University of Ioannina

About: University of Ioannina is a education organization based out in Ioannina, Greece. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 7654 authors who have published 20594 publications receiving 671560 citations. The organization is also known as: Panepistimio Ioanninon.

Circulating vitamin D concentration and risk of seven cancers: Mendelian randomisation study

Abstract: Objective: To determine if circulating concentrations of vitamin D are causally associated with risk of cancer. There is debate on whether vitamin D status is a cause of disease or just a correlate marker of overall health. Evidence from in-vitro and animal model studies supports an anti-neoplastic role of vitamin D, but epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials have yielded mixed results. Design: To overcome potential limitations in epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials, a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach was used. Participants and Setting: A total of 70,563 cancer cases and 84,418 controls were used from large genetic epidemiology networks, which consisted of 22,898 cases of prostate cancer, 15,748 cases of breast cancer, 12,537 cases of lung cancer, 11,488 cases of colorectal cancer, 4,369 cases of ovarian cancer, 1,896 cases of pancreatic cancer and 1,627 cases of neuroblastoma. Exposures: Four vitamin D associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs: rs2282679, rs10741657, rs12785878 and rs6013897) were used to define a multi-SNP score for circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations. Main outcomes and measures: The primary outcomes were the risk of incident colorectal, breast, prostate, ovarian, lung and pancreatic cancer, and neuroblastoma, which was evaluated using an inverse-variance weighted average of the SNP-specific associations and a likelihood-based approach. Secondary outcomes based on cancer subtypes by sex, anatomic location, stage and histology were also examined. Results: There was little evidence that the multi-SNP score of 25(OH)D was associated with risk of any of the seven cancers or their subtypes. Specifically, the odds ratios per 25 nmol/L increase in genetically-determined 25(OH)D concentrations were 0.92 (95% CI, 0.76-1.10) for colorectal cancer, 1.05 (95% CI, 0.89-1.24) for breast cancer, 0.89 (95% CI, 0.77-1.02) for prostate cancer, and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.87-1.23) for lung cancer. The results were consistent with the two different analytic approaches, and the study was powered to detect relative effect sizes of moderate magnitude (e.g., 1.20-1.50) per 25 nmol/L decrease in 25(OH)D for most primary cancer outcomes. The MR assumptions did not appear to be violated. Conclusions: Our results provide little evidence of a linear causal association between circulating vitamin D concentration and risk of colorectal, breast, prostate, ovarian, lung and pancreatic cancer, and neuroblastoma, but we cannot rule out existence of causal clinically relevant effects of low magnitude. These results, in combination with previous literature, provide evidence that population-wide screening for vitamin D deficiency and subsequent widespread vitamin D supplementation should not be recommended at this time as a primary cancer prevention strategy.

The E- Cadherin Adhesion Molecule and Colorectal Cancer. A Global Literature Approach

Abstract: The E-cadherin-catenin complex plays a crucial role in epithelial cell cell adhesion and in the maintenance of tissue architecture. Down-regulation of E-cadherin expression correlates with a strong invasive potential, resulting in poor prognosis in human carcinomas. Progress has been made in understanding the interaction between the different components of this protein complex and how this cell-cell adhesion complex is modulated in cancer cells. The present study is an update of the role of E-cadherin in human colorectal cancer. It emphasizes new features and the possible role of the complex in clinical practice, discussed in the light of references obtained from the Medline database from 1987 to 2007. In colorectal carcinomas, changes in E-cadherin expression have been correlated with tumour size, histopathology and differentiation, but results are still inconsistent. Further studies may yield greater insight into the early molecular interactions critical to the interaction between adhesion molecules and tumour initiation and progression. This should aid the development of novel strategies for both prevention and treatment of cancer.

Energy resolution of the barrel of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

Abstract: The energy resolution of the barrel part of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter has been studied using electrons of 20 to 250 GeV in a test beam. The incident electron's energy was reconstructed by summing the energy measured in arrays of 3 × 3 or 5 × 5 channels. There was no significant amount of correlated noise observed within these arrays. For electrons incident at the centre of the studied 3 × 3 arrays of crystals, the mean stochastic term was measured to be 2.8% and the mean constant term to be 0.3%. The amount of the incident electrons' energy which is contained within the array depends on its position of incidence. The variation of the containment with position is corrected for using the distribution of the measured energy within the array. For uniform illumination of a crystal with 120 GeV electrons a resolution of 0.5% was achieved. The energy resolution meets the design goal for the detector.