Gender differences in lung cancer epidemiology – do Austrian male lung cancer patients still die earlier in life?

ObjectivePrevious analyses reported an unexpected decline of mean age of death of Austrian male lung cancer patients until 1996 and a subsequent turnaround of this epidemiological trend after the mid-1990s until 2007. In light of ongoing changes in smoking behavior of men and women, this study aims to investigate the development of mean age of death from lung cancer in Austria during the past three decades.Materials and methodsThis study used data about the annual mean age of death from lung cancer, including malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and lung, between 1992 and 2021 obtained from Statistics Austria, Federal Institution under Public Law. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent samples t-tests were applied to explore any significant differences of mean values in the course of time as well as between men and women.ResultsOverall, mean age of death of male lung cancer patients increased consistently throughout the observed time periods, whereas women did not show any statistically significant change in the last decades.ConclusionPossible reasons for the reported epidemiological development are discussed in this article. Research and Public Health measures should increasingly focus on smoking behaviors of female adolescents

Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift / Impfen ist nicht nur Kindersache! : Warum Impfungen auch für Erwachsene wichtig sind

Impfungen gehören weltweit zu den zehn erfolgreichsten Präventionsmaßnahmen. Während Impfprogramme für Kinder in Europa installiert sind, ist das Konzept der Erwachsenenimpfung nicht etabliert. Dabei sind Impfungen für Erwachsene überaus sinnvoll: die zunehmende Lebenserwartung läßt uns älter und damit empfänglicher für Infektionskrankheiten werden, Gesundheitsprobleme und Multimorbiditäten werden zunehmen. Die Krankheitslast infolge impfpräventabler Erkrankungen ist in Europa nach wie vor hoch. Infolge der Immunoseneszenz sind Ältere schlechter gegen Pathogene geschützt, Antikörpertiter nach Impfungen niedriger und die Dauer der Schutzwirkung kürzer. In Europa gibt es eklatanten Mangel an Daten zu Durchimpfungsraten bei Erwachsenen und zudem keinen internationalen Konsensus bezüglich Impfempfehlungen oder Richtlinien. Nur sechs Länder verfügen über ein ausführliches Dokument, das empfohlene Impfungen für Erwachsene beschreibt, darunter Österreich. Das Bewusstsein um die Wichtigkeit von Impfungen über die gesamte Lebensspanne ist vor allem in Europa noch nicht in dem Maße vorhanden, wie es nötig wäre und muss gefördert werden.Vaccinations belong to the ten most effective public health achievements worldwide. While immunization programms for children are installed in Europe, vaccinations for adults are not established. However, adult vaccination is extremely meaningful: increasing age means a higher susceptibility to infectious diseases, health problems and multimorbidity will increase. The burden of vaccine-preventable diseases is still high in Europe. Due to immunosenescence (older) adults are less protected against pathogens, antibody titers after vaccinations are lower and immunity lasts shorter. There is striking lack of data of adult vaccination rates and an international consensus regarding adult vaccination recommendations or guidelines are not available in Europe. In only six countries a comprehensive document describing recommended vaccinations for adults is available, among them Austria. The awareness of the importance of adult vaccination over the whole lifetime is not present to the necessary extent in Europe and has to be promoted.(VLID)365888

Functional immunoassay technology (FIT), a new approach for measuring physiological functions: application of FIT to measure glomerular filtration rate (GFR)

This is the first description of functional immunoassay technology (FIT), which as a diagnostic tool has broad application across the whole spectrum of physiological measurements. In this paper, FIT is used to measure the renal clearance of an ultra low-dose administration of a clinically available contrast reagent for the purpose of obtaining an accurate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) measurement. Biomarker-based GFR estimates offer convenience, but are not accurate and are often misleading. FIT overcomes previous analytic barriers associated with obtaining an accurate GFR measurement. We present the performance characteristics of this diagnostic test and demonstrate the method by directly comparing GFR values obtained by FIT to those obtained by an FDA approved nuclear test in 20 adults. Two subjects were healthy volunteers and the remaining 18 subjects had diagnosed chronic kidney disease, with 12 being kidney transplant recipients. Measured GFR values were calculated by the classic UV/P method and by the blood clearance method. GFR obtained by FIT and the nuclear test correlated closely over a wide range of GFR values (10.9–102.1 ml·min−1·1.73 m−2). The study demonstrates that FIT-GFR provides an accurate and reproducible measurement. This nonradioactive, immunoassay-based approach offers many advantages, chiefly that most laboratories already have the equipment and trained personnel necessary to run an ELISA, and therefore this important diagnostic measurement can more readily be obtained. The FIT-GFR test can be used throughout the pharmaceutical development pipeline: preclinical and clinical trials

Variability of Complement Response toward Preclinical and Clinical Nanocarriers in the General Population

Opsonization (coating) of nanoparticles with complement C3 component is an important mechanism that triggers immune clearance and downstream anaphylactic and proinflammatory responses. The variability of complement C3 binding to nanoparticles in the general population has not been studied. We examined complement C3 binding to dextran superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoworms, SPIO NWs, 58 and 110 nm) and clinically approved nanoparticles (carboxymethyl dextran iron oxide ferumoxytol (Feraheme, 28 nm), highly PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin (LipoDox, 88 nm), and minimally PEGylated liposomal irinotecan (Onivyde, 120 nm)) in sera from healthy human individuals. SPIO NWs had the highest variation in C3 binding (<i>n</i> = 47) between subjects, with a 15–30 fold range in levels of C3. LipoDox (<i>n</i> = 12) and Feraheme (<i>n</i> = 18) had the lowest levels of variation between subjects (an approximately 1.5-fold range), whereas Onivyde (<i>n</i> = 18) had intermediate between-subject variation (2-fold range). There was no statistical difference between males and females and no correlation with age. There was a significant correlation in complement response between small and large SPIO NWs, which are similar structurally and chemically, but the correlations between SPIO NWs and other types of nanoparticles, and between LipoDox and Onivyde, were not significant. The calculated average number of C3 molecules bound per nanoparticle correlated with the hydrodynamic diameter but was decreased in LipoDox, likely due to the PEG coating. The conclusions of this study are (1) all nanoparticles show variability of C3 opsonization in the general population; (2) an individual’s response toward one nanoparticle cannot be reliably predicted based on another nanoparticle; and (3) the average number of C3 molecules per nanoparticle depends on size and surface coating. These results provide new strategies to improve nanomedicine safety