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Purpose: Chronic inflammation contributes to cancer development via multiple mechanisms. We hypothesized that cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are also an independent risk factor for survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and methods: Prospective multicenter data from 345 consecutive NSCLC patients treated from January 2013 to January 2017 were assessed. Median follow-up for all patients was 13 months (range 3–60 months). There were 109 patients with baseline heart disease (HD 32%), 149 with arterial hypertension (43%), 85 with diabetes mellitus (25%), 129 with hyperlipidemia (37%) and 45 with venous thromboembolism events (VTE 13%). A total of 289 patients (84%) were treated with platinum-based chemotherapy (CT), 300 patients (87%) received thoracic radiation therapy (RT; median radiation dose: 60 Gy [range 12–70]); and 50 (15%) patients underwent surgery. Results: Our cohort consisted of 305 men (88%) and 40 (12%) women, with a median age of 67 years (range 31–88 years). Seventy percent had a Karnofsky performance status (KPS) ≥ 80. Multivariate analyses showed a lower OS and higher risk of distant metastasis in patients with advanced stages (p = 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively) and HD (HR 1.43, p = 0.019; and HR 1.49, p = 0.025, respectively). Additionally, patients with VTE had lower local control (HR 1.84, p = 0.025), disease-free survival (HR 1.64, p = 0.020) and distant metastasis-free survival (HR 1.73, p = 0.025). Conclusions: HD and VTE are associated with a higher risk of mortality and distant metastasis in NSCLC patients. Chronic inflammation associated with CVDs could be an additional pathophysiologic factor in the development of distant metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let f : (C n , S) → (C n + 1 , 0) be a germ whose image is given by g = 0 . We define an O n + 1 -module M(g) with the property that A e - codim (f) ≤ dim C M (g) , with equality if f is weighted homogeneous. We also define a relative version M y (G) for unfoldings F, in such a way that M y (G) specialises to M(g) when G specialises to g. The main result is that if (n , n + 1) are nice dimensions, then dim C M (g) ≥ μ I (f) , with equality if and only if M y (G) is Cohen–Macaulay, for some stable unfolding F. Here, μ I (f) denotes the image Milnor number of f, so that if M y (G) is Cohen–Macaulay, then Mond's conjecture holds for f; furthermore, if f is weighted homogeneous, Mond's conjecture for f is equivalent to the fact that M y (G) is Cohen–Macaulay. Finally, we observe that to prove Mond's conjecture, it is enough to prove it in a suitable family of examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted in order to determine the use of aspirin and to assess the achievement of therapeutic targets in diabetic patients according to primary (PP) or secondary prevention (SP). METHODS: This is a retrospective, observational study including patients > or =18 years with diabetes mellitus followed in four primary care centers. Measurements included demographics, use of aspirin and/or anticoagulant drugs, co-morbidities, clinical parameters and proportion of patient at therapeutic target (TT). Descriptive statistics, chi-square test and logistic regression model were used for significance. RESULTS: A total of 4,140 patients were analyzed, 79.1% (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 77.7-80.5%) in PP and 20.9% (95% CI: 18.2-23.7%) in SP. Mean age was 64.1 (13.8) years, and 49.3% of patient were men (PP: 46.3, SP: 60.7, p = 0.001). Aspirin was prescribed routinely in 20.8% (95% CI: 19.4-22.2%) in PP and 60.8% (95% CI: 57.6-64.0%) in SP. Proportion of patient at TT was 48.0% for blood pressure and 59.8% for cholesterol. Use of aspirin was associated to increased age [OR = 1.01 (95% CI: 1.00-1.02); p = 0.011], cardiovascular-risk factors [OR = 1.14 (95% CI: 1.03-1.27); p = 0.013], LDL-C [OR = 1.42 (95% CI: 1.06-1.88); p = 0.017] and higher glycated hemoglobin [OR = 1.51 (95% CI: 1.22-1.89); p = 0.000] were covariates associated to the use of aspirin in PP. CONCLUSION: Treatment with aspirin is underused for PP in patients with diabetes mellitus in Primary Care. Achievement of TT should be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]