Brief research report pesticide occupational exposure leads to significant inflammatory changes in normal mammary breast tissue.

Studies have documented the high occurrence of several tumors, including female breast cancer, in populations occupationally exposed to pesticides worldwide. It is believed that in addition to direct DNA damage, other molecular alterations that indicate genomic instability are associated, such as epigenetic modifications and the production of inflammation mediators. The present study characterized the profile of inflammatory changes in the breast tissue of women without cancer occupationally exposed to pesticides.

Low pretreatment serum concentration of vitamin D at breast cancer diagnosis in postmenopausal women.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the rate of and risk factors for low pretreatment vitamin D (VitD) levels in postmenopausal breast cancer (BC) women, compared with postmenopausal women without BC.

Methods: A cross-sectional clinical study was conducted to compare 209 women with BC (case group) to 418 women without BC (control group), age range: 45 to 75 years. The case group consisted of women diagnosed with BC, amenorrhea ≥12 months, aged ≥45 years, without use of medication or clinical conditions that might interfere with VitD levels.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with poor breast cancer prognostic features in postmenopausal women.

This study aimed to evaluate the association between pretreatment vitamin D (VD) deficiency with breast cancer prognostic features in Brazilian postmenopausal women. An analytical cross sectional study was conducted with 192 women, aged 45-75 years, attended at University Hospital. Women with recent diagnosis of breast cancer, in amenorrhea >12months and age ≥45 years, without medication use or clinical conditions that interfere with VD values were included.

Between control and hacker activism: the political actions of Anonymous Brasil.

This paper addresses the political actions of Anonymous, the principal expression of current hacker activism, arguing that hacktivism is a form of political resistance in control societies. To this end, it focuses on studying the Brazilian, hacktivist facet of the collective. In order to stress its political character, it scrutinizes the principal expressions of hacking in the literature.