Gender differences in colorectal cancer screening and incidence in large nationwide, population-based cohorts

Background. A few studies have reported gender differences along the colorectal cancer (CRC) continuum but none has done so longitudinally to compare a cancer and a non-cancer populations.^ Objectives and Methods. To examine gender differences in colorectal cancer screening (CRCS); to examine trends in gender differences in CRC screening among two groups of patients (Medicare beneficiaries with and without cancer); to examine gender differences in CRC incidence; and to examine for any differences over time. In Paper 1, the study population consisted of men and women, ages 67–89 years, with CRC (73,666) or without any cancer (39,006), residing in 12 U.S. Surveillance Epidemiology and End-Results (SEER) regions. Crude and age-adjusted percentages and odds ratios of receiving fecal occult blood test (FOBT), sigmoidoscopy (SIG), or colonoscopy (COL) were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess gender on the odds of receiving CRC screening over time.^ In Paper 2, age-adjusted incidence rates and proportions over time were reported across race, CRC subsite, CRC stage and SEER region for 373,956 patients, ages 40+ years, residing in 9 SEER regions and diagnosed with malignant CRC. ^ Results. Overall, women had higher CRC screening rates than men and screening rates in general were higher in the SEER sample of persons with CRC diagnosis. Significant temporal divergence in FOBT screening was observed between men and women in both cohorts. Although the largest temporal increases in screening rates were found for COL, especially among the cohort with CRC, little change in the gender gap was observed over time. Receipt of FOBT was significantly associated with female gender especially in the period of full Medicare coverage. Receipt of COL was also significantly associated with male gender, especially in the period of limited Medicare coverage.^ Overall, approximately equal numbers of men (187,973) and women (185,983) were diagnosed with malignant CRC. Men had significantly higher age-adjusted CRC incidence rates than women across all categories of age, race, subsite, stage and SEER region even though rates declined in all categories over time. Significant moderate increases in rate difference occurred among 40-59 year olds; significant reductions occurred among patients age 70+, within subsite rectum, unstaged and distant stage CRC, and eastern and western SEER regions. ^ Conclusions. Persistent gender differences in CRC incidence across time may have implications for gender-based interventions that take age into consideration. A shift toward proximal cancer was observed over time for both genders, but the high proportion of men who develop rectal cancer suggests that a greater proportion of men may need to be targeted with newer screening methods such as fecal DNA or COL. Although previous reports have documented higher CRC screening among men, higher incidence of CRC observed among men suggests that higher risk categories of men are probably not being reached. FOBT utilization rates among women have increased over time and the gender gap has widened between 1998 and 2005. COL utilization is associated with male gender but the differences over time are small.^

External validation study of a clinical prediction rule for ambulation outcomes after traumatic spinal cord injury

The main objective of this study was to determine the external validity of a clinical prediction rule developed by the European Multicenter Study on Human Spinal Cord Injury (EM-SCI) to predict the ambulation outcomes 12 months after traumatic spinal cord injury. Data from the North American Clinical Trials Network (NACTN) data registry with approximately 500 SCI cases were used for this validity study. The predictive accuracy of the EM-SCI prognostic model was evaluated using calibration and discrimination based on 231 NACTN cases. The area under the receiver-operating-characteristics curve (ROC) curve was 0.927 (95% CI 0.894 – 0.959) for the EM-SCI model when applied to NACTN population. This is lower than the AUC of 0.956 (95% CI 0.936 – 0.976) reported for the EM-SCI population, but suggests that the EM-SCI clinical prediction rule distinguished well between those patients in the NACTN population who were able to achieve independent ambulation and those who did not achieve independent ambulation. The calibration curve suggests that higher the prediction score is, the better the probability of walking with the best prediction for AIS D patients. In conclusion, the EM-SCI clinical prediction rule was determined to be generalizable to the adult NACTN SCI population.^

Microbiota and Microsatellite genotypes of Pacific oysters stemming from three oyster bed in the Northern Wadden Sea

Background: Studies of oyster microbiomes have revealed that a limited number of microbes, including pathogens, can dominate microbial communities in host tissues such as gills and gut. Much of the bacterial diversity however remains underexplored and unexplained, although environmental conditions and host genetics have been implicated. We used 454 next generation 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of individually tagged PCR reactions to explore the diversity of bacterial communities in gill tissue of the invasive Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas stemming from genetically differentiated beds under ambient outdoor conditions and after a multifaceted disturbance treatment imposing stress on the host. Results: While the gill associated microbial communities in oysters were dominated by few abundant taxa (i.e. Sphingomonas, Mycoplasma) the distribution of rare bacterial groups correlated to relatedness between the hosts under ambient conditions. Exposing the host to disturbance broke apart this relationship by removing rare phylotypes thereby reducing overall microbial diversity. Shifts in the microbiome composition in response to stress did not result in a net increase in genera known to contain potentially pathogenic strains. Conclusion: The decrease in microbial diversity and the disassociation between population genetic structure of the hosts and their associated microbiome suggest that disturbance (i.e. stress) may play a significant role for the assembly of the natural microbiome. Such community shifts may in turn also feed back on the course of disease and the occurrence of mass mortality events in oyster populations.

Competencias del profesional de la información: un andén en el Mercosur. p. 99-104. En: Tercer Encuentro de Directores y Segundo de Docentes de las Escuelas de Bibliotecología del Mercosur: actas de los acuerdos, recomendaciones, conferencias y ponencias (28-30 oct. 1998).

Es este artículo se analizan las competencias intelectuales, prácticas y sociales que deberían desarrollar los profesionales de la información del Mercosur. Se definen las competencias, se fijan los límites del "Mercosur Informacional", se expresan los lineamientos teóricos de la "competencia" en la Argentina, para luego exponer sobre las competencias del profesional de las Ciencias de la Información, la necesidad de innovar en material de formación profesional para que este colectivo responda a las necesidades de este ámbito socioeconómico.

La penalización del aborto como una violación a los derechos humanos de las mujeres

Capítulo 2 del Informe anual sobre derechos humanos en Chile 2013. Santiago: Universidad Diego Portales, 2013

Horizontal profiles of longwave and shortwave radiation components over sea ice near Barrow, Alaska during the 2011 melt

An integrated instrument package for measuring and understanding the surface radiation budget of sea ice is presented, along with results from its first deployment. The setup simultaneously measures broadband fluxes of upwelling and downwelling terrestrial and solar radiation (four components separately), spectral fluxes of incident and reflected solar radiation, and supporting data such as air temperature and humidity, surface temperature, and location (GPS), in addition to photographing the sky and observed surface during each measurement. The instruments are mounted on a small sled, allowing measurements of the radiation budget to be made at many locations in the study area to see the effect of small-scale surface processes on the large-scale radiation budget. Such observations have many applications, from calibration and validation of remote sensing products to improving our understanding of surface processes that affect atmosphere-snow-ice interactions and drive feedbacks, ultimately leading to the potential to improve climate modelling of ice-covered regions of the ocean. The photographs, spectral data, and other observations allow for improved analysis of the broadband data. An example of this is shown by using the observations made during a partly cloudy day, which show erratic variations due to passing clouds, and creating a careful estimate of what the radiation budget along the observed line would have been under uniform sky conditions, clear or overcast. Other data from the setup's first deployment, in June 2011 on fast ice near Point Barrow, Alaska, are also shown; these illustrate the rapid changes of the radiation budget during a cold period that led to refreezing and new snow well into the melt season.