BACKGROUND-The effect of screening with prostate-specific-antigen (PSA) testing and digital rectal examination on the rate of death from prostate cancer is unknown. This is the first report from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial on prostate-cancer mortality.

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The decline in the incidence of distant stage disease holds the promise that testing for prostate-specific antigen may lead to a sustained decline in prostate cancer mortality. However, population data are complex, and it is difficult to confidently attribute relatively small changes in mortality to any one cause.

Evaluation of risks over time suggests a possible link between formaldehyde exposure and lymphohematopoietic malignancies, particularly myeloid leukemia but also perhaps Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Observed patterns could be due to chance but are also consistent with a causal association within the relatively short induction-incubation periods characteristic of leukemogenesis. Further epidemiological study and exploration of potential molecular mechanisms are warranted.

Bacteria may play a role in esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), although evidence is limited to cross-sectional studies. In this study, we examined the relationship of oral microbiota with EAC and ESCC risk in a prospective study nested in two cohorts. Oral bacteria were assessed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing in pre-diagnostic mouthwash samples from n=81/160 EAC and n=25/50 ESCC cases/matched controls. Findings were largely consistent across both cohorts. Metagenome content was predicted using PiCRUST. We examined associations between centered log-ratio transformed taxon or functional pathway abundances and risk using conditional logistic regression adjusting for BMI, smoking, and alcohol. We found the periodontal pathogen Tannerella forsythia to be associated with higher risk of EAC. Further, we found that depletion of the commensal genus Neisseria and the species Streptococcus pneumoniae were associated with lower EAC risk. Bacterial biosynthesis of carotenoids was also associated with protection against EAC. Lastly, the abundance of the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis trended with higher risk of ESCC. Overall, our findings have potential implications for the early detection and prevention of EAC and ESCC.