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BACKGROUNDAdolescents have a unique cancer profile that includes typical childhood cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and adult-type cancers like melanoma and thyroid cancer. In Finland, adolescents above 16 years have been largely treated in adult oncology centers in contrast to many Western countries in which the minimum admittance age is 18 years. The aim of this study was to investigate characteristics, therapy and outcome of cancer in adolescents aged 16 to 17 years.MATERIALS AND METHODSThis retrospective cohort study included adolescents aged 16 to under 18 years at the time of cancer diagnosis between 2000 and 2019 in Tampere University Hospital, a regional tertiary referral center. Clinical data were retrieved from hospital medical records and included diagnosis, clinical and laboratory parameters, therapy and outcome. In addition to standard descriptive statistical analyses, the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression modelling were applied to study the outcome and associated factors.RESULTSA total of 93 patients were diagnosed with a malignant tumor at the age of 16 or 17 years. Males were more often diagnosed with a cancer (62%), while non-CNS (non-central nervous system) solid cancers were the most common entities (76%) and Hodgkin lymphoma was the most common cancer diagnosis (31%). Seventy patients completed their therapy in the referral center and were followed up for a median of 5.4 years. The majority of patients were treated in the adult department (69%). Complete remission was achieved for 89% of patients, while 21% experienced tumor recurrence. The 5-year event-free survival was 65% (95% CI, 54% to 79%) and overall survival 82% (95% CI, 73% to 93%).CONCLUSIONSThe majority of cancers in adolescents of 16 to 17 years of age are solid cancers. Patient outcome in our cohort was favorable and is in line with previously published data.

Tuberculosis remains a major global health challenge. To gain information about genes important for defense against tuberculosis, we used a well-established tuberculosis model; Mycobacterium marinum infection in adult zebrafish. To characterize the immunological response to mycobacterial infection at 14 days post infection, we performed a whole-genome level transcriptome analysis using cells from kidney, the main hematopoietic organ of adult zebrafish. Among the upregulated genes, those associated with immune signaling and regulation formed the largest category, whereas the largest group of downregulated genes had a metabolic role. We also performed a forward genetic screen in adult zebrafish and identified a fish line with severely impaired survival during chronic mycobacterial infection. Based on transcriptome analysis, these fish have decreased expression of several immunological genes. Taken together, these results give new information about the genes involved in the defense against mycobacterial infection in zebrafish.

Aim: Evidence for an association of foetal growth with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is inconclusive. AML is a rare childhood cancer, relatively more frequent in girls, with distinct features in infancy. In the context of the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC), we examined the hypothesis that the association may vary by age, sex and disease subtype using data from 22 studies and a total of 3564 AML cases. Methods: Pooled estimates by age, sex and overall for harmonised foetal growth markers in association with AML were calculated using the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project for 17 studies contributing individual-level data; meta-analyses were, thereafter, conducted with estimates provided ad hoc by five more studies because of administrative constraints. Subanalyses by AML subtype were also performed. Results: A nearly 50% increased risk was observed among large-for-gestational-age infant boys (odds ratio [OR]: 1.49, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03–2.14), reduced to 34% in boys aged

Objectives Previously published studies on parental occupational exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in their offspring were inconsistent. We therefore evaluated this question within the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium. Methods We pooled 11 case-control studies including 9723 childhood leukaemia cases and 17 099 controls. Parental occupational ELF-MF exposure was estimated by linking jobs to an ELF-MF job-exposure matrix (JEM). Logistic regression models were used to estimate ORs and 95% CIs in pooled analyses and meta-analyses. Results ORs from pooled analyses for paternal ELF-MF exposure >0.2 microtesla (μT) at conception were 1.04 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.13) for ALL and 1.06 (95% CI 0.87 to 1.29) for AML, compared with ≤0.2 μT. Corresponding ORs for maternal ELF-MF exposure during pregnancy were 1.00 (95% CI 0.89 to 1.12) for ALL and 0.85 (95% CI 0.61 to 1.16) for AML. No trends of increasing ORs with increasing exposure level were evident. Furthermore, no associations were observed in the meta-analyses. Conclusions In this large international dataset applying a comprehensive quantitative JEM, we did not find any associations between parental occupational ELF-MF exposure and childhood leukaemia. © © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Background: Deacetylation of histones plays a fundamental role in gene silencing, and this is mediated by a corepressor complex containing Sin3 as an essential scaffold protein. In this report we examine the evolution of two proteins in this complex, the Sin3-associated proteins SAP30L and SAP30, by using an archive of protein sequences from 62 species.Results: Our analysis indicates that in tetrapods SAP30L is more similar than SAP30 to the ancestral protein, and the two copies in this group originated by gene duplication which occurred after the divergence of Actinopterygii and Sarcopterygii about 450 million years ago (Mya). The phylogenetic analysis and biochemical experiments suggest that SAP30 has diverged functionally from the ancestral SAP30L by accumulating mutations that have caused attenuation of one of the original functions, association with the nuclear matrix. This function is mediated by a nuclear matrix association sequence, which consists of a conserved motif in the C-terminus and the adjacent nucleolar localization signal (NoLS).Conclusion: These results add further insight into the evolution and function of proteins of the SAP30 family, which share many characteristic with nuclear scaffolding proteins that are intimately involved in regulation of gene expression. Furthermore, SAP30L seems essential to eukaryotic biology, as it is found in animals, plants, fungi, as well as some taxa of unicellular eukaryotes.

Makinen, A. and Lohi, O. 1987. The litter size in chromosomally polymorphic blue foxes. —Hereditas 107:115–119. Lund, Sweden. ISSN 0018–0661. Received December 10, 1986 About 50 % of the Finnish farm bred blue foxes have a Robertsonian translocation in a heterozygous form, whereas the distributions of the homozygous form 2n = 48 and the 2 n = 50 karyotype with two acrocentric autosome pairs seem to be nearly equal. The effect on fertility exerted by the heterozygous Robertsonian translocation was studied on the material from a blue fox farm in Finland during four years. It is concluded that there is a tendency to litter size reduction in mating groups 2n = 49 compared to the 2n = 48 and 2n = 50 mating groups. In this investigation, the 2n = 48 chromosome constitution in parental blue fox groups has every year had a slight tendency to increase the litter size. In addition, the segregation of the karyotypes within the litters of the parental 2n = 49 mating groups is in favour of the 2n = 48 karyotype. Hence, an evolutional tendency towards lower chromosome number without any acrocentric autosomes seems to be indicated.