Cervical scrapes from 116 British women referred with cervical cancer were tested for the presence of high oncogenic risk human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes (HPVhr). Ninety-four per cent of the scrapes had one or more of these virus types and 66% were HPV16-positive. HPV18 was more frequent in adenocarcinoma. No evidence was found for an increased cancer risk associated with the HPV16 E6 350G variant. The HLA DRB1* and DQB1* alleles in these women and in 155 women with normal cytology and negative for HPVhrDNA were compared. DQB1*0301 alone (2P = 0.02) and in combination with DRB1*0401 (2P = 0.02) was found to be associated with cervical cancer. This was more marked in cancers positive for HPV types other than HPV16. In contrast, DRB1*1501 alone and in combination with DQB1*0602 was not significantly elevated in cancers overall, but did show some excess in HPV16-positive cancers (2P = 0.05), associated with HPV16-positive cervical cancers. Taking all cancers together, a marginally significant protective effect was found for DQB1*0501 (2P = 0.03) but no protective effect could be seen for DRB1*1301. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign

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This study showed that the symptom's questionnaire for gastroesophageal reflux disease has "face validity", excellent reproducibility, easy comprehension and was quickly answered by patients. The correlation with Johnson-DeMeester's score was null.

There was no evidence of HPV infection in different ESCC from southern Brazil.

The 'Montenegrina' mandarin ( Citrus deliciosa Tenore) is widely cultivated in southern Brazil. This cultivar has a great tendency for alternate bearing, requiring thining of the fruit. However, the chemical thinners studied until now in this cultivar have not been successful. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinyloxyacetic acid (3,5,6-TPA) on the production and fruit quality of the 'Montenegrina' mandarin, in comparison with hand thinning and the options of chemical thinning previously studied. Hand thinning and no thinning were used as controls. Ethephon was applied in three doses: 200mg L-1, 300mg L-1 or 200mg L-1 + 3% urea; or 3,5,6-TPA, in four doses: 10, 20, 30 or 40mg L-1. Fruits of the hand thinned trees and those treated with 40mg L-1 showed greater average size, greater distribution of commercial caliber and more orange colors. No treatment reduced alternate bearing. Applications of 40mg L-1 of 3,5,6-TPA as a chemical thinner, during the physiological drop of young fruit, had a similar effect that of hand thinning over yield and quality of fruits of 'Montenegrina' mandarin.

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Objectives This study aims to develop a new prediction equation to estimate the dry weight (DW) of patients with refractory cirrhotic ascites since there is a lack of evidence to substantiate the current values used to adjust the wet weight in these patients. Methods Cross-sectional study, that included patients with decompensated cirrhosis undergoing large-volume paracentesis. Height (H) was measured and weight, immediately before and after paracentesis. For the prediction of DW, a linear regression model was performed using as predictor variables: gender, H, and pre-paracentesis weight (preW), as response variable: post-paracentesis weight (postW). Three-way interaction was used to test the joint effect of these predictors. The capacity of this model to predict the postW was evaluated by comparing it with the currently used predictions through the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the mean square error (MSE). Results Twenty patients were included, 16 were male. Moderate ascites was the most prevalent grade (n = 18). The mean (range) of ascitic fluid drained was 6.6 (0.45 – 16.0) L, and the difference of Wpre and Wpost was −6.8 (−0.7 – −15.7) kg. The prediction equation developed for estimating DW in male is: DW = −11.4 + 1.2 * Wpre + 0.125 * H −0.002 * Wpre * H, and in female: DW = −40.6 + 1.2 * Wpre + 0.331 * H −0.030 * Wpre * H. ICC values showed that all predictions measures were strongly correlated (r > 0.95). In comparison with current predictions, our model showed the highest ICC (r = 0.97) and the lowest MSE ( = 7.70), comparing with the current predictions (MSE = 18.63, when the preW is adjusted from absolute values and MSE = 12.75 when adjusted from percentage values), indicating more accurate prediction. Conclusions This new prediction equation showed high reliability as a weight adjustment tool for patients with refractory cirrhotic ascites. Further research is required to validate this prediction equation. Funding Sources Fundo de Incentivo à Pesquisa e Eventos (FIPE) from Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) from Ministry of Education of Brazil.

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