Climate, socioeconomic status and Hodgkin's disease mortality in the United States

Perinatal light imprinting of circadian clocks and systems (PLICCS): A signature of photoperiod around birth on circadian system stability and association with cancer

Recent findings from animal models suggest that plasticity of human circadian clocks and systems may be differentially affected by different paradigms of perinatal photoperiod exposure to the detriment of health in later life, including cancer development. Focusing on the example of cancer, we carry out a series of systematic literature reviews concerning perinatal light imprinting of circadian clocks and systems (PLICCS) in animal models, and concerning the risk of cancer development with the primary determinants of the perinatal photoperiod, namely season of birth or latitude of birth. The results from these systematic reviews provide supporting evidence of the PLICCS and cancer rationale and highlight that investigations of PLICCS in humans are warranted. Overall, we discuss findings from experimental research and insights from epidemiological studies. Considerations as to how to "test" PLICCS in epidemiological studies and as to the potential for non-invasive preventative measures during perinatal periods close our synthesis. If the PLICCS rationale holds true, it opens the exciting prospect for amenable, early-life, preventative measures against cancer development (and other disorders) in later life. Indeed, non-invasive anthropogenic light exposure may have enormous potential to alleviate the public health and economic burden of circadian-related diseases.

Regional variation in Hodgkin's disease incidence by histologic subtype in the US

Geographic distribution in Hodgkin's disease (HD) incidence was examined for whites by age, sex and Rye histologic subtype in several regions of the US for 1969 to 1971 and 1973 to 1980, using data from national cancer surveys. Average annual age-adjusted rates (1973-1980) ranged between 2.0 and 3.6 per 100,000 persons. Significant regional variation in HD was confined to elevated rates in Connecticut and San Francisco-Oakland, and low rates in Hawaii, Atlanta, and New Orleans. In young adults (ages 20-34 years) HD was positively associated across regions with rates for children (ages 5-14 years), and with community-wide socioeconomic status (SES), but did not vary with older adult rates. Patterns of geographic variation differed among the histologic subtypes, with no significant variation for the lymphocyte predominance form. Incidence of nodular sclerosis increased with regional SES, and was inversely correlated with rates of lymphocyte predominance. Among women, HD incidence became less heterogeneous across regions with time.