Long-term follow-up of patients treated with radiotherapy alone for early-stage histologically aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Historically localised aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) has been treated with involved field radiotherapy (RT), chemotherapy, or a combination of both modalities. The current weight of evidence supports a preference for combined modality treatment (CMT). Increased patient age at diagnosis is well recognised as a poor prognostic indicator in NHL, but despite this some perceive CMT as too toxic for use in the elderly. As a result, some older patients continue to be offered RT alone. Here, we present long-term follow-up of 377 adults of all ages treated with RT alone for early-stage diffuse large-cell lymphoma on British National Lymphoma Investigation trials between 1974 and 1997. 10-year cause-specific survival in patients older than 60 years was poor and significantly inferior to that in younger patients (47 and 75% respectively; P<0.001). There is growing evidence that short-course chemotherapy, with or without RT, is superior to RT alone in early-stage aggressive NHL, in elderly as well as in younger patients. Increased age alone should not exclude patients from systemic treatment for early-stage aggressive NHL

The consolidation of implicit sequence memory in obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Syndrome is a relatively frequent sleep disorder characterized by disrupted sleep patterns. It is a well-established fact that sleep has beneficial effect on memory consolidation by enhancing neural plasticity. Implicit sequence learning is a prominent component of skill learning. However, the formation and consolidation of this fundamental learning mechanism remains poorly understood in OSA. In the present study we examined the consolidation of different aspects of implicit sequence learning in patients with OSA. We used the Alternating Serial Reaction Time task to measure general skill learning and sequence-specific learning. There were two sessions: a learning phase and a testing phase, separated by a 10-hour offline period with sleep. Our data showed differences in offline changes of general skill learning between the OSA and control group. The control group demonstrated offline improvement from evening to morning, while the OSA group did not. In contrast, we did not observe differences between the groups in offline changes in sequence-specific learning. Our findings suggest that disrupted sleep in OSA differently affects neural circuits involved in the consolidation of sequence learning

The DCDC2 deletion is not a risk factor for dyslexia

Dyslexia is a specific impairment in learning to read and has strong heritability. An intronic deletion within the DCDC2 gene, with ~8% frequency in European populations, is increasingly used as a marker for dyslexia in neuroimaging and behavioral studies. At a mechanistic level, this deletion has been proposed to influence sensory processing capacity, and in particular sensitivity to visual coherent motion. Our re-assessment of the literature, however, did not reveal strong support for a role of this specific deletion in dyslexia. We also analyzed data from five distinct cohorts, enriched for individuals with dyslexia, and did not identify any signal indicative of associations for the DCDC2 deletion with reading-related measures, including in a combined sample analysis (N=526). We believe we conducted the first replication analysis for a proposed deletion effect on visual motion perception and found no association (N=445 siblings). We also report that the DCDC2 deletion has a frequency of 37.6% in a cohort representative of the general population recruited in Hong Kong (N=220). This figure, together with a lack of association between the deletion and reading abilities in this cohort, indicates the low likelihood of a direct deletion effect on reading skills. Therefore, on the basis of multiple strands of evidence, we conclude that the DCDC2 deletion is not a strong risk factor for dyslexia. Our analyses and literature re-evaluation are important for interpreting current developments within multidisciplinary studies of dyslexia and, more generally, contribute to current discussions about the importance of reproducibility in science

Antioxidants and breast cancer risk- a population-based case-control study in Canada

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The effect of antioxidants on breast cancer is still controversial. Our objective was to assess the association between antioxidants and breast cancer risk in a large population-based case-control study.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study population included 2,362 cases with pathologically confirmed incident breast cancer (866 premenopausal and 1,496 postmenopausal) and 2,462 controls in Canada. Intakes of antioxidants from diet and from supplementation as well as other potential risk factors for breast cancer were collected by a self-reported questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared with subjects with no supplementation, 10 years or longer supplementation of zinc had multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of 0.46 (0.25-0.85) for premenopausal women, while supplementation of 10 years or longer of multiple vitamin, beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc had multivariable-adjusted ORs (95% CIs) of 0.74 (0.59, 0.92), 0.58 (0.36, 0.95), 0.79 (0.63-0.99), 0.75 (0.58, 0.97), and 0.47 (0.28-0.78), respectively, for postmenopausal women. No significant effect of antioxidants from dietary sources (including beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and zinc) or from supplementation less than 10 years was observed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study suggests that supplementation of zinc in premenopausal women, and supplementation of multiple vitamin, beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc in postmenopausal women for 10 or more years may protect women from developing breast cancer. However, we were unable to determine the overall effect of total dose or intake from both diet and supplement.</p