Exposure to Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and a Polybrominated Biphenyl and Risk of Thyroid Cancer in Women: Single and Multi-Pollutant Approaches.

Background: Thyroid cancer incidence is the most rapidly increasing malignancy; rates are three times higher in women than men. Thyroid hormone-disrupting flame-retardant chemicals, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), may contribute to this trend.

Methods: We investigated the relationship between PBDE/PBB exposure and papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) in 250 incident female papillary thyroid cancer cases and 250 female controls frequency-matched on age.

Sample preparation strategies for improving the identification of membrane proteins by mass spectrometry.

Despite enormous advances in the mass spectrometry and proteomics fields during the last two decades, the analysis of membrane proteins still remains a challenge for the proteomic community. Membrane proteins play a wide number of key roles in several cellular events, making them relevant target molecules to study in a significant variety of investigations (e.g.

Triglyceride levels and apolipoprotein E polymorphism in patients with acute pancreatitis.

Background: Hypertriglyceridemia is an unusual cause of acute pancreatitis and sometimes considered to be an epiphenomenon. This study aimed to investigate the clinical and analytical features and the APOE genotypes in patients with acute pancreatitis and severe hypertriglyceridemia.

Methods: We undertook a one-year, prospective study of patients with acute pancreatitis whose first laboratory analysis on admission to the emergency department included measurement of serum triglycerides.