Classification and incidence of cancers in adolescents and young adults in England 1979–1997

Cancer patients aged 15–24 years have distinct special needs. High quality cancer statistics are required for service planning. Data presented by primary site are inappropriate for this age group. We have developed a morphology-based classification and applied it to national cancer registration data for England 1979–1997. The study included 25 000 cancers and 134 million person–years at risk. Rates for each diagnostic group by age, sex and time period (1979–83, 1984–87, 1988–92, 1993–1997) were calculated. Overall rates in 15–19 and 20–24-year-olds were 144 and 226 per million person–years respectively. Lymphomas showed the highest rates in both age groups. Rates for leukaemias and bone tumours were lower in 20–24 year olds. Higher rates for carcinomas, central nervous system tumours, germ-cell tumours, soft tissue sarcomas and melanoma were seen in the older group. Poisson regression showed incidence increased over the study period by an average of 1.5% per annum (P<0.0001). Significant increases were seen in non-Hodgkins lymphoma (2.3%), astrocytoma (2.3%), germ-cell tumours (2.3%), melanoma (5.1%) and carcinoma of the thyroid (3.5%) and ovary (3.0%). Cancers common in the elderly are uncommon in adolescents and young adults. The incidence of certain cancers in the latter is increasing. Future studies should be directed towards aetiology

Unraveling infectious structures, strain variants and species barriers for the yeast prion [PSI+]

Prions are proteins that can access multiple conformations, at least one of which is beta-sheet rich, infectious and self-perpetuating in nature. These infectious proteins show several remarkable biological activities, including the ability to form multiple infectious prion conformations, also known as strains or variants, encoding unique biological phenotypes, and to establish and overcome prion species (transmission) barriers. In this Perspective, we highlight recent studies of the yeast prion [PSI+], using various biochemical and structural methods, that have begun to illuminate the molecular mechanisms by which self-perpetuating prions encipher such biological activities. We also discuss several aspects of prion conformational change and structure that remain either unknown or controversial, and we propose approaches to accelerate the understanding of these enigmatic, infectious conformers

Imaging findings in noncraniofacial childhood rhabdomyosarcoma

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft-tissue sarcoma of childhood. This paper is focuses on imaging for diagnosis, staging, and follow-up of noncraniofacial RMS

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion