The social gradient in cultural consumption and the information-processing hypothesis

Patterns of cultural consumption have a strong social gradient which is primarily driven by education, but what explains these educational differences in cultural preferences remains unclear. Explanations based on information processing capacity have gained widespread currency; the perceived cognitive ‘difficulty’ of both appreciating high culture, and of maintaining broad, omnivorous tastes. If, on average, high culture is more complex than low culture then a higher level of information processing capacity may be required to derive enjoyment from it. In contrast, socialization theories suggest that exposure to ‘high’ culture, may explain this gradient, particularly among university graduates with degrees in the Arts or Humanities. To test these two theories we use the Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion survey (n = 1,079) and estimate the association between degree type and measures of cultural preference and consumption, including: film directors, artists, and cultural participation. Compared to non-graduates, arts, humanities, and social science graduates are more likely to enjoy highbrow directors and artists, and are more likely to be cultural omnivores; while graduates from other subjects are not clearly distinct from non-graduates in their cultural preferences. These findings suggest that information processing plays a minor role in shaping the social gradient in cultural consumption

Oral cancer in young people: 10 years retrospective

Oral cancer in young people: 10 years retrospectiveObjectives:Oral cancer is the sixth most common of cancers worldwide. In last two dec-ades there were many reports emerging about young people having oral cancer, which isknown as having a peak during the sixth decades. In this study we aimed to evaluate theyoung people having oral cancer about etiologic factors.Methods:The data was retrospectively collected from the archives at Istanbul University,Oncology Institute, Radiation Oncology Department. 51 patients (19 female, 32 male)who were treated for oral cancer between years 2005-2015 and aged between 18 and 45were reviewed.Statistical data was evaluated with IBM 22.0 programme and statistical significance wastaken as P<0.05.Results:The most common location was the tongue 27.5% followed by the hard palate15.7% and the base of tongue 13.7%. In terms of etiologic factors smoking, alcohol, fam-ily history of cancer were investigated. Smoking was found significantly higher in males(P=0.0001) but not statistically significant between age groups. Alcohol consumptionwas also found significantly higher in males (P=0.003) but not significant between agegroups. Family history of cancer results were similar between groups. Nodal metastasisresults between age groups found statistically significant.Higher aged group had more nodal metastasis (P=0.05). Histologic grading was alsofound statistically significant in comparison of age groups. The higher aged group hadmore poor differentiation than younger aged group (P=0.032).Conclusion:The risk factors we evaluated in this study have similar results with higherage groups. In the limitations of this study we could not compare HPV infection anddietary factors. However further investigations in larger groups, possibly prospectivelyconducted, could shed more light on risk factors of younger people having oral cancer. Relevance:Major avoidable risk factors for oral cancer seems to be similar whicheverage group we concern. More efforts both by clinicians and governments are needed, espe-cially to prevent the use of tobacco products

Clinical significance of serum tenascin-C levels in breast cancer

Tenascin-C (TNC) is a key molecule in tissue remodeling, and high levels are observed in many diseases, including heart failure, thrombosis, atherosclerosis, and cancer. High TNC expression by immunohistochemical analysis has been shown in invasive and metastasizing tissues from a variety of cancers, including colon, lung, brain, and breast. This study was conducted to investigate the serum level of TNC in breast cancer patients and its relationship with tumor progression and known prognostic parameters. Ninety-six breast cancer patients were enrolled into the study. Serum samples were obtained on first admission before adjuvant and metastatic treatments were given and at follow-up. Serum TNC levels were determined by the solid-phase sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Median age of diagnosis was 48 years old (range, 29-80). Thirty-seven (39 %) patients had metastatic breast cancer. The mean TNC levels were found to be significantly higher in patients with breast cancer (344.1 +/- 42.4 pg/mL) compared to those in healthy controls (137.2 +/- 26.8 pg/mL) (p = 0.005). Serum TNC level in grade 3 tumors was found to be significantly higher than in grades 1-2 tumors (p = 0.04). No correlation was detected between serum TNC levels and other prognostic parameters analyzed, including presence of metastasis, lymph node involvement, and tumor size. Serum TNC level had no significantly adverse effect on survival in univariate and multivariate analyses (p = 0.65 and p = 0.85, respectively). In conclusion, although serum TNC levels are elevated, it has no predictive or prognostic roles on survival in breast cancer patients