Association between inflammatory bowel disease and prostate cancer: A large-scale,prospective, population-based study

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an established risk factor for colorectal cancer. Recent reports suggesting IBD is also a risk factor for prostate cancer (PC) require further investigation. We studied 218 084 men in the population-based UK Biobank cohort, aged 40 to 69 at study entry between 2006 and 2010, with follow-up through mid-2015. We assessed the association between IBD and subsequent PC using multivariable Cox regression analyses, adjusting for age at assessment, ethnic group, UK region, smoking status, alcohol drinking frequency, body mass index, Townsend Deprivation Index, family history of PC and previous prostate-specific antigen testing. Mean age at study entry was 56 years, 94% of the men were white, and 1.1% (n = 2311) had a diagnosis of IBD. After a median follow-up of 78 months, men with IBD had an increased risk of PC (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 1.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.03-1.67, P = .029). The association with PC was only among men with the ulcerative colitis (UC; aHR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.11-1.95, P = .0070), and not Crohn's disease (aHR 1.06, 95% CI = 0.63-1.80, P = .82). Results are limited by lack of data on frequency of health care interactions. In a large-scale, prospective cohort study, we detected an association between IBD, and UC specifically, with incident PC diagnosis.     

Four cases of neonatal non-ketotic hyperglycinaemia

Non-ketotic hyperglycinaemia is an autosomal recessive disorder of glycine metabolism caused by a defect in the glycine cleavage system. Affected neonates present with lethargy, feeding difficulty, hypotonia, apnoea, poorly controlled convulsions and coma. Four cases are reported, three of whom died in the neonatal period. The fourth case was treated with dextromethorphan and sodium benzoate. He survived with neurodevelopmental delay but is now almost seizure-free.     

Low-cost printing of computerised tomography (CT) images where there is no dedicated CT camera

Many developing countries still rely on conventional hard copy images to transfer information among physicians. We have developed a low-cost alternative method of printing computerised tomography (CT) scan images where there is no dedicated camera. A digital camera is used to photograph images from the CT scan screen monitor. The images are then transferred to a PC via a USB port, before being printed on glossy paper using an inkjet printer. The method can be applied to other imaging modalities like ultrasound and MRI and appears worthy of emulation elsewhere in the developing world where resources and technical expertise are scarce.     

A bivariate autoregressive Poisson model and its application to asthma-related emergency room visits

There are no gold standard methods that perform well in every situation when it comes to the analysis of multiple time series of counts. In this paper, we consider a positively correlated bivariate time series of counts and propose a parameter-driven Poisson regression model for its analysis. In our proposed model, we employ a latent autoregressive process, AR(p) to accommodate the temporal correlations in the two series. We compute the familiar maximum likelihood estimators of the model parameters and their standard errors via a Bayesian data cloning approach. We apply the model to the analysis of a bivariate time series arising from asthma-related visits to emergency rooms across the Canadian province of Ontario.