Experimental research has uncovered lipocalin 2 (LCN2) as a novel biomarker implicated in the modulation of intestinal inflammation, metabolic homeostasis, and colon carcinogenesis. However, evidence from human research has been scant. We, therefore, explored the association of pre-diagnostic circulating LCN2 concentrations with incident colorectal cancer (CRC) in a nested case-control study within the in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain abscesses are severe focal infections of the central nervous system. We report the case of a 37-year-old patient with a recent diagnosis of HIV, who presented with weakness in the left arm that progressed to left hemiplegia, ipsilateral paresthesia, holo cranial headache, fever accompanied by chills, and left tonic-clonic movements. A craniectomy and lesion resection were performed along with antimicrobial treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSevere alcoholic hepatitis is the most lethal complication in alcohol dependent patients. The concurrence of infections in these patients is very frequent. Both produce a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), secondary to intense release of inflammatory cytokines, which can complicate the diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Heavy alcohol consumption causes several organic complications, including vessel wall calcification. Vascular damage may be involved in the development of brain atrophy and cognitive impairment. Recently, sclerostin (whose levels may be altered in alcoholics) has emerged as a major vascular risk factor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of this article was to assess the cost-effectiveness of screening strategies for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). A decision analytic model was constructed to estimate the costs and benefits of one-off screening strategies differentiated by screening age, sex and the threshold for initiating statin therapy ("uniform" or "age-adjusted") from the Spanish NHS perspective. The age-adjusted thresholds were configured so that the same number of people at high risk would be treated as under the uniform threshold.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Standard care for cutaneous melanoma includes an accurate pathology report (PR) and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for staging clinically node-negative >1 mm melanomas. We aimed to investigate the frequency of these indicators across European countries, also assessing consequences for survival. Methods: We analyzed 4245 melanoma cases diagnosed in six European countries in 2009−2013.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Accelerated reproductive aging, in women indicated by early natural menopause, is associated with increased coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in observational studies. Conversely, an adverse CHD risk profile has been suggested to accelerate menopause.
Objectives: To study the direction and evidence for causality of the relationship between reproductive aging and (non-)fatal CHD and CHD risk factors in a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, using age at natural menopause (ANM) genetic variants as a measure for genetically determined reproductive aging in women.
Background: CA125 is the best available yet insufficiently sensitive biomarker for early detection of ovarian cancer. There is a need to identify novel biomarkers, which individually or in combination with CA125 can achieve adequate sensitivity and specificity for the detection of earlier-stage ovarian cancer.
Methods: In the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort, we measured serum levels of 92 preselected proteins for 91 women who had blood sampled ≤18 months prior to ovarian cancer diagnosis, and 182 matched controls.
Background: Unhealthy diets, the rise of non-communicable diseases, and the declining health of the planet are highly intertwined, where food production and consumption are major drivers of increases in greenhouse gas emissions, substantial land use, and adverse health such as cancer and mortality. To assess the potential co-benefits from shifting to more sustainable diets, we aimed to investigate the associations of dietary greenhouse gas emissions and land use with all-cause and cause-specific mortality and cancer incidence rates.
Methods: Using data from 443 991 participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, a multicentre prospective cohort, we estimated associations between dietary contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and land use and all-cause and cause-specific mortality and incident cancers using Cox proportional hazards regression models.
Experimental evidence has implicated genotoxic () and enterotoxigenic (ETBF) in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, evidence from epidemiological studies is sparse. We therefore assessed the association of serological markers of and ETBF exposure with odds of developing CRC in the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer (EPIC) study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The management regarding metastatic colorectal cancer throughout Europe is not well known.
Aims: To draw a European comparison of the management and prognosis of metastatic colorectal cancers.
Methods: Factors associated with chemotherapy administration were identified through logistic regressions.
Background: This study provides updated information on Kaposi sarcoma (KS) in Europe during 1995-2007 from the RARECARENet project.
Methods: Data comes from 59 population-based cancer registries in 22 countries. KS was defined as ICD-O-3 morphology code 9140 combined with any topography code.
COVID-19 constitutes the largest pandemic in the last 100 years. In view of the rapid spread of the virus, it is necessary to study the sociodemographic characteristics, hygiene habits, activity and mobility, and comorbidities of SARS-CoV-2 infection to be able to implement prevention strategies. For this purpose, a survey including the variables of interest was designed to try to understand the exponential spread of the virus despite the implemented severe restrictive mobility measures during the period of maximum confinement in Spain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Epidemiol
February 2020
Ethanol increases iron absorption. Therefore, increased amount of iron reaches the liver, and exerts pro-oxidant effects and stimulates ferritin synthesis and hepatic stellate cell activation, promoting fibrosis and inflammation. These mechanisms would theoretically support a role of ferritin as a marker of the transition to liver cirrhosis, and, consequently, as a prognostic factor, but there is controversy regarding its behavior in alcoholics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPopulation-based cancer registry data from three Spanish areas were used to assess the patterns of care and adherence to guidelines for cutaneous malignant melanoma. We included 934 cases diagnosed in 2009-2013. Completeness of the pathology reports, imaging for detecting distant metastasis and the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) were analysed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlcohol consumption is associated with higher risk of breast cancer (BC); however, the biological mechanisms underlying this association are not fully elucidated, particularly the extent to which this relationship is mediated by sex hormone levels. Circulating concentrations of estradiol, testosterone, their free fractions and sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG), were examined in 430 incident BC cases and 645 matched controls among alcohol-consuming postmenopausal women nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Mediation analysis was applied to assess whether individual hormone levels mediated the relationship between alcohol intake and BC risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClassical epidemiology has focused on the control of confounding, but it is only recently that epidemiologists have started to focus on the bias produced by colliders. A collider for a certain pair of variables (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev
July 2018
Neoplastic and non-neoplastic events may raise levels of mucins, CA15.3, and CA125, and generate antibodies against them, but their impact on epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk has not been fully defined. CA15.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The relationship between coffee consumption and mortality in diverse European populations with variable coffee preparation methods is unclear.
Objective: To examine whether coffee consumption is associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Aims: Alcoholic hepatitis is a severe complication of alcoholism, associated with high short-term mortality. Although pathogenesis remains obscure, it is generally accepted that lipopolysaccharide-induced cytokine secretion with further generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) play outstanding roles. Prognosis is uncertain, and the usually employed prognostic scores do not include variables related to ROS generation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Rare cancers represent 22% of all tumors in Europe; however, the quality of the data of rare cancers may not be as good as the quality of data for common cancer. The project surveillance of rare cancers in Europe (RARECARE) had, among others, the objective of assessing rare cancer data quality in population-based cancer registries (CRs). Eight rare cancers were considered: mesothelioma, liver angiosarcoma, sarcomas, tumors of oral cavity, CNS tumors, germ cell tumors, leukemia, and malignant digestive endocrine tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Survival differences across Europe for patients with cancers of breast, uterus, cervix, ovary, vagina and vulva have been documented by previous EUROCARE studies. In the present EUROCARE-5 study we update survival estimates and investigate changes in country-specific and over time survival, discussing their relationship with incidence and mortality dynamics for cancers for which organised screening programs are ongoing.
Methods: We analysed cases archived in over 80 population-based cancer registries in 29 countries grouped into five European regions.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev
June 2015
Background: Evidence suggests an etiologic role for inflammation in ovarian carcinogenesis and heterogeneity between tumor subtypes and anthropometric indices. Prospective studies on circulating inflammatory markers and epithelial invasive ovarian cancer (EOC) have predominantly investigated overall risk; data characterizing risk by tumor characteristics (histology, grade, stage, dualistic model of ovarian carcinogenesis) and anthropometric indices are sparse.
Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort to evaluate C-reactive protein (CRP), IL6, and EOC risk by tumor characteristics.