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Observed Cases (observed + case)
Selected AbstractsSecond malignancies among survivors of germ-cell testicular cancer: A pooled analysis between 13 cancer registriesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 3 2007Lorenzo Richiardi Abstract We investigated the risk of second malignancies among 29,511 survivors of germ-cell testicular cancer recorded in 13 cancer registries. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were estimated comparing the observed numbers of second malignancies with the expected numbers obtained from sex-, age-, period- and population-specific incidence rates. Seminomas and nonseminomas, the 2 main histological groups of testicular cancer, were analyzed separately. During a median follow-up period of 8.3 years (0,35 years), we observed 1,811 second tumors, with a corresponding SIR of 1.65 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.57,1.73). Statistically significant increased risks were found for fifteen cancer types, including SIRs of 2.0 or higher for cancers of the stomach, gallbladder and bile ducts, pancreas, bladder, kidney, thyroid, and for soft-tissue sarcoma, nonmelanoma skin cancer and myeloid leukemia. The SIR for myeloid leukemia was 2.39 (95% CI: 1.41,3.77) after seminomas, and 6.77 (95% CI: 4.14,10.5) after nonseminomas. It increased to 37.9 (95% CI: 18.9,67.8; based on 11 observed cases of leukemia) among nonseminoma patients diagnosed since 1990. SIRs for most solid cancers increased with follow-up duration, whereas they did not change with year of testicular cancer diagnosis. Among subjects diagnosed before 1980, 20 year survivors of seminoma had a cumulative risk of solid cancer of 9.6% (95% CI: 8.7,10.5%) vs. 6.5% expected, whereas 20 years survivors of nonseminoma had a risk of 5.0% (95% CI: 4.2,6.0%) vs. 3.1% expected. In conclusion, survivors of testicular cancers have an increased risk of several second primaries, where the effect of the treatment seems to play a major role. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Effects of memantine on cognition in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease: post-hoc analyses of ADAS-cog and SIB total and single-item scores from six randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studiesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 5 2009Patrizia Mecocci Abstract Objectives The post-hoc analyses reported here evaluate the specific effects of memantine treatment on ADAS-cog single-items or SIB subscales for patients with moderate to severe AD. Methods Data from six multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, double-blind, 6-month studies were used as the basis for these post-hoc analyses. All patients with a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of less than 20 were included. Analyses of patients with moderate AD (MMSE: 10,19), evaluated with the Alzheimer's disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-cog) and analyses of patients with moderate to severe AD (MMSE: 3,14), evaluated using the Severe Impairment Battery (SIB), were performed separately. Results The mean change from baseline showed a significant benefit of memantine treatment on both the ADAS-cog (p,<,0.01) and the SIB (p,<,0.001) total score at study end. The ADAS-cog single-item analyses showed significant benefits of memantine treatment, compared to placebo, for mean change from baseline for commands (p,<,0.001), ideational praxis (p,<,0.05), orientation (p,<,0.01), comprehension (p,<,0.05), and remembering test instructions (p,<,0.05) for observed cases (OC). The SIB subscale analyses showed significant benefits of memantine, compared to placebo, for mean change from baseline for language (p,<,0.05), memory (p,<,0.05), orientation (p,<,0.01), praxis (p,<,0.001), and visuospatial ability (p,<,0.01) for OC. Conclusion Memantine shows significant benefits on overall cognitive abilities as well as on specific key cognitive domains for patients with moderate to severe AD. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Simulations of strong gravitational lensing with substructureMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2006Adam Amara ABSTRACT Galactic-sized gravitational lenses are simulated by combining a cosmological N -body simulation and models for the baryonic component of the galaxy. The lens caustics, critical curves, image locations and magnification ratios are calculated by ray shooting on an adaptive grid. When the source is near a cusp in a smooth lens' caustic, the sum of the magnifications of the three closest images should be close to zero. It is found that in the observed cases this sum is generally too large to be consistent with the simulations, implying that there is not enough substructure in the simulations. This suggests that other factors play an important role. These may include limited numerical resolution, lensing by structure outside the halo, selection bias and the possibility that a randomly selected galaxy halo may be more irregular, for example, due to recent mergers, than the isolated halo used in this study. It is also shown that, with the level of substructure computed from the N -body simulations, the image magnifications of the Einstein cross-type lenses are very weak functions of source size up to 1 kpc. This is also true for the magnification ratios of widely separated images in the fold and cusp,caustic lenses. This means that selected magnification ratios for the different emission regions of a lensed quasar should agree with each other, barring microlensing by stars. The source size dependence of the magnification ratio between the closest pair of images is more sensitive to substructure. [source] Methylphenidate use in children and risk of cancer at 18 sites: results of surveillance analyses,PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 12 2007Nina Oestreicher PhD Abstract Purpose A recent report linked methylphenidate (MPH) use in children to cytologic abnormalities in plasma lymphocytes, a possible cancer biomarker. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of MPH use and childhood cancer risk. Methods Using automated pharmacy databases and the SEER-affiliated cancer registry of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program (KPMCP), we compared cancer rates at 18 sites among 35 400 MPH users who received it before age 20 to rates among KPMCP membership (age, sex, and calendar year standardized). Medical records of MPH exposed cancer cases were reviewed to identify the presence of established risk factors. Results There were 23 cancers among MPH users, versus 20.4 expected (standardized morbidity ratio, SMR,=,1.13, 95% confidence interval (0.72, 1.70)). Given the small number of cancers, site-specific SMR estimates were imprecise. Only one SMR was statistically significant at the p,<,0.05 level, which given the number of comparisons is consistent with the absence of a true association at any site. MPH use was associated with increased risk of lymphocytic leukemia (SMR,=,2.64 (1.14, 5.20)), based on eight observed cases). The medical records of these exposed cases did not reveal any lymphocytic leukemia risk factors (prior cancer, radiotherapy or chemotherapy, or Down syndrome). Conclusions Our results are consistent with no moderate or strong association between MPH use and cancer risk in children, although our ability to examine dose and duration of use or risk at specific sites was limited by small numbers. Further study of MPH use and lymphocytic leukemia risk is needed to determine whether our results are due to chance alone. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||