This article was downloaded by: [Cinvestav del IPN] On: 05 December 2013, At: 12:17 Publisher: Taylor

& Francis Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Synchrotron Radiation News

Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gsrn20

Using hair to screen for breast cancer

Michael Hart
a a

National Synchrotron Light Source , Brookhaven National Laboratory , Upton, NY, USA Published online: 06 May 2008.

To cite this article: Michael Hart (1999) Using hair to screen for breast cancer, Synchrotron Radiation News, 12:5, 31-31, DOI: 10.1080/08940889908261032 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08940889908261032

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the Content) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

SCIENTIFIC REVIEW

Using Hair to Screen for Breast Cancer

MICHAEL HART Chairman, National Synchrotron Light Source Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA

Downloaded by [Cinvestav del IPN] at 12:17 05 December 2013

L We have studied hair using fibre X-ray diffraction studies with synchrotron radiation and find that hair from breast-cancer patients has a different intermolecular structure to hair from healthy subjects. So began a note in the scientific correspondence section of Nature on 4 March 1999 [l]. All hair samples (23 out of 2 3 ) taken from breast-cancer patients exhibited the characteristic change in their X-ray scattering patterns. Of the samples taken from patients not suspected of having breast-cancer, the scattering patterns of 8 6 % (24 out of 2 8 ) were normal. The ring that characterizes the hair from breastcancer patients corresponds t o a molecular spacing of 4.44 k 0.06 nm .... Such a dramatic claim and simple diagnostic demands follow-up and, if substantiated, application. To our knowledge, a t least five teams set out to substantiate the observation. During the International Conference on Small Angle Scattering held a t Brookhaven National Laboratory from 17-20 May of this year, three of the teams

were able to discuss their findings with Dr. Veronica James. It was noted that: All trials, though small, had been set up as qualified clinical trials with proper attention t o blind testing and analysis, etc. None of the five studies had been able t o find a correlation between the diagnostic features mentioned in the Nature article and clinical knowledge of the state of the patient. 3)Even after several hours of extended discussion, no quantitative specification or recipe with which the participants could progress t o re-analyze their data was available. Three of the five teams involved in the replication attempt have agreed to summarize their results in this article and Dr. James contributed the comment that follows.

Veronica James, John Kearsley, Tom Irving, Yoshiyuki Amemiya, David Cookson, Nature, Vol 398,page 33-34 (1999).

Comments on the Statements and Experiments Contained in this Review

__
VERONICA JAMES

Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, NS W

Nowhere in our March 99 Nature paper was

it stated that the experiment was trivial in execu-

tion and consequently it is not only presumptuo u s but, given the gravity of the situation, it is almost culpable for any group lacking experience in the study of hair to rush t o deny (or confirm) my findings, without first demonstrating an ability t o get good quality data on normal hair such as that in our earlier publications [1,2]. None of the experiments in any way duplicated

the methodology used by my team though it was readily available and referenced. The results published here cannot therefore in any way refute my findings. The various teams can only state that their method cannot be used. Meanwhile we have just completed a further study of hair from the USA where we correctly identified the only positive person in the set of 1 9 supplied. None of the X-ray scattering images shown to me a t the recent SAXS conference a t Brookhaven

SYNC:HROTRON

RADIATIONNEWS, Vol. 12, No. 5 , 1999

31