Background:The risk and prognosis of ovarian cancer have not been well established in women with endometriosis. Thus, we investigated the impact of endometriosis on the risk and prognosis for ovarian cancer, and evaluated clinicopathologic characteristics of endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer (EAOC) in comparison with non-EAOC.Methods:After we searched an electronic search to identify relevant studies published online between January 1990 and December 2012, we found 20 case–control and 15 cohort studies including 444 255 patients from 1 625 potentially relevant studies. In the meta-analysis, ovarian cancer risk by endometriosis and clinicopathologic characteristics were evaluated using risk ratio (RR) or standard incidence ratio (SIR), and prognosis was investigated using hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Heterogeneity was evaluated using Higgins I2 to select fixed-effect (I2 ⩽50%) or random effects models (I2>50%), and found no publication bias using funnel plots with Egger's test (P>0.05). Furthermore, we performed subgroup analyses based on study design, assessment of endometriosis, histology, disease status, quality of study and adjustment for potential confounding factors to minimise bias.Results:Endometriosis increased ovarian cancer risk in case–control or two-arm cohort studies (RR, 1.265; 95% CI, 1.214–1.318) and single-arm cohort studies (SIR, 1.797; 95% CI, 1.276–2.531), which were similar in subgroup analyses. Although progression-free survival was not different between EAOC and non-EAOC (HR, 1.023; 95% CI, 0.712–1.470), EAOC was associated with better overall survival than non-EAOC in crude analyses (HR, 0.778; 95% CI, 0.655–0.925). However, progression-free survival and overall survival were not different between the two groups in subgroup analyses. Stage I–II disease, grade 1 disease and nulliparity were more common in EAOC (RRs, 1.959, 1.319 and 1.327; 95% CIs, 1.367–2.807, 1.149–1.514 and 1.245–1.415), whereas probability of optimal debulking surgery was not different between the two groups (RR, 1.403; 95% CI, 0.915–2.152). Furthermore, endometrioid and clear cell carcinomas were more common in EAOC (RRs, 1.759 and 2.606; 95% CIs, 1.551–1.995 and 2.225–3.053), whereas serous carcinoma was less frequent in EAOC than in non-EAOC (RR, 0.733; 95% CI, 0.617–0.871), and there was no difference in the risk of mucinous carcinoma between the two groups (RR, 0.805; 95% CI, 0.584–1.109). These clinicopathologic characteristics were also similar in subgroup analyses.Conclusions:Endometriosis is strongly associated with the increased risk of ovarian cancer, and EAOC shows favourable characteristics including early-stage disease, low-grade disease and a specific histology such as endometrioid or clear cell carcinoma. However, endometriosis may not affect disease progression after the onset of ovarian cancer.

Based on these results, zonisamide monotherapy is effective in some dogs with idiopathic epilepsy.

Although serotonin transporter (SERT) availability in pons and medulla was similar in the restless legs syndrome (RLS) group and the control group, the severity of RLS symptoms increased as the availability of SERT decreased. These data partially support the hypothesis that an increase of serotonergic neurotransmission in the brainstem may exacerbate RLS, possibly via dual modulations on striatal dopaminergic neurotransmission and on the activities of spinal motor and sensory neurons.

We determine high magnetic field (B//a) vs temperature phase diagram of TbMn 2 O 5 by measurements of dielectric constant (ε//b) and magnetization under static and pulsed B up to 45 T, and pyroelectric/magnetoelectric currents up to 9 T. Our results reveal that a ferroelectric (FE) transition temperature at TC = 38 K at B = 0 T changes little under B up to 33 T, while incommensurate antiferromagnetic phase, characterized as increased ε and negative polarization below 25 K at B = 0 T, becomes unstable above B = ∼20 T at low temperatures. Furthermore, a positive FE polarization component, coined with a Tb f-spin ordering below ∼15 K at B = 0 T, abruptly disappears with Tb f-spin reorientation under B ≤ ∼2 T. Determined phase diagram shows that both magnitude of FE polarization and ε value are sensitively dependent on the evolution of magnetic order parameters of both Mn-d and Tb-f spins tuned by high magnetic fields.

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