosing and treating diseases related to insulin resistance. In this mini-review, the authors attempt to synthesize the updated discoveries to unravel the related mechanisms and inform the development of novel applications. Firstly, we depict the insulin signaling pathway to explain the physiology of insulin action starting at the receptor sites of insulin and downstream the signaling of the insulin signaling pathway. Based on this, the next part will analyze the mechanisms of insulin resistance with two major provenances: the defects caused by receptors and the defects due to extra-receptor causes, but in this study, we focus on post-receptor causes. Finally, we discuss the recent applications including the diseases related to insulin resistance (obesity, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer) and the potential treatment of those based on insulin resistance mechanisms.

Evaluation of the Vietnamese A6 Mortality Reporting System: All-Cause Mortality.

There has been no systematic evaluation of Viet Nam's A6 mortality reporting system. An evaluation was undertaken in 3 provinces in Viet Nam. Deaths identified in the A6 system were compared with deaths identified by an independent consensus panel to determine the percentage completeness of the A6 system. Verbal autopsies (VAs) were conducted for all identified deaths from the consensus panels, and the sensitivity and positive predictive value of the A6 system was assessed. The sensitivity of the A6 system varied depending on the cause of death, with the sensitivity of the system being excellent for injury (sensitivity = 75.4%), cancer (sensitivity = 66.9%), and circulatory diseases (sensitivity = 63.1%). The A6 mortality reporting system performs well in relation to its completeness and classification of 3 leading causes of death­namely, circulatory disease, cancer, and injury. With further enhancements and ongoing support from government and donor agencies, the A6 system will be a valuable resource.

Survey-based cancer mortality in the Lao PDR, 2007-08.

BACKGROUND: The Lao PDR is a landlocked country with 5,920,000 inhabitants for which very few epidemiological studies on cancer have been performed. The aim of the present study was to examine cancer mortality in 2007-2008. METHODS: A descriptive cancer epidemiology protocol was designed with a data collection form and guideline for both demographics and list of all deaths from all 757 local Health Centers of 17 provinces/ cities. Five indicators, name, age, sex, date of death and the cause of death (ICD-10), were collected for each case. The age-specific cancer mortality rate and ASRs per 100,000 were estimated. RESULTS: There were 448 cancer cases reported from Health Centers within 7 of 17 provinces/cities. Number of person-years was 654,459 for the two-year period. Cancer mortality rates of all sites (ASR) were 116.7 and 97.2 per 100,000 in males and females, respectively. The five most common cancers causing mortality per 100,000 were liver (52.2), followed by colorectal (19.0), lung (17.3), stomach (6.9), and leukemia-lymphoma (7.2) in males and liver (28.4); followed by colorectal (19.0), lung (14.0), cervical uteri (9.2) and stomach (7.1) in females. CONCLUSIONS: Liver and colorectal cancers were the first and second most common, respectively, in both males and female.

Cancer epidemiology in mainland South-East Asia - past, present and future.

The countries of mainland South-East Asia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Viet Nam, share a long history of interactions and many cultural similarities, as well as geographical contiguity. They therefore can be usefully examined as a group when considering measures for control of cancer and other non-communicable diseases. Liver cancer is consistently found at higher incidence than most other parts of Asia, with lung cancer as the other most important neoplasm in males. In females cervical and breast cancer about equally predominate, throughout. However, there are also major differences, particularly with regard to stomach and nasopharyngeal cancer, only found at relatively high incidence in Viet Nam. The present review was conducted to gather together registry data on cancer prevalence and epidemiological findings cited in PubMed in order to obtain as comprehensive picture as possible of the present status. It is hoped that future cooperation across the region will facilitate development of coordinated cancer control programs to reduce the burden.