Boehmite and Gibbsite Nanoplates for the Synthesis of Advanced Alumina Products

Boehmite (γ-AlOOH) and gibbsite (α-Al(OH) ) are important archetype (oxy)hydroxides of aluminum in nature that also play diverse roles across a plethora of industrial applications. Developing the ability to understand and predict the properties and characteristics of these materials, on the basis of their natural growth or synthesis pathways, is an important fundamental science enterprise with wide-ranging impacts. The present study describes bulk and surface characteristics of these novel materials in comprehensive detail, using a collectively sophisticated set of experimental capabilities, including a range of conventional laboratory solids analyses and national user facility analyses such as synchrotron X-ray absorption and scattering spectroscopies as well as small-angle neutron scattering. Their thermal stability is investigated using in situ temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy. These pure and effectively defect-free materials are ideal for synthesis of advanced alumina products. ©

Global surveillance of cancer survival 1995–2009: analysis of individual data for 25 676 887 patients from 279 population-based registries in 67 countries (CONCORD-2)

Background: Worldwide data for cancer survival are scarce. We aimed to initiate worldwide surveillance of cancer survival by central analysis of population-based registry data, as a metric of the effectiveness of health systems, and to inform global policy on cancer control. Methods: Individual tumour records were submitted by 279 population-based cancer registries in 67 countries for 25·7 million adults (age 15–99 years) and 75 000 children (age 0–14 years) diagnosed with cancer during 1995–2009 and followed up to Dec 31, 2009, or later. We looked at cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, liver, lung, breast (women), cervix, ovary, and prostate in adults, and adult and childhood leukaemia. Standardised quality control procedures were applied; errors were corrected by the registry concerned. We estimated 5-year net survival, adjusted for background mortality in every country or region by age (single year), sex, and calendar year, and by race or ethnic origin in some countries. Estimates were age-standardised with the International Cancer Survival Standard weights. Findings: 5-year survival from colon, rectal, and breast cancers has increased steadily in most developed countries. For patients diagnosed during 2005–09, survival for colon and rectal cancer reached 60% or more in 22 countries around the world; for breast cancer, 5-year survival rose to 85% or higher in 17 countries worldwide. Liver and lung cancer remain lethal in all nations: for both cancers, 5-year survival is below 20% everywhere in Europe, in the range 15–19% in North America, and as low as 7–9% in Mongolia and Thailand. Striking rises in 5-year survival from prostate cancer have occurred in many countries: survival rose by 10–20% between 1995–99 and 2005–09 in 22 countries in South America, Asia, and Europe, but survival still varies widely around the world, from less than 60% in Bulgaria and Thailand to 95% or more in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the USA. For cervical cancer, national estimates of 5-year survival range from less than 50% to more than 70%; regional variations are much wider, and improvements between 1995–99 and 2005–09 have generally been slight. For women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005–09, 5-year survival was 40% or higher only in Ecuador, the USA, and 17 countries in Asia and Europe. 5-year survival for stomach cancer in 2005–09 was high (54–58%) in Japan and South Korea, compared with less than 40% in other countries. By contrast, 5-year survival from adult leukaemia in Japan and South Korea (18–23%) is lower than in most other countries. 5-year survival from childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is less than 60% in several countries, but as high as 90% in Canada and four European countries, which suggests major deficiencies in the management of a largely curable disease. Interpretation: International comparison of survival trends reveals very wide differences that are likely to be attributable to differences in access to early diagnosis and optimum treatment. Continuous worldwide surveillance of cancer survival should become an indispensable source of information for cancer patients and researchers and a stimulus for politicians to improve health policy and health-care systems

Carcinoma of endocrine organs: results of the RARECARE project.

The rarity or the asymptomatic character of endocrine tumours results in a lack of epidemiological studies on their incidence and survival patterns. The aim of this study was to describe the incidence, prevalence and survival of endocrine tumours using a large database, which includes cancer patients diagnosed from 1978 to 2002, registered in 89 population-based cancer registries (CRs) with follow-up until 31st December 2003. These data give an unique overview of the burden of endocrine carcinomas in Europe. A list of tumour entities based on the third International Classification of Diseases for Oncology was provided by the project Surveillance of rare cancer in Europe (RARECARE) project. Over 33,594 cases of endocrine carcinomas were analysed in this study. Incidence rates increased with age and were highest in patients 65 years of age or older. In 2003, more than 315,000 persons in the EU (27 countries) were alive with a past diagnosis of a carcinoma of endocrine organs. The incidence of pituitary carcinoma equalled four per 1,000,000 person years and showed the strongest decline in survival with increasing age. Thyroid cancer showed the highest crude incidence rates (four per 100,000 person years) and was the only entity with a gender difference: (female-to-male ratio: 2:9). Parathyroid carcinoma was the rarest endocrine entity with two new cases per 10,000,000 person years. For adrenal carcinoma, the most remarkable observations were a higher survival for women compared to men (40% compared to 32%, respectively) and a particularly low relative survival of 24% in patients 65 years of age or older. More high quality studies on rare cancers, with additional information, e.g. on stage and therapeutic approach, are needed and may be of help in partly explaining the observed variation in survival

Rare cancers of the head and neck area in Europe.

The RARECARE project has proposed a different and more detailed grouping of cancers, based on localisation and histological type, in order to identify rare entities with clinical meaning. RARECARE gathered data on cancer patients diagnosed from 1978 to 2002 and archived in 76 population-based cancer registries, all of which had vital status information available up to at least 31st December 2003. This study provides incidence, prevalence and survival rates for rare head and neck epithelial (H&N) cancers. Among the rare H&N cancers, those of oral cavity had the highest annual crude incidence rate of 48 per million, followed by oropharynx and 'major salivary glands and salivary gland type tumours' (28 and 13 per million, respectively). Incidence rates of epithelial tumours of nasal cavities, nasopharynx, eye and adnexa and middle ears were all lower than 5 per million. The prevalence for all investigated entities was lower than 35 per 100,000. The 5-year relative survival rates ranged from 40% for epithelial cancer of oropharynx to 85% for epithelial cancer of eye and adnexa. Survival rates were lower for men and for patients aged ≥65 years. With few exceptions, the lowest and highest survival figures were observed for Eastern Europe and Northern Europe, respectively. According to the definition for rare tumours by RARECARE (incidence<6 per 100,000), as well as according to the definition for rare diseases by the European Commission (prevalence<50 per 100,000) the H&N cancers described in this paper should be considered rare and diagnosis and treatment of these cancers should therefore be centralised

Burden of testicular, paratesticular and extragonadal germ cell tumours in Europe.

We provide updated estimates of survival, incidence, complete prevalence, and proportion cured for patients with testicular/paratesticular and extragonadal germ cell cancers in Europe, grouped according to the new list of cancer types developed by RARECARE. We collected data, archived in European cancer registries, with vital status information available to 31st December 2003. We analysed 26,000 cases of testicular, paratesticular and extragonadal germ cell cancers diagnosed 1995-2002, estimating that about 15,600 new testicular/paratesticular and 630 new extragonadal cancer cases occurred per year in EU27, with annual incidence rates of 31.5/1,000,000 and 1.27/1,000,000, respectively. Slightly more than 436,000 persons were alive at the beginning of 2008 with a diagnosis of testicular/paratesticular cancer, and about 17,000 with a diagnosis of extragonadal germ cell cancer. Five-year relative survival was 96% for testicular/paratesticular cancer and 71% for extragonadal germ cell cancer; the proportions cured were 95% and 69%, respectively. We found limited variation in survival between European regions except for non-seminomatous testicular cancer, for which five-year relative survival ranged from 86% in Eastern Europe to 96% in Northern Europe. Survival for all cancer types considered decreased with increasing age at diagnosis. Further investigation is required to establish the real reasons for the lower survival in Eastern Europe. Considering the high prevalence of these highly curable cancers, it is important to monitor patients long-term, so as to quantify treatment-related risks and develop treatments having limited impact on quality of life

Survival of European patients with central nervous system tumors.

We present estimates of population-based 5-year relative survival for adult Europeans diagnosed with central nervous system tumors, by morphology (14 categories based on cell lineage and malignancy grade), sex, age at diagnosis and region (UK and Ireland, Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern Europe) for the most recent period with available data (2000-2002). Sources were 39 EUROCARE cancer registries with continuous data from 1996 to 2002. Survival time trends (1988 to 2002) were estimated from 24 cancer registries with continuous data from 1988. Overall 5-year relative survival was 85.0% for benign, 19.9% for malignant tumors. Benign tumor survival ranged from 90.6% (Northern Europe) to 77.4% (UK and Ireland); for malignant tumors the range was 25.1% (Northern Europe) to 15.6% (UK and Ireland). Survival decreased with age at diagnosis and was slightly better for women (malignant tumors only). For glial tumors, survival varied from 83.5% (ependymoma and choroid plexus) to 2.7% (glioblastoma); and for non-glioma tumors from 96.5% (neurinoma) to 44.9% (primitive neuroectoderm tumor/medulloblastoma). Survival differences between regions narrowed after adjustment for morphology and age, and were mainly attributable to differences in morphology mix; however UK and Ireland and Eastern Europe patients still had 40% and 30% higher excess risk of death, respectively, than Northern Europe patients (reference). Survival for benign tumors increased from 69.3% (1988-1990) to 77.1% (2000-2002); but survival for malignant tumors did not improve indicating no useful advances in treatment over the 14-year study period, notwithstanding major improvement in the diagnosis and treatment of other solid cancers

Rare cancers are not so rare: the rare cancer burden in Europe.

PURPOSE: Epidemiologic information on rare cancers is scarce. The project Surveillance of Rare Cancers in Europe (RARECARE) provides estimates of the incidence, prevalence and survival of rare cancers in Europe based on a new and comprehensive list of these diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: RARECARE analysed population-based cancer registry (CR) data on European patients diagnosed from 1988 to 2002, with vital status information available up to 31st December 2003 (latest date for which most CRs had verified data). The mean population covered was about 162,000,000. Cancer incidence and survival rates for 1995-2002 and prevalence at 1st January 2003 were estimated. RESULTS: Based on the RARECARE definition (incidence <6/100,000/year), the estimated annual incidence rate of all rare cancers in Europe was about 108 per 100,000, corresponding to 541,000 new diagnoses annually or 22% of all cancer diagnoses. Five-year relative survival was on average worse for rare cancers (47%) than common cancers (65%). About 4,300,000 patients are living today in the European Union with a diagnosis of a rare cancer, 24% of the total cancer prevalence. CONCLUSION: Our estimates of the rare cancer burden in Europe provide the first indication of the size of the public health problem due to these diseases and constitute a useful base for further research. Centres of excellence for rare cancers or groups of rare cancers could provide the necessary organisational structure and critical mass for carrying out clinical trials and developing alternative approaches to clinical experimentation for these cancers