Our results suggest that codon 12 K-ras mutations may have a role in the mucinous differentiation pathway, while codon 13 mutations have biological relevance in terms of colorectal cancer clinical outcome.

Residents of Catania province with its volcanic region appear to have a higher incidence of papillary thyroid cancer than elsewhere in Sicily.

Until now, there have not been any parameters to monitor opioid therapy in cancer patients with pain. In this study, 325 consecutive advanced cancer patients were scheduled for a prospective longitudinal survey. After exclusions, 67 patients were surveyed. All included patients were advanced cancer patients with pain that required opioid therapy for more than 6 weeks before death. Opioid escalation, symptoms associated with opioid therapy, pain mechanism, and pain intensity were recorded. Indices were calculated to categorize the response to opioids. The opioid escalation index (OEI) was used to index the mean increase of the starting opioid dosage, expressed as a percentage or in mg. The length of the period of stable dose (MLD) and the effective analgesic score (EAS), that is, the analgesic consumption/pain relief ratio calculated at fixed intervals, were also used. Patients with a mean visual analogue scale score (VAS) of less than 4 and regular OEI and EAS were considered responsive; patients with a mean VAS less than 4 but with an OEI more than 5 or increases of more than 100% of EAS when compared to that calculated the week before were considered mildly responsive; and patients with a mean VAS more than 4 were considered unresponsive. Advanced age, female gender, and previous chemotherapy were all factors reducing OEI. Head and neck cancer was associated with a higher OEI. Regarding the influence of the opioid-related symptoms, an increased OEI was associated with the presence of confusion. Moreover the presence of confusion was associated with neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain taken alone, however, did not influence this score. Gender-specific cancer, such as breast cancer, influenced the gender differences reported for MLD (significantly longer than that reported for males and other primary tumor). Good responsiveness was observed in 28 patients, partial responsiveness in 33 patients, unresponsiveness in six patients. Psychological factors were associated with poor pain relief, probably reducing the patient's compliance. The tools used in this study may be useful in monitoring the effects of opioid therapy in cancer pain patients. Simple numbers are easy to compare and make it possible to profile opioid responsiveness and differences among patients.

Mutations that inactivate the transactivational ability of TP53 are more frequent in advanced CRC and are associated with worse prognosis in this stage of disease.

The role of menstrual and reproductive factors, family history, and body weight in the epidemiology of breast cancer has been reassessed in a meta-analysis of three large case-control studies of breast cancer from several Italian regions, for a total data set of 4,072 cases and 4,099 controls. Multiple logistic regression equations were used to obtain relative risks adjusted for study, center, age, and various combinations of risk factors considered. Relative to women with menarche at age 15 or over, those with earlier menarche had a 20-30% higher breast cancer risk. However, there was no tendency for the risk to increase with lower age at menarche, and the association with menarche was stronger at younger age. The risk of breast cancer was directly related to age at menopause (relative risk (RR) = 0.7 for less than 45 years vs. greater than or equal to 50 years), age at first live birth (RR = 1.8 for greater than or equal to 28 years vs. less than 22 years), and family history of breast cancer in first-degree relatives (RR = 2.0). The effect of these factors was similar in various age strata. After allowance for age at first live birth, the risk of breast cancer did not differ among women with one to four live births, but it was significantly below unity (RR = 0.6) for those with five or more live births. Furthermore, there was a clear modifying effect of age at diagnosis on parity-related risk, since parous women had elevated breast cancer risk below age 35 and reduced risk above age 40.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)