Genetic Contributions to The Association Between Adult Height and Head and Neck Cancer: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis.

With the aim to dissect the effect of adult height on head and neck cancer (HNC), we use the Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to test the association between genetic instruments for height and the risk of HNC. 599 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified as genetic instruments for height, accounting for 16% of the phenotypic variation. Genetic data concerning HNC cases and controls were obtained from a genome-wide association study.

Lung cancer and socioeconomic status in a pooled analysis of case-control studies.

Background: An association between low socioeconomic status (SES) and lung cancer has been observed in several studies, but often without adequate control for smoking behavior. We studied the association between lung cancer and occupationally derived SES, using data from the international pooled SYNERGY study.

Methods: Twelve case-control studies from Europe and Canada were included in the analysis.

Gene set enrichment analysis and expression pattern exploration implicate an involvement of neurodevelopmental processes in bipolar disorder.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a common and highly heritable disorder of mood. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several independent susceptibility loci. In order to extract more biological information from GWAS data, multi-locus approaches represent powerful tools since they utilize knowledge about biological processes to integrate functional sets of genes at strongly to moderately associated loci.

Genetic Variants Related to Longer Telomere Length are Associated with Increased Risk of Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Relative telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes has been evaluated as a potential biomarker for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) risk in several studies, with conflicting findings.

Objective: We performed an analysis of genetic variants associated with leukocyte telomere length to assess the relationship between telomere length and RCC risk using Mendelian randomization, an approach unaffected by biases from temporal variability and reverse causation that might have affected earlier investigations.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Genotypes from nine telomere length-associated variants for 10 784 cases and 20 406 cancer-free controls from six genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of RCC were aggregated into a weighted genetic risk score (GRS) predictive of leukocyte telomere length.

Mesothelioma continues to increase even 40 years after exposure - Evidence from long-term epidemiological observation.

Background: Because asbestos dust is considered one of the most dangerous types of dust for people's health, issues related to the effects of asbestos exposure still remain questions about the role of cessation of exposure.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the importance of temporal patterns, especially the time since the end of exposure in the risk of pleural mesothelioma.

Methods: A total of 131 patients with pleural mesothelioma and 655 frequency matched by gender and year of birth controls enrolled in the health surveillance programme for asbestos-related diseases over the years 2000-2014, were included in the analysis.

Genome-wide association study identifies multiple risk loci for renal cell carcinoma.

Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified six risk loci for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We conducted a meta-analysis of two new scans of 5,198 cases and 7,331 controls together with four existing scans, totalling 10,784 cases and 20,406 controls of European ancestry. Twenty-four loci were tested in an additional 3,182 cases and 6,301 controls.

Long-term epidemiological observation of asbestos-related diseases in Poland, 1970-2015.

Background: Occupational exposure to asbestos constitutes a major public health concern. Despite this in many countries, data and registration systems for occupational asbestos-related diseases are non-existent or poorly developed.

Aims: To analyse the incidence of occupational asbestos-related diseases in Poland between the years 1970 and 2015, with particular emphasis on the periods after introduction of a ban on asbestos and following introduction of a surveillance programme.

Spirometry: a predictor of lung cancer among asbestos workers.

Objective: The significance of lung function as an independent risk factor for lung cancer remains unclear. The objective of the study is to answer the question if spirometry can identify patients at risk for lung cancer among people occupationally exposed to asbestos dust in the past.

Methods: In order to identify a group of individuals with the highest risk of lung cancer incidence based on lung function levels of FEV% predicted value, we examined 6882 subjects enrolled in the health surveillance program for asbestos related diseases over the years 2000-2014.

Exposure-Response Analyses of Asbestos and Lung Cancer Subtypes in a Pooled Analysis of Case-Control Studies.

Background: Evidence is limited regarding risk and the shape of the exposure-response curve at low asbestos exposure levels. We estimated the exposure-response for occupational asbestos exposure and assessed the joint effect of asbestos exposure and smoking by sex and lung cancer subtype in general population studies.

Methods: We pooled 14 case-control studies conducted in 1985-2010 in Europe and Canada, including 17,705 lung cancer cases and 21,813 controls with detailed information on tobacco habits and lifetime occupations.

Alcohol and lung cancer risk among never smokers: A pooled analysis from the international lung cancer consortium and the SYNERGY study.

It is not clear whether alcohol consumption is associated with lung cancer risk. The relationship is likely confounded by smoking, complicating the interpretation of previous studies. We examined the association of alcohol consumption and lung cancer risk in a large pooled international sample, minimizing potential confounding of tobacco consumption by restricting analyses to never smokers.

Lung Cancer Among Firefighters: Smoking-Adjusted Risk Estimates in a Pooled Analysis of Case-Control Studies.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore lung cancer risk among firefighters, with adjustment for smoking.

Methods: We used pooled information from the SYNERGY project including 14 case-control studies conducted in Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and China, with lifetime work histories and smoking habits for 14,748 cases of lung cancer and 17,543 controls. We estimated odds ratios by unconditional logistic regression with adjustment for smoking and having ever been employed in a job known to present an excess risk of lung cancer.

Genome-wide association analyses identify new susceptibility loci for oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer.

We conducted a genome-wide association study of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer in 6,034 cases and 6,585 controls from Europe, North America and South America. We detected eight significantly associated loci (P < 5 × 10), seven of which are new for these cancer sites. Oral and pharyngeal cancers combined were associated with loci at 6p21.

Medical monitoring of asbestos-exposed workers: experience from Poland.

In Poland, the use of asbestos was banned in 1997 and asbestos plants have been closed since then. Despite their closure, cases of asbestos-related occupational diseases among former asbestos workers are still being recorded in the Central Register of Occupational Diseases. Between 2001 and 2014, there were 2726 asbestos-related illnesses, classified and reported as diseases associated with occupational exposure to asbestos.

Occupational prestige, social mobility and the association with lung cancer in men.

Background: The nature of the association between occupational social prestige, social mobility, and risk of lung cancer remains uncertain. Using data from the international pooled SYNERGY case-control study, we studied the association between lung cancer and the level of time-weighted average occupational social prestige as well as its lifetime trajectory.

Methods: We included 11,433 male cases and 14,147 male control subjects.

[Occurrence of occupational diseases in Poland, 2014].

Background: The aim of the annual analysis of the incidence of occupational diseases in Poland is to evaluate the extent of the incidence and to identify its causes as well as activities involving factors that are harmful or annoying to such an extent that they result in occupational diseases.

Material And Methods: Occupational diseases reporting forms supplied to the Central Register of Occupational Diseases were used as the study material.

Results: In 2014, there were 2351 cases of occupational diseases recorded, i.

Occupational diseases among farmers in Poland.

Background: The study's objective is to present epidemiological situation concerning the incidence of occupational diseases among farmers in Poland.

Material And Methods: All 3438 cases of occupational diseases diagnosed among farmers and obligatorily reported to the Central Register of Occupational Diseases (covering all the national territory and all the cases of occupational diseases diagnosed in Poland after 1970) over the years 2000-2014 were subjected to analysis.

Results: The annual incidence in the analyzed period ranged 5-14 per 100 000 farmers.

Genome-wide analysis implicates microRNAs and their target genes in the development of bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe and highly heritable neuropsychiatric disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 1%. Molecular genetic studies have identified the first BD susceptibility genes. However, the disease pathways remain largely unknown.

Identification of lung cancer histology-specific variants applying Bayesian framework variant prioritization approaches within the TRICL and ILCCO consortia.

Large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have likely uncovered all common variants at the GWAS significance level. Additional variants within the suggestive range (0.0001> P > 5×10(-8)) are, however, still of interest for identifying causal associations.

Low frequency of cigarette smoking and the risk of head and neck cancer in the INHANCE consortium pooled analysis.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for head and neck cancer (HNC). To our knowledge, low cigarette smoking (<10 cigarettes per day) has not been extensively investigated in fine categories or among never alcohol drinkers.

Methods: We conducted a pooled analysis of individual participant data from 23 independent case-control studies including 19 660 HNC cases and 25 566 controls.

Lung cancer among coal miners, ore miners and quarrymen: smoking-adjusted risk estimates from the synergy pooled analysis of case-control studies.

Objectives: Working in mines and quarries has been associated with an elevated lung cancer risk but with inconsistent results for coal miners. This study aimed to estimate the smoking-adjusted lung cancer risk among coal miners and compare the risk pattern with lung cancer risks among ore miners and quarrymen.

Methods: We estimated lung cancer risks of coal and ore miners and quarrymen among 14 251 lung cancer cases and 17 267 controls from the SYNERGY pooled case-control study, controlling for smoking and employment in other at-risk occupations.

Predictors of lung cancer among former asbestos-exposed workers.

Objectives: Despite extensive literature concerning the risk of lung cancer incidence among asbestos workers there is still lack of data specifying the association between the level of exposure and the frequency of cancer occurrence. The aim of the analysis was to assess the influence of smoking and selected factors related to occupational exposure on the risk of the incidence of lung cancer among the workers who were exposed to asbestos dust in the past.

Material And Methods: The assessment was performed based on the case-control studies carried out within a cohort including 7,374 former workers of asbestos processing plants, examined over the years 2000-2013.

Relation of allium vegetables intake with head and neck cancers: evidence from the INHANCE consortium.

Scope: Only a few studies analyzed the role of allium vegetables with reference to head and neck cancers (HNC), with mixed results. We investigated the potential favorable role of garlic and onion within the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium.

Methods And Results: We analyzed pooled individual-level data from eight case-control studies, including 4590 cases and 7082 controls.