A Topical Depigmentation Program Against Hyperpigmentation Enhances the Benefits of Previously Performed Chemical Peeling Procedures of the Face.

Chemical peeling can reduce skin hyperpigmentation; however, once exhausted its thinning action, the depigmentation process does not continue further. We carried out a monocentric, prospective, noncontrolled study aimed at the evaluation of the efficacy, safety, ease of use, pleasantness, and tolerability of a depigmentation topical treatment program in women submitted to a previous chemical peeling. The topical treatment has been administered daily for 30 days to 16 women submitted to a chemical peeling containing a fixed-dose combination of salicylic acid, pyruvic acid, and retinoic acid within 7 days before study inclusion.

The short-term supplementation of monacolin K improves the lipid and metabolic patterns of hypertensive and hypercholesterolemic subjects at low cardiovascular risk.

Background - The clinical hypocholesterolemic effect of nutraceutical compounds (NCs) containing red yeast rice extracts providing a daily dose of 2.5-10 mg of monacolin K is now well established. For this reason, NCs may be a viable alternative to the statin drugs commonly used to lower cholesterol levels.

Risk of leukaemia and residential exposure to air pollution in an industrial area in Northern Italy: a case-control study.

Leukaemia risk in adult populations exposed to environmental air pollution is poorly investigated. We have carried out a population-based case-control study in an area that included a fossil fuel power plant, a coke oven and two big chemical industries. Information on residential history and several risk factors for leukaemia was obtained from 164 cases, diagnosed between 2002 and 2005, and 279 controls.

Effect of a homeopathic-complex medicine on state and trait anxiety and sleep disorders: a retrospective observational study.

Purpose: The primary objective of this open-label, retrospective, observational study was to examine change in indicators of anxiety changed after treatment period of at least 1 month with the homeopathic-complex medicine Datif-PC(®). A secondary objective was to describe the quantitative changes in the sleep pattern of the subjects included in the study.

Methods: The study population consisted of 71 subjects suffering from mild to moderate anxiety, who were treated with a homeopathic-complex medicine.

Observational study of the use of Symphytum 5CH in the management of pain and swelling after dental implant surgery.

Objective: To assess the effect of Symphytum 5CH on the postoperative pain and swelling after placement of a titanium dental implant.

Material And Methods: Data on pain and swelling following pure titanium implants were reviewed. Patients were treated postoperatively with ketoprofen only or ketoprofen and Symphytum 5CH, according to the treating dentist's usual practice.

One dose of an MF59-adjuvanted pandemic A/H1N1 vaccine recruits pre-existing immune memory and induces the rapid rise of neutralizing antibodies.

Protective antibody responses to a single dose of 2009 pandemic vaccines have been observed in the majority of healthy subjects aged more than 3 years. These findings suggest that immune memory lymphocytes primed by previous exposure to seasonal influenza antigens are recruited in the response to A/H1N1 pandemic vaccines and allow rapid seroconversion. However, a clear dissection of the immune memory components favoring a fast response to pandemic vaccination is still lacking.

Assessment of intestinal permeability using sugar probes: influence of urinary volume.

Background: As the accuracy of the "Sugar Test" is currently debated, this study was conducted to focus on how urine volumes may impact the test results.

Methods: Fifty-five subjects, 23 healthy and 32 with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), were enrolled. Lactulose and D-mannitol dissolved in water were administered to all the participating subjects; the urine excreted was collected and the total urine volume was measured.

Survival of peritoneal malignant mesothelioma in Italy: a population-based study.

In some population-based studies, a shorter median survival was observed in peritoneal as compared with pleural, malignant mesothelioma, but in others, longer median survival times or higher proportions of long-term survivors were reported. Statistical instability could have caused these differences. We analyzed survival in peritoneal mesothelioma in a large and unselected population-based case series.

Survival of pleural malignant mesothelioma in Italy: a population-based study.

A median survival time of about 9 months is generally reported among malignant pleural mesothelioma cases. Recently, better results in terms of survival and performance status have been reported in clinical trials that included highly selected patients. We describe the survival of pleural mesothelioma patients and the factors predictive of survival in an unselected, population-based setting.

Reanalysis of updated mortality among vinyl and polyvinyl chloride workers: Confirmation of historical evidence and new findings.

Background: The production of vinyl chloride (VC) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) involves the use of various chemicals, some known to be toxic and potentially or definitely carcinogenic. The related potential risk often has not been properly investigated. Updated cancer mortality among different subgroups of workers employed in a VC-PVC production plant located in Porto Marghera (Italy) was re-analyzed using an internal reference group of workers with low (or null) exposure to VC.

Analysis of latency time and its determinants in asbestos related malignant mesothelioma cases of the Italian register.

Italy was an important producer of raw asbestos until 1992 (when it was banned) and it is now experiencing severe public health consequences due to large-scale industrial use of asbestos in shipbuilding and repair, asbestos-cement production, railways, buildings, chemicals and many other industrial sectors. Latency of malignant mesothelioma generally shows a large variability and the relationship with the modality of asbestos exposure is still not fully clarified. We present an analysis of latency period among the case list collected by the Italian mesothelioma register (ReNaM) in the period of diagnosis 1993-2001 (2544 malignant mesothelioma (MM) cases with asbestos exposure history).

A modification to the flow method to estimate completeness in cancer registries with delayed registration.

Objective: For registries that routinely delay case registration, the flow method does not accurately describe their completeness over time. A modification to allow for such a delay is proposed and tested.

Methods: Using original data set from Ticino Cancer Registry, Switzerland, a new data set (the delayed data set) was created by adding two years to the date of registration for each case in the original data set, to emulate the situation in a registry where registration is delayed by two years.

Unexpected additional increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer among a recent birth cohort in Switzerland.

Data collected by the Swiss Cancer Registries Network (ASRT/VSKR) have been used to analyse trends in thyroid cancer during the last available 20 years, to make within-country geographical comparisons for current incidence rates. Age-standardized (European population) incidence rates per 100,000 for all morphologies combined ranges from 1.62 to 2.

Asbestos exposure and cancer mortality among petroleum refinery workers: a Poisson regression analysis of updated data.

The authors investigated the relationship between asbestos exposure and respiratory cancer mortality among maintenance workers and other blue-collar workers at an Italian oil refinery. The cohort contained 931 men, 29,511 person-years, and 489 deaths. Poisson regression analysis using white-collar workers as an internal referent group provided relative risk estimates (RRs) for main causes of death, adjusted for age, age at hiring, calendar period, length of exposure, and latency.

Predictions of mortality from pleural mesothelioma in Italy: a model based on asbestos consumption figures supports results from age-period-cohort models.

Italy was the second main asbestos producer in Europe, after the Soviet Union, until the end of the 1980s, and raw asbestos was imported on a large scale until 1992. The Italian pattern of asbestos consumption lags on average about 10 years behind the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries. Measures to reduce exposure were introduced in the mid-1970s in some workplaces.

Epidemiology of pleural mesothelioma in Italy.

The incidence of malignant mesothelioma (MM) in Italy is increasing and is assumed to be a consequence of high levels of asbestos exposure. Establishment of the National Mesothelioma Registry (ReNaM) and the co-operation of five regional centers has allowed the estimation of the incidence of malignant mesothelioma in major parts of Italy and the definition of exposure to asbestos.

Pleural mesothelioma incidence in Europe: evidence of some deceleration in the increasing trends.

Objective: To summarize the geographical and temporal variations in incidence of pleural mesothelioma in Europe, using the extensive data available from European general cancer registries, and consider these in light of recent trends in asbestos extraction, use and import in European countries.

Material And Methods: The data were extracted from the European Cancer Incidence and Mortality database (EUROCIM). The inclusion criteria was acceptance in Volume VII of Cancer Incidence in Five Continents.

[Reanalysis of mortality in a petrochemical plant producing vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride].

Objective: To study cancer mortality among main subgroups of workers employed in VC/PVC production potentially exposed to toxics and carcinogens.

Materials And Methods: We reanalyzed the mortality of 1,658 males (follow up 1972-1995; 35,626 person years; 170 deaths) by Poisson regression, adjusting for age, age at hiring, calendar period, length of exposure and latency. We calculated the relative risks (RR) and the 95% confidence intervals (CI) for PVC baggers (n.

Serum anti-p53 autoantibodies in pleural malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer and non-neoplastic lung diseases.

Alterations of the p53 gene may lead to the production of detectable autoantibodies (p53-Abs) in cancer patients. In order to evaluate the association of p53-Abs with pleuropulmonary diseases, four groups of subjects were analyzed by ELISA for serum p53-Abs, in the framework of a molecular epidemiologic study. Two of 30 pleural malignant mesothelioma patients (MM; 6.