TCERG1L allelic variation is associated with cisplatin-induced hearing loss in childhood cancer, a PanCareLIFE study.

In children with cancer, the heterogeneity in ototoxicity occurrence after similar treatment suggests a role for genetic susceptibility. Using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach, we identified a genetic variant in TCERG1L (rs893507) to be associated with hearing loss in 390 non-cranial irradiated, cisplatin-treated children with cancer. These results were replicated in two independent, similarly treated cohorts (n = 192 and 188, respectively) (combined cohort: P = 5.3 × 10-10, OR 3.11, 95% CI 2.2-4.5). Modulating TCERG1L expression in cultured human cells revealed significantly altered cellular responses to cisplatin-induced cytokine secretion and toxicity. These results contribute to insights into the genetic and pathophysiological basis of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity

Risk factors associated with tinnitus in 2948 Dutch survivors of childhood cancer: a Dutch LATER questionnaire study

Background: Tinnitus is a serious late effect of childhood cancer treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence and risk factors for tinnitus in a national cohort of childhood cancer survivors (CCS). Methods: Data were collected within the national Dutch Childhood Oncology Group - Long-Term Effects after Childhood Cancer (DCOG-LATER) cohort by a self-reported health questionnaire among 5327 Dutch CCS treated between 1963 and 2002. Siblings (N = 1663) were invited to complete the same questionnaire. Relevant patient characteristics and treatment factors were obtained from the Dutch LATER database. The occurrence of tinnitus in survivors was compared to siblings. To study the effect of risk factors, multivariate logistic regression models were estimated. Results: In total, 2948 CCS and 1055 siblings completed the tinnitus item. Tinnitus was reported in 9.5% of survivors and in 3.7% of siblings (odds ratio [OR] 3.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.9-3.1). Risk factors associated with tinnitus in CCS were total cumulative dose cisplatin ≥400 mg/m2 (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.4-4.0), age at diagnosis (≥10 years: OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.6-2.8), cranial irradiation/total body irradiation (TBI; OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.5-2.5), and neuro/ear, nose, throat (ENT) surgery (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.9). Fifty-one percent of CCS with tinnitus had received treatment with either cisplatin, cranial irradiation/TBI, and/or neuro/ENT surgery. Conclusions: Tinnitus in CCS was present nearly 3 times more often than in siblings. Awareness in CCS previously treated with cisplatin, cranial irradiation/TBI, and/or neuro/ENT surgery is warranted. As only half of affected CCS had a history of these treatments, it seems that other factors might be associated with tinnitus occurrence in this population

The James versions

[First paragraph]
 C.L.R. James: His Intellectual Legacies. SELWYN R. CUDJOE & WILLIAM E. CAIN (eds.). Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995. x + 476 pp. (Cloth USS 55.00, Paper US 19.95) C.L.R. James on the "Negro Question." SCOTT MCLEMEE (ed.). Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996. xxxvii + 154 pp. (Paper US 16.95)
 C.L.R. James: A Political Biography. KENT WORCESTER. Albany: State University of New York, 1996. xvi + 311 pp. (Paper US$ 19.95)
 
 "Why is there no socialism in the United States?," asked the German sociologist Werner Sombart (1906:43) in a famous essay at the beginning of the present century. Immigrants, it is true, had brought socialist notions with them in the middle of the past century, and had caused some anarchistic wavelets in the 1880s; there had been radical protest movements such as the Grangers, and a fledgling third party like the Populists; there were famous social critics and Utopians like Henry George and Edward Bellamy, but - in striking contrast to other parts of the Hemisphere - a socialist movement of any political weight never came off the ground