Rate Of New Cases Research Articles

Understanding Breast Cancer: A Key Emphasis on Molecular Signalling Pathways and Phytotherapy

Globally, 2.3 million women have been diagnosed with breast cancer, making it a significant global public health concern [1]. By 2040, the annual rate of new cases is projected to reach 3 million, an increase of nearly 40 percent from 2020 [2]. Lifelong exposures to a variety of endogenous and exogenous variables, as well as the interaction of genetic elements, contribute to the complexity of breast cancerogenesis [3]. Normal human growth is strictly regulated by the signalling pathways that allow cells to communicate with one another and their surroundings. Breast carcinoma is caused by alterations in signalling networks that regulate cell motility, differentiation, cell proliferation, and cell apoptosis. Surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and targeted therapy are the primary forms of breast cancer treatment [4]. However, phytotherapy have shown promise because they are more effective, safer, and have a lower resistance rate than hormone-targeting and chemotherapeutics [5]. Alternatively, plant-derived natural compounds that have anti-cancer potential by targeting impaired signalling pathways such as Wnt/β-Catenin, NF-κB, PI3K/Akt/mTOR, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal-related pathways. This comprehensive review discusses the actual incidence of breast cancer, its risk factors, diagnostic methods, associated pathogenesis theories, and the universal classification of malignant breast tumours. Finally, we accentuate on the role of phytocompounds to reverse the associated molecular abnormalities, for more effective therapy and a better management of breast carcinomas.

Abstract 1570: Novel Myc-dependent compound DL78 selectively induces mitotic catastrophe and cell death in high grade serous ovarian cancer

Abstract While the rates of new cases and deaths for high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) have declined steadily in the past decade, HGSC remains the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women. As many patients succumb to chemoresistance, there is a need to uncover novel targeted drugs. One way to do so is by drug repurposing. A computational screen, DrugPredict, led to the discovery that amiodarone, an antiarrhythmic, is a potent apoptosis-inducer and Myc-degrader in numerous patient-derived ovarian cancer cell lines. In search of a more selective, but less toxic compound, structure-activity relationship was applied to identify DL78. Due to its structural differences, DL78 is considered to be independent of amiodarone. DL78 lacks hERG activity, retains Myc regulation, and gains selective anticancer properties. This compound produces significant cell death selectively in patient-derived HGSC cells, including isogenic cisplatin-resistant lines, but does not harm non-transformed fallopian tube cells. Cancer cells treated with DL78 arrest prior to anaphase and showcase microtubule abnormalities and upregulation of mitotic regulators. The prolonged arrest leads to loss of Myc, mitotic catastrophe, and apoptosis selectively in the HGSC cells, while fallopian tube cells can cycle normally. DL78’s activity is confirmed to be dependent on Myc expression because targeted inhibition of Myc decreases its potency and prevents the DL78-induced cell cycle arrest. Finally, pharmacokinetic analysis shows that DL78 saturates the tumor following intraperitoneal injection, yet drug concentrations in the blood and liver present at normal levels. Overall, these phenotypes do not show with amiodarone treatment, suggesting that structurally different DL78 performs through a different mechanism. Further classification of this tumor-selective compound may reveal targeted ovarian cancer vulnerabilities. Citation Format: Jessica Teitel, Michele Cusato, Margaret Farah, Agharnan Gandhi, Pil Lee, Andrew White, John Takyi-Williams, Bo Wen, Andre Monterio Da Rocha, Analisa DiFeo. Novel Myc-dependent compound DL78 selectively induces mitotic catastrophe and cell death in high grade serous ovarian cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1570.

Impact of COVID-19 on the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program in Uttarakhand, India: A Mixed-Methods Research Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has had adverse effects on tuberculosis (TB) management in high-burden countries. We conducted a qualitative study to assess the impact of COVID-19 on Uttarakhand's TB elimination program. A mixed-methods study was conducted to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP) in Uttarakhand, India. We collected secondary data through the NIKSHAY portal from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2021, interviewed program managers for the qualitative part of the study, and documented changes in some of the program core indicators during the study period. The study showed a decrease in TB case notification, an increase in the proportion of missing cases, and a fall in the treatment success rate of new cases during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by 17%, 54%, and 45%, respectively. Content analysis of in-depth interviews showed disruption in TB-care services because of COVID-19. TB care services in Uttarakhand have been impacted by measures taken to curb the spread of COVID-19. Both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the study showed a serious impact on notification rates, diagnostic services, and treatment outcomes for TB patients. In addition, some negative changes have been observed when documenting program indicators (annual case notifications, success rate, treatment success rate) of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP). It is thus predicted that COVID-19 will undermine the Government of India's goal to eradicate TB by 2025 and will negatively affect the TB Program.

Social Distancing, Vaccination and Evolution of Covid-19: A Panel-Model Analysis

Abstract This work discusses the impact of social distancing and vaccination on the monthly variation rate of new cases and deaths of COVID-19 around the world. A statistical panel-regression model was applied to daily data for 131 countries from March, 2020 to December, 2021. The setting of suitable control variables was essential to achieve reliable results. We found, as a possible consequence of strict social distancing, a decrease of around 5.5 percentage points in the growth rate of both new cases and deaths, before vaccination. The possible impact of progress in vaccination, in 2021 was even stronger: a decrease of 9 and 12 percentage points on the growth of new cases and deaths, respectively. As a final conclusion, our dataset and the method employed did not allow to exclude either the hypothesis that strict social distancing was an important measure to control the pandemic before the advent of vaccines, nor the conjuncture that the impact of vaccination has been stronger, mainly with regard to deaths. JEL classification numbers: C13, C33, I18. Keywords: COVID-19, Social Distancing, Vaccination, Panel model.

Abstract A076: Pancreatic cancer survival disparities in Florida using a statewide database

Abstract Introduction Pancreatic cancer (PC) portends a poor prognosis, is the current third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, and is still rising. The state of Florida has the second-highest rate of new cases of PC within the United States with an incidence of 460/100,000. It is also a disease with significant disparities. African Americans with PC have a 50–90% increased incidence, lower rates of surgery, and worse overall mortality in comparison to other racial groups. With increased knowledge of these disparities in recent years, we sought out to identify whether these differences were present in the state of Florida by examining differences in pancreatic cancer survival outcomes between race, age, and income. Materials and Methods Patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma diagnosed from January 1st, 2017 to October 31st, 2020 were identified through the statewide clinical research and network database called OneFlorida Clinical Consortium (OneFlorida) by using the ICD10 diagnosis code for pancreatic cancer. Patients with a diagnosis of neuroendocrine carcinoma were excluded. Patients were followed for at least one year unless a death occurred. Summary statistics were reported for demographic variables. The demographic variable for income was stratified by low being < $53,000 and high being ≥ $53,000. Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank test was performed to compare the difference in overall survival time among groups. Cox proportional hazards models were also fitted to test the between-group differences and compute the 95% confidence intervals of hazard ratio, while adjusting for informative covariate(s) when necessary. Results A total of 2,739 unique patients were available for analysis. The distribution of the sample was 68.7% White, 23.4% Black, and 7.9% Other. The median age was 67 years (27–89). There were 49.8% women and 50.2% men. The median income was $52,915 ($23,704–$124,821). Significant differences in overall survival were detected (p-values < 0.001) between age, income, and racial groups, but not between sex. Patients that were Black, >67 years old, and had low-income had a significantly less survival time than their corresponding contrasts independently. The mean survival (in days) for low income vs. high income was 779.5 vs. 945.9 (p<.0001). The differences remained significant in stratified analyses by cancer stage. In stage II PC, the mean survival (in days) for White vs. Black populations was 1134.9 days vs 472.2 days, and in stage IV PC the survival comparison was 770.2 days vs. 787.5 days between the same groups. Discussion Significant race, age and income disparities in survival exist in the state of Florida. These disparities are present even when stage is accounted for. Knowledge of health disparities statistics are not sufficient, and a targeted multi-stakeholder approach needs to be developed to improve survival outcomes of our patients. Limitations to this study include the racial demographic of “other” not having further description due to limited data availability through the clinical research network. Citation Format: Guettchina Telisnor, Alexander S. Lim, Zhongyue Zhang, XiangYang Lou, Ibrahim Nassour, Sherise C. Rogers. Pancreatic cancer survival disparities in Florida using a statewide database [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr A076.

Media attention toward COVID-19 across 18 countries: The influence of cultural values and pandemic severity.

Current media studies of COVID-19 devote asymmetrical attention to social media, in contrast, newspapers have received comparatively less attention. Newspapers are an integral source of current information-that are syndicated and amplified by social media to a wide global audience. This is the first-known study to investigate the impact of cultural values and pandemic severity on media attention towards COVID-19. Findings lay the groundwork for targeted public health communications that are culturally nuanced. We investigated the impact of cultural values and pandemic severity on Media Attention towards COVID-19 across 18 countries. We tracked the global volume of COVID-19 coverage (to measure media attention) over 8 months in a news media database of 12 billion words with 30 million articles from over 7,000 news media sites. Predictors of Media Attention towards COVID-19 came from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (incidence and mortality) and Hofstede's Cultural Values. Media attention toward COVID-19 increased 55 times over 8 months. Higher rates of new cases and deaths predicted this exponential increase. Countries with higher power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation, were associated with increased media attention, controlling for covariates. Cultural values play a significant role in the news media's attention toward COVID-19, controlling for pandemic severity. We provided a framework to design targeted public health communications that are culturally nuanced.

A statistical look at the COVID-19 vaccine development and vaccine policies.

The global outbreak of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus elicited immense global interest in the development and distribution of safe COVID-19 vaccines by various governments and researchers, capable of stopping the spread of COVID-19 disease. After COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, several vaccines have been developed for emergency use authorization. The accelerated development of the vaccines was attributed to many factors but mainly by capitalizing on years of research and technology development. Although several countries tried to develop COVID-19 vaccines only a few countries succeeded. Therefore, we applied statistical methods to find factors that have contributed to the fast development of COVID-19 vaccines. All 11 countries that developed vaccines were considered and chose other 24 countries for comparison purposes according to different criteria of their R&D. Fourteen R&D indicator variables that are a measure of the R&D for all countries [World Development Indicators (WDI)] were obtained from the World Bank DataBank and data on the COVID-19 vaccine R&D were obtained from The Knowledge Portal of the Graduate Institute Geneva and Global Health Center. The World Bank records WDI yearly, and 2019 was chosen because of a few missing values. Also, different vaccine policies were adopted by different countries during the COVID-19 vaccination period, producing different impacts of vaccinations on the population. So, we applied the generalized estimating equations (GEE) approach to find policies that contributed greatly to decreasing the spread of COVID-19 using data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) and age-specific vaccination data from the European Center for Disease and Prevention and Control. Logistic regression, two-sample t-test, and Wilcoxon rank-sum test found scientific and technical journals, liability, and COVID-19 Vaccine R&D Funding (investment in pharmaceutical industry US$) are significantly associated with fast COVID-19 vaccine development. Vaccine prioritization and government vaccine financial support were significantly associated with COVID-19 daily cases. The impact of vaccination on lowering the rate of new cases is greatly observed among the mid-aged populations (25-64 years) and lower or non-significant among the younger (<25 years) and (>65 years) older populations. Therefore, these age-groups especially > 79 can be prioritized during vaccine roll-out.

Abstract A048: Impact of COVID-19 on pancreatic cancer outcomes in Florida

Abstract Introduction: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is currently the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. African Americans with PC have an increased incidence and worse survival outcome when compared to other racial groups. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there is evidence that hospital resources were allocated to treating immediate life-threatening conditions. Some of the daily highest case numbers were reported in the state of Florida with several peaks throughout 2020 and 2021. Additionally, the state of Florida has the second-highest rate of new cases of PC within the United States with an incidence of 4860/100,000. Our specific aim is to define the impact of COVID-19 between race, age, income, and gender on the survival time of newly diagnosed patients with pancreatic cancer in Florida. Materials and Methods: Patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma diagnosed from January 1st, 2017 to October 31st, 2020 were identified through the statewide clinical research and network database called OneFlorida Clinical Consortium by using the ICD10 diagnosis code for pancreatic cancer. Patients were then placed into 3 cohorts based on date of pancreatic cancer diagnosis: pre-pandemic (01/01/2017- 09/30/2019), transition (10/01/2019-02/28/2020), and pandemic (03/1/2020-10/31/2020). Patients with a diagnosis of neuroendocrine carcinoma were excluded. Patients were followed for at least one year unless a death occurred. Summary statistics were reported for demographic variables (age, sex, income, gender). Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank test was performed to compare the difference in overall survival time among groups. Results: This retrospective study had a total of 934 unique patients available for analysis. Of the 934 patients, 81.3% were in the pre-pandemic cohort (n= 759), 8.2% transition cohort (n=77), and 10.5% pandemic cohort (n=98). There was a decrease in the rate of diagnosis from the pre-pandemic (23 per month) to pandemic cohort (12.2 per month). The demographic distribution of the sample was 23.4% Black, 68.7% White and 7.9% Other. The median age was 67 years (27–89). There were 49.8% women and 50.2% men. The median income was $52,915 ($23,704–$124,821). The differences in overall survival time were not significant for age and gender across the 3 cohorts. Income &amp;lt;$53,000 had significantly lower survival time across the 3 cohorts. African Americans had significantly lower survival time for pre-pandemic and transition cohort (p&amp;lt; .005), but Caucasians had the lowest survival time for the pandemic cohort (p &amp;lt;.005). When stratified for stage, the mean survival (in months) for White vs. Black populations was 37.8 vs. 26.1 for stage I, 37.6 vs. 27.3 for stage II, 28.5 vs.18.77 for stage III, and 20.7 vs. 21.7 for stage IV. Discussion: This study demonstrated a decrease in diagnosis &amp; survival rate during the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida. Dissemination of resources should target these disparities in income and race. Citation Format: Guettchina Telisnor, Alexander S. Lim, Zhongyue Zhang, XiangYang Lou, Ibrahim Nassour, Bo Han, Edward Agyare, Sherise C. Rogers. Impact of COVID-19 on pancreatic cancer outcomes in Florida [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer; 2022 Sep 13-16; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(22 Suppl):Abstract nr A048.

Severity in a Norwegian hospitalized injury material (N = 177,663) by two severity measures: threat-to-life and threat of disability

Abstract We conducted a registry-based cohort study of all individuals aged 25-64 years residing in Norway by 1st of January 2008 (N = 2,535,213). This cohort was followed from 2008 through 2014 using inpatient registrations for acute hospitalizations due to all-cause injuries, getting 177,663 cases of hospitalized persons (incidence rate of new cases: 102.1 pr 10,000 person-years at risk). We derived two measures of severity: threat-to-life using the International Classification of Disease-based Injury Severity Score (ICISS) (Stephenson et al 2004; Gedeborg et al 2014), and threat of disability using long-term disability weights (DW) from the Injury-VIBES project (Gabbe et al 2014), also based on the ICD-codes. We found the following distributions of the hospitalized persons (N = 177,663): 1) Threat to life (ICISS): High threat to life: 4,186 (2.4 %); Lower threat to life: 173,477 (97.6%). 2) Threat of disability (Injury Vibes DW): High probability of long-term disability (DW-score &amp;lt; 0.807): 36,573 (20,6 %); Medium probability of long-term disability (DW-score 0.807-0.947): 97,590 (54,9 %); low probability of long-term disability (DW-score &amp;gt;0.947): 43,530 (24.5 %). Correlation between ICISS-score and the Injury Vibes disability weight score was moderate (r = 0.418, p &amp;lt; 0.001). The presentation will end up in a discussion on which of these two severity measures could be used for comparing burden of injuries across countries. References Gabbe BJ, Simpson PM, Lyons RA, et al. (2014) Association between the Number of Injuries Sustained and 12-Months Disability Outcomes: Evidence from the Injury-VIBES Study. PLos ONE, 9(12):e113467. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113467. Gedeborg R, Warner M, Chen LH, et al. (2014) Internationally comparable diagnosis-specific survival probabilites for calculation of the ICD-10-based Injury Severity Score. J Trauma Acute Care Surg, 76(2):358-65. DOI: 10.1097/ta.0b013e3182a9cd31.

Genomic findings of hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy characterized in a Thai clinical genetics service.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) are the most common referrals in the Inherited Cardiovascular Condition (ICC) Genetics Service. Several issues must be discussed with patients and their families during the genetic consultation session, including the options for genetic testing and cardiovascular surveillance in family members. We developed an ICC registry and performed next-generation-based DNA sequencing for all patients affected by non-syndromic HCM and idiopathic DCM in our joint specialist genetics service. The target gene sequencing panel relied on the Human Phenotype Ontology with 237 genes for HCM (HP:0001639) and 142 genes for DCM (HP:0001644). All subjects were asked to contact their asymptomatic first-degree relatives for genetic counseling regarding their risks and to initiate cardiovascular surveillance and cascade genetic testing. The study was performed from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2020, and a total of 62 subjects (31-HCM and 31-DCM) were enrolled. The molecular detection frequency was 48.39% (32.26% pathogenic/likely pathogenic, 16.13% variant of uncertain significance or VUS for HCM, and 25.81% (16.13% pathogenic/likely pathogenic, 9.68% VUS) for DCM. The most prevalent gene associated with HCM was MYBPC3. The others identified in this study included ACTN2, MYL2, MYH7, TNNI3, TPM1, and VCL. Among the DCM subjects, variants were detected in two cases with the TTN nonsense variants, while the others were missense and identified in MYH7, DRSP3, MYBPC3, and SCN5A. Following the echocardiogram surveillance and cascade genetic testing in the asymptomatic first-degree relatives, the detection rate of new cases was 8.82% and 6.25% in relatives of HCM and DCM subjects, respectively. Additionally, a new pre-symptomatic relative belonging to an HCM family was identified, although the genomic finding in the affected case was absent. Thus, ICC service is promising for the national healthcare system, aiming to prevent morbidity and mortality in asymptomatic family members.

Cancers in Iraq: Half century overview

Malignancies have been increasingly regarded as one of the main challenges to healthcare systems throughout the world. Malignant diseases were reported by the World Health Organization to be the second leading cause of death throughout the world accounting for about sixth of all deaths during the year 2018. There has been increasing interest in the historic patterns of malignant disease which can help in establishing understanding of the possible changes of pattern of cancer. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the pattern of malignancy in Iraq during the previous half century. The top five cancers reported in Iraq during ten-year period (1976-1985) were different from the top cancers throughout the world as reported by the World Health Organization during the previous years. The pattern of malignant disease in Iraq during the years 2000 to 2004 was rather different from the pattern of malignancies in other countries like United States of America. The incidence rate of new cases of malignancies were increasing during the previous decades as it was 38.91/100,000 population in 1994, 52.8\100,000 in 2006, and 82.62/100,000 population in 2018. The pattern of cancers in Iraq was not very similar to the latest global pattern reported by the World Health Organization. In addition, the pattern of childhood cancers in Iraq witnessed some changes during the previous decades.

Cancers in Iraq: Half century overview

Malignancies have been increasingly regarded as one of the main challenges to healthcare systems throughout the world. Malignant diseases were reported by the World Health Organization to be the second leading cause of death throughout the world accounting for about sixth of all deaths during the year 2018. There has been increasing interest in the historic patterns of malignant disease which can help in establishing understanding of the possible changes of pattern of cancer. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the pattern of malignancy in Iraq during the previous half century. The top five cancers reported in Iraq during ten-year period (1976-1985) were different from the top cancers throughout the world as reported by the World Health Organization during the previous years. The pattern of malignant disease in Iraq during the years 2000 to 2004 was rather different from the pattern of malignancies in other countries like United States of America. The incidence rate of new cases of malignancies were increasing during the previous decades as it was 38.91/100,000 population in 1994, 52.8\100,000 in 2006, and 82.62/100,000 population in 2018. The pattern of cancers in Iraq was not very similar to the latest global pattern reported by the World Health Organization. In addition, the pattern of childhood cancers in Iraq witnessed some changes during the previous decades.

Linear Biases and Pandemic Communications.

Previous research has demonstrated a tendency for individuals to mentally linearize nonlinear trends, leading to forecast errors. The present research notes that prior conceptualizations of these linear biases do not make identical predictions and examines how linear biases affect forecasts and risk perceptions of an unfolding epidemic. This research uses an online experiment and a preregistered direct replication in a different online participant pool (total N = 608) to assess the trajectories of forecasts and risk perceptions over time in an unfolding epidemic. Framing the progress of the epidemic using total cases (v. the rate of new cases) leads to higher forecasts. This research also finds that the effect of frame varies over different time points in the epidemic and differs for forecasts versus risk perceptions. Finally, the effect of frame for forecasted totals is weaker among more numerate individuals. The studies use repeated measures that occur in 1 session rather than over the course of several months and involve a smooth epidemic curve rather than a noisy one with jagged case counts. This research compares prior conceptualizations of linear biases and yields data with implications both for theory on linear biases and for communicators involved in disseminating information about epidemics. Framing the progress of the epidemic using total cases (v. the rate of new cases) leads to higher forecasts.The effect of frame varies over different time points in the epidemic and differs for forecasts v. risk perceptions.The effect of frame for forecasted totals is weaker among more numerate individuals.

Sesquiterpene Lactones as Promising Candidates for Cancer Therapy: Focus on Pancreatic Cancer.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive disease which confers to patients a poor prognosis at short term. PDAC is the fourth leading cause of death among cancers in the Western world. The rate of new cases of pancreatic cancer (incidence) is 10 per 100,000 but present a 5-year survival of less than 10%, highlighting the poor prognosis of this pathology. Furthermore, 90% of advanced PDAC tumor present KRAS mutations impacting in several oncogenic signaling pathways, many of them associated with cell proliferation and tumor progression. Different combinations of chemotherapeutic agents have been tested over the years without an improvement of significance in its treatment. PDAC remains as one the more challenging biomedical topics thus far. The lack of a proper early diagnosis, the notable mortality statistics and the poor outcome with the available therapies urge the entire scientific community to find novel approaches against PDAC with real improvements in patients’ survival and life quality. Natural compounds have played an important role in the process of discovery and development of new drugs. Among them, terpenoids, such as sesquiterpene lactones, stand out due to their biological activities and pharmacological potential as antitumor agents. In this review, we will describe the sesquiterpene lactones with in vitro and in vivo activity against pancreatic tumor cells. We will also discuss the mechanism of action of the compounds as well as the signaling pathways associated with their activity.

Job and demographic risk factors influencing cellular mediated hypersensitivity among Nigerian Laboratory University workers in multiple chemical exposures

Background: Chemicals from laboratories represent a significant risk in cellular mediated hypersensitivity (CMH) and chemo-induced skin injury due to chemical agents present under human skin layers absorbed from the surface. This study aimed to determine the occupational and socio-demographic characteristics of the laboratory workers associated with CMH in multiple chemical exposures. Design: This was a cross-sectional study on a population-based sample of Nigerian laboratory university workers. Methods: Data were collected using the erythema index meter. The study included 287 laboratory workers. Results: The results showed that the number of positive with CMH was 176 (61.3%) with 99 (56.3%) of them were male with AOR 0.31 (95%CI: 0.12, 0.77; p=0.011). Dark-skinned participants with CMH had adjusted odd ration, AOR 0.49 (95%CI: 0.21, 081; p =0.001). Most of the respondents have college education and have been exposed for 4-5hrs in the laboratory with AOR 2.42 (95%CI: 1.10, 5.38; p = 0.049) and 3.11 (95%CI: 1.77, 9.23; p =0.001) respectively. The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) was 60% less likely to be significantly induced with CMH with AOR 0.40 (95%CI: 0.22, 0.77; p =0.011). The Permissible exposure limit (PEL) of chemical was less but have an induced CMH with AOR 4.22 (95%CI: 2.88, 12.11; p =0.004). Conclusion: Results revealed that sex, skin color, working experience, educational level, PPE, PEL, and time of exposure were the probable predictive factors associated with the development of CMH. This study has shown that CMH was significantly associated with occupational and demographic factors. Better educational knowledge and attitude of hazards and safety in the laboratory would lead to a reduced rate of new cases.

Covid-19 vaccines work but other factors play a relevant role: a data analysis on spread and mortality in 24 countries.

Background: The aim was to outline a methodology to monitor the impact of vaccinations in different countries comparing in two different time within countries and between countries the frequency of new cases and Covid-19 related deaths and the percentage of vaccinations conducted.Design and methods: The 25 countries with the largest increase in SARS-CoV-2 cases on 8 August 2021 were evaluated. In each nation was calculated the proportion of Covid-19 deaths divided per new cases x 100 and the proportion of new cases per 1.000 inhabitant on 10 January 2021 (before vaccinations’ distribution) and 8 August 2021 (when large percentage of the population had been vaccinated in many countries).Results: The study shows that in the countries with the highest number of cases as of 8 August 2021, the proportion of vaccinations carried out in the population correlates negatively with both the proportion between Covid-19 dead people x100 infected people and with the rate of new cases. However, the proportion of vaccinations does not correlate with the differences in the two same indicators considered in the weeks observed, thus additional factors seem to play an important role.Conclusions: This work indicates that mass vaccination is associated with a lower spread of the pandemic and, to greater extent, with a lowering of mortality in infected people. Significance for public health The Covid-19 pandemic has been effectively impacted by the development and dissemination of vaccines. Despite initial promising data subsequent publications suggest that all vaccines, including mRNA vaccines- appear to be less effective against the new variants of the virus but they continue to provide protection against the worst SARS-CoV-2 clinical outcomes and therefore strong effective lower mortality, with possible different efficacy for the different types of vaccines on different variants (e.g., Delta variant). A greater attention to epidemiological factors is needed to develop synergic strategies. Furthermore, there is a growing need to understand the impact and limitations of vaccination campaigns.

Risk Factors of Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer: Analysis of a Large Population-Based Registry.

Background As the third most common type of cancer in the United States, colorectal cancer (CRC) was previously thought to be rare in young populations. Despite a decrease in the overall incidence of CRC, the rate of new cases under 50 years old has been continuously increasing. Aim The purpose of our study was to analyze risk factors of young-onset CRC. Methods Commercially available software platform, Explorys, was used to extract data from a collective healthcare database electronically. Results In this database, 13,800 young adults (age 20–50) were diagnosed with primary colorectal malignancy. Compared to subjects with a previous family history of CRC who had an odds ratio of 17.78, those diagnosed with primary malignant neoplasm of breast and inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn's) had odds ratios of 16.94, 4.4, and 3.7 for young-onset CRC, respectively. Patients with a history of alcohol abuse, smoking, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia had higher chances of developing young-onset CRC. In addition, the odds of CRC were lower in Hispanic ethnicity in comparison to Caucasians (OR: 0.54), with no statically significant differences between Caucasian, African American, and Asian populations. Conclusion Currently, this is an expansive study investigating the risk factors for early-onset CRC. The analysis showed factors such as family and individual history of IBD to have high association with early onset. Notably, an individual history of breast malignancy was strongly associated with early-onset CRC.

Has Omicron Changed the Evolution of the Pandemic?

BackgroundVariants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus carry differential risks to public health. The Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant, first identified in Botswana on November 11, 2021, has spread globally faster than any previous variant of concern. Understanding the transmissibility of Omicron is vital in the development of public health policy.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to compare SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks driven by Omicron to those driven by prior variants of concern in terms of both the speed and magnitude of an outbreak.MethodsWe analyzed trends in outbreaks by variant of concern with validated surveillance metrics in several southern African countries. The region offers an ideal setting for a natural experiment given that most outbreaks thus far have been driven primarily by a single variant at a time. With a daily longitudinal data set of new infections, total vaccinations, and cumulative infections in countries in sub-Saharan Africa, we estimated how the emergence of Omicron has altered the trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks. We used the Arellano-Bond method to estimate regression coefficients from a dynamic panel model, in which new infections are a function of infections yesterday and last week. We controlled for vaccinations and prior infections in the population. To test whether Omicron has changed the average trajectory of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, we included an interaction between an indicator variable for the emergence of Omicron and lagged infections.ResultsThe observed Omicron outbreaks in this study reach the outbreak threshold within 5-10 days after first detection, whereas other variants of concern have taken at least 14 days and up to as many as 35 days. The Omicron outbreaks also reach peak rates of new cases that are roughly 1.5-2 times those of prior variants of concern. Dynamic panel regression estimates confirm Omicron has created a statistically significant shift in viral spread.ConclusionsThe transmissibility of Omicron is markedly higher than prior variants of concern. At the population level, the Omicron outbreaks occurred more quickly and with larger magnitude, despite substantial increases in vaccinations and prior infections, which should have otherwise reduced susceptibility to new infections. Unless public health policies are substantially altered, Omicron outbreaks in other countries are likely to occur with little warning.

Atmospheric dispersion modeling and radiological environmental impact assessment for normal operation of a proposed pressurized water reactor in the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia

As a licensing requirement, constructing a new nuclear power plant (NPP) requires performing a radiological environmental impact assessment (REIA) which includes the study of the radioactive releases' effects on the surrounding environment and population. These discharges could be aerial: from chimneys (stacks), evaporation, erosion, re-suspension; or could be liquid discharges: into rivers, lakes, estuaries or coastal waters.This work presents an REIA study for a pressurized water reactor (PWR) assumed to be installed in Umm Huwayd in the Eastern Coast of Saudi Arabia. HYSPLIT tool is utilized to estimate the air concentration and ground deposition of certain released radionuclides such as: 137Cs and 131I. It is also used to analyze the exposure dose's spatial distribution around the nominated site according to direction and distance. The radionuclide dispersion profiles for each of the four weather seasons were examined. The results revealed that the radionuclides dispersion profile is controlled by the weather parameters that varies from season to season. Around the nominated site, Umm Huwayd, the maximum estimated air concentration for 131I radionuclide was 5.6 × 10−6 Bq m−3, and the annual air deposition for 137Cs at the selected site had a peak value of 3.3 × 10−9 Bq m−2.GENII is also utilized to estimate the annual effective dose equivalent and cancer risks around the nominated site. The ingestion pathway contributed to the most of annual effective dose equivalent with 68.35% of the total, while external exposure and inhalation pathways contributed 30.50% and 1.15%, respectively. It is shown that in the nominated site the total annual rate of new cases of cancer (cancer incidence) is 1/109 persons. The cancer death annual rate (cancer fatality) is 5/1010 person. Therefore, the highest risk level around the selected site is much lower than the tolerable levels as suggested by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).

Machine Learning Based Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Predictive Model During COVID-19 Crisis

Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) was reported at first in Wuhan city, China by December 2019. World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic i.e., global health crisis on March 11, 2020. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns to curb the spread, not only affected the economic status of a number of countries, but it also resulted in increased levels of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress (DAS) among people. Therefore, there is a need exists to comprehend the relationship among psycho-social factors in a country that is hypothetically affected by high levels of stress and fear; with tremendously-limiting measures of social distancing and lockdown in force; and with high rates of new cases and mortalities. With this motivation, the current study aims at investigating the DAS levels among college students during COVID-19 lockdown since they are identified as a highly-susceptible population. The current study proposes to develop Intelligent Feature Subset Selection with Machine Learning-based DAS predictive (IFSSML-DAS) model. The presented IFSSML-DAS model involves data preprocessing, Feature Subset Selection (FSS), classification, and parameter tuning. Besides, IFSSML-DAS model uses Group Gray Wolf Optimization based FSS (GGWO-FSS) technique to reduce the curse of dimensionality. In addition, Beetle Swarm Optimization based Least Square Support Vector Machine (BSO-LSSVM) model is also employed for classification in which the weight and bias parameters of the LSSVM model are optimally adjusted using BSO algorithm. The performance of the proposed IFSSML-DAS model was tested using a benchmark DASS-21 dataset and the results were investigated under different measures. The outcome of the study suggests the development of specialized programs to handle DAS among population so as to overcome COVID-19 crisis.