Telomere structure and maintenance gene variants and risk of five cancer types.

Telomeres cap chromosome ends, protecting them from degradation, double-strand breaks, and end-to-end fusions. Telomeres are maintained by telomerase, a reverse transcriptase encoded by TERT, and an RNA template encoded by TERC. Loci in the TERT and adjoining CLPTM1L region are associated with risk of multiple cancers. We therefore investigated associations between variants in 22 telomere structure and maintenance gene regions and colorectal, breast, prostate, ovarian, and lung cancer risk. We performed subset-based meta-analyses of 204,993 directly-measured and imputed SNPs among 61,851 cancer cases and 74,457 controls of European descent. Independent associations for SNP minor alleles were identified using sequential conditional analysis (with gene-level p value cutoffs ≤3.08 × 10-5 ). Of the thirteen independent SNPs observed to be associated with cancer risk, novel findings were observed for seven loci. Across the DCLRE1B region, rs974494 and rs12144215 were inversely associated with prostate and lung cancers, and colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers, respectively. Across the TERC region, rs75316749 was positively associated with colorectal, breast, ovarian, and lung cancers. Across the DCLRE1B region, rs974404 and rs12144215 were inversely associated with prostate and lung cancers, and colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers, respectively. Near POT1, rs116895242 was inversely associated with colorectal, ovarian, and lung cancers, and RTEL1 rs34978822 was inversely associated with prostate and lung cancers. The complex association patterns in telomere-related genes across cancer types may provide insight into mechanisms through which telomere dysfunction in different tissues influences cancer risk.Funding for the iCOGS infrastructure came from: the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n° 223175 (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175) (COGS), Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10118, C1287/A 10710, C12292/A11174, C1281/A12014, C5047/A8384, C5047/A15007, C5047/A10692, C8197/A16565), the National Institutes of Health (CA128978) and Post-Cancer GWAS initiative (1U19 CA148537, 1U19 CA148065 and 1U19 CA148112 – the GAME-ON initiative), the Department of Defense (W81XWH-10-1-0341), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer, Komen Foundation for the Cure, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ijc.3028

The role of negative mood states and consequences of hypersexual behaviours in predicting hypersexuality among university students

Background and Aims: The issue of whether hypersexual behaviours exist among university students is controversial because many of these individuals engage in sexual exploration during their time at university. To date, little is known about the correlates of hypersexual behaviours among university students in the UK. Therefore, the aims of this exploratory study were two-fold. Firstly, to explore and establish the correlates of hypersexual behaviours, and secondly, to investigate whether hypersexuality among university students can be predicted by variables relating to negative mood states (i.e., emotional dysregulation, loneliness, shame, and life satisfaction) and consequences of hypersexual behaviour. Methods: Survey data from 165 British university students was analysed using regression analyses. Results: The full regression model significantly predicted hypersexual behaviours. However, only a small number of predictor variables (i.e., gender, consequences of hypersexual behaviours, life satisfaction and emotional dysregulation) accounted for the significant unique influence on hypersexual behaviours among the sample. Conclusions: The study empirically supported the concept of hypersexual disorder. The implications of these findings are also discussed

The history of aeronautical medicine in Venezuela

The Aerial Medical Service of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications of Venezuela was created on June 1949, and later became the Department of Aeronautical Medicine. Its functions include the medical examinations of future pilots, navigators and flight engineers. The importance of good mental and physical health in all flight and ground personnel to ensure the safety of air travel is discussed

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 140

This bibliography lists 306 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in March 1975

Evaluation of thallium-201 scanning for detection of latent coronary artery disease

The use of thallium imaging as a noninvasive method to accurately screen shuttle passengers for latent coronary artery disease was investigated. All radionuclide procedures were performed using an Anger type camera with a high resolution collimator. A minimum of 200,000 counts were collected for each image using a 20% window centered on the 69-83 keV X-rays. For the images obtained following injection with the patient at rest, the testing was begun 10 minutes after injection. Injections of TT during exercise were made at a point near the termination of the treadmill procedure as determined by either the appearance of ST segment changes on the electrocardiogram consistant with subendocardial ischemia, the appearance of angina-like chest pain in the patient or fatigue in the patient which required cessation of the test. The severity of heart disease was based on the medical history, physical exam, exercise electrocardiograms, chest X-rays and the coronary arteriogram

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 133)

This special bibliography lists 276 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System in September 1974

Ideas of I. M. Sechenov in aviation and space medicine

The contributions I. M. Sechenov (19th century) made to modern physiology are described, including his studies on gases in the blood (O2 and CO2), and how these studies were the basic building blocks of current efforts in aviation and space medicine. Sechenov also studied hypokinesia, which is becoming important in long duration space flights

A new modified homotopy perturbation method for fractional partial differential equations with proportional delay

In this paper, we suggest and analyze a technique by combining the Shehu transform method and the homotopy perturbation method. This method is called the Shehu transform homotopy method (STHM). This method is used to solve the time-fractional partial differential equations (TFPDEs) with proportional delay. The fractional derivative is described in Caputo's sense. The solutions proposed in the series converge rapidly to the exact solution. Some examples are solved to show the STHM is easy to apply

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 141)

This special bibliography lists 267 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in April 1975

Self-vapor cooled targets for production of I-123 at high current accelerators

The basic elements of the vapor cooled target system are shown. This system can be operated as a heat pipe or as a conventional condenser. The choice of target fluid is based on the specific nuclear reaction chosen to produce Xe-123. The reaction using I-127 was studied and shown to have a significant yield for bombarding energies from 47 to 63 MeV. The Cs-133 reaction is also included. Xenon-123 is applied to I-123 production in a purer form for thyroid studies