Publications

The relationship between induced abortions and subsequent risk of ectopic pregnancy has been analysed using data from a case-control study conducted in Milan, Italy. The cases were 158 women with a diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy confirmed by laparoscopy or laparotomy, admitted to a network of university and general hospitals. Two control groups were selected. The first one (obstetric controls) included 243 women who gave birth at term (more than 37 weeks gestation) to healthy infants at the same hospitals where the cases had been identified. The second control group (non-obstetric controls) was a random sample of 158 women of comparable age interviewed in the same calendar period, admitted to hospital for a broad spectrum of acute, non-gynaecological or obstetric conditions. A total of 35 out of 158 cases (22%) reported one or more previous induced abortions; the corresponding figures were 29 out of 243 (12%) obstetric controls and 29 out of 158 (18%) non-obstetric ones. The risk of ectopic pregnancy was higher in women reporting induced abortions: the estimated multivariate relative risks (relative risk) for any induced abortions were 2.9 [95%, confidence interval (CI) 1.6-5.3] in comparison with obstetric controls and 2.5 (95% CI 1.2-5.0) in comparison with women admitted to hospital for other conditions. The risk increased with number of induced abortions, being, compared to women with no induced abortion, 13.1 (95% CI 3.2-54.5) and 3.8 (95% CI 1.1-12.7) in women reporting two or more induced abortions when the comparison groups were respectively obstetric and non-obstetric controls. This study shows an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy after induced abortion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A simple score including age, lactates and creatinine on admission could be considered to predict short-term mortality in CS-ADHF patients in order to drive towards a treatment intensification.

The prevalence of AKs in our study was remarkably lower than expected based on data from the United States and Australia; in Italy, AKs seem to be underdiagnosed and undertreated.

<p>Characteristics of the 27 studies included in the E2C2 pooled analysis</p>

In this large prospective study, we found some small inverse associations between plant foods and IHD risk, with fruit and vegetables combined being the most strongly inversely associated with risk. Whether these small associations are causal remains unclear.

Significance Antibodies produced by B cells provide a protective barrier to our organism against the penetration and dissemination of microorganisms. Each antibody recognizes a specific antigen through variable (V) region domains of pairs of immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy (H) and light (L) chains. In mammals, VDJ recombination generates a highly diversified preimmune pool of V H and V L domains. Acquisition of a functional V H rearrangement is thought to prevent further VDJ recombination at the IgH locus. Instead, mice cloned from a terminally differentiated B cell unravel the ability of VDJ recombination to revise a functionally rearranged V H gene through VH replacement. We show that up to 20% of the antibody V gene repertoire of mature B-lymphocytes can be generated through VH replacement.

On the basis of the numbers of single and multiple births routinely collected by the Central Institute of Statistics, trends in multiple births in Italy over the period 1955-1983 were analyzed. Between 1955 and 1983 the frequency of multiple births declined by about 25% (from 12.6/1000 deliveries to 9.6/1000 deliveries). The downward trend was constant until the early 1970s when rates tended to level off and increase slightly. This finding was largely attributable to trends in dizygotic rates, monozygotic births being approximately constant over the period considered. Multiple birth rates rose till age 35-39, being more than two times higher in this age group than in teenagers, but flattened off in the subsequent strata of age: this finding was constant over the period considered. Despite the general decreasing trend, the regional differences persisted largely unchanged, multiple birth rates being about 30% higher in Southern (and less developed areas) of the country than in the North of Italy. Geographic differences were limited to dizygotic pregnancies, monozygotic rates being constant (about 4/1000 pregnancies) in various areas.

A unified analysis of the combined effects of alcohol and smoking in cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract was conducted using polychotomous logistic regression to determine if, at the same level of exposure, risk varies significantly across pathological sites. Data from a case-control study in northern Italy include males with tumors of the oral cavity/pharynx, larynx, and esophagus and males admitted to the hospital for acute illnesses not related to alcohol and smoking. The combined alcohol and smoking risks for oral cavity/pharynx cancer in these data were significantly greater than those for either laryngeal or esophageal cancer, but esophageal cancer and laryngeal cancer could not be distinguished based on risk. The differences may lie in the presence of unspecified factors in the oral cavity and pharynx, but not in the other upper aerodigestive tract sites, which potentiate the effects of alcohol and smoking in the oral cavity/pharynx.

Construction workers are at high risk of dying from external causes, while the excess mortality found for several cancers, liver and respiratory diseases may be at least partially due to the high prevalence of low education and unfavorable lifestyle factors. The excess mortality from prostate cancer requires further evaluations.

<p>Supplementary Table 1: Main characteristics of the studies included in the analysis.</p>

To provide an updated review of cancer mortality trends in Italy, cancer mortality and census data, from 1970 to 2007, were extracted from the WHO mortality database and analyzed using age-specific and standardized rates, and joinpoint regression. Total cancer mortality rates in men have been declining by 1.8% yearly since 1994, reaching a rate of 147 per 100 000 residents (world standard) in 2007. In women, total cancer mortality rates have been decreasing by 1.1% yearly since 1991, resulting in a standardized mortality rate of 85 per 100 000 residents in 2007. Avoided deaths, compared with rates of 1988, from lung, intestinal, stomach, and breast cancers amount to 30 646. In men, trends were driven by cancers of the lung and other tobacco-related sites, intestines, and stomach. Favorable trends for cancers of the breast, intestines, stomach, and uterus contributed to falls in mortality rate in women. Downward trends were seen in both sexes for Hodgkin's lymphoma, bone cancer, and leukemias. Lung cancer in women showed an upward trend, with mortality rates increasing by 2.6% yearly since 1997, becoming the second cause of cancer mortality in middle-aged women. Rising trends were seen in women for oral and pancreatic cancers, as well. The favorable trends in cancer mortality are related to reduced tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption in men, advancements in treatment and management for colorectal cancer, breast cancer, leukemias, and a few other rare treatable cancers, and improved diagnosis of colorectal, breast, and cervical cancers. The greater role of tobacco-related deaths in women suggests the need for targeted strategies.