BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2011-2012

Presents the latest national statistics on BreastScreen, which aims to reduce illness and death resulting from breast cancer through organised screening to detect cases of unsuspected breast cancer in women, thus enabling early intervention. Summary BreastScreen Australia aims to reduce illness and death resulting from breast cancer through organised screening to detect cases of unsuspected breast cancer in women, thus enabling early intervention. Women aged 40 and over are eligible for free 2-yearly mammograms. This report is the latest in the BreastScreen Australia monitoring report series, which is published annually to provide regular monitoring of national participation and performance for BreastScreen Australia. The report provides data for the 2011-2012 period of participation in BreastScreen Australia, as well as the latest available data on incidence and mortality. The following statistics refer to the latest data available for women aged 50-69*. *As part of the 2013-14 Federal Budget, the Australian Government committed $55.7 million over 4 years to expand BreastScreen Australia\u27s target age range from 50-69 to 50-74. This report includes data from women screened when BreastScreen Australia actively targeted women aged 50-69. How many women were diagnosed with, or died from, breast cancer? In 2010, there were 7,449 new cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in Australian women aged 50-69. This is equivalent to 300 new cases per 100,000 women, and makes breast cancer the most common cancer affecting Australian women. Incidence has remained steady at around 300 per 100,000 women for over a decade. In 2011, a total of 1,130 women aged 50-69 died from breast cancer, equivalent to 44 deaths per 100,000 women. This is similar to the rate for 2010, and makes breast cancer the second most common cause of cancer-related death for Australian women. Breast cancer mortality fell from 68 deaths per 100,000 women in the target age range in 1991 (when BreastScreen Australia began) to 44 per 100,000 women in 2011. Incidence of breast cancer was lower for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women than for non-Indigenous women (221 compared with 266 new cases per 100,000 women), but mortality from breast cancer was higher (52 compared with 44 deaths per 100,000 women). How many women participated in BreastScreen Australia? In 2011-2012, more than 1.4 million women aged 50-69 had a screening mammogram through BreastScreen Australia, a participation rate of 55% for the target age group. This was unchanged from participation rates in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. Participation of Indigenous women was lower-38% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the population participated compared with 54% of non-Indigenous women. How many women were recalled for further investigation? In 2012, 11% of women screening for the first time were recalled for further investigation; 3% of women attending subsequent screens were recalled. These are similar to rates for 2011. How many women had a small breast cancer detected? Small breast cancers (≤15 mm in diameter) are associated with better treatment options and improved survival. A high proportion of invasive breast cancers detected were small in 2012: 47% of invasive breast cancers detected in those attending their first screen, and 61% in those attending subsequent screens. These are similar to the figures for 2011

Place in ageing: the housing experiences of older Chinese immigrants in New Zealand

"Ageing in place" has gained dominance in policy worldwide for more than one and a half decades. This paper explores the significance of place in ageing, in particular within the context of globalisation and immigration. In order to promote the value and participation of older ethnic people in communities, the New Zealand Government has acknowledged cultural diversity in ageing in place policies. However, the concept of ageing in place is based predominantly on middle-class and Euro-centric values. The policies based on such understandings may not be as applicable to the ethnic Chinese. Moreover, ageing in place policies sometimes simply appear to ignore the fact that cultural norms (such as parent-child co-residence in the filial piety practice) may have changed when the migrant is affected by acculturation processes in a Western cultural context. These issues indicate that more culturally attuned research is needed about ageing in place among older Chinese immigrants. Using a Chinese case study conducted in New Zealand, the present research is designed to explore older Chinese migrants’ experiences of ageing in place. This paper answers the following research questions: 1) why did the participants immigrate to New Zealand; 2) were they relatively permanently settled; 3) why they moved; and 4) what are their current living arrangements

Mixture including hydrogen and hydrocarbon having pressure-temperature stability

The invention relates to a method of storing hydrogen that employs a mixture of hydrogen and a hydrocarbon that can both be used as fuel. In one embodiment, the method involves maintaining a mixture including hydrogen and a hydrocarbon in the solid state at ambient pressure and a temperature in excess of about 10 K

Cultures of success : how elite students develop and realise aspirations to study medicine

Despite decades of policies to widen participation in medical degrees, students selected for Medicine continue to reflect a socially elite group, rather than the diversity of the communities that graduates will serve. While research has documented experiences of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, this paper examines the “cultures of success” that enable advantaged students to gain entry to medical school. It documents how these students’ school and home environments enable the development and realisation of “aspirational capacity”. Aspirational capacity is not just about having a dream, but also the resources and knowledge to realise one’s dream. The paper also examines a negative side of a narrow aspirational focus. “Aspirational constriction” describes the premature foreclosure of career ambitions, which can have negative implications for both the students and for society, and for less advantaged students, who are effectively excluded from degrees such as Medicine

Rethinking Sterilization Practices: Evidence for Event‐Related Outdating

A prospective study was conducted during a 2‐year period to evaluate the effectiveness of event‐related outdating. Hospitalprepared sterilized items (n = 152) were shelved in wards and every 3 months, several articles were retrieved and microbiologically tested. During the 2‐year period, all of the items tested were sterile

Fear Extinction to an Out-Group Face: The Role of Target Gender

Conditioning studies on humans and other primates show that fear responses acquired toward danger-relevant stimuli, such as snakes, resist extinction, whereas responses toward danger-irrelevant stimuli, such as birds, are more readily extinguished. Similar evolved biases may extend to human groups, as recent research demonstrates that a conditioned fear response to faces of persons of a social out-group resists extinction, whereas fear toward a social in-group is more readily extinguished. Here, we provide an important extension to previous work by demonstrating that this fear-extinction bias occurs solely when the exemplars are male. These results underscore the importance of considering how gender of the target stimulus affects psychological and physiological responses to out-group threat.Psycholog

Ceiling paintings in the Mogao cave-temples.

The study of the Mogao caves at Dunhuang has been done largely by the Dunhuang Institute, Wen-wu yan-jiu-suo, (abbreviated hereafter as Yan-jiu-suo). The majority of these caves have been dated by the Yan-jiu-suo. Many of the caves however are attributed only to 'Early Tang', 'Floruit Tang' or even vaguely as 'Tang'. The purpose of this thesis is to advance an alternative system of dating based upon the study of the decorative motifs and their schematic arrangement on the ceilings of the caves. But the present study does not aim at a complete survey of all the ceiling designs. Only those with marked changes in design are selected to provide a representative example of the chronology. The first chapter gives an account of the general history of the series of Mogao caves, known also as the Qin-fo-dong, or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, and is followed by a review of current work on the subject. The second chapter groups the ceilings into two categories and gives a catalogue of the thirty-five selected ceiling designs. The third chapter consists studies of 3 major motifs in comparison with those appearing at other sites and on various artifacts. The fourth chapter deals with the schematic layout and the evolution of the ceiling designs. The fifth chapter points out particular caves where the accepted dating may call for revision, and gives a conclusion. Three circumstances affecting the history of the ceilings in general emerge from the study. The individual motifs are drawn not only from the religious repertory, but also from secular art of metropolitan China and thus reflect the inter- communication between the two areas. The ceiling designs as complete patterns were not however adopted in metropolitan China, and remained provincial, confined to North-west China. There is strong evidence suggesting the use of pattern books or stencils shared by painters when decorating the ceilings

Contribution of hepatic organic anion-transporting polypeptides to docetaxel uptake and clearance

The antimicrotubular agent docetaxel is a widely used chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of multiple solid tumors and is predominantly dependent on hepatic disposition. In this study, we evaluated drug uptake transporters capable of transporting radiolabeled docetaxel. By screening an array of drug uptake transporters in HeLa cells using a recombinant vacciniabased method, five organic anion-transporting polypeptides (OATP) capable of docetaxel uptake were identified: OATP1A2, OATP1B1, OATP1B3, OATP1C1, and Oatp1b2. Kinetic analysis of docetaxel transport revealed similar kinetic parameters among hepatic OATP1B/1b transporters. An assessment of polymorphisms (SNPs) in SLCO1B1 and SLCO1B3 revealed that a number of OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 variants were associated with impaired docetaxel transport. A Transwell-based vectorial transport assay using MDCKII stable cells showed that docetaxel was transported significantly into the apical compartment of double-transfected (MDCKII-OATP1B1/MDR1 and MDCKII-OATP1B3/MDR1) cells compared with singletransfected (MDCKII-OATP1B1 and MDCKII-OATP1B3) cells (P \u3c 0.05) or control (MDCKII-Co) cells (P \u3c 0.001). In vivo docetaxel transport studies in Slco1b2-/- mice showed approximately \u3e5.5-fold higher plasma concentrations (P \u3c 0.01) and approximately 3-fold decreased liver-to-plasma ratio (P \u3c 0.05) of docetaxel compared with wild-type (WT) mice. The plasma clearance of docetaxel in Slco1b2-/- mice was 83% lower than WT mice (P \u3c 0.05). In conclusion, this study demonstrates the important roles of OATP1B transporters to the hepatic disposition and clearance of docetaxel, and supporting roles of these transporters for docetaxel pharmacokinetics

Mother-child histocompatibility and risk of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus among mothers.

The study objective was to test the hypothesis that having histocompatible children increases the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), possibly by contributing to the persistence of fetal cells acquired during pregnancy. We conducted a case control study using data from the UC San Francisco Mother Child Immunogenetic Study and studies at the Inova Translational Medicine Institute. We imputed human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles and minor histocompatibility antigens (mHags). We created a variable of exposure to histocompatible children. We estimated an average sequence similarity matching (SSM) score for each mother based on discordant mother-child alleles as a measure of histocompatibility. We used logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals. A total of 138 RA, 117 SLE, and 913 control mothers were analyzed. Increased risk of RA was associated with having any child compatible at HLA-B (OR 1.9; 1.2-3.1), DPB1 (OR 1.8; 1.2-2.6) or DQB1 (OR 1.8; 1.2-2.7). Compatibility at mHag ZAPHIR was associated with reduced risk of SLE among mothers carrying the HLA-restriction allele B*07:02 (n = 262; OR 0.4; 0.2-0.8). Our findings support the hypothesis that mother-child histocompatibility is associated with risk of RA and SLE