Since the first colonization of Eritrea in the late nineteenth century, Italy had applied some form of civil status to all the native populations under its colonial rule. In 1919, at the end of World ...War I, Italy further created the first formal colonial citizenship status, for Libyans in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica (excluding the nomadic population).¹ Like the natives of French Algeria, on which the model was largely based, Libyans became Italian nationals who held local political rights but were exempted from military service and retained the “personal statute,” that is, the right to conduct most judicial affairs within their
Introduction McGuire, Valerie
Italy's Sea,
11/2020, Letnik:
5
Book Chapter
In July 2015, a journalist for The Guardian visited the tiny Greek island of Leros to report on an unfolding migration crisis. Hundreds of war refugees were arriving daily from Syria. The island, ...along with the nearby islands of Rhodes and Kos in the southeast Aegean, had morphed into a flashpoint for debates about illegal migration. In one interview, a local explained that he and others hoped to refurbish the island’s old insane asylum, closed since the 1980s, in order to process the flood of requests for political asylum. As the Leros resident crossed the threshold of the abandoned sanatorium,
Conclusion McGuire, Valerie
Italy's Sea,
11/2020, Letnik:
5
Book Chapter
Italy overcame formidable barriers to forging an overseas empire—belated nationhood, internal fragmentation, and low standing within circles of international diplomacy, but the abrupt loss of most of ...this empire, a little-remarked result of Italy’s 1943 armistice with the Allies, in some ways has proven one of its most consequential legacies. If the postwar period in Italy gave rise to a rimozione, or repression, and a reframing of Fascism as a period when all Italians were anti-Fascists (even those who were Fascists), a similar dynamic is often found at work in the cultural memory of Italian Empire. The myth of
Abstract
Background
We investigated the association between hypertension, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and atrial fibrillation with the risk of amyotrophic ...lateral sclerosis (ALS). This study also examined associations with use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), angiotensin II receptors blockers (ARBs), calcium channel blockers, beta blockers, and antiarrhythmics
Methods
We conducted a population-based nested case-control study in the Medicare fee for service population, including 3,714 enrollees ages 65 and above with newly diagnosed ALS between 2006-2014. Cases were compared with 18,750 sex-, age, county, and enrollment-matched controls. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs) were estimated using conditional logistic regression models adjusting for diabetes, obesity, tobacco use, socioeconomic status, and controlling for confounding by indication. Medication use was identified through claims pharmacy data and similarly analyzed using a dose response approach.
Results
The fully adjusted OR for any CVD diagnosis was 0.93 (95% CI 0.86–1.02). Our results varied across cause-specific CVD diagnoses. We observed inverse associations for heart failure (OR 0.79; 95% CI 0.70–0.89) and atrial fibrillation (OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.76–0.92). ALS risk was reduced with use of ACEIs (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.77–0.91), calcium channel blockers (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.59–0.70), and beta blockers (OR 0.76; 95% CI 0.71–0.83).
Conclusions
In this large population-based Medicare study, the risk of ALS was 7% lower among individuals with any CVD diagnosis.
Key messages
Our findings suggest having a cardiovascular condition or use of a CVD medication may be protective for ALS.
STK15 is a putative oncogene that codes for a centrosome-associated, serine/threonine kinase, the normal function of which is to
ensure accurate segregation of chromosomes during mitosis. ...Amplification of STK15 has been reported in ovarian tumors, suggesting a role in ovarian cancer pathology. STK15 is polymorphic with two single nucleotide substitutions ( 449t/a and 527g/a ) in evolutionarily conserved regions causing amino acid changes (F31I and V57I). Two other nucleotide substitutions ( 287c/g and 1891g/c ) of unknown significance are in 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions (UTR), respectively. To learn more about the involvement of
STK15 in ovarian cancer, we genotyped and haplotyped these polymorphisms in three population-based ovarian cancer case-control
studies from the United Kingdom, United States, and Denmark with 1,821 combined cases and 2,467 combined controls and calculated
risks for developing ovarian cancer. Genotypes of individual polymorphisms in control groups of the United Kingdom, United
States, and Denmark conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. In combined cases and combined controls, rare allele frequencies
were 0.23 and 0.21 for I31, 0.16 and 0.17 for I57, 0.08 and 0.07 for 5′ UTR g , and 0.25 and 0.24 for 3′ UTR c , respectively. Using FF common homozygotes of F31I as comparator, there was increased ovarian cancer risk to FI heterozygotes
(odds ratio, 1.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.36), II homozygotes (odds ratio, 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 0.89-1.75),
and I31 allele carriers (odds ratio, 1.17; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.35) in the combined group data. For either V57I,
5′ UTR C/G , or 3′ UTR G/C , all genotypic ovarian cancer risks were essentially in unity relative to their respective common homozygotes, VV, cc , or gg . Haplotype analysis of combined group data revealed seven haplotypes with frequencies between 0.02 and 0.5, with c -F-V- g the most common. None of the haplotype-specific risks significantly differed from unity relative to c -F-V- g . These results suggest a model of dominant inheritance of ovarian cancer risk by the I31 allele of F31I and that the I31
allele may be a common ovarian cancer susceptibility allele of low penetrance.
Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecological malignancy, responsible for 13 000 deaths per year in the United States. Risk prediction based on identifying germline mutations in ...ovarian cancer susceptibility genes could have a clinically significant impact on reducing disease mortality.
Next generation sequencing was used to identify germline mutations in the coding regions of four candidate susceptibility genes-BRIP1, BARD1, PALB2 and NBN-in 3236 invasive EOC case patients and 3431 control patients of European origin, and in 2000 unaffected high-risk women from a clinical screening trial of ovarian cancer (UKFOCSS). For each gene, we estimated the prevalence and EOC risks and evaluated associations between germline variant status and clinical and epidemiological risk factor information. All statistical tests were two-sided.
We found an increased frequency of deleterious mutations in BRIP1 in case patients (0.9%) and in the UKFOCSS participants (0.6%) compared with control patients (0.09%) (P = 1 x 10(-4) and 8 x 10(-4), respectively), but no differences for BARD1 (P = .39), NBN1 ( P = .61), or PALB2 (P = .08). There was also a difference in the frequency of rare missense variants in BRIP1 between case patients and control patients (P = 5.5 x 10(-4)). The relative risks associated with BRIP1 mutations were 11.22 for invasive EOC (95% confidence interval CI = 3.22 to 34.10, P = 1 x 10(-4)) and 14.09 for high-grade serous disease (95% CI = 4.04 to 45.02, P = 2 x 10(-5)). Segregation analysis in families estimated the average relative risks in BRIP1 mutation carriers compared with the general population to be 3.41 (95% CI = 2.12 to 5.54, P = 7×10(-7)).
Deleterious germline mutations in BRIP1 are associated with a moderate increase in EOC risk. These data have clinical implications for risk prediction and prevention approaches for ovarian cancer and emphasize the critical need for risk estimates based on very large sample sizes before genes of moderate penetrance have clinical utility in cancer prevention.
Background: First-degree relatives of patients with breast or ovarian cancer have increased risks for these cancers. Little
is known about how their risks vary with the patient's cancer site, carrier ...status for predisposing genetic mutations, or
age at cancer diagnosis.
Methods: We evaluated breast and ovarian cancer incidence in 2,935 female first-degree relatives of non-Hispanic White female
patients with incident invasive cancers of the breast ( n = 669) or ovary ( n = 339) who were recruited from a population-based cancer registry in northern California. Breast cancer patients were tested
for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Ovarian cancer patients were tested for BRCA1 mutations. We estimated standardized incidence
ratios (SIR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for breast and ovarian cancer among the relatives according to the patient's
mutation status, cancer site, and age at cancer diagnosis.
Results: In families of patients who were negative or untested for BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, risks were elevated only for
the patient's cancer site. The breast cancer SIR was 1.5 (95% CI, 1.2-1.8) for relatives of breast cancer patients, compared
with 1.1 (95% CI, 0.8-1.6) for relatives of ovarian cancer patients ( P = 0.12 for difference by patient's cancer site). The ovarian cancer SIR was 0.9 (95% CI, 0.5-1.4) for relatives of breast
cancer patients, compared with 1.9 (95% CI, 1.0-4.0) for relatives of ovarian cancer patients ( P = 0.04 for difference by site). In families of BRCA1-positive patients, relatives' risks also correlated with the patient's
cancer site. The breast cancer SIR was 10.6 (95% CI, 5.2-21.6) for relatives of breast cancer patients, compared with 3.3
(95% CI, 1.4-7.3) for relatives of ovarian cancer patients (two-sided P = 0.02 for difference by site). The ovarian cancer SIR was 7.9 (95% CI, 1.2-53.0) for relatives of breast cancer patients,
compared with 11.3 (3.6-35.9) for relatives of ovarian cancer patients (two-sided P = 0.37 for difference by site). Relatives' risks were independent of patients' ages at diagnosis, with one exception: In
families ascertained through a breast cancer patient without BRCA mutations, breast cancer risks were higher if the patient
had been diagnosed before age 40 years.
Conclusion: In families of patients with and without BRCA1 mutations, breast and ovarian cancer risks correlate with the patient's
cancer site. Moreover, in families of breast cancer patients without BRCA mutations, breast cancer risk depends on the patient's
age at diagnosis. These patterns support the presence of genes that modify risk specific to cancer site, in both carriers
and noncarriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(2):359–63)
Crimes of diction McGuire, Valerie
Journal of romance studies,
2015, 2015-01-00, Letnik:
15, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The article offers a study of the use of language in the fiction of Algerian-born writer, Amara Lakhous. It focuses on his two popular novels set in Rome, Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator at ...Piazza Vittorio (2008) and Divorce, Islamic Style (2012), in which the author describes changes in Italy and in definitions of Italian identity as the country undergoes the threefold process of migration, globalization and European integration. The article argues that the novels adopt a structure that displaces a single authored text and which suggests an authorship that is plurivoce, or plural voiced, and therefore able to overturn the marginalization of migrant voices. Exploring the author’s foregrounding of linguistic practices – including voice, diction, and ethnic labelling – the article engages with Italy’s history of regional, national, and transnational identities to argue that these novels are a postcolonial satire of the tenuous link between language and national belonging in Italy.
Purpose To compare three metrics of breast density on full-field digital mammographic (FFDM) images as predictors of future breast cancer risk. Materials and Methods This institutional review ...board-approved study included 125 women with invasive breast cancer and 274 age- and race-matched control subjects who underwent screening FFDM during 2004-2013 and provided informed consent. The percentage of density and dense area were assessed semiautomatically with software (Cumulus 4.0; University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada), and volumetric percentage of density and dense volume were assessed automatically with software (Volpara; Volpara Solutions, Wellington, New Zealand). Clinical Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) classifications of breast density were extracted from mammography reports. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by using conditional logistic regression stratified according to age and race and adjusted for body mass index, parity, and menopausal status, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was computed. Results The adjusted odds ratios and 95% CIs for each standard deviation increment of the percentage of density, dense area, volumetric percentage of density, and dense volume were 1.61 (95% CI: 1.19, 2.19), 1.49 (95% CI: 1.15, 1.92), 1.54 (95% CI: 1.12, 2.10), and 1.41 (95% CI: 1.11, 1.80), respectively. Odds ratios for women with extremely dense breasts compared with those with scattered areas of fibroglandular density were 2.06 (95% CI: 0.85, 4.97) and 2.05 (95% CI: 0.90, 4.64) for BI-RADS and Volpara density classifications, respectively. Clinical BI-RADS was more accurate (AUC, 0.68; 95% CI: 0.63, 0.74) than Volpara (AUC, 0.64; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.70) and continuous measures of percentage of density (AUC, 0.66; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.72), dense area (AUC, 0.66; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.72), volumetric percentage of density (AUC, 0.64; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.70), and density volume (AUC, 0.65; 95% CI: 0.59, 0.71), although the AUC differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion Mammographic density on FFDM images was positively associated with breast cancer risk by using the computer assisted methods and BI-RADS. BI-RADS classification was as accurate as computer-assisted methods for discrimination of patients from control subjects.
RSNA, 2016.