Association of low-penetrance alleles with male breast cancer risk and clinicopathological characteristics: results from a multicenter study in Italy

It is well-known that male breast cancer (MBC) susceptibility is mainly due to high-penetrance BRCA1/2 mutations. Here, we investigated whether common low-penetrance breast cancer (BC) susceptibility alleles may influence MBC risk in Italian population and whether variant alleles may be associated with specific clinicopathological features of MBCs. In the frame of the Italian Multicenter Study on MBC, we genotyped 413 MBCs and 745 age-matched male controls at 9 SNPs annotating known BC susceptibility loci. By multivariate logistic regression models, we found a significant increased MBC risk for 3 SNPs, in particular, with codominant models, for rs2046210/ESR1 (OR = 1.71; 95 % CI: 1.43–2.05;…

Changes in surgicaL behaviOrs dUring the CoviD-19 pandemic. The SICE CLOUD19 Study

Abstract Background The spread of the SARS-CoV2 virus, which causes COVID-19 disease, profoundly impacted the surgical community. Recommendations have been published to manage patients needing surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. This survey, under the aegis of the Italian Society of Endoscopic Surgery, aims to analyze how Italian surgeons have changed their practice during the pandemic. Methods The authors designed an online survey that was circulated for completion to the Italian departments of general surgery registered in the Italian Ministry of Health database in December 2020. Questions were divided into three sections: hospital organization, screening policies, and safety profile of…

La contaminazione indoor da Legionella spp: risultati preliminari di una indagine multicentrica italiana Legionella spp contamination in indoor air: preliminary results of an italian multicenter study

Pathology of Breast and Ovarian Cancers among BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers: Results from the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA)

Abstract Background: Previously, small studies have found that BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast tumors differ in their pathology. Analysis of larger datasets of mutation carriers should allow further tumor characterization. Methods: We used data from 4,325 BRCA1 and 2,568 BRCA2 mutation carriers to analyze the pathology of invasive breast, ovarian, and contralateral breast cancers. Results: There was strong evidence that the proportion of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast tumors decreased with age at diagnosis among BRCA1 (P-trend = 1.2 × 10−5), but increased with age at diagnosis among BRCA2, carriers (P-trend = 6.8 × 10−6). The proportion of triple-negative tumors decreased with age at diagnos…

Common Breast Cancer Susceptibility Alleles and the Risk of Breast Cancer for BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers: Implications for Risk Prediction

Abstract The known breast cancer susceptibility polymorphisms in FGFR2, TNRC9/TOX3, MAP3K1, LSP1, and 2q35 confer increased risks of breast cancer for BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers. We evaluated the associations of 3 additional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs4973768 in SLC4A7/NEK10, rs6504950 in STXBP4/COX11, and rs10941679 at 5p12, and reanalyzed the previous associations using additional carriers in a sample of 12,525 BRCA1 and 7,409 BRCA2 carriers. Additionally, we investigated potential interactions between SNPs and assessed the implications for risk prediction. The minor alleles of rs4973768 and rs10941679 were associated with increased breast cancer risk for BRCA2 carrie…

Biogeography and ecology of geographically distant populations of sibling Cryptocephalus leaf beetles

Different populations of two closely related species, Cryptocephalusflavipes and C. bameuli, from western (Alps, Apennines and Pyrenees) and central Europe (Poland, Ukraine and Pannonia) were analysed. On the basis of DNA sequences from two genes, cox1 and ef1-α, distinctiveness of both species was confirmed. Nevertheless, possible hybrids were identified in Carpathian mountains. We found a significant genetic differentiation among populations of C. flavipes and C. bameuli from distant regions but a high genetic similarity between populations of C. bameuli from north and south of the Carpathians. Demographic estimates suggest a past population expansion in the case of C. bameuli and a recen…