Effects of Recall and Selection Biases on Modeling Cancer Risk From Mobile Phone Use: Results From a Case-Control Simulation Study.

Background: The largest case-control study (Interphone study) investigating glioma risk related to mobile phone use showed a J-shaped relationship with reduced relative risks for moderate use and a 40% increased relative risk among the 10% heaviest regular mobile phone users, using a categorical risk model based on deciles of lifetime duration of use among ever regular users.

Methods: We conducted Monte Carlo simulations examining whether the reported estimates are compatible with an assumption of no effect of mobile phone use on glioma risk when the various forms of biases present in the Interphone study are accounted for. Four scenarios of sources of error in self-reported mobile phone use were considered, along with selection bias.

Finite-Sample Bias of the Linear Excess Relative Risk in Cohort Studies of Computed Tomography-Related Radiation Exposure and Cancer.

The linear excess relative risk (ERR) is the most commonly reported measure of association in radiation epidemiological studies, when individual dose estimates are available. While the asymptotic properties of the ERR estimator are well understood, there is evidence of small sample bias in case-control studies of treatment-related radiation exposure and second cancer risk. Cohort studies of cancer risk after exposure to low doses of radiation from diagnostic procedures, e.

Risk of hematological malignancies from CT radiation exposure in children, adolescents and young adults.

Over one million European children undergo computed tomography (CT) scans annually. Although moderate- to high-dose ionizing radiation exposure is an established risk factor for hematological malignancies, risks at CT examination dose levels remain uncertain. Here we followed up a multinational cohort (EPI-CT) of 948,174 individuals who underwent CT examinations before age 22 years in nine European countries.

Circulating fibrocyte percentage and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio are accurate biomarkers of uncomplicated and complicated appendicitis: a prospective cohort study.

Background: There is increasing evidence that uncomplicated appendicitis (UA) may be treated nonoperatively in cases of UA. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the diagnostic accuracy of circulating fibrocyte percentage (CFP), white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in diagnosing uncomplicated and complicated appendicitis.

Materials And Methods: Eighty consecutive adult patients presenting with suspected appendicitis were recruited in a cohort-based prospective study between June 2015 and February 2016 at University Hospital Limerick in Ireland.

Brain cancer after radiation exposure from CT examinations of children and young adults: results from the EPI-CT cohort study.

Background: The European EPI-CT study aims to quantify cancer risks from CT examinations of children and young adults. Here, we assess the risk of brain cancer.

Methods: We pooled data from nine European countries for this cohort study.

The economy of terrestrial locomotion.

All else being equal, evolution is going to drive animals to require the least food to move a unit distance. What is the best way to do that? Some efficiencies can be 'hard-wired' into the body - the relatively unchanging morphology of the animal. But flexibility is also needed - given the task at hand, state of the body, or state of the external environment, it may be best to dynamically choose an appropriate mode of locomotion.

Tails stabilize landing of gliding geckos crashing head-first into tree trunks.

Animals use diverse solutions to land on vertical surfaces. Here we show the unique landing of the gliding gecko, Hemidactylus platyurus. Our high-speed video footage in the Southeast Asian rainforest capturing the first recorded, subcritical, short-range glides revealed that geckos did not markedly decrease velocity prior to impact.

Ileoileal intussusception in the adult patient secondary to a fibroma: An organ-preserving approach to management.

We present a rare case of adult intussusception (AI) due to a small bowel fibroma, which presented as recurrent subacute symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case managed by intraluminal excision of the causative lesion by enterotomy as opposed to bowel resection. A 34-year-old woman presented with recurrent colicky abdominal pain.

Mechanisms for Mid-Air Reorientation Using Tail Rotation in Gliding Geckos.

Arboreal animals face numerous challenges when negotiating complex three-dimensional terrain. Directed aerial descent or gliding flight allows for rapid traversal of arboreal environments, but presents control challenges. Some animals, such as birds or gliding squirrels, have specialized structures to modulate aerodynamic forces while airborne.

Inertial Tail Effects during Righting of Squirrels in Unexpected Falls: From Behavior to Robotics.

Arboreal mammals navigate a highly three dimensional and discontinuous habitat. Among arboreal mammals, squirrels demonstrate impressive agility. In a recent "viral" YouTube video, unsuspecting squirrels were mechanically catapulted off of a track, inducing an initially uncontrolled rotation of the body.

Dose Estimation for the European Epidemiological Study on Pediatric Computed Tomography (EPI-CT).

Within the European Epidemiological Study to Quantify Risks for Paediatric Computerized Tomography (EPI-CT study), a cohort was assembled comprising nearly one million children, adolescents and young adults who received over 1.4 million computed tomography (CT) examinations before 22 years of age in nine European countries from the late 1970s to 2014. Here we describe the methods used for, and the results of, organ dose estimations from CT scanning for the EPI-CT cohort members.

Development of Sensitive Droplet Digital PCR Assays for Detecting Urinary Promoter Mutations as Non-Invasive Biomarkers for Detection of Urothelial Cancer.

Somatic mutations in the () promoter regions are frequent events in urothelial cancer (UC) and their detection in urine (supernatant cell-free DNA or DNA from exfoliated cells) could serve as putative non-invasive biomarkers for UC detection and monitoring. However, detecting these tumor-borne mutations in urine requires highly sensitive methods, capable of measuring low-level mutations. In this study, we developed sensitive droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) assays for detecting promoter mutations (C228T, C228A, CC242-243TT, and C250T).

Role of circulating fibrocytes in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

Background: Improved diagnostic biomarkers are required for acute appendicitis. The circulating fibrocyte percentage (CFP) is increased in inflammatory states, but has not been studied in acute appendicitis. This study aimed to determine CFP in acute appendicitis and compare diagnostic accuracy with standard serological biomarkers.

Blood polyphenol concentrations and differentiated thyroid carcinoma in women from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.

Background: Polyphenols are natural compounds with anticarcinogenic properties in cellular and animal models, but epidemiological evidence determining the associations of these compounds with thyroid cancer (TC) is lacking.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relations between blood concentrations of 36 polyphenols and TC risk in EPIC (the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition).

Methods: A nested case-control study was conducted on 273 female cases (210 papillary, 45 follicular, and 18 not otherwise specified TC tumors) and 512 strictly matched controls.

Occupational cohort study of current and former workers exposed to chrysotile in mine and processing facilities in Asbest, the Russian Federation: Cohort profile of the Asbest Chrysotile Cohort study.

A historical cohort study in workers occupationally exposed to chrysotile was set up in the town of Asbest, the Russian Federation, to study their cause-specific mortality, with a focus on cancer. Chrysotile has different chemical and physical properties compared with other asbestos fibres; therefore it is important to conduct studies specifically of chrysotile and in different geographical regions to improve the knowledge about its carcinogenicity. Setting was the town of Asbest, Sverdlovsk oblast, the Russian Federation.

Tobacco smoking among chrysotile asbestos workers in Asbest in the Russian Federation.

Objectives: A historical cohort study of cancer mortality is being conducted among workers in a chrysotile mine and its enrichment factories in the town of Asbest, Russian Federation. Because individual-level information on tobacco use is not available for Asbest Chrysotile Cohort members, a cross-sectional survey of smoking behaviours was conducted among active and retired workers.

Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were completed by active workers during meetings organised by occupational safety personnel.

Needlestack: an ultra-sensitive variant caller for multi-sample next generation sequencing data.

The emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized the way of reaching a genome sequence, with the promise of potentially providing a comprehensive characterization of DNA variations. Nevertheless, detecting somatic mutations is still a difficult problem, in particular when trying to identify low abundance mutations, such as subclonal mutations, tumour-derived alterations in body fluids or somatic mutations from histological normal tissue. The main challenge is to precisely distinguish between sequencing artefacts and true mutations, particularly when the latter are so rare they reach similar abundance levels as artefacts.

Circulating tumour-derived KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer cases are predominantly carried by very short fragments of cell-free DNA.

Background: The DNA released into the bloodstream by malignant tumours· called circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), is often a small fraction of total cell-free DNA shed predominantly by hematopoietic cells and is therefore challenging to detect. Understanding the biological properties of ctDNA is key to the investigation of its clinical relevance as a non-invasive marker for cancer detection and monitoring.

Methods: We selected 40 plasma DNA samples of pancreatic cancer cases previously reported to carry a KRAS mutation at the 'hotspot' codon 12 and re-screened the cell-free DNA using a 4-size amplicons strategy (57 bp, 79 bp, 167 bp and 218 bp) combined with ultra-deep sequencing in order to investigate whether amplicon lengths could impact on the capacity of detection of ctDNA, which in turn could provide inference of ctDNA and non-malignant cell-free DNA size distribution.

Esophageal Thermal Exposure to Hot Beverages: A Comparison of Metrics to Discriminate Distinct Consumption Habits.

Background: Hot beverage consumption is a probable risk factor for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). No standardized exposure assessment protocol exists.

Methods: To compare how alternative metrics discriminate distinct drinking habits, we measured sip temperatures and sizes in an international group of hot beverage drinkers in France ( = 20) and hot porridge consumers ( = 52) in a high ESCC incidence region of China.

Polyphenol intake and differentiated thyroid cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort.

Polyphenols are bioactive compounds with several anticarcinogenic activities; however, human data regarding associations with thyroid cancer (TC) is still negligible. Our aim was to evaluate the association between intakes of total, classes and subclasses of polyphenols and risk of differentiated TC and its main subtypes, papillary and follicular, in a European population. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort included 476,108 men and women from 10 European countries.

Urinary TERT promoter mutations as non-invasive biomarkers for the comprehensive detection of urothelial cancer.

Background: Recurrent mutations in the promoter of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene (C228T and C250T) detected in tumours and cells shed into urine of urothelial cancer (UC) patients are putative biomarkers for UC detection and monitoring. However, the possibility of detecting these mutations in cell-free circulating DNA (cfDNA) in blood and urine, or DNA from urinary exfoliated cells (cellDNA) with a single-gene sensitive assay has never been tested in a case-control setting.

Methods: We developed a single-plex assay (UroMuTERT) for the detection of low-abundance TERT promoter mutations.

The 100 most influential manuscripts in robotic surgery: a bibliometric analysis.

Since the first robotic assisted surgery in 1985, the number of procedures performed annually has steadily increased. Bibliometric analysis highlights the key studies that have influenced current practice in a field of interest. We use bibliometric analysis to evaluate the 100 most cited manuscripts on robotic surgery and discuss their content and influence on the evolution of the platform.

Welding fumes and lung cancer: a meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies.

Background: An estimated 110 million workers are exposed to welding fumes worldwide. Welding fumes are classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as (group 1), based on of lung cancer from epidemiological studies.

Objective: To conduct a meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies on welding or exposure to welding fumes and risk of lung cancer, accounting for confounding by exposure to asbestos and tobacco smoking.