Area-Level Attributes and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma in Surveillance,Epidemiology and End Results Registries

Purpose

To examine the associations between area-level socioeconomic attributes and stage of esophageal adenocarcinoma diagnoses in 16 SEER cancer registries during 2000-2007.

Methods

Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using multivariable logistic regression models to assess the relationship between distant-stage esophageal adenocarcinoma and individual, census tract, and county-level attributes.

Results

Among cases with data on birthplace, no significant association was seen between reported birth within versus outside the United States and distant-stage cancer (adjusted OR=1.02, 95% CI: 0.85-1.22). Living in an area with a higher percentage of residents born outside the United States than the national average was associated with distant-stage esophageal adenocarcinoma; census tract level: >11.8%, (OR=1.10, 95% CI:1.01–1.19), county level: >11.8%, (OR=1.14, 95% CI:1.05-1.24). No association was observed between median household income and distant-stage cancer at either census tract or county levels.

Conclusion

The finding of greater odds of distant-stage esophageal adenocarcinoma among cases residing in SEER areas with higher proportion of non-U.S. Natives suggests local areas where esophageal cancer control efforts might be focused. Missing data at the individual level was a limitation of the present study. Furthermore, inconsistent associations with foreign birth at individual- versus area-levels cautions against using area-level attributes as proxies for case attributes.     

Vasorin contributes to lung injury via FABP4-mediated inflammation

Molecular Biology Reports - Lung injury caused by pulmonary inflammation is one of the main manifestations of respiratory diseases. Vasorin (VASN) is a cell-surface glycoprotein encoded by the VASN...     

Recurrent pregnancy loss in a subject with heterozygote factor V Leiden mutation; a case report

Recurrent pregnancy loss is usually defined as the loss of two or more consecutive pregnancies before 20 weeks of gestation, which occurs in approximately 5% of reproductive-aged women. It has been suggested that women with thrombophilia have an increased risk of pregnancy loss and other adverse pregnancy outcomes. Thrombophilia is an important predisposition to blood clot formation and is considered as a significant risk factor for recurrent pregnancy loss. The inherited predisposition to thrombophilia is most often associated with factor V Leiden mutation, prothrombin G20210A mutation, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T and A1298C gene variants. The net effect is an increased cleavage of prothrombin to thrombin and excessive blood coagulation. Key Words: Recurrent pregnancy loss, Hereditary thrombophilia, Factor V Leiden mutation     

Antigenic and catalytic disparity in the distribution of cytochrome P-450-dependent 25-hydroxyvitamin D3-1α- and 24-hydroxylases

Summary Chick 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃-1-hydroxylase, a cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase with a molecular weight of 57 kDa, can be isolated as described by Mandel et al. (1990b). Under normal physiological circumstances, it occurs exclusively in kidney mitochondria. An isozyme of the 1-hydroxylase, known as the 24-hydroxylase, which uses the same substrate to yield an isomeric product, is also a cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase, has a molecular weight of 55 kDa, and likewise occurs in kidney mitochondria. The amino-terminal sequences of the first 10 residues of the two isozymes are 100% homologous. Monoclonal antibodies of the IgM class raised against the 1-hydroxylase, which quantitatively discriminate against other P-450 cytochromes of mitochondrial or microsomal origin, recognize and interact with the 24-hydroxylase as an antigen. In the present study we show that the intestine, which is the only non-renal tissue with demonstrable 24-hydroxylase activity, gives a positive peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistochemical reaction using the monoclonal antibodies against the 1-hydroxylase. The reactions revealed that the antigen in the kidney is restricted to the cortical proximal tubular cells while in the intestine, the antigen is localized in the enterocytes of the villi. In kidney medullary or intestinal crypt cells, or in liver, heart and lung tissues where 1-hydroxylase or 24-hydroxylase activity could not be detected using cell or tissue homogenates, the immunohistochemical reactions were also negative. Since it has been reported that chick embryonic intestine possesses 1-hydroxylase activity that is absent in the mature intestine, our results would suggest that the mature intestinal 24-hydroxylase represents a modified 1-hydroxylase as a consequence of developmentally imposed requirements regulating calcium homeostatic activity in this tissue. The difference in the molecular weights of the two enzymes would indicate either genomic processing prior to the translation of their respective mRNAs, or a post-translational processing of the larger 1-hydroxylase to the smaller 24-hydroxylase. The abbreviations used are: 25-OH-D₃, 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃; 1,25-(OH)₂D₃, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃; 24,25-(OH)₂D₃, 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃, NADP, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate     

Immunofluorescent localization of 25-hydroxyvitamin-D3-1 alpha-hydroxylase ferredoxin in the renal tissue of chick.

The chick renal mitochondrial 25-hydroxyvitamin-D3-1 alpha-hydroxylase is composed of three proteins, namely, cytochrome P-450, iron-sulfur protein (ferredoxin) and flavoprotein. Antibodies were raised in rabbits against homogeneous preparations of the ferredoxin. The antibodies were used in indirect immunofluorescence studies to localize the ferrdoxin along the nephron of renal tissues obtained either from vitamin D3-deficient or vitamin D3-sufficient chicks. The ferredoxin is predominantly localized in the glomerulus and proximal convoluted tubules. These results suggest that, in addition to the mitochondrial localization of the 1-hydroxylase, the enzyme may also be present in renal nuclei. The amount of the ferredoxin in kidney, as evidenced by the intensity of fluorescence, appeared to be independent of the vitamin D status of the chick. This finding indicated that changes in the concentration of the renal ferredoxin is not a major factor in the regulation of the 1-hydroxylase activity.     

People of the ancient rainforest: late Pleistocene foragers at the Batadomba-lena rockshelter, Sri Lanka

Batadomba-lena, a rockshelter in the rainforest of southwestern Sri Lanka, has yielded some of the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in South Asia. H. sapiens foragers were present at Batadomba-lena from ca. 36,000 cal BP to the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene. Human occupation was sporadic before the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Batadomba-lena’s Late Pleistocene inhabitants foraged for a broad spectrum of plant and mainly arboreal animal resources (monkeys, squirrels and abundant rainforest snails), derived from a landscape that retained equatorial rainforest cover through periods of pronounced regional aridity during the LGM. Juxtaposed hearths, palaeofloors with habitation debris, postholes, excavated pits, and animal and plant remains, including abundant Canarium nutshells, reflect intensive habitation of the rockshelter in times of monsoon intensification and biome reorganisation after ca. 16,000 cal BP. This period corresponds with further broadening of the economic spectrum, evidenced though increased contribution of squirrels, freshwater snails and Canarium nuts in the diet of the rockshelter occupants. Microliths are more abundant and morphologically diverse in the earliest, pre-LGM layer and decline markedly during intensified rockshelter use on the wane of the LGM. We propose that changing toolkits and subsistence base reflect changing foraging practices, from shorter-lived visits of highly mobile foraging bands in the period before the LGM, to intensified use of Batadomba-lena and intense foraging for diverse resources around the site during and, especially, following the LGM. Traces of ochre, marine shell beads and other objects from an 80 km-distant shore, and, possibly burials reflect symbolic practices from the outset of human presence at the rockshelter. Evidence for differentiated use of space (individual hearths, possible habitation structures) is present in LGM and terminal Pleistocene layers. The record of Batadomba-lena demonstrates that Late Pleistocene pathways to (aspects of) behavioural ‘modernity’ (composite tools, practice of symbolism and ritual, broad spectrum economy) were diverse and ecologically contingent.