The incidence of oral cancer in Southeast Asia is high. In fact, oral cancer occupies the highest position of the six types of malignancy that often occur in Asian countries. Oral cancer threatens not only the elderly but also children. In this era of free distribution of information, inappropriate news about oral cancer can trigger anxiety disorders, including phobias. A team of UGM students, Freisiane Rachmalia Sadono (Dentistry 2019), Annisa Oktaviani Guntara (Dentistry 2018), Nenny Rahma Dwi Cahya (Pharmacology 2018), and Lulu’ul Jannah (Psychology 2018), conducted a research on this topic.
Freisiane said that after they conducted a study on indications of the incidence of oral cancer phobia in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, they used guava leaf (Psidium guajava L.) as an anxiety reliever for oral cancer phobia. “The number of people who are afraid of cancer is the reason why we revealed indications of oral cancer phobia cases. We want to contribute to reducing fears of oral cancer in the community. We hope that people will be more aware of this type of phobia,” said Freisiane, Thursday (9/9).
The research under the guidance of Dr. Hendri Susanto is a competition held by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Research and Technology, specifically the Exact Research Student Creativity Week (PKM) funded in 2021. According to Freisiane, most people in the community experience indications of fears of oral cancer. The results of this research in Yogyakarta showed 24.3% of the community indicated low, 63.1% indicated moderate, and 12.6% indicated high out of a total of 103 participants.” This data was obtained from questionnaires that we have distributed via Google Form, and then we analyzed it,” she explained.
As another member of the team, Nenny said that in the molecular test there are several compounds in guava leaves that have the potential as anxiety-reducing agents for oral cancer phobia, with Epigallocatechin Galat with the highest potency. Molecular docking experiments were carried out by testing 23 compounds contained in guava leaves. “The lower or negative docking score indicates that the ligand can bind more strongly to the receptor and is considered more stable,” said Nenny.
Nenny added that this research combines both the exact sciences and social humanities. However, they feel grateful for completing this research for three months. The team used computational technology and databases, namely molecular docking, to prove the potential of compounds contained in guava leaves as a reliever for anxiety disorders such as the phobia of oral cancer. In addition, they used Google Form media which is popular for online research, and computer programs for statistical analysis to reveal indications of fears of oral cancer.
Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21653-daun-jambu-biji-potensial-atasi-fobia-kanker-mulut
