Paolo Vineis

..The subsequent period--until now--has been characterised by more formal and systematic definitions...

..In addition, a theoretical approach to the problem of gene-environment interactions at low levels of exposure is offered...

..This review summarizes the main issues that should be addressed in a protocol, and illustrates these with an example...

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..2, 95% confidence interval 1.1-16.2). We propose that late infection is a proliferative stimulus for B-cells...

..The analyses were more inconsistent and failed to reach statistical significance in Asians. This observation might be due to design specificities or unknown effect modifiers in the Asian studies...

..Epidemiology makes use more often of study designs that simulate experimentation, than of surveys in the general population...

..Physicians and patients should accept the irreducible fuzziness of many of the concepts they use when dealing with health and disease...

..The present contribution is a short review of the relevant literature, with particular emphasis on some polymorphisms involved in dietary exposures. In addition, the practical implications of genetic testing in this field are discussed...

..Other associations (diabetes, tonsillectomy, autoimmune diseases) have been inconsistently reported...

..It is suggested that delayed infection could explain NHL trends, through an impairment of the Th1/Th2 lymphocyte patterns...

..This study found a reduced risk associated with fruit and vegetable intake. No interaction was observed between fruit and vegetable consumption and DNA repair gene polymorphisms...

..The results of our pooled and meta-analyses suggest that bulky DNA adducts are associated with lung cancer arising in current smokers after a follow-up of several years...

..This observation can shed light on the mechanisms underlying reported associations between 8q24 variants and disparate chronic diseases...

..A detailed characterization of DNA repair genetic variation is warranted and might ultimately help to identify multiple susceptibility variants that could be responsible for joint effects on the risk...

..These results suggest that the LCT and TAS2R38 variants are good candidates for Mendelian randomization studies of cancer and other health outcomes...

..Larger studies are needed to clarify the possible effects of flavonoids in vivo; our preliminary results could help to better plan new studies on gene expression and diet...

..These null results, although based on a relatively small sample size, suggest that persistent EBV and HCV infection in the PBMC is not a stronger predictor of NHL risk than serological evidence of infection...

..People with rare combinations of common gene variants have a high risk of cancer and can be assimilated to subjects with highly penetrant mutations...

..We have studied the association between 52 high-risk job titles and lung cancer incidence in a large prospective study, with more than 200,000 participants followed for more than 6 years and 809 incident cases of lung cancer...

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..This conclusion also suggests that similar (aromatic) compounds may be involved in the etiology of both types of cancer...

..Factors that have been reported to be related to DNA adduct levels include smoking, diet, body mass index (BMI), genetic polymorphisms, the season of collection of biologic material, and air pollutants...

..Age-, gender- and country-specific relative indices of inequality (RII) were used as the measure of educational level and RII tertiles were analysed...

..Both hypotheses (i.e., the interaction with autoimmune diseases and with familial predisposition) indirectly suggest that an immunologic mechanism could be involved in lymphomagenesis from solvents...

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..Abnormal values of liver enzymes and presence of replicative HCV-RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells are also observed. Aim of the study was to evaluate occult HCV occurrence in a population unselected for hepatic disease...

..001) (MANOVA adjusted by sex, BMI, education, and time). CONCLUSIONS: A brief educational intervention by GPs can induce multiple diet changes that may lower BMI and potentially reduce chronic disease risk in generally healthy adults...

..Further investigations of the combined effects of polymorphisms within these DNA repair genes, smoking and other risk factors may help to clarify the influence of genetic variation in the carcinogenic process...

..Social and geographical factors, in addition to hospital specialization, should be considered to reduce inappropriateness of care for breast cancer...

..Our observation suggests that NAT2 is not a risk factors per se but modulates the effect of carcinogens contained in tobacco smoke (probably arylamines) or associated with occupational exposures...

..Our results suggest that bladder-cancer risk can be genetically modulated by XRCC3, which may repair DNA cross-link lesions produced by aromatic amines and other environmental chemicals...

..The consistent observation of a difference between men and women in bladder cancer risk, after allowing for known risk factors, suggests consideration of gender-related biological determinants for future investigation...

..The tension between mechanistic and population-based studies is still present within epidemiology and is in fact essential for the success of the discipline...

..CONCLUSIONS: The uneven distribution of ETS in the population is a matter of concern, since it contributes to the unequal distribution of health in different social groups...

..Such susceptibility genes are of considerable scientific interest, but do not confer high enough risks to be clinically relevant...

..The aim of this population-based study was to evaluate the impact of regional guidelines (Piedmont guidelines, PGL) for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment on quality-of-care indicators in the Northwestern Italian region of Piedmont...

..47 in men and 0.56 in women. Important gradients by social class were also suggested for several nutrients...

..Systematic reviews are an important tool for developing clinical recommendations. Those of high quality assure a good level of confidence on the strength of the recommendations...

..CONCLUSIONS: Educational interventions against smoking should be planned taking into account the difference in efficacy according to social class...

..Finally, we suggest a theory of causality based on the work of Wesley Salmon and the concept of 'propagating mark', which is particularly attractive for molecular epidemiologists...

..Informed consent is crucial in therapeutic choices; however, the forms presented to patients are often locally developed and information may not be homogeneous...

..These data show that all the analysed polymorphisms could result in deficient DNA repair and suggest a need for further investigation into the possible interactions between these polymorphisms, smoking and other risk factors...

..8, 95% c.i. 1.05-21.5), in particular pipe fitters and boilermakers (3 cases and 1 control; OR = 10.7; 1.07-103)...

..82 (median 0.60) for parenchymal patterns; 0.33-0.67 (0.48) for diagnosis in five categories; and 0.22-0.57 (0.38) for indications for further diagnostic tests. These values are comparable with those reported from other investigations...

..This interpretation is consistent with recent animal experiments suggesting that there are different enzyme systems for the two classes of compounds...

..In addition to an overall inverse association with fruit intake, the results of this evaluation add evidence for a significant inverse association of vegetable consumption and lung cancer incidence in smokers...

..However, they suggest a possible role of the ACC-alpha common sequence variants in susceptibility to breast cancer and encourage studies of other genes involved in fatty acid synthesis...

..Previous studies suggest that high plasma concentrations of carotenoids, retinol, or tocopherols may reduce the risk of prostate cancer...

..It has been hypothesized that this may be due, in part, to the parallel rising prevalence of obesity. It is biologically plausible that anthropometric characteristics can infuence the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma...

..In the assessment of potential health effects related to acrylamide exposure, country of origin, BMI, alcohol consumption, sex, and smoking status should be considered...

..A deeper understanding of the role(s) of tissue and tumor microenvironments in the pathogenesis of cancer is essential to design more effective strategies for the management of this disease...

..Our results provide compelling evidence of a locus at 15q25 predisposing to lung cancer, and reinforce interest in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors as potential disease candidates and chemopreventative targets...

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..However, three CDH1 polymorphisms in the same haplotype block, including the CDH1-160C/A, interacted with smoking to increase GC risk in smokers but not in never smokers. These findings should be confirmed in larger independent studies...

..The latter aspect is not just a semantic question but carries implications for the focus of preventive actions, whether centred on the material and social environment or on single individuals...

..However, we observed increased gastric cancer risk at low cobalamin levels that was most likely due to compromised cobalamin status in atrophic gastritis preceding gastric cancer...

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..Future empirical research and consensus development are needed to develop an integrated model for combining epidemiological and biological evidence in the rapidly evolving field of investigation of genetic factors...

..It is therefore useful to estimate the burden of disease associated with indoor and outdoor air pollution...

..CONCLUSIONS: This matrix can represent a tool to identify chemicals with similar properties concerning the toxicity for the immune system, and to interpret epidemiological studies on immune-related diseases...

..e., a time elapsed between blood drawing and disease onset lower than 36 months. This was particularly true for COPD deaths (OR = 12.7; 95% CI = 1.57-103) and leukemia (OR = 2.37; 95% CI = 1.20-4.67)...

..A strong correlation was found between urinary phenolics and anti-mutagenicity in all the groups involved in the trial. Such correlation was not explained by dietary variables...

..No association between polymorphisms in the genes studied and tobacco consumption was observed; therefore, no effect of these genes on smoking behavior should be expected...

..The workshop focused on identifying and interpreting markers for early biologic effect and inherited modifiers of risk...

..This investigation sought to evaluate the association between NHL and type of tobacco smoked (blond, black, or mixed), focusing on the Working Formulation (WF) subgroups...

..Baseline characteristics of participants are briefly described...

..We examined which occupations and industries are currently at high risk for bladder cancer in men...

..Our results suggest that the role of a diet rich in antioxidants in preventing or reducing DNA adduct formation is restricted to subjects lacking the detoxifying activity of GSTM1 isoenzyme (approximately 50% of the general population)...

..The etiology of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and leukemia is still largely unknown, but exposure to chemicals, in particular pesticides, has been suggested to be a risk factor...

..18-21.45; five alleles, adjusted OR = 7.65, 95% CI = 0.94-62.2]. Our study suggests that the combined effect of multiple variant alleles may be more important than the investigation of single SNP in modulating DNA repair capacity...

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..7 (95% CI = 0.5-15.3). An association between lung cancer and the homozygous CYP1A1*2A genotype is confirmed. An apparent and biologically plausible interaction is suggested between this genotype and GSTM1...

..We conducted a case-control study nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort to examine associations among premenopausal serum concentrations of sex steroids and subsequent breast cancer risk...

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..It can be assumed that the elevated risks found for occupational physical activity are not produced mechanistically by physical activity itself but rather reflect exposure to occupation-related lung cancer risk factors...

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..4. At the population level, there is additional uncertainty in quantifying interaction and assigning etiologic fractions to different necessary causes because of ignorance about the components of the sufficient cause...

..TP53 mutation may be associated with environmental exposures. These observations have implications for monitoring early steps of carcinogenesis...

..Smoking is the most important single preventable cause of cancer; at the present stage of knowledge it is totally unlikely that certain dietary habits can seriously counteract the effects of tobacco smoking...

..The association with NO(2) did not change after adjustment by cotinine and additional potential confounders, including occupational exposures. No clear association was found with other pollutants...

..CONCLUSION: These results do not support the hypothesis that women have a higher relative risk of smoking-related bladder cancer than men...

..03-0.81). Our results suggest that polymorphisms and/or haplotypes in XRCC3, XRCC1, and PCNA genes and spanning XPD-ERCC1 region may modulate bladder cancer risk and that some of these effects may preferentially affect current smokers...

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..The most important finding of this prospective study is that, at least in women, 4-ABP-Hb adducts may help identify subjects at high risk of cancers related to environmental tobacco smoke exposure...

..Our prospective study suggests that leukocyte DNA adducts may predict lung cancer risk of never-smokers. Besides, the association of DNA adduct levels with O3 indicates a possible role for photochemical smog in determining DNA damage...

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..45, 95% CI: -0.03, 0.93). These results indicate that, among populations studied to date, GSTM1 null status is associated with a modest increase in the risk of bladder cancer...