Subsequent female breast cancer risk associated with anthracycline chemotherapy for childhood cancer.

Anthracycline-based chemotherapy is associated with increased subsequent breast cancer (SBC) risk in female childhood cancer survivors, but the current evidence is insufficient to support early breast cancer screening recommendations for survivors treated with anthracyclines. In this study, we pooled individual patient data of 17,903 survivors from six well-established studies, of whom 782 (4.4%) developed a SBC, and analyzed dose-dependent effects of individual anthracycline agents on developing SBC and interactions with chest radiotherapy. A dose-dependent increased SBC risk was seen for doxorubicin (hazard ratio (HR) per 100 mg m-2: 1.24, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18-1.31), with more than twofold increased risk for survivors treated with ≥200 mg m-2 cumulative doxorubicin dose versus no doxorubicin (HR: 2.50 for 200-299 mg m-2, HR: 2.33 for 300-399 mg m-2 and HR: 2.78 for ≥400 mg m-2). For daunorubicin, the associations were not statistically significant. Epirubicin was associated with increased SBC risk (yes/no, HR: 3.25, 95% CI: 1.59-6.63). For patients treated with or without chest irradiation, HRs per 100 mg m-2 of doxorubicin were 1.11 (95% CI: 1.02-1.21) and 1.26 (95% CI: 1.17-1.36), respectively. Our findings support that early initiation of SBC surveillance may be reasonable for survivors who received ≥200 mg m-2 cumulative doxorubicin dose and should be considered in SBC surveillance guidelines for survivors and future treatment protocols

Cohort profile: Risk and risk factors for female breast cancer after treatment for childhood and adolescent cancer: an internationally pooled cohort.

PURPOSE The International Consortium for Pooled Studies on Subsequent Malignancies after Childhood and Adolescent Cancer was established in 2018 to address gaps in knowledge of risk and risk factors for breast cancer subsequent to childhood/adolescent cancer by pooling individual patient data from seven cohorts. Initially, the pooled cohort will focus on three clinically relevant questions regarding treatment-related subsequent breast cancer risk in female survivors, which are the risk related to low-dose radiotherapy exposure to the chest, specific chemotherapy agents and attained age. PARTICIPANTS The consortium database includes pooled data on 21 892 female survivors from seven cohorts in North America and Europe with a primary cancer diagnosis at <21 years of age, and survival ≥5 years from diagnosis. FINDINGS TO DATE This is a newly established pooled study. The cohort profile summarised the data collected from each included cohort, including childhood cancer diagnosis information and treatment details (ie, radiotherapy fields and cumulative doses, and chemotherapy agents and cumulative doses for each agent). Included cohorts' follow-up started 1951-1981 and ended 2013-2021, respectively, for a median follow-up duration of 24.3 (IQR 18.0-32.8) years since primary cancer diagnosis. The median age at primary cancer diagnosis was 5.4 (IQR 2.5-11.9) years. And the median attained age at last follow-up was 32.2 (IQR 24.0-40.4) years. In all, 4240 (19.4%) survivors were treated with radiotherapy to the chest and 9308 (42.5%) with anthracyclines. At the end of the follow-up, 835 females developed a first subsequent breast cancer, including 635 invasive breast cancer only, 184 carcinomas in situ only (172 ductal carcinomas in situ and 12 lobular carcinomas in situ), and 16 with both an invasive and in situ diagnosis at the same moment. The cumulative incidences of subsequent breast cancer (both invasive and in situ) 25 and 35 years after primary cancer diagnosis were 2.2% and 6.2%, respectively. FUTURE PLANS The consortium is intended to serve as a model and robust source of childhood/adolescent cancer survivor data for elucidating other knowledge gaps on subsequent breast cancer risk, and risk of other subsequent malignancies (including data on males) in the future

Performance analysis of priority queueing systems in discrete time

The integration of different types of traffic in packet-based networks spawns the need for traffic differentiation. In this tutorial paper, we present some analytical techniques to tackle discrete-time queueing systems with priority scheduling. We investigate both preemptive (resume and repeat) and non-preemptive priority scheduling disciplines. Two classes of traffic are considered, high-priority and low-priority traffic, which both generate variable-length packets. A probability generating functions approach leads to performance measures such as moments of system contents and packet delays of both classes

Understanding Marine Mussel Adhesion

In addition to identifying the proteins that have a role in underwater adhesion by marine mussels, research efforts have focused on identifying the genes responsible for the adhesive proteins, environmental factors that may influence protein production, and strategies for producing natural adhesives similar to the native mussel adhesive proteins. The production-scale availability of recombinant mussel adhesive proteins will enable researchers to formulate adhesives that are water-impervious and ecologically safe and can bind materials ranging from glass, plastics, metals, and wood to materials, such as bone or teeth, biological organisms, and other chemicals or molecules. Unfortunately, as of yet scientists have been unable to duplicate the processes that marine mussels use to create adhesive structures. This study provides a background on adhesive proteins identified in the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, and introduces our research interests and discusses the future for continued research related to mussel adhesion

Mouse models to unravel the role of inhaled pollutants on allergic sensitization and airway inflammation

Air pollutant exposure has been linked to a rise in wheezing illnesses. Clinical data highlight that exposure to mainstream tobacco smoke (MS) and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) as well as exposure to diesel exhaust particles (DEP) could promote allergic sensitization or aggravate symptoms of asthma, suggesting a role for these inhaled pollutants in the pathogenesis of asthma. Mouse models are a valuable tool to study the potential effects of these pollutants in the pathogenesis of asthma, with the opportunity to investigate their impact during processes leading to sensitization, acute inflammation and chronic disease. Mice allow us to perform mechanistic studies and to evaluate the importance of specific cell types in asthma pathogenesis. In this review, the major clinical effects of tobacco smoke and diesel exhaust exposure regarding to asthma development and progression are described. Clinical data are compared with findings from murine models of asthma and inhalable pollutant exposure. Moreover, the potential mechanisms by which both pollutants could aggravate asthma are discussed

Commercial products for osteochondral tissue repair and regeneration

The osteochondral tissue represents a complex structure composed of four interconnected structures, namely hyaline cartilage, a thin layer of calcified cartilage, subchondral bone, and cancellous bone. Due to the several difficulties associated with its repair and regeneration, researchers have developed several studies aiming to restore the native tissue, some of which had led to tissue-engineered commercial products. In this sense, this chapter discusses the good manufacturing practices, regulatory medical conditions and challenges on clinical translations that should be fulfilled regarding the safety and efficacy of the new commercialized products. Furthermore, we review the current osteochondral products that are currently being marketed and applied in the clinical setting, emphasizing the advantages and difficulties of each one.FROnTHERA (NORTE-01-0145- FEDER-000023), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The authors would also like to acknowledge H2020-MSCA-RISE program, as this work is part of developments carried out in BAMOS project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement N° 734156. The financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the program Investigador FCT 2012 and 2015 (IF/00423/2012 and IF/01285/2015)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Journalism

While there were women journalists from the eighteenth century onwards their numbers grew substantially in the course of the nineteenth century. Women wrote mainly anonymously or pseudonymously, so the exact numbers of women actively involved in journalism are unknown, but they succeeded to prove themselves at every stage of the production of the printed press. The – largely imagined – huge numbers of this growing yet hidden community was felt as threatening to the professional male journalist who reacted by presenting women journalists as unskilled and unschooled and produced unattractive caricatures of the professional woman journalist so as to put off aspiring women writers. At the same time women reacted by producing informative manuals and clamoring for a better education, but, especially, by organizing themselves and establishing professional societies. By the beginning of the twentieth century the woman journalist was a fait accompli