One-carbon metabolism biomarkers and risk of urothelial cell carcinoma in the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition

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Introducing SpatialGridBuilder: A new system for creating geo-coded datasets

Researchers in the conflict research community have become increasingly aware that we can no longer depend on state-aggregated data. Numerous factors at the substate level affect the nature of human interactions, so if we really want to understand conflict, we need to find more appropriate units of analysis. However, while many conflict researchers have realized this, actually taking the next step and performing data analysis on spatial data grids has remained a rather elusive goal for many because of the difficulty of learning the new techniques to perform such analyses. This paper introduces SpatialGridBuilder, a new, freely available, open-source system with the goal of empowering conflict researchers with no background in GIS methods to start their own spatial analyses. SpatialGridBuilder allows the researcher to: (a) create entirely new spatial datasets, based on the needs of their own research; (b) import their own spatial data; (c) easily add a range of important variables to the datasets, including commonly used conflict variables, plus new variables that have not been presented before; and (d) visualize graphical renderings of this data. Having done this, SpatialGridBuilder will then export the dataset for the researcher to analyse using conventional statistical methods. This article introduces the new program, and demonstrates how it can be used to set up such a statistical analysis. It also shows how different results can be achieved by building grids of different resolutions, thereby encouraging researchers to choose grid resolutions appropriate to their research questions and data. The article also introduces a novel means of determining infrastructure complexity, using Google maps

Adherence to the WHO's Healthy Diet Indicator and Overall Cancer Risk in the EPIC-NL Cohort

Background: A healthy dietary pattern defined by international recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been shown to reduce overall mortality risk. It is unknown whether this healthy dietary pattern is associated with overall cancer incidence. Design: In total 35,355 men and women within the Dutch European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-cohort were followed for cancer occurrence. Diet was assessed through a validated food-frequency questionnaire. We computed a dietary score for all participants based on the seven WHO dietary guidelines for the prevention of chronic diseases (Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI)). We used the existing HDI score based on the 1990 WHO guidelines, and adapted it to meet with the 2002 WHO guidelines. Multivariate-adjusted Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to examine the association between adherence to the HDI and subsequent overall cancer risk. Results: A number of 3,007 new cancers were identified during a mean follow-up of 12.7 years. Adherence to the HDI was not associated with a reduced overall cancer risk. The hazard ratio (HR) of overall cancer associated with a one-point increment of the HDI was 0.96 (95% CI 0.89-1.03) in men, and 1.00 (95% CI 0.96-1.04) in women. Adherence to the HDI was not associated with smoking-related cancer ((HR men: 0.94 (95% CI 0.84-1.04); HR women: 1.00 (95% CI 0.94-1.07)), or alcohol-related cancer ((HR men: 1.02 (95% CI 0.87-1.20); HR women: 1.03 (95% CI 0.98-1.08)). Conclusions: Greater adherence to the WHO's Healthy Diet Indicator, a dietary pattern for prevention of chronic diseases, was not associated with reduced overall, smoking-related or alcohol-related cancer risk in men or women

Identification of a low-risk subgroup of HER-2-positive breast cancer by the 70-gene prognosis signature

Backgroundoverexpression of HER-2 is observed in 15-25% of breast cancers, and is associated with increased risk of recurrence. Current guidelines recommend trastuzumab and chemotherapy for most HER-2-positive patients. However, the majority of patients does not recur and might thus be overtreated with adjuvant systemic therapy. We investigated whether the 70-gene MammaPrint signature identifies HER-2-positive patients with favourable outcome.Methodsin all, 168 T1-3, N0-1, HER-2-positive patients were identified from a pooled database, classified by the 70-gene signature as good or poor prognosis, and correlated with long-term outcome. A total of 89 of these patients did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy.Resultsin the group of 89 chemotherapy-naive patients, after a median follow-up of 7.4 years, 35 (39%) distant recurrences and 29 (33%) breast cancer-specific deaths occurred. The 70-gene signature classified 20 (22%) patients as good prognosis, with 10-year distant disease-free survival (DDFS) of 84%, compared with 69 (78%) poor prognosis patients with 10-year DDFS of 55%. The estimated hazard ratios (HRs) were 4.5 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-18.7, P=0.04) and 3.8 (95% CI 0.9-15.8, P=0.07) for DDFS and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS), respectively. In multivariate analysis adjusted for known prognostic factors and hormonal therapy, HRs were 5.8 (95% CI 1.3-26.7, P=0.03) and 4.7 (95% CI 1.0-21.7, P=0.05) for DDFS and BCSS, respectively.Interpretationthe 70-gene prognosis signature is an independent prognostic indicator that identifies a subgroup of HER-2-positive early breast cancer with a favourable long-term outcome

Effects of foliar silicon application, seed inoculation and splitting of N fertilization on yield, physiological quality, and economic viability of the common bean.

Purpose: A field experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of foliar Si application associated with inoculation of seeds and nitrogen management on the physiological quality and grain yield of common beans. Methods: The experiment was laid out in randomized blocks with a 5 × 2 × 2 factorial design (four replicates on common bean cultivar Pérola). The first factor was foliar Si application at the concentrations: 0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 g L-1 of silicon. The second factor was the effect of the presence or absence of seed inoculation, while the third factor was the splitting of nitrogen topdressing (120 kg N ha-1). Parameters evaluated were relative chlorophyll index (RCI), foliar N and Si contents, gas exchanges, grain yield, and economic viability. Results: Split fertilization of 60 + 60 kg N ha-1 at 20 and 40 days after emergence (DAE) showed better results of grain yield, approximately 41 % higher than splitting of 80 + 40 kg N ha-1 at 20 and 40 DAE, regardless of fertilization containing Si. Foliar Si application increased grain yield in the order of 10 % (uninoculated seeds) and 25 % (inoculated seeds), regardless of splitting of nitrogen fertilization, using the highest Si concentration (4.0 g L-1). Regardless of seed inoculation, the splitting of 60 + 60 kg N ha-1, associated with the application of 3.0 g Si L-1, resulted in the maximum grain yield, approximately 20 % higher than the control. Conclusion: Application of 2.0 g Si L-1 promoted differential profits of up to US$ 236.72 regardless of seed inoculation and splitting of N fertilization

Exposure to dioxin and nonneoplastic mortality in the expanded IARC international cohort study of phenoxy herbicide and chlorophenol production workers and sprayers.

The authors studied noncancer mortality among phenoxyacid herbicide and chlorophenol production workers and sprayers included in an international study comprising 36 cohorts from 12 countries followed from 1939 to 1992. Exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or higher chlorinated dioxins (TCDD/HCD) was discerned from job records and company questionnaires with validation by biologic and environmental measures. Standard mortality ratio analyses suggested a moderate healthy worker effect for all circulatory diseases, especially ischemic heart disease, among both those exposed and those not exposed to TCDD/HCD. In Poisson regression analyses, exposure to TCDD/HCD was not associated with increased mortality from cerebrovascular disease. However, an increased risk for circulatory disease, especially ischemic heart disease (rate ratio [RR] 1.67, 95% confidence interval [Cl] 1.23-2.26) and possibly diabetes (RR 2.25, 95% Cl 0.53-9.50), was present among TCDD/HCD-exposed workers. Risks tended to be higher 10 to 19 years after first exposure and for those exposed for a duration of 10 to 19 years. Mortality from suicide was comparable to that for the general population for all workers exposed to herbicides or chlorophenols and was associated with short latency and duration of exposure. More refined investigations of the ischemic heart disease and TCDD/HCD exposure association are warranted

An inverse association between the Mediterranean diet and bladder cancer risk: a pooled analysis of 13 cohort studies

The role of diet in bladder carcinogenesis has yet to be established. To date most studies have investigated dietary components individually, rather than as dietary patterns, which may provide stronger evidence for any influence of diet on bladder carcinogenesis. The Mediterranean diet has been associated with many health benefits, but few studies have investigated its association with bladder cancer risk.Peer reviewe