2,971 publications from this institution
PRISMA 2009 Checklist. (DOC 63 kb)
This study indicates that women who do not drink alcohol have a risk of myocardial infarction that is higher than that of light drinkers, although the protection of light drinking was not significant. Among drinkers, however, there was a significant direct trend in risk with dose. The raised risks in heavy drinkers may reflect a real association or result from other unfavourable characteristics or habits associated with high alcohol consumption.
The proportions of pancreatic cancer cases attributable (or attributable risks) to tobacco smoking, high consumption of meat, low consumption of fruit, family history of pancreatic cancer, and previous history of pancreatitis were computed by using data from a case-control study conducted in Northern Italy. Between 1983 and 1992 a total of 362 incident, histologically confirmed exocrine pancreatic cancer cases and 1408 controls admitted to the same network of hospitals for acute, non-neoplastic, nondigestive, nonhormone-related disorders, were interviewed. The ARs were 14% for tobacco smoking, 14% for high consumption of meat, and 12% for low consumption of fruit. Overall, these factors explained 23% of pancreatic cancer in the population. The proportion of cases attributable to tobacco smoking was greater among males (20%) as compared with females (5%), as well as were the attributable risks for a diet with a high consumption of meat and a low consumption of fruit (25% in males versus 18% in females). In conclusion, almost one-fourth of pancreatic cancer cases in this population were explainable in terms of a few identified simple risk factors. Smoking cessation and a healthier eating pattern would prevent approximately 1500 pancreatic cancer deaths in Italy every year. In the absence of effective early detection and therapeutic tools for the disease, the intervention on these factors would, thus, have a relevant impact in reducing pancreatic cancer mortality.
The relationship between selected aspects of medical history and the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) was investigated using data from a hospital-based case-control study conducted in northern Italy on 177 cases of NHL and 561 controls in hospital for acute conditions, other than nonneoplastic or immunological. Among six viral diseases considered, only herpes zoster (shingles) had a relative risk (RR) significantly above unity [RR = 2.7; 95% confidence intervals (CI), 1.5 to 4.7]. The association, however, was restricted to subjects whose diagnosis of herpes zoster dated back to less than 10 years, suggesting that this slow-acting virus could be reactivated by the early development of NHL. Six of eight bacterial diseases considered showed RR above unity, and the estimate was significant for scarlet fever (RR = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.1 to 3.5) and pyelonephritis (RR = 5.3; 95% CI, 1.8 to 16.2). These associations were not restricted to the few years before lymphoma diagnosis. When various classes of infectious or inflammatory diseases were grouped together, no association was evident for viral infections (RR = 0.8; 95% CI, 0.6 to 1.2), acute bacterial diseases (RR = 1.0; 95% CI, 0.7 to 1.5), or allergic conditions (RR = 1.0; 95% CI, 0.6 to 2.1). The risk estimates were nonsignificantly above unity for chronic bacterial diseases (RR = 1.2; 95% CI, 0.7 to 1.2) and autoimmune conditions (RR = 1.4; 95% CI, 0.9 to 2.2), and significantly elevated for chronic inflammatory disease (RR = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2 to 3.0).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Since its first application in mice almost 10 yr ago, the Cre/loxP has become the system of choice to study gene function in vivo in a cell-type, stage-specific, and inducible manner. This chapter provides a set of updated protocols that will help the reader to construct a vector for conditional gene targeting, to in vitro manipulate embryonic stem (ES) cells and to rapidly identify successfully targeted ES colonies. It also provides an updated list of Cre strains currently used to assess gene function at defined stages of B-cell development and guidelines to generate single-copy, knock-in transgenes regulated in a Cre-dependent manner.
These data confirm a certain degree of vaccine mistrust in Italy, especially among less qualified workers.
To investigate the relative risk of cancer development in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in Greece after taking into consideration treatment modalities. The present analysis used data on the medical history of 26 331 participants in the Greek arm of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition that were collected at enrollment and thereafter during active follow-up. A history of RA and of drug treatment for the disease, as reported at baseline examination, was linked to cases of cancer reported during follow-up. A total of 91 (9.9%) patients with RA developed a cancer compared with 1542 (6.1%) patients without RA. The overall hazard ratios of all cancers increased 25% [95% confidence interval (CI): 1-54] among participants with prevalent RA, and almost all the site-specific incident cancer sites considered had rate ratios above unity. In terms of the contribution of RA medication, the hazard ratios of patients treated with salicylates was close to unity (1.07, 95% CI: 0.69-1.65), whereas those who were not treated with salicylates had a 31% (95% CI: 3-67) increased risk for cancer incidence compared with those without RA at baseline. RA patients have excess cancer risk because of either underlying complex disease pathways or treatment agents targeting immune function. Administration of salicylates appears to reduce the risk of developing malignancies.
