Chlamydia trachomatis and risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or worse in women with persistent human papillomavirus infection: a cohort study.

Objectives: Some studies suggest that Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) enhances cervical carcinogenesis; however, a possible confounding effect of persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection was not addressed. We examined the potential role of CT infection in the development of subsequent cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or worse (CIN3+) in women with prevalent HPV infection and in a subgroup of women with persistent HPV infection.

Methods: Participants in this population-based cohort study underwent a structured interview, including history of CT infection, and subsequently cervical exfoliated cells were obtained for HPV DNA and CT DNA testing.

Risk for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or worse in relation to smoking among women with persistent human papillomavirus infection.

Background: Smoking has been associated with cervical cancer. We examined whether smoking increases the risk for high-grade cervical lesions in women with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.

Methods: In a population-based cohort study, 8,656 women underwent a structured interview, and subsequently cervical cells were obtained for HPV DNA testing.

Statistical power of disease cluster and clustering tests for rare diseases: a simulation study of point sources.

Two recent epidemiological studies on clustering of childhood leukemia showed different results on the statistical power of disease cluster and clustering tests, possibly an effect of spatial data aggregation. Eight different leukemia cluster scenarios were simulated using individual addresses of all 1,009,332 children living in Denmark in 2006. For each scenario, a number of point sources were defined with an increased risk ratio at centroid, decreasing linearly to 1.

Knowledge and attitude of final - year medical students in Germany towards palliative care - an interinstitutional questionnaire-based study.

Background: To care for terminally ill and dying patients requires a thorough medical education, encompassing skills, knowledge, and attitudes in the field of palliative care. Undergraduate medical students in Germany will receive mandatory teaching in palliative care in the near future driven by recent changes in the Medical Licensure Act. Before new curricula can be implemented, the knowledge of medical students with respect to palliative care, their confidence to handle palliative care situations correctly, their therapeutic attitude, and their subjective assessment about previous teaching practices have to be better understood.

Spatial clustering of leukemia and type 1 diabetes in children in Denmark.

It has been proposed that type 1 diabetes (T1D) and leukemia in children may cluster in space and time due to common spatially mediated etiologies. We investigated this hypothesis and clustering of both diseases separately in Danish children aged 0-14 years, using 1,168 leukemia cases diagnosed in the period 1980-2006, 2,443 T1D cases diagnosed 1996-2006, and population-based controls matched on age, gender, and time of diagnosis. Residential histories from birth to diagnosis were collected.

Integrated genetic and epigenetic analysis of bladder cancer reveals an additive diagnostic value of FGFR3 mutations and hypermethylation events.

The bladder cancer genome harbors numerous oncogenic mutations and aberrantly methylated gene promoters. The aim of our study was to generate a profile of these alterations and investigate their use as biomarkers in urine sediments for noninvasive detection of bladder cancer. We systematically screened FGFR3, PIK3CA, TP53, HRAS, NRAS and KRAS for mutations and quantitatively assessed the methylation status of APC, ARF, DBC1, INK4A, RARB, RASSF1A, SFRP1, SFRP2, SFRP4, SFRP5 and WIF1 in a prospective series of tumor biopsies (N = 105) and urine samples (N = 113) from 118 bladder tumor patients.

Spatial clustering and space-time clusters of leukemia among children in Germany, 1987-2007.

Leukemia is the most frequent malignancy in children under the age of 15 years. The question of whether childhood leukemia has a tendency for clustering or forms clusters has been studied for several decades. The environmental risk factor discussed most often is infection, which might result in spatial clustering and space-time clusters.

Testicular germ cell cancer incidence in an immigration perspective, Denmark, 1978 to 2003.

Purpose: The incidence rate of testicular germ cell cancer in Denmark increased up to the 1990s to become among the highest in the world. Since recently rate stabilization was suggested, we determined whether it is due to an increasing number of immigrants at lower risk for this cancer.

Materials And Methods: The immigration status of more than 3.

An evaluation of exposure metrics in an epidemiologic study on radio and television broadcast transmitters and the risk of childhood leukemia.

Electric field strength values calculated by wave propagation modeling were applied as an exposure metric in a case-control study conducted in Germany to investigate a possible association between radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) emitted from television and radio broadcast transmitters and the risk of childhood leukemia. To validate this approach it was examined at 850 measurement sites whether calculated RF-EMF are an improvement to an exposure proxy based on distance from the place of residence to a transmitter. Further, the agreement between measured and calculated RF-EMF was explored.

Childhood leukemia in relation to radio frequency electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of TV and radio broadcast transmitters.

A case-control study of radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) and childhood leukemia was conducted in West Germany. The study region included municipalities near high-power radio and TV broadcast towers, including 16 amplitude-modulated and 8 frequency-modulated transmitters. Cases were aged 0-14 years, were diagnosed with leukemia between 1984 and 2003, and were registered at the German Childhood Cancer Registry.

Social inequality and incidence of and survival from tumours of the central nervous system in a population-based study in Denmark, 1994-2003.

We investigated the effects of socioeconomic, demographic and health-related indicators on the incidence of and survival from tumours of the central nervous system (CNS) diagnosed in 1994-2003 with follow-up through 2006 in Denmark using information from nationwide Danish administrative registers. The analyses were based on data on 5622 patients with CNS tumours in a cohort of 2.7 million people born between 1925 and 1973 and aged >or=30 years.

Case-control study on childhood cancer in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Germany 1980-2003.

The 1984 Windscale study raised concern about a possible association between living in the vicinity of nuclear power plants and childhood cancer. No such effect for all cancers was seen in ecological studies in Germany (1980-1995). Results from exploratory analyses led to a new study.

Leukaemia in young children living in the vicinity of German nuclear power plants.

A case control study was conducted where cases were children younger than 5 years (diseased between 1980 and 2003) registered at the german childhood cancer registry (GCCR). Population-based matched controls (1:3) were selected from the corresponding registrar's office. Residential proximity to the nearest nuclear power plant was determined for each subject individually (with a precision of about 25 m).