The association between the inflammatory potential of diet and the risk of histopathological and molecular subtypes of breast cancer in northwestern Iran: Results from the Breast Cancer Risk and Lifestyle study.

BACKGROUND: This study explored the association between diet-associated inflammation and the risk of different molecular subtypes of breast cancer (BrCA) in a large, population-based case-control study conducted in northwestern Iran. METHODS: The study consisted of 1007 women with histopathologically confirmed BrCA and 1004 controls admitted to hospitals in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, for nonneoplastic conditions. Dietary Inflammatory Index scores and energy-adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DII) scores, with and without supplements, were computed on the basis of dietary intake collected using a validated 136-item food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: Women with the highest E-DII scores (quartile 4) versus those with the lowest E-DII scores (quartile 1) showed a significantly increased BrCA risk (odds ratio for quartile 4 vs quartile 1 [ORQ4vsQ1 ], 1.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.42-2.47), particularly for lobular carcinoma (ORQ4vsQ1 , 3.07; 95% CI, 1.34-7.02). Findings were similar for premenopausal women diagnosed with luminal A BrCA (ORQ4vsQ1 , 2.71; 95% CI, 1.74-4.22) or luminal B BrCA (ORQ4vsQ1 , 2.86; 95% CI, 1.39-5.89). Women consuming the most proinflammatory diets were 3 times more likely to have triple-negative BrCA (ORQ4vsQ1 , 3.00; 95% CI, 1.002-8.96) while compared to luminal A BrCA. The BrCA risk for women consuming diets in the highest half of E-DII scores (E-DII > 0) was 59% greater than the risk for those in the lowest half (95% CI, 1.29-1.97). Also, higher E-DII scores that took into account supplements were associated with larger tumor sizes (T3 > 5 cm; P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: A proinflammatory diet, as indicated by higher E-DII scores, appears to increase the risk of BrCA in Iranian women. Large increases in risk were seen in invasive molecular subtypes of BrCA. Anti-inflammatory diets are suggested to prevent the risk of overall BrCA and more aggressive forms of BrCA in particular.

Dietary patterns in association with the expression of pro-metastatic genes in primary breast cancer.

PURPOSE: Metastasis is a major leading cause of mortality in female breast cancer (BrCa). Cellular motility is a pathological process of metastasis remarked by the overexpression of cortactin (CTTN), Ras homolog family member-A (RhoA), and Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) genes. Their balance is responsible for upholding the integrity of healthy epithelial cell junctions. This study aimed to explore the associations between a posteriori dietary patterns and the expression levels of pro-metastatic genes in primary BrCa. METHODS: In this consecutive case series, 215 eligible women, newly diagnosed with histologically confirmed non-metastatic BrCa (stage I-IIIA), were recruited from Hospitals in Tabriz, Northwestern Iran (2015-2017). The tumoral expression levels of genes were quantified using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Dietary data assessment was carried out using a validated food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: Three dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis (KMO = 0.699). Adherence to the "vegan" pattern (vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains) was inversely associated with the expression levels of RhoA (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 0.24, 95%CI 0.07-0.79) and ROCK (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 0.26, 95%CI 0.08-0.87). In addition, the highest adherence to the "prudent" pattern (spices, seafood, dairy, and vegetable oils) decreased the odds of overexpressions at RhoA (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 0.26, 95%CI 0.08-0.84) and ROCK genes (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 0.29, 95%CI 0.09-0.95). The highest adherence to "Western" pattern (meat, processed meat, hydrogenated fat, fast food, refined cereals, sweets, and soft drinks) was a risk factor associated with the overexpression of RhoA (ORAdj.T3vs.T1 = 3.15, 95%CI 1.12-8.85). CONCLUSION: Adherence to healthy dietary patterns was significantly associated with the downregulation of pro-metastatic genes. Findings provided new implications to advance the nutrigenomic knowledge to prevent the odds of over-regulations in pro-metastatic genes of the primary BrCa.

Profiling the expression of pro-metastatic genes in association with the clinicopathological features of primary breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Metastasis accounts for ninety percent of breast cancer (BrCa) mortality. Cortactin, Ras homologous gene family member A (RhoA), and Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) raise cellular motility in favor of metastasis. Claudins (CLDN) belong to tight junction integrity and are dysregulated in BrCa. Thus far, epidemiologic evidence regarding the association of different pro-metastatic genes with pathological phenotypes of BrCa is largely inconsistent. This study aimed to determine the possible transcriptional models of pro-metastatic genes incorporate in holding the integrity of epithelial cell-cell junctions (CTTN, RhoA, ROCK, CLDN-1, CLDN-2, and CLDN-4), for the first time, in association with clinicopathological features of primary BrCa. METHODS: In a consecutive case-series design, 206 newly diagnosed non-metastatic eligible BrCa patients with histopathological confirmation (30-65 years) were recruited in Tabriz, Iran (2015-2017). Real-time RT-PCR was used. Then fold changes in the expression of target genes were measured. RESULTS: ROCK amplification was associated with the involvement of axillary lymph node metastasis (ALNM; ORadj. = 3.05, 95%CI 1.01-9.18). Consistently, inter-correlations of CTTN-ROCK (ß = 0.226, P < 0.05) and RhoA-ROCK (ß = 0.311, P < 0.01) were determined among patients diagnosed with ALNM+ BrCa. In addition, the overexpression of CLDN-4 was frequently observed in tumors identified by ALNM+ or grade III (P < 0.05). The overexpression of CTTN, CLDN-1, and CLDN-4 genes was correlated positively with the extent of tumor size. CTTN overexpression was associated with the increased chance of luminal-A positivity vs. non-luminal-A (ORadj. = 1.96, 95%CI 1.02-3.77). ROCK was also expressed in luminal-B BrCa tumors (P < 0.05). The estrogen receptor-dependent transcriptions were extended to the inter-correlations of RhoA-ROCK (ß = 0.280, P < 0.01), ROCK-CLDN-2 (ß = 0.267, P < 0.05), and CLDN-1-CLDN-4 (ß = 0.451, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, our findings suggested that the inter-correlations of CTTN-ROCK and RhoA-ROCK were significant transcriptional profiles determined in association with ALNM involvement; therefore the overexpression of ROCK may serve as a potential molecular marker for lymphatic metastasis. The provided binary transcriptional profiles need more approvals in different clinical features of BrCa metastasis.

Unsupervised repetition enables rapid perceptual learning.

This study examined how listeners disambiguate an auditory scene comprising multiple competing unknown sources and determine a salient source. Experiment 1 replicated findings from McDermott, Wrobleski, and Oxenham. [(2011). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 108(3), 1188-1193] using a multivariate Gaussian model to generate mixtures of two novel sounds. The results showed that listeners were unable to identify either sound in the mixture despite repeated exposure unless one sound was repeated several times while being mixed with a different distractor each time. The results support the idea that repetition provides a basis for segregating a single source from competing novel sounds. In subsequent experiments, the previous identification task was extended to a recognition task and the results were modeled. To confirm the repetition benefit, experiment 2 asked listeners to recognize a temporal ramp in either a repeating sound or non-repeating sounds. The results showed that perceptual salience of the repeating sound allowed robust recognition of its temporal ramp, whereas similar features were ignored in the non-repeating sounds. The response from two neural models of learning, generalized Hebbian learning and anti-Hebbian learning, were compared with the human listener results from experiment 2. The Hebbian network showed a similar response pattern as for the listener results, whereas the opposite pattern was observed for the anti-Hebbian output.

Dietary patterns and relative expression levels of PPAR-γ, VEGF-A and HIF-1α genes in benign breast diseases: case-control and consecutive case-series designs.

We aimed to study dietary patterns in association with the relative expression levels of PPAR-γ, vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in women with benign breast disease (BBD). The study design was combinative, included a case-series and case-control compartments. Initially, eligible BBD patients (n 77, aged 19-52 years old) were recruited at Nour-Nejat hospital, Tabriz, Iran (2012-2014). A hospital-based group of healthy controls was matched for age (n 231, aged 20-63 years old) and sex. Dietary data were collected using a valid 136-item FFQ. Principal component analysis generated two main components (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin = 0·684), including a Healthy pattern (whole bread, fruits, vegetables, vegetable oils, legumes, spices, seafood, low-fat meat, skinless poultry, low-fat dairy products, nuts and seeds) and a Western pattern (starchy foods, high-fat meat and poultry, high-fat dairy products, hydrogenated fat, fast food, salt and sweets). High adherence to the Western pattern increased the risk of BBD (ORadj 5·59; 95 % CI 2·06, 15·10; P < 0·01), whereas high intake of the Healthy pattern was associated with a 74 % lower risk of BBD (95 % CI 0·08, 0·81; P < 0·05). In the BBD population, the Western pattern was correlated with over-expression of HIF-1α (radj 0·309, P < 0·05). There were inverse correlations between the Healthy pattern and expressions of PPAR-γ (radj -0·338, P < 0·05), HIF-1α (radj -0·340, P < 0·05) and VEGF-A (radj -0·286, P < 0·05). In conclusion, new findings suggested that the Healthy pattern was associated inversely with the risk of BBD, and this could be correlated with down-regulation of PPAR-γ, VEGF-A and HIF-1α genes, which might hold promise to preclude BBD of malignant pathological transformation.

Coenzyme Q10 in association with metabolism-related AMPK/PFKFB3 and angiogenic VEGF/VEGFR2 genes in breast cancer patients.

Low levels of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) have been reported in the circulation of patients with breast cancer, particularly in metastatic features. Our objective was to study the correlation between plasma levels of CoQ10 and the tumoral expression levels of AMPK, PFKFB3, VEGF, and VEGFR2. This study was a part of consecutive case series conducted on 100 women with newly diagnosed invasive ductal breast carcinoma, with an age range of 30-60 years. Plasma levels of CoQ10 were measured using HPLC coupled to an UV detector. The expression levels were quantified using quantitative real-time PCR. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to generate pathways describing gene-to-gene inter-correlations. Using SEM identified AMPK expression to contribute positively to VEGF-A/VEGFR2 ratio (coefficient b = 0.64, P < 0.001). The VEGFR2 expression positively correlated with tumor size (coefficient b = 0.31, P < 0.001). A linear correlation between expression levels of AMPK and PFKFB3 was observed (rAdj = - 0.273, P = 0.02). Similarly, VEGF-A was correlated with VEGFR2 (rAdj = 0.698, P < 0.001). There were inverse significant correlations between CoQ10 and the fold changes of AMPK (rAdj = - 0.276, P = 0.030), VEGF-A (rAdj = - 0.319, P = 0.011) and VEGFR2 (rAdj = - 0.262, P = 0.045). The correlation between CoQ10 and the fold changes of PFKFB3 was significantly progesterone receptor (PR) dependent (rAdj = - 0.284, P = 0.041). Plasma CoQ10 was correlated with VEGF-A in hormone receptor-dependent mode (ER + : rAdj = - 0.286, P = 0.032 and PR + : rAdj = - 0.313, P = 0.025). Our findings could provide new insights suggesting CoQ10 can inversely correlate to the expression levels of VEGF-A/VEGFR2 as angiogenic factors and AMPK/PFKFB3 as biomarkers for tumoral glycolysis, especially in a hormone receptor-dependent manner to possibly prevent the progression of breast carcinogenesis.

Study of long non-coding RNA highly upregulated in liver cancer (HULC) in breast cancer: A clinical & in vitro investigation.

Background & objectives: Breast cancer remains the most common malignancy among women worldwide. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play critical roles in tumour initiation and progression. This study was aimed to evaluate the potential role of lncRNA highly upregulated in liver cancer (HULC) in breast cancer. Methods: The expression of HULC was evaluated in breast cancer patients and cell lines using real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Small interfering RNA-based knockdown was also employed to study the potential role of HULC in breast cancer cell lines including ZR-75-1, MCF7 and MDA-MB-231. Results: HULC was significantly upregulated in tumour tissues compared to non-tumoural margins (P <0.001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis demonstrated the biomarker potential of HULC (ROCAUC=0.78, P <0.001). The HULC knockdown induced apoptosis and suppressed cellular migration in breast cancer cell lines. Interpretation & conclusions: Our results indicated that HULC was upregulated in breast cancer and might play a role in tumourigenesis. The HULC may have a potential to be exploited as a new biomarker and therapeutic target in breast cancer.

Rapid adaptation to non-native speech is impaired in cochlear implant users.

To examine difficulties experienced by cochlear implant (CI) users when perceiving non-native speech, intelligibility of non-native speech was compared in conditions with single and multiple alternating talkers. Compared to listeners with normal hearing, no rapid talker-dependent adaptation was observed and performance was approximately 40% lower for CI users following increased exposure in both talker conditions. Results suggest that lower performance for CI users may stem from combined effects of limited spectral resolution, which diminishes perceptible differences across accents, and limited access to talker-specific acoustic features of speech, which reduces the ability to adapt to non-native speech in a talker-dependent manner.

A new insight on serum microRNA expression as novel biomarkers in breast cancer patients.

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the widespread lethal diseases affecting a large number of women worldwide. As such, employing and identifying significant markers for detecting BC in different stages can assist in better diagnosis and management of the disease. Several diverse markers have been introduced for diagnosis, but their limitations, including low specificity and sensitivity, reduce their application. microRNAs (miRNAs), as short noncoding RNAs, have been shown to significantly influence gene expression in different disease pathologies, especially BC. Clearly, among different samples used for detecting miRNA expressions, circulating miRNAs present as promising and useful biomarkers. Among different body fluid samples, serum serves as one of the most reliable samples, thanks to its high stability under various severe conditions and some unique features. Extensive research has suggested that BC-related miRNAs can remain stable in the serum. The objective of this review is to describe different samples used for detecting miRNAs in BC subjects with emphasis on serum miRNAs. So, this study highlights serum miRNAs with the potential of acting as biomarkers for different stages of BC. We reviewed the possible correlation between potential miRNAs and the risk of early breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer, response to chemotherapy, and relapse.

miR-142-3p as tumor suppressor miRNA in the regulation of tumorigenicity, invasion and migration of human breast cancer by targeting Bach-1 expression.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women, and despite improved treatments, it remains a major challenge. However, improved mechanistic insight may lead to novel therapeutic strategies. miR-142-3p belongs to the miR-142 family and is involved in pathogenesis and metastasis of various types of malignancies by targeting several important messenger RNAs (mRNAs) including Bach-1. This is especially true for breast cancer, where Bach-1 is involved in the metastatic spread by deregulation of metastasis-associated genes. METHODS: In this study, we collected 24 breast cancer tissues with 24 adjusted normal tissues to measure the expression levels of miR-142-3p and Bach-1 mRNA using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and IHC. miR-142-3p targeting of Bach-1 expression in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells was evaluated using bioinformatics, qRT-PCR and western blot analyses. The cellular proliferation, invasion, and migration were assessed by MTT, transwell matrigel and wound healing assay and the EMT-associated proteins C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR-4), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9), and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) were analyzed by western blot analysis. Also, the expression levels of tumor suppressors including miR-330, miR-145, and miR-34a were estimated by qRT-PCR. RESULTS: Analysis of paired specimens of primary malignant and normal tissues showed that miR-142-3p was downregulated, while Bach-1 mRNA and protein both were overexpressed in the breast cancer tumors. This inverse relationship was confirmed by cell line experiments demonstrating that miR-142-3p expression reduced Bach-1 mRNA levels. Furthermore, replacement of miR-142-3p could inhibit the proliferation, invasion, and migration in breast cancer potentially by targeting of Bach-1 mRNA and subsequent inhibition of CXCR4, MMP9, and VEGFR protein expressions. In addition, induction of miR-142-3p could upregulate tumor suppressor miRNAs, including miR-330, miR-145, and miR34a. CONCLUSION: For the first time, our results revealed that miR-142-3p could target Bach-1in breast cancer cells leading to the reduction of EMT-related proteins and reduced cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. The results also demonstrated that miR-142-3p could regulate important tumor suppressor miRNAs in breast cancer cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that miR-142-3p could be a good candidate for the targeted therapy of breast cancer, especially for the invasive type.

The effects of Berberis vulgaris consumption on plasma levels of IGF-1, IGFBPs, PPAR-γ and the expression of angiogenic genes in women with benign breast disease: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: The present study was designed to investigate the effects of Berberis vulgaris (BV) juice consumption on plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs), and the expression of PPAR-γ, VEGF and HIF in women with benign breast disease. METHODS: This parallel design randomized, double-blind controlled clinical trial was conducted on 85 eligible patients diagnosed with benign breast disease. They were assigned randomly into either BV juice group (n = 44, BV juice: 480 ml/day) or placebo group (n = 41, BV placebo juice: 480 ml/day) for 8 weeks intervention. Participants, caregivers and those who assessed laboratory analyses were blinded to the assignments. Plasma levels of biomarkers were measured at baseline and after 8 weeks by ELISA. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure the fold change in the expression of each interested gene. RESULTS: The compliance of participants was 95.2% and 40 available subjects analyzed in each group at last. Relative treatment (RT) effects for BV juice caused 16% fall in IGF-1 concentration and 37% reduction in the ratio of IGF-1/1GFBP1. Absolute treatment effect expressed 111 ng/ml increased mean differences of IGFBP-3 between BV group and placebo. Plasma level of PPAR-γ increased in both groups but it was not significant. Fold changes in the expressions of PPAR-γ, VEGF and HIF showed down-regulation in the intervention group compared to placebos (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The BV juice intervention over 8 weeks was accompanied by acceptable efficacy and decreased plasma IGF-1, and IGF-1/IGFBP-1 ratio partly could be assigned to enhanced IGFBP-1 level in women with BBD. The intervention caused reductions in the expression levels of PPAR, VEGF, and HIF which are remarkable genomic changes to potentially prevent breast tumorigenesis. TRIAL REGISTRATION: IRCT2012110511335N2. Registered 10 July 2013 (retrospectively registered).

Analysis of miRNA-221 Expression Level in Tumors and Marginal Biopsies from Patients with Breast Cancer (Cross-Sectional Observational Study).

BACKGROUND: miRNA-221 and miRNA-222 are two homologous microRNAs, the high-expression levels of which have been commonly demonstrated in the most current human cancer types as well as breast cancer. The purpose of this research was to determine the clinical value of measuring the expression level of hsa-miR-221-3p in breast cancer tissues and evaluate its biological and prognostic importance in breast cancer (BC). METHODS: A total of 40 tumor samples and matched tumor-free margin specimens were obtained during surgery from patients with BC. After total RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, the relative expression level of hsa-miR221-3p in tumor and marginal tissues was examined by quantitative real-time PCR. Moreover, the association between hsa-miR-221-3p expression and clinicopathological features of patients was detected. RESULTS: The relative expression level of hsa-miR-221-3p in BC tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent noncancerous breast biopsies (p ≤ 0.0001). Also, there was no significant association between hsa-miR-221-3p expression with clinicopathological characteristics (p > 0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses also represented an optimum cutoff point of < 4.34 to show that hsa-miR-221-3p is an effective molecular biomarker for BC diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrated that analysis of hsa-miR-221-3p relative gene expression may be applied as a biomarker for screening BC patients and could be a substantial tool in diagnosis and prognosis. Also, that could be advantageous in decreasing surgical mistakes in tumor elimination through the surgery and enhancing all over the progression of surgery with reformed tumor clearance.

Expression Analysis of MicroRNA-222 in Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: miR-221 and miR-222 are homologous miRNAs located in tandem, within 1 kb from each other, on human x chromosome. Recent studies declared that microRNA-222 is aberrantly expressed in various malignancies. The goal of this research was to measure the expression level of has-miR-222-3P and reveal its diagnostic and prognostic importance in breast malignancy. METHODS: In this study, 40 pairs of cancerous and matched adjacent non-cancerous breast tissue were collected from patients, and real-time PCR was used to measure the relative expression of miR-222. RESULTS: Our study clarified that microRNA-222 is enhanced in tumor tissues in comparison with normal tissue margins (p ≤ 0.05) and overexpression of miR-222 was not associated with clinicopathological factors such as age, BMI, menopausal status, histological type, grade, stage, tumor size, lymph node metastasis (p > 0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis displayed an optimum cutoff point of < 4.17 to prove that miR-222 is a useful biomarker in breast cancer diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings on miR-222 suggest that it could be a potentially useful target for control and management of breast malignancy.

Constraints on ideal binary masking for the perception of spectrally-reduced speech.

This study investigated recognition of sentences processed using ideal binary masking (IBM) with limited spectral resolution. Local thresholds (LCs) of -12, 0, and 5 dB were applied which altered the target and masker power following IBM. Recognition was reduced due to persistence of the masker and limited target recovery, thus preventing IBM from ideal target-masker segregation. Linear regression and principal component analyses showed that, regardless of masker type and number of spectral channels, higher LCs were associated with poorer recognition. In addition, limitations on target recovery led to more detrimental effects on speech recognition compared to persistence of the masker.

Perceiving foreign-accented speech with decreased spectral resolution in single- and multiple-talker conditions.

To determine the effect of reduced spectral resolution on the intelligibility of foreign-accented speech, vocoder-processed sentences from native and Mandarin-accented English talkers were presented to listeners in single- and multiple-talker conditions. Reduced spectral resolution had little effect on native speech but lowered performance for foreign-accented speech, with a further decrease in multiple-talker conditions. Following the initial exposure, foreign-accented speech with reduced spectral resolution was less intelligible than unprocessed speech in both single- and multiple-talker conditions. Intelligibility improved with extended exposure, but only for single-talker conditions. Results indicate a perceptual impairment when perceiving foreign-accented speech with reduced spectral resolution.

Analysis of the Association between MDM4 rs4245739 Single Nucleotide Polymorphism and Breast Cancer Susceptibility.

BACKGROUND: MDM4 is a negative regulator of the p53 tumor suppression pathway. Recent studies have revealed that the rs4245739 A>C polymorphism of MDM4 in the 3-untranslated region makes it a miR-191 target site which leads to lower MDM4 expression. This study is aimed to detect if rs4245739 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the MDM4 gene influences the breast cancer development in Iranian-Azeri women. METHODS: Blood samples were taken from 260 healthy controls and 220 breast cancer women with ethnicity of Iranian-Azeri. Genotyping was done using Tetra-ARMS PCR. RESULTS: Alleles of MDM4 rs4245739 SNP had no significant different frequency between patients and controls (p > 0.05). Additionally, genotypes of MDM4 rs4245739 SNP did not increase or decrease breast cancer risk in patients when compared to healthy women. Also, there was no significant association between the alleles of MDM4 rs4245739 SNP and clinicopathological factors (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Considering the lack of association between MDM4 rs4245739 polymorphism and breast cancer, rs4245739 polymorphism of this gene seems to have no significant role in the pathophysiology of the disease.

Precedence based speech segregation in bilateral cochlear implant users.

The precedence effect (PE) enables the perceptual dominance by a source (lead) over an echo (lag) in reverberant environments. In addition to facilitating sound localization, the PE can play an important role in spatial unmasking of speech. Listeners attending to binaural vocoder simulations with identical channel center frequencies and phase demonstrated PE-based benefits in a closed-set speech segregation task. When presented with the same stimuli, bilateral cochlear implant users did not derive such benefits. These findings suggest that envelope extraction in itself may not lead to a breakdown of the PE benefits, and that other factors may play a role.

Omega-3 fatty acids are protective against paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy: a randomized double-blind placebo controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Axonal sensory peripheral neuropathy is the major dose-limiting side effect of paclitaxel.Omega-3 fatty acids have beneficial effects on neurological disorders from their effects on neurons cells and inhibition of the formation of proinflammatory cytokines involved in peripheral neuropathy. METHODS: This study was a randomized double blind placebo controlled trial to investigate the efficacy of omega-3 fatty acids in reducing incidence and severity of paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy (PIPN). Eligible patients with breast cancer randomly assigned to take omega-3 fatty acid pearls, 640 mg t.i.d during chemotherapy with paclitaxel and one month after the end of the treatment or placebo. Clinical and electrophysiological studies were performed before the onset of chemotherapy and one month after cessation of therapy to evaluate PIPN based on "reduced Total Neuropathy Score". RESULTS: Twenty one patients (70%) of the group taking omega-3 fatty acid supplement (n = 30) did not develop PN while it was 40.7%( 11 patients) in the placebo group(n = 27). A significant difference was seen in PN incidence (OR = 0.3, .95% CI = (0.10-0.88), p = 0.029). There was a non-significant trend for differences of PIPN severity between the two study groups but the frequencies of PN in all scoring categories were higher in the placebo group (0.95% CI = (-2.06 -0.02), p = 0.054). CONCLUSIONS: Omega-3 fatty acids may be an efficient neuroprotective agent for prophylaxis against PIPN. Patients with breast cancer have a longer disease free survival rate with the aid of therapeutical agents. Finding a way to solve the disabling effects of PIPN would significantly improve the patients' quality of life. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01049295).

A clinical epidemiologic study of thyroid carcinoma in patients under 25 years old in Tabriz, Iran (1995-2010).

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the epidemiology and prognostic factors of thyroid cancer among children and adolescents in Tabriz, Iran. METHODS: The retrospective descriptive-analytical study, assessing the tumour and characteristics of 356 patients with thyroid carcinoma aged 5-25, was conducted at the Department of Surgery, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences from April 1995 to April 2010. All malignant neoplasms of the thyroid gland registered during the study period were studied, and their demographic and medical data was evaluated and, compared to identify the epidemiology and prognosis factors related to survival. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the total, there were 100 (28%) male and 256 (72%) female subjects, with their mean age being 12.6+/-8.4 years. In terms of the disease, there was no statistically significant difference between the two genders (p=0.65). The five-year survival rate was 345 (97%) in patients aged 5-25 years. Gender was not a statistically significant marker (p=0.82). CONCLUSION: The study indicated an increase in cases of thyroid cancer incidence. It also underlined the need for standardisation of diagnostic, classification and registration criteria which shall be a fundamental requirement for future studies of thyroid carcinoma in young people.

WITHDRAWN: In silico and Experimental Analysis of miR-125b-5 and miR-485-5p Expression in Serum of Patients with Breast Cancer

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