Publications by authors named "Barbara Anne Jennings"

Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to identify factors associated with cholesteatoma, a type of middle ear disease, in a large UK cohort, highlighting established risk factors like male sex and chronic ear infections, as well as less-clear associations like deprivation and smoking.
  • Researchers compared 1140 cholesteatoma cases with 4551 non-cholesteatoma cases and nearly half a million healthy controls, using logistic regression to analyze demographic factors such as age, sex, and deprivation.
  • The findings indicate significant associations between cholesteatoma and factors like male sex (33% higher odds), older age, and deprivation, while showing overlaps with other inflammatory ear conditions and suggesting that both common and distinct factors influence cholesteatoma development.
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Folate was identified as an essential micronutrient early in the twentieth century and anti-folate chemotherapy such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has been central to the medical management of solid tumours including colorectal cancer for more than five decades. In the intervening years, evidence has been gathered which shows that folate deficiency leads to many human diseases throughout the life-course. However, we still do not know all of the mechanisms behind functional folate deficiency, or indeed its rescue through supplementation with natural and particularly synthetic folates.

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Objectives: Many primary studies have considered the association of polymorphisms of folate metabolism and response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and capecitabine in patients with colorectal cancer. The conclusions from these studies have been conflicting and few have considered large cohorts of patients. Therefore, we have completed a systematic review and meta-analyses to summarize some of the findings to date.

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