INTRODUCTIONCancer of breast is disease which affects many dimensions of health as it gives physical, emotional, psychological as well as economical set back to the women affected. Among women breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed globally (25.2 % of all new cases of cancers).1 A recent report by the Indian Council of Medical Research predict the number of breast cancer cases in India to rise to 106,124 in 2015 and to 123,634 in 2020. 2 Breast cancer is now the most common cancer among women in India and accounts for 7% of global burden of breast cancer.3 Among Kashmiri women breast cancer is the second leading cancer after esophageal cancer, with an incidence rate of 12.6 per 100,000. 4 The incidence, mortality and survival rates for breast cancer vary across the globe because of underlying differences in known risk factors, availability of organized screening programs and access to effective and affordable treatment modalities. Studies have shown that in contrast to the developed nations most of the developing nations have recorded a poor outcome and high fatality rate owing to diagnosis of the breast cancer in advanced stages. Globally, breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE) and mammography are the recommended screening test for early detection of breast cancer. 5 Due to lack of access to diagnostic facilities, especially for women in low resource settings, it is essential to empower them with BSE as a primary modality for screening. Breast self-examination is an ABSTRACT Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide but is the second commonest cancer in Kashmir women. The most easy and cost effective way of early detection of breast cancer is through breast self-examination (BSE) the utility of which can help to make early interventions and thus better prognosis. The objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge and practice about breast self-examination among ethnic Kashmiri females. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was done among ethnic Kashmiri women. A sample 250 women in the age group of 20 to 60 years was selected from SMHS hospital. A predesigned semi-structured study instrument was used to collect the data through interview method. Results:The results showed that only 26% of the participants had ever heard of breast cancer and among them for 50.8% the source of information was media. Regarding knowledge of breast self-examination 92.4 % had never heard of it. Only 5.6% participants had self-examined their breast. Conclusions:The study points to the insufficient knowledge of Kashmiri females about breast cancer and its simplest screening method of self-examination.

Background:This study aimed to evaluate and compare the therapeutic effects of ephedrine and lidocaine in treatment of intraoperative hiccups in gynecologic surgery under sedation.Materials and Methods:This randomized clinical trial in Isfahan was done on fifty female patients referring to Shahid Beheshti Hospital who needed to have sedation for medical interventions and they afflicted hiccups during surgery or sedation. Patients divided into two groups of 25 randomly assigned to one of the two groups of ephedrine or lidocaine. Ephedrine group received 5 mg/kg of medicine, while the lidocaine group was under treatment with 1 mg/kg lidocaine. Patients were monitored about systolic and diastolic blood pressure, MAP, heart rate, duration of hiccup, frequency of betterment, duration of intervention, and recovery at 15-min intervals of surgery and recovery.Results:Hiccups were resolved in 14 cases (56%) in the lidocaine group, while the improvement of such problem was achieved in 24 cases (96%) in ephedrine group (P < 0.001), so that the two groups did not have any significant difference in terms of the time of onset but the stop time of hiccups (relative to its start time) in the ephedrine group with the mean value of (2.40 ± 1.16) was significantly lower than the lidocaine group with the mean of 19.64 ± 22.76 min (P = 0.014). In addition, no complications were observed in the two groups.Conclusion:Ephedrine has been more successful than lidocaine as a stimulant in controlling hiccups, and it has been able to suppress hiccups in a higher percentage of patients at a shorter time.