Publications

The Relationship Between Microbiota, Nutrition, and Gastrointestinal Tract Symptoms in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Gastrointestinal (GI) involvement is frequent in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Recent studies have highlighted a possible association between GI symptoms, gut microbiota (GM), and nutrition. In this systematic review, the evidence supporting these relationships was evaluated. Articles selected from the MEDLINE database and published between 2010 and 2025 were included. Keywords used in the sources included "systemic sclerosis", "gut microbiota", "malnutrition", and "gastrointestinal symptoms". Forty-nine articles were selected, for a total of 6270 SSc patients. The evidence suggests a complex relationship between SSc, GI symptoms, and GM dysbiosis. Both are manifestations of the disease, and in turn they influence its severity. Digestive tract fibrosis and dysbiosis alter nutrient absorption, which can lead to malnutrition. However, data considering these complex relationships between the GI tract, microbiome, and nutritional status are few and very heterogeneous. Further studies are needed to investigate these complex interwinings and identify nutritional interventions able to reduce GI dysfunction and simultaneously counteract malnutrition.

The impact of mammography on breast cancer detection

European Food Safety Authority's dietary recommendations and colorectal cancer risk

Risk factors for neuroendocrine neoplasms: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer: Comments on Attributable Risk Calculations and the Evaluation of Screening in Case-Control Studies

Journal Article Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer: Comments on Attributable Risk Calculations and the Evaluation of Screening in Case-Control Studies Get access FABIO PARAZZINI, FABIO PARAZZINI *Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche ‘Mario Negri’via Eritrea, 62, 20157 Milano, Italy. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar ALLAN HILDESHEIM, ALLAN HILDESHEIM **Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer InstituteBethesda, MD, USA. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar MONICA FERRARONI, MONICA FERRARONI †Istituto di Biometria e Statistica Medica, University of Milan20133 Milan, Italy. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar CARLO LA VECCHIA, CARLO LA VECCHIA *Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche ‘Mario Negri’via Eritrea, 62, 20157 Milano, Italy.‡Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne1005 Lausanne, Switzerland. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar LOUISE BRINTON LOUISE BRINTON *Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche ‘Mario Negri’via Eritrea, 62, 20157 Milano, Italy. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 20, Issue 4, December 1991, Pages 1142–1143, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/20.4.1142 Published: 01 December 1991

Aspirin and the risk of prostate cancer mortality

Blood bacterial DNA, intestinal adenoma and colorectal cancer

ABSTRACT Objective We aimed to investigate the relation of blood bacterial DNA load and profiling with intestinal adenoma (IA) and colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Design We performed 16S rRNA gene analysis of blood from 100 incident histologically confirmed CRC cases, 100 IA and 100 healthy subjects, matched to cases by centre, sex and age. Bacterial load was analysed using multiple conditional logistic regression. Differences in terms of abundance of bacteria between groups were estimated through analysis based on negative binomial distribution normalization. Random Forest was applied to predict the group assignment. Results We found an overrepresentation of blood 16S rRNA gene copies in colon cancer as compared to tumor-free controls (IA and healthy subjects). The odds ratio of colon cancer for the highest versus the lowest three quintiles of gene copies was 2.62. (95% confidence interval=1.22-5.65). No difference was found for rectal cancer and IA. For high 16S rRNA, community diversity was higher in colon cancers than controls. CRC cases had an enrichment of Peptostreptococcaceae and Acetobacteriaceae and a reduced abundance of Bacteroidaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Ruminococcaceae. Identified variables predicted CRC from control and IA patients with an accuracy of 0.70. Conclusion Colon cancer patients had a higher DNA bacterial load and a different bacterial profiling as compared to healthy subjects, IA and rectal cancers, indicating a higher passage of bacteria from gastrointestinal tract to bloodstream. Further studies are needed to confirm this result and exploit it to conceive new non-invasive techniques for an early diagnosis of CRC.

Flavonoids and the risk of ovarian cancer

Socio‐economic indicators, infectious diseases and hodgkin's disease

The relationship between socio-economic indicators, family size, history of tonsillectomy, infectious mononucleosis (IM) and other diseases and the risk of Hodgkin's disease (HD) was investigated in a hospital-based case-control study, conducted in the province of Pordenone, North-east Italy, between June, 1985 and March, 1990. One hundred and fifty-two HD cases (88 men and 64 women) and 613 controls (357 men and 256 women) were interviewed. Patients with 14 or more years of education had a 2-fold increased HD risk (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.0-3.9); such risk tended to be higher in patients with nodular sclerosis (NS) HD (odds ratio, OR: 4.4, 95% CI 1.8-11.0). Sibship size, birth order and tonsillectomy were not associated with HD risk. Cases and controls did not differ in the frequency or age at occurrence of common childhood infections. A history of IM, however, was found to be an important predictor of HD risk, in particular among NS HD (OR = 13.1, 95% CI 1.0-176.7). Past episodes of herpes zoster and of skin and genital warts were also associated with significantly increased HD risks. These data lend further support to the role of the IM agent (i.e., the Epstein-Barr virus) and, perhaps, of other viral infections and immunological alterations in the development of HD.

Oral contraceptives, cancer and vascular disease

Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche ‘Mario Negri’, 20157 Milan, Italy and Istituto di Statistica Medica e Biometria, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy Fax: (+39) 02 3330 0231, E-mail: [email protected]

Attributable risk for symptomatic liver cirrhosis in Italy

Adult height and risk of gastric cancer: a pooled analysis within the stomach cancer pooling project

Mediterranean Epidemiological Evidence on Tomatoes and the Prevention of Digestive-Tract Cancers

Tomatoes have been estimated as the second most important source of vitamin C, after oranges, in an Italian population. We have therefore considered the relationship between tomato intake and the risk of digestive tract cancers using data from a series of case-control studies conducted in Italy between 1983 and 1992, and including 317 histologically confirmed, incident cases of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, 85 of the esophagus, 723 of the stomach, 955 of the colon, and 629 of the rectum, and a total of 2879 controls admitted for acute, non-neoplastic conditions, unrelated to long-term modifications of diet. Multivariate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for subsequent quartiles of intake of tomatoes were derived, after allowance for age, sex, study center, education, smoking, alcohol drinking, and total calorie intake. There was a consistent pattern of protection for all sites. The ORs for the highest consumption quartile were 0.65 (95% CI 0.4-1.0) for oral cavity, pharynx, and esophagus, 0.43 (95% CI 0.3-0.6) for stomach, 0.39 (95% CI 0.3-0.5) for colon, and 0.42 (95% CI 0.3-0.6) for rectum. Another study of colorectal cancer, based on 1,953 cases and 4,154 controls, conducted between 1992 and 1996 and using a more detailed food frequency questionnaire, confirmed that tomato intake was significantly protective on colorectal cancer risk, even after allowance for several potential confounding factors, including measures of body mass index, calorie intake, and physical activity. The ORs for the highest consumption quintile were 0.79 (95% CI 0.6-0.9) for colon, and 0.71 (95% CI 0.5-0.9) for rectal cancer. The beneficial effect of tomatoes observed in these epidemiological studies may be due to the fact that they constitute one of the most specific features of the Mediterranean diet. This has both a scientific and a public health relevance.

Flavonoid intake and liver cancer

Legume intake and cancer risk in a network of case-control studies

Yoghurt Intake and Gastric Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of 16 Studies of the StoP Consortium

We found no association between yoghurt and GC in the main adjusted models, despite sensitivity analyses suggesting a protective effect. Additional studies should further address this association.

The Covid-19 explosion in the state of Amapá: how is the most preserved region in the Brazilian Amazon currently fighting the SARS-COV 2 pandemic?

The state of Amapá is located in the extreme north of Brazil, within the Amazon rainforest and is crossed by the Equator. It has a hot and humid climate with rains that last 8 months a year and 4 months of unrelenting sun that melts rubber from car seals, fries eggs on the floor and even cooks a whole egg tub, in case you forget in a car exposed to the sun . It was believed that with this potent solar incidence, the Sars-COV 2 virus would not have so much impact in this region, a terrible mistake! Today Amapá has the highest incidence of Covid-19 in the whole of Brazil, with a maid of 600 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants and in the Amazon it is the 3rd in deaths and loses in this item only to the state of Amazonas and Pará.

Body Mass Index, Cigarette Smoking, and Alcohol Consumption and Cancers of the Oral Cavity, Pharynx, and Larynx: Modeling Odds Ratios in Pooled Case-Control Data

Odds ratios for head and neck cancer increase with greater cigarette and alcohol use and lower body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height2 (m2)). Using data from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium, the authors conducted a formal analysis of BMI as a modifier of smoking- and alcohol-related effects. Analysis of never and current smokers included 6,333 cases, while analysis of never drinkers and consumers of ≤10 drinks/day included 8,452 cases. There were 8,000 or more controls, depending on the analysis. Odds ratios for all sites increased with lower BMI, greater smoking, and greater drinking. In polytomous regression, odds ratios for BMI (P = 0.65), smoking (P = 0.52), and drinking (P = 0.73) were homogeneous for oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers. Odds ratios for BMI and drinking were greater for oral cavity/pharyngeal cancer (P < 0.01), while smoking odds ratios were greater for laryngeal cancer (P < 0.01). Lower BMI enhanced smoking- and drinking-related odds ratios for oral cavity/pharyngeal cancer (P < 0.01), while BMI did not modify smoking and drinking odds ratios for laryngeal cancer. The increased odds ratios for all sites with low BMI may suggest related carcinogenic mechanisms; however, BMI modification of smoking and drinking odds ratios for cancer of the oral cavity/pharynx but not larynx cancer suggests additional factors specific to oral cavity/pharynx cancer.