Risk factors for colorectal cancer in subjects with family history of the disease.

The relationship between lifestyle factors, past medical conditions, daily meal frequency, diet and the risk of 'familial' colorectal cancer has been analysed using data from a case-control study conducted in northern Italy. A total of 1584 colorectal cancer patients and 2879 control subjects were admitted to a network of hospitals in the Greater Milan area and the Pordenone province. The subjects included for analysis were the 112 cases and the 108 control subjects who reported a family history of colorectal cancer in first-degree relatives. Colorectal cancer cases and control subjects with family history were similarly distributed according to sex, age, marital status, years of schooling and social class. Familial colorectal cancer was associated with meal frequency, medical history of diabetes (relative risk, RR = 4.6) and cholelithiasis (RR = 5.2). Significant positive trends of increasing risk with more frequent consumption were observed for pasta (RR = 2.5, for the highest vs the lowest intake tertile), pastries (RR = 2.4), red meat (RR = 2.9), canned meat (RR = 1.9), cheese (RR = 3.5) and butter (RR = 1.9). Significant inverse associations and trends in risk were observed for consumption of poultry (RR = 0.4), tomatoes (RR = 0.2), peppers (RR = 0.3) and lettuce (RR = 0.3). Significant inverse trends in risk with increasing consumption for beta-carotene and ascorbic acid were observed (RR = 0.5 and 0.4 respectively, highest vs lowest intake tertile). These results suggest that risk factors for subjects with a family history of colorectal cancer in first-degree relatives are not appreciably different from recognized risk factors of the disease in the general population.

Implementing a Cancer Fast-track programme between primary and specialised care in Catalonia(Spain): amixed methods study

BACKGROUND: The Cancer Fast-track Programme's aim was to reduce the time that elapsed between well-founded suspicion of breast, colorectal and lung cancer and the start of initial treatment in Catalonia (Spain). We sought to analyse its implementation and overall effectiveness. METHODS: A quantitative analysis of the programme was performed using data generated by the hospitals on the basis of seven fast-track monitoring indicators for the period 2006-2009. In addition, we conducted a qualitative study, based on 83 semistructured interviews with primary and specialised health professionals and health administrators, to obtain their perception of the programme's implementation. RESULTS: About half of all new patients with breast, lung or colorectal cancer were diagnosed via the fast track, though the cancer detection rate declined across the period. Mean time from detection of suspected cancer in primary care to start of initial treatment was 32 days for breast, 30 for colorectal and 37 for lung cancer (2009). Professionals associated with the implementation of the programme showed that general practitioners faced with suspicion of cancer had changed their conduct with the aim of preventing lags. Furthermore, hospitals were found to have pursued three specific implementation strategies (top-down, consensus-based and participatory), which made for the cohesion and sustainability of the circuits. CONCLUSION: The programme has contributed to speeding up diagnostic assessment and treatment of patients with suspicion of cancer, and to clarifying the patient pathway between primary and specialised care.

Theimpact of industry collaboration on research: Evidence from engineering academics in the UK

We study the impact of university-industry research collaborations on academicoutput, in terms of productivity and direction of research. We report findings froma longitudinal dataset on all the researchers from the engineering departments inthe UK in the last 20 years. We control for the endogeneity caused by the dynamicnature of research and the existence of reverse causality. Our results indicate thatresearchers with industrial links publish significantly more. Productivity, though,is higher for low levels of industry involvement. Moreover, growing ties with theindustry skew research towards a more applied approach.

Trends in economic research: an international perspective

Given the recent efforts in several countries to reorganize the research institutional setting to improve research productivity, our analysis addresses the following questions: To which extent has the recent awareness over international quality standards in economics around the world been reflected in research performance? How have individual countries fared? Do research quantity and quality indicators tell us the same story? We concentrate on trends taking place since the beginning of the 1990s and rely on a very comprehensive database of scientific journals, to provide a cross-country comparison of the evolution of research in economics. Our findings indicate that Europe is catching-up with the US but, in terms of influential research, the US maintains a dominant position. The main continental European countries, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, experienced some of the largest growth rates in economic scientific output. Other European countries, namely the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, have shown remarkable progress in per capita output. Collaborative research seems to be a key factor explaining the relative success of some European countries, in particular when it comes to publishing in top journals, attained predominantly through international collaborations.

The Impact of Industry Collaboration on Academic Research Output: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of university knowledge and technology transfer activities on academic research output. Specifically, we study whether researchers with collaborative links with the private sector publish less than their peers without such links, once controlling for other sources of heterogeneity. We report findings from a longitudinal dataset on researchers from two engineering departments in the UK between 1985 until 2006. Our results indicate that researchers with industrial links publish significantly more than their peers. Academic productivity, though, is higher for low levels of industry involvement as compared to high levels.

Societat de la vigilància 25 anys desprès de 1984 a Catalunya i UK

Desprès de un any de treball, el grup ha detectat que la relació entre protecció de dades i vídeo vigilància constitueix el nus central de la preocupació internacional en torn a la anomenada “Societat de la Vigilància”. Paral•lelament, ha constatat que a l’Estat Espanyol hi ha pocs grups que treballin aquesta cruïlla temàtica, raó per la qual la representació ibèrica en els grups de recerca europeus era minsa. Per aquestes raons, el grup ha dedicat els esforços a: 1) desenvolupar un marc teòric que faci possible entendre l’entramat legislatiu, sociològic i fenomènic de la video vigilància a Catalunya, a l’estat Espanyol, i a Europa. 2) dur a terme accions de recerca empírica qualitativa i quantitativa i relacionar-les amb aquest marc teòric. 3) crear vincles de col•laboració amb investigadors catalans, espanyols, anglesos i fins i tot europeus, començant una etapa d’integració a les xarxes de recerca en funcionament o en estat latent. En funció de les característiques de la convocatòria i del tema original que ens ocupava (la relació entre la mes coneguda obra de George Orwell -1984- i la situació actual del control social a Catalunya i al Regne Unit), s’ha posat especial èmfasi en l’establiment de vincles amb investigadors del Regne Unit; com a conseqüència, s’ha treballat amb dos de les persones “associades” al projecte (Phillip Carney i David Porteous) intercanviant dades, informació i dissenyant accions, en una col•laboració que té projecció en el futur immediat -amb la publicació d’un llibre conjunt- i mediat -mitjançant la integració de investigadors participants en aquest projecte en altres accions de recerca d’abast europeu-. Les accions realitzades en funció d’això explicat es descriuen en aquesta memòria, acompanyades d’un breu resum de les troballes mes significatives.

Endogeneous matching in university-industry collaboration: Theory and empirical evidence from the UK

We develop a two-sided matching model to analyze collaboration between heterogeneousacademics and firms. We predict a positive assortative matching in terms of both scientificability and affinity for type of research, but negative assortative in terms of ability on one sideand affinity in the other. In addition, the most able and most applied academics and the mostable and most basic firms shall collaborate rather than stay independent. Our predictionsreceive strong support from the analysis of the teams of academics and firms that proposeresearch projects to the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.