Benign thyroid disease and dietary factors in thyroid cancer: a case-control study in Kuwait

We conducted a population-based study of 313 case–control pairs in Kuwait to examine the aetiology of thyroid cancer, the second most common neoplasm among women in this and several other countries in the Gulf region. Among the demographic variables, individuals with 12+ years of education had a significantly reduced risk of thyroid cancer (OR=0.6; 95% CI: 0.3–0.9). The average age at diagnosis (s.d.) of thyroid cancer was 34.711 years in women and 3913.4 years in men. History of thyroid nodule was reported only by cases (n=34; 10.9%; lower 95% CI: 12.0); and goitre by 21 cases and four controls (OR=5.3; 95% CI: 1.8–15.3). There was no significant increase in risk with history of hypothyroidism (OR=1.8) or hyperthyroidism (OR=1.7). For any benign thyroid disease, the OR was 6.4 (95% CI: 3.4–12.0); and the population attributable risk was about 26% (95% CI: 21.1–30.9). Stepwise regression analysis showed that high consumption of processed fish products (OR=2.2; 95% CI: 1.6–3.0) fresh fish (OR=0.5; 95% CI: 0.4–0.7) and chicken (OR=1.7; 95% CI: 1.2–2.3) were independently associated with thyroid cancer with significant dose-response relationships. Among the thyroid cancer patients who reported high consumption of fish products, a large majority also reported high consumption of fresh fish (98%) and shellfish (68%). No clear association emerged with consumption of cruciferous vegetables. These data support the hypothesis that hyperplastic thyroid disease is strongly related to thyroid cancer; and that habitual high consumption of various seafoods may be relevant to the aetiology of thyroid cancer. The association with chicken consumption requires further study

Nutrition and lung cancer: a case control study in Iran

Background: Despite many prospective and retrospective studies about the association of dietary habit and lung cancer, the topic still remains controversial. So, this study aims to investigate the association of lung cancer with dietary factors. Method: In this study 242 lung cancer patients and their 484 matched controls on age, sex, and place of residence were enrolled between October 2002 to 2005. Trained physicians interviewed all participants with standardized questionnaires. The middle and upper third consumer groups were compared to the lower third according to the distribution in controls unless the linear trend was significant across exposure groups. Result: Conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate the association with lung cancer. In a multivariate analysis fruit (Ptrend < 0.0001), vegetable (P = 0.001) and sunflower oil (P = 0.006) remained as protective factors and rice (P = 0.008), bread (Ptrend = 0.04), liver (P = 0.004), butter (Ptrend = 0.04), white cheese (Ptrend < 0.0001), beef (Ptrend = 0.005), vegetable ghee (P < 0.0001) and, animal ghee (P = 0.015) remained as risk factors of lung cancer. Generally, we found positive trend between consumption of beef (P = 0.002), bread (P < 0.0001), and dairy products (P < 0.0001) with lung cancer. In contrast, only fruits were inversely related to lung cancer (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: It seems that vegetables, fruits, and sunflower oil could be protective factors and bread, rice, beef, liver, dairy products, vegetable ghee, and animal ghee found to be possible risk factors for the development of lung cancer in Iran

Bayesian molecular clock dating of species divergences in the genomics era

It has been five decades since the proposal of the molecular clock hypothesis, which states that the rate of evolution at the molecular level is constant through time and among species. This hypothesis has become a powerful tool in evolutionary biology, making it possible to use molecular sequences to estimate the geological ages of species divergence events. With recent advances in Bayesian clock dating methodology and the explosive accumulation of genetic sequence data, molecular clock dating has found widespread applications, from tracking virus pandemics, to studying the macroevolutionary process of speciation and extinction, to estimating a timescale for Life on Earth

Establishment of the milk-borne transmission as a key factor for the peculiar endemicity of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1): the ATL Prevention Program Nagasaki

In late 2010, the nation-wide screening of pregnant women for human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection was implemented in Japan to prevent milk-borne transmission of HTLV-1. In the late 1970s, recognition of the adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) cluster in Kyushu, Japan, led to the discovery of the first human retrovirus, HTLV-1. In 1980, we started to investigate mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) for explaining the peculiar endemicity of HTLV-1. Retrospective and prospective epidemiological data revealed the MTCT rate at ∼20%. Cell-mediated transmission of HTLV-1 without prenatal infection suggested a possibility of milk-borne transmission. Common marmosets were successfully infected by oral inoculation of HTLV-1 harboring cells. A prefecture-wide intervention study to refrain from breast-feeding by carrier mothers, the ATL Prevention Program Nagasaki, was commenced in July 1987. It revealed a marked reduction of HTLV-1 MTCT by complete bottle-feeding from 20.3% to 2.5%, and a significantly higher risk of short-term breast-feeding (<6 months) than bottle-feeding (7.4% vs. 2.5%, P < 0.001)

Rapid Pathway Evolution Facilitated by Horizontal Gene Transfers across Prokaryotic Lineages

The evolutionary history of biological pathways is of general interest, especially in this post-genomic era, because it may provide clues for understanding how complex systems encoded on genomes have been organized. To explain how pathways can evolve de novo, some noteworthy models have been proposed. However, direct reconstruction of pathway evolutionary history both on a genomic scale and at the depth of the tree of life has suffered from artificial effects in estimating the gene content of ancestral species. Recently, we developed an algorithm that effectively reconstructs gene-content evolution without these artificial effects, and we applied it to this problem. The carefully reconstructed history, which was based on the metabolic pathways of 160 prokaryotic species, confirmed that pathways have grown beyond the random acquisition of individual genes. Pathway acquisition took place quickly, probably eliminating the difficulty in holding genes during the course of the pathway evolution. This rapid evolution was due to massive horizontal gene transfers as gene groups, some of which were possibly operon transfers, which would convey existing pathways but not be able to generate novel pathways. To this end, we analyzed how these pathways originally appeared and found that the original acquisition of pathways occurred more contemporaneously than expected across different phylogenetic clades. As a possible model to explain this observation, we propose that novel pathway evolution may be facilitated by bidirectional horizontal gene transfers in prokaryotic communities. Such a model would complement existing pathway evolution models

High-power laser experiment forming a supercritical collisionless shock in a magnetized uniform plasma at rest

We present a new experimental method to generate quasi-perpendicular supercritical magnetized collisionless shocks. In our experiment, ambient nitrogen (N) plasma is at rest and well-magnetized, and it has uniform mass density. The plasma is pushed by laser-driven ablation aluminum (Al) plasma. Streaked optical pyrometry and spatially resolved laser collective Thomson scattering clarify structures of plasma density and temperatures, which are compared with one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is indicated that just after the laser irradiation, the Al plasma is magnetized by a self-generated Biermann battery field, and the plasma slaps the incident N plasma. The compressed external field in the N plasma reflects N ions, leading to counter-streaming magnetized N flows. Namely we identify the edge of the reflected N ions. Such interacting plasmas form a magnetized collisionless shock

Identification of vertebra-like elements and their possible differentiation from sclerotomes in the hagfish

The hagfish, a group of extant jawless fish, are known to lack true vertebrae and, for this reason, have often been excluded from the group Vertebrata. However, it has yet to be conclusively shown whether hagfish lack all vertebra-like structures, and whether their somites follow developmental processes and patterning distinct from those in lampreys and gnathostomes. Here we report the presence of vertebra-like cartilages in the in-shore hagfish, Eptatretus burgeri. These elements arise as small nodules occupying anatomical positions comparable to those of gnathostome vertebrae. Examination of hagfish embryos suggests that the ventromedial portion of a somite transforms into mesenchymal cells that express cognates of Pax1/9 and Twist, strikingly similar to the pattern of sclerotome development in gnathostomes. We conclude that the vertebra-like elements in the hagfish are homologous to gnathostome vertebrae, implying that this animal underwent secondary reduction of vertebrae in most of the trunk

Identification of two novel breast cancer loci through large-scale genome-wide association study in the Japanese population

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified about 70 genomic loci associated with breast cancer. Owing to the complexity of linkage disequilibrium and environmental exposures in different populations, it is essential to perform regional GWAS for better risk prediction. This study aimed to investigate the genetic architecture and to assess common genetic risk model of breast cancer with 6,669 breast cancer patients and 21,930 female controls in the Japanese population. This GWAS identified 11 genomic loci that surpass genome-wide significance threshold of P < 5.0 × 10−8 with nine previously reported loci and two novel loci that include rs9862599 on 3q13.11 (ALCAM) and rs75286142 on 21q22.12 (CLIC6-RUNX1). Validation study was carried out with 981 breast cancer cases and 1,394 controls from the Aichi Cancer Center. Pathway analyses of GWAS signals identified association of dopamine receptor medicated signaling and protein amino acid deacetylation with breast cancer. Weighted genetic risk score showed that individuals who were categorized in the highest risk group are approximately 3.7 times more likely to develop breast cancer compared to individuals in the lowest risk group. This well-powered GWAS is a representative study to identify SNPs that are associated with breast cancer in the Japanese population

Genomic microsatellites identify shared Jewish ancestry intermediate between Middle Eastern and European populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genetic studies have often produced conflicting results on the question of whether distant Jewish populations in different geographic locations share greater genetic similarity to each other or instead, to nearby non-Jewish populations. We perform a genome-wide population-genetic study of Jewish populations, analyzing 678 autosomal microsatellite loci in 78 individuals from four Jewish groups together with similar data on 321 individuals from 12 non-Jewish Middle Eastern and European populations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We find that the Jewish populations show a high level of genetic similarity to each other, clustering together in several types of analysis of population structure. Further, Bayesian clustering, neighbor-joining trees, and multidimensional scaling place the Jewish populations as intermediate between the non-Jewish Middle Eastern and European populations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results support the view that the Jewish populations largely share a common Middle Eastern ancestry and that over their history they have undergone varying degrees of admixture with non-Jewish populations of European descent.</p

Genetic diversity and phylogeography of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) across Eurasia

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is one of the world's oldest cultivated cereals, with several lines of recent evidence indicating that it was grown in northern China from at least 10 000 cal bp. Additionally, a cluster of archaeobotanical records of P. miliaceum dated to at least 7000 cal bp exists in eastern Europe. These two centres of early records could either represent independent domestications or cross-continental movement of this cereal that would predate that of any other crop by some 2 millennia. Here, we analysed genetic diversity among 98 landrace accessions from across Eurasia using 16 microsatellite loci, to explore phylogeographic structure in the Old World range of this historically important crop. The major genetic split in the data divided the accessions into an eastern and a western grouping with an approximate boundary in northwestern China. A substantial number of accessions belonging to the ‘western’ genetic group were also found in northeastern China. Further resolution subdivided the western and eastern genepools into 2 and 4 clusters respectively, each showing clear geographic patterning. The genetic data are consistent with both the single and multiple domestication centre hypotheses and add specific detail to what these hypotheses would entail regarding the spread of broomcorn millet. Discrepancies exist between the predictions from the genetic data and the current archaeobotanical record, highlighting priorities for investigation into early farming in Central Asia