Sequence variations in DNA repair gene XPC is associated with lung cancer risk in a Chinese population: a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The nucleotide excision repair (NER) protein, xeroderma pigmentosum C (XPC), participates in recognizing DNA lesions and initiating DNA repair in response to DNA damage. Because mutations in <it>XPC </it>cause a high risk of cancer in XP patients, we hypothesized that inherited sequence variations in <it>XPC </it>may alter DNA repair and thus susceptibility to cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this hospital-based case-control study, we investigated five <it>XPC </it>tagging, common single nucleotide polymorphisms (tagging SNPs) in 1,010 patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer and 1,011 matched cancer free controls in a Chinese population.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In individual tagging SNP analysis, we found that rs3731055<it>AG+AA </it>variant genotypes were associated with a significantly decreased risk of lung adenocarcinoma [adjusted odds ratio (OR), 0.71; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.56–0.90] but an increased risk of small cell carcinomas [adjusted OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.05–3.07]. Furthermore, we found that haplotype <it>ACCCA </it>was associated with a decreased risk of lung adenocarcinoma [OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.62–0.97] but an increased risk of small cell carcinomas [OR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.04–2.71], which reflected the presence of rs3731055<it>A </it>allele in this haplotype. Further stratified analysis revealed that the protective effect of rs3731055<it>AG+AA </it>on risk of lung adenocarcinoma was more evident among young subjects (age ≤ 60) and never smokers.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that inherited sequence variations in <it>XPC </it>may modulate risk of lung cancer, especially lung adenocarcinoma, in Chinese populations. However, these findings need to be verified in larger confirmatory studies with more comprehensively selected tagging SNPs.</p

Association between body composition and stair negotiation ability among individuals &gt;55 years of age: a cross-sectional study

Renata Maciulis Dip, Marcos AS Cabrera, Sabrina Ferrari Prato Department of Public Health, Postgraduate Program in Public Health, State University of Londrina (UEL), Londrina, Paran&aacute;, Brazil Background: Loss of muscle strength exerts a considerable impact on the quality of life and mortality of older adults. The present household survey study measured body composition and muscle strength with the aim of analyzing the roles of low lean mass, low muscle strength and obesity in stair negotiation ability and the effect of comorbidities on the relationship between body composition and functional capacity.Methods: Body composition was assessed using bioelectrical impedance analysis and muscle strength was assessed with a hand grip dynamometer. The study population comprised individuals &gt;55&nbsp;years of age from a medium-sized Brazilian municipality. The sample included 451 participants.Results: A total of 368 subjects were interviewed; their ages varied from 56 to 91&nbsp;years. Among males, low muscle strength was associated with stair negotiation difficulty independent of muscle mass, age and obesity but muscle mass was not. However, when we analyzed comorbidities and body composition jointly, chronic lower limb pain and obesity were independently associated with stair negotiation difficulty but body composition and age were not. Among women, after comorbidities were included into the model, low muscle strength and obesity remained associated with stair negotiation difficulty as chronic lower limb pain and depression. The relationship between muscle function and comorbidities is discussed in this article. Keywords: sarcopenia, obesity, depression, older peopl

Development of adaptive modeling techniques to describe the temperature-dependent kinetics of biotechnological processes

Bioprocesses are quite difficult and expensive to model, since their operation involves microbial growth under constantly changing conditions, with impact on process kinetics and performance. Hence, there is a need and incentive for the improvement of methods for rapid development of simple, though realistic, mathematical models. In this work the modeling of biotechnological processes is studied with focus on developing methodologies that can be used whenever a re-estimation of parameters is necessary. The ethanol fermentation process is used as a case study. The performance of a hybrid neural model and a balance based model, both considering the effect of temperature on the kinetics, are evaluated not only by their accuracy in describing experimental data, but also by the difficulties involved in the adaptation of their parameters. Experiments are performed to develop the two models and further experiments (using sugar cane molasses from a different harvest and a different production medium) validate the methodologies for re-estimation of kinetic parameters. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.36215716

Adolescent Perinatal Outcomes in South West Sydney, Australia

Objective: To compare perinatal outcomes, blood pressures throughout pregnancy, rates of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, and immediate obstetric outcomes in adolescents younger than 20 years at delivery and those in the 20- to 34-year age group. Patients and Methods: Questionnaires were administered to pregnant women at Campbelltown and Liverpool hospitals within South West Sydney, Australia, as part of a broader study of sleep-disordered breathing in pregnancy between February 1, 2009, and February 28, 2013. Data collected included demographic data, blood pressure readings, pregnancy complications, delivery type, and neonatal outcomes. Adolescents were compared with older women using Student t tests and χ2 statistics. Results: A total of 103 adolescents were compared with 2291 women aged 20 to 34 years. Adolescents were more likely to be primiparous, had longer average gestations, and had lower pre-pregnancy body mass index. Adolescents had lower rates of cesarean section delivery and gestational diabetes mellitus. There was no significant difference in smoking rates, perinatal mortality rate, small for gestational age, intrauterine growth restriction, Apgar score of less than 7 at 5 minutes, admission to special care nursery, or hypertensive disorder of pregnancy rates. Adolescents had lower booking systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and their highest antenatal systolic blood pressures were lower. Conclusion: Adolescents have birth outcomes to similar to those of their older counterparts. Adolescents had lower booking blood pressures. This may have implications for the screening and diagnosis of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in adolescents