Beta-Blockers and Cutaneous Melanoma Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Random-Effects Meta-Analysis.

Beta-blockers have generated an exciting discourse for their potential as a cheap, safe, and effective adjunctive therapy for cutaneous melanoma patients, but the field remains murky. This systematic review investigates the association between beta-blocker use and survival outcomes in cutaneous melanoma patients. We reviewed 12 studies with 21,582 patients in a network meta-analysis and found a benefit between beta-blocker use and disease-free survival but no other significant association for melanoma-specific or overall survival.

Team-Led Empowerment: A Toolkit Enhancing NOWS Care.

Background: Individual states are becoming proactive in addressing the gaps in knowledge about newborns experiencing opioid withdrawal syndrome (ie, Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome [NOWS]) through interdisciplinary efforts, perinatal learning collaboratives, and quality improvement initiatives.

Methods: Descriptive statistics and a repeated measures analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. The 5-step project implemented a team-led, evidence-based, nursing intervention toolkit.

Engaging Students in a Bilingual Service-Learning Health Promotion Project.

This service-learning, health promotion project used Leininger's Culture Care Theory to engage Baccalaureate Nursing students in a health promotion initiative specific to Hispanic community members. Thirty-seven students examined population health data, surveyed Hispanic community members to identify health priorities, and developed a population-specific intervention on diet and risk factors for diabetes. Students created a 5-min script focused on healthy eating plans with recognition of traditional foods associated with the Hispanic culture.

Inflammatory potential of diet and mortality in Australian adults.

Objective: Inflammation is implicated in chronic diseases including cancer and CVD, which are major causes of mortality. Diet can influence inflammation status. We therefore examined whether the inflammatory potential of a person's diet is associated with mortality.

Prognosis of naevoid melanomas.

Introduction: There appear to be several variants of naevoid melanoma suspected as having different outcomes, but follow-up studies have been few. We aimed to assess the prognosis of naevoid melanomas in a multi-centre study.

Material And Methods: From histopathology records we ascertained patients in the UK, Australia and Italy diagnosed with maturing naevoid melanoma (n = 65; 14; 7 respectively) and nodular/papillomatous naevoid melanoma (12; 6; 0), and patients with superficial spreading melanoma (SSM) from UK (73) and Australia (26).

Associations of keratinocyte cancers with snp variants in the sonic hedgehog pathway.

Background: Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) pathway dysregulation is implicated in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) development. To evaluate the possible wider role of SHH gene variants in skin carcinogenesis, we assessed associations of genes in the SHH pathway with lifetime development of any keratinocyte cancer (KC), and with developing either BCCs or squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) exclusively, in a 25-year prospective, population-based study of 1,621 Australians.

Methods: We genotyped 795 unrelated adults with available blood samples: 311 cases with any KC (186 developing BCCs-only, 55 SCCs-only, 70 BCCs and SCCs) and 484 controls.

Hypothesised cutaneous sites of origin of stage III melanomas with unknown primary: A multicentre study.

Based on molecular evidence that melanomas with unknown primary (MUPs) arise from the skin, we hypothesised that sites of MUPs are disproportionately on trunk and lower limbs, sites that are not readily visible to patients and clinicians. We tested this hypothesis by inferring the anatomic site of origin of MUPs from the corresponding known cutaneous sites of melanoma patients with known primary tumours (MKPs). We analysed data from three separate cohorts of patients from Brisbane, Australia (n = 236); Manchester, UK (n = 51) and Padova, Italy (n = 33), respectively, who first presented with stage III melanoma with lymph node metastases.

Dark Green Leafy Vegetable Intake, MTHFR Genotype, and Risk of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Evidence suggests that consumption of dark green leafy vegetables may influence the decrease in the risk of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Dark green leafy vegetables contain folate as a main component among other nutrients; thus, we hypothesised that their possible observed protective effect on SCC, observed in previous studies, would be more evident in persons with specific genotypes related to folate metabolism.

Methods: Genotyping of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene variants rs1801133 (C677T) and rs1801131 (A1298C) was carried out for 1,128 participants in an Australian community-based longitudinal study of skin cancer.

Host genetic polymorphisms associated with beta human papillomavirus seropositivity.

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) cause superficial epidermal infections and are only cleared if they trigger an immunological response. We analysed SNPs that had previously been investigated for association with HPV infection to determine whether they play a role in the serological response to cutaneous beta-HPVs in an Australian population. Serum samples from 1,142 participants were analysed for seropositivity against the L1 protein of 21 beta-HPV types.

Discriminating Dietary Responses by Combining Transcriptomics and Metabolomics Data in Nutrition Intervention Studies.

Scope: Combining different "omics" data types in a single, integrated analysis may better characterize the effects of diet on human health.

Methods And Results: The performance of two data integration tools, similarity network fusion tool (SNFtool) and Data Integration Analysis for Biomarker discovery using Latent variable approaches for "Omics" (DIABLO; MixOmics), in discriminating responses to diet and metabolic phenotypes is investigated by combining transcriptomics and metabolomics datasets from three human intervention studies: a postprandial crossover study testing dairy foods (n = 7; study 1), a postprandial challenge study comparing obese and non-obese subjects (n = 13; study 2); and an 8-week parallel intervention study that assessed three diets with variable lipid content on fasting parameters (n = 39; study 3). In study 1, combining datasets using SNF or DIABLO significantly improve sample classification.

Dietary Antioxidant Capacity and Skin Photoaging: A 15-Year Longitudinal Study.

The long-term effect of diet on skin aging is largely unknown, but evidence suggests that the antioxidants from foods may mitigate the main component of skin aging caused by sun exposure. We assessed the association between the total antioxidant capacity of foods people eat and the photoaging of their skin. In a community-based, prospective study among 777 Australian adults aged <55 years at baseline, we estimated the total dietary antioxidant capacity of participants' diets in 1992, 1994, and 1996 and graded photoaging severity using microtopography in 1992, 1996, and 2007.

Anxiety and depression after diagnosis of high-risk primary cutaneous melanoma: a 4-year longitudinal study.

Purpose: To quantify the prevalence of anxiety or depression (overall; melanoma-related) among people with high-risk primary melanoma, their related use of mental health services and medications, and factors associated with persistent new-onset symptoms across 4 years post-diagnosis.

Methods: A longitudinal study of 675 patients newly diagnosed with tumor-stage 1b-4b melanoma. Participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and answered questions about fear of cancer recurrence, use of medication, and support, serially over 4 years.

Patterns of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acid Dietary Intake and Melanoma Thickness at Diagnosis.

Background: Experimental evidence suggests that dietary intakes of omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids have divergent effects on melanoma growth, but epidemiologic evidence on their combined effect is lacking.

Methods: In 634 Australian patients with primary melanoma, we assessed prediagnosis consumption of 39 food groups by food frequency questionnaires completed within 2 months of diagnosis. We derived, by reduced rank regression, dietary patterns that explained variability in selected omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid intakes.

Could worry and rumination mediate relationships between self-compassion and psychological distress in breast cancer survivors?

Many breast cancer (BCa) patients experience clinically significant anxiety and depression in survivorship. Self-compassion offers a bulwark to anxiety and depression in nonclinical, mental health, and some chronic physical health populations. We examined whether self-compassion predicted lower anxiety and depression symptoms in survivors and whether this might be mediated by lower worry and rumination.

Temporal relations between atrial fibrillation and ischaemic stroke and their prognostic impact on mortality.

Aims: Limited evidence is available on the temporal relationship between atrial fibrillation (AF) and ischaemic stroke and their impact on mortality in the community. We sought to understand the temporal relationship of AF and ischaemic stroke and to determine the sequence of disease onset in relation to mortality.

Methods And Results: Across five prospective community cohorts of the Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Europe (BiomarCaRE) project we assessed baseline cardiovascular risk factors in 100 132 individuals, median age 46.

Integrated Analys of High-Fat Challenge-Induced Changes in Blood Cell Whole-Genome Gene Expression.

Scope: Several studies have examined the whole-genome gene expression response in blood cells to high-fat challenges with differing results. The study aims to identify consistently up- or downregulated genes and pathways in response to a high-fat challenge using several integration methods.

Methods And Results: Three studies measuring the gene expression response to a high-fat challenge in white blood cells are evaluated for common trends using several integration methods.

Potential Interplay between Dietary Saturated Fats and Genetic Variants of the NLRP3 Inflammasome to Modulate Insulin Resistance and Diabetes Risk: Insights from a Meta-Analysis of 19 005 Individuals.

Scope: Insulin resistance (IR) and inflammation are hallmarks of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The nod-like receptor pyrin domain containing-3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is a metabolic sensor activated by saturated fatty acids (SFA) initiating IL-1β inflammation and IR. Interactions between SFA intake and NLRP3-related genetic variants may alter T2D risk factors.

Risk of Melanoma Recurrence After Diagnosis of a High-Risk Primary Tumor.

Importance: With emerging new systemic treatments for metastatic melanoma, early detection of disease recurrence is increasingly important.

Objective: To investigate the risk of melanoma recurrence in patients with a localized melanoma at a high risk of metastasis.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A total of 1254 patients with newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed tumor category T1b to T4b melanoma in Queensland, Australia, were recruited prospectively between October 1, 2010, and October 1, 2014, for participation in a cohort study.