Multi-factor dimensionality reduction applied to a large prospective investigation on gene-gene and gene-environment interactions.

It is becoming increasingly evident that single-locus effects cannot explain complex multifactorial human diseases like cancer. We applied the multi-factor dimensionality reduction (MDR) method to a large cohort study on gene-environment and gene-gene interactions. The study (case-control nested in the EPIC cohort) was established to investigate molecular changes and genetic susceptibility in relation to air pollution and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in non-smokers.

Intake of specific flavonoid classes and coronary heart disease--a case-control study in Greece.

Objective: Dietary intake of flavonoids has been reported to protect against coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, but associations of specific classes of flavonoids with CHD have not been adequately studied.

Design: Hospital-based case-control study relying on interviewer administered questionnaires.

Setting: Cardiology Department of the University of Athens Medical School in the Hippokrateion General Hospital (1990-1991).

Daily variations in air pollution and respiratory health in a multicentre study: the PEACE project. Pollution Effects on Asthmatic Children in Europe.

The Pollution Effects on Asthmatic Children in Europe (PEACE) study is a multicentre study of the acute effects of particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 microm (PM10), black smoke (BS), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on the respiratory health of children with chronic respiratory symptoms. The study was conducted in the winter of 1993/1994 by 14 research centres in Europe. A total of 2,010 children, divided over 28 panels in urban and suburban locations, was followed for at least 2 months.

Epithelial, possibly precancerous, lesions of the lung in relation to smoking, passive smoking, and socio-demographic variables.

We have undertaken an autopsy-based study to evaluate the etiologic importance of active and passive smoking, as well as socio-demographic variables, in the development of pathologic precursors of lung cancer. Lung specimens were taken at autopsy from 531 persons who had died within four hours from a cause other than respiratory or cancer in Athens (Greece) or the surrounding area. Specimens were examined blindly for basal cell hyperplasia, squamous cell metaplasia, cell atypia and mucous cell metaplasia, i.

A case-control study of endometrial cancer in relation to reproductive, somatometric, and life-style variables.

A hospital-based case-control study of cancer of the endometrium was conducted in Athens, Greece, from 1992 to 1994. The cases were 145 women residents of Greater Athens with histologically confirmed incident cancer of the endometrium, operated in the two cancer hospitals of the Greater Athens area or the major University Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Controls were 298 women residents of Greater Athens hospitalized for bone fractures or other orthopedic conditions in the accident hospital of Greater Athens.