Silent Killer Research Articles

CLINICAL INERTIA REGARDING LIFESTYLE CHANGES AND THE ADHERENCE TO THE ADVICE IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS LIVING IN THE CROATIAN RURAL AREA DAMAGED BY AN EARTHQUAKE

Objective: Hypertension is a worldwide health issue that can heavily impact the patient's health and life expectancy if not treated. There are many habits in our day-to-day life that can help or hinder the treatment of hypertension. Our objective was to describe the frequency of doctors’ advice regarding salt intake, weight loss and physical activity and the adherence of patients with hypertension to those suggestions in the rural population from the earthquake damaged area. Design and method: Our sample consists of 120 patients diagnosed with hypertension who participated in “The Silent Killer Hunt” project in this rural area. The patients were given a questionnaire which included questions about their doctors’ advice regarding salt intake, weight loss and physical activity and whether or not they took that advice. Results: Out of 120 patients, 66% were advised to reduce their salt intake and 91.4% of them implemented the advice; 46.6% of the patients who were overweight were given guidance to reduce their body weight and 72.9% were compliant, while out of the 53.4% who were not given advice, 78.2,% had a BMI>25 g/m2. Lastly, out of 58.4% of our participants who were given instructions to increase their physical activity, 94.9% had a BMI>25 kg/m2 and 71.2% were adherent. Out of the 41.6% who were not given advice, 78.6% had a BMI>25 kg/m2. Conclusions: Given how lifestyle changes can be a powerful tool in battling hypertension, our results show that the frequency of doctors giving advice regarding lifestyle changes is much lower than it should be, while the adherence of patients to the instructions given by their doctors is above average, especially regarding salt intake. This indicates that to reach better results, physicians need to give more focus to their communication with patients.

Early Detection of Hypertension (EDH) Skoring dalam Memprediksi Kejadian Hipertensi pada Usia Produktif

Hypertension is a disease that cannot be cured but can be managed well to maintain optimal patient conditions. The number of people with hypertension is increasing. In addition, hypertension is called a "silent killer" because it can often appear without complaints, so patients do not know they have hypertension. This condition certainly requires a method for prevention in the form of identifying the risk of hypertension through a scoring system approach. Scoring systems have been widely applied in medicine, especially in medical cases, with the aim of predicting patient mortality or prognosis during a disease. This study aims to look at the scoring system for predicting the incidence of hypertension at productive age in Pontianak City. This study used a quantitative method using an analytic observational design with a prospective cohort approach. The number of research respondents was 100 with quota sampling. Bivariate analysis used the ROC test to obtain the AUC value and determine the cut-off point. The results showed an AUC value of 0.984 with a cut-off point value of 7, a sensitivity value of 0.966 and a specificity of 0.869. The EDH Score can be used to detect early cases of hypertension in productive age. The need for development in the form of an information system to facilitate the calculation of scores on the EDH Score instrument.

The Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Family Support, Adherence to Taking Hypertension Medication

Hypertension Is a condition where the increase in systolic blood is above the normal limit, which is more than 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure is more than 90 mmHg (WHO, 2021). Hypertension or high blood pressure is often referred to as "the silent killer" because it is often without complaints. To determine the relationship between self-efficacy and family support with adherence to taking hypertension medication in the Working Area of ​​the Tubaan Health Center, Berau Regency. The design of this study was a descriptive correlation with a cross-sectional approach which was carried out in February-March 2022. The population in this study were hypertension sufferers in the working area of ​​the Tuban Health Center, Berau Regency, totaling 120 people. Determination of the sample using purposive sampling, then obtained a sample of 54 respondents. The statistical test used is Chi Square if t count (pvalue) <0.05 is obtained, then the hypothesis Ha is accepted and Ho is rejected. Shows that respondents with good self-efficacy are 39 people (72.2%), have good family support both 18 people (33.3%), and respondents who adhered to taking medication amounted to 36 people (66.7%). The results of the analysis using the chi-square test obtained a p-value = 0.028 <0.05 & a p-value = 0.001 <0.05, which means that Ho 1, Ho 2 are rejected and Ha 1, Ha 2 are accepted. There is a relationship between self-efficacy and family support with adherence to taking hypertension medication in the working area of ​​the Tubaan Health Center, Berau District.

Relationship between Anxiety Level and Hypertension in the Elderly

Hypertension is a deadly chronic disease that is often referred to as a silent killer. The elderly who have various conditions and degenerative diseases that may suffer, of course, all the information that is circulated and received has an influence on the status of stress and anxiety levels in the elderly. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between anxiety levels and the incidence of hypertension in the elderly in the UPT work area. Long Laai Community Health Center, Segah District, Berau District. This research is an observational analytic study with a cross sectional approach. This research was conducted in all UPT working areas. Long Laai Health Center. Measuring tool used in the form of a questionnaire and data analysis using the Chi-Square test. The results of the analysis and discussion show that there is a significant relationship between the level of anxiety and the incidence of hypertension in the elderly in the working area of ​​the UPT. Long Laai Community Health Center, Segah District, Berau Regency.

The Correlation between Body Mass Index, Physical Activity and Blood Pressure with Quality of Life in Elderly Hypertension

Hypertension is a global and national health problem known as the silent killer," which continues to increase. Community-based preventive promotion efforts are a strategy for controlling hypertension, especially in the elderly, through Posbindu activities and routine health check-ups. This study aims to determine the relationship between body mass index, physical activity, and blood pressure and the quality of life of hypertensive elderly people in the working area of ​​the UPT Puskesmas Tanjung Redeb. This research is a type of correlational quantitative research with a cross-sectional design. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between BMI (p-value 0.629), physical activity (p-value 0.000), and blood pressure (p-value 0.013) and quality of life in the elderly. Good quality of life is accompanied by an increase in BMI to near normal, physical activity to near normal, and blood pressure to near normal.

Health Prevention Intervensions for the Control of Hypertension: a Systematic Review

Hypertension is a major cardiovascular risk factor (CVD), contributing significantly to the worldwide burden of cardiovascular disease and disability, but its control remains an unmet challenge for public health systems. WHO estimates that there are 1.28 billion adults (aged 30-79 years) in the world with hypertension and an estimated 46% of them do not know they suffer from hypertension because hypertension is the silent killer. This Systematic Review aims to identify and analyze preventive health interventions for hypertension control, as well as promotional efforts that can be done to reduce the prevalence of hypertension at the global level. This study uses the Systematic Review method to search for articles based on several databases, namely Scopus, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, and PubMed on May 12, 2023. Search results with keywords hypertension, health prevention interventions, hypertension health promotion, hypertension control, decreased prevalence of hypertension. After being filtered based on suitability with the title and research objectives, relevant research articles were obtained, the full text was free and the publication year 2018-2023 produced 8 articles. The results of this study are several efforts to prevent the increase in the prevalence of hypertension, namely by promoting health to carry out physical activity, reducing stress levels, balanced diet and nutrition, maintaining ideal body weight, reducing salt consumption, not smoking and reducing cigarette smoke, avoiding alcoholic beverages, and lifestyle education interventions through education and counseling. Further research is needed regarding the most effective interventions for the prevention and control of hypertension.

Hypertension - An Ayurvedic approach

Hypertension is severe high blood pressure caused by a stressful lifestyle, in which the blood vessels have persistently elevated pressure, making it difficult for the heart to pump. Because of this increased pressure on the heart, the pressure on the blood vessels that supply the different tissues and organs of the body increases and can damage the corresponding organs. It is an early stage of pathogenesis and a risk factor for the development of diseases affecting, for example, the heart, brain, kidneys, etc. Many people with hypertension are undiagnosed for a long time or until diagnosed incidentally, so it can be considered a silent killer. About 1.13 billion people worldwide suffer from hypertension, so normalizing abnormally high blood pressure is a difficult task. In Ayurveda, systemic hypertension can be understood as the participation of vitiated Doshas, ​​​​​​where Vata and Pitta are the dominant Tridoshas, ​​​​​​which prevent the movement of these Doshas in the respective Srotas. The concept of Avarana (occlusion in Dosha functioning in a normal state) gives a better understanding of hypertension, which should be considered for better results in Ayurvedic treatment of diseases. Therefore, an attempt will be made here to understand hypertension from Ayurvedic concepts and to discuss the management of this condition from an Ayurvedic perspective.

A study on measuring the 222Rn in the Buriganga River and tap water of the megacity Dhaka.

Radon (222Rn), an inert gas, is considered a silent killer due to its carcinogenic characteristics. Dhaka city is situated on the banks of the Buriganga River, which is regarded as the lifeline of Dhaka city because it serves as a significant source of the city's water supply for domestic and industrial purposes. Thirty water samples (10 tap water from Dhaka city and 20 surface samples from the Buriganga River) were collected and analyzed using a RAD H2O accessory for 222Rn concentration. The average 222Rn concentration in tap and river water was 1.54 ± 0.38 Bq/L and 0.68 ± 0.29 Bq/L, respectively. All the values were found below the maximum contamination limit (MCL) of 11.1 Bq/L set by the USEPA, the WHO-recommended safe limit of 100 Bq/L, and the UNSCEAR suggested range of 4-40 Bq/L. The mean values of the total annual effective doses due to inhalation and ingestion were calculated to be 9.77 μSv/y and 4.29 μSv/y for tap water and river water, respectively. Although all these values were well below the permissible limit of 100 μSv/y proposed by WHO, they cannot be neglected because of the hazardous nature of 222Rn, especially considering their entry to the human body via inhalation and ingestion pathways. The obtained data may serve as a reference for future 222Rn-related works.

Review on Diabetic Foot Ulcers and Its Herbal Approach to Treatment

Diabetes, a silent killer and globally renowned disease, has enormously afflicted most parts of the world causing serious health issues to an individual, many of which suffer financially. There are several outbreaks of this disease, but diabetic foot ulcer is a dreadful situation imparting harsh skin ailments to an individual’s feet. The etiology of these ulcers includes high glucose levels, improper foot hygiene, etc. The pathophysiology of diabetic foot ulcers involves oxidative stress to the nerve tissues and other complications leading to loss of sensation in the patient’s feet along with skin dryness. Many times, diabetes remains undiagnosed but the foot ulcers can be evaluated by the latest electro-diagnostic, radiological, or vascular studies. Once identified, they can be treated with several topical antibiotics and certain foot assistance methods. Besides allopathic medication, one can also opt for herbal treatment as many herbal species are still unnoticed having specific phytochemicals and ought to be an ultimate source for wound healing, some of them are Radix rehmanniae, Martynia annua, Cortex phellodendri, Angelica dahurica, and Moringa oleifera A few of these plant species possess anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, and other potent therapeutic properties which enhance the wound healing process as per its physiology and with minimal side effects. Some Ayurvedic formulations like Jatyadi Ghrita also contribute efficiently to this ailment that can be applied to foot ulcers to gain positive results.

The correlation between knowledge, attitude and family support on compliance of outpatients with hypertension in a healthcare centre in Indonesia

Background: Hypertension is a silent killer disease in the community. The success of hypertension therapy is influenced by adherence to medication. Three factors that shape compliance behaviour are knowledge and attitudes (these are predisposing factors) and family support (as a reinforcing factor). The majority of people in Indonesia choose healthcare centers when seeking hypertension treatment. Non-adherence to treatment has an impact on the incidence of complications. Objective: This current study was conducted on outpatients in the Tanggulangin Primary Healthcare Centre, Sidoarjo, Indonesia. Method: This study used a correlational design and a cross-sectional approach, involving 72 people in the sample. The variables measured were: knowledge, attitudes of patients, family support as well as patient compliance with hypertension treatment. Data was collected through a questionnaire instrument. Data analysis was done descriptively and correlatively. Results: The most widely accepted hypertension drug was amlodipine 78.6%, and a single therapy was given to 86.1% of patients. Most patients had suffered from hypertension for less than one year (38.9%); and half of the patients had family members who suffered from hypertension (52.1%). Patient knowledge of hypertension was moderate (69.4%). Most of the patients had a positive attitude (83.3%), good family support (76.5%), however, 94.5% did not comply with medication. The Spearman Rho test showed compliance with treatment was influenced by knowledge (5.9%) and attitude (14.8%). Meanwhile, the family support variable had no effect on compliance. Conclusion: This study concludes patient compliance to hypertension medication in the Tanggulangin Primary Healthcare Centre is only influenced by patient knowledge and attitudes.

Literature review pengaruh pemberian bekam basah terhadap hipertensi

Background: Hypertension is a non-communicable disease that is one of the causes of mortality in the world. Hypertension is often referred to as the silent killer because it is often without complaints, a serious condition that significantly increases the risk of heart, brain, kidney, and other diseases. Complications in patients with hypertension can be life-threatening, so pharmacological therapies is wet cupping which can lower blood pressure. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of wet cupping on hypertension. Methods: The method in this study uses the PICOS framework, namely Population/problem (P), Intervention (I), Comparison (C), Outcome (O), and study design (S). In the early stages of article selection, 68 articles were found from the PubMed database, ProQuest, Elsevier, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Harvard Library, Springer Link, ResearchGate, Taylor and Francis search engine after further matching, 60 article were selected, then 53 articles were excluded because they were not appropritate. With problems, intervention, study design, and no effect of wet cupping on hypertension so that 7 articles were obtained that matched the research topic. Results: The results of the search that wet cupping affects hypertension, this is evidenced from before and after the wet cupping intervention was given, namely there was a significant decrease in systole and diastole with p-value <0,05. This wet cupping treatment is more effective, given once a month for satisfactory results with an adminstration time of 15-30 minutes.Conclusion: This treatment is highly recommended to the general public, health clinics, hospitals, and health workers and this treatment provides many benefits.

Formulation & Evaluation of Polyherbal Antidiabetic Powder

Diabetes is a silent killer that causes significant economic damage in underdeveloped nations like India. To reduce the strain on a person's health and economy as well as the burden on society as a whole, better therapies must be developed with fewer side effects. The study's primary objective was to create a Evaluation of the polyherbal powder for diabetic mellitus based on organoleptic, rheological, physical, and phytochemical traits. The herbs used to make the polyherbal powder were annona squamosal , Trigonella foenum-graecum , Murraya koenigii , Aegle marmelos Correa, Mentha spicata Standardized methods were used to conduct the evaluations. The polyherbal powder's organoleptic characteristics were determined to be a dull brown colour, distinctive odour, astringent taste, and a reasonably fine texture. An examination of the phytochemicals revealed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, tannins, and carbs, glycosides, and steroids. The polyherbal powder had prolonged stability and good flow characteristics, according to physicochemical examination. Consequently, the polyherbal powder that may be used to treat diabetes mellitus was assessed.

Photonic crystal fiber based automated system to diagnose silent killer

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a lethal disease that is difficult to diagnose in its early stages. This is the reason it is deadly known as “The silent killer”. Traditional diagnostic methods are often invasive and can lead to misdiagnosis. The purpose of this manuscript is to propose photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) based artificial intelligence (AI) systems to materialize it as a promising tool for diagnosing pancreatic cancer. PCFs are optical fibers (OFs) that allow for the detection of light at high resolution and used to analyze the biochemical composition of tissues samples and feed the resulting data into an AI algorithm. The proposed system has the potential to significantly improve the early detection and diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, which lead to better outcomes. The Decision Tree (DT) model achieved an accuracy of 86.8%, a sensitivity of 81.6%, and a specificity of 90.3%. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) model achieved an accuracy of 90.9%, a sensitivity of 95.7%, and a specificity of 86.0%. The K-nearest neighbor (KNN) model achieved an accuracy of 90.8%, a sensitivity of 91.7%, and a specificity of 89.1%.

Studying the Influence of Toxicity and Emotion Features for Stress Detection on Social Media

It is crucial to detect and manage stress as early as possible before it becomes a severe mental and physical health problem. Some authors even introduce stress as a “silent killer” to emphasize the significance of early stress management. Traumatic global events such as COVID-19 have amplified stress throughout online communities and it is quite common to see that social media users often vent about their problems or situations online. The ability to detect a person's stress from their posts on social media platforms like Reddit or Twitter in a timely manner can help early stress management and consequently counters mental health conditions. In order to detect stress from social media posts, we must obtain the characteristics that signal a user's stress. Which motivates us to study how salient features influence stress detection. On social media, text-based methods of communication predominantly overtake verbal forms, which makes these platforms a convenient rich medium with an extensive amount of text content to analyze a user's thoughts and emotions. We present a novel approach that helps improve stress detection on social media textual content with sentiment, emotion, and toxicity features. We design our framework based on multiple Transformer-based state-of-the-art sentiment, emotion, and toxicity analysis tools and models for feature extraction and discuss the stress detection tasks’ interpretability via inspecting multiple dimensions. For the evaluation, we use publicly available and high-quality datasets where the social media posts are real, carefully selected and labeled. Our experiments show the influence of the proposed new feature dimensions on stress detection by comparing the state-of-the-art baselines and suggesting future directions in stress detection on social media. Furthermore, our extensive feature correlation analysis highlights different aspects, such as 1) Positive and Negative sentiment, 2) Joy, Sadness, and Fear emotions, and 3) Obscene and Insult toxicity as governing factors in improving stress detection performance.

Computed tomographic evaluation of head injury patients in Umuahia, Abia State Nigeria

Background: Trauma to the scalp, skull and brain is defined as head injury. Head injury is a silent killer, especially in patients that have intracranial hemorrhage with mass effect on the brain parenchyma. It is a major health challenge worldwide especially in places where there is lack of medical insurance, ignorance and non availability of the right imaging modality. Before the advent of Computed Tomography (CT), plain radiographs had been the imaging modality available for the evaluation of head injury. Plain radiographs give limited information about head injury because apart from skull fractures, plain radiographs cannot confirm diagnosis of intracranial collections, brain contusions and others. CT scan was chosen because its four dimensional images can be reconstructed with volume rendering, bone details can be evaluated, and with the Hounsfield unit, measurements of collections, haematomas can be evaluated. There are not much reports on head injury findings in Umuahia and hence this study is set to contribute to the data on head injury in and around Umuahia.
 Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study of patients with head injury that came for head CT scan examination in Umuahia from January 2022 to December 2022. Patients were scanned with 160 slides Canon Aquilion CT Scanner; patients were made to lie in supine position. 3mm axial slices were taken from the base of the skull to the vertex with reformatted images. No contrast was used because it is contraindicated in traumatic brain injury. Patients gender, age, aetiology of injury and findings of radiologists were collected as data and entered into Microsoft Excel data base and statistically analyzed using statistical package for social sciences for windows (SPSS inc., USA) version 21.0, and results tabulated.
 Results: Out of the total population studied (108), 82.4% were males while 17.6% were females. Majority of the cases fell within the age group of 51yrs- 60yrs(20.4%), followed by 21yrs-30yrs(19.4%) and the least being below1yr (1.9%). Road traffic accident was the commonest cause of head injury (64%), followed by fall from height (19.4%), trauma to the head with weapons (13.9%) while glass bottle trauma and unknown causes were the least having (0.9%) and (1%) respectively. CT findings revealed that 52.1% of the cases resulted in hemorrhages, 18.6% resulted in hematoma formations, 6.5% were soft tissue injuries, 5.4% were pneumo-cephalus and 1.6% resulted in cerebral edema.
 Conclusions: Computed Tomography (CT) scan is a very useful tool in the evaluation of patients with head injury. The study showed that more males were involved with head injuries than females and that the most common cause of head injury in Umuahia, Abia State, is road traffic accident with intra-cerebral haemorrhage being the commonest CT finding.

Hypertension: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention

Hypertension "the silent killer is a common and significant disorder that can lead to many health complications. World health organization (WHO) declared the hypertension as the major cause of early mortality as it is directly or indirectly associated with risks of cardiovascular disorders, stroke, angina, kidney failure, diabetes and many more. The major causes of hypertension include obesity, decrease in physical activities, smoking and alcohol consumption. High blood pressure, possibly related to the age associated with the hearing impairment because of the subsequent vasoconstriction. After arthritis and hypertension, hearing loss is one of the most continual health issues of the older persons. Demographic factors and lifestyles are usually the variable factors due to which prevalence of arterial hypertension differs worldwide. These factors include nutritional habits and physical activities. A large number of antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drugs are being used to treat hypertension but it has been proved that changes in lifestyle are an easy way to treat hypertension

The Effect of Murottal Therapy on Blood Pressure in Elderly Patients With Hypertension at Jambidan Posyandu, Banguntapan 1 Community Health Center

Hypertension is a non-communicable disease that poses a threat to people in developing countries. Hypertension is a cause of death, called the silent killer, and is mostly suffered by the elderly. This is caused by physiological factors, namely decreased body function due to the aging process, so that non-communicable diseases attack many elderly people. The global health standard does not only rely on curative measures because most diseases can be prevented by healthy lifestyles and avoiding risky lifestyles. This study aims to determine the effect of murottal therapy on blood pressure in the elderly with hypertension. This study used a quasi-experimental research design using a one-group pre-post test design and a sample size of 34 elderly with the sampling technique of purposive sampling and bivariate analysis using the Wilcoxon test. The result is that murottal therapy has an effect on reducing blood pressure in elderly people with hypertension, with a Wilcoxon signed rank test p-value of 0.000 (P <0.05), so there is an effect of murottal therapy on blood pressure in the elderly with hypertension.

Therapeutic effects of Crataegus monogyna inhibitors against breast cancer.

Breast cancer is a silent killer disorder among women and a serious economic burden in healthcare management. Every 19s, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, and every 74s, a woman worldwide passes away from the disease. Despite the increase in progressive research, advanced treatment approaches, and preventive measures, breast cancer rates continue to increase. This study provides a combination of data mining, network pharmacology, and docking analysis that surely could revolutionize cancer treatment by exploiting prestigious phytochemicals. Crataegus monogyna is a small, rounded deciduous tree with glossy, deeply lobed leaves and flat sprays of cream flowers, followed by dark red berries in autumn. Various studies demonstrated that C. monogyna is therapeutically effective against breast cancer. However, the particular molecular mechanism is still unknown. This study is credited for locating bioactive substances, metabolic pathways, and target genes for breast cancer treatment. According to the current investigation, which examined compound-target genes-pathway networks, it was found that the bioactive compounds of C. monogyna may operate as a viable solution against breast cancer by altering the target genes implicated in the disease pathogenesis. The expression level of target genes was analyzed using GSE36295 microarray data. Docking analysis and molecular dynamic simulation studies further strengthened the current findings by validating the effective activity of the bioactive compounds against putative target genes. In summary, we propose that six key compounds, luteolin, apigenin, quercetin, kaempferol, ursolic acid, and oleanolic acid, contributed to the development of breast cancer by affecting the MMP9 and PPARG proteins. Integration of network pharmacology and bioinformatics revealed C. monogyna's multitarget pharmacological mechanisms against breast cancer. This study provides convincing evidence that C. monogyna might partially alleviate breast cancer and ultimately lays a foundation for further experimental research on the anti-breast cancer activity of C. monogyna.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAMILY SUPPORT AND DIET COMPLIANCE IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE PERFORMED REGULAR HEMODIALYSIS AT X HOSPITAL SIDOARJO

Background: Chronic kidney failure is a disorder traits are regularly no longer identified by means of many human beings, due to the fact basically continual kidney failure is a ailment that kills silently (silent sickness and silent killer). Sufferers with CKD food plan non-compliance frenquently have an effect which isn’t properly for kidney performance.
 Objectives: The purpose of this examine became to decide the relantionship between family aid and dietery compliance in sufferers with continual kidney disoerder who underwent ordinary hemodialysis at RS X Sidoarjo.
 Methods: The design used is an analytic technique using a go sectional layout. This studies changed into conducted at RS X Sidoarjo, March 21-28 2021. The population in this take a look at were all patient who underwent everyday hemodialysis within the hemodialysis room at RS X Sidoarjo, totaling 67 sufferers the usage of non chance sampling, specifically total sampling. Statiscal check with the nonparametric of chi square exams.
 Results: As many as 56 respondents (83.6%) the extent of compliance and family help received appropriate results. As many as 11 respondents (16%) family help and stage of compliance acquired enough results.
 Conclusion: Asymp. Sig (2-sided) price of 0.000 <0,05. So, it may be cocluded that there a relationship between family support and diet compliance in patients with chronic kidney disease who go to regular hemodialysis at RS X Sidoarjo.

Computer-aided analysis of quercetin mechanism of overcoming docetaxel resistance in docetaxel-resistant prostate cancer

BackgroundProstate cancer (PC) is a silent but potent killer among men. In 2018, PC accounted for more than 350, 000 death cases while more than 1.2 million cases were diagnosed. Docetaxel, a chemotherapeutic drug belonging to the taxane family of drugs, is one of the most potent drugs in combating advanced PC. However, PC cells often evolve resistance against the regimen. Hence, necessitating the search for complementary and alternative therapies. Quercetin, a ubiquitous phytocompound with numerous pharmacological properties, has been reported to reverse docetaxel resistance (DR) in docetaxel-resistant prostate cancer (DRPC). Therefore, this study aimed to explore the mechanism via which quercetin reverses DR in DRPC using an integrative functional network and exploratory cancer genomic data analyses. ResultsThe putative targets of quercetin were retrieved from relevant databases, while the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in docetaxel-resistant prostate cancer (DRPC) were identified by analysing microarray data retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Subsequently, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the overlapping genes between the DEGs and quercetin targets was retrieved from STRING, while the hub genes, which represent the key interacting genes of the network, were identified using the CytoHubba plug-in of Cytoscape. The hub genes were further subjected to a comprehensive analysis aimed at identifying their contribution to the immune microenvironment and overall survival (OS) of PC patients, while their alterations in PC patients were also revealed. The biological roles played by the hub genes in chemotherapeutic resistance include the positive regulation of developmental process, positive regulation of gene expression, negative regulation of cell death, and epithelial cell differentiation among others. ConclusionFurther analysis revealed epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) as the most pertinent target of quercetin in reversing DR in DRPC, while molecular docking simulation revealed an effective interaction between quercetin and EGFR. Ultimately, this study provides a scientific rationale for the further exploration of quercetin as a combinational therapy with docetaxel.