July 23, 2002

Tuesday, July 23, 2002

Mammograms reduce cancer deaths
Kin grad reaches for new heights
Tuesday news and events

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

The Sun's in the constellation of Leo

Mammograms reduce cancer deaths --from the UW news bureau

A research team led by a UW faculty member has found that mammograms help cut the death rate from breast cancer.

[Chapman] Statistics and actuarial science professor Judy-Anne Chapman (right) led a team that looked into the benefits of the procedure, which has come under criticism. The study appears in the July-August issue of The Breast Journal. Mammography is an X-ray technique that may detect breast tumours before they can be seen or felt.

"Our work has demonstrated that mammography is indeed beneficial in reducing death from breast cancer," Chapman said. "The wide-spread regular use of screening mammography should continue to reduce breast cancer mortality."

Drawing on records compiled by Chapman and colleagues at Women's College Hospital on mammographic screening from 1971 to 1990, the team found that survival was significantly better when women 35 years of age or older receive regular screening at one- to two-year intervals. In the paper, the researchers addressed questions such as:

Are radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy responsible for the reductions in breast cancer death rates?
Or, is the reduction in mortality just an artifact of treating breast cancer earlier, but not really affecting the disease course?
At what age should a woman begin screening with mammography?
Should a woman stop screening at some age, and if so, at what age?
How often should mammographic screening be performed?
Why did the use of mammography not reduce mortality in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study?

The team mapped out survival plots that were consistent with early detection and intervention altering the natural history of the disease. The range of tumour sizes examined covered the spectrum from likely palpable (5 cm), usually palpable (2 cm), through frequently non-palpable (1 cm) and usually non-palpable (0.5 cm). In all instances, there was significantly longer survival for patients with tumour sizes usually detectable only with mammography, as compared with sizes that would be clinically detectable.

WPIRG awarded grant
An Ontario Trillium Foundation grant of $108,600 has been awarded to the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group for a clean-air initiative.
WPIRG, through a collaborative agreement with the Citizens' Advisory Committee on Air Quality for Waterloo Region, was awarded the grant to fund the Citizens' Commitment to Cleaner Air for an 18-month project. Lori Strothard, who chairs the project, said the funds "will greatly assist us in achieving our project goal of reducing the negative health impacts associated with auto emissions."
For the four age groups (under 40 years, 40-49 years, 50-69 years, 70 years or older), after adjusting for the effects of other factors, the proportion of women surviving breast cancer at 10 years ranged from 0.44-0.62 with a 5 cm tumour, 0.67-0.85 with a 2 cm tumour, 0.74-0.90 with a 1 cm tumour, and 0.77-0.92 with a 0.5 cm tumour.

"Most women in the cohort did not receive therapy," Chapman said. "Better breast cancer survival than that reported here would be expected when a patient receives radiotherapy, chemotherapy or hormonal therapy."As well, current mammography is superior to that available during this study period, and should lead to the detection of a greater proportion of small tumours.

Chapman said the team's work provides a response to the World Health Organization's panel of 12 experts who this past March called for the results of utilizing routine clinical mammography.

Holding a research adjunct appointment in UW's department of statistics and actuarial science, Chapman's work on breast cancer has recently been recognized internationally with awards from the International Biographical Association, Cambridge, England, and the American Biographical Institute.
[Ellis]

Kin grad reaches for new heights

After vaulting into the record books at UW, Dana Ellis is set to soar at the XVII Commonwealth Games, July 25 to August 4, in Manchester, England.

The Kitchener pole vaulter was selected to represent Canada after scoring a personal best of 4.20 m in Calgary earlier this month, and placing third at the nationals in Edmonton this spring.

Ellis graduated in June with a kinesiology degree after making her mark at Waterloo as a four-time Academic All-Canadian, an OUA all-star and a CIS All-Canadian, setting the pole vault varsity record of 4.01m at UW. Last summer she won Gold at the Canada Summer Games. Ellis is taking a year off from her academic pursuits to train and is hoping to compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

The women's pole vault finals at the Commonwealth Games are scheduled for July 29.

Tuesday news and events

Extended library hours are now in effect at the Davis Centre and Dana Porter libraries. Until Friday, August 9, the Davis library will remain open from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m., and the Porter library will remain open from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day of the week.

This morning, LT3 will host a workshop in teaching research methods called A Learning Technologies Design Café in the FLEX lab (LIB 329) from 9:30 to 11 a.m. The session is presented by Susan Wismer and Melanie Itzkovich of environmental studies.

The Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) will host a presentation at 7 p.m. tomorrow in RCH 307 by University of Guelph professor Jimmy Law, "SNO and the solution to the Solar Neutrino Problem." The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) was built to solve the so-called Solar Neutrino Puzzle (SNP). The SNO is located two kilometres underground at an INCO mine in Sudbury.

Avvey Peters

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
July 23, 1986: A group of staff from the registrar's office hold a pre-breakfast television party to watch the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.