Consumption of cruciferous vegetables and the risk of bladder cancer in a prospective US cohort: data from the NIH-AARP diet and health study.

BACKGROUND: Abundant pre-clinical data suggest that consumption of cruciferous vegetables might protect against bladder cancer. While small-scale clinical evidence supports this hypothesis, population-level data is lacking. We tested the hypothesis that consumption of cruciferous vegetables is associated with a lower risk of bladder cancer in a large population-based study. METHODS: We investigated the association between dietary consumption of cruciferous vegetables and the risk of bladder cancer in the NIH-American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Diet and Health Study. Diet at baseline was collected with self-administered food-frequency questionnaires. Bladder cancer diagnoses were identified through linkage with state cancer registries. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated with Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Our analysis included 515,628 individuals. Higher intake of cruciferous vegetables, both overall and when stratified by variety (broccoli vs. brussels sprouts vs. cauliflower), were not associated with bladder cancer risk for men or women. A history of smoking did not affect the results. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows no association between dietary consumption of cruciferous vegetables and incident bladder cancer.

Biomechanical Study of a Multifilament Stainless Steel Cable Crimp System Versus a Multistrand Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Polyester Suture Krackow Technique for Achilles Tendon Rupture Repair.

Currently, Achilles tendon rupture repair is surgically addressed with an open or minimally invasive approach using a heavy, nonabsorbable suture in a locking stitch configuration. However, these sutures have low stiffness and a propensity to stretch, which can result in gapping at the repair site. Our study compares a new multifilament stainless steel cable-crimp repair method to a standard Krackow repair using multistrand, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene polyester sutures. Eight matched pairs of cadavers were randomly assigned for Achilles tendon repair using either Krackow technique with polyethylene polyester sutures or the multifilament stainless steel cable-crimp technique. Each repair was cyclically loaded from 10 to 50 N for 100 loading cycles, followed by a linear increase in load until complete failure of the repair. During cyclic loading, 4 of the 8 Krackow polyethylene polyester suture repairs failed, whereas none of the multifilament stainless steel cable crimp repairs failed. Load to failure was greater for the multifilament stainless steel cable crimp repairs (321.03 ± 118.71 N) than for the Krackow polyethylene polyester suture repairs (132.47 ± 103.39 N, p = .0078). The ultimate tensile strength of the multifilament stainless steel cable crimp repairs was also greater than that of the Krackow polyethylene polyester suture repairs (485.69 ± 47.93 N vs 378.71 ± 107.23 N, respectively, p = .12). The mode of failure was by suture breakage at the crimp for all cable-crimp repairs and by suture breakage at the knot, within the tendon, or suture pullout for the polyethylene polyester suture repairs. The multifilament stainless steel cable crimp construct may be a better alternative for Achilles tendon rupture repairs.