Use of photosensitising diuretics and risk of skin cancer: a population-based case–control study

Diuretics have photosensitising properties. However, little is known about how these diuretics affect the risk of skin cancers. In North Jutland County, Denmark, we investigated whether the use of photosensitising diuretics was associated with an increased risk for developing basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and malignant melanoma (MM). From the cancer registry, we identified primary cases of BCC, SCC and MM during the period of 1989–2003. We selected four population controls for each case from the Danish Civil Registration System, matched on age and gender. Prescriptions for photosensitising diuretics before cancer diagnosis were ascertained in the county's Prescription Database. We used conditional logistic regression to compute incidence rate ratio (IRR), controlling for the chronic medical conditions and for the previous use of oral glucocorticoids. We found an increased risk of SCC (IRR of 1.79 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.45–2.21)) and MM (IRR of 1.43 (95% CI: 1.09–1.88)) among users of combined amiloride and hydrochlorothiazide therapy. An increased risk of MM (IRR of 3.30 (95% CI: 1.34–8.10)) was found among users of indapamide. We found little associations with risk of BCC. Our findings provide evidence that the use of some photosensitising diuretics is associated with an increased risk for SCC and MM

TAB2 deletions and variants cause a highly recognisable syndrome with mitral valve disease, cardiomyopathy, short stature and hypermobility

Deletions that include the gene TAB2 and TAB2 loss-of-function variants have previously been associated with congenital heart defects and cardiomyopathy. However, other features, including short stature, facial dysmorphisms, connective tissue abnormalities and a variable degree of developmental delay, have only been mentioned occasionally in literature and thus far not linked to TAB2. In a large-scale, social media-based chromosome 6 study, we observed a shared phenotype in patients with a 6q25.1 deletion that includes TAB2. To confirm if this phenotype is caused by haploinsufficiency of TAB2 and to delineate a TAB2-related phenotype, we subsequently sequenced TAB2 in patients with matching phenotypes and recruited patients with pathogenic TAB2 variants detected by exome sequencing. This identified 11 patients with a deletion containing TAB2 (size 1.68-14.31 Mb) and 14 patients from six families with novel truncating TAB2 variants. Twenty (80%) patients had cardiac disease, often mitral valve defects and/or cardiomyopathy, 18 (72%) had short stature and 18 (72%) had hypermobility. Twenty patients (80%) had facial features suggestive for Noonan syndrome. No substantial phenotypic differences were noted between patients with deletions and those with intragenic variants. We then compared our patients to 45 patients from the literature. All literature patients had cardiac diseases, but syndromic features were reported infrequently. Our study shows that the phenotype in 6q25.1 deletions is caused by haploinsufficiency of TAB2 and that TAB2 is associated not just with cardiac disease, but also with a distinct phenotype, with features overlapping with Noonan syndrome. We propose the name "TAB2-related syndrome"

Use of oral glucocorticoids and risk of skin cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a population-based case–control study

In North Jutland County, Denmark, we investigated whether use of oral glucocorticoids was associated with an increased risk of developing basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), malignant melanoma (MM), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). From the Danish Cancer Registry we identified 5422 BCC, 935 SCC, 983 MM, and 481 NHL cases during 1989–2003. Using risk-set sampling we selected four age- and gender-matched population controls for each case from the Civil Registration System. Prescriptions for oral glucocorticoids before diagnosis were obtained from the Prescription Database of North Jutland County on the basis of National Health Service data. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs), adjusting for chronic medical diseases (information about these were obtained from the National Patient Registry) and use of other immunosuppressants. We found slightly elevated risk estimates for BCC (IRR, 1.15 (95% CI: 1.07–1.25)), SCC (IRR, 1.14 (95% CI: 0.94–1.39)), MM (IRR, 1.15 (95% CI: 0.94–1.41), and NHL (IRR, 1.11 (95% CI: 0.85–1.46)) among users of oral glucocorticoids. Our study supports an overall association between glucocorticoid use and risk of BCC that cannot be explained by the presence of chronic diseases or concomitant use of other immunosuppressants

Recent Nuclear Astrophysics Measurements using the TwinSol Separator

Many astrophysical events, such as novae and X-ray bursts, are powered by reactions with radioactive nuclei. Studying the properties of these nuclei in the laboratory can therefore further our understanding of these astrophysical explosions. The TwinSol separator at the University of Notre Dame has recently been used to produce intense (∼106 pps) beams of 17F. In this article, some of the first measurements with these beams are discussed