1,720,961 research outputs found
Obesity in breast cancer-what is the risk factor?
No full textEnvironmental factors influence breast cancer incidence and progression. High body mass index (BMI) is associated with increased risk of post-menopausal breast cancer and with poorer outcome in those with a history of breast cancer. High BMI is generally interpreted as excess adiposity (overweight or obesity) and the World Cancer Research Fund judged that the associations between BMI and incidence of breast cancer were due to body fatness. Although BMI is the most common measure used to characterise body composition, it cannot distinguish lean mass from fat mass, or characterise body fat distribution, and so individuals with the same BMI can have different body composition. In particular, the relation between BMI and lean or fat mass may differ between people with or without disease. The question therefore arises as to what aspect or aspects of body composition are causally linked to the poorer outcome of breast cancer patients with high BMI. This question is not addressed in the literature. Most studies have used BMI, without discussion of its shortcomings as a marker of body composition, leading to potentially important misinterpretation. In this article we review the different measurements used to characterise body composition in the literature, and how they relate to breast cancer risk and prognosis. Further research is required to better characterise the relation of body composition to breast cancer
Family history and outcome of young patients with breast cancer in the UK (POSH study)
No full textBACKGROUND: Young patients presenting to surgical clinics with breast cancer are usually aware of their family history and frequently believe that a positive family history may adversely affect their prognosis. Tumour pathology and outcomes were compared in young British patients with breast cancer with and without a family history of breast cancer.METHODS: Prospective Outcomes in Sporadic versus Hereditary breast cancer (POSH) is a large prospective cohort study of women aged less than 41 years with breast cancer diagnosed and treated in the UK using modern oncological management. Personal characteristics,?tumour pathology, treatment and family history of breast/ovarian cancer were recorded. Follow-up data were collected annually.RESULTS: Family history data were available for 2850 patients. No family history was reported by 65·9 per cent, and 34·1 per cent reported breast/ovarian cancer in at least one first- or second-degree relative. Patients with a family history were more likely to have grade 3 tumours (63·3 versus 58·9 per cent) and less likely to have human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive tumours (24·7 versus 28·8 per cent) than those with no family history. In multivariable analyses,?there were no significant differences in distant disease-free intervals for patients with versus those without a family history, either for the whole cohort (hazard ratio (HR) 0·89, 95 per cent c.i. 0·76 to 1·03; P = 0·120) or when stratified by oestrogen receptor (ER) status (ER-negative: HR 0·80, 0·62 to 1·04, P = 0·101; ER-positive: HR 0·95, 0·78 to 1·15, P = 0·589).CONCLUSION: Young British patients presenting to breast surgical clinics with a positive family history can be reassured that this is not a significant independent risk factor for breast cancer outcome<br/
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The Breast Cancer Trainees Research Collaborative Group: A New Multidisciplinary Network to Facilitate Breast Cancer Research.
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Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Genetic testing in a cohort of young patients with HER2 amplified breast cancer
No full textIntroduction: Young age at diagnosis for breast cancer raises the question of genetic susceptibility. We explored breast cancer susceptibility genes testing amongst patients with HER2 amplified invasive breast cancer aged 40 years or younger. Patients and methods: Patients were selected from a large UK cohort study and were aged ?40 at diagnosis with confirmed HER2 amplified breast cancer. The probability of finding a BRCA gene mutation was calculated based on family history. Genetic testing was either clinical testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2 with a subset also tested for TP53 mutations, or research based testing using a typical panel comprising 17 breast cancer susceptibility genes (CSGs) including BRCA1, BRCA2 and TP53. Results: There were 591 eligible patients. Clinical testing results were available for 133 cases; an additional 263 cases had panel testing. BRCA testing across 396 cases found 8 BRCA2 (2%) and 6 BRCA1 (2%) pathogenic mutations. Of 304 tested for TP53 mutations overall 9 (3%) had deleterious TP53 mutations. Of 396 patients, 101 (26%) met clinical criteria for BRCA testing (?10% probability), amongst whom BRCA testing yielded 11% with pathogenic BRCA mutations (6 BRCA2, 5 BRCA1). Where the probability was calculated to be <10%, only 4/295 (1%) had BRCA mutations. Amongst the 59 patients meeting the 10% threshold who had TP53 testing, there were 7 mutations (12%). Likely functionally deleterious mutations in 14 lower penetrance CSGs were present in 12/263(5%) panel tested patients. Conclusion: Patients under 41 at diagnosis with HER2+ breast cancer and no family history of breast cancer can be reassured that they have a low chance of being a high risk gene carrier. If there is a strong family history, not only BRCA but also TP53 gene testing should be considered. The clinical utility of testing lower penetrance CSGs remains unclear
Alcohol use and breast cancer risk: A qualitative study of women’s perspectives to inform the development of a preventative intervention in breast clinics
Full text linkObjective: This study aimed to explore women’s views about breast cancer risk and alcohol use, to inform the design of a prototype for an intervention in breast clinics about alcohol as a modifiable risk factor for breast cancer. Methods: Women recruited in NHS breast screening and symptomatic clinics in Southampton, UK, were invited to take part in semi-structured telephone interviews or a focus group to discuss their perspectives of breast cancer risk, alcohol consumption, and their information needs about these topics. Data were analysed thematically. Twenty-eight women took part in telephone interviews, and 16 attended one of three focus groups. Results: While most women reported a personal responsibility for their health and were interested in advice about modifiable risk factors, few without (or prior to) experience of breast symptoms independently sought information. Many considered alcohol advice irrelevant as the association with breast cancer was largely unknown, and participants did not consider their drinking to be problematic. Women reported trusting information from health organisations like the NHS, but advice needs to be sensitive and non-blaming. Conclusion: NHS breast screening and symptomatic clinics offer a ‘teachable moment’ to engage women with context-specific advice about alcohol and cancer risk that, if targeted correctly, may assist them in making informed lifestyle choices. <br/
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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