Risk factors for breast cancer in a cohort of mammographic screening program : a nested case-control study within the FRiCaM study

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis and the leading cause of cancer death among women in the world, and differences across populations indicate a role of hormonal, reproductive and lifestyle factors. This study is based on a cohort of 78,050 women invited to undergo a mammogram by Local Health Authority of Milan, between 2003 and 2007. We carried out a nested case\u2013control study including all the 3303 incident breast cancer cases diagnosed up to 2015, and 9909 controls matched by age and year of enrollment. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using logistic regression models. The ORs were 0.88 (95% CI: 0.78\u20130.98) for an age at menarche 6514 years and 1.39 (95% CI: 1.07\u20131.81) for an age of 30 years or older at first pregnancy. Body mass index (BMI) was positively associated with breast cancer risk in women older than 50 years (OR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.54\u20132.31, for BMI 6530 vs. 75% vs. adipose tissue). The ORs were 1.67 (95% CI: 1.47\u20131.89) and 2.04 (95% CI: 1.38\u20133.00) for one first\u2010degree relative and two or more relatives affected by breast cancer, respectively. Our study confirms the role of major recognized risk factors for breast cancer in our population and provides the basis for a stratification of the participants in the mammographic screening according to different levels of ris

Evaluation of analogues of furan-amidines as inhibitors of NQO2

Inhibitors of the enzyme NQO2 (NRH: quinone oxidoreductase 2) are of potential use in cancer chemotherapy and malaria. We have previously reported that non-symmetrical furan amidines are potent inhibitors of NQO2 and here novel analogues are evaluated. The furan ring has been changed to other heterocycles (imidazole, N-methylimidazole, oxazole, thiophene) and the amidine group has been replaced with imidate, reversed amidine, N-arylamide and amidoxime to probe NQO2 activity, improve solubility and decrease basicity of the lead furan amidine. All compounds were fully characterised spectroscopically and the structure of the unexpected product N-hydroxy-4-(5-methyl-4-phenylfuran-2-yl)benzamidine was established by X-ray crystallography. The analogues were evaluated for inhibition of NQO2, which showed lower activity than the lead furan amidine. The observed structure-activity relationship for the furan-amidine series with NQO2 was rationalized by preliminary molecular docking and binding mode analysis. In addition, the oxazole-amidine analogue inhibited the growth of Plasmodium falciparum with an IC50 value of 0.3 μM

Correction: Russo, B., et al. Assessment of urban flood resilience in barcelona for current and future scenarios. the resccue project. (Sustainability 2020, 12, 5638)

The authors would like to make the following corrections about the published paper [1]. The changes are as follows: (1) Replacing Table 4. Reference 1. Russo, B.; Velasco, M.; Locatelli, L.; Sunyer, D.; Yubero, D.; Monjo, R.; Martínez-Gomariz, E.; Forero-Ortiz, E.; Sánchez-Muñoz, D.; Evans, B.; et al. Assessment of Urban Flood Resilience in Barcelona for Current and Future Scenarios. The RESCCUE Project. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5638. [CrossRef]

Increased incidence of colon cancer among individuals younger than 50 years : a 17 years analysis from the cancer registry of the municipality of Milan, Italy

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) overall incidence has been decreasing in the last decade. However, there is evidence of an increasing frequency of early-onset CRC in young individuals in several countries. The aim of this study is to evaluate the trends of CRC occurrence over 17 years in the municipality of Milan, Italy, focusing on early-onset CRC. Population and methods: This retrospective study was performed using the Cancer Registry of the municipality of Milan, including all cases of CRC diagnosed 1999-2015. Incidence rates were stratified by age and anatomic subsite, and trends over time were measured using the estimated annual percentage change. Age-period-cohort modelling was used to disentangle the different effects. Results: 18,783 cases of CRC were included. CRC incidence rates among individuals aged 50\u201360 years declined annually by 3% both in colon and in rectal cancer. Conversely, in adults younger than 50 years, overall CRC occurrence increased annually by 0.7%, with a diverging trend for colon (+2.6%) and rectal ( 125.3%) cancer. Among individuals aged 60 years and older, CRC incidence rates increased by 1.0% annually up to 2007, and decrease thereafter by 4% per year, both for colon and rectal cancer. Age-period-cohort models showed a reduction of CRC risk for the cohorts born up to 1979, followed by an increase in younger cohorts. In contrast, rectal cancer among women showed a systematic risk decrease for all birth cohorts. Conclusions: The study highlights increasing incidence of colon cancer in younger subjects and a decrease in incidence rates for rectal cancer in females

Performance of radiomics features in the quantification of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis from HRCT

Background: Our study assesses the diagnostic value of different features extracted from high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) images of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. These features are investigated over a range of HRCT lung volume measurements (in Hounsfield Units) for which no prior study has yet been published. In particular, we provide a comparison of their diagnostic value at different Hounsfield Unit (HU) thresholds, including corresponding pulmonary functional tests. Methods: We consider thirty-two patients retrospectively for whom both HRCT examinations and spirometry tests were available. First, we analyse the HRCT histogram to extract quantitative lung fibrosis features. Next, we evaluate the relationship between pulmonary function and the HRCT features at selected HU thresholds, namely -200 HU, 0 HU, and +200 HU. We model the relationship using a Poisson approximation to identify the measure with the highest log-likelihood. Results: Our Poisson models reveal no difference at the -200 and 0 HU thresholds. However, inferential conclusions change at the +200 HU threshold. Among the HRCT features considered, the percentage of normally attenuated lung at -200 HU shows the most significant diagnostic utility. Conclusions: The percentage of normally attenuated lung can be used together with qualitative HRCT assessment and pulmonary function tests to enhance the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) diagnostic process

Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulation of Strained Heteroepitaxial Growth with Intermixing

An efficient method for the simulation of strained heteroepitaxial growth with intermixing using kinetic Monte Carlo is presented. The model used is based on a solid-on-solid bond counting formulation in which elastic effects are incorporated using a ball and spring model. While idealized, this model nevertheless captures many aspects of heteroepitaxial growth, including nucleation, surface diffusion, and long range effects due elastic interaction. The algorithm combines a fast evaluation of the elastic displacement field with an efficient implementation of a rejection-reduced kinetic Monte Carlo based on using upper bounds for the rates. The former is achieved by using a multigrid method for global updates of the displacement field and an expanding box method for local updates. The simulations show the importance of intermixing on the growth of a strained film. Further the method is used to simulate the growth of self-assembled stacked quantum dots

Quintessential Maldacena-Maoz Cosmologies

Maldacena and Maoz have proposed a new approach to holographic cosmology based on Euclidean manifolds with disconnected boundaries. This approach appears, however, to be in conflict with the known geometric results [the Witten-Yau theorem and its extensions] on spaces with boundaries of non-negative scalar curvature. We show precisely how the Maldacena-Maoz approach evades these theorems. We also exhibit Maldacena-Maoz cosmologies with [cosmologically] more natural matter content, namely quintessence instead of Yang-Mills fields, thereby demonstrating that these cosmologies do not depend on a special choice of matter to split the Euclidean boundary. We conclude that if our Universe is fundamentally anti-de Sitter-like [with the current acceleration being only temporary], then this may force us to confront the holography of spaces with a connected bulk but a disconnected boundary.Comment: Much improved exposition, exponent in Cai-Galloway theorem fixed, axionic interpretation of scalar explained, JHEP version. 33 pages, 3 eps figure

Concurrent structural and biophysical traits link with immunoglobulin light chains amyloid propensity

Light chain amyloidosis (AL), the most common systemic amyloidosis, is caused by the overproduction and the aggregation of monoclonal immunoglobulin light chains (LC) in target organs. Due to genetic rearrangement and somatic hypermutation, virtually, each AL patient presents a different amyloidogenic LC. Because of such complexity, the fine molecular determinants of LC aggregation propensity and proteotoxicity are, to date, unclear; significantly, their decoding requires investigating large sets of cases. Aiming to achieve generalizable observations, we systematically characterised a pool of thirteen sequence-diverse full length LCs. Eight amyloidogenic LCs were selected as responsible for severe cardiac symptoms in patients; five non-amyloidogenic LCs were isolated from patients affected by multiple myeloma. Our comprehensive approach (consisting of spectroscopic techniques, limited proteolysis, and X-ray crystallography) shows that low fold stability and high protein dynamics correlate with amyloidogenic LCs, while hydrophobicity, structural rearrangements and nature of the LC dimeric association interface (as observed in seven crystal structures here presented) do not appear to play a significant role in defining amyloid propensity. Based on the structural and biophysical data, our results highlight shared properties driving LC amyloid propensity, and these data will be instrumental for the design of synthetic inhibitors of LC aggregation