Lung Cancer in the Young

Introduction

Median age at diagnosis of lung cancer is 70 years. Its presentation in patients 40 or younger is uncommon and it has been proposed that maybe it is a different disease due to its clinical characteristics and genetic makeup. There are a limited number of studies in this population and they report different clinic-pathological characteristics in comparison with older patients.

Methods

We described the incidence of lung cancer patients diagnosed at age 40 or younger at the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas (INEN), Lima-Peru; from 2009 to 2017 and evaluated the characteristic of NSCLC. Epidemiologic and clinic-pathological data was collected from clinical files. Analysis was carried out using SPSSvs19 software.

Results

We identified 3823 patients with lung cancer seen at INEN during the study period. Among these, 166 (4.3%) patients were 40 years or younger, and 137/166 (82.5%) were NSCLC. Median age at diagnosis was 36 years (range 14–40 years) and 59.1% of patients were female. A smoking history was present in 14.4% of patients. Frequent symptoms at diagnosis were cough (62.0%), chest pain (51.8%) and dyspnea (40.9%). Adenocarcinoma was the most common histological type (63.3%). Most patients had advanced disease at diagnosis (84.7%). The median overall survival was 8.2 months.

Conclusions

The proportion of young patients with lung cancer in our population is higher than that reported in the most recent literature. Lung cancer in the young is mostly sporadic, more frequent in women, usually adenocarcinoma type and it presents with advanced disease, resulting in a very poor survival.

     

Behaviour of Impurities during Electron Beam Melting of Copper Technogenic Material

The current study presents the electron beam melting (EBM) efficiency of copper technogenic material with high impurity content (Se, Te, Pb, Bi, Sn, As, Sb, Zn, Ni, Ag, etc.) by means of thermodynamic analysis and experimental tests. On the basis of the calculated values of Gibbs free energy and the physical state of the impurity (liquid and gaseous), a thermodynamic assessment of the possible chemical interactions occurring in the Cu-Cu₂O-Me_x system in vacuum in the temperature range 1460–1800 K was made. The impact of the kinetic parameters (temperature and refining time) on the behaviour and the degree of removal of impurities was evaluated. Chemical and metallographic analysis of the obtained ingots is also discussed.     

A Cu(ii)-MOF based on a propargyl carbamate-functionalized isophthalate ligand

A copper-based metal–organic framework (MOF) was prepared using a new linker, a 5-substituted isophthalic acid bearing a propargyl carbamate group, intended to provide a terminal alkyne function protruding from the material surface to generate supported gold species for potential catalytic applications. The novel material was fully characterized by spectroscopic analyses of different kinds: FTIR, Raman, EDX, and XPS, as well as by thermal and surface area measurements. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction data analysis, in particular, revealed that this MOF, labelled [Cu(1,3-YBDC)]·xH₂O (x ∼ 2), where Y stands for the pendant alkYne and BDC for benzene dicarboxylate, contains a complex network of 5-substituted isophthalate anions bound to Cu(ii) centers, arranged in pairs within paddlewheel (or “Chinese lantern”) fragments of Cu₂(μ-COO)₄(D)₂ formulation (D being a neutral Lewis base), with a short Cu⋯Cu distance of 2.633(4) Å. Quite unexpectedly, the apical atom in the paddlewheel structure belongs to the carbamate carbonyl oxygen atom. Such extra coordination by the propargyl carbamate groups drastically reduces the MOF porosity, a feature that was also confirmed by BET measurements. However, the MOF functionality is retained at the external crystal surface where 2% of active terminal alkynes is located.

A copper-based metal–organic framework with a novel 5-substituted isophthalic linker bearing a propargyl carbamate group protruding from the material surface.