Aging, cancer, and cancer vaccines

ABSTRACT: World population has experienced continuous growth since 1400 A.D. Current projections show a continued increase - but a steady decline in the population growth rate - with the number expected to reach between 8 and 10.5 billion people within 40 years. The elderly population is rapidly rising: in 1950 there were 205 million people aged 60 or older, while in 2000 there were 606 million. By 2050, the global population aged 60 or over is projected to expand by more than three times, reaching nearly 2 billion people 1. Most cancers are age-related diseases: in the US, 50% of all malignancies occur in people aged 65-95. 60% of all cancers are expected to be diagnosed in elderly patients by 2020 2. Further, cancer-related mortality increases with age: 70% of all malignancy-related deaths are registered in people aged 65 years or older 3. Here we introduce the microscopic aspects of aging, the pro-inflammatory phenotype of the elderly, and the changes related to immunosenescence. Then we deal with cancer disease and its development, the difficulty of treatment administration in the geriatric population, and the importance of a comprehensive geriatric assessment. Finally, we aim to analyze the complex interactions of aging with cancer and cancer vaccinology, and the importance of this last approach as a complementary therapy to different levels of prevention and treatment. Cancer vaccines, in fact, should at present be recommended in association to a stronger cancer prevention and conventional therapies (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy), both for curative and palliative intent, in order to reduce morbidity and mortality associated to cancer progression.     

Risk factors for secondary infertility among women in Karachi, Pakistan

Background

Secondary infertility in developing countries is mostly attributable to blockage of the fallopian tubes due to adhesions caused by reproductive tract infections. There is a dearth of information on the prevalence and causes of secondary infertility from Pakistan. This paper presents results on factors associated with secondary infertility among married women in Karachi, Pakistan.

Methods

A matched case-control study was conducted. Cases were women aged 15–35 years with history of at least one previous conception and currently seeking treatment for secondary infertility. Controls were women residing in the neighborhood of cases with at least one live birth and not taking treatment for secondary infertility. The age of controls was matched by ±5 years to that of cases. Data was collected from June to August 2003. Conditional logistic regression was used to determine crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for factors associated with secondary infertility.

Results

The final multivariate logistic regression model revealed that after adjusting for age, cases were more likely to be the housewives (AOR = 2.6, 95% CI:1.5–4.4), had used inappropriate material to absorb blood during menstruation (AOR = 9.0, 95% CI: 5.0–16.4), and at their last delivery, had a birth attendant who did not wash hands with soap and water (AOR = 3.0, 95% CI: 1.4–5.7). Moreover, women with secondary infertility were more likely to report current or past history of having STI symptoms (AOR = 3.6, 95% CI: 2.4–5.6) and use of intra-vaginal indigenous medicines during their last post-partum period (AOR = 3.1, 95% CI: 1.6–5.7).

Conclusion

We recommend health education and awareness messages for safe practices during menstruation, delivery, and the postpartum period for women in general. Additionally, sanitary napkins should be made available at an affordable cost, and safe delivery kits should contain educational/pictorial brochures for appropriate hand washing skills.     

Optimization of 1D Plasmonic Grating of Nanostructured Devices for the Investigation of Plasmonic Bandgap

Plasmonics - The present work investigates the effect of geometrical parameters of 1D nanograting on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and plasmonic bandgap (PBG). The use of plasmonic grating device...     

Record Open‐Circuit Voltage Wide‐Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells Utilizing 2D/3D Perovskite Heterostructure

In this work, the authors realize stable and highly efficient wide‐bandgap perovskite solar cells that promise high power conversion efficiencies (PCE) and are likely to play a key role in next generation multi‐junction photovoltaics (PV). This work reports on wide‐bandgap (≈1.72 eV) perovskite solar cells exhibiting stable PCEs of up to 19.4% and a remarkably high open‐circuit voltage (V_OC) of 1.31 V. The V_OC‐to‐bandgap ratio is the highest reported for wide‐bandgap organic?inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells and the V_OC also exceeds 90% of the theoretical maximum, defined by the Shockley–Queisser limit. This advance is based on creating a hybrid 2D/3D perovskite heterostructure. By spin coating n‐butylammonium bromide on the double‐cation perovskite absorber layer, a thin 2D Ruddlesden–Popper perovskite layer of intermediate phases is formed, which mitigates nonradiative recombination in the perovskite absorber layer. As a result, V_OC is enhanced by 80 mV.     

DNA multiplex hybridization on microarrays and thermodynamic stability in solution: a direct comparison

Hybridization intensities of 30 distinct short duplex DNAs measured on spotted microarrays, were directly compared with thermodynamic stabilities measured in solution. DNA sequences were designed to promote formation of perfect match, or hybrid duplexes containing tandem mismatches. Thermodynamic parameters ΔH°, ΔS° and ΔG° of melting transitions in solution were evaluated directly using differential scanning calorimetry. Quantitative comparison with results from 63 multiplex microarray hybridization experiments provided a linear relationship for perfect match and most mismatch duplexes. Examination of outliers suggests that both duplex length and relative position of tandem mismatches could be important factors contributing to observed deviations from linearity. A detailed comparison of measured thermodynamic parameters with those calculated using the nearest-neighbor model was performed. Analysis revealed the nearest-neighbor model generally predicts mismatch duplexes to be less stable than experimentally observed. Results also show the relative stability of a tandem mismatch is highly dependent on the identity of the flanking Watson–Crick (w/c) base pairs. Thus, specifying the stability contribution of a tandem mismatch requires consideration of the sequence identity of at least four base pair units (tandem mismatch and flanking w/c base pairs). These observations underscore the need for rigorous evaluation of thermodynamic parameters describing tandem mismatch stability.     

Novel variants in the BLOC1S3 gene in patients presenting a mild form of Hermansky–Pudlak syndrome

Hermansky–Pudlak syndrome (HPS) associates oculocutaneous albinism and systemic affections including platelet dense granules anomalies leading to bleeding diathesis and, depending on the form, pulmonary fibrosis, immunodeficiency, and/or granulomatous colitis. So far, 11 forms of autosomal recessive HPS caused by pathogenic variants in 11 different genes have been reported. We describe three HPS‐8 consanguineous families with different homozygous pathogenic variants in BLOC1S3 (NM_212550.3), one of which is novel. These comprise two deletions leading to a reading frameshift (c.385_403del, c.338_341del) and one in frame deletion (c.444_467del). All patients have moderate oculocutaneous albinism and bleeding diathesis, but other HPS symptoms are not described. One patient diagnosed with HPS‐8 suffered from lymphocyte‐predominant Hodgkin lymphoma. The mild severity of HPS‐8 is consistent with other HPS forms caused by variants in BLOC‐1 complex coding genes (HPS‐7, DTNBP1; HPS‐9, BLOC1S6, HPS‐11, BLOC1S5).