Search

To investigate the associations between dietary fatty acids and cholesterol consumption and stomach cancer (SC), we analyzed data from a population-based case-control study with a total of 1900 SC cases and 6532 controls. Dietary data and other risk or protective factors were collected by face-to-face interviews in Jiangsu Province, China, from 2003 to 2010. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multiple unconditional logistic regression models and an energy-adjusted method. The joint associations between dietary factors and known risk factors on SC were examined. We observed positive associations between dietary saturated fatty acids (SFAs), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), and total cholesterol and the development of SC, comparing the highest versus lowest quarters. Increased intakes of dietary SFAs (p-trend = 0.005; aOR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01-1.22 with a 7 g/day increase as a continuous variable) and total cholesterol (p-trend < 0.001; aOR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.06-1.22 with a 250 mg/day increase as a continuous variable) were monotonically associated with elevated odds of developing SC. Our results indicate that dietary SFAs, MUFAs, and total cholesterol are associated with stomach cancer, which might provide a potential dietary intervention for stomach cancer prevention.

Garlic consumption has been associated inversely with esophageal cancer (EC); however, its interactions with tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption have never been evaluated in an epidemiological study. We evaluated the potential interactions between garlic intake and tobacco smoking as well as alcohol consumption in a population-based case-control study with 2969 incident EC cases and 8019 healthy controls. Epidemiologic data were collected by face-to-face interviews using a questionnaire. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated and additive and multiplicative interactions were evaluated using unconditional logistic regression models, adjusting for potential confounding factors. Semi-Bayes (SB) adjustments were used to reduce potential false-positive findings. EC was associated inversely with raw garlic intake [SB-adjusted OR for more than once a week=0.68, 95% CI: 0.57-0.80], with a strong dose-response pattern in the overall analysis and in the stratified analyses by smoking and drinking. EC was associated positively with smoking and alcohol drinking, with SB-adjusted OR of 1.73 (95% CI: 1.62-1.85) and 1.37 (95% CI: 1.28-1.46) in dose-response effects of increased intensity and longer duration of smoking/drinking. Moreover, garlic intake interacts with smoking [synergy index (S)=0.83, 95% CI: 0.67-1.02; ratio of OR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.80-0.98] and alcohol drinking (S=0.73, 95% CI: 0.57-0.93; ratio of OR=0.86, 95% CI: 0.77-0.95) both multiplicatively and additively. Our findings suggested that high intake of raw garlic may reduce EC risk and may interact with tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption, which might shed a light on the development of EC as well as a potential dietary intervention among high-risk smokers and drinkers for EC prevention in the Chinese population.

We propose that opposite changes in the hazards of patent commercialization (HPC) and technology substitution (HTS) lead to a U-shaped relationship between patent age and patent value. Using a dataset of 2446 patents assigned to firms in Chinese universities from 2015-2020, our empirical results support this U-shaped relationship. Young patents with more claims are regarded as more valuable, owing to a lower HPC, and old patents with more International Patent Classification (IPC) classes are regarded as more valuable, owing to a lower HTS. Moreover, backward references had a moderate effect on the U-shaped relationship, and an increase in backward references caused the turning point to move to the right, flattening the U-shaped relationship. Interestingly, the turning point of the U-shaped relationship is around the age of 5.2 years, and the hazard of university patent invalidation in China is highest at this age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the trade-off between cost-saving and commitment to a non-exclusive license, we use a dataset of the patents endorsed license of right (LOR) in the UK from 2004 to 2022 and apply the propensity score matching (PSM) method to examine whether the LOR system's renewal fee reduction will introduce low-quality patents. The results suggest that the renewal fee reduction leads to an increase of 1.89 years to the average age of patents endorsed LOR. Furthermore, the LOR system has a limited attraction to high-quality patents for both institution-preference enterprises and institution-prudent enterprises. The findings are robust to several empirical checks. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]