Publications

Childhood cancer mortality in Italy

The Particular Story of Italians' Relation with Alcohol: Trends in Individuals' Consumption by Age and Beverage Type

On the basis of individual-level data we confirm and further update to 2014 the decreasing trend in alcohol consumption in Italy over the last few decades, mainly due to the fall in wine consumption. This may be due to anti-alcohol policies, programs and campaigns adopted and developed over the last decade. It also reflects socio-cultural changes in drinking, particularly in younger generations.

Diet and environmental carcinogenesis in breast/gynaecological cancers

This paper reports on recent advances on the relation between diet, other environmental factors and breast and gynaecological cancers. Despite considerable research the issue remains still unsettled. The protective effect of a diet rich in vegetables and fruit, and thus selected (antioxidant) micronutrients, is not consistently reported in various studies. The possible relationship between fats and breast and female genital tract neoplasms also remains unconfirmed, while the potential benefits of physical activity remains unquantified. Alcohol appears to be related to the risk of breast cancer and overweight is associated with post-menopausal breast cancer and is strongly related to the risk of endometrial cancer.

Cancer incidence pattern in Cordoba, Argentina

Cancer is the second cause of death in Argentina; nevertheless the distribution of the cancer incidence rates throughout the country is unknown. This study was conducted to describe cancer incidence patterns in Córdoba Province. Incidence data were supplied by the Government Córdoba Cancer Registry. Demographic information (age, sex, and place of residence) and diagnosis, certified by a pathologist, about all incident cases from June 2003 to May 2005 by type and 5-year age groups were obtained. Comparison of the incidence rate of cancer in various counties was performed by using standardized incidence rates (SIR) per 100,000 inhabitants using the world standard population. Estimated SIRs were used to build up incidence maps. Two indicators were created: sex ratio and site-specific ratio. Mixed Poisson models were fitted. Taken as a whole for all counties, SIR was 121.42 and 141.57 for men and women, respectively. The most common sites in men were prostate (13.62), lung (10.12), colon (7.53), and bladder (7.03); in women were breast (22.51) and colon (3.31). The highest and lowest rates were in urban and rural areas, respectively. Cancer registry has a pivotal role in cancer control. Such information is the primary resource of information not only for epidemiological research on cancer determinants but also for planning and evaluating health services for the policies of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Menopause hormone replacement therapy and cancer risk: an Italian record linkage investigation

Alcoholic beverages and cancers of the digestive tract and larynx

2nd ed.

Temporal Patterns of Exposure to Asbestos and Risk of Asbestosis

The risk of asbestosis death strongly declines in the decades after cessation of the exposure.

Supplementary Table 1 from Intake of Proton-Pump Inhibitors and Gastric Cancer within the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project

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

Prevention of Biliary Cancer With Statins: Still a Long Way to Go

Smoking and non‐Hodgkin lymphoma: Case‐control study in Italy

Tobacco smoking is a well-documented risk factor for several cancers, but the role of cigarette smoking in the etiology of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is inadequately understood. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been associated with NHL, but the interaction between HCV and smoking habits has not yet been studied. Between 1999 and 2002, we conducted a case-control study on the association of HCV, smoking habits and NHL in 2 areas of northern and southern Italy. Cases were 225 consecutive patients (median age, 59 years) with a new diagnosis of NHL that were admitted to reference and general hospitals. Controls were 504 patients (median age, 63 years) admitted to the same hospitals as cases, for a wide spectrum of acute, nonneoplastic, nonimmune-, nor tobacco-related conditions. Current, heavy smokers (> or = 20 cigarettes/day) had an odds ratio (OR) of NHL of 2.10 (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.07-4.12) compared to never smokers. The association between smoking and NHL was consistent across strata of sex and age. Compared to never smokers, current smokers of > or = 20 cigarettes/day had ORs of 1.14 (95% CI: 0.37-3.56) for B-cell-low-grade, 2.10 (95% CI: 0.94-4.67) for B-cell-intermediate and high-grade, and 25.84 (95% CI: 1.95-342.17) for T-cell NHL. The effect of tobacco smoking and HCV were independent on the relative risk, leading a 4-fold elevated risk in current smokers HCV positive subjects. Tobacco smoking and hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been associated to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), but the interaction between HCV and smoking habits has not yet been studied. Our study confirms that tobacco is related to NHL, and reports on the combined effect of tobacco smoking and HCV. Infection acted together according to a multiplicative model, leading to a 4-fold elevated risk in current smokers HCV positive subjects.

Faculty Opinions recommendation of Genome-wide translocation sequencing reveals mechanisms of chromosome breaks and rearrangements in B cells.

Cigarette smoking and the risk of endometrial cancer

European cancer mortality predictions for the year 2013

Risk Factors for Functional Ovarian Cysts

In a survey about euthanasia, 1,600 critical care nurses were randomly assigned to receive either three complete, anonymous mailings of the questionnaire or, with each mailing, a coded postcard to be returned separately from the questionnaire to reduce subsequent mailings to previous responders. The response rate in these two groups was 76.5% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 73.6-79.4%] and 69% (95% CI = 65.7-72.4%), respectively. The two strategies yielded similar responses, and costs were much lower for the postcard group. Using coded postcards to be returned separately from completed instruments appears to lower the response rate to anonymous mail surveys, but it also lowers cost and may not introduce additional bias.

Alcohol and wine in relation to cancer and other diseases

Heavy alcohol consumption is associated with increased overall mortality, cancer, liver, and cardiovascular diseases; but low doses of alcohol (up to one drink per day) are not associated with the risk of any cancer site with the exception of breast cancer and possibly of oral and pharyngeal cancers. Moreover, recent evidence indicates that moderate alcohol and specifically wine intake provides cardioprotection and neuroprotection and may increase longevity. Various experimental data hypothesize a potential cancer chemopreventive role of some grape extracts, and complete sequencing of the grapevine genome has revealed genes responsible for the synthesis of health-promoting compounds (resveratrol and other polyphenols), thus advocating the development of future potential nutraceutical strategies. This focuses on the pros and cons of moderate alcohol and wine consumption and opens a debate on this topic.

Dietary inflammatory index and acute myocardial infarction in a large Italian case–control study

A pro-inflammatory diet as indicated by higher DII scores is associated with increased likelihood of AMI.

Hypothesis

aDepartment of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri bOccupational Health, Universita` di Milano, Italy Correspondence to Professor Carlo La Vecchia, MD, Istituto Mario Negri, Via G. La Masa, 19, Milano 20156, Italy Tel: +39 02 3901 4527; fax: +39 02 3320 02321; e-mail: [email protected] Received June 20, 2011 Accepted June 24, 2011

Overweight, Obesity, Diabetes, and Risk of Breast Cancer: Interlocking Pieces of the Puzzle

We considered epidemiological data on overweight, diabetes, insulin, and breast cancer. Overweight is inversely related to premenopausal breast cancer, but there is definite evidence that, as compared with normal weight women, the relative risk (RR) for postmenopausal breast cancer is around 1.5 for overweight women and >2 for obese women, and that the association is stronger in elderly women. Overweight and obesity are strongly related to diabetes. Diabetes is associated with postmenopausal breast cancer, too, with summary RRs from meta-analyses of 1.15-1.20, but not with premenopausal breast cancer (RR, 0.9). There is no consistent evidence that fasting insulin is related to breast cancer risk. Thus, although overweight and obesity are strongly related to postmenopausal breast cancer, diabetes is only moderately related to it. Given the extent of the association, and the likely residual confounding by overweight, inference on causality for the diabetes-breast cancer relation remains open to discussion.