Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Low Back Pain Among Health Care Providers in a District Hospital

Study design: A cross sectional study among health care providers working at one hospital. Objective: To investigate the prevalence, the consequences and the risk factors associated with low back pain (LBP) among hospital staff. Materials and Methods: The study sample consisted of 931 health care providers who answered a pre established questionnaire including 30 items in two languages. Results: The cumulative life prevalence of LBP was 72.5% and the yearly prevalence was 56.9%. Chronic LBP prevalence was

Clinicopathologic significance of plasma matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9 levels in patients with undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

UNLABELLED: Increased in plasma pro-MMP2 and pro-MMP9 levels in patients with advanced stage NPC were observed. Plasma pro-MMP2 is a significant independent prognostic marker for undifferentiated NPC. AIM: Upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9 (MMP-2 and MMP-9) expression is observed in many cancers and high level of these proteins are found in peripheral blood of many cancer patients. In this study, we aimed at evaluating the plasma pro-MMP2 and pro-MMP9 pro-enzymes (pro-MMP2 and pro-MMP9) levels and their clinical significances in patients with undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). METHODS: The plasma pro-MMP2 and pro-MMP9 levels were measured in 40 NPC patients and 40 normal individuals by enzyme linked immunosorbant assay. RESULTS: By using the Cox-regression model, a high pro-MMP2 level was found to be significantly correlated with poorer survival. Patients with plasma pro-MMP2 below 650 ng/ml had higher 5-year survival rate of 89%, compared with 50% for patients with plasma pro-MMP2 above 650 ng/ml. CONCLUSIONS: A high level of plasma pro-MMP2 was associated with poor survival of NPC patients independent of sex, age and stage.

The study of p16 and p15 gene methylation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and their quantitative evaluation in plasma by real-time PCR.

Epigenetic silencing of the p16 and p15 genes by promoter methylation are commonly observed in human epithelial malignancies, including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). In this study, a methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) was used to evaluate the methylation status of the p16 and p15 genes in 73 HNSCC surgical specimens. p16 and p15 gene methylation was also examined in 29 paired metastatic lymph nodes and 29 paired histologically, normal resection margin mucosae. The quantity of cell-free methylated p16 and p15 DNA in the plasma samples of 20 HNSCC patients and 24 healthy controls was also examined using a fluorescence-based real-time PCR assay. The frequencies of p16 and p15 methylation in the primary tumour were 49% and 60%, respectively. Concordant methylation of p16 and p15 in tumour samples and metastatic lymph nodes was found in 59 and 38% of cases, respectively. A significantly higher prevalence of p15 methylation was found in histologically-normal surgical margin epithelia of HNSCC patients with chronic smoking and drinking habits compared with non-smokers and non-drinkers. In addition, methylated p16 and p15 DNA levels were significantly higher in the plasma of HNSCC patients (mean 56 copies/ml plasma and 65 copies/ml plasma, respectively) compared with normal controls (mean 6 copies/ml plasma and 16 copies/ml plasma, respectively). In conclusion, promoter methylation of the p16 and p15 genes is involved in the pathogenesis of HNSCC and may be related to chronic smoking and drinking. The differential levels of methylated p16 and p15 DNA in plasma might be potential useful markers in screening high-risk populations for early HNSCC and monitoring their treatment response.