Dietary vitamin D and cancers of the oral cavity and esophagus

Background: Data on the association between vitamin D and upper digestive tract neoplasms are limited. Methods: In two case-control studies in Italy, we examined the relation between dietary vitamin D intake and squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus (SCCE; 304 cases) and oral/pharyngeal cancer (804 cases). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by multiple logistic regression. Results: Adjusted ORs for SCCE and oral/pharyngeal cancer were 0.58 (95% CI 0.39-0.86) and 0.76 (95% CI 0.60-0.94), respectively, for the highest tertile of vitamin D intake. Using a reference group of those in the highest tertile of vitamin D who were never/former smokers, ORs were 8.7 (95% CI 4.1-18.7) for SCCE and 10.4 (95% CI 6.9-15.5) for oral/pharyngeal cancer among heavy smokers in the lowest vitamin D tertile; similarly, compared with those in the highest tertile of vitamin D who drank <3 alcoholic drinks/day, corresponding ORs were 41.9 (95% CI 13.7-128.6) for SCCE and 8.5 (95% CI 5.7-12.5) for oral/pharyngeal cancer, among heavy alcohol drinkers in the lowest vitamin D tertile. Conclusion: We observed inverse associations between dietary vitamin D intake and risk of SCCE and, perhaps, oral/pharyngeal cancer, which were most pronounced among heavy current smokers and heavy consumers of alcoho

Energy, macronutrients and laryngeal cancer risk

Background: A role for diet in laryngeal carcinogenesis has been suggested, but only a few studies have examined the potential relationship with a wide variety of macronutrients. Patients and methods: A case-control study was conducted between 1992 and 2000 in Italy and Switzerland, including 527 incident cases of laryngeal cancer, and 1297 controls hospitalized for acute, non-neoplastic conditions. The subjects' usual diet was investigated through a validated food frequency questionnaire, including 78 foods and beverages. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using unconditional multiple logistic regression models. Results: Cases reported higher energy intake than controls. The continuous OR for 100 kcal/day was 1.16 (95% CI 1.12-1.21) for alcohol energy, and 1.02 (95% CI 1.01-1.04) for non-alcohol energy. A significantly increased risk of laryngeal cancer was observed for animal protein (continuous OR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.03-1.41), polyunsaturated fats other than linoleic and linolenic fatty acids (OR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.19-1.70), and cholesterol intake (OR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.19-1.71). Laryngeal cancer risk was slightly reduced with increasing vegetable protein (OR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.62-0.91), sugar (OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.71-1.00) and monounsaturated fatty acid intake (OR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.70-0.99). Conclusions: Laryngeal cancer cases have a higher energy intake than control subjects, and report a higher intake of animal protein and cholestero

Geometric invariant theory approach to the determination of ground states of D-wave condensates in isotropic space

A complete and rigorous determination of the possible ground states for D-wave pairing Bose condensates is presented, using a geometrical invariant theory approach to the problem. The order parameter is argued to be a vector, transforming according to a ten dimensional real representation of the group $G=${\bf O}$_3\otimes${\bf U}$_1\times$. We determine the equalities and inequalities defining the orbit space of this linear group and its symmetry strata, which are in a one-to-one correspondence with the possible distinct phases of the system. We find 15 allowed phases (besides the unbroken one), with different symmetries, that we thoroughly determine. The group-subgroup relations between bordering phases are pointed out. The perturbative sixth degree corrections to the minimum of a fourth degree polynomial $G$-invariant free energy, calculated by Mermin, are also determined.Comment: 27 revtex pages, 2 figures, use of texdraw; minor changes in the bibliography and in Table II

Nutrient-based dietary patterns and the risk of head and neck cancer: a pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium

Background The association between dietary patterns and head and neck cancer has rarely been addressed. Patients and methods We used individual-level pooled data from five case-control studies (2452 cases and 5013 controls) participating in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium. A posteriori dietary patterns were identified through a principal component factor analysis carried out on 24 nutrients derived from study-specific food-frequency questionnaires. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using unconditional logistic regression models on quintiles of factor scores. Results We identified three major dietary patterns named ‘animal products and cereals', ‘antioxidant vitamins and fiber', and ‘fats'. The ‘antioxidant vitamins and fiber' pattern was inversely related to oral and pharyngeal cancer (OR= 0.57, 95% CI 0.43-0.76 for the highest versus the lowest score quintile). The ‘animal products and cereals' pattern was positively associated with laryngeal cancer (OR= 1.54, 95% CI 1.12-2.11), whereas the ‘fats' pattern was inversely associated with oral and pharyngeal cancer (OR= 0.78, 95% CI 0.63-0.97) and positively associated with laryngeal cancer (OR= 1.69, 95% CI 1.22-2.34). Conclusions These findings suggest that diets rich in animal products, cereals, and fats are positively related to laryngeal cancer, and those rich in fruit and vegetables inversely related to oral and pharyngeal cance

The inflammatory response in transgastric surgery: gastric content leak leads to localized inflammatory response and higher adhesive disease

Risk of gastric spillage during transgastric surgery is a potential complication of NOTES procedures. The aim of this study was to determine risk outcomes from gastric spillage in a rat survival model by measuring local and systemic inflammatory markers, adhesive disease, and morbidity. We performed a minilaparotomy with needle aspiration of 2 ml of gastric contents mixed with 2 ml of sterile saline (study group, SG) or 4 ml of sterile saline (control group, CG) injected into the peritoneal cavity of 60 male rats. Inflammatory markers (TNFα, IL-6, and IL-10) were analyzed at 1, 3, 6, and 24 h postoperatively by obtaining plasma levels and peritoneal washings. At necropsy, the peritoneal cavity was examined grossly for adhesions. Adhesions were seen more frequently in the SG versus the CG (100% vs. 33.3%, p &lt; 0.014). There was a significant difference in the peritoneal TNFα levels in the SG compared with the CG, which peaked 1 h after surgery (p &lt; 0.02). Both peritoneal IL-6 and IL-10 levels were higher in the SG versus the CG, which peaked 3 h after surgery (p &lt; 0.005 and p &lt; 0.001, respectively). All peritoneal inflammatory markers returned to undetectable levels at 24 h for both groups. Plasma cytokines were undetectable at all time intervals. The inflammatory response was found to be a localized and not systemic event, with plasma cytokine levels remaining normal while peritoneal washings revealed a brisk, short-lived localized inflammatory response. There was a significantly higher rate of adhesive disease in the SG compared with the CG; this, however did not translate into a difference in apparent clinical outcome. We conclude that gastric leakage in this NOTES rodent model induces a localized inflammatory response, followed by mild to moderate adhesive disease. This may be important in human NOTES

Medical image colorization for better visualization and segmentation

Medical images contain precious anatomical information for clinical procedures. Improved understanding of medical modality may contribute significantly in arena of medical image analysis. This paper investigates enhancement of monochromatic medical modality into colorized images. Improving the contrast of anatomical structures facilitates precise segmentation. The proposed framework starts with pre-processing to remove noise and improve edge information. Then colour information is embedded to each pixel of a subject image. A resulting image has a potential to portray better anatomical information than a conventional monochromatic image. To evaluate the performance of colorized medical modality, the structural similarity index and the peak signal to noise ratio are computed. Supremacy of proposed colorization is validated by segmentation experiments and compared with greyscale monochromatic images

Nucleotide excision repair gene variants and association with survival in osteosarcoma patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of common polymorphisms in the NER pathway genes in the tumorigenesis of osteosarcoma and in the response to DNA damaging therapies, such as cisplatin-based neoadjuvant therapy. XPD (rs13181 and rs1799793), XPG (rs17655), and ERCC1 (rs3212986 and rs11615) polymorphisms were analysed in a group of 130 homogenously-treated patients with high-grade osteosarcoma for association with event free survival (EFS) using Kaplan-Meier plots and log-rank test. A positive association was observed between both XPD SNPs and an increased EFS (HR= 0.34, 95% CI 0.12-0.98 and HR= 0.19, 95% CI 0.05-0.77, respectively). We had also performed a case-control study for relative risk to develop osteosarcoma. Patients carrying at least one variant allele of XPD rs1799793 had a reduced risk of developing osteosarcoma compared to wild type patients (OR=0.55, 95% CI 0.36-0.84).This study suggests that XPD rs1799793 could be a marker of osteosarcoma associated with features conferring either a better prognosis or a better outcome after platinum therapy, or both

Fitase - ferramenta de sustentabilidade do frango de corte.

Resumo: Recursos que permitam reduzir o custo alimentar e que não alterem significativamente o desempenho das aves podem ser a grande estratégia disponível às indústrias para a viabilidade financeira. Este estudo, englobando as fases de criação e abate, demonstra ser possível uma economia de R$ 1,00/frango abatido, através do uso de fitase em elevadas doses e adotando matriz nutricional arrojada, alcançando assim maior sustentabilidade econômica

Annotated plant pathology databases for image-based detection and recognition of diseases.

Over the last few years, considerable effort has been spent by Embrapa in the construction of a plant disease database representative enough for the development of effective methods for automatic plant disease detection and recognition. In October of 2016, this database, called PDDB, had 2326 images of 171 diseases and other disorders affecting 21 plant species. PDDB size, although considerable, is not enough to allow the use of powerful techniques such as deep learning. In order to increase its size, each image was subdivided according to certain criteria, increasing the number of images to 46,513. Both the original (PDDB) and subdivided (XDB)databases are now being made freely available for academic research purposes, thus supporting new studies and contributing to speed up the advances in the area. Both collections are expected to grow continuously in order to expand their reach. PDDB and XDB can be accessed in the link https://www.digipathos-rep.cnptia.embrapa.br/.Na publicação: B. A. Halfeld-Vieira, R. V. Costa, K. L. Nechet, S. A. S. Oliveira