Background: The role of human papillomavirus (HPV) has already been well-studied in colorectal cancer (CRC) with conflicting results. We performed a comprehensive review of the results and methodologies used in different previous studies that associated HPV with CRC, and evaluated that how well these studies fulfill the proposed criteria for proving HPV etiology in CRC. Methodology: The PubMed search engine was used to retrieve all the research articles published before March 2020 to detect HPV in CRC. Results: In total, 40 relevant original articles were found on PubMed. Some of them were case–control studies that compared the cancerous tissue samples with the normal or benign and some were not. The positivity ratios of HPV detection was varied population -wise. In some populations, it was greater in cancerous tissue samples as compared to the normal or benign tissues, whereas in other cases, the opposite situation was also observed. A 0% HPV detection positivity ratio in cancerous as well normal or benign samples was also observed in a few cases. However, the odds ratios and confidence intervals were not reported. Conclusion: The results of the present study are controversial. They failed to prove the potential participation of HPV in CRC but rather suggested it as cause-effective or at least a coparticipant in the pathogenesis of CRC.

Today, smoking tobacco in waterpipes has increased in popularity worldwide; this is largely based on the belief that waterpipe smoking (WPS) is less harmful than cigarette smoking. On the other hand, it was recently pointed out that WPS can have a dramatic effect on women's health from pregnancy to breast cancer initiation and/or progression through targeting two important members of cadherin genes, cadherin-6 type 2 and E-cadherin, which are important regulators of cell migration and invasion. More significantly, it is noted that the deregulation of these two genes as well as others can occur through the Erk1/Erk2 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. Herein, we discuss, for the first time, the outcome of WPS and its mechanism on the embryo, at the early stage of its development, as well as breast cancer progression.

The aim of the present study is hence to comprise of mitotic index outcome in the individuals of normal volunteers involved in two different period of culture with effect of Phytohemagglutinin-M. Comparison of healthy human donors lymphocytes were cultured for 48-h and 72-h and using conventional karyotype technique with minor modification. Mitotic index and cell proliferation frequency were analyzed in the individuals of normal blood donors after preparing of colchicine to cultured metaphases 2 h before cell fixation. The metaphase indices at 48-h and 72-h culture period resulted a perfect yield product. Lymphocytes populations in 72-h laboratory work were more than 48-h cultures (2.73% at 72 h vs. 1.48% at 48 h, P ≤ 0.05). The present research indicates significant comparisons for laboratories and individuals to be set up. With effect of these results, it may help in time-consuming and short time period for patient, as well as fresh suggestion for health-care management decision. Reagent, manual, budget, time for diagnosis, and health-care fulfillment may resolve of this proposal.

Background: Cerebral meningiomas are among the most prevalent brain tumors. Most cases of cerebral meningioma are benign and respond well to the treatment. However, there is no conclusive laboratory method for screening of such tumors. Given the lack of a screening approach for meningiomas, we examined the expressions of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B5, 7, 8, 27, and 51 in patients with cerebral meningioma in this research in order to achieve a reliable laboratory parameter in this regard. Materials and Methods: Patients with cerebral meningioma who referred to Golestan Hospital, namely one of the largest neurosurgery centers in the southwest of Iran, were identified and examined over a 2-year period. After confirmation of cerebral meningioma diagnosis, the patients were enrolled in the study. Results: There was no significant relationship between the expressions of the abovementioned HLAs with platelet parameters, lymphocyte, monocyte, and neutrophil counts, clinical manifestations, family history, drug consumption, and alcohol abuse. A higher expression level of HLA-B5 was observed in the patients. Conclusion: With regard to the expression of HLA-B5 in nearly one-third of patients, it is likely to use this antigen or its serotype, namely HLA-B51, as a laboratory marker for screening of disease in the future through the study of larger populations.

Background: Cancer forms the second-most common cause of death worldwide. Once a patient is diagnosed with cancer, socioeconomic life of the patient is altogether changed. In developing countries, like India, as the prevalence of cancer is increasing, policies and schemes need to be incorporated to overcome the financial burden of disease. This study was aimed to know the socioeconomic burden of cancer in our country, so as to further improve the health economics. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study done over a period of 2 years. Three thousand and twelve patients were enrolled in this study that was diagnosed with cancer on biopsy. Interview method with the help of semistructured questionnaire was used to collect the data, and IBM SPSS statistics version 20 was used to analyze this data. The Chi-square test and t-test were applied to look for correlation. Results: Three thousand and twelve patients participated in the study, and out of them, 73% of the patients were in the fourth to sixth decades. Fifty-seven percent of patients had total family income of <10,000 and when per capita income was calculated about 93% of patients had income <10,000/year. Forty-seven percent of the patients had lost fifty thousand to one lac rupees during treatment, and 73% of the patients did not receive any help from the government and were not covered under any insurance. Conclusion: Cancer is a tragic state of illness and affects generations of the patient socioeconomically in a country like India. Most of the population has to spend out-of-pocket expenditure on cancer treatment, and thus, it causes financial catastrophe on the households. Refinement of the health policies is required in concern with cancer to improve the cancer survival and to protect the families from financial hardships.

Context: Essiac tea is been used widely in the homeopathy market for cancer treatment. Aims: We hypothesized its use for DNA-damaged mitigation under very low ionizing radiation (IR) on BALB/c mice (10–40 mSv). Settings and Design: The radioprotection of Essiac tea formulae was evidenced by comet assay (CA) and micronucleus (MN) acridine orange staining. We also reported complete blood count, animal weight, and fasting glucose levels to control for tea toxicity. Materials and Methods: Fifty BALB/c male mice of 6-7 week old and pathogen free mice were randomly divided in to control group, control irradiated mice, irradiated and tea or ascorbic acid treated mice, tea treated mice and ascorbic acid treated mice. Genuine Essiac tea treatment was given ad libitum for 7 weeks and ascorbic for no >13 days. The animals were exposed to three different X-ray doses (10 mSv, 20 mSv, and 40 mSv). Statistical Analysis Used: An independent one-tailed t-test or Dunnett's test was used to compare animal weight, fasting glucose levels, white blood count, comet percentage, and MN percentage, between doses, treatment, and controls, after a Welch's ANOVA and Mann–Whitney U-test using Excel worksheets from Biostathandbook.com website. Results: The tea formula resulted in a significant reduction of DNA damaged evidenced by CA (P < 0.01 for dose 3–40 mSv). By MN staining, the peak of significant induction of MNs was by the lower doses, D1 and D2, with a P value = 0.001 and P value = 0.014, respectively; however those irradiated animals when were treated with tea showed reduction of MNs and no significant difference from controls. Conclusions: Using an optimized murine model, we demonstrated that Genuine Essiac tea is not toxic and that it acts as a radioprotector against very low doses of IR.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are among the most essential components of bone marrow (BM) microenvironment. Any infiltration of malignant cells or malignancy of BM cells could affect the fate of other cells in the BM microenvironment. Several studies have assessed the function and phenotype of BM-derived MSCs in leukemia patients, which have presented different results. Our goal in this research was to examine the cytogenetic and flow cytometric profiles as well as the growth of human umbilical cord MSCs (hUC-MSC) after co-culture with a chronic myeloid leukemia cell line, namely K562. Subjects and Methods: MSCs were isolated as a primary culture from hUC, co-cultured with K562 cells and examined in two groups of control (MSCs) and test (hUC-MSCs + K562 cells). Using karyotypic and flow cytometric techniques, cytogenetic and surface markers, as well as growth patterns of MSCs, were investigated in the two groups by plotting the growth curves. Results: MSCs cultured in the test group (together with K562 cells) were morphologically similar to those in the control medium. Cytogenetic analysis of MSCs in the test group indicated no chromosomal abnormalities; however, there were significant differences in the expressions of surface markers as well as in MSCs growth curves between control and test groups. Discussion/Conclusion: K562 cells do not have the ability to induce cytogenetic changes in MSCs, but they are capable of altering the expressions of surface markers as well as growth rates of MSCs.

Context: Gliomas are a heterogeneous group of relatively rare cancers that have an important public health-care implication due to their high levels of mortality and morbidity. While standard management guidelines are available, their implementation in a resource-limited scenario needs greater scrutiny. Settings and Design: This is a retrospective analysis of disease characteristics, treatment parameters including the time to imaging and time to treatment, and overall survival (OS) at 1 and 5 years in patients of brain gliomas. Subjects and Methods: Demographic, clinical, and follow-up data of histologically proven glioma patients that received radiotherapy (RT) between 2009 and 2013 at two tertiary care hospitals of India were collected and analyzed. Statistical Analysis: Kaplan–Meier curves were used to compare OS at 12 and 60 months. Cross-tabulation and Pearson's Chi-square test were used to study the association of study variables with survival. Results: One hundred and nine patients were included. The mean age was 45 years and males were three times as common as females. Astrocytomas were the most common histology with Grade IV astrocytomas comprising 48% of the total. The OS at 12 and 60 months was 79.8% and 24%, respectively, for the entire cohort. The average time taken for brain imaging from onset of symptoms was 24 days, while the time to surgery and the time to start RT were 18 and 44 days, respectively. Old age and ability to tolerate treatment were shown to affect survival at 1 year from diagnosis, though tumor histology and grade had an apparent impact on long-term prognosis. Conclusions: Hospital registries are an important source of demographic and clinical information on less common cancers such as gliomas. Increasing awareness among the general public and sensitization of primary health-care apparatus are critical for early diagnosis and treatment.

Background: The rapidly fatal cancer that called pancreatic cancer (PC) is the seventh primary source of cancer connected deaths globally. Its treatment is a big challenge with a relatively poor survival even after surgery. The aim of this study was to provide information associated with the PC prevalence, period prevalence (PP), and incidence rates (Irs) in Isfahan Province/Iran. Materials and Methods: Data from March 24, 2011 to March 19, 2015 were obtained from the Isfahan Cancer Registry. Irs and PP were calculated and expressed per 100,000 males. Statistical Analysis Used: The statistical analyses of d-Base were performed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS v. 20 (Chicago, IL, USA) for windows. Results: In all, there were 486 patients with PC. For the total population, the PP was calculated as 9.8 and Irs increased from 2.2 to 2.7/100,000 persons. The mean (standard deviation, min-max) age of the patients was 65.7 (13.0, 12–94) years. The total population was comprised of 150 alive and 336 deceased reported individuals. Conclusions: There was a 22.7% increase in the Irs over the study period. The PP was 58.9% higher in males than females. In 82%, PC occurred at the age between 40 and 80 years. Therefore, for the principal control of the disease, further consideration concerning etiology, pharmacotherapy, and recognizing all relevant features of the PC is crucial.

Unilateral primary breast lymphoma (PBL) is a rare entity usually occurring in elderly women and when present is of B-cell variety. We present a premenopausal female who presented with an asymptomatic breast lump whose initial investigations were inconclusive but for final histopathology and immunohistochemistry that revealed a non-Hodgkin's PBL of T-cell variety that is extremely rare. A detailed review has been presented.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) commonly occur in the stomach and small intestine, are great mimickers of benign as well as malignant conditions, and can lead to diagnostic dilemma. A misdiagnosis of a malignant tumor directly affects the prognosis of a patient. We present the case of a 32-year-old male with symptoms of acid peptic disease who underwent a diagnostic upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy and was diagnosed to have a gastric ulcer without a biopsy. As his symptoms persisted along with melena, he visited our center and was found to be severely anemic and tachycardic. A repeat UGI endoscopy revealed a gastric tumor that was resected and reported to be GIST. The deceptive looks of a benign gastric ulcer and deferring a biopsy at the first UGI endoscopy delayed the diagnosis in this patient which is definitely an error. The case illustrates that one should consider a differential diagnosis of GIST in ulcerative and bleeding gastric lesions.

Appendiceal mucinous neoplasms are an extremely rare group of neoplasms and can range from mucocele to invasive adenocarcinoma. Low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm (LAMN) is an extremely rare form of mucinous neoplasm affecting the appendix. In the majority of patients, it presents with acute abdomen, nausea, vomiting, and change in bowel habits. Pseudomyxoma peritonei is the most dreaded complication. We present a case report of a 35-year-old female who presented to the surgical emergency department of our hospital with complaints of acute abdomen. On examination, a lump was felt in the right iliac fossa, due to which a clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis with perforation was suspected. However, histopathological examination revealed low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm. Therefore, LAMN should be considered as one of the differentials in patients, who present with acute abdomen and right iliac fossa mass.