Prospective, multicenter, randomized trial of a new organizational modality for providing information and support to cancer patients.

Purpose: No structured modality for providing information and support to patients in oncology wards has been validated in clinical trials.

Methods: This is a pragmatic, two-arm, cluster randomized trial, with the oncology ward as random assignment unit. Centers were allocated to implement a Point of Information and Support (PIS) or to a control group.

Prostate cancer and exposure to pesticides in agricultural settings.

Our study evaluates the association between prostate cancer and exposure to pesticides in agricultural settings in Italy. The data were derived from a hospital-based multi-site case-control study carried out in 5 rural areas between 1990-92. In our study, 124 new cases of prostate cancer were ascertained and interviewed, along with 659 cancer controls.

Cancer risk among female agricultural workers: a multi-center case-control study.

Background: Cancer risk among women engaged in farming has been poorly investigated. This group of female workers is of particular interest, however, since they may experience exposure to several potential agricultural hazards.

Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted in five Italian rural areas to examine the association between cancer and farming among women.

[The mortality among the makers of vinyl chloride in Italy].

A mortality study was performed on 5,946 vinyl chloride (VC)-polyvinyl chloride (PVC) workers of the nine Italian plants. The aims of the study were to investigate the cause-specific mortality of workers exposed to VC in production and polymerization stages and to ascertain whether exposure is associated with a higher risk of cancers other than liver angiosarcoma. An incident cohort was enumerated in five plants, a mixed cohort in two and a cross sectional one in the remaining two facilities.

Mortality from liver disease among Italian vinyl chloride monomer/polyvinyl chloride manufacturers.

The possible association in humans between nonangiosarcoma primary liver tumors (PLC-non-A), particularly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and exposure to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) is supported by both experimental and human data. This article presents a review of the information regarding 253 deaths that occurred in seven plants manufacturing VCM/PVC and one plant extruding PVC. The retrieval of clinical and pathological data, in addition to the information from death certificate, is referred to as "best evidence" (BE).

A cohort study on vinyl chloride manufacturers in Italy: study design and preliminary results.

A cohort mortality study of 5000 vinyl chloride manufacturers is ongoing in 9 Italian plants. They represent the entire workforce of those ever employed in the production of the monomer and its polymerization. The objectives of the study are to investigate the mortality of the exposed population and to clear up the carcinogenic spectrum of vinyl chloride.

Two cases of liver angiosarcoma among polyvinyl chloride (PVC) extruders of an Italian factory producing PVC bags and other containers.

Two cases are reported of liver angiosarcoma occurring among polyvinyl chloride (PVC) extruders from a small Italian factory producing PVC bags and other containers. The possibility that PVC extrusion carries a risk of liver angiosarcoma is important because of the very large number of people working with extruding, manufacturing and handling PVC, as compared with the number of people working in PVC polymerization and/or VC production. In the past, the level of vinyl chloride (VC) concentration in PVC extrusion workplaces has been thought to be "safe".