Do genetic factors protect for early onset lung cancer? A case control study before the age of 50 years

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early onset lung cancer shows some familial aggregation, pointing to a genetic predisposition. This study was set up to investigate the role of candidate genes in the susceptibility to lung cancer patients younger than 51 years at diagnosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>246 patients with a primary, histologically or cytologically confirmed neoplasm, recruited from 2000 to 2003 in major lung clinics across Germany, were matched to 223 unrelated healthy controls. 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms of genes with reported associations to lung cancer have been genotyped.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Genetic associations or gene-smoking interactions was found for <it>GPX1(Pro200Leu) </it>and <it>EPHX1(His113Tyr)</it>. Carriers of the Leu-allele of <it>GPX1(Pro200Leu) </it>showed a significant risk reduction of OR = 0.6 (95% CI: 0.4–0.8, p = 0.002) in general and of OR = 0.3 (95% CI:0.1–0.8, p = 0.012) within heavy smokers. We could also find a risk decreasing genetic effect for His-carriers of <it>EPHX1(His113Tyr) </it>for moderate smokers (OR = 0.2, 95% CI:0.1–0.7, p = 0.012). Considered both variants together, a monotone decrease of the OR was found for smokers (OR of 0.20; 95% CI: 0.07–0.60) for each protective allele.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Smoking is the most important risk factor for young lung cancer patients. However, this study provides some support for the T-Allel of <it>GPX1(Pro200Leu) </it>and the C-Allele of <it>EPHX1(His113Tyr) </it>to play a protective role in early onset lung cancer susceptibility.</p

Cause of Death and Predictors of All-Cause Mortality in Anticoagulated Patients With Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation : Data From ROCKET AF

M. Kaste on työryhmän ROCKET AF Steering Comm jäsen.Background-Atrial fibrillation is associated with higher mortality. Identification of causes of death and contemporary risk factors for all-cause mortality may guide interventions. Methods and Results-In the Rivaroxaban Once Daily Oral Direct Factor Xa Inhibition Compared with Vitamin K Antagonism for Prevention of Stroke and Embolism Trial in Atrial Fibrillation (ROCKET AF) study, patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation were randomized to rivaroxaban or dose-adjusted warfarin. Cox proportional hazards regression with backward elimination identified factors at randomization that were independently associated with all-cause mortality in the 14 171 participants in the intention-to-treat population. The median age was 73 years, and the mean CHADS(2) score was 3.5. Over 1.9 years of median follow-up, 1214 (8.6%) patients died. Kaplan-Meier mortality rates were 4.2% at 1 year and 8.9% at 2 years. The majority of classified deaths (1081) were cardiovascular (72%), whereas only 6% were nonhemorrhagic stroke or systemic embolism. No significant difference in all-cause mortality was observed between the rivaroxaban and warfarin arms (P=0.15). Heart failure (hazard ratio 1.51, 95% CI 1.33-1.70, P= 75 years (hazard ratio 1.69, 95% CI 1.51-1.90, P Conclusions-In a large population of patients anticoagulated for nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, approximate to 7 in 10 deaths were cardiovascular, whereasPeer reviewe

Can an AI Analyze Arguments? Argument-Checking and the Challenges of Assessing the Quality of Online Information

In this chapter, we present and discuss an ongoing project to develop a glass-box AI engine called KRINO – from Greek, to judge, criticize, reason – capable of parsing written text on the discourse level and analyzing the arguments thereby contained. KRINO is designed to assist users with argument-checking, i.e., the process of evaluating the quality of arguments. We describe the set-up and basic characteristics of KRINO and explain how it can assist human annotators in a project undertaken by the Dutch organization Internet Society Netherlands Make Media Great Again Working Group (shortened MMGA) that is aimed at improving the quality of online information in settings varying from online news outlets to social media. The joint project is motivated by the challenges posed by online information and the need to empower internet users to better analyze its contents. We explain the prospects and challenges of combining the KRINO and MMGA projects on argument-checking and discuss the societal and computational relevance of this project

Can an AI Analyze Arguments? Argument-Checking and the Challenges of Assessing the Quality of Online Information

In this chapter, we present and discuss an ongoing project to develop a glass-box AI engine called KRINO – from Greek, to judge, criticize, reason – capable of parsing written text on the discourse level and analyzing the arguments thereby contained. KRINO is designed to assist users with argument-checking, i.e., the process of evaluating the quality of arguments. We describe the set-up and basic characteristics of KRINO and explain how it can assist human annotators in a project undertaken by the Dutch organization Internet Society Netherlands Make Media Great Again Working Group (shortened MMGA) that is aimed at improving the quality of online information in settings varying from online news outlets to social media. The joint project is motivated by the challenges posed by online information and the need to empower internet users to better analyze its contents. We explain the prospects and challenges of combining the KRINO and MMGA projects on argument-checking and discuss the societal and computational relevance of this project