Vascular endothelial growth factor in premenopausal women--indicator of the best time for breast cancer surgery?

Timing of surgery in premenopausal patients with breast cancer remains controversial. Angiogenesis is essential for tumour growth and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most potent angiogenic cytokines. We aimed to determine whether the study of VEGF in relation to the menstrual cycle could help further the understanding of this issue of surgical intervention. Fourteen premenopausal women were recruited, along with three post-menopausal women, a woman on an oral contraceptive pill and a single male subject. Between eight and 11 samples were taken per person, over one menstrual cycle (over 1 month in the five controls) and analysed for sex hormones and VEGF165. Serum VEGF was significantly lower in the luteal phase and showed a significant negative correlation with progesterone in all 14 premenopausal women. No inter-sample variations of VEGF were noted in the controls. Serum from both phases of the cycle from one subject was added to MCF-7 breast cancer cells; VEGF expression in the supernatant was lower in the cells to which the luteal phase serum was added. The lowering of a potent angiogenic cytokine in the luteal phase suggests a possible decreased potential for micrometastasis establishment in that phase. This fall in VEGF may be an effect of progesterone and should be the focus of future studies.     

Advanced colorectal cancer is associated with impaired interleukin 12 and enhanced interleukin 10 production

Interleukin 12 (IL-12) is a heterodimeric cytokine that has been demonstrated to have a major role in stimulating a cell-mediated antitumor response. IL-10, a product of T helper 2 lymphocytes, is its most potent inhibitor. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patients with colorectal cancer had an imbalance in production of IL-12 and IL-10 preoperatively, and whether this was associated with advanced disease at surgery. Blood was obtained before surgery from 60 patients with colorectal cancer and from 30 controls. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were incubated with Staphylococcus aureus Cowan's strain 1 in vitro for 24 h to assess IL-12 expression after stimulation, and serum was used for IL-10 measurement. IL-12 and IL-10 levels were assessed by ELISA. A single pathologist staged the tumors according to the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) and Dukes' classifications. Patients with colorectal cancer had significantly lower levels of IL-12 (P <0.001) and higher levels of IL-10(P = 0.004) compared to controls. In addition, lower levels of IL-12 were detected in those patients who were node positive (P<0.05), had Dukes' C lesions (P < or = 0.001), and T3 or T4 lesions (P<0.033) when compared to controls. Patients with Dukes' B and C lesions (P<0.01) and T3 and T4 lesions (P<0.05) also had higher levels of IL-10 compared to controls. This study is the first to demonstrate that patients with colorectal cancer have decreased IL-12 production and increased serum IL-10. This suggests an impaired T helper 1 cell-mediated antitumor response and provides some justification for exogenous IL-12 therapy or anti-IL-10 therapy in these patients.     

Personalization, respondent anonymity, and response distortion in mail surveys.

Investigated whether the level of personalization expressed in an advance notice and cover letter distorted the reporting of common demographic information in a mail survey. A factorial design with 2 levels of advance notice (telephone call, mimeographed form letter) and 2 levels of cover letter (personalized, form) was employed. Ss were 276 married females (representing a 42% response rate) for whom 7 items of demographic information were available from an independent source (credit application). Comparison of mail-survey and credit-application responses revealed that distortion in reporting family income and occupation of wife was related to the use of personalized cover letters. Implications of the findings for behavioral scientists who depend on mail surveys for data collection are considered. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of dietary fat level and quality on plasma lipoprotein lipids and plasma fatty acids in normocholesterolemic subjects

This study examined the effect on the plasma lipids and plasma phospholipid and cholesteryl ester fatty acids of changing from a typical western diet to a very low fat (VLF) vegetarian diet containing one egg/day. The effect of the addition of saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) to the VLF diet was also examined. Three groups of 10 subjects (6 women, 4 men) were fed the VLF diet (10% energy as fat) for two weeks, and then in the next two weeks the dietary fat in each group was increased by 10% energy/week using butter, olive oil or safflower oil. The fat replaced dietary carbohydrate. The VLF diet reduced both the low density lipoprotein (LDL)-and high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol levels; addition of the monounsaturated fats and PUFA increased the HDL-cholesterol levels, whereas butter increased the cholesterol levels in both the LDL- and HDL-fractions. The VLF diet led to significant reductions in the proportion of linoleic acid (18∶2ω6) and eicosapentaenoic acid (20∶5ω3) and to increases in palmitoleic (16∶1), eicosatrienoic (20∶3ω6) and arachidonic acids (20∶4ω6) in both phospholipids and cholesteryl esters. Addition of butter reversed the changes seen on the VLF diet, with the exception of 16∶1, which remained elevated. Addition of olive oil resulted in a significant rise in the proportion of 18∶1 and significant decreases in all ω3 PUFA except 22∶6 compared with the usual diet. The addition of safflower oil resulted in significant increases in 18∶2 and 20∶4ω6 and significant decreases in 18∶1, 20∶5ω3 and 22∶5ω3. These results indicate that the reduction of saturated fat content of the diet (<6% dietary energy), either by reducing the total fat content of the diet or by exchanging saturated fat with unsaturated fat, reduced the total plasma cholesterol levels by approximately 12% in normocholesterolemic subjects. Although the VLF vegetarian diet reduced both LDL- and HDL-cholesterol levels, the long-term effects of VLF diets are unlikely to be deteterious since populations which habitually consume these diets have low rates of coronary heart disease. The addition of safflower oil or olive oil to a VLF diet produced favorable changes in the lipoprotein lipid profile compared with the addition of butter. The VLF diets and diets rich in butter, olive oil or safflower oil had different effects on the 20 carbon eicosanoid precursor fatty acids in the plasma. This suggests that advice on plasma lipid lowering should also take into account the effect of the diet on the fatty acid profile of the plasma lipids.     

Elevated levels of arachidonic acid in fish from northern Australian coastal waters

The fatty acid composition of 10 species of fish caught off the northwest coast of Australia (latitude 17°S) was examined. All species contained high levels of ω6 fatty acids (9.6–23.1% of total fatty acids) with arachidonic acid being the major ω6 fatty acid (5.9–14.8% of fatty acids). Docosatetraenoic and docosapentaenoic acids of the ω6 series accounted for 3–8% of the total fatty acids. The ratio of ω6 to ω3 fatty acids in these fish varied from 0.38 to 0.93, compared with an average ratio of 0.16 for fish from the northern hemisphere (latitude >30°N). The present data and figures from the literature indicate that the marine food chain in the southern hemisphere contains significant quantities of ω6 fatty acids.     

Using electrical stimulation to measure physiological changes in the human extensor carpi ulnaris muscle after prolonged low-level repetitive ulnar deviation

The objective of this study was to determine whether muscle fatigue would result from repetitive voluntary contractions performed consecutively over four, 8-h workdays. Using a repeated measures design, ten healthy females participated in three conditions: a control and two repetitive work conditions involving 8?h of repeated ulnar deviation of the wrist, at self-selected workloads at 20 and 25 repetitions per minute (RPM). The 2, 20 and 50?Hz force response of the Extensor Carpi Ulnaris muscle was measured before, during work, and in three hours of recovery. Twitch contraction times (CT), one-half relaxation times (? RT) and 20:50?Hz ratios (low frequency fatigue ratios) were also compared. The average workloads for the 20 and 25?RPM conditions were 20.3% (±11.6%) and 16.3% (±10.8%) MVC respectively. In the exposure conditions there was a decrease in the 20:50?Hz ratios indicating low frequency fatigue (LFF), a significant increase in the muscle's force response across all stimulation frequencies (potentiation), and a corresponding decrease (quickening) in the twitch CTs and ? RTs. During recovery, the 20:50?Hz ratios, muscle forces and twitch CTs and ? RTs returned to pre-exposure/baseline levels. There were no carryover effects or significant differences between the two consecutive workdays. For the low-level dynamic workloads tested in this study, LFF coexisted with muscle potentiation and the results indicated that both LFF ratios and the individual force responses at each frequency needs to be evaluated in order to understand the underlying state of the muscle.     

Estuarial fingerprinting through multidimensional fluorescence and multivariate analysis

As part of a strategy for preventing the introduction of aquatic nuisance species (ANS) to U.S. estuaries, ballast water exchange (BWE) regulations have been imposed. Enforcing these regulations requires a reliable method for determining the port of origin of water in the ballast tanks of ships entering U.S. waters. This study shows that a three-dimensional fluorescence fingerprinting technique, excitation emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy, holds great promise as a ballast water analysis tool. In our technique, EEMs are analyzed by multivariate classification and curve resolution methods, such as N-way partial least squares Regression-discriminant analysis (NPLS-DA) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). We demonstrate that classification techniques can be used to discriminate among sampling sites less than 10 miles apart, encompassing Boston Harbor and two tributaries in the Mystic River Watershed. To our knowledge, this work is the first to use multivariate analysis to classify water as to location of origin. Furthermore, it is shown that curve resolution can show seasonal features within the multidimensional fluorescence data sets, which correlate with difficulty in classification.