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Purpose: Breast fibroglandular tissue (FGT), as visualized on a mammogram (mammographic density, MD), is one of the strongest known risk factors for breast cancer. FGT is also visible on breast MRI, and increased background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) in the FGT has been identified as potentially a major breast cancer risk factor. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the biologic basis of BPE.Methods: We examined the unaffected contra-lateral breast of 80 breast cancer patients undergoing a prophylactic mastectomy before any treatment other than surgery of their breast cancer. BPE was classified on the BI-RADS scale (minimal/mild/moderate/marked). Slides were stained for microvessel density (MVD), CD34 (another measure of endothelial density), glandular tissue within the FGT and VEGF. Spearman correlations were used to evaluate the associations between BPE and these pathologic variables.Results: In pre-menopausal patients, BPE was highly correlated with MVD, CD34 and glandular concentration within the FGT, and the pathologic variables were themselves highly correlated. The expression of VEGF was effectively confined to terminal duct lobular unit (TDLU) epithelium. The same relationships of the four pathologic variables with BPE were seen in post-menopausal patients, but the relationships were much weaker and not statistically significant.Conclusion: The strong correlation of BPE and MVD together with the high correlation of MVD with glandular concentration seen in pre-menopausal patients indicates that increased breast cancer risk associated with BPE in pre-menopausal women is likely to result from its association with increased concentration of glandular tissue in the FGT. The effective confinement of VEGF expression to the TDLUs shows that the signal for MVD growth arises directly from the glandular tissue. Further studies are needed to understand the basis of BPE in post-menopausal women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We examined the degree of over- and under-reporting of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) among female breast cancer survivors comparing self-reports to diagnostic codes from the Danish National Patient Register (NPR).Methods: The study comprised 357 Danish breast cancer patients from the WECARE study who completed a telephone interview concerning CVDs. Disease diagnoses for these women were obtained from the NPR. Agreement was calculated as the number of diagnoses that were both self-reported and in the NPR divided by (1) number of self-reported diagnoses (over-reporting) or (2) number of diagnoses in the NPR (under-reporting).Results: In total, 68 women reported 96 specific cardiovascular outcomes of which 56 (58%) were found in the NPR. Ninety cardiovascular diagnoses were found in the NPR of which 56 (62%) were specifically reported at the interview. There was 80% agreement as to the occurrence of a cardiovascular diagnosis overall. Of 289 women reporting no CVD, 273 (94%) had no diagnoses in the NPR.Conclusions: Breast cancer survivors seem to report absence of CVD accurately, but they both over-report and under-report specific cardiovascular diagnoses. Using a broader definition of CVDs improves the agreement between self-reported and NPR data.Implications For Cancer Survivors: Determining how cancer treatments affect the risk of cardiovascular morbidities is essential, and the development of high-quality methods for collecting such data is critical. While self-reported data are adequate for assessing the presence of any CVD condition, medical record review will yield higher quality data on specific CVD conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced materials capable of responding to their chemical environment have been synthesized from the highly tailorable combination of sol–gel chemistry and epoxy-amine cross-linking reactions. Several materials were prepared from tetramethoxysilane (TMOS), and 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS), and polyamine cross-linking agents. These cross-linking agents included diethylenetriamine (DETA), N-(2-aminoethyl)-piperazine (AEPZ), 1-(2-aminoethyl)-piperidine (AEPD), and ethylenediamine (EDA). Selective release of the indicator 4-methylaminoazobezene-4′-sufonic acid from these materials was monitored using UV–visible spectroscopy. Studies of the release demonstrate that it is continuously pH responsive with the greatest release at extreme pHs. Release is triggered by changes in the electrostatic interactions between the molecular additive and the matrix. These interactions can be readily tuned by altering the cross-linking agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]