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CT has recently been used in mass screening for lung cancer. Small cancers have been identified but the growth characteristics of these lesions are not fully understood. We identified 82 primary cancers in our 3-year mass CT screening programme, of which 61 were examined in the present study. The volume doubling time (VDT) was calculated based on the exponential model using successive annual CT images or follow-up CT images. All cases were also examined in the hospital by high resolution CT (HRCT). Lesions were divided into three types based on HRCT characteristics: type G (n = 19), ground glass opacity (GGO); type GS (n = 19), focal GGO with a solid central component; and type S (n = 23), solid nodule. 18 (95%) lesions of type G, 18 (95%) of type GS and 7 (30%) of type S were invisible on conventional chest radiographs. The mean size of the tumour was 10 mm, 11 mm and 16 mm for type G, type GS and type S, respectively. Most tumours (80%) were adenocarcinomas; 78% of these were GGO (type G and GS). Mean VDT values were 813 days, 457 days and 149 days for type G, type GS and type S, respectively; these are significantly different from each other (p < 0.05). Our results show that annual mass screening CT for 3 successive years resulted in the identification of a large number of slowly growing adenocarcinomas that were not visible on chest radiographs.

The different adaptive problems faced by men and women over evolutionary history led evolutionary psychologists to hypothesize and discover sex differences in jealousy as a function of infidelity type. An alternative hypothesis proposes that beliefs about the conditional probabilities of sexual and emotional infidelity account for these sex differences. Four studies tested these hypotheses. Study 1 tested the hypotheses in an American sample (N = 1,122) by rendering the types of infidelity mutually exclusive. Study 2 tested the hypotheses in an American sample (N = 234) by asking participants to identify which aspect of infidelity was more upsetting when both forms occurred, and by using regression to identify the unique contributions of sex and beliefs. Study 3 replicated Study 2 in a Korean sample ( N = 190). Study 4 replicated Study 2 in a Japanese sample (N = 316). Across the studies, the evolutionary hypothesis, but not the belief hypothesis, accounted for sex differences in jealousy when the types of infidelity are rendered mutually exclusive; sex differences in which aspect of infidelity is more upsetting when both occur; significant variance attributable to sex, after controlling for beliefs; sex-differentiated patterns of beliefs; and the cross-cultural prevalence of all these sex differences.

SummaryThe aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of annual screening for lung cancer by low-dose computed tomography (CT) and the characteristics of identified lung cancers. Subjects consisted of 5483 general population aged 40-74 years, who received initial CT scans in 1996, followed by repeat annual scans for most subjects in 1997 and 1998, with a total of 13 786 scans taken during 1996-1998. Work-up examinations for patients with suspicious lesions were conducted using diagnostic CTs. The initial screening in 1996 detected suspicious nodules in 279 (5.1%) of 5483 subjects, and 22 (8%) were confirmed surgically to have lung cancer. Corresponding figures in 1997 and 1998 screening studies were 173 (3.9%) of 4425 and 25 (14%) of 173, and 136 (3.5%) of 3878 and 9 (7%) of 136, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of detecting surgically confirmed lung cancer were 55% (22/40) and 95% (4960/5199) in 1996 and 83% (25/30) and 97% (4113/4252) in 1997 screening, respectively. 88% (55/60) of lung cancers identified on screening and surgically confirmed were AJCC stage IA. Our trial allowed detection of nearly 11 times the expected annual number of early lung cancers. Repeat CT allowed the detection of more aggressive, rapidly growing lung cancers, compared to those in the initial screening. 25-32 © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign doi: 10.1054/ bjoc.2000.1531 available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on http://www.bjcancer.com to 150 detected SSPNs from these screenees. A much larger series of SSPN is required to study the second question, the prevalence of malignancy among the detected SSPNs, by getting an appreciable number of malignant SSPN, because the prevalence of malignant SSPN among high-risk population is estimated to be of the order of 1%. We defined our sample size of 5000 to 10 000, which was fairly larger than that indicated by Henschke et al, because we aimed to conduct our trial of CT screening for lung cancer using CT among the general population, which included never-smoked inhabitants in this rural area in Japan. In our study, inhabitants of 29 local municipalities in the Nagano Prefecture, Japan, who were 40 years of age or older were specifically requested in 1996 to volunteer for this programme. The annual mortality rate due to lung cancer in the same region was 37.3 per 100 000 population in 1998. Therefore, it was expected in our trial at least nearly 100 SSPNs be detected at each annual screening to undergo work-up examination, which would permit us to estimate the probability of CT-detected SSPN. Although we expected to encounter at least several cases with lung cancer among the total 5000 to 10 000 participants, we were not sure about the expected number of cancer cases because no information on this aspect was available. All subjects gave informed consent to receive base line and annual repeat CT scans of the thorax. SubjectsThe material of this study comprised a total of 13 786 CT examinations, including 5483 initial CT scans in 1996, 4425 first-year repeat CT scans in...

The degree of in-plane molecular orientation of various polyimides (PIs) and their precursors, poly(amic acid)s (PAAs), were estimated by measuring the visible dichroic absorption at an incidence angle for a rod-like dye (perylenediimide, PEDI) dispersed in the matrices. The effects of PI chain structure, film thickness, heating rate, and residual solvent on a spontaneous in-plane orientation phenomenon were examined to fully understand the mechanism. All PAA films cast on a substrate showed the low degrees of in-plane orientation of the chain axis, nearly independent of the chain structure. Upon thermal imidization of the PAA films adhered on a substrate, a striking spontaneous in-plane orientation behavior was observed for some PI systems with rigid chains; in contrast to that, some flexible PI systems showed no spontaneous behavior. Cure of the PAA films adhered on a substrate induced the spontaneous orientation even if the films were considerably thick (∼50 μm); in contrast to that, the cure of the free-standing thick film did not. However, upon cure of the free-standing thin films (∼10 μm), the spontaneous orientation behavior was observed. For rigid PI systems in which interchain stacking preferentially occurs, thermal cure of the PAA films on a substrate forms liquid-crystal-like highly oriented regions, and simultaneously, apparent stretching (due to constraint of film contraction during imidization) promotes the molecular orientation further. The mechanism is closely associated with a “cooperative effect” in which the neighboring chains enhance the molecular orientation of each other during cure. In addition, structural changes (orientations of the chain axis and a molecular plane and molecular packing) upon stepwise annealing were followed. Polarized infrared absorption spectra measured at an incidence angle demonstrated that the phthalimide molecular plane in the PI film on a silicon wafer aligns somewhat parallel to the film plane, but no significant orientational and conformational changes occurred upon stepwise annealing.

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Purpose To elucidate the management and outcomes of patients with extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKL), who were diagnosed between 2000 and 2013 in Japan. Patients and Methods Data from 358 patients with ENKL diagnosed between 2000 and 2013 from 31 institutes were retrospectively analyzed. Results Patients' median age was 58 years, and 257 (72%) had localized disease. The most common first-line treatment was radiotherapy with dexamethasone, etoposide, ifosfamide, and carboplatin (RT-DeVIC) (66%) for localized ENKL and L-asparaginase-containing chemotherapy (30%) for advanced ENKL. With a median follow-up of 5.8 years, overall survival (OS) rates at 5 years for localized and advanced ENKL were 68% and 24%, respectively. The prognostic index of natural killer lymphoma was validated in our study, although only 4% of patients with localized ENKL were classified as high risk. With a median follow-up of 5.6 years, OS and progression-free survival at 5 years in the 150 patients who received RT-DeVIC in clinical practice were 72% (95% CI, 63% to 78%) and 61% (95% CI, 52% to 69%), respectively. Toxicities of RT-DeVIC were comparable to those in a previous trial. Multivariate analysis in patients with localized ENKL who received RT-DeVIC identified elevated soluble interleukin-2 receptor as an independent predictive factor for worse OS and progression-free survival (adjusted hazard ratios, 2.28 and 2.46; 95% CI, 1.24 to 4.23 and 1.42 to 4.28; P = .008 and .0014, respectively). Conclusion Favorable OS in response to new treatments was demonstrated in a large number of patients. Improved treatment approaches are needed for localized ENKL exhibiting elevated pretreatment soluble interleukin-2 receptor.