Socioeconomic patterning in the incidence and survival of children and young people diagnosed with malignant melanoma in northern England.

Previous studies have found marked increases in melanoma incidence. The increase among young people in northern England was especially apparent among females. However, overall 5-year survival has greatly improved.

Theory of mind impairments in social anxiety disorder.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common psychiatric disorder characterized by a persistent, excessive fear and avoidance of social and performance situations. Research on cognitive biases indicates individuals with SAD may lack an accurate view of how they are perceived by others, especially in social situations when they allocate important attentional resources to monitoring their own actions as well as external threat. In the present study, we explored whether socially anxious individuals also have impairments in theory of mind (ToM), or the ability to comprehend others' mental states, including emotions, beliefs, and intentions.

Investigating the relationship between mortality from respiratory diseases and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in Hungary.

Our aim was to investigate the ecological association between death from infectious disease of the respiratory system and the risk of acute lymphoid leukaemia (ALL) in children aged less than 7 years. Poisson regression analyses were carried out using overall data and gender-specific models. The study included 176 cases (92(52.

The trauma model of dissociation: inconvenient truths and stubborn fictions. Comment on Dalenberg et al. (2012).

Dalenberg et al. (2012) argued that convincing evidence (a) supports the longstanding trauma model (TM), which posits that early trauma plays a key role in the genesis of dissociation; and (b) refutes the fantasy model (FM), which posits that fantasy proneness, suggestibility, cognitive failures, and other variables foster dissociation. We review evidence bearing on Dalenberg et al.

Constitutional and somatic rearrangement of chromosome 21 in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Changes in gene dosage are a major driver of cancer, known to be caused by a finite, but increasingly well annotated, repertoire of mutational mechanisms. This can potentially generate correlated copy-number alterations across hundreds of linked genes, as exemplified by the 2% of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) with recurrent amplification of megabase regions of chromosome 21 (iAMP21). We used genomic, cytogenetic and transcriptional analysis, coupled with novel bioinformatic approaches, to reconstruct the evolution of iAMP21 ALL.

Colonoscopic factors associated with adenoma detection in a national colorectal cancer screening program.

Background And Study Aims: Adenoma detection is a key objective of colonoscopy, particularly in the context of colorectal cancer screening. The aim of this observational study was to identify the technical colonoscopy factors associated with adenoma detection.

Patients And Methods: The study analyzed data from the English Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.

Don't panic: interpretation bias is predictive of new onsets of panic disorder.

Psychological models of panic disorder postulate that interpretation of ambiguous material as threatening is an important maintaining factor for the disorder. However, demonstrations of whether such a bias predicts onset of panic disorder are missing. In the present study, we used data from the Dresden Prediction Study, in which a epidemiologic sample of young German women was tested at two time points approximately 17 months apart, allowing the study of biased interpretation as a potential risk factor.

Survival from teenage and young adult cancer in Northern England, 1968-2008.

Background: Although cancer is relatively rare in teenagers and young adults (TYAs) aged 15-24 years, it is a major cause of death in this age group. This study investigated survival trends in TYA cancer diagnosed in Northern England, 1968-2008.

Methods: Five-year survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier estimation for four successive time periods.

Is fluoride a risk factor for bone cancer? Small area analysis of osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma diagnosed among 0-49-year-olds in Great Britain, 1980-2005.

Background: Artificial fluoridation of drinking water to improve dental health has long been a topic of controversy. Opponents of this public health measure have cited the possibility of bone cancer induction. The study objective was to examine whether increased risk of primary bone cancer was associated with living in areas with higher concentrations of fluoride in drinking water.

No rise in incidence but geographical heterogeneity in the occurrence of primary biliary cirrhosis in North East England.

In this study, we examined temporal changes in the incidence of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and investigated associations between PBC incidence and sociodemographic factors and spatial clustering. We included 982 patients aged ≥40 years from North East England with incident PBC diagnosed during 1987-2003. Age-standardized incidence rates with 95% confidence intervals were calculated.

Disease progression in patients with single, large-scale mitochondrial DNA deletions.

Single, large-scale deletions of mitochondrial DNA are a common cause of mitochondrial disease and cause a broad phenotypic spectrum ranging from mild myopathy to devastating multi-system syndromes such as Kearns-Sayre syndrome. Studies to date have been inconsistent on the value of putative predictors of clinical phenotype and disease progression such as mutation load and the size or location of the deletion. Using a cohort of 87 patients with single, large-scale mitochondrial DNA deletions we demonstrate that a variety of outcome measures such as COX-deficient fibre density, age-at-onset of symptoms and progression of disease burden, as measured by the Newcastle Mitochondrial Disease Adult Scale, are significantly (P < 0.

Management of complex colonic polyps in the English Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.

Background: Large sessile or flat colonic polyps, defined as polyps at least 20  mm in size, are difficult to treat endoscopically and may harbour malignancy. The aim of this study was to describe their current management to provide insight into optimal management.

Methods: This retrospective observational study identified patients with large sessile or flat polyps detected in the English Bowel Cancer Screening Programme between 2006 and 2009.

Attention bias modification for reducing speech anxiety.

The mechanisms mediating the anxiolytic effects of attention bias modification (ABM) remain unclear. Accordingly, we randomly assigned speech-anxious subjects to receive four sessions of one of three training conditions: ABM, inverse ABM, and control. In the ABM condition, subjects viewed pairs of photographs of models displaying facial expressions of disgust and joy on a computer screen.

Structure of a pseudokinase-domain switch that controls oncogenic activation of Jak kinases.

The V617F mutation in the Jak2 pseudokinase domain causes myeloproliferative neoplasms, and the equivalent mutation in Jak1 (V658F) is found in T-cell leukemias. Crystal structures of wild-type and V658F-mutant human Jak1 pseudokinase reveal a conformational switch that remodels a linker segment encoded by exon 12, which is also a site of mutations in Jak2. This switch is required for V617F-mediated Jak2 activation and possibly for physiologic Jak activation.

Smad3 induces atrogin-1, inhibits mTOR and protein synthesis, and promotes muscle atrophy in vivo.

Myostatin, a member of the TGF superfamily, is sufficient to induce skeletal muscle atrophy. Myostatin-induced atrophy is associated with increases in E3-ligase atrogin-1 expression and protein degradation and decreases in Akt/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling and protein synthesis. Myostatin signaling activates the transcription factor Smad3 (Small Mothers Against Decapentaplegic), which has been shown to be necessary for myostatin-induced atrogin-1 expression and atrophy; however, it is not known whether Smad3 is sufficient to induce these events or whether Smad3 simply plays a permissive role.

Why are Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans seeking PTSD disability compensation at unprecedented rates?

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have produced historically low rates of fatalities, injuries, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among U.S. combatants.

Effects of emotionally valenced working memory taxation on negative memories.

Background And Objectives: Memories enter a labile state during recollection. Thus, memory changes that occur during recollection can affect future instances of its activation. Having subjects perform a secondary task that taxes working memory while they recall a negative emotional memory often reduces its vividness and emotional intensity during subsequent recollections.

Cross-space-time clustering of childhood cancer in Great Britain: evidence for a common aetiology.

Previously, we identified space-time clustering in certain childhood cancers. This study aimed to determine whether there was cross-space-time clustering between different diagnostic groups. A total of 32,295 cases were diagnosed during 1969-1993.

Outcome of 12-month surveillance colonoscopy in high-risk patients in the National Health Service Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.

Aim: Current British guidelines recommend surveillance colonoscopy at 12 months for individuals found to have five or more adenomas, or three or more adenomas of which at least one is ≥ 1 cm in size. This study describes the yield of surveillance colonoscopy in this group and explores patient and clinical factors that may be associated with the presence of advanced adenomas or cancer at surveillance.

Method: Data were retrieved from the national database of the National Health Service Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.

Socioeconomic variation in survival from childhood leukaemia in northern England, 1968-2010.

Background: Despite marked improvements in childhood leukaemia survival, 20% still die within 5 years of diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between socioeconomic status, as assessed by paternal occupation at birth, and survival from childhood leukaemia in children, using data from the Northern Region Young Persons Malignant Disease Registry.

Methods: All 1007 cases of leukaemia in children aged 0-14 years, diagnosed between 1968 and 2010 and registered with the Registry were studied.

How do childhood diagnoses of type 1 diabetes cluster in time?

Background: Previous studies have indicated that type 1 diabetes may have an infectious origin. The presence of temporal clustering-an irregular temporal distribution of cases--would provide additional evidence that occurrence may be linked with an agent that displays epidemicity. We tested for the presence and form of temporal clustering using population- based data from northeast England.

Phase I study to assess the pharmacokinetics and the effect on cardiac repolarization of amrubicin and amrubicinol in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Purpose: To evaluate the pharmacokinetics and cardiac repolarization effect (measured by QT/QTc interval) of amrubicin and its active metabolite amrubicinol in non-Japanese patients with advanced solid tumors.

Methods: Patients received amrubicin 40 mg/m(2)/day as a 5-min infusion on days 1-3 of a 21-day cycle. During cycle 1, serial blood and plasma samples were collected on days 1-9 and time-matched triplicate electrocardiograms on the "off-drug" visit (1-5 days prior to start of treatment) and days 1-9.

Global small RNA chaperone Hfq and regulatory small RNAs are important virulence regulators in Erwinia amylovora.

Hfq is a global small RNA (sRNA) chaperone that interacts with Hfq-regulated sRNAs and functions in the posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. In this work, we identified Hfq to be a virulence regulator in the Gram-negative fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora. Deletion of hfq in E.

Longer mean colonoscopy withdrawal time is associated with increased adenoma detection: evidence from the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England.

Background And Study Aims: Increasing colonoscopy withdrawal time (CWT) is thought to be associated with increasing adenoma detection rate (ADR). Current English guidelines recommend a minimum CWT of 6 minutes. It is known that in the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP) in England there is wide variation in CWT.