Human papillomavirus testing on self-collected samples to detect high-grade cervical lesions in rural Bhutan: The REACH-Bhutan study.

Background: "REACH-Bhutan" aimed to evaluate the feasibility and clinical performance of a community-based screening program for cervical cancer in rural Bhutan using self-collected samples for high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) testing.

Methods: In April/May 2016, 2590 women aged 30-60 years were screened across rural Bhutan by providing a self-collected sample for careHPV testing. All careHPV-positive women, plus a random sample of careHPV-negative women, were recalled for colposcopy and biopsy.

Mediating Role of Lifestyle Behaviors in the Association between Education and Cancer: Results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

Background: Many studies have shown that socioeconomic position (SEP) is associated with the incidence of malignant tumors at different sites. This study aims to estimate the association between educational level (as proxy for SEP) and cancer incidence and to understand whether the observed associations might be partially explained by lifestyle behaviors.

Methods: The analyses were performed on data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, globally and by sex.

Association Study between Polymorphisms in DNA Methylation-Related Genes and Testicular Germ Cell Tumor Risk.

Background: Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT), histologically classified as seminomas and nonseminomas, are believed to arise from primordial gonocytes, with the maturation process blocked when they are subjected to DNA methylation reprogramming. SNPs in DNA methylation machinery and folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism genes have been postulated to influence the proper establishment of DNA methylation.

Methods: In this pathway-focused investigation, we evaluated the association between 273 selected tag SNPs from 28 DNA methylation-related genes and TGCT risk.

Impact of different work organizational models on gender differences in exposure to psychosocial and ergonomic hazards at work and in mental and physical health.

Purpose: To examine differences between genders in exposure to psychosocial and ergonomic factors at work and in work-related health, according to different work organization models.

Methods: The study population included a sample of 9749 (women: 37.1%) and 10,374 (women: 39.

The cost-effectiveness profile of sex-neutral HPV immunisation in European tender-based settings: a model-based assessment.

Background: In many European countries, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake among girls has remained below target levels, supporting the scope for vaccination of boys. We aimed to investigate if sex-neutral HPV vaccination can be considered cost-effective compared with girls-only vaccination at uptake levels equal to those among girls and under tender-based vaccination costs achieved throughout Europe.

Methods: We investigated the cost-effectiveness of sex-neutral HPV vaccination in European tender-based settings.

Impacts of human papillomavirus vaccination for different populations: A modeling study.

International variations in the prevalence of HPV infection derive from differences in sexual behaviors, which are also a key factor of the basic reproductive number (R ) of HPV infection in different populations. R affects the strength of herd protection and hence the impact of a vaccination program. Similar vaccination programs may therefore generate different levels of impact depending upon the population's pre-vaccination HPV prevalence.

Population-level impact, herd immunity, and elimination after human papillomavirus vaccination: a systematic review and meta-analysis of predictions from transmission-dynamic models.

Background: Modelling studies have been widely used to inform human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination policy decisions; however, many models exist and it is not known whether they produce consistent predictions of population-level effectiveness and herd effects. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of model predictions of the long-term population-level effectiveness of vaccination against HPV 16, 18, 6, and 11 infection in women and men, to examine the variability in predicted herd effects, incremental benefit of vaccinating boys, and potential for HPV-vaccine-type elimination.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE and Embase for transmission-dynamic modelling studies published between Jan 1, 2009, and April 28, 2015, that predicted the population-level impact of vaccination on HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18 infections in high-income countries.

Different Challenges in Eliminating HPV16 Compared to Other Types: A Modeling Study.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is still not reaching many high-risk populations. HPV16/18 vaccines offer cross-protection against other types, for example, HPV45. Both direct vaccine efficacy and indirect herd protection contribute to vaccination effectiveness.

Cervical cancer screening in rural Bhutan with the HPV test on self-collected samples: an ongoing cross-sectional, population-based study (REACH-Bhutan).

Objectives: The Bhutanese Screening Programme recommends a Pap smear every 3 years for women aged 25-65 years, and coverage ranges from 20% to 60%, being especially challenging in rural settings. The 'REACH-Bhutan' study was conducted to assess the feasibility and outcomes of a novel approach to cervical cancer screening in rural Bhutan.

Design: Cross-sectional, population-based study of cervical cancer screening based on the HPV test on self-collected samples.

Human papillomavirus infection in Rwanda at the moment of implementation of a national HPV vaccination programme.

Background: Cervical cancer is the most common female cancer in Rwanda that, in 2011, became the first African country to implement a national vaccination programme against human papillomavirus (HPV).

Methods: To provide a robust baseline for future evaluations of vaccine effectiveness, cervical cell specimens were obtained from 2508 women aged 18-69 years from the general population in Kigali, Rwanda, during 2013/14. 20 % of women were HIV-positive.

Human Papillomavirus Vaccination at a Time of Changing Sexual Behavior.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence varies widely worldwide. We used a transmission model to show links between age-specific sexual patterns and HPV vaccination effectiveness. We considered rural India and the United States as examples of 2 heterosexual populations with traditional age-specific sexual behavior and gender-similar age-specific sexual behavior, respectively.

Human Papillomavirus Vaccination of Boys and Extended Catch-up Vaccination: Effects on the Resilience of Programs.

Background: Decreasing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine prices makes scaling up of vaccination programs attractive for countries that initially targeted 1 or a few birth cohorts of girls and/or achieved low coverage. This article aims to compare the impact of alternative HPV vaccination strategies, using data from Sweden, a high-income country that has experienced vaccine price changes.

Methods: Using an HPV transmission model, we compared the existing vaccination program to alternatives, accounting for a 1-time catch-up vaccination of 22-26-year-old women, with or without routine vaccination of school-age boys, and for a 1-time catch-up vaccination of males aged 13-26 years.

Chimera: a Bioconductor package for secondary analysis of fusion products.

Chimera is a Bioconductor package that organizes, annotates, analyses and validates fusions reported by different fusion detection tools; current implementation can deal with output from bellerophontes, chimeraScan, deFuse, fusionCatcher, FusionFinder, FusionHunter, FusionMap, mapSplice, Rsubread, tophat-fusion and STAR. The core of Chimera is a fusion data structure that can store fusion events detected with any of the aforementioned tools. Fusions are then easily manipulated with standard R functions or through the set of functionalities specifically developed in Chimera with the aim of supporting the user in managing fusions and discriminating false-positive results.

Upscaling human papillomavirus vaccination in high-income countries: impact assessment based on transmission model.

Background: The decrease in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine prices may allow upscale already started vaccination programmes but the advantages of different options are unclear.

Methods: Using a mathematical model of HPV16 and 18 transmission and data on vaccination coverage from Italy, we compared 3 options to upscale an already started programme targeting 11-year old girls (coverage 65%): a) coverage improvement (from 65% to 90%); b) addition of 11-year-old boys (coverage 65%); or c) 1-year catch-up of older girls (coverage 50%).

Results: The reduction of cervical HPV16/18 infection as compared to no vaccination (i.

Type-specific human papillomavirus biological features: validated model-based estimates.

Infection with high-risk (hr) human papillomavirus (HPV) is considered the necessary cause of cervical cancer. Vaccination against HPV16 and 18 types, which are responsible of about 75% of cervical cancer worldwide, is expected to have a major global impact on cervical cancer occurrence. Valid estimates of the parameters that regulate the natural history of hrHPV infections are crucial to draw reliable projections of the impact of vaccination.

State of art fusion-finder algorithms are suitable to detect transcription-induced chimeras in normal tissues?

Background: RNA-seq has the potential to discover genes created by chromosomal rearrangements. Fusion genes, also known as "chimeras", are formed by the breakage and re-joining of two different chromosomes. It is known that chimeras have been implicated in the development of cancer.

Benefits of catch-up in vaccination against human papillomavirus in medium- and low-income countries.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination of a birth cohort of girls in the 9-13 age range is recommended as a priority, but decreases in HPV vaccine cost may make catch-up of a few additional cohorts more attractive not only in high-income countries. We assessed the reduction in HPV16 and 18 infections that could be achieved in a medium- (Poland) and a low-income (Guinea) country by adding one-time catch-up of 12- to 19-year-old girls to the vaccination of 11-year-old girls. According to our ad hoc adapted dynamic model of HPV infection transmission, the addition of catch-up was estimated to bring forward the 50% reduction of HPV16/18 prevalence due to vaccination in women ≤35 by as much as 5 years.

State-of-the-art fusion-finder algorithms sensitivity and specificity.

Background: Gene fusions arising from chromosomal translocations have been implicated in cancer. RNA-seq has the potential to discover such rearrangements generating functional proteins (chimera/fusion). Recently, many methods for chimeras detection have been published.

Predicting severity of pathological scarring due to burn injuries: a clinical decision making tool using Bayesian networks.

It is important for clinicians to understand which are the clinical signs, the patient characteristics and the procedures that are related with the occurrence of hypertrophic burn scars in order to carry out a possible prognostic assessment. Providing clinicians with an easy-to- use tool for predicting the risk of pathological scars. A total of 703 patients with 2440 anatomical burn sites who were admitted to the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Burn Center of the Traumatological Hospital in Torino between January 1994 and May 2006 were included in the analysis.

Selection bias and patterns of confounding in cohort studies: the case of the NINFEA web-based birth cohort.

Background: Several studies have examined the effects of sample selection on the exposure-outcome association estimates in cohort studies, but the reasons why this selection may induce bias have not been fully explored.

Aims: To investigate how sample selection of the web-based NINFEA birth cohort may change the confounding patterns present in the source population.

Methods: The characteristics of the NINFEA participants (n=1105) were compared with those of the wider source population-the Piedmont Birth Registry (PBR)-(n=36 092), and the association of two exposures (parity and educational level) with two outcomes (low birth weight and birth by caesarean section), while controlling for other risk factors, was studied.

[Mathematical models of infection transmission].

The investigation of distribution, determinants and transmission of infectious diseases is largely based on the development of mathematical models of ecological nature suitable to capture the dynamics of infectious diseases epidemiology. In this paper the essential aspects of the dynamic models of infection transmission are described. These models are increasingly being adopted to investigate and control epidemic and endemic infections, but also cancers of infectious aetiology.

[Non-parametric methods for estimating confidence intervals around the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio].

In recent years, cost-effectiveness analysis has become a frequent component of randomized clinical trials. In statistical terms, the major efforts addressed the method for estimating the Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) and its confidence interval both with parametric and non-parametric methods. The goal of the present work is to briefly present the main non-parametric methods, based on a bootstrap approach.

Normal glucose values are associated with a lower risk of mortality in hospitalized patients.

Objective: Hyperglycemia is a common condition in hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between glycemia upon admission and mortality in a heterogeneous group of adult patients.

Research Design And Methods: The 3-year records released from a general hospital were associated with a plasma glucose dataset of its general laboratory.