Risk factors for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in health profession's students of the University of Parma.

Background And Aim Of The Work: Nowadays Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the major Public Health problems for several professional categories. According to Italian law, University students are compared to workers: the main risk for them is represented by biological risk, in particular by blood-transmitted or by air-transmitted agents. As for TB, many scientific studies demonstrated that prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in Medicine and Surgery students was lower than those in health workers and in general population.

Asbestos and smoking as risk factors for idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis: a case-control study.

Background: Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF) is a rare disease. Asbestos exposure has been proposed as a risk factor for idiopathic RPF.

Objective: To investigate the role of asbestos and other occupational agents (such as silica, metals, and organic solvents), as well as environmental agents (such as smoking), and their interactions as potential risk factors for idiopathic RPF.

YKL-40 and mesothelin in the blood of patients with malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis.

Background/aim: In the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma (MM) there still is a lack of specific and sensitive screening biomarkers: this study examined the discriminatory power of a panel of serum/plasma biomarkers.

Patients And Methods: The study involved four groups: (a) individuals previously exposed to asbestos with asbestosis; (b) patients with MM; (c) patients with non-small cell lung cancer; and (d) controls without any evidence of malignancy. The concentrations of mesothelin, chitinase-3-like-1 (YKL-40), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), endothelin-1, interleukin-8 (IL-8) and fibulin-3 in the serum of patients were determined.