The purpose of this study was to analyze socioeconomic differences in cervical and corpus cancer survival, and to investigate if the differences are due to differences in age, cancer stage, histology and treatment. A total of 14 055 cases with cervical cancer and 3113 cases with corpus cancer were obtained from the Osaka Cancer Registry. Municipality-based SES measurements were obtained from the System of Social and Demographic Statistics. Survival analysis was carried out with Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Three types of Cox proportional hazards regression models were tested to assess survival differences among groups and effects of SES on survival, controlling for clinical factors. SES was related to age and cancer stage for cervical and corpus cancer patients, and histology for cervical cancer patients. Differences were observed in cumulative 5-year survival for cervical cancer patients among low, middle and high unemployment municipalities (68.9%, 64.3% and 50.9%, respectively, P < 0.0001). Differences in cumulative 5-year survival for cervical cancer patients were also observed among high, middle and low education municipalities (65.1%, 62.2% and 56.1%, respectively, P < 0.0001). Similar patterns in 5-year survival were also found for corpus cancer patients. After adjusting for age, cancer stage, histology and treatment, survival differences between patients from high and low SES areas still remained. In conclusion, our populationbased analysis of a metropolitan representative sample in Japan has demonstrated, for the first time in Japan, SES differences in survival following cervical and corpus cancer. (Cancer Sci 2006; 97: 283-291)

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RASopathies are phenotypically overlapping genetic disorders caused by dysregulation of the RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. RASopathies include Noonan syndrome, cardio-facio-cutaneous (CFC) syndrome, Costello syndrome, Neurofibromatosis type 1, Legius syndrome, Noonan syndrome with multiple lentigines, Noonan-like syndrome, hereditary gingival fibromatosis, and capillary malformation/arteriovenous malformation syndrome. Recently, six patients with craniosynostosis and Noonan syndrome involving KRAS mutations were described in a review, and a patient with craniosynostosis and Noonan syndrome involving a SHOC2 mutation has also been reported. Here, we describe patients with craniosynostosis and Noonan syndrome due to de novo mutations in PTPN11 and patients with craniosynostosis and CFC syndrome due to de novo mutations in BRAF or KRAS. All of these patients had cranial deformities in addition to the typical phenotypes of CFC syndrome and Noonan syndrome. In RASopathy, patients with cranial deformities, further assessments may be necessary to look for craniosynostosis. Future studies should attempt to elucidate the pathogenic mechanism responsible for craniosynostosis mediated by the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway.

Objectives: To analyse brand nicotine yield including "ultra low" brands (that is, cigarettes yielding < 0.1 mg of nicotine by Federal Trade Commission (FTC) methods) in relation to nicotine intake (urinary nicotine, cotinine and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine) among 246 Japanese male smokers. Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Two companies in Osaka, Japan. Subjects: 130 Japanese male workers selected randomly during their annual regular health check up and 116 Japanese male volunteers taking part in a smoking cessation programme. Main outcome measurements: Subjects answered a questionnaire about smoking habits. Following the interview, each participant was asked to smoke his own cigarette and, after extinguishing it, to blow expired air into an apparatus for measuring carbon monoxide concentration. Urine was also collected for the assays of nicotine metabolites. Results: We found wide variation in urinary nicotine metabolite concentrations at any given nicotine yield. Based on one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), the urinary nicotine metabolite concentrations of ultra low yield cigarette smokers were significantly lower compared to smokers of high (p = 0.002) and medium yield cigarettes (p = 0.017). On the other hand, the estimated nicotine intake per ultra low yield cigarette smoked (0.59 mg) was much higher than the 0.1 mg indicated by machine. Conclusions: In this study of Japanese male smokers, actual levels of nicotine intake bore little relation to advertised nicotine yield levels. Our study reinforces the need to warn consumers of inappropriate advertisements of nicotine yields, especially low yield brands.

The cumulative risk of breast cancer varied according to individuals' risk factors among Japanese women. The availability of concrete individualized risk estimation figures will be of use to health care providers in encouraging Japanese women to seek counseling and to adopt self-control of body weight as a primary preventive measure, as well as to have breast cancer screening.