Role of hormonal risk factors in HER2-positive breast carcinomas

Examination of parity, age at menarche and at menopause by HER2 status in a large series of breast carcinomas showed a statistically significant increased-frequency of HER2-positive tumours in lower risk subgroups. The findings suggest a difference in the protective role of hormone-related risk factors between HER2-positive and -negative tumour

Coulomb's law modification in nonlinear and in noncommutative electrodynamics

We study the lowest-order modifications of the static potential for Born-Infeld electrodynamics and for the $\theta$-expanded version of the noncommutative U(1) gauge theory, within the framework of the gauge-invariant but path-dependent variables formalism. The calculation shows a long-range correction ($1/r^5$-type) to the Coulomb potential in Born-Infeld electrodynamics. However, the Coulomb nature of the potential (to order $e^2$) is preserved in noncommutative electrodynamics.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC PROCESSING AND FRUITION OF PRODUCTS IN OPEN-SOURCE ENVIRONMENT APPLIED TO THE CASE STUDY OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK OF POMPEII

Abstract. The paper presents the geomatic survey campaign carried out in the Domus V of Pompeii Archaeological site, the photogrammetric processing of the collected images and the following fruition of the deriving products deploying open-source software. Among all the produced results, the orthophotos of the vertical walls of one of the Domus V rooms are made available through a "master/slave" GIS environment, where each orthophoto is uploaded in a "slave" project whose visualization is triggered by querying the corresponding geometry representing the wall in the "master" project. This strategy allows to include the display of the third dimension, i.e., the altimetric one, within a traditional GIS environment, so to constitute a 3D GIS representation. This is particularly useful to realize a catalogue of all the archaeological site in the future to be viewed, queried and exploited also by non-specialists in geomatics or archaeology fields of knowledge

Noncommutative Electrodynamics

In this paper we define a causal Lorentz covariant noncommutative (NC) classical Electrodynamics. We obtain an explicit realization of the NC theory by solving perturbatively the Seiberg-Witten map. The action is polynomial in the field strenght $F$, allowing to preserve both causality and Lorentz covariance. The general structure of the Lagrangian is studied, to all orders in the perturbative expansion in the NC parameter $\theta$. We show that monochromatic plane waves are solutions of the equations of motion to all orders. An iterative method has been developed to solve the equations of motion and has been applied to the study of the corrections to the superposition law and to the Coulomb law.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, one reference adde

What if cancer survival in Britain were the same as in Europe: how many deaths are avoidable?

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the number of deaths among cancer patients diagnosed in Great Britain that would be avoidable within 5 years of diagnosis if the mean (or highest) survival in Europe for patients diagnosed during 1985-1989, 1990-1994 and 1995-1999 were achieved. DESIGN: Five-year relative survival for cancers in Great Britain compared with that from other countries in the EUROCARE-2, -3 and -4 studies. Calculation of excess deaths (those more than expected from mortality in the general population) that would be avoidable among cancer patients in Britain if relative survival were the same as in Europe. SETTING: Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland) and 13 other European countries. SUBJECTS: 2.8 million adults diagnosed in Britain with 1 of 39 cancers during 1985-1989 (followed up to 1994), 1990-1994 (followed up to 1999) and 1995-1999 (followed up to 2003). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Annual number of avoidable deaths within 5 years of diagnosis. Percentage of the excess (cancer-related) deaths among cancer patients that would be avoidable. RESULTS: Compared with the mean European 5-year relative survival, the largest numbers of avoidable deaths for patients diagnosed during 1985-1989 were for cancers of the breast (about 18% of the excess mortality from this cancer, 7541 deaths), prostate (14%, 4285), colon (9%, 4090), stomach (8%, 3483) and lung (2%, 3548). For 1990-1994, the largest numbers of avoidable deaths were for cancers of the prostate (20%, 7335), breast (15%, 6165), colon (9%, 4376), stomach (9%, 3672), lung (2%, 3735) and kidney (22%, 2644). For 1995-1999, most of the avoidable deaths were for cancers of the prostate (17%, 5758), breast (15%, 5475), lung (3%, 4923), colon (10%, 4295), stomach (9%, 3137) and kidney (21%, 2686).Overall, some 6600-7500 premature deaths would have been avoided each year among cancer patients diagnosed in Britain during 1985-1999 if the mean survival in Europe had been achieved. This represents 6-7% of cancer-related mortality. Compared with the highest European survival, avoidable premature mortality among cancer patients fell from about 12 800 deaths a year (12.2% of cancer-related mortality) to about 11 400 deaths a year (10.6%) over the same period.A large component of the avoidable mortality is due to prostate cancer: excluding this cancer from comparison with the European mean survival reduces the annual number of avoidable deaths by 1000-1500, and the percentage of excess mortality by up to 1%. Compared with the highest survival, the annual number of avoidable deaths would be 1500-2000 fewer, and 1-2% lower as a percentage of excess mortality, but the overall trend in avoidable premature mortality among cancer patients would be similar, falling from 11.4% (1985-1989) to 10.3% (1990-1994) and 9.7% for those diagnosed during 1995-1999.For several cancers, survival in Britain was slightly higher than the mean survival in Europe; this represented some 110-180 premature deaths avoided each year during the period 1985-2003. CONCLUSIONS: Avoidable premature mortality among cancer patients diagnosed in Britain during 1985-1999 has represented 6-7% of cancer-related mortality compared with the mean survival in Europe. Compared with the highest levels of survival in Europe, the reduction from 12.2% to 10.6% of cancer-related mortality reflects small but steady progress over the period 1985-2003

Chemotherapeutic Drugs and Mitochondrial Dysfunction: Focus on Doxorubicin, Trastuzumab, and Sunitinib.

Many cancer therapies produce toxic side effects whose molecular mechanisms await full elucidation. The most feared and studied side effect of chemotherapeutic drugs is cardiotoxicity. Also, skeletal muscle physiology impairment has been recorded after many chemotherapeutical treatments. However, only doxorubicin has been extensively studied for its side effects on skeletal muscle. Chemotherapeutic-induced adverse side effects are, in many cases, mediated by mitochondrial damage. In particular, trastuzumab and sunitinib toxicity is mainly associated with mitochondria impairment and is mostly reversible. Vice versa, doxorubicin-induced toxicity not only includes mitochondria damage but can also lead to a more robust and extensive cell injury which is often irreversible and lethal. Drugs interfering with mitochondrial functionality determine the depletion of ATP reservoirs and lead to subsequent reversible contractile dysfunction. Mitochondrial damage includes the impairment of the respiratory chain and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential with subsequent disruption of cellular energetic. In a context of increased stress, AMPK has a key role in maintaining energy homeostasis, and inhibition of the AMPK pathway is one of the proposed mechanisms possibly mediating mitochondrial toxicity due to chemotherapeutics. Therapies targeting and protecting cell metabolism and energy management might be useful tools in protecting muscular tissues against the toxicity induced by chemotherapeutic drugs

Metabolic syndrome and postmenopausal breast cancer in the ORDET cohort : a nested case-control study

Background and aims: The increase in breast cancer incidence over recent decades has been accompanied by an increase in the frequency of metabolic syndrome. Several studies suggest that breast cancer risk is associated with the components of metabolic syndrome (high serum glucose and triglycerides, low HDL-cholesterol, high blood pressure, and abdominal obesity), but no prospective study has investigated risk in relation to the presence of explicitly defined metabolic syndrome. We investigated associations between metabolic syndrome, its components, and breast cancer risk in a nested case-control study on postmenopausal women of the ORDET cohort. Methods and results: After a median follow-up of 13.5 years, 163 women developed breast cancer; metabolic syndrome was present in 29.8%. Four matched controls per case were selected by incidence density sampling, and rate ratios were estimated by conditional logistic regression. Metabolic syndrome (i.e. presence of three or more metabolic syndrome components) was significantly associated with breast cancer risk (rate ratio 1.58 [95% confidence interval 1.07-2.33]), with a significant risk increase for increasing number of components (P for trend 0.004). Among individual metabolic syndrome components, only low serum HDL-cholesterol and high triglycerides were significantly associated with increased risk. Conclusions: This prospective study indicates that metabolic syndrome is an important risk factor for breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Although serum HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides had the strongest association with breast cancer, all components may contribute to increased risk by multiple interacting mechanisms. Prevention or reversal of metabolic syndrome by life-style changes may be effective in preventing breast cancer in postmenopausal women