Chronic Lung Function Decline in Cotton Textile Workers: Roles of Historical and Recent Exposures to Endotoxin

BackgroundLong-term occupational exposure to cotton dust that contains endotoxin is associated with chronic respiratory symptoms and excessive decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1), but the mechanisms of endotoxin-related chronic airflow obstruction remain unclear.ObjectiveIn the current study, we examined temporal aspects of the exposure-response relationship between airborne endotoxin exposure, longitudinal change in FEV1, and respiratory symptoms in a cohort of Chinese cotton textile workers.MethodsThis prospective cohort study followed 447 cotton textile workers from 1981 to 2006. at approximately 5-year intervals. We used a generalized estimating equations approach to model FEV1 level and respiratory symptoms as a function of past exposure (cumulative exposure up to the start of the most recent 5-year survey interval) and cumulative exposure (within the most recent interval) to endotoxins, after adjusting for other covariates. Models were stratified by active versus retired work status and by years employed before the baseline survey (< 5 and > or = 5 years).Results and conclusionsPast exposure to endotoxin was associated with reduced FEV1 level among retired cotton workers. Among all cotton workers, past exposure was more strongly associated with reduced FEV1 for those hired < 5 years before baseline than for those who were hired > or = 5 years after baseline. Recent endotoxin exposure was significantly associated with byssinosis, chronic bronchitis, and chronic cough

Prognostic impact of human epidermal growth factor-like receptor 2 and hormone receptor status in inflammatory breast cancer (IBC): analysis of 2,014 IBC patient cases from the California Cancer Registry

IntroductionInflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is an aggressive form of breast cancer associated with overexpression of Her2/Neu (human epidermal growth factor-like receptor 2 (HER2)) and poor survival. We investigated survival differences for IBC patient cases based on hormone receptor status and HER2 receptor status using data from the California Cancer Registry, as contrasted with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC), metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and non-T4 breast cancer.MethodsA case-only analysis of 80,099 incident female breast cancer patient cases in the California Cancer Registry during 1999 to 2003 was performed, with follow-up through March 2007. Overall survival (OS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BC-SS) were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox proportional hazards ratios.ResultsA total of 2,014 IBC, 1,268 LABC, 3,059 MBC, and 73,758 non-T4 breast cancer patient cases were identified. HER2+ was associated with advanced tumor stage (P < 0.0001). IBC patient cases were more likely to be HER2+ (40%) and less likely to be hormone receptor-positive (HmR+) (59%) compared with LABC (35% and 69%, respectively), MBC (35% and 74%), and non-T4 patient cases (22% and 82%). HmR+ status was associated with improved OS and BC-SS for each breast cancer subtype after adjustment for clinically relevant factors. In multivariate analysis, HER2+ (versus HER2-) status was associated with poor BC-SS for non-T4 patient cases (hazards ratio = 1.16, 95% confidence interval 1.05 to 1.28) and had a borderline significant association with improved BC-SS for IBC (hazards ratio = 0.82, 95% confidence interval = 0.68 to 0.99).ConclusionsDespite an association with advanced tumor stage, HER2+ status is not an independent adverse prognostic factor for survival among IBC patient cases

The Calcitonin and Glucocorticoids Combination: Mechanistic Insights into Their Class-Effect Synergy in Experimental Arthritis

PMCID: PMC3564948This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Area-level deprivation and adiposity in children: is the relationship linear?

OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that childhood obesity is inversely associated with deprivation, such that the prevalence is higher in more deprived groups. However, comparatively few studies actually use an area-level measure of deprivation, limiting the scope to assess trends in the association with obesity for this indicator. Furthermore, most assume a linear relationship. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate associations between area-level deprivation and three measures of adiposity in children: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study in which data were collected on three occasions a year apart (2005-2007). SUBJECTS: Data were available for 13,333 children, typically aged 11-12 years, from 37 schools and 542 lower super-output areas (LSOAs). MEASURES: Stature, mass and WC. Obesity was defined as a BMI and WC exceeding the 95th centile according to British reference data. WHtR exceeding 0.5 defined obesity. The Index of Multiple Deprivation affecting children (IDACI) was used to determine area-level deprivation. RESULTS: Considerable differences in the prevalence of obesity exist between the three different measures. However, for all measures of adiposity the highest probability of being classified as obese is in the middle of the IDACI range. This relationship is more marked in girls, such that the probability of being obese for girls living in areas at the two extremes of deprivation is around half that at the peak, occurring in the middle. CONCLUSION: These data confirm the high prevalence of obesity in children and suggest that the relationship between obesity and residential area-level deprivation is not linear. This is contrary to the 'deprivation theory' and questions the current understanding and interpretation of the relationship between obesity and deprivation in children. These results could help make informed decisions at the local level

Interphase chromosome positioning in in vitro porcine cells and ex vivo porcine tissues

Copyright @ 2012 The Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and 85 reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The article was made available through the Brunel University Open Access Publishing Fund.BACKGROUND: In interphase nuclei of a wide range of species chromosomes are organised into their own specific locations termed territories. These chromosome territories are non-randomly positioned in nuclei which is believed to be related to a spatial aspect of regulatory control over gene expression. In this study we have adopted the pig as a model in which to study interphase chromosome positioning and follows on from other studies from our group of using pig cells and tissues to study interphase genome re-positioning during differentiation. The pig is an important model organism both economically and as a closely related species to study human disease models. This is why great efforts have been made to accomplish the full genome sequence in the last decade. RESULTS: This study has positioned most of the porcine chromosomes in in vitro cultured adult and embryonic fibroblasts, early passage stromal derived mesenchymal stem cells and lymphocytes. The study is further expanded to position four chromosomes in ex vivo tissue derived from pig kidney, lung and brain. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that porcine chromosomes are also non-randomly positioned within interphase nuclei with few major differences in chromosome position in interphase nuclei between different cell and tissue types. There were also no differences between preferred nuclear location of chromosomes in in vitro cultured cells as compared to cells in tissue sections. Using a number of analyses to ascertain by what criteria porcine chromosomes were positioned in interphase nuclei; we found a correlation with DNA content.This study is partly supported by Sygen International PLC

Post-irradiation cutaneous angiosarcoma

Angiosarcoma is a rare and highly malignant tumor with potential to recur despite treatment, and carries a poor prognosis. Previous radiation therapy and lymphedema are some of the known risk factors. We present a case of cutaneous angiosarcoma which occurred at lumpectomy site in a patient with a history of breast cancer and radiation to the breast. The tumor kept on recurring repetitively despite continual treatments, and the patient finally succumbed to the disease roughly four years after initial diagnosis

Absence of toxicity with hypofractionated 3-dimensional radiation therapy for inoperable, early stage non-small cell lung cancer

PURPOSE: Hypofractionated radiotherapy may overcome repopulation in rapidly proliferating tumors such as lung cancer. It is more convenient for the patients and reduces health care costs. This study reports our results on patients with medically inoperable, early stage, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with hypofractionation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Stage T1-2N0 NSCLC patients were treated with hypofractionation alone, 52.5 Gy/15 fractions, in 3 weeks, with 3-dimensional conformal planning. T1-2N1 patients with the hilar lymphnode close to the primary tumor were also eligible for this treatment. We did not use any approach to reduce respiratory motion, but it was monitored in all patients. Elective nodal radiotherapy was not performed. Routine follow up included assessment for acute and late toxicity and radiological tumor response. Median follow up time was 29 months for the surviving patients. RESULTS: Thirty-two patients with a median age of 76 years, T1 = 15 and T2 = 17, were treated. Median planning target volume (PTV) volume was 150cc and median V16 of both lungs was 13%. The most important finding of this study is that toxicity was minimal. Two patients had grade ≤ 2 acute pneumonitis and 3 had mild (grade 1) acute esophagitis. There was no late toxicity. Actuarial 1 and 2-year overall survival rates are 78% and 56%, cancer specific survival rates (CSS) are 90% and 74%, and local relapse free survival rates are 93% and 76% respectively. CONCLUSION: 3-D planning, involved field hypofractionation at a dose of 52.5 Gy in 15 daily fractions is safe, well tolerated and easy radiation treatment for medically inoperable lung cancer patients. It shortens by half the traditional treatment. Results compare favorably with previously published studies. Further studies are needed to compare similar technique with other treatments such as surgery and stereotactic radiotherapy

Analytic Representation of Finite Quantum Systems

A transform between functions in R and functions in Zd is used to define the analogue of number and coherent states in the context of finite d-dimensional quantum systems. The coherent states are used to define an analytic representation in terms of theta functions. All states are represented by entire functions with growth of order 2, which have exactly d zeros in each cell. The analytic function of a state is constructed from its zeros. Results about the completeness of finite sets of coherent states within a cell are derived