Objective  To test if supplemental dietary selenium is associated with changes in the incidence of prostate cancer. Patients and method  A total of 974 men with a history of either a basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma were randomized to either a daily supplement of 200 μg of selenium or a placebo. Patients were treated for a mean of 4.5 years and followed for a mean of 6.5 years. Results  Selenium treatment was associated with a significant (63%) reduction in the secondary endpoint of prostate cancer incidence during 1983–93. There were 13 prostate cancer cases in the selenium‐treated group and 35 cases in the placebo group (relative risk, RR=0.37, P=0.002). Restricting the analysis to the 843 patients with initially normal levels of prostate‐specific antigen (≤4 ng/mL), only four cases were diagnosed in the selenium‐treated group and 16 cases were diagnosed in the placebo group after a 2 year treatment lag, (RR=0.26 P=0.009). There were significant health benefits also for the other secondary endpoints of total cancer mortality, and the incidence of total, lung and colorectal cancer. There was no significant change in incidence for the primary endpoints of basal and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. In light of these results, the ‘blinded’ phase of this trial was stopped early. Conclusions  Although selenium shows no protective effects against the primary endpoint of squamous and basal cell carcinomas of the skin, the selenium‐treated group had substantial reductions in the incidence of prostate cancer, and total cancer incidence and mortality that demand further evaluation in well‐controlled prevention trials.

Calculations on phenol and a large number of phenols substituted with methyl, methoxyl, and amino groups have yielded reliable gas-phase O−H bond dissociation energies, BDE(ArO−H)gas. Geometries for the phenol, ArOH, and aryloxyl radical, ArO, were optimized at the (semiempirical) AM1 level followed by single point density functional theory (DFT) calculations using a 6-31G basis set supplemented with p-functions on the hydrogen atom and the B3LYP density functional. This gave BDE(PhO−H)gas = 86.46 kcal/mol, which is in good agreement with the experimental value of 87.3 ± 1.5 kcal/mol. All but one of the compounds and conformations examined had weaker O−H BDE's than phenol, the exception being o-methoxyphenol with the O−H group pointing toward this substituent (BDE = 87.8 kcal/mol). Where comparison was possible, calculated differences in O−H BDE's were in excellent agreement with experiment (better than 1 kcal/mol). A simple group additivity scheme also gave excellent agreement with calculated BDE (ArO−H)gas values. Some potential new leads to phenolic antioxidants more active than vitamin E have been uncovered.

Declining plant diversity and abundance have been widely reported in agro-ecosystems of North America and Europe. Intensive use of herbicides within cropfields and the associated drift in adjacent habitats are partly responsible for this change. The objectives of this work were to quantify the phenological stages of non-target plants in in-situ field situations during herbicide spray and to compare plant susceptibility at different phenological stages. Results demonstrated that a large number of non-target plants had reached reproductive stages during herbicide spray events in woodlots and hedgerows, both in Canada and Denmark where vegetation varies considerably. In addition, delays in flowering and reduced seed production occurred widely on plants sprayed at the seedling stage or at later reproductive periods, with plants sprayed at reproductive stages often exhibiting more sensitivity than those sprayed as seedlings. Ecological risk assessments need to include reproductive endpoints.

Summary 1We tested the enemy release hypothesis for invasiveness using field surveys of herbivory on 39 exotic and 30 native plant species growing in natural areas near Ottawa, Canada, and found that exotics suffered less herbivory than natives. 2 For the 39 introduced species, we also tested relationships between herbivory, invasiveness and time since introduction to North America. Highly invasive plants had significantly less herbivory than plants ranked as less invasive. Recently arrived plants also tended to be more invasive; however, there was no relationship between time since introduction and herbivory. 3 Release from herbivory may be key to the success of highly aggressive invaders. Low herbivory may also indicate that a plant possesses potent defensive chemicals that are novel to North America, which may confer resistance to pathogens or enable allelopathy in addition to deterring herbivorous insects.