Trends of HIV-Related Cancer Mortality between 2001 and 2018: An Observational Analysis

The burden of AIDS-defining cancers has remained relatively steady for the past two decades, whilst the burden of non-AIDS-defining cancer has increased. Here, we conduct a study to describe mortality trends attributed to HIV-associated cancers in 31 countries. We extracted HIV-related cancer mortality data from 2001 to 2018 from the World Health Organization Mortality Database. We computed age-standardized death rates (ASDRs) per 100,000 population using the World Standard Population. Data were visualized using Locally Weighted Scatterplot Smoothing (LOWESS). Data for females were available for 25 countries. Overall, there has been a decrease in mortality attributed to HIV-associated cancers among most of the countries. In total, 18 out of 31 countries (58.0%) and 14 out of 25 countries (56.0%) showed decreases in male and female mortality, respectively. An increasing mortality trend was observed in many developing countries, such as Malaysia and Thailand, and some developed countries, such as the United Kingdom. Malaysia had the greatest increase in male mortality (+495.0%), and Canada had the greatest decrease (−88.5%). Thailand had the greatest increase in female mortality (+540.0%), and Germany had the greatest decrease (−86.0%). At the endpoint year, South Africa had the highest ASDRs for both males (16.8/100,000) and females (19.2/100,000). The lowest was in Japan for males (0.07/100,000) and Egypt for females (0.028/100,000).

Death, sex, and fertility: female infanticide in rural Spain, 1750–1950

Relying on longitudinal micro data from rural Spain between 1750 and 1950, this article evidences that families mortally neglected a significant fraction of their female babies. Firstly, baptism records exhibited exceptionally high sex ratios at birth until the late nineteenth century. Secondly, having no previous male siblings increased the probability of male baptisms. Likewise, this same feature, together with the number of siblings alive, also increased female mortality during the first day of life. These findings are concentrated at higher parities and among landless and semi-landless families. Lastly, under-registration cannot explain these patterns affecting female mortality shortly after birth.

Lung cancer mortality in Europe and the United States between 2000 and 2017: an observational analysis

BackgroundThe lung is the most common site for cancer and has the highest worldwide cancer-related mortality. Our study reports and compares trends in lung cancer mortality in the United States (US) and 26 European countries.Study design and methodsLung cancer mortality data were extracted for males and females for each of the years 2000–2017 from the World Health Organization (WHO) Mortality and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WONDER databases. Lung cancer mortality trends were compared using Joinpoint regression analysis, and male-to-female mortality ratios were calculated.ResultsDown-trending lung cancer mortality rates were observed in males in all countries except Cyprus and Portugal between 2000 and 2017. In females, increasing mortality rates were observed in 22 of the 27 countries analyzed. Latvia had the highest estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) in male mortality (−9.6%) between 2013–2015. In the US, EAPCs were −5.1% for males and −4.2% for females between 2014–2017. All countries had an overall decrease in the ratio of male-to-female lung cancer mortality. The most recent observation of median male-to-female mortality was 2.26 (IQR 1.92–4.05). The countries with the greatest current sex disparity in lung cancer mortality were Lithuania (5.51) and Latvia (5.00).ConclusionBetween 2000 and 2017, lung cancer mortality rates were decreasing for males in Europe and the US, whereas increasing lung cancer mortality rates were generally observed in females. There is a persistent but decreasing sex-mortality gap, with men having persistently greater lung cancer mortality but with rates decreasing faster than women.

Tendência da mortalidade feminina por agressão no nordeste brasileiro / Trend of female mortality by aggression in brazilian northeast

Objetivo: analisar a tendência da mortalidade feminina por agressão na região Nordeste do Brasil entre 2000-2017. Métodos: trata-se de estudo ecológico, de série temporal, sobre a mortalidade feminina por agressão, com dados do Sistema de Informação sobre Mortalidade. Avaliaram-se todos os óbitos femininos codificados como X85-Y09 da Classificação Internacional de Doenças (versão 10). Empregou-se o método Joinpoint para a análise da tendência dos coeficientes de mortalidade por estado, com cálculo da variação percentual anual (VPA) e intervalos de confiança de 95% (IC95%). Resultados: registraram-se 21.350 óbitos, com aumento de 130% entre 2000 e 2017. Observou-se tendência de aumento no coeficiente de mortalidade em toda a região Nordeste (VPA= +4,3; IC95% 3,6; 5,0). Houve tendência de queda apenas em Pernambuco (VPA=-1,7; IC95% -2,6; -0,8) e aumento nos demais estados. Conclusão: houve tendência de aumento da mortalidade feminina por agressão, evidenciando que a violência contra a mulher permanece como grave problema de saúde pública na região.

Mortality evolution in Algeria: What can we learn about data quality?

Mortality in Algeria has declined significantly since the country declared its independence in 1962. This trend has been accompanied by improvements in data quality and changes in estimation methodology, both of which are scarcely documented, and may distort the natural evolution of mortality as reported in official statistics. In this paper, our aim is to detect these methodological and data quality changes by means of the visual inspection of mortality surfaces, which represent the evolution of mortality rates, mortality improvement rates and the male-female mortality ratio over age and time. Data quality problems are clearly visible during the 1977–1982 period. The quality of mortality data has improved after 1983, and even further since the population census of 1998, which coincided with the end of the civil war. Additional inexplicable patterns have also been detected, such as a changing mortality age pattern during the period before 1983, and a changing pattern of excess female mortality at reproductive ages, which suddenly appears in 1983 and disappears in 1992.

Role of Phytonutrients in Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomic Perspective in Curing Breast Cancer

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common type of cancer and an important contributor to female mortality. Several genes and epigenetic modifications are involved in the development and progression of BC. Research in phytochemistry, nutrigenomics, and nutrigenetics has provided strong evidence that certain phytonutrients are able to modulate gene expression at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Such phytonutrients may also be beneficial to prevent and treat BC. In this review, we will focus on the nutrigenomic effects of various phytochemicals including polyphenols, phytosterols, terpenoids, alkaloids, and other compounds from different sources. Overall, these phytonutrients are found to inhibit BC cell proliferation, differentiation, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and induce apoptotic cell death by targeting various molecular pathways. They also alter epigenetic mechanisms and enhance the chemosensitivity and radiosensitivity of cancer cells. Such phytochemicals may be used for the effective management of BC patients in the clinical setting in the future. The present article aims to summarize the specific molecular pathways involved in the genetic effects of phytochemicals in BC.

TRACKING EXCESS OF MATERNAL DEATHS DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH COVID-19 IN BRAZIL: A NATIONWIDE DATABASE ANALYSIS

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a new challenge to maternal mortality in Brazil. Throughout 2020, Brazil registered 549 maternal deaths, mainly concentrated in second and third-trimester pregnant women. We estimate the excess of maternal mortality for Brazil in 2020. Assuming the average number of previous years as expected, or even correcting the expectation for excess female mortality due to COVID-19, we found that maternal mortality was more penalized. We also observed that the difference between the odds of occurrence of symptoms and comorbidities among COVID-19 maternal and female deaths was marginal. Differences between the two groups of deaths are significantly associated with social determination and (in)adequate obstetric care. 2021 has been more severe for maternal mortality. We need to increase immunization and monitoring among pregnant women immediately.