http://hdl.handle.net/2144/2477 2013-05-26T08:06:15Z http://hdl.handle.net/2144/3429 Investigation of KIF6 Trp719Arg in a Case-Control Study of Myocardial Infarction: A Costa Rican Population Bare, Lance A.; Ruiz-Narvaéz, Edward A.; Tong, Carmen H.; Arellano, Andre R.; Rowland, Charles M.; Catanese, Joseph J.; Sacks, Frank M.; Devlin, James J.; Campos, Hannia BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY. The 719Arg allele of KIF6 (rs20455) was associated with coronary events in Caucasian participants of five prospective studies. We investigated whether this KIF6 variant was associated with non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI) in a case-control study of an admixed population from the Central Valley of Costa Rica. Genotypes of the KIF6 variant were determined for 4,134 men and women. Cases (1,987) had survived a first MI; controls (2,147) had no history of MI and were matched to cases by age, sex, and area of residence. We tested the association between the KIF6 719Arg allele and non-fatal MI by conditional logistic regression and adjusted for admixture of founder populations. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. Compared with the reference Trp/Trp homozygotes, KIF6 719Arg carriers were not at significantly higher risk for non-fatal MI in this study after adjustment for traditional risk factors or admixture (OR=1.12; 95%CI, 0.98-1.28). Heterozygotes of the KIF6 Trp719Arg variant were at increased risk of non-fatal MI: the adjusted odds ratio was 1.16 (95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.34), but this association would not be significant after a multiple testing correction. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE. We found that carriers of the KIF6 719Arg allele were not at increased risk of non-fatal MI in a case-control study of Costa Ricans living in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. 2010-09-29T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2144/3426 HIV and Pre-Neoplastic and Neoplastic Lesions of the Cervix in South Africa: A Case-Control Study Moodley, Jennifer R; Hoffman, Margaret; Carrara, Henri; Allan, Bruce R; Cooper, Diane D; Rosenberg, Lynn; Denny, Lynette E; Shapiro, Samuel; Williamson, Anna-Lise BACKGROUND. Cervical cancer and infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are both major public health problems in South Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the risk of cervical pre-cancer and cancer among HIV positive women in South Africa. METHODS. Data were derived from a case-control study that examined the association between hormonal contraceptives and invasive cervical cancer. The study was conducted in the Western Cape (South Africa), from January 1998 to December 2001. There were 486 women with invasive cervical cancer, 103 control women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), 53 with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL), 50 with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) and 1159 with normal cytology. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS. The adjusted odds ratios associated with HIV infection were: 4.4 [95% CI (2.3 – 8.4) for ASCUS, 7.4 (3.5 – 15.7) for LSIL, 5.8 (2.4 – 13.6) for HSIL and 1.17 (0.75 – 1.85) for invasive cervical cancer. HIV positive women were nearly 5 times more likely to have high-risk human papillomavirus infection (HR-HPV) present compared to HIV negative women [OR 4.6 (95 % CI 2.8 – 7.5)]. Women infected with both HIV and high-risk HPV had a more than 40 fold higher risk of SIL than women infected with neither of these viruses. CONCLUSION. HIV positive women were at an increased risk of cervical pre-cancer, but did not demonstrate an excess risk of invasive cervical cancer. An interaction between HIV and HR-HPV infection was demonstrated. Our findings underscore the importance of developing locally relevant screening and management guidelines for HIV positive women in South Africa. 2006-05-23T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2144/3427 Determinants of Sexual Activity and Its Relation to Cervical Cancer Risk among South African Women Cooper, Diane; Hoffman, Margaret; Carrara, Henri; Rosenberg, Lynn; Kelly, Judy; Stander, Ilse; Denny, Lynnette; Williamson, Anna-Lise; Shapiro, Samuel BACKGROUND. Invasive cervical cancer is the commonest cause of cancer morbidity and mortality in South African women. This study provides information on adult women's sexual activity and cervical cancer risk in South Africa. METHODS. The data were derived from a case-control study of hormonal contraceptives and cervical cancer risk. Information on age of sexual debut and number of lifetime sexual partners was collected from 524 incident cases and 1541 hospital controls. Prevalence ratios and adjusted prevalence ratios were utilised to estimate risk in exposures considered common. Crude and adjusted relative risks were estimated where the outcome was uncommon, using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS. The median age of sexual debut and number of sexual partners was 17 years and 2 respectively. Early sexual debut was associated with lower education, increased number of life time partners and alcohol use. Having a greater number of sexual partners was associated with younger sexual debut, being black, single, higher educational levels and alcohol use. The adjusted odds ratio for sexual debut < 16 years and ≥ 4 life-time sexual partners and cervical cancer risk were 1.6 (95% CI 1.2 – 2.2) and 1.7 (95% CI 1.2 – 2.2), respectively. CONCLUSION. Lower socio-economic status, alcohol intake, and being single or black, appear to be determinants of increased sexual activity in South African women. Education had an ambiguous effect. As expected, cervical cancer risk is associated with increased sexual activity. Initiatives to encourage later commencement of sex, and limiting the number of sexual partners would have a favourable impact on risk of cancer of the cervix and other sexually transmitted infections. 2007-11-27T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2144/3428 Lung Cancer Occurrence in Never-Smokers: An Analysis of 13 Cohorts and 22 Cancer Registry Studies Thun, Michael J; Hannan, Lindsay M; Adams-Campbell, Lucile L; Boffetta, Paolo; Buring, Julie E; Feskanich, Diane; Flanders, W. Dana; Jee, Sun Ha; Katanoda, Kota; Kolonel, Laurence N; Lee, I-Min; Marugame, Tomomi; Palmer, Julie R; Riboli, Elio; Sobue, Tomotaka; Avila-Tang, Erika; Wilkens, Lynne R; Samet, Jon M BACKGROUND. Better information on lung cancer occurrence in lifelong nonsmokers is needed to understand gender and racial disparities and to examine how factors other than active smoking influence risk in different time periods and geographic regions. METHODS AND FINDINGS. We pooled information on lung cancer incidence and/or death rates among self-reported never-smokers from 13 large cohort studies, representing over 630,000 and 1.8 million persons for incidence and mortality, respectively. We also abstracted population-based data for women from 22 cancer registries and ten countries in time periods and geographic regions where few women smoked. Our main findings were: (1) Men had higher death rates from lung cancer than women in all age and racial groups studied; (2) male and female incidence rates were similar when standardized across all ages 40+ y, albeit with some variation by age; (3) African Americans and Asians living in Korea and Japan (but not in the US) had higher death rates from lung cancer than individuals of European descent; (4) no temporal trends were seen when comparing incidence and death rates among US women age 40–69 y during the 1930s to contemporary populations where few women smoke, or in temporal comparisons of never-smokers in two large American Cancer Society cohorts from 1959 to 2004; and (5) lung cancer incidence rates were higher and more variable among women in East Asia than in other geographic areas with low female smoking. CONCLUSIONS. These comprehensive analyses support claims that the death rate from lung cancer among never-smokers is higher in men than in women, and in African Americans and Asians residing in Asia than in individuals of European descent, but contradict assertions that risk is increasing or that women have a higher incidence rate than men. Further research is needed on the high and variable lung cancer rates among women in Pacific Rim countries. Michael Thun and colleagues pooled and analyzed comprehensive data on lung cancer incidence and death rates among never-smokers to examine what factors other than active smoking affect lung cancer risk. 2008-09-09T00:00:00Z