Yellow fever vaccine 17D administered to healthy women aged between 40 and 54 years halves breast cancer risk: an observational study.

Transcripts of human endogenous retrovirus K are expressed in most breast cancers (BCs). Yellow fever vaccine 17D (YFV) expresses a protein with a closely homologous epitope. Cross-reactive immunity could hypothetically inhibit BC growth at least in women aged around 50 years at diagnosis, in whom the prognosis of BC was found to be better than that in women younger or older.

Lung cancer risk in past asbestos workers a few decades after exposure cessation and prospects for screening.

To ascertain whether the current risk of lung cancer in former asbestos workers was higher than in the general population, 1,557 past asbestos workers were recruited during statutory health examinations (from 2000 onward) and followed up for mortality. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated. Poisson regression was used to adjust the rate ratios (RRs) for confounders.

A worksite intervention to reduce the cardiovascular risk: proposal of a study design easy to integrate within Italian organization of occupational health surveillance.

Background: Despite the substantial amount of knowledge on effectiveness of worksite health promotion (WHP) in reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, WHP programs are not systematically applied in Italy. The aim was to design an intervention easy to integrate within the Italian organization of workplace health surveillance.

Methods: We used the "pretest-posttest design".

A rare occupation causing mesothelioma: mechanisms and differential etiology.

Background: In a mesothelioma lawsuit, the Public Prosecutor commissioned an expert evidence on the legal accountability for the disease, because the patient experienced multiple exposures to asbestos in both occupational and environmental settings.

Objectives: To collect information on asbestos exposure from all available sources and to quantify the contribution of each source of exposure as a percentage of the total risk.

Methods: We retrieved information on jobs done and asbestos exposure from a work colleague and a database maintained by the National Institute for Insurance of Occupational Accidents/Diseases, respectively.

Endotoxin and cancer chemo-prevention.

Reduced rates of lung cancer have been observed in several occupational groups exposed to high levels of organic dusts contaminated by endotoxin. The underlying anti-neoplastic mechanism of endotoxin may be an increased secretion of endogenous anti-neoplastic mediators and activation of the toll-like receptors (TLR). A detoxified endotoxin derivative, Monophosphoryl Lipid A (MPL(®)) is marketed in Europe since 1999 as part of the adjuvant systems in allergy vaccines for treatment of allergic rhino-conjunctivitis and allergic asthma.

Incidence of soft tissue sarcoma and beyond: a population-based prospective study in 3 European regions.

Background: The objectives of this study were to measure the incidence of sarcomas, including viscerally sited tumors that are not reported in cancer statistics, and to draw explanatory clues from a large and reliable sarcoma incidence data set.

Methods: Cases of sarcomas regardless of primary site (except bone and joints) were collected during 2 years in 3 European regions totaling approximately 26,000,000 person-years. The sources used were pathology reports and hospital discharges forms.

Leprosy reactions: the effect of gender and household contacts.

Various host-related factors have been reported as relevant risk factors for leprosy reactions. To support a new hypothesis that an antigenic load in local tissues that is sufficient to trigger the immune response may come from an external supply of Mycobacterium leprae organisms, the prevalence of reactional leprosy was assessed against the number of household contacts. The number of contacts was ascertained at diagnosis in leprosy patients coming from an endemic area of Brazil.

Work related injuries: estimating the incidence among illegally employed immigrants.

Background: Statistics on occupational accidents are based on data from registered employees. With the increasing number of immigrants employed illegally and/or without regular working visas in many developed countries, it is of interest to estimate the injury rate among such unregistered workers.

Findings: The current study was conducted in an area of North-Eastern Italy.

The evaluation of a health education campaign on the use of leave from work during pregnancy.

Background: The Italian Protective Maternity Legislation allows a woman to apply for early maternity leave from work during pregnancy if she is affected by health problems (option A) or if her working conditions are incompatible with pregnancy (option B). A community based health education program, implemented between 1995 to 1998 in North Eastern Italy, provided counseling (by a team of gynecologists, pediatricians, geneticists, psychologists and occupational physicians), and an information leaflet detailing the risks during pregnancy and the governmental benefits available to expectant mothers. This leaflet was distributed to women who were under occupational medical surveillance and to women attending any healthcare office and outpatient department and was also mailed to women working at home as shoemakers.

Maternal exposures and risk of spontaneous abortion before and after a community oriented health education campaign.

Background: In a district of Veneto (North-east Italy) where numerous females of childbearing age were occupationally exposed to organic solvents in nearly 400 shoe factories, a case-control study found significant associations between maternal exposures (from occupation and risky behavior) and spontaneous abortion (SAB). Thereafter, a health education campaign was undertaken to increase awareness of risk factors for pregnancy in the population. To evaluate the effects of this campaign maternal exposures and SAB risks were compared before and after the campaign.

Literature search on risk factors for sarcoma: PubMed and Google Scholar may be complementary sources.

Background: Within the context of a European network dedicated to the study of sarcoma the relevant literature on sarcoma risk factors was collected by searching PubMed and Google Scholar, the two information storage and retrieval databases which can be accessed without charge. The present study aims to appraise the relative proficiency of PubMed and Google Scholar.

Findings: Unlike PubMed, Google Scholar does not allow a choice between "Human" and "Animal" studies, nor between "Classical" and other types of studies.

A European project on incidence, treatment, and outcome of sarcoma.

Background: Sarcomas are rare tumors (1-2% of all cancers) of mesenchymal origin that may develop in soft tissues and viscera. Since the International Classification of Disease (ICD) attributes visceral sarcomas (VS) to the organ of origin, the incidence of sarcoma is grossly underestimated. The rarity of the disease and the variety of histological types (more than 70) or locations account for the difficulty in acquiring sufficient personal experience.

Epidemiological pattern of leprosy in an endemic area of North-East Brazil, 1996-2005: the supporting role of a Nongovernmental Organization.

In an endemic area of North-East Brazil (the town of Picos, State of Piauí), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) supported the activity against leprosy in connection with governmental health organizations and local agents. The indicators of leprosy elimination were compared over time (within Picos) and across space (Picos versus Piauí). The case detection rate, above 8 per 10,000 people in the last two years of observation, increased over time in Picos (p=0.

[Association between causes of lNPS compensated disability and occupational category (Veneto Region, 1994-2002): a surveillance method for occupational diseases?].

Background: According to Italian law, workers are insured against disability through the National Social Security Institute (INPS), whose records contain information on diseases causing disability and occupational histories.

Objectives: Using the INPS data, our objective was to identify any excess risk of disabling diseases in relation to the occupational categories.

Methods: Insurance covers all private sector employees, a small proportion of public sector employees, agricultural labourers, domestic workers, self-employed workers (craftsmen, commercial dealers,farmers), and few other occupational categories.

[Comparison of four measurements of sickness absence in workers in the Veneto Region: interpretation and applicability. Data from Italian National Social Security Institute, 1997-2002].

Background: In 2005, 52% of workers in the Veneto Region reported one or more sick leave spells in the previous 12 months, compared with 16% reported in the European Survey on Working Condition in 2000 (ESWC), although health conditions were better in the Veneto Region than in the ESWC.

Objectives: Since the above findings were based on answers to a questionnaire, we used an objective source of information in order to further investigate the problem.

Methods: The source of data consisted of the sick leave records of workers in the Veneto Region, 1997-2002, which were obtained from the Italian National Social Security Institute (INPS).

[Occupational injuries and sickness absence: association with job demand, decision latitude, and life style in 2174 workers in the Veneto Region].

Background: Stress was the most frequent (26,9%) health problem reported in a survey on the perception of working and health conditions in 5000 workers in the Veneto Region.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate in the Veneto Region the association between occupational stress and events occurred in the previous 12 months: occupational accidents, or sickness absence for 10 or more consecutive days.

Methods: Perceived occupational stress is correlated, according to Karasek's model, to high job demand (JD) and low decision latitude (DL).

[Working and health conditions and preventive measures in a random sample of 5000 workers in the Veneto Region examined by telephone interview].

Background: A survey was carried out in 2000 by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in a random sample of workers from 15 countries of the European Union in order to obtain information on occupational exposure, health problems and preventive measures taken at the workplaces.

Objectives: To obtain similar information in workers in the Veneto Region and compare the results with those of the third European Survey on Working Conditions (ESWC). The results of the survey on Veneto Region workers were further analyzed, investigating the distribution by risk factors in each work sector, and the association between risk factors and reported health problems.

Pattern and determinants of hospitalization during heat waves: an ecologic study.

Background: Numerous studies have investigated mortality during a heatwave, while few have quantified heat associated morbidity. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between hospital admissions and intensity, duration and timing of heatwave across the summer months.

Methods: The study area (Veneto Region, Italy) holds 4577408 inhabitants (on January 1st, 2003), and is subdivided in seven provinces with 60 hospitals and about 20000 beds for acute care.

Contrasting patterns of hospital admissions and mortality during heat waves: are deaths from circulatory disease a real excess or an artifact?

In old subjects exposed to extreme high temperature during a heat wave, studies have consistently reported an excess of death from cardio- or cerebro-vascular disease. By contrast, dehydration, heat stroke, acute renal insufficiency, and respiratory disease were the main causes of hospital admission in the two studies carried out in elderly during short spells of hot weather. The excess of circulatory disease reported by mortality studies, but not by morbidity studies, could be explained by the hypothesis that deaths from circulatory disease occur rapidly in isolated people before they reach a hospital.

Increased cancer risk among surgeons in an orthopaedic hospital.

Background: Five cancer cases over 7 years were reported in a small orthopaedic hospital where radiation protection practice was poor.

Aim: To investigate whether workers subject to routine radiation dosimetric assessment in that hospital had an increased cancer risk.

Methods: One hundred and fifty-eight workers subject to routine dose assessment and 158 age-sex-matched unexposed workers were questioned about cancer occurrence.

Lung cancer risk: effect of dairy farming and the consequence of removing that occupational exposure.

The aim of this study was to confirm the exposure-dependent reduction in lung cancer risk reported for dairy farmers exposed to endotoxin and to evaluate the consequence of leaving dairy farming and taking employment in industry or services, where exposure to microbial agents is lower. Standardized mortality ratios, with 95% confidence intervals, for 2,561 self-employed dairy farmers were estimated, considering the general population of Veneto, Italy, from 1970 to 1998 as the reference. Sixty-two lung cancer cases, whose information was checked against clinical records, were compared with 333 controls in a cohort-nested case-control study.

Increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis in vinyl chloride workers: synergistic effect of occupational exposure with alcohol intake.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver cirrhosis (LC) are not well-established vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)-induced diseases. Our aim was to appraise the role of VCM, alcohol intake, and viral hepatitis infection, and their interactions, in the etiology of HCC and LC. Thirteen cases of HCC and 40 cases of LC were separately compared with 139 referents without chronic liver diseases or cancer in a case-referent study nested in a cohort of 1,658 VCM workers.