Mammography-based screening program: preliminary results from a first 2-year round in a Brazilian region using mobile and fixed units

RLH, TBS and ALF made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the article, the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the data, and drafting of the article. ECM, JSCM and NB made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study.Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. The use of mobile mammography units to offer screening to women living in remote areas is a rational strategy to increase the number of women examined. This study aimed to evaluate results from the first 2 years of a government-organized mammography screening program implemented with a mobile unit (MU) and a fixed unit (FU) in a rural county in Brazil. The program offered breast cancer screening to women living in Barretos and the surrounding area. Methods: Based on epidemiologic data, 54 238 women, aged 40 to 69 years, were eligible for breast cancer screening. The study included women examined from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2005. The chi-square test and Bonferroni correction analyses were used to evaluate the frequencies of tumors and the importance of clinical parameters and tumor characteristics. Significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Overall, 17 964 women underwent mammography. This represented 33.1% of eligible women in the area. A mean of 18.6 and 26.3 women per day were examined in the FU and MU, respectively. Seventy six patients were diagnosed with breast cancer (41 (54%) in the MU). This represented 4.2 cases of breast cancer per 1000 examinations. The number of cancers detected was significantly higher in women aged 60 to 69 years than in those aged 50 to 59 years (p < 0.001) or 40 to 49 years (p < 0.001). No difference was observed between women aged 40 to 49 years and those aged 50 to 59 years (p = 0.164). The proportion of tumors in the early (EC 0 and EC I) and advanced (CS III and CS IV) stages of development were 43.4% and 15.8%, respectively. Conclusions: Preliminary results indicate that this mammography screening program is feasible for implementation in a rural Brazilian territory and favor program continuation

Evidence for a conserved queen-worker genetic toolkit across slave-making ants and their ant hosts

The ecological success of social Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps) depends on the division of labour between the queen and workers. Each caste exhibits highly specialized morphology, behaviour, and life-history traits, such as lifespan and fecundity. Despite strong defences against alien intruders, insect societies are vulnerable to social parasites, such as workerless inquilines or slave-making ants. Here, we investigate whether gene expression varies in parallel ways between lifestyles (slave-making versus host ants) across five independent origins of ant slavery in the “Formicoxenus-group” of the ant tribe Crematogastrini. As caste differences are often less pronounced in slave-making ants than in nonparasitic ants, we also compare caste-specific gene expression patterns between lifestyles. We demonstrate a substantial overlap in expression differences between queens and workers across taxa, irrespective of lifestyle. Caste affects the transcriptomes much more profoundly than lifestyle, as indicated by 37 times more genes being linked to caste than to lifestyle and by multiple caste-associated modules of coexpressed genes with strong connectivity. However, several genes and one gene module are linked to slave-making across the independent origins of this parasitic lifestyle, pointing to some evolutionary convergence. Finally, we do not find evidence for an interaction between caste and lifestyle, indicating that caste differences in gene expression remain consistent even when species switch to a parasitic lifestyle. Our findings strongly support the existence of a core set of genes whose expression is linked to the queen and worker caste in this ant taxon, as proposed by the “genetic toolkit” hypothesis

Diversity of fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Species in French Guiana: their main host plants and associated parasitoids during the period 19942003 and prospects for management

This study was carried out in French Guiana, over ten years (1994–2003)by three institutions (SPV, FDGPC and CIRAD); it updates the current state of knowledge ofTephritidae (both Dacini and Toxotrypanini tribes) species present in this country. Materials andmethods. The work was mainly conducted in inhabited areas (from the Brazilian border to theSurinamese border) where cultivated fruit crops are located. Specimens were obtained by adulttrapping and fruit sampling in nearby orchards and at the edge of the rainforest. Trapping wasdone consistently for 10 years, while fruit sampling was a discontinuous activity. We present onlythe results for fruit sampling from three consecutive years (2001–2003) in which a total of 880 kgfrom 45 fruit species in 22 plant families were collected. Results. Twenty-nine plant species fromfourteen plant families were found to be hosts of twenty-one Anastrepha species and oneBactrocera species, Bactrocera carambolae Drew and Hancock. During this period, no specimenof Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) was collected in traps or fruit samples. We registered the mainfruit trees which were hosts for B. carambolae and Anastrepha spp. Five hymenopterous parasitoidspecies were identified. Among them, Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera,Braconidae) is an exotic species and was introduced into French Guiana in collaboration withBrazilian authorities (EMBRAPA) in 2000 and 2001 within the framework of a classical biologicalcontrol program. Conclusion. Our data provide baseline information about the tephritid species ofeconomic importance present in French Guiana and assist in developing potential future controlprograms of both the B. carambolae and Anastrepha species in the Amazon Basin. These preliminary results are discussed in the light of their implication for rainforest conservation effortsand also evolutionary relationships between fruit flies and their host

Basement‐cover decoupling during the inversion of a hyperextended basin: Insights from the Eastern Pyrenees

International audienceDeformation processes related to early stages of collisional belts, especially the inversion of rifted systems remain poorly constrained, partly because evidence of these processes is usually obliterated during the subsequent collision. The Pyrenean belt resulting from the inversion of a Cretaceous hyperextended rifted margin associated with a HT/LP metamorphism in the Internal Metamorphic Zone (IMZ), is a good example for studying the early stage of orogenic deformation. This study is focused on the Eastern Pyrenees where the relation between inverted Mesozoic rifted basins and their basement are well-preserved. By using maximum temperatures (Tmax) estimated by the Raman Spectroscopy of Carbonaceous Materials geothermometer and structural data, we describe the spatial distribution of the various tectono-metamorphic units. Tmax recorded in the sedimentary cover exposed to the north and to the south of a Paleozoic basement block (Agly massif), exceed 550°C, while the Paleozoic metasediments and their autochthonous Mesozoic cover show Tmax <350°C. The metamorphic sedimentary cover is affected by ductile deformation, while the basement is only affected by brittle deformation. Post-metamorphism breccias are observed between the basement and the metamorphic Accepted Article This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article a