Authors: Sheida Majouni, Jong Sung Kim, Ellen Sweeney, Erin Keltie, Syed Sibte Raza Abidi Ebook: Volume 294: Challenges of Trustable AI and Added-Value on Health Abstract: Chronic exposure to environmental arsenic has been linked to a number of human diseases affecting multiple organ systems, including cancer. The greatest concern for chronic exposure to arsenic is contaminated groundwater used for drinking as it is the main contributor to the amount of arsenic present in the body. An estimated 40% of households in Nova Scotia (Canada) use water from private wells, and there is a concern that exposure to arsenic may be linked to/associated with cancer. In this preliminary study, we are aiming to gain insights into the association of environmental metal’s pathogenicity and carcinogenicity with prostate cancer. We use toenails as a novel biomarker for capturing long-term exposure to arsenic, and have performed toxicological analysis to generate data about differential profiles of arsenic species and the metallome (entirety of metals) for both healthy and individuals with a history cancer. We have applied feature selection and machine learning algorithms to arsenic species and metallomics profiles of toenails to investigate the complex association between environmental arsenic (as a carcinogen) and prostate cancer. We present machine learning based models to ultimately predict the association of environmental arsenic exposure in cancer cases. doi: https://ebooks.iospress.nl/doi/10.3233/SHTI220385

Authors: Lee Ingle, Samantha Ruilova, Yunsong Cui, Vanessa DeClercq, Ellen Sweeney, Zhijie Michael Yu, Cynthia C. Forbes Journal: Cancer Causes and Control Abstract Purpose To determine in people with a history of cancer, whether substituting sitting time with other daily activities (i.e., sleeping, walking, moderate and vigorous physical activity) was associated with changes in waist circumference (WC), an important surrogate marker of cardiometabolic risk. Methods Cross-sectional analyses from the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (Atlantic PATH) cohort was conducted using isotemporal substitution models to explore the associations of substituting sedentary time, physical activity behavior (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), or sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) with changes in WC. Analyses were conducted using sex-specific WC classifications. Results In 3,684 people with a history of cancer [mean age (SD) 58.2 (7.3) years; BMI 28.9 (5.2) kg m−2; 71% female], reallocating 10 min of sleep or sedentary time for 10 min of walking was associated with lower WC in women (p < 0.01). In men, PA intensity appeared to be more strongly associated with a reduced WC. Replacing 10 min of sedentary time with 10 min of moderate or vigorous PA and replacing 10 min of sleep with moderate PA were associated with a significantly reduced WC (p < 0.001). The largest effect was when 10 min of moderate PA was replaced with vigorous PA, a reduction in WC (p < 0.01) was evident. Conclusion For people with a history of cancer, adopting small but positive changes in lifestyle behaviors could help reduce WC and potentially offset negative health-related outcomes associated with higher WC. Further research is required to examine whether such an intervention may be acceptable and manageable among this population.   Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10552-022-01592-9