BACKGROUND: Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (WM) is a non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) subtype. Little is known about the incidence and trends for this disease in the United States. METHODS: Twenty-year data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program were used for this study. SEER*Stat was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 95,797 cases of NHL diagnosed between 1988 and 2007 in 9 SEER registries, 1835 (1.9%) were new cases of WM. Median age at diagnosis of WM was 73 years. The overall annual age-adjusted incidence was 0.38 per 100,000 persons per year, which increased with age, ranging from 0.03 in patients aged <50 years to 2.85 in patients aged !80 years. The incidence of WM was higher in men (0.54) than in women (0.27; P < .001) and was higher in whites (0.41) than in African Americans (0.18) or other races (0.21; P < .05). The annual percentage change for the whole population was 1.01% (P > .05). The annual percentage change was 1.21% for whites (P < .05) and 0.80% (P > .05) for nonwhites. Significant annual percentage change increases were seen in the group aged 70 to 79 years (1.24%; P < .05) and in 3 geographic registries (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Although the overall incidence of WM remained steady over time, significant increases in incidence were seen over the past 20 years in whites, in those aged 70 to 79 years, and in 3 geographic registry areas.

Background: It has recently been reported that intermittent fasting shapes the gut microbiota to benefit health, but this effect may be influenced to the exact fasting protocols. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of different daily fasting hours on shaping the gut microbiota in mice. Healthy C57BL/6 J male mice were subjected to 12, 16 or 20 h fasting per day for 1 month, and then fed ad libitum for an extended month. Gut microbiota was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene-based sequencing and food intake was recorded as well.Results: We found that cumulative food intake was not changed in the group with 12 h daily fasting, but significantly decreased in the 16 and 20 h fasting groups. The composition of gut microbiota was altered by all these types of intermittent fasting. At genus level, 16 h fasting led to increased level of Akkermansia and decreased level of Alistipes, but these effects disappeared after the cessation of fasting. No taxonomic differences were identified in the other two groups. Conclusions: These data indicated that intermittent fasting shapes gut microbiota in healthy mice, and the length of daily fasting interval may influence the outcome of intermittent fasting.

Background/Aims: Inflammation is implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN). This study examined the role of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) in the progression of renal injury in a model of rat DN. Methods: DN was induced by intravenous injection of streptozotocin and rats were sacrificed at week 2, 4 and 8. Functional and pathologic markers, inflammatory infiltration, expression of TLR2, MCP-1, MyD88, HSP70, HMGB1 and activation of NF-ĸB were assessed. The effects of glucose on the expression of TLR2 by renal tubular epithelial cells were also examined in vitro. Results: The expression of TLR2 mRNA and protein level was significantly upregulated in the kidneys of diabetic rats (p < 0.01), which was associated with increased renal expression of MyD88 and MCP-1, activation of NF-ĸB and infiltration of macrophages. The expression of HSP70 and HMGB1, endogenous ligands of TLRs, was also significantly upregulated in the kidneys of diabetic rats. In human renal biopsy of DN, there was prominent expression of TLR2 in both the glomeruli and tubulointerstitium. In vitro study showed that high glucose induced the expression of TLR2 mRNA by NRK-52E cells (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Enhanced renal expression of TLR2 is associated with inflammatory infiltration in DN.

BACKGROUND p53 plays a critical role in cellular anti-cancer mechanisms, and has been correlated with second primary malignancy (SPM) development. A common polymorphism in codon 72 of the p53 results in an amino acid substitution and could influence p53 function. We hypothesized that p53 codon 72 polymorphism may be associated with risk of SPMs and SPM-free survival among patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). METHODS A total of 1,271 patients, who were diagnosed with incident SCCHN between May 1995 and January 2007, were genotyped and followed for SPM development. Log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard models were used to compare SPM-free survival and SPM risk between the different genotype groups. RESULTS We found a significantly reduced SPM-free survival for patients with variant Pro72 allele compared with patients with Arg 72 homozygous genotype (Log-rank test, p = 0.005). Compared to SCCHN patients with the p53 72Arg/Arg genotype, there was a significantly greater risk of SPM associated with the p53 72Arg/Pro genotype (HR, 1.75, 95% CI, 1.17–2.61) and the combined p53 72Arg/Pro + Pro/Pro (HR, 1.58, 95%CI, 1.07–2.34). Furthermore, stratification analyses showed that the risk of SPM associated with p53 variant genotypes (Arg/Pro + Pro/Pro) was more pronounced in several subgroups. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that p53 codon 72 polymorphism could be a risk marker for genetic susceptibility to SPM of patients with primary SCCHN.