Outcomes after neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy for cT2-4N0-1 non–small cell lung cancer: A propensity-matched analysis

Objective

Comparative survival between neoadjuvant chemotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with cT2-4N0-1M0 non–small cell lung cancer has not been extensively studied.

Examination of potential novel biochemical factors in relation to prostate cancer incidence and mortality in UK Biobank

Background Although prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer death, its aetiology is not well understood. We aimed to identify novel biochemical factors for prostate cancer incidence and mortality in UK Biobank.Methods A range of cardiovascular, bone, joint, diabetes, renal and liver-related biomarkers were measured in baseline blood samples collected from up to 211,754 men at recruitment and in a subsample 5 years later. Participants were followed-up via linkage to health administrative datasets to identify prostate cancer cases. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression corrected for regression dilution bias. Multiple testing was accounted for by using a false discovery rate controlling procedure.Results After an average follow-up of 6.9 years, 5763 prostate cancer cases and 331 prostate cancer deaths were ascertained. Prostate cancer incidence was positively associated with circulating vitamin D, urea and phosphate concentrations and inversely associated with glucose, total protein and aspartate aminotransferase. Phosphate and cystatin-C were the only biomarkers positively and inversely, respectively, associated with risk in analyses excluding the first 4 years of follow-up. There was little evidence of associations with prostate cancer death.Conclusion We found novel associations of several biomarkers with prostate cancer incidence. Future research will examine associations by tumour characteristics.Subject terms: Predictive markers, Prostate cancer, Risk factors     

Patterns in metabolite profile are associated with risk of more aggressive prostate cancer: A prospective study of 3,057 matched case–control sets from EPIC

Metabolomics may reveal novel insights into the etiology of prostate cancer, for which few risk factors are established. We investigated the association between patterns in baseline plasma metabolite profile and subsequent prostate cancer risk, using data from 3,057 matched case–control sets from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). We measured 119 metabolite concentrations in plasma samples, collected on average 9.4 years before diagnosis, by mass spectrometry (AbsoluteIDQ p180 Kit, Biocrates Life Sciences AG). Metabolite patterns were identified using treelet transform, a statistical method for identification of groups of correlated metabolites. Associations of metabolite patterns with prostate cancer risk (OR_1SD) were estimated by conditional logistic regression. Supplementary analyses were conducted for metabolite patterns derived using principal component analysis and for individual metabolites. Men with metabolite profiles characterized by higher concentrations of either phosphatidylcholines or hydroxysphingomyelins (OR_1SD = 0.77, 95% confidence interval 0.66–0.89), acylcarnitines C18:1 and C18:2, glutamate, ornithine and taurine (OR_1SD = 0.72, 0.57–0.90), or lysophosphatidylcholines (OR_1SD = 0.81, 0.69–0.95) had lower risk of advanced stage prostate cancer at diagnosis, with no evidence of heterogeneity by follow-up time. Similar associations were observed for the two former patterns with aggressive disease risk (the more aggressive subset of advanced stage), while the latter pattern was inversely related to risk of prostate cancer death (OR_1SD = 0.77, 0.61–0.96). No associations were observed for prostate cancer overall or less aggressive tumor subtypes. In conclusion, metabolite patterns may be related to lower risk of more aggressive prostate tumors and prostate cancer death, and might be relevant to etiology of advanced stage prostate cancer.     

Spinal canal narrowing during simulated frontal impact

Between 23 and 70% of occupants involved in frontal impacts sustain cervical spine injuries, many with neurological involvement. It has been hypothesized that cervical spinal cord compression and injury may explain the variable neurological profile described by frontal impact victims. The goals of the present study, using a biofidelic whole cervical spine model with muscle force replication, were to quantify canal pinch diameter (CPD) narrowing during frontal impact and to evaluate the potential for cord compression. The biofidelic model and a sled apparatus were used to simulate frontal impacts at 4, 6, 8, and 10 g horizontal accelerations of the T1 vertebra. The CPD was measured in the intact specimen in the neutral posture (neutral posture CPD), under static sagittal pure moments of 1.5 Nm (pre-impact CPD), during dynamic frontal impact (dynamic impact CPD), and again under static pure moments following each impact (post-impact CPD). Frontal impact caused significant (P<0.05) dynamic CPD narrowing at C0-dens, C2-C3, and C6-C7. The narrowest dynamic CPD was observed at C0-dens during the 10 g impact and was 25.9% narrower than the corresponding neutral posture CPD. Interpretation of the present results indicate that the neurological symptomatology reported by frontal impact victims is most likely not due to cervical spinal cord compression. Cord compression due to residual spinal instability is also not likely.     

Pulmonary function following surgical repair of pectus excavatum: a meta-analysis.

The purpose of this study was to use a meta-analytical technique to examine the efficacy of surgical repair of pectus excavatum on pulmonary function. Studies were retrieved via computerized literature searches, cross-referencing from original and review articles. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) reporting quantitative measures of preoperative and postoperative pulmonary function; (2) published in the English language; (3) indexed between January 1960 and September 2005; (4) reporting the duration between which preoperative and postoperative assessments were conducted; and (5) describing the pulmonary assessment procedures. The titles and abstracts of potentially relevant articles were reviewed to determine whether they met the criteria for inclusion. Twelve studies representing 313 pectus excavatum patients met the inclusion criteria and were used for the meta-analysis. Random-effects modeling yielded a mean weighted effect size (ES) for pulmonary function which was statistically nonsignificant (ES=0.08, 95% CI=-0.20 to 0.35; P=0.58). The findings of the present study indicated that surgical repair of pectus excavatum does not significantly improve pulmonary function. These findings, however, may be a result of testing pulmonary function under conditions in which pectus excavatum does not manifest itself.     

Regional differences in the response to platelet-activating factor in rabbit colon.

1. Platelet-activating factor is an inflammatory mediator related to eicosanoids which is known to stimulate anion secretion in the distal colon. Since there are regional differences in ion transport within the colon, the influence of platelet-activating factors on ion transport and epithelial permeability has been studied in rabbit caecum and distal colon mounted in Ussing chambers. 2. The effect of platelet-activating factor (1-50 nmol/l) on net electrogenic ion transport was to stimulate a biphasic increase in short-circuit current in the distal colon but not in the caecum. The platelet-activating factor-induced rise in short-circuit current was shown by ion replacement and pharmacological inhibitor studies to be consistent with chloride and bicarbonate secretion in the early phase, but with chloride secretion alone in the later phase. The effect on ion transport was specific and reversible and was enhanced by 0.25% BSA. 3. Colonic permeability, assessed by transmucosal resistance and mannitol flux, was increased by platelet-activating factor in both the distal colon and the caecum. This was consistent with an effect on platelet-activating factor on the paracellular pathway, because resistance decreased even when transcellular chloride transport was inhibited by frusemide or ion replacement. A specific platelet-activating factor antagonist (U66985) inhibited the effects of platelet-activating factor in both the distal colon and the caecum. 4. The results show that platelet-activating factor stimulates anion secretion only in the distal colon, but increases permeability in both the caecum and the distal colon.     

Validation of a terrestrial food chain model.

An increasingly important topic in risk assessment is the estimation of human exposure to environmental pollutants through pathways other than inhalation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently developed a computerized methodology (EPA, 1990) to estimate indirect exposure to toxic pollutants from Municipal Waste Combuster emissions. This methodology estimates health risks from exposure to toxic pollutants from the terrestrial food chain (TFC), soil ingestion, drinking water ingestion, fish ingestion, and dermal absorption via soil and water. Of these, one of the most difficult to estimate is exposure through the food chain. This paper estimates the accuracy of the EPA methodology for estimating food chain contamination. To our knowledge, no data exist on measured concentrations of pollutants in food grown around Municipal Waste Incinerators, and few field-scale studies have been performed on the uptake of pollutants in the food chain. Therefore, to evaluate the EPA methodology, we compare actual measurements of background contaminant levels in food with estimates made using EPA's computerized methodology. Background levels of contaminants in air, water, and soil were used as input to the EPA food chain model to predict background levels of contaminants in food. These predicted values were then compared with the measured background contaminant levels. Comparisons were performed for dioxin, pentachlorophenol, polychlorinated biphenyls, benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, mercury, and lead.