Trends in the incidence and survival of multiple myeloma in South East England 1985-2004.

BACKGROUND: Multiple myeloma is an uncommon cancer with a poor prognosis. Its incidence is expected to increase due to ageing populations and better diagnosis, and new treatments have been developed to improve survival. Our objective was to investigate trends in the epidemiology and survival of multiple myeloma for South East England. METHODS: Data on 15,010 patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma between 1985 and 2004 was extracted from the Thames Cancer Registry database. We calculated the yearly age-standardised incidence rates for males and females and age-specific incidence rates in 10-year age groups for both sexes combined. We also explored geographical variation in incidence across primary care trusts. We then used period analysis to calculate trends in 1- and 5-year relative survival over the 15 years 1990-2004, comparing survival by sex and by age group 59 years and below versus 60 years and above. Finally, we investigated 5-year relative survival for the period 2000-2004 by socio-economic deprivation, assigning patients to quintiles of deprivation using the Income Domain of the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004 based on postcode of residence. RESULTS: The incidence of multiple myeloma was higher in males than in females and in patients over 70, throughout the period 1985-2004. No obvious geographical pattern of incidence by primary care trust emerged. The 1- and 5-year relative survival of male and female patients increased in both age groups and was statistically significant in males aged over 60. There was a tendency for better survival in patients resident in the most affluent areas, but this did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The trends in incidence of multiple myeloma in males and females are similar to that reported from other western populations. Relative survival was higher for younger patients although we found significant improvements in 1-year relative survival for male patients over 60 years old. The improved survival demonstrated for patients of all ages is likely to reflect increased detection, earlier diagnosis and the introduction of new treatments. Future studies should investigate the influence of ethnicity on incidence and survival, and the effect of specific treatments on survival and quality of life

Optimisation of Imaging Parameters During CT Guided Interventional Procedures in Patients With Total Hip Arthroplasty

OBJECTIVE: To determine the optimal KV and mAs settings during CT guided injections in the presence of a total hip arthroplasty so that image quality is maintained whist keeping the dose as low as reasonably achievable. METHODS: A total hip arthroplasty phantom with needles with differing gauges was scanned using different CT parameters (from low dose to high dose) and evaluating if this had any effect on needle conspicuity. Conspicuity was graded from 1 to 3 by 2 independent blinded reviewers. RESULTS: Irrespective of the CT settings used (high dose or low dose parameters) needle conspicuity was not adversely affected by the THA for either scorer, therefore a kVp of 100 mA and a. In addition the needle gauge did not affect the conspicuity of the needle. CONCLUSION: CT guided injections in this total hip arthroplasty phantom model can be performed without any adverse effect on the conspicuity of the needle tip on low dose CT settings. ADVANCEMENT IN KNOWLEDGE: This paper enables one to optimise the kV and mA while performing interventional procedures

The B_s and D_s decay constants in 3 flavor lattice QCD

Capitalizing on recent advances in lattice QCD, we present a calculation of the leptonic decay constants f_{B_s} and f_{D_s} that includes effects of one strange sea quark and two light sea quarks. The discretization errors of improved staggered fermion actions are small enough to simulate with 3 dynamical flavors on lattices with spacings around 0.1 fm using present computer resources. By shedding the quenched approximation and the associated lattice scale ambiguity, lattice QCD greatly increases its predictive power. NRQCD is used to simulate heavy quarks with masses between 1.5 m_c and m_b. We arrive at the following results: f_{B_s} = 260 \pm 7 \pm 26 \pm 8 \pm 5 MeV and f_{D_s} = 290 \pm 20 \pm 29 \pm 29 \pm 6 MeV. The first quoted error is the statistical uncertainty, and the rest estimate the sizes of higher order terms neglected in this calculation. All of these uncertainties are systematically improvable by including another order in the weak coupling expansion, the nonrelativistic expansion, or the Symanzik improvement program.Comment: 4 page

Scaling of the B and D meson spectrum in lattice QCD

We give results for the $B$ and the $D$ meson spectrum using NRQCD on the lattice in the quenched approximation. The masses of radially and orbitally excited states are calculated as well as $S$-wave hyperfine and $P$-wave fine structure. Radially excited $P$-states are observed for the first time. Radial and orbital excitation energies match well to experiment, as does the strange-non-strange $S$-wave splitting. We compare the light and heavy quark mass dependence of various splittings to experiment. Our $B$-results cover a range in lattice spacings of more than a factor of two. Our $D$-results are from a single lattice spacing and we compare them to numbers in the literature from finer lattices using other methods. We see no significant dependence of physical results on the lattice spacing. PACS: 11.15.Ha 12.38.Gc 14.40.Lb 14.40.NdComment: 78 pages, 29 tables, 30 figures Revised version. Minor corrections to spelling and wordin

Differences in breast cancer hormone receptor status in ethnic groups: a London population.

BACKGROUND: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with different ethnic groups in the United States (US), however this has not previously been examined in a population-based study within the United Kingdom (UK). METHODS: Electronic pathology reports from the North East London Cancer Network (NELCN) on women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2005 and 2007 were collated. The statuses of oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER-2 were extracted. Women were classified as having TNBC if all three receptor statuses were negative, and as not having TNBC if at least one receptor was positive or borderline. Logistic regression was used to quantify the association between TNBC and ethnicity, adjusting for age, year of diagnosis and socioeconomic deprivation. Overall survival in different ethnic groups was examined using Cox regression, adjusting as appropriate for age, stage of disease, triple negative status, year of diagnosis, socioeconomic deprivation and recorded treatment. RESULTS: There were 2417 women resident in NELCN diagnosed with breast cancer between 2005 and 2007, and TNBC status was determined for 1228 (51%) women. Overall, of women who had their TNBC status determined, 128 (10%) were diagnosed with TNBC. Compared with White women, Black (odds ratio [OR]=2.81, p<0.001) and South Asian (OR=1.80, p=0.044) women with breast cancer were more likely to have TNBC. Black women had a worse age-adjusted survival than White women (hazard ratio [HR]=2.05, p<0.001). This was attenuated by further adjustment for stage of disease (1.52, p=0.032) and triple negative status (1.31, p=0.175). CONCLUSION: Better methods of early detection may need to be developed in addition to more effective systemic treatment in order to improve outcomes for women with TNBC

Exceptional endocrine profiles characterise the meerkat: sex, status, and reproductive patterns.

In vertebrates, reproductive endocrine concentrations are strongly differentiated by sex, with androgen biases typifying males and estrogen biases typifying females. These sex differences can be reduced in female-dominant species; however, even the most masculinised of females have less testosterone (T) than do conspecific males. To test if aggressively dominant, female meerkats (Suricata suricatta) may be hormonally masculinised, we measured serum androstenedione (A4), T and estradiol (E2) in both sexes and social classes, during both 'baseline' and reproductive events. Relative to resident males, dominant females had greater A4, equivalent T and greater E2 concentrations. Males, whose endocrine values did not vary by social status, experienced increased T during reproductive forays, linking T to sexual behaviour, but not social status. Moreover, substantial E2 concentrations in male meerkats may facilitate their role as helpers. In females, dominance status and pregnancy magnified the unusual concentrations of measured sex steroids. Lastly, faecal androgen metabolites replicated the findings derived from serum, highlighting the female bias in total androgens. Female meerkats are thus strongly hormonally masculinised, possibly via A4's bioavailability for conversion to T. These raised androgen concentrations may explain female aggressiveness in this species and give dominant breeders a heritable mechanism for their daughters' competitive edge

Escherichia coli RuvBL268S: A mutant RuvB protein that exhibits wild-type activities in vitro but confers a UV-sensitive ruv phenotype in vivo

The RuvABC proteins of Escherichia coli process recombination intermediates during genetic recombination and DNA repair. RuvA and RuvB promote branch migration of Holliday junctions, a process that extends heteroduplex DNA. Together with RuvC, they form a RuvABC complex capable of Holliday junction resolution. Branch migration by RuvAB is mediated by RuvB, a hexameric ring protein that acts as an ATP-driven molecular pump. To gain insight into the mechanism of branch migration, random mutations were introduced into the ruvB gene by PCR and a collection of mutant alleles were obtained. Mutation of leucine 268 to serine resulted in a severe UV-sensitive phenotype, characteristic of a ruv defect. Here, we report a biochemical analysis of the mutant protein RuvBL268S. Unexpectedly, the purified protein is fully active in vitro with regard to its ATPase, DNA binding and DNA unwinding activities. It also promotes efficient branch migration in combination with RuvA, and forms functional RuvABC-Holliday junction resolvase complexes. These results indicate that RuvB may perform some additional, and as yet undefined, function that is necessary for cell survival after UV-irradiatio

Neutral B Meson Mixing in Unquenched Lattice QCD

We study $B_d$ and $B_s$ mixing in unquenched lattice QCD employing the MILC collaboration gauge configurations that include u, d, and s sea quarks based on the improved staggered quark (AsqTad) action and a highly improved gluon action. We implement the valence light quarks also with the AsqTad action and use the nonrelativistic NRQCD action for the valence b quark. We calculate hadronic matrix elements necessary for extracting CKM matrix elements from experimental measurements of mass differences $\Delta M_d$ and $\Delta M_s$. We find $\xi = f_{B_s} \sqrt{\hat{B}_{B_s}} / f_{B_d} \sqrt{\hat{B}_{B_d}} = 1.258(33)$, $f_{B_d} \sqrt{\hat{B}_{B_d}} = 216(15)$ MeV and $f_{B_s} \sqrt{\hat{B}_{B_s}} = 266(18)$ MeV. We also update previous results for decay constants and obtain $f_{B_d} = 190(13)$ MeV, $f_{B_s} = 231(15)$ MeV and $f_{B_s}/f_{B_d} = 1.226(26)$. The new lattice results lead to updated values for the ratio of CKM matrix elements $|V_{td}|/|V_{ts}|$ and for the Standard Model prediction for $Br(B_s \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-)$ with reduced errors. We determine $|V_{td}|/|V_{ts}| = 0.214(1)(5)$ and $Br(B_s \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-) = 3.19(19) \times 10^{-9}$.Comment: 12 pages, 10 postscript figures, version to appear in Phys.Rev.D. Two new figures, Fig.6 and Fig.10, added. Result on branching fraction Br(B_s \rightarrow mu^+, mu^-) added. Other results on decay constants and on \xi unchange

School self-evaluation and its impact on teachers’ work in England

This study, based on in-depth interview data from a sample of schools in the midlands of England, offers an analysis of UK teachers’ perceptions and understandings of school self evaluation at a point when national accountability procedures have required that all schools complete and constantly update a web-based self evaluation schedule, which is then used as the basis for high stakes external inspection. School systems and cultures of self evaluation were found to be diverse, complex and school-specific. Three broad cultural categories are proposed as a heuristic to illuminate: issues of compliance and resistance, teacher motivation and behaviours, understandings of professionalism and leadership, school ethos, job satisfaction, and the use and interpretation of school level data in relation to school self evaluation

Divergence in Dialogue

Copyright: 2014 Healey et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC; http://www.esrc.ac.uk/) through the DynDial project (Dynamics of Conversational Dialogue, RES-062-23-0962) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC; http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/) through the RISER project (Robust Incremental Semantic Resources for Dialogue, EP/J010383/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript