Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second most common cause of death from cancer in women.The aim of this studywas to determine which is more accurate imaging test mammography or ultrasound for diagnosis of breast cancer based on the women's age and breast density. We examined 546 patients with breast symptoms, by clinical breast examination, mammography and ultrasound. A total of 546 breast lesions were examined by histopathology analyses. Histopathology results revealed the presence of 259 invasive cancers, and 287 benign lesions. Sensitivity varied significantly with age and breast density. In the 259 women who had both tests, ultrasound had a higher sensitivity than mammography in women younger than 45 years, whereas mammography had a higher sensitivity than ultrasound in women older than 60 years. The sensitivity according to age was 52,1% for mammography and 72,6% for ultrasound. The specificity according to age was 88, 5% for ultrasound and 73, 9% for mammography. Comparing the sensitivity of mammography and ultrasound according to the breast density indicates that mammographic sensitivity was 82,2% among women with predominantly fatty breast, but 23.7% in women with heterogeneous dense breasts, with the increase of fibro glandular density the level of sensitivity with mammography decreases, while ultrasonographic sensitivity was 71,1% among women with predominantly fatty breast and 57,0% for heterogeneous dense breasts. Our data indicate that sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound was statistically significantly greater than mammography in patients with breast symptoms for the detection of breast cancer and benign lesions particularly in dense breast and in young women.

Although considered a "joint disease," rheumatoid arthritis is associated with the involvement of extra-articular manifestations. e aim of the study is the investigation and comparison of frequency and type of extra-articular manifestations in a well defi ned community based cohort of patients with seropositive and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis. Using the ACR () criteria for rheumatoid arthritis, patients have been classifi ed into the  nd and  rd functional class (ARA). e studied group consisted of  seronegative patients with titters lower than : as defi ned by Rose-Waaler test, whereas the control group consisted of  seropositive patients with titters of : or higher. All patients were between - years of age (Xb=,), with disease duration between - years (Xb=,). In order to present the fi ndings of the study, the structure, prevalence, arithmetic mean (Xb), standard deviation (SB), variation quotient (QV) and variation interval (Rmax-Rmin) have been used. Probability level has been expressed by p<, and p<,. Correlation between the number of extra-articular manifestations and duration of the disease has been calculated by means of Pearson linear correlation. Higher presence of diff use lung fi brosis, central and peripheral nervous system damages have been confi rmed in the seropositive group, and osteoporosis in the seronegative; however, no statistical diff erence has been found. In extra-articular manifestations, "rheumatoid core" in the seropositive subset (χ  =,, p<,) presented signifi cant statistical diff erence. Rheumatoid nodules were more frequent in seropositive subset (:), in both sexes; however, they were not of signifi cant statistical diff erence. Neuropathy and lung diseases were also frequently present in seropositive group, but no statistical diff erence has been found regarding the statistical diff erence. Longer duration of the disease resulted in an increase of the number of extra-articular manifestations. Calculated linear correlation by Pearson, resulted as positive and high correlation in total (r=,, p<,), and for groups [(r=,, p<,) seronegative, (r=,, p<,) seropositive], nevertheless no signifi cant statistical diff erence was found regarding the serostatus. In conclusion, extra-articular manifestations are more frequent in the seropositive patients. e longer the duration of the disease the larger the number of extra-articular manifestations. Diff erences with regard to sero-status and sex, with some exceptions, are not observed.

Based on our findings, topical application of HA and FK506 exhibits equally positive effects, preventing perineural scar formation and enhancing nerve regeneration after peripheral nerve repair.

Bladder urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC) is an increasingly prevalent cancer worldwide, and thus, gaining a better understanding of its identifiable risk factors is a global priority. This study addressed this public health need with the understanding that cancer-initiating events, such as chromosome breakage, loss and rearrangement, can be reasonably used as biomarkers to evaluate an individual’s cancer risk. Overall, forty bladder cancer patients and twenty controls were evaluated for genomic instability. To the best of the investigators’ knowledge, this is the first study to perform micronucleus (MN) assays simultaneously in urothelial exfoliated cells (UEC), buccal exfoliated cells (BEC), and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) in first-diagnosed, non-smoker bladder UCC patients. Additionally, the frequency of nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs) and nuclear buds (NBUDs) in PBL was evaluated. The MN frequencies in UEC, BEC, and PBL, as well as the frequencies of NPBs and NBUDs, were significantly higher in patients than in controls. In conclusion, MN assays, particularly in UEC, may be used to identify individuals who are at high risk of developing UCC, as single or as additional triage test to UroVysion FISH test. Our results further validate the efficacy of biomarkers, such as MN, NPBs, and NBUDs, as predictors of genomic instability.

Although larger studies are needed, our data support the predictive value of MN, NPB and NBUD as biomarkers of genomic instability for evaluation of risk level of cancer diseases.