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Biomedical subjects

A Hackshaw

Publications and source records attributed to A Hackshaw.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

European Society of Mastology Consensus Conference on breast cancer screening: report of the evaluation committee.

On 4 February 1993, the European Society of Mastology (EUSOMA) convened a meeting of experts in Paris to evaluate the current evidence on the value and hazards of breast cancer screening. The Committee consisted of individuals from different countries throughout Europe and from different disciplines. We summarise here the deliberations and conclusions of the Committee.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Serum alpha-fetoprotein and neural tube defects in the first trimester of pregnancy. MRC Vitamin Study Research Group.

As part of the Medical Research Council randomized trial of vitamin supplementation in the prevention of neural tube defects (NTDs), maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was available for 19 NTD pregnancies. Each of these was matched with four unaffected controls, by maternal age, participating centre, and duration of sample storage. The samples came from women whose gestational age ranged from 6 to 14 completed weeks. The median AFP level in the affected pregnancies was 1.2 multiples of the median value in unaffected pregnancies of the same gestational age (95 per cent confidence interval (CI) 0.83-1.59). This confirmed the view that serum AFP measurement is of no practical value in the detection of NTDs in the first trimester of pregnancy. The study also showed that folic acid supplementation, used as a method of preventing NTDs, had no effect on the concentrations of maternal serum AFP up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Female↗
PubMed1993

Neural tube defects and serum zinc.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship of zinc in the causation of neural tube defects and so explore the possible role as a cause of these defects. DESIGN: Stored serum samples collected as part of the Medical Research Council's multicentre randomised trial section of vitamin supplementation in the prevention of neural tube defects were retrieved in respect of women who had had an affected pregnancy together with four matched unaffected controls per case. One control was selected from each of the four randomisation groups: 1. no extra vitamins; 2. folic acid supplementation alone; 3. folic acid and other vitamin supplementation; and 4. other vitamin supplementation, such that it was matched with an NTD case by study centre, maternal age (the year of birth differed at most by one year) and duration of storage of the serum sample (in most instances to within the same year). SETTING: A prospective case-control study using serum samples stored at -40 degrees C. The serum samples were collected from women at entry to the trial, immediately before the women became pregnant and at about 12 weeks of pregnancy. SUBJECTS: Twenty-seven women with a pregnancy associated with a neural tube defect and 108 matched controls with unaffected pregnancies. RESULTS: There was no association between serum zinc levels and neural tube defects; the mean values in microgram/dl were: 82 and 85 in cases and controls, respectively, at entry to the study; 86 and 87 micrograms/dl just before pregnancy; and 76 and 80 micrograms/dl in the first trimester of pregnancy. Folic acid supplementation did not have an effect on serum zinc levels. CONCLUSION: Within the range of serum zinc levels observed among women in our study, serum zinc is not a cause of neural tube defects, and periconceptional folic acid supplements do not compromise the zinc status of the mother or the embryo with respect to zinc intake.

Case-Control Studies↗