177 research outputs found

    ANALYTICAL SOLUTION OF THE RELATIVISTIC KLEIN-GORDON WAVE EQUATION

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    In this study, the solution to Klein-Gordon equations with focus on analytical methods is discussed. The analytical methods used in this research are the Variational Iteration Method (VIM) developed by Ji-Huan He, Adomian Decomposition Method (ADM) by Adomian and New Iterative Method (NIM) developed by Daftardar Gejji and Jafari. The modified Adomian Decomposition method by Wazwaz was used to solve the linear inhomogeneous and nonlinear Klein-Gordon equations to accelerate the convergence of the solution and minimizes the size of calculation while still maintaining high accuracy of the analytical solution. All the problems considered yield the exact solutions with few iterations. The solutions obtained were compared with the exact solution and the solutions obtained by other existing methods. The solutions obtained by the three methods yield the same results and all the problems considered show that the Variational Iteration Method, Adomian Decomposition Method and New Iterative Method are very powerful and potent in solving Klein-Gordon equations and can be used to obtain closed form solutions of linear and nonlinear differential equations (ordinary and partial)

    Geographical and seasonal barriers to mammography services and breast cancer stage at diagnosis

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    Introduction: Routine mammography screening and early detection are important prognostic indicators for breast cancer. Geographical and seasonal barriers to mammography services and relationship to breast cancer stage at diagnosis were examined. Methods: Travel time to mammography center, seasonal distribution of mammogram use, mammography frequency, and stage of cancer were retrospectively examined in 1428 female patients diagnosed with primary breast cancer at a tertiary care clinic system in Wisconsin, USA, from 2002 to 2008. Results: Women with no missed mammograms before diagnosis lived a median of 15 minutes from the nearest facility, while those who missed five of their past five annual mammograms lived nearly twice as far, with a median travel time of 27 minutes (p<0.0001). There was a direct relationship between travel time to nearest mammogram facility and stage of breast cancer at diagnosis, with travel time increasing from 17 to 24 minutes for stage 0 and stage 4 breast cancers, respectively (p=0.0586). Women were less likely to undergo mammography screening during the winter months (p<0.0001), especially women with greater than 30 mi (48.3 km) to travel to the nearest mammogram facility (p=0.0448). Conclusions: In the studied service area, travel time to nearest mammogram center appears inversely related to regular mammography screening and breast cancer stage at diagnosis. Mammograms are less common in the winter, especially in women with further to travel. This is the first study to demonstrate that inclement winter weather may impact on screening behaviors in rural areas and demonstrates the importance of considering climate as part of geographical access to preventative care

    Text-message reminders increase uptake of routine breast screening appointments : a randomised controlled trial in a hard-to-reach population

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    Background: There is a need for interventions to promote uptake of breast screening throughout Europe. Methods: We performed a single-blind randomised controlled trial to test whether text-message reminders were effective. Two thousand two hundred and forty women receiving their first breast screening invitation were included in the study and randomly assigned in a 1 : 1 ratio to receive either a normal invitation only (n=1118) or a normal invitation plus a text-message reminder 48 h before their appointment (n=1122). Findings: In the intention-to-treat analysis, uptake of breast screening was 59.1% among women in the normal invitation group and 64.4% in the text-message reminder group (χ2=6.47, odds ratio (OR): 1.26, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.05–1.48, P=0.01). Of the 1122 women assigned to the text-message reminder group, only 456 (41%) had a mobile number recorded by their GP and were thereby sent a text. In the per-protocol analysis, uptake by those in the control group who had a mobile number recorded on the GP system was 59.77% and by those in the intervention group who were sent a reminder 71.7% (χ2=14.12, OR=1.71, 95% CI=1.29–2.26, P<0.01). Interpretation: Sending women a text-message reminder before their first routine breast screening appointment significantly increased attendance. This information can be used to allocate resources efficiently to improve uptake without exacerbating social inequalities

    Molecular subtype analysis determines the association of advanced breast cancer in Egypt with favorable biology

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prognostic markers and molecular breast cancer subtypes reflect underlying biological tumor behavior and are important for patient management. Compared to Western countries, women in North Africa are less likely to be prognosticated and treated based on well-characterized markers such as the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and Her2. We conducted this study to determine the prevalence of breast cancer molecular subtypes in the North African country of Egypt as a measure of underlying biological characteristics driving tumor manifestations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To determine molecular subtypes we characterized over 200 tumor specimens obtained from Egypt by performing ER, PR, Her2, CK5/6, EGFR and Ki67 immunohistochemistry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our study demonstrated that the Luminal A subtype, associated with favorable prognosis, was found in nearly 45% of cases examined. However, the basal-like subtype, associated with poor prognosis, was found in 11% of cases. These findings are in sharp contrast to other parts of Africa in which the basal-like subtype is over-represented.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Egyptians appear to have favorable underlying biology, albeit having advanced disease at diagnosis. These data suggest that Egyptians would largely profit from early detection of their disease. Intervention at the public health level, including education on the benefits of early detection is necessary and would likely have tremendous impact on breast cancer outcome in Egypt.</p

    Fasting blood glucose, glycaemic control and prostate cancer risk in the Finnish Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer

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    BACKGROUND: Diabetic men have lowered overall risk of prostate cancer (PCa), but the role of hyperglycaemia is unclear. In this cohort study, we estimated PCa risk among men with diabetic fasting blood glucose level. METHODS: Participants of the Finnish Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (FinRSPC) were linked to laboratory database for information on glucose measurements since 1978. The data were available for 17,860 men. Based on the average yearly level, the men were categorised as normoglycaemic, prediabetic, or diabetic. Median follow-up was 14.7 years. Multivariable-adjusted Cox regression was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for prostate cancer overall and separately by Gleason grade and metastatic stage. RESULTS: In total 1,663 PCa cases were diagnosed. Compared to normoglycaemic men, those men with diabetic blood glucose level had increased risk of PCa (HR 1.52; 95% CI 1.31-1.75). The risk increase was observed for all tumour grades, and persisted for a decade afterwards. Antidiabetic drug use removed the risk association. Limitations include absence of information on lifestyle factors and limited information on BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Untreated diabetic fasting blood glucose level may be a prostate cancer risk factor.Peer reviewe

    Protein-based identification of quantitative trait loci associated with malignant transformation in two HER2+ cellular models of breast cancer

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    Background A contemporary view of the cancer genome reveals extensive rearrangement compared to normal cells. Yet how these genetic alterations translate into specific proteomic changes that underpin acquiring the hallmarks of cancer remains unresolved. The objectives of this study were to quantify alterations in protein expression in two HER2+ cellular models of breast cancer and to infer differentially regulated signaling pathways in these models associated with the hallmarks of cancer. Results A proteomic workflow was used to identify proteins in two HER2 positive tumorigenic cell lines (BT474 and SKBR3) that were differentially expressed relative to a normal human mammary epithelial cell line (184A1). A total of 64 (BT474-184A1) and 69 (SKBR3-184A1) proteins were uniquely identified that were differentially expressed by at least 1.5-fold. Pathway inference tools were used to interpret these proteins in terms of functionally enriched pathways in the tumor cell lines. We observed protein ubiquitination and apoptosis signaling pathways were both enriched in the two breast cancer models while IGF signaling and cell motility pathways were enriched in BT474 and amino acid metabolism were enriched in the SKBR3 cell line. Conclusion While protein ubiquitination and apoptosis signaling pathways were common to both the cell lines, the observed patterns of protein expression suggest that the evasion of apoptosis in each tumorigenic cell line occurs via different mechanisms. Evidently, apoptosis is regulated in BT474 via down regulation of Bid and in SKBR3 via up regulation of Calpain-11 as compared to 184A1
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