Efficacy and safety of ND:YAG 1064 nm lasers for photoepilation: a systematic review

Lasers in Medical Science - Using light sources in phototherapy has presented promising results regarding several types of facial and body skin affections for centuries. The neodymium-doped yttrium...     

Menstrual and reproductive characteristics and breast cancer risk by hormone receptor status and ethnicity: The Breast Cancer Etiology in Minorities study

We pooled multiethnic data from four population-based studies and examined associations of menstrual and reproductive characteristics with breast cancer (BC) risk by tumor hormone receptor (HR) status [defined by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR)]. We estimated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using multivariable logistic regression, stratified by age (<50, ≥50 years) and ethnicity, for 5,186 HR+ (ER+ or PR+) cases, 1,365 HR− (ER− and PR−) cases and 7,480 controls. For HR+ BC, later menarche and earlier menopause were associated with lower risk in non-Hispanic whites (NHWs) and Hispanics, and higher parity and longer breast-feeding were associated with lower risk in Hispanics and Asian Americans, and suggestively in NHWs. Positive associations with later first full-term pregnancy (FTP), longer interval between menarche and first FTP and shorter time since last FTP were limited to younger Hispanics and Asian Americans. Except for nulliparity, reproductive characteristics were not associated with risk in African Americans. For HR− BC, lower risk was associated with later menarche, except in African Americans and older Asian Americans and with longer breast-feeding in Hispanics and Asian Americans only. In younger African Americans, HR− BC risk associated with higher parity (≥3 vs. 1 FTP) was increased fourfold in women who never breast-fed, but not in those with a breast-feeding history, suggesting that breast-feeding may mitigate the adverse effect of higher parity in younger African American women. Further work needs to evaluate why menstrual and reproductive risk factors vary in importance according to age and ethnicity.     

Pathways in the association between sugar sweetened beverages and child asthma traits in the 2nd year of life: Findings from the BRISA cohort

Studies on the exposure of children to sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) at an early age may contribute to better understand the common causes and the temporal order of the relationships between obesity and asthma in early childhood. The objective of this study was to estimate the association between SSB and child asthma traits in the 2nd year of life, modeling direct and indirect pathways mediated by the highest BMI-z of the child and allergic inflammation. Data from the BRISA cohort, São Luís-MA, Brazil (n = 1140), were obtained from the baseline and from the follow-up performed at the 2nd year of life. The main explanatory variable was the calories from added sugars in SSBs as a percentage of the total daily energy intake. The outcome child asthma traits was a latent variable deduced from four indicators: medical diagnosis of asthma, wheezing, emergency visit due to intense wheezing, and medical diagnosis of rhinitis. A high percentage of daily calories from sugars added to SSBs was directly associated with higher values of child asthma traits (standardized coefficient (SC = 0.073; P = .030)). High levels of eosinophils were also directly associated with child asthma traits (SC = 0.118; P = .049). No mediation pathways were observed via greater BMI-z or eosinophil counts. Therefore, early exposure of children to SSB may contribute to increased risk of childhood asthma, preceding the link between sugar consumption and overweight/obesity, not yet evident in children in the first 2 years of life.     

Spontaneous reports of hypersensitivity adverse drug reactions in Portugal: a retrospective analysis

ABSTRACT

Background

Hypersensitivity adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are usually serious, unpredictable, and associated with high morbidity and mortality. This study describes cases of hypersensitivity ADRs spontaneously reported in Central Portugal.     

Description of Leprosy Classification at Baseline among Patients Enrolled at the Uniform Multidrug Therapy Clinical Trial for Leprosy Patients in Brazil

The uniform multidrug therapy clinical trial, Brazil (U-MDT/CT-BR), database was used to describe and report the performance of available tools to classify 830 leprosy patients as paucibacillary (PB) and multibacillary (MB) at baseline. In a modified Ridley and Jopling (R&J) classification, considering clinical features, histopathological results of skin biopsies and the slit-skin smear bacterial load results were used as the gold standard method for classification. Anti-phenolic glycolipid-I (PGL-I) serology by ML Flow test, the slit skin smear bacterial load, and the number of skin lesions were evaluated. Considering the R&J classification system as gold standard, ML Flow tests correctly allocated 70% patients in the PB group and 87% in the MB group. The classification based on counting the number of skin lesions correctly allocated 46% PB patients and 99% MB leprosy cases. Slit skin smears properly classified 91% and 97% of PB and MB patients, respectively. Based on U-MDT/CT-BR results, classification of leprosy patients for treatment purposes is unnecessary because it does not impact clinical and laboratories outcomes. In this context, the identification of new biomarkers to detect patients at a higher risk to develop leprosy reactions or relapse remains an important research challenge.     

Value: Changes in the Detection and Recognition Thresholds of Three Basic Tastes in Lung Cancer Patients Receiving Cisplatin and Paclitaxel and Its Association with Nutritional and Quality of Life Parameters

We evaluated the effects of cisplatin and paclitaxel on taste acuity and their associations with nutritional and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Forty chemotherapy (CT)-naïve patients were assessed at baseline and after two cycles of paclitaxel and cisplatin. The taste evaluation was performed using a rinsing technique to identify detection and recognition thresholds (DT and RT) of bitter, sweet, and umami tastes. At baseline, 37.5% of the patients reported dysgeusia. After CT, the patients showed lower medians DT (p = 0.017) and RT (p = 0.028) for umami taste. These decreases were associated with clinical neuropathy, worse HRQL, and a tendency toward increased appetite loss. Additionally, CT did not significantly reduce the median DT for sweet (p = 0.09), which is associated with lower intake of protein (p = 0.015), animal protein (p = 0.010), fat (p = 0.004), and iron (p = 0.047). CT decreased the median DT for bitter (p = 0.035); however, this decrease was not associated with nutritional parameters or with HRQL. Sensitivity to taste increased with paclitaxel and cisplatin CT, making foods more unpleasant, and it was associated with neuropathy, worse HRQL, and reduced nutrient intake in advanced NSCLC patients. The protocol was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01540045).     

Evaluation of environmental genotoxicity by comet assay in Columba livia

The concentrations of recognized or suspected genotoxic and carcinogenic agents found in the air of large cities and, in particular, developing countries, have raised concerns about the potential for chronic health effects in the populations exposed to them. The biomonitoring of environmental genotoxicity requires the selection of representative organisms as “sentinels,” as well as the development of suitable and sensitive assays, such as those aimed at assessing DNA damage. The aim of this study was to evaluate DNA damage levels in erythrocytes from Columba livia living in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Mexico, compared with control animals via comet assay, and to confirm the results via Micronuclei test (MN) and DNA breakage detection–fluorescence in situ hybridization (DBD–FISH). Our results showed a significant increase in DNA migration in animals from the area assayed compared with that observed in control animals sampled in non-contaminated areas. These results were confirmed by MN test and DBD–FISH. In conclusion, these observations confirm that the examination of erythrocytes from Columba livia via alkaline comet assay provides a sensitive and reliable end point for the detection of environmental genotoxicants.