Publications

<p>SFigure1</p>

Colorectal cancer risk was inversely associated with the intake of dietary GOSs, but not ITFs and FOSs.

<p>Supplementary Figures S1-S7</p>

The International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care has as its specific scope of interest the generation, evaluation, diffusion, and use of health care technology. It addresses the diverse audience of health care providers within medicine, nursing, and the allied health professions; decision makers in government, industry, and health care organizations; and the scholarly disciplines such as ethics, economics, law, history, sociology, psychology, and engineering. The journal aims to fill the needs of those interested in the complexities of interaction between people and technology; technology as a force in social and organizational change; and technology as it is created, produced, applied, and paid for. It examines descriptively and analytically the effects of technology as perceived from the vantage point of different academic disciplines and policy-making organizations and examines methods necessary to conduct studies and evaluations of technology.

Our estimates provide up-to-date quantification of the low, but persistent, burden of occupational cancers in Italy.

Family history of urogenital cancers has been associated with an increased risk of cancer at the same sites. To evaluate the risks of bladder, prostate and renal cell neoplasms for family history of urogenital cancers in first-degree relatives, we analysed data from a case-control study conducted in northern Italy between 1985 and 1992 and including a total of 1,356 incident, histologically confirmed cancer cases: 727 bladder, 348 renal cell and 281 prostate cancer cases. Controls were 1,067 patients admitted to the same network of hospitals for acute, nonneoplastic conditions. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) of urogenital cancers, adjusting for age, sex, study centre, education, body mass index, smoking habit, alcohol consumption and number of brothers and, where appropriate, sisters. ORs of urogenital cancers for subjects with at least 1 first-degree relative with cancer at the same site were 6.1 [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.3-16.6] for bladder, 2.0 (95% CI: 0.6-6.2) for renal cell and 2.0 (95% CI: 0.9-4.1) for prostate cancer.

Information on the etiology of esophageal cancer in lifelong nonsmokers is of interest to understand and quantify risk factors for the disease in the absence of the residual confounding by tobacco. Of a total of 316 cases with histologically confirmed incident cancers of the esophagus, 46 (17 males and 29 females) who described themselves as lifelong nonsmokers were selected to assess esophageal cancer risk in the absence of potential confounding and interactive effects of smoking. These patients were compared to 230 lifelong nonsmoker controls (85 males and 145 females) admitted to hospital for acute, nonneoplastic, non-alcohol-related conditions. The major risk factor for cancer of the esophagus in lifelong nonsmokers was elevated alcohol consumption: compared to drinkers of fewer than 4 drinks per day the relative risk (RR) was 2.7 (95% confidence interval, 1.1-6.8) for 4 to fewer than 8 drinks, and 5.4 (95% confidence interval, 1.4-21.0) for 8 or more drinks, with a significant trend in risk. Among selected indicator foods considered, significant protective effects were observed for fish (RR = 0.5 for the highest consumption tertile), green vegetables (RR = 0.6), and fresh fruit intake (RR = 0.3). Consequently, there was a significant inverse relationship with an estimate of beta-carotene intake (RR = 0.5 and 0.4, respectively, for the middle and highest tertiles of intake versus the lowest), with a significant trend in risk. The estimated RR for the highest alcohol consumption and lowest beta-carotene intake category was 8.6, and these two factors together explained over 45% of cases. Gastrectomy and family history of cancer of the esophagus were also associated with increased risk (RR = 4.6 and 4.3, respectively).

Since the investigation, at an individual level, of lifetime sun exposure remains difficult, the site distribution of different types of skin cancer can be an important source of aetiological clues. The present report deals with 1,149 cases of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM), 7,685 of basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) and 3,049 of squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) reported between 1976 and 1992 to the Vaud Cancer Registry, in Switzerland. Site-and type-specific age-standardized (on the world population) incidence rates per 100,000 population and per 100,000 unit surface were computed, together with relative age-standardized incidence rates (i.e., rates per 100,000 surface unit in each anatomical site relative to rates for the body as a whole). The highest rates per unit surface were seen for both genders in the face, thus indicating some role of cumulative sun exposure in all skin-cancer types. Relative to the incidence in the whole body, the excess on the face was, however, more than 20-fold for BCC and SCC, but only 4-fold for CMM. The relative incidence in males was very much higher for SCC than for CMM and BCC in the neck, ears and scalp, a heavily sun-exposed area in men but not in women. Conversely, a substantial lack of SCC was seen in the trunk. In conclusion, site distribution of different skin-cancer types suggests that short-duration UV-light exposure is sufficient to increase CMM risk substantially, but has little influence on SCC risk. With the increase of exposure, however, SCC rises more steeply than BCC. Age-related behaviour (i.e., another indirect indicator of duration of exposure to UV light) is consistent with the anatomical distribution of skin cancer. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

In order to quantify the association between use of statins and the risk of all hematological malignancies and of subtypes, we performed a meta-analysis of observational studies. We achieved a MEDLINE/EMBASE comprehensive search for studies published up to August 2014 investigating the association between use of statins and the risk of hematological malignancies, including Hodgkin- and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, and myeloma. Fixed- and random-effect models were fitted to estimate the summary relative risk (RR) based on adjusted study-specific results. Between-study heterogeneity was assessed using the Q and I(2) statistics and the sources of heterogeneity were investigated using Deeks' test. Moreover, an influence analysis was performed. Finally, publication bias was evaluated using funnel plot and Egger's regression asymmetry test. Fourteen studies (10 case-control and four cohort studies) contributed to the analysis. Statin use, compared to nonuse of statins, was negatively associated with all hematological malignancies taken together (summary RR 0.86; 95% CI: 0.77-0.96), with leukemia (0.83; 0.74-0.92), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (0.81; 0.68 to 0.96), but it was not related to the risk of myeloma (0.89; 0.53-1.51). Long-term users of statins showed a statistically significant reduction in the risk of all hematological malignancies taken together (0.78; 0.71-0.87). Statistically significant between-studies heterogeneity was observed for all outcome except for leukemia. Heterogeneity was caused by differences confounding-adjustment level of the included studies only for Myeloma. No significant evidence of publication bias was found.