Women's College, Kolkata

About: Women's College, Kolkata is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Breast cancer. The organization has 4552 authors who have published 5906 publications receiving 178809 citations.

Effects of slip and heat transfer analysis of flow over an unsteady stretching surface

Abstract: In this paper, viscous flow and heat transfer over an unsteady stretching surface is investigated with slip conditions. A system of non-linear partial differential equations is derived and transformed to ordinary differential equations with help of similarity transformations. Numerical computations are carried out for different values of the parameters involved and the analysis of the results obtained shows that the flow field is influenced appreciably by the unsteadiness, and the velocity slip parameter. With increasing values of the unsteadiness parameter, fluid velocity and the temperature are found to decrease in both the presence and absence of slip at the boundary. Fluid velocity decreases due to increasing values of the velocity slip parameter resulting in an increase in the temperature field. Skin-friction decreases with the velocity slip parameter whereas it increases with unsteadiness parameter. The rate of heat transfer decreases with the velocity slip parameter while increases with unsteadiness parameter. Same feature is also noticed for thermal slip parameter.

Timing of oral contraceptive use and the risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 mutation carriers

Abstract: It is not clear if early oral contraceptive use increases the risk of breast cancer among young women with a breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) mutation. Given the benefit of oral contraceptives for the prevention of ovarian cancer, estimating age-specific risk ratios for oral contraceptive use and breast cancer is important. We conducted a case-control study of 2,492 matched pairs of women with a deleterious BRCA1 mutation. Breast cancer cases and unaffected controls were matched on year of birth and country of residence. Detailed information about oral contraceptive use was collected from a routinely administered questionnaire. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for the association between oral contraceptive and breast cancer, by age at first use and by age at diagnosis. Among BRCA1 mutation carriers, oral contraceptive use was significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer for women who started the pill prior to age 20 (OR 1.45; 95 % CI 1.20-1.75; P = 0.0001) and possibly between ages 20 and 25 as well (OR 1.19; 95 % CI 0.99-1.42; P = 0.06). The effect was limited to breast cancers diagnosed before age 40 (OR 1.40; 95 % CI 1.14-1.70; P = 0.001); the risk of early-onset breast cancer increased by 11 % with each additional year of pill use when initiated prior to age 20 (OR 1.11; 95 % CI 1.03-1.20; P = 0.008). There was no observed increase for women diagnosed at or after the age of 40 (OR 0.97; 95 % CI 0.79-1.20; P = 0.81). Oral contraceptive use before age 25 increases the risk of early-onset breast cancer among women with a BRCA1 mutation and the risk increases with duration of use. Caution should be taken when advising women with a BRCA1 mutation to take an oral contraceptive prior to age 25.

Development of quality indicators for colorectal cancer surgery, using a 3-step modified Delphi approach.

Abstract: Assessing the quality of health care has become increasingly important to providers, regulators and purchasers of care in response to growing demand for services, rising costs, constrained resources and evidence of variation in clinical practice.1 Quality of care is defined as the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge.2 This definition suggests that quality is a multidimensional concept best reflected by a broad range of performance measures. Performance is often measured by establishing indicators, or standards, then evaluating whether the organization of services, patterns of care and outcomes are consistent with those criteria. Indicators can be generic measures relevant to all diseases, or disease-specific measures that describe the quality of care related to a specific diagnosis.3 Data on performance can be used to make comparisons over time between institutions that offer care, set priorities for the organization of medical care, support accountability and accreditation, and inform quality improvement. The provincial cancer agency in Ontario has launched a performance measurement program that will examine quality of care for all types of cancer across the continuum of services, with a particular focus on surgical oncology. Most patients who develop cancer will undergo surgery for diagnosis, staging, treatment or palliation; therefore, the quality of surgical care can directly affect patient outcome and can have an indirect effect on outcome by influencing the subsequent care pathway.4 Little performance measurement has been conducted in the area of oncology, and the number of initiatives developing indicators to measure the quality of cancer care are few.5 In 1997, a group associated with the RAND Corporation used a modified Delphi approach to produce evidence- and consensus-based indicators for 6 types of cancer: lung, breast, prostate, cervical, colorectal and skin.6,7 The National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom published a set of system-level indicators in 1999 that were selected according to key functions defined in the National Service Framework along with public consultation.8 The NHS indicators represent services for colorectal, lung and breast cancer. Both of these oncology performance measurement initiatives produced indicators spanning the continuum of care and include some measures relevant to cancer surgery. No indicators have been rigorously established to specifically address the quality of cancer surgery, nor are there indicators focusing on colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery that could be used for hospital quality-improvement programs and accountability purposes. This paper describes the systematic development of quality indicators for CRC surgery as the first step in a provincial performance measurement program in Ontario. It outlines the result of that effort, including participation, prioritized indicators and supporting evidence, and highlights key considerations in the use of indicators through a discussion of next steps.