Marital Status Discrimination In the Workplace: The Need for Title VII Protection anda Uniform Definition Of the Term Marital Status

Over 40 years ago, states began enacting anti-discrimination laws aimed at protecting individuals from unlawful discrimination based on marital status. Marital status discrimination is often implicated by employers\u27 no-spouse or antinepotism policies. Claims of marital status discrimination can also arise from an employer taking adverse action against a prospective or current employee solely because the employee is married, unmarried, or going through a divorce. Without federal guidance on marital status discrimination, states treat claims quite differently and take varied stances on the proper scope of marital status protection. Some states apply broad coverage to marital status discrimination, while other states adopt a narrow approach. This unpredictability among the states affects both employers and employees, and it has resulted in unclear expectations as to marital status discrimination law. This Comment will discuss the current law and varied interpretations of marital status discrimination among the states and the need for federal protection of marital status discrimination. This Comment will propose that Congress amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include marital status as a proscribed basis for unlawful discrimination by employers. A Title VII amendment would provide a clear definition of the scope of marital status protection and promote uniformity among the states to ensure that employer policies comply with marital status discrimination laws and protect employees from unlawful discrimination based on marital status

The association between neighbourhood greenspace and type 2 diabetes in a large cross-sectional study

Objective: To investigate the relationship between neighbourhood greenspace and type 2 diabetes. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: 3 diabetes screening studies conducted in Leicestershire, UK in 2004–2011. The percentage of greenspace in the participant's home neighbourhood (3 km radius around home postcode) was obtained from a Land Cover Map. Demographic and biomedical variables were measured at screening. Participants: 10 476 individuals (6200 from general population; 4276 from high-risk population) aged 20–75 years (mean 59 years); 47% female; 21% non-white ethnicity. Main outcome measure: Screen-detected type 2 diabetes (WHO 2011 criteria). Results: Increased neighbourhood greenspace was associated with significantly lower levels of screen-detected type 2 diabetes. The ORs (95% CI) for screen-detected type 2 diabetes were 0.97 (0.80 to 1.17), 0.78 (0.62 to 0.98) and 0.67 (0.49 to 0.93) for increasing quartiles of neighbourhood greenspace compared with the lowest quartile after adjusting for ethnicity, age, sex, area social deprivation score and urban/rural status (Ptrend=0.01). This association remained on further adjustment for body mass index, physical activity, fasting glucose, 2 h glucose and cholesterol (OR (95% CI) for highest vs lowest quartile: 0.53 (0.35 to 0.82); Ptrend=0.01). Conclusions: Neighbourhood greenspace was inversely associated with screen-detected type 2 diabetes, highlighting a potential area for targeted screening as well as a possible public health area for diabetes prevention. However, none of the risk factors that we considered appeared to explain this association, and thus further research is required to elicit underlying mechanisms. Trial registration number: This study uses data from three studies (NCT00318032, NCT00677937, NCT00941954)

Purification and functional characterisation of rhiminopeptidase A, a novel aminopeptidase from the venom of Bitis gabonica rhinoceros

This study describes the discovery and characterisation of a novel aminopeptidase A from the venom of B. g. rhinoceros and highlights its potential biological importance. Similar to mammalian aminopeptidases, rhiminopeptidase A might be capable of playing roles in altering the blood pressure and brain function of victims. Furthermore, it could have additional effects on the biological functions of other host proteins by cleaving their N-terminal amino acids. This study points towards the importance of complete analysis of individual components of snake venom in order to develop effective therapies for snake bites

Prognostic Significance of Nucleolar Assessment in Invasive Breast Cancer

Aims: Nucleolar morphometric features have a potential role in the assessment of aggressiveness of many cancers. However, the role of nucleoli in invasive breast cancer (IBC) is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the optimal scoring method of nucleoli in IBC and their prognostic significance, and refine the grading of BC by incorporating the nucleolar score.Methods and results: Digital images acquired from hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained sections from a large IBC cohort were divided into training (n=400) and validation (n=1200) sets were used in this study. Four different assessment methods including 1) modified Helpap’s method, and counting prominent nucleoli (size ≥2.5μm) in 2) 10 field views (10 FVs), 3) 5 FVs and 4) 1 FV were evaluated in the training set to identify the optimal method associated with the best performance and significant prognostic value. The optimal method was applied to the validation set and to an external validation set the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data (n=743). Scoring prominent nucleoli in 5 FVs, showed the highest inter-observer concordance rate (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.8) and significant association with breast cancer specific survival (BCSS) (

Impact of breast cancer grade discordance on prediction of outcome

BACKGROUND: Histological grade is an independent prognostic variable in breast cancer (BC). Previous concordance studies of BC grade have reported moderate levels of agreement; a typical finding in morphological assessment of biological variables. This study aims at investigating the impact of discordance on the prognostic value of grade and identifying the best reporting approach in borderline cases. METHODS: A large (n=1675) well-characterised annotated cohort of BC originally graded in routine practice using glass slides was re-graded twice, by an expert breast pathologist using virtual microscopy with a three months washout period. Outcome was assessed using breast cancer specific and distant metastasis free survival (median follow-up =135 months). RESULTS: 58% of the cases showed absolute agreement in the three separate grading sessions whereas grade 1/2 and grade 2/3 discordance were observed in 21% and 21% respectively. Absolute intra-observer agreement using virtual microscopy was observed in 77% of the cases whereas 13% and 10% showed grade 1/2 and grade 2/3 discordance respectively. Despite the concordance, outcome analysis revealed significant associations between tumour grade and patients’ outcome in the three grading sessions. Grade 1/2 and grade 2/3 discordant cases showed intermediate survival between grade 1 and grade 2 tumours and grade 2 and grade 3 tumours, respectively. Grade 1/2 discordant cases showed a worse outcome when compared with grade 1 tumours (p=0.008) but no statistical difference was identified when compared with grade 2 tumours. Similarly, grade 2/3 discordant cases showed a significant difference from grade 2 tumours (p<0.001) but no statistical difference was identified when compared with grade 3 tumours. CONCLUSIONS: BC grade discordance is likely a reflection of biologically, and hence morphologically, borderline tumours. Cases with borderline features for grade are more likely to behave similar to the higher grade category. Repeating histological grade of borderline cases or double reporting may improve correlation with outcom

The nucleolar related protein Dyskerin pseudouridine 1 synthase 1 (DKC1) predicts poor prognosis in breast cancer

BackgroundHypertrophy of the nucleolus is a distinctive cytological feature of malignant cells and corresponds to aggressive behaviour. This study aimed to identify the key gene associated with nucleolar prominence (NP) in breast cancer (BC) and determine its prognostic significance.MethodsFrom The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort, digital whole slide images identified cancers having NP served as label and an information theory algorithm was applied to find which mRNA gene best explained NP. Dyskerin Pseudouridine Synthase 1 (DKC1) was identified. DKC1 expression was assessed using mRNA data of Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC, n = 1980) and TCGA (n = 855). DKC1 protein expression was assessed using immunohistochemistry in Nottingham BC cohort (n = 943).ResultsNuclear and nucleolar expressions of DKC1 protein were significantly associated with higher tumour grade (p [less than] 0.0001), high nucleolar score (p [less than] 0.001) and poor Nottingham Prognostic Index (p [less than] 0.0001). High DKC1 expression was associated with shorter BC-specific survival (BCSS). In multivariate analysis, DKC1 mRNA and protein expressions were independent risk factors for BCSS (p [less than] 0.01).ConclusionDKC1 expression is strongly correlated with NP and its overexpression in BC is associated with unfavourable clinicopathological characteristics and poor outcome. This has been a detailed example in the correlation of phenotype with genotype

Visual histological assessment of morphological features reflects the underlying molecular profile in invasive breast cancer: a morphomolecular study

© 2020 The Authors. Histopathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aims: Tumour genotype and phenotype are related and can predict outcome. In this study, we hypothesised that the visual assessment of breast cancer (BC) morphological features can provide valuable insight into underlying molecular profiles. Methods and results: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) BC cohort was used (n=743) and morphological features, including Nottingham grade and its components and nucleolar prominence, were assessed utilising whole-slide images (WSIs). Two independent scores were assigned, and discordant cases were utilised to represent cases with intermediate morphological features. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified for each feature, compared among concordant/discordant cases and tested for specific pathways. Concordant grading was observed in 467 of 743 (63%) of cases. Among concordant case groups, eight common DEGs (UGT8, DDC, RGR, RLBP1, SPRR1B, CXorf49B, PSAPL1 and SPRR2G) were associated with overall tumour grade and its components. These genes are related mainly to cellular proliferation, differentiation and metabolism. The number of DEGs in cases with discordant grading was larger than those identified in concordant cases. The largest number of DEGs was observed in discordant grade 1:3 cases (n=1185). DEGs were identified for each discordant component. Some DEGs were uniquely associated with well-defined specific morphological features, whereas expression/co-expression of other genes was identified across multiple features and underlined intermediate morphological features. Conclusion: Morphological features are probably related to distinct underlying molecular profiles that drive both morphology and behaviour. This study provides further evidence to support the use of image-based analysis of WSIs, including artificial intelligence algorithms, to predict tumour molecular profiles and outcome