Achieving High Breast Cancer Survival for Women in Rural and Remote Areas

Background: Significant improvements in breast cancer survival have been made in the past few decades in many developed countries including Australia with a five-year relative survival of 90%. The aim of the present study is to obtain a brief estimate of the relative importance of demographic factors such as rurality, socio-economic standard and ethnicity versus traditional risk factors for women diagnosed with breast cancer in Far North Queensland, Australia. Methods: This was a retrospective longitudinal study of all women diagnosed with their first episode of breast cancer in 1999-2013 in Far North Queensland, Australia. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to identify factors independently associated with mortality for women with any type of breast cancer (in situ or invasive) and for women with invasive cancer. Life tables were used to assess five and ten-year absolute survival. Standard linear regression and binary logistic regression were used to identify any association between demographic factors and late presentation. Results: Five and ten-year absolute survival was 0.90 and 0.86 respectively. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, remoteness of area of residence, and socioeconomic status were not associated with more advanced disease at presentation or increased risk of breast cancer death. Only traditional risk factors such as increased tumour size, absence of progesterone receptor, high tumour grade and presence of metastasis in axillary lymph nodes were associated with increased risk of breast cancer death. Conclusion: The effect of the classical risk factors on breast cancer mortality outweighs the effects of demographic factors. The fact that ethnicity, remoteness and socioeconomic status is not associated with late presentation or breast cancer death suggests that given appropriate resources it may be possible to close the gap of inequalities in breast cancer

Pattern of mRNA expression of β-defensins in basal cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Although the human β-defensins hBDs today seem to have diverse functional activities in innate antimicrobial immunity, a few reports also indicated an altered expression of these antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in tissues of cancers such as oral squamous cell carcinoma. The present work was aimed on the study of hBD gene expression in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) which is the most common cancer in humans. METHODS: Twenty-two non-ulcerated BCCs (12 nodular type, 10 superficial type) have been analysed for the presence of hBD (1–3) mRNA by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. As controls, non-lesional skin specimens of BCC patients as well as samples of healthy subjects were assessed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: hBD-1 levels in healthy controls and non-lesional skin of BCC patients were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the levels observed in tumour tissue. Moreover, BCCs showed significantly (P < 0.05) increased mRNA expression of hBD-2 as compared to controls. There was no significant (P > 0.05) difference between lesional mRNA levels for hBD-3 and those levels observed in controls. The mRNA expression of hBDs (1–3) found in nodular and superficial BCCs did not significantly (P > 0.05) differ. CONCLUSION: The gene expression patterns of hBD-1 and hBD-2 are for the first time shown to be significantly altered in non-ulcerated BCCs as compared to intra-individual and inter-individual controls, respectively. The present findings may indicate that beside the antimicrobial activity of AMPs, hBDs may also play a role in the pathogenesis of BCC. However, functional and immunohistological studies investigating hBDs in patients with BCC are needed to confirm our data

Nuclear magnetic resonance study of d-TGGCCA in solution.

The 1H NMR spectrum of a self complementary deoxyhexanucleotide (d-TGGCCA) in water solution has been completely and unambiguously assigned by use of two-dimensional techniques and phosphorus off-resonance decoupling experiments. The helix-coil transition has been monitored by following most of the non-exchangeable protons against temperature and was shown to be a cooperative dissociation-association process. Sequential fraying is sizable even at low temperature. Considerations of coupling constants and of Nuclear Overhauser effects show the helix to be of the B-DNA type

Largeurs partielles de transition pour les niveaux de spin J = 1 de 184W et 196Pt excités par la capture des neutrons intermédiaires

The J = 1 levels excited by resonance neutron capture have been studied for W and Pt. The relative transition probabilities to the ground state or to the first excited levels show some fluctuations from level to level. In order to analyze the distributions of the partial radiation width, it has been assumed, as Porter and Thomas did, that the correct distribution a χ2 distribution.On étudie les niveaux excités dans W et Pt par la capture des neutrons intermédiaires. Certaines fluctuations apparaissent, de résonance à résonance, pour les niveaux excités de spin J = 1 de 184W et 196Pt, dans les probabilités de transition radiative au niveau fondamental ou aux premiers niveaux excités. La distribution de ces fluctuations est discutée à la lumière de l'interprétation de Porter-Thomas