Survival rate

• Research highlights the critical link between HPV (human papillomavirus) and cervical cancer, with the virus responsible for the majority of cases.
• Regular cervical cancer screening is essential for those aged 21 to 65, incorporating HPV testing followed by further assessments for those with positive results.
• In evaluating treatment efficacy for stage IB2 to IIB cervical carcinoma, a 12-year study involving 626 patients compared neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery (NACT-S) with concomitant chemoradiotherapy (CCRT).
• Cervical Cancer Awareness Month is a crucial time to raise public awareness about cervical cancer and the importance of early detection and treatment.

• But our recent study, which analysed data from 157 animal species, found that male reproductive ageing seems to be a lot less common in other male animals.
• With fertility in men declining worldwide, understanding ageing of sperm in other animals could give new insights into our own fertility.

Humans versus other animals

• This recent, rapid extension in our longevity might be one reason why humans reproductively age at faster rates than other animals.
• Animals might also face greater evolutionary pressure to maximise their reproductive potential at all ages, because most animals reproduce throughout their lives.
• But this isn’t the case for humans.

Females versus males

• Despite the fact human females live longer than males, they tend to become infertile earlier than men, and go through menopause.
• In some species, including humans, where females help raise their grand-offspring (such as humans and whales), females live much beyond the age of reproduction.
• Sperm are continuously produced in males, but eggs in many species, including humans, are produced early in the life of females.
• For instance, in many mammals, males, but not females, disperse away from the family group when they mature.

Patterns of reproductive ageing in animals

• We found invertebrates such as crustacea and insects have some of the slowest rates of reproductive ageing, compared to lab rodents who had some of the fastest rates.
• In animals such as lab rodents, who have some genetic lines selected for accelerated ageing, reproductive ageing was universal across ejaculate traits.
• This suggests that a lot of the variation in male reproductive ageing between different species could be due to their environment.

Reproductive ageing

• Reproductive ageing occurs because as individuals grow older, their sperm and eggs accumulate damage.
• There are however, opposing forces that determine whether old individuals will leave more copies of their genes to successive lineages compared to young animals, and reproductive ageing is only one process determining this.
• But by looking at other species to investigate the drivers of reproductive ageing, we can understand and perhaps even seek to alleviate our own reproductive decline with age.

Krish Sanghvi receives funding from Society for the study of evolution (Rosemary grant award). Irem Sepil receives funding from the Royal Society, BBSRC and Wellcome Trust. Regina Vega-Trejo receives funding from Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

• With the countless studies available today on the effects of tobacco use, we should have no trouble convincing ourselves and others of how harmful it is.
• The cells that make up our tissues, organs and body systems are sensitive to the effects of external toxic agents, many of which can be found in tobacco.
• Many smokers not only accept this, but also ignore the serious danger it poses to the people around them.

Initial effects in the mouth and pharynx

• When tobacco smoke enters our body, the first cells to receive it are in the mouth, nose and throat.
• These effects on the immune system are also linked to a higher likelihood of developing cancer.
• We also cannot forget that tobacco smoke robs us of our sense of taste and smell, leaving an almost continuous bitter taste in the mouth.

Lung damage

• Furthermore, due to the direct damage caused by tobacco on the tissue that maintains the structure of the lungs, the bronchi and bronchioles become blocked, generating symptoms similar to suffocation.
• As if that were not enough, people with COPD are also more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, and lung cancer.

Black tar and macrophages

• We can cast our minds back to the previous image of my father’s pipe, black and sticky with tar.
• It so happens that the lungs are rich in macrophages – special cells that play a key role in our immune systems by reacting to attacks, producing inflammatory responses.
• These cells end up ingesting the tar from tobacco, and they eventually die loaded with this substance which builds up and gives a smoker’s lungs their characteristic blackened appearance.

Nicotine’s effects on neurons: dependence and addiction

• As with any other compound that stimulates neurotransmitter receptors, permanent stimulation desensitises neurons.
• This means that the neurons reduce the number of receptors, or change their sensitivity to the stimulant.
• This desensitisation process can lead not only to nicotine dependence, but also to other diseases such as memory loss.

Guillermo López Lluch is a member of the Spanish Society of Cell Biology, the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology, the Society for Free Radical Research and the International Coenzyme Q10 Association. The research carried out by the author is financed by public funds from the Spanish Government or the Autonomous Government of Andalusia.

• Researchers have found that radiotherapy during liver cancer surgery reduces chances of recurrence and boosts survival for high-risk patients.
• Now, researchers from Korea University have performed a meta-analysis to examine the oncological benefits of administering radiotherapy before or after surgery.
• The findings suggest that perioperative radiotherapy decreases the chances of recurrence in patients, improving their survival rate.
• This emphasizes the need for an adjuvant treatment like radiotherapy along with surgery for treating HCC patients with a high risk of recurrence.