Publications by authors named "Charles S Rabkin"

Background: Aspirin and statins have been suggested to have potential chemopreventive effects against gastric cancer (GC), although the results of previous studies have been inconsistent. This study therefore aimed to investigate the association between the use of aspirin and statins and GC.

Methods: A pooled analysis of seven case-control studies within the Stomach Cancer Pooling Project, including 3220 cases and 9752 controls, was conducted.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Prophages significantly influence the characteristics of pathogenic bacteria, yet their ecological and evolutionary roles, particularly in bacteria linked to gastric cancer, are not well understood.
  • A comprehensive analysis of 1,011 complete clinical genomes revealed that 29.5% contain prophages, with only 32.2% being complete, and their distribution varies by geography and ancestry but not by the disease status of hosts.
  • The study uncovered mechanisms of prophage inactivation and proposed a new model for regulating the lysogenic-lytic cycle, providing a deeper understanding of how prophages impact bacterial genetics and adaptation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Anemia is an independent predictor of mortality, which may be utilized as a signal of deteriorating health. We estimated the association between anemia severity categories and mortality following the initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people with HIV (PWH) in North America.

Methods: Within the NA-ACCORD, annual median hemoglobin measurements between 01/01/2007-12/31/2016 were categorized using World Health Organization criteria into mild (11.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dietary folate intake has been identified as a potentially modifiable factor of gastric cancer (GC) risk, although the evidence is still inconsistent. We evaluate the association between dietary folate intake and the risk of GC as well as the potential modification effect of alcohol consumption. We pooled data for 2829 histologically confirmed GC cases and 8141 controls from 11 case-control studies from the international Stomach Cancer Pooling Consortium.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Eosinophils exhibit anti-tumor cytotoxic responses in the tumor microenvironment and may contribute to tumor immunosurveillance. To assess the relationship between circulating eosinophils and cancer risk, we analyzed data from 443,542 adults aged 38-73 in the UK Biobank, who were initially cancer-free, had over a year of follow-up, and baseline white blood cell count measurements. Using multivariable Cox regression, we estimated hazard ratios (aHR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for each quartile increase in absolute eosinophil count (AEC) across 58 cancer types, adjusting for relevant confounders.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Gastric cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. The identification of gastric cancer subtypes related to recognizable microbial agents may play a pivotal role in the targeted prevention and treatment of this cancer. The current study is conducted to define the frequency of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in gastric cancers of four major provinces, with different incidence rates of gastric cancers, in Iran.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The peripheral white blood cell (WBC) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) reflect levels of inflammation and adaptive immunity. They are associated with cancer prognosis, but their associations with cancer incidence are not established.

Methods: We evaluated 443,540 cancer-free adults in the UK Biobank with data on total WBC and its subsets, follow-up starting one year after baseline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Previous studies suggest that dietary vitamin C is inversely associated with gastric cancer (GC), but most of them did not consider intake of fruit and vegetables. Thus, we aimed to evaluate this association within the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) Project, a consortium of epidemiological studies on GC.

Methods: Fourteen case-control studies were included in the analysis (5362 cases, 11,497 controls).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Gastric cancer is more common in men, and this study explores whether reproductive factors and menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) might protect women from it.
  • The analysis included over 2,000 individuals with gastric cancer and more than 7,000 controls across various studies, revealing that longer fertility duration and MHT use may reduce cancer risk in women.
  • The findings suggest a link between reproductive health and decreased gastric cancer risk, highlighting the need for further research on hormonal effects in different stages of a woman’s life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Helicobacter pylori, a dominant member of the gastric microbiota, shares co-evolutionary history with humans. This has led to the development of genetically distinct H. pylori subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host and with differential gastric disease risk.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hospital readmission trends for persons with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH) in North America in the context of policy changes, improved antiretroviral therapy (ART), and aging are not well-known. We examined readmissions during 2005-2018 among adult PWH in NA-ACCORD.

Methods: Linear risk regression estimated calendar trends in 30-day readmissions, adjusted for demographics, CD4 count, AIDS history, virologic suppression (<400 copies/mL), and cohort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The updated Sydney system biopsy protocol (USSBP) standardizes the sampling of gastric biopsies for the detection of preneoplastic conditions (e.g., gastric intestinal metaplasia [GIM]), but the real-world diagnostic yield is not well-described.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Yoghurt can modify gastrointestinal disease risk, possibly acting on gut microbiota. Our study aimed at exploring the under-investigated association between yoghurt and gastric cancer (GC).

Methods: We pooled data from 16 studies from the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Gastric cancer is the fourth deadliest cancer worldwide. Due to the lack of specific early symptoms and noninvasive methods for early detection, the prognosis of gastric cancer patients is poor. Gastric cancer has a well-recognized infectious etiology, with and Epstein-Barr Virus being the main associated infectious agents.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To characterize the prevalence of anemia and risk factors between 2007 and 2017 for moderate/severe anemia among people with HIV (PWH) in North America who have initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Design: Observational study of participants in the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design (NA-ACCORD).

Methods: We estimated the annual prevalence between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2017 of mild (11.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Chronic Helicobacter pylori infection may induce gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM). We compared anti-H. pylori antibody profiles between IM cases and non-atrophic gastritis (NAG) controls.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Describe engagement in HIV care over time after initial engagement in HIV care, by gender identity.

Design: Observational, clinical cohort study of people with HIV engaged in routine HIV care across the United States.

Methods: We followed people with HIV who linked to and engaged in clinical care (attending ≥2 visits in 12 months) in cohorts in the North American Transgender Cohort Collaboration, 2000-2018.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

: Inconsistent findings have been reported regarding the relationship between dietary iron intake and the risk of gastric cancer (GC). : We pooled data from 11 case-control studies from the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project. Total dietary iron intake was derived from food frequency questionnaires combined with national nutritional tables.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The causal pathway between high education and reduced risk of gastric cancer (GC) has not been explained. The study aimed at evaluating the mediating role of lifestyle factors on the relationship between education and GC METHODS: Ten studies with complete data on education and five lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol drinking, fruit and vegetable intake, processed meat intake and salt consumption) were selected from a consortium of studies on GC including 4349 GC cases and 8441 controls. We created an a priori score based on the five lifestyle factors, and we carried out a counterfactual-based mediation analysis to decompose the total effect of education on GC into natural direct effect and natural indirect effect mediated by the combined lifestyle factors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Evidence from epidemiological studies on the role of tea drinking in gastric cancer risk remains inconsistent. We aimed to investigate and quantify the relationship between tea consumption and gastric cancer in the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) Project consortium.

Methods: A total of 9438 cases and 20,451 controls from 22 studies worldwide were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Previous studies show that consuming foods preserved by salting increases the risk of gastric cancer, while results on the association between total salt or added salt and gastric cancer are less consistent and vary with the exposure considered. This study aimed to quantify the association between dietary salt exposure and gastric cancer, using an individual participant data meta-analysis of studies participating in the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) Project.

Methods: Data from 25 studies (10,283 cases and 24,643 controls) from the StoP Project with information on salt taste preference (tasteless, normal, salty), use of table salt (never, sometimes, always), total sodium intake (tertiles of grams/day), and high-salt and salt-preserved foods intake (tertiles of grams/day) were used.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Independent of CD4 cell count, a low CD4/CD8 ratio in people with HIV (PWH) is associated with deleterious immune senescence, activation, and inflammation, which may contribute to carcinogenesis and excess cancer risk. We examined whether low CD4/CD8 ratios predicted cancer among PWH in the United States and Canada.

Methods: We examined all cancer-free PWH with 1 or more CD4/CD8 values from North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design observational cohorts with validated cancer diagnoses between 1998 and 2016.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF