Breast and prostate cancer : the impact of diagnosis and treatment on sick leave and work

Treatment for breast or prostate cancer can have negative consequences on working life. In addition to sick leave during treatment, women and men with breast or prostate cancer are at increased risk of permanent absence from work, although data on the underlying reasons for this are sparse. The overall aim of this thesis was to study the impact of breast and prostate cancer and their specific treatments on sick leave and work using population-based Swedish register data. Studies I and II examined the influence of prostate cancer treatment on sick leave and receipt of disability pension. Two different types of surgery (robot- assisted and open retropubic radical prostatectomy) were studied in men with low-, intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer, as were the treatment strategies (surgery, radiotherapy, or active surveillance) for men with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer. The studies included working-aged men diagnosed with prostate cancer from 2007 onward and matched prostate cancer-free men identified in the Prostate Cancer Data Base Sweden (PCBaSe). In 2,571 men with low-, intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer (Study I), we found that robot-assisted surgery was associated with an earlier return to work compared with open surgery. Surgery type, however, had no influence on long-term rates of sick leave and disability pension receipt. In 8,699 men with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer (Study II), men on active surveillance spent less than half as many days on sick leave due to prostate cancer compared with those treated with primary radical prostatectomy or primary radiotherapy in the first 5 years after diagnosis. At year 5 after diagnosis, there were no major differences in the proportion of men on sick leave, disability pension, and death between treatment strategies. Studies III and IV were based on working-aged women diagnosed with breast cancer from 1997 onward and matched breast cancer-free women identified in the Breast Cancer Data Base Sweden (BCBaSe). In Study III, we quantified the permanent loss of working time due to breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Permanent loss was defined as disability pension receipt of at least 75%, early old- age retirement, or death. The study included 19,661 women with breast cancer and 81,303 breast cancer-free women. We estimated that women aged 50 at diagnosis on average lost between 0 years (for in situ and subgroups of stage I breast cancer) and 8 years (for stage IV breast cancer) of their remaining working time due to breast cancer. Study IV examined the underlying causes of sick leave and disability pension receipt after a breast cancer diagnosis. In 16,603 women with stage I to stage III breast cancer, we found that cancer was the most commonly reported cause of sick leave and disability pension receipt, with cancer progression as the strongest determinant. In addition, sick leave and/or disability pension receipt due to lymphedema, fatigue-related conditions, mental disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and inflammatory diseases was more common in women with breast cancer compared with breast cancer-free women. The results of this thesis show that prostate cancer treatment type has an impact on sick leave and work mainly in the first year of diagnosis. Breast cancer may have a considerable impact on working life, although it is reassuring that many women with early-stage breast cancer are able to remain in the labor market. Disease progression is not the only reason for absence from work in women with breast cancer; our findings suggest that a wide range of physical and physiological conditions underlie the increased risk of permanent absence from work observed in both our studies and others. As a whole, the findings of this thesis can be used to improve the management and rehabilitation of breast and prostate cancer diagnosed in working-aged women and men

Kognitiivisten toimintojen rakenne leikki-iässä ja kehityksellisessä kielihäiriössä

Tavoitteet. Leikki-ikä on kognitiivisen kehityksen kannalta merkittävä ikävaihe. Leikki-ikäisten kognitiivisten toimintojen keskinäisistä yhteyksistä ei ole paljon tutkittua tietoa, vaikka toiminnot todennäköisesti rakentuvat aikuisiin verrattuna eri tavalla. Näin ollen myöskään kognitiivisten toimintojen rakenteesta lasten kehityksellisissä häiriöissä ei ole tutkimusta, vaikka se saattaa erota tyypillisestä kehityksestä. Kehitykselliseen kielihäiriöön (DLD) liittyy haasteita etenkin kielellisessä prosessoinnissa, mutta myös muunlaista tiedonkäsittelyn poikkeavuutta. DLD:n kognitiivisten toimintojen välisten suhteiden tunteminen olisi tärkeää häiriön ymmärtämisen ja esimerkiksi kuntoutusmuotojen kehittämisen kannalta. Tässä tutkielmassa selvitetään, millainen kognitiivisten toimintojen rakenne leikki-ikäisillä on poikkileikkausaineistossa, ja verrataan tyypillisesti kehittyvien ja kielihäiriöisten lasten rakenteita. Menetelmät. 4–7-vuotiaiden lasten (N = 155; tyypillisesti kehittyvät, TD-ryhmä: n = 66, DLD-ryhmä: n = 89) kognitiivisia toimintoja (ei-kielellistä ja kielellistä päättelyä, kielellistä prosessointia, muistia, visuomotorisia toimintoja, tarkkaavuutta sekä sosiaalista kognitiota) tutkittiin 22 erilaisella tehtävällä. Eksploratiivisen faktorianalyysin ja rakenneyhtälömallinnuksen keinoin selvitettiin, millainen kognitiivisten toimintojen rakenne muodostuu TD-ryhmässä ja poikkeaako DLD-ryhmän rakenne siitä. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Leikki-ikäisten TD-lasten kognitiivisten toimintojen rakennetta parhaiten kuvasi malli, joka koostui kolmesta faktorista: kielellisistä ja ei-kielellisistä taidoista sekä prosessointinopeudesta. Tulos tukee ajatusta, että leikki-ikäisten kognitiiviset toiminnot ovat eriytymättömämpiä kuin vanhempien. Malli ei sopinut DLD-ryhmälle, jossa suoriutumista selittivät ei-kielellisten taitojen, kielellisen ymmärtämisen, kielellisen muistin sekä nimeämisen/tuottamisen faktorit. TD- ja DLD-lapset saattavat käyttää erilaisia kognitiivisia toimintoja tehtävien suorittamiseen, ja toisaalta tehtävien erottelukyky on ryhmissä erilainen. Kaiken kaikkiaan tulos viittaa siihen, että kognitiiviset toiminnot kehittyvät DLD- ja TD-lapsilla eri tavoin, ja on linjassa niiden aiempien havaintojen kanssa, jotka ehdottavat, että DLD:n liittyy kieltä laajempia kognitiivisia poikkeavuuksia.Objectives. Cognitive functions are developing at preschool age. It is likely that their structure differs from that of older children and adults. However, relatively little is known about relations between different cognitive functions at this age period. Moreover, there is no studies on the structure of cognitive functions in children’s developmental disorders, even though it is not necessarily similar to typically developing. Developmental language disorder (DLD) is characterized by difficulties in linguistic processing and development, although cumulating evidence suggests that there is also atypical features in non-verbal information processing. In order to accumulate understanding on DLD, it is important to study relations between cognitive functions compared to typical development. The goal of this study is to examine and compare the structure of cognitive functions in typically developing and DLD-preschoolers. Methods. 4–7-year-old children’s (N = 155; typically developing, TD-group: n = 66, DLD-group: n = 89) cognitive functions (nonverbal and verbal reasoning, language processing, memory, visuomotor functions, attention and social cognition) were assessed with 22 subtests. Explorative factor analysis and structural equation modelling were performed to examine the structure of cognitive functions in TD-group, and measurement invariance with DLD-group was tested. Results and Conclusions. TD-preschoolers’ structure of cognitive functions was best described with a three-factor model, which included verbal skills, nonverbal skills and processing speed. This result indicates that preschoolers’ cognitive functions might be less differentiated compared to adults. Best fitting structure for DLD-preschoolers comprised of four factors: non-verbal skills, naming/expressing, verbal comprehension and verbal memory. Thus, TD- and DLD-children might use cognitive functions differently. On the other hand, the subtests might differentiate DLD-preschoolers differently compared to typically developing. All in all, results suggest that cognitive functions develop differently in DLD and typical development and support the evidence of broader atypical cognitive mechanisms in DLD

Magnesium Deficiency

This study was concerned with the effects of magnesium deficiency produced by dietary means in rabbits. It was designed to make use of recently available tools— atomic absorption spectrophotometry, automated instruments, a radioactive isotope of magnesium, and an apparatus for the in-vitro study of intestinal segments— in order to clarify some of the anomalous observations made in previous studies of magnesium deficiency; to study the effects of such a deficiency on other cations in a variety of tissues and on other constituents of blood; and to study, in the small intestine, in-vitro changes in magnesium, calcium, sodium, and potassium. Rabbits fed a magnesium-deficient diet became moribund within six weeks. The initial acute stage, which lasted up to three weeks and was characterized by neuromuscular signs and a rapid decrease in the concentration of serum magnesium, was followed by a second stage characterized by nutritional failure and a slow rise in the concentration of serum magnesium. Values for ten of twenty-eight constituents measured in the blood of normal rabbits were not previously available. The same constituents measured in the blood of rabbits that had been fed a magnesium-deficient diet for six weeks indicated the presence of electrolyte imbalance and of renal and hepatic damage. The concentrations of magnesium, calcium, sodium, and potassium were determined for 21 tissues in normal and magnesium-deficient rabbits. Information of this scope for such a variety of tissues had not been available previously. In in-vitro studies employing segments of small intestine, radioactive magnesium moved more efficiently across the proximal area than across the distal area and from the mucosal to the serosal surface than in the opposite direction. These results indicate the possibility that the normal rabbit may achieve a net positive balance for magnesium by absorption through the proximal area of the small intestine. The absorption of magnesium was enhanced in both the proximal and the distal areas of the small intestine from magnesium-deficient rabbits. There was no indication in these experiments that absorption of magnesium from the small intestine of rabbits occurs by a process other than passive diffusion

Design for a museum of painting and sculpture

Thesis (BS)--University of Illinois, 1897TypescriptBound with 14 other University of Illinois Architecture theses IU-

Dissemination and tracking of Salmonella spp. in integrated broiler operation

Controlling Salmonella in integrated broiler operation is complicated because there are numerous potential sources of Salmonella contamination, including chicks, feed, rodents, wild poultry operations, and the processing plant. The objective of this study was to investigate the distribution of Salmonella through all phases of two integrated broiler operations and to determine the key areas related to the control of all known sources of infection. Two different Salmonella serotypes were observed at integrated broiler chicken company A. S. enteritidis, the predominant company A isolate, was consistently found in the breeder farm, hatcheries, broiler farms, and chicken slaughterhouse. At company B, a total of six different serotypes, S. heidelberg, S. senftenberg, S. enteritidis, S. blockley, S. gallinarum, and S. virchow, were detected. Although S. heidelberg was not found in the broiler farms, it was consistently found in the breeder farm, hatcheries, and chicken slaughterhouse. In addition, S. enteritidis was found in the hatcheries, broiler farm, and chicken slaughterhouse. In order to obtain the genetic clonality, 22 S. enteritidis isolates were digested with XbaI and analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrohporesis (PFGE). A difference in the PFGE pattern was found to be related to the origin of the integrated broiler operation. These data support the critical need to control Salmonella in breeder farms and hatcheries, and demonstrate important points related to the control of infection in large-scale poultry operations of Korea

One tissue, two fates: different roles of megagametophyte cells during Scots pine embryogenesis

In the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seed, embryos grow and develop within the corrosion cavity of the megagametophyte, a maternally derived haploid tissue, which houses the majority of the storage reserves of the seed. In the present study, histochemical methods and quantification of the expression levels of the programmed cell death (PCD) and DNA repair processes related genes (MCA, TAT-D, RAD51, KU80, and LIG) were used to investigate the physiological events occurring in the megagametophyte tissue during embryo development. It was found that the megagametophyte was viable from the early phases of embryo development until the early germination of mature seeds. However, the megagametophyte cells in the narrow embryo surrounding region (ESR) were destroyed by cell death with morphologically necrotic features. Their cell wall, plasma membrane, and nuclear envelope broke down with the release of cell debris and nucleic acids into the corrosion cavity. The occurrence of necrotic-like cell death in gymnosperm embryogenesis provides a favourable model for the study of developmental cell death with necrotic-like morphology and suggests that the mechanism underlying necrotic cell death is evolutionary conserved