Racial disparity and survival outcomes between African-American and Caucasian American men with penile cancer

Objective: To determine whether there is a survival difference for African-American men (AAM) versus Caucasian American men (CM) with penile squamous cell carcinoma (pSCC), particularly in locally advanced and metastatic cases where disease mortality is highest. Patients and Methods: Using the Florida Cancer Data System, we identified men with pSCC from 2005 to 2013. We compared age, follow-up, stage, race, and treatment type between AAM and CM. We performed Kaplan\u2013Meier analysis for overall survival (OS) between AAM and CM for all stages, and for those with locally advanced and metastatic disease. A multivariable model was developed to determine significant predictors of OS. Results: In all, 653 men (94 AAM and 559 CM) had pSCC and 198 (30%) had locally advanced and/or metastatic disease. A higher proportion of AAM had locally advanced and/or metastatic disease compared to CM (38 [40%] vs 160 [29%], P = 0.03). The median (interquartile range) follow-up for the entire cohort was 12.6 (5.4\u201332.0) months. For all stages, AAM had a significantly lower median OS compared to CM (26 vs 36\ua0months, P = 0.03). For locally advanced and metastatic disease, there was a consistent trend toward disparity in median OS between AAM and CM (17 vs 22\ua0months, P = 0.06). After adjusting for age, stage, grade, and treatment type, AAM with pSCC had a greater likelihood of death compared to CM (hazard ratio 1.64, P = 0.014). Conclusions: AAM have worse OS compared to CM with pSCC and this may partly be due to advanced stage at presentation. Treatment disparity may also contribute to lessened survival in AAM, but we were unable to demonstrate a significant difference in treatment utilisation between the groups

Preconceptional, Gestational, and Lactational Exposure to an Unconventional Oil and Gas Chemical Mixture Alters Energy Expenditure in Adult Female Mice

Previous studies conducted in our laboratory have found altered adult health outcomes in animals with prenatal exposure to environmentally relevant levels of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) chemicals with endocrine-disrupting activity. This study aimed to examine potential metabolic health outcomes following a preconception, prenatal and postnatal exposure to a mixture of 23 UOG chemicals. Prior to mating and from gestation day 1 to postnatal day 21, C57BL/6J mice were developmentally exposed to a laboratory-created mixture of 23 UOG chemicals in maternal drinking water. Body composition, spontaneous activity, energy expenditure, and glucose tolerance were evaluated in 7-month-old female offspring. Neither body weight nor body composition differed in 7-month female mice. However, females exposed to 1.5 and 150 μg/kg/day UOG mix had lower total and resting energy expenditure within the dark cycle. In the light cycle, the 1,500 μg//kg/day group had lower total energy expenditure and the 1.5 μg/kg/day group had lower resting energy expenditure. Females exposed to the 150 μg/kg/day group had lower spontaneous activity in the dark cycle, and females exposed to the 1,500 μg/kg/day group had lower activity in the light cycle. This study reports for the first time that developmental exposure to a mixture of 23 UOG chemicals alters energy expenditure and spontaneous activity in adult female mice

Oral contraceptive use and ovarian cancer risk among carriers of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations

Women with mutations of the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 are at increased risk of ovarian cancer. Oral contraceptives protect against ovarian cancer in general, but it is not known whether they protect against the disease in carriers of these mutations. We obtained self-reported lifetime histories of oral contraceptive use from 451 women who carried mutations of BRCA1 or BRCA2. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate the odds ratios associated with oral contraceptive use, comparing the histories of 147 women with ovarian cancer (cases) to those of 304 women without ovarian cancer (controls) who were matched to cases on year of birth, country of residence and gene (BRCA1 vs BRCA2). Reference ages for controls had to exceed the ages at diagnosis of their matched cases. After adjusting for parity, the odds-ratio for ovarian cancer associated with use of oral contraceptives for at least 1 year was 0.85 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.53-1.36). The risk decreased by 5% (1-9%) with each year of use (P for trend=0.01). Use for 6 or more years was associated with an odds-ratio of 0.62 (0.35-1.09). These data support the hypothesis that long-term oral contraceptive use reduces the risk of ovarian cancer among women who carry mutations of BRCA1 or BRCA2

Some Distributional Facts about Fricatives and a Perceptual Explanation

Across and within languages voiced sibilants tend to be disfavored relative to voiceless ones. This paper explores the claim that voicing more adversely affects the distinctive acoustic properties of sibilants than those of nonsibilants. One prediction associated with this claim is that voicing differentially lowers the amplitude of frication noise for sibilants and non-sibiliants so that amplitude differences between the two classes are reduced. Acoustic measurements confirm this prediction. A second prediction is that voicing has a greater negative effect on the identification of sibilants than nonsibilants. Perceptual results from this and previous studies are somewhat variable, but averaged data support this prediction. The findings suggest that voiced sibilants are disfavored in part for perceptual reasons

Cancer Data Visualization: Developing Tools to Serve the Needs of Diverse Stakeholders

Purpose of review To describe how cancer data visualization tools can catalyze novel research and inform local cancer control planning. Recent findings In recent years, cancer centers across the nation have increasingly embraced geospatial tools to respond to the unique distributions of disease and multilevel risk factors within their catchment areas. Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami, Florida, recently developed a publicly available, interactive, web-based cancer data visualization tool called SCAN360. Using SCAN360 as an example, we discuss key considerations and challenges for the development of cancer data visualization tools that serve the needs of stakeholders in community, academic and government settings. Cancer data visualization tools are useful for stakeholders from diverse sectors and may facilitate a range of cancer control efforts, from identifying regions for targeted outreach and engagement, to informing the allocation of resources for government and community initiatives, and motivating collaborative, interdisciplinary cancer research

Detection of Disease Genes by Use of Family Data. II. Application to Nuclear Families

Two likelihood-based score statistics are used to detect association between a disease and a single diallelic polymorphism, on the basis of data from arbitrary types of nuclear families. The first statistic, the nonfounder statistic, extends the transmission/disequilibrium test to accommodate affected and unaffected offspring and missing parental genotypes. The second statistic, the founder statistic, compares observed or inferred parental genotypes with those of some reference population. In this comparison, the genotypes of affected parents or of those with many affected offspring are weighted more heavily than are the genotypes of unaffected parents or of those with few affected offspring. Genotypes of single unrelated cases and controls can be included in this analysis. We illustrate the two statistics by applying them to data on a polymorphism of the SDR5A2 gene in nuclear families with multiple cases of prostate cancer. We also use simulations to compare the power of the nonfounder statistic with that of the score statistic, on the basis of the conditional logistic regression of offspring genotypes