Returning to work by thyroid cancer survivors 5 years after diagnosis: the VICAN survey.

PURPOSE: Return to work (RTW) following cancer diagnosis is a challenge for both the patient and society. As thyroid cancer (TC) incidence is increasing, this study aims to assess difficulties in returning to work and income changes in TC survivors 5 years post-diagnosis. METHODS: This study belongs to the national VICAN survey conducted in France among TC patients diagnosed between January and June 2010. Data were collected through phone interviews, medical surveys and from the national medico-administrative register in 2012 and 2015. We used multivariate logistic regressions to investigate TC impact on employment and income changes. RESULTS: Of 146 patients, 121(82.9%) were women; the mean age was 42 years (SD = 8.34), 119 (81.3%) were diagnosed at an early stage, and 142(97.6%) underwent thyroidectomy. At 5 years post-diagnosis, 116 (79.7%) of the TC survivors were professionally active, 22 (15.4%) were unemployed and 8 (4.90%) were receiving disability. Among the patients employed at the time of diagnosis (n = 122), 15 (12.3%) had not returned to work 5 years post-diagnosis. Between 2 and 5 years post-diagnosis, there was no significant improvement in rates of RTW. At 5 years post-diagnosis, 90 (61.6%) reported an income decline. All TC survivors who have not returned to work were women and declared higher fatigue. Moreover, in multivariate analyses, not returning to work was associated with weight gain (OR = 8.41 (1.21; 58.23)) and working arrangements (6.90 (1.18-38.48)), while income decline was associated with comorbidities (OR = 2.28 (1.07; 4.86)) and to be engaged in manual work (OR = 2.28 (1.07; 4.88)). CONCLUSION: This study highlights that, despite a good prognostic, up to 12.3% of TC survivors had not returned to work and 61.6% reported an income decline, 5 years post-diagnosis. Weight gain, fatigue, to be a woman and working-type arrangement were associated with higher probability of not returning to work. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: TC affects a young working population. Our study identified potentially vulnerable TC survivors and important modifiable factors which may help TC survivors to be professionally active and, therefore, increase their overall quality of life.

THz magnetoelectric atomic rotations in the chiral compound Ba3NbFe3Si2O14.

We have determined the terahertz spectrum of the chiral langasite Ba3NbFe3Si2O14 by means of synchrotron-radiation measurements. Two excitations are revealed that are shown to have a different nature. The first one, purely magnetic, is observed at low temperature in the magnetically ordered phase and is assigned to a magnon. The second one persists far into the paramagnetic phase and exhibits both an electric and a magnetic activity at slightly different energies. This magnetoelectric excitation is interpreted in terms of atomic rotations and requires a helical electric polarization.

A trapped water network in nanoporous material: the role of interfaces.

The infrared spectra of water confined in well controlled pore glasses were recorded as a function of the pore size ranging from 8 to 320 nm and in the 30-4000 cm(-1) spectral range using the ATR technique. The experiments prove that even in the large pores, the water network is significantly perturbed. The energy of the connectivity (or hindered translation) band (around 150 cm(-1)) is found to increase when the pore size decreases, indicating that confinement increases the H-bonding between neighbouring water molecules. Moreover, a drastic decrease of the FWHM of the connectivity band was observed upon confinement. This can be related to some ordering induced by the rigid walls of the pores. Furthermore, the partial filling of pores causes a significant modification to the water network, resembling heating of the trapped liquid and suggesting a role played by the water/air interface.