BACKGROUND In population-based cancer research, piecewise exponential regression models are used to derive adjusted estimates of excess mortality due to cancer using the Poisson generalized linear modelling framework. However, the assumption that the conditional mean and variance of the rate parameter given the set of covariates x i are equal is strong and may fail to account for overdispersion...

Lorraine Shack *, Heather Bryant , Gina Lockwood , Larry F. Ellison d a Population and Public Health, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Canada Divisions of Oncology and Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, 1 University Ave., Suite 300, Toronto, ON M5J 2P1, Canada Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Improvements in cancer survival may be distributed inequitably throughout populations and across time. We assessed trends in cancer survival inequalities in New Zealand by ethnic and income group. 126,477 people diagnosed with cancer between 1991 and 2004, followed-up to 2006, were included. First, inequalities pooled over time were measured with excess mortality rate ratios (EMRRs). Second, in...

Predation may be a signi® cant factor in the divergence of sympatric species although its role has been largely overlooked. This study examines the consequences of predation on the ® tness of a pair of lacustrine stickleback species (Gasterosteus aculeatus complex) and their F1 hybrids. Benthic sticklebacks are found in the littoral zone of lakes associated with vegetation and bare sediments, w...

BACKGROUND Cancer registries recording all cases diagnosed in a well defined population represent the only way to assess real changes in the management of colon cancer at the population level. AIMS To determine trends over a 23 year period in treatment, stage at diagnosis, and prognosis of colon cancer in the Côte-d'Or region, France. PATIENTS A total of 3389 patients with colon cancer diag...

The Green's function for the transport of ions of high charge and energy is utilized with a nuclear fragmentation database to evaluate dose, dose equivalent, and RBE for C3H10T1/2 cell survival and neoplastic transformation as a function of depth in soft tissue. Such evaluations are useful to estimates of biological risk for high altitude aircraft, space operations, accelerator operations, and ...

Beyond relative survival, which indicates the likelihood that patients will not die from causes associated with their cancer, conditional relative survival probabilities provide further useful prognostic information to cancer patients, tailored to the time already survived from diagnosis. This study presents conditional relative survival for melanoma patients in the United States, diagnosed dur...

In order to compare survival rates in Japan with those in the USA and European countries, we abstracted the 5-year relative survival rate from several data sources. Survival rates of cancer diagnosed in 1995–99 in the USA were abstracted from 18 cancer registries in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) data (1). Survival rates of cancer diagnosed in 1995–99 in the UK and Norway...

PURPOSE In the era of widespread prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening, a large proportion of older men have to live with a diagnosis of prostate cancer. In this study, we applied a new method for up-to-date analysis of long-term survival to evaluate if and to what extent these patients still have any excess mortality compared to the general population. METHODS Five- and 10-year absolute ...