Publications

In order to evaluate the short-term effects (3 weeks) on selected coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors, 90 obese in-patients (body mass index, BMI, > or = 35 kg/m2 received a same low-calorie diet (1200-1800 kcal/day), nutritional education and psychological counselling, and were randomly assigned to either a non-specific, high-volume, low-intensity exercise training program (NET), or to an individualised, low-volume and high-intensity exercise training program (IET), for 5 days/week for 3 weeks. NET and IET programs lead to a significant reduction in blood glucose (6.2 and 7.7% respectively), total cholesterol (17.3%, 12.3%), HDL-cholesterol (13.7%, 15.2%), systolic (8.9%, 5.3%) and diastolic resting blood pressure (10.6%, 3.3%). Total CHD scores were also significantly improved (38.1%, 33.1%). The changes occurred with a relatively moderate decrease in body weight (4.2%, 4.4%) and with still elevated BMI values (41.6 kg/m2). Although IET, compared to NET program, induced smaller reductions of blood pressure, it requires 30% daily training period and may possibly enhance long-term patient compliance.

<p>Supplementary Table 2: Questionnaire items used to assess exposure for each study included in the analysis.</p>

Aims and background To update estimates of smoking prevalence in Italy to the year 2002. Methods Population-based, face-to-face survey conducted by the DOXA (the Italian Branch of the Gallup International Association) in March-April 2002 on 3,238 individuals aged 15 or over, representative of the whole Italian population. Results Overall, 26.6% of Italian adults were current cigarette smokers (31.1% of men, 22.3% of women); 19.9% of men and 10.4% of women smoked 15 or more cigarettes per day. Ex-smokers were 15.2% (21.9% of men, 9.0% of women). There was no appreciable difference with reference to geographic area or education in men, but more educated women were more frequently smokers (28%). Compared to 2001, reported smoking prevalence declined by 3.7% in men and 1.3% in women, and the fall was evident in various age groups, including the youngest one (15–24 years). However, part of the fall is likely due to increased underreporting, since these survey figures are appreciably underestimated as compared to sale data. Among ex-smokers, 84% had stopped without support. Among smokers, 37% had tried at least once to stop. Using the Fagerström questionnaire, 69.5% of smokers were classified as low or very low dependent, whereas only 20.0% of smokers were classified as high or very high dependent. Women, younger and elderly, as well as more educated smokers of both sexes tended to be less dependent. Conclusions Self-reported smoking prevalence tends to decline in Italy, although the overall figure (26.6% of Italian adults) remains considerably higher than the USA and several Western European countries.

Risk for IHD was positively associated with consumption of red and processed meat and inversely associated with consumption of yogurt, cheese, and eggs, although the associations with yogurt and eggs may be influenced by reverse causation bias. It is not clear whether the associations with red and processed meat and cheese reflect causality, but they were consistent with the associations of these foods with plasma non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and for red and processed meat with systolic blood pressure, which could mediate such effects.

<p>Patient characteristics according to Akkermansia spp. prevalence in stool at baseline.</p>

The association of colorectal cancer risk with select foods has been evaluated by dietary pattern analysis. This review of the literature was conducted to thoroughly examine the available evidence for the association between dietary patterns and colorectal cancers and adenomas. A total of 32 articles based on worldwide epidemiological studies were identified. Pattern identification was achieved by exploratory data analyses (principal component, factor, and cluster analyses) in most articles, and only a few used a priori-defined scores. Dietary patterns named as healthy, prudent, fruit and vegetables, fat-reduced/diet foods, vegetable/fish/poultry, fruit/whole grain/dairy, and healthy eating index-2005, recommended food and Mediterranean diet scores were all associated with reduced risk of colorectal cancer and the risk estimates varied from 0.45 to 0.90. In contrast, diets named Western, pork-processed meat-potatoes, meat-eaters, meat and potatoes, traditional patterns, and dietary risk and life summary scores were associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer with risk estimates varying from 1.18 to 11.7. Dietary patterns for adenomas were consistent with those identified for colorectal cancer.

The objective of this study was to investigate how rapidly the Emergency Medical System provides life support to patients suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Milan, Italy. The study population included 1426 consecutive participants with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between January 2007 and October 2008. The mean age was 72.7 years. The incidence of ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation as the presenting rhythm was 12.7%. Eighty percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurred at home and bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was in progress in 11.1% of all cases. The mean time interval from collapse-to-first shock was 18.67±5.37 min. The mean Emergency Medical System unit response time interval was 7.07±3.14 min; time elapsed from arrival-to-first CPR was 7.75±4.32 min. In conclusions, the dispatch to arrival and dispatch to CPR intervals are comparable with those reported in other large urban areas, but the time from arrival-to-first CPR was longer than recommended by current guidelines.

<p>Figure S1 shows the study flowchart for the inclusion of participants. It depicts how we arrived at our final analytic population.</p>

Besides site-specific risk factors, there is a significant link between neuroendocrine neoplasia and cancer in general, pointing to a shared cancer predisposition.