Relation among alcohol dehydrogenase 2 polymorphism, alcohol consumption, and levels of gamma-glutamyltransferase.

In human beings, alcohol is metabolized primarily by alcohol dehydrogenase 2 (ADH2) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2). Whereas polymorphisms of the ALDH2 are common in Asian persons, polymorphisms of the ADH2 seem to be more important in Caucasian individuals. The aim of this study was to assess the relation among ADH2 polymorphism, alcohol consumption, and levels of gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT).

Up-to-date survival curves of children with cancer by period analysis.

Survival rates of children with cancer have strongly improved during the past decades, but much of this improvement has been disclosed with substantial delay by traditional methods of survival analysis, which reflect survival experience of patients diagnosed many years ago. In this paper, the use of a new method of survival analysis, denoted period analysis, for providing more up-to-date estimates of 10-year survival curves of children with cancer is empirically evaluated using data of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program of the United States National Cancer Institute. It is shown that period analysis provides much more up-to-date estimates of survival curves than traditional cohort-based survival analysis indeed, at least as long as there is ongoing improvement in survival rates over time, as it seems to be the case for many forms of childhood cancer.

Physical activity, coronary heart disease, and inflammatory response.

Background: We sought to estimate the risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) associated with leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and work-related physical strain (WRPS) after careful adjustment for other established risk factors and to elucidate the association of physical activity with various hemostatic and inflammatory markers.

Methods: Case-control study including 312 patients aged 40 to 68 years with stable CHD (angiographically confirmed) and 479 age- and sex-matched controls. Main outcome measures were odds ratio for CHD associated with LTPA and WRPS and associations of physical activity with inflammatory and other biochemical markers after adjustment for covariates.

Provider delay among patients with breast cancer in Germany: a population-based study.

Purpose: Delaying the diagnosis and initiation of treatment of cancer is likely to result in tumor progression and a worse prognosis. We examined sources and consequences of provider delay among female breast cancer patients in a population-based study in Germany.

Patients And Methods: Three hundred eighty women, who were ages 18 to 80 years and who had invasive breast cancer, were interviewed with respect to the diagnostic process.

Long-term survival rates of cancer patients achieved by the end of the 20th century: a period analysis.

Background: Long-term survival rates for many types of cancer have substantially improved in past decades because of advances in early detection and treatment. However, much of this improvement is only seen many years later with traditional cohort-based methods of survival analysis. I aimed to assess achievements in cancer patients' survival by an alternative method of survival analysis,known as period analysis, which provides more up-to-date estimates of long-term survival rates than do conventional methods.

Role of infected parents in transmission of helicobacter pylori to their children.

Aim: Infected parents, especially infected mothers, may play a key role in transmission of Helicobacter pylori within the family. The aim of this population-based study was to determine the role of parental infection status in transmission of H. pylori to the child by taking into consideration the infection status of both parents simultaneously.

Advanced detection of time trends in long-term cancer patient survival: experience from 50 years of cancer registration in Finland.

Timely monitoring of trends in long-term patient survival is an important task of cancer registries. Recently, a new method, denoted period analysis, has been proposed to enhance up-to-date monitoring of survival. The authors assessed the use of period analysis for advanced detection of time trends in long-term cancer patient survival based on data from the nationwide Finnish Cancer Registry by comparing estimates of 10-, 15-, and 20-year relative survival rates obtained by period analysis and by traditional (cohort) analysis of survival at various points of time between 1953 and 1997.

Dynamics of Helicobacter pylori infection in early childhood in a high-risk group living in Germany: loss of infection higher than acquisition.

Background: The dynamics of Helicobacter pylori infection in early childhood are not yet well understood.

Aim: To conduct a prospective study in a population of children known to be at high risk of H. pylori infection to elucidate the incidence and loss of infection in childhood.

The performance of methods for correcting measurement error in case-control studies.

Background: It is generally agreed that adjustment for measurement error (when feasible) can substantially increase the validity of epidemiologic analyses. Although a broad variety of methods for measurement error correction has been developed, application in practice is rare. One reason may be that little is known about the robustness of these methods against violations of their restrictive assumptions.

Interaction between alcohol dehydrogenase II gene, alcohol consumption, and risk for breast cancer.

MaeIII Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism in exon 3 of the alcohol dehydrogenase II was assessed in serum from 467 randomly selected German women and 278 women with invasive breast cancer to evaluate the interaction between a polymorphism of the alcohol dehydrogenase II gene, alcohol consumption and risk for breast cancer. In both groups, usual consumption of different alcoholic beverages was asked for using semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires. We used multivariable logistic regression to separately estimate the association between alcohol consumption and alcohol dehydrogenase II polymorphism in the population sample and women with breast cancer.

History of breastfeeding and Helicobacter pylori infection in pre-school children: results of a population-based study from Germany.

Background: Helicobacter pylori infection is predominantly acquired in early childhood. Therefore, childhood nutrition may be related to acquisition of infection. However, there are few current data from developed countries to elucidate this association.

Use of period analysis for providing more up-to-date estimates of long-term survival rates: empirical evaluation among 370,000 cancer patients in Finland.

Background: Providing up-to-date estimates of cancer patient survival rates is an important task of cancer registries. A few years ago, a new method of survival analysis, denoted period analysis, was proposed to enhance the recency of long-term survival estimates. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive empirical evaluation of the use of this method.

Homocysteine and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase genotype: association with risk of coronary heart disease and relation to inflammatory, hemostatic, and lipid parameters.

Aim: It has been suggested that homocysteine (tHcy) levels and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) genotype are primary risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). We performed a case-control study to investigate whether tHcy levels and MTHFR genotype (677 C-->T mutation and 1298 A-->C mutation) are associated with CHD under special consideration of the possibility for confounding.

Methods: German speaking patients aged 40-68 years who underwent coronary angiography at the University of Ulm between April 1996 and November 1997 and who had at least one coronary stenosis greater than 50% were included in the study.

Risk of gastric cancer among smokers infected with Helicobacter pylori.

Infection with the gastric bacterium Helicobacter pylori (in particular infection with CagA-positive strains) and smoking have been identified as risk factors for the development of gastric cancer. Both risk factors are typically acquired early in life and prevail over decades if not for life. We assessed the individual and joint impact of both risk factors on gastric cancer risk in a population-based case-control study from Germany including 71 patients with histologically verified gastric cancer and 363 patients with colorectal cancer who served as controls.

A computer program for period analysis of cancer patient survival.

Monitoring of long-term survival rates, which is now routinely performed by many cancer registries throughout the world, should be as up-to-date as possible. A few years ago, a new method of survival analysis, denoted period analysis, has been proposed which provides more up-to-date estimates of long-term survival rates than traditional survival analysis by exclusively reflecting the survival experience of patients within a recent calendar period. However, application of this method has so far been hindered by the lack of pertinent computer programs.

Flexible matching strategies to increase power and efficiency to detect and estimate gene-environment interactions in case-control studies.

Lack of power is a pertinent problem in many case-control studies of gene-environment interactions. The authors recently introduced the concept of flexible matching strategies with varying proportions of a matching factor among selected controls (degree of matching) to increase the power and efficiency of case-control studies. In this study, they extended the concept of flexible matching strategies to the field of gene-environment interactions.

Up-to-date long-term survival curves of patients with cancer by period analysis.

Purpose: Provision of up-to-date long-term survival curves is an important task of cancer registries. Traditionally, survival curves have been derived for cohorts of patients diagnosed many years ago. Using data of the Finnish Cancer Registry, we provide an empirical assessment of the use of a new method of survival analysis, denoted period analysis, for deriving more up-to-date survival curves.

Long-term survival of children with leukemia achieved by the end of the second millennium.

Background: The prognosis for patients with childhood leukemia has improved steadily over the last decades due to major progress in therapy. Much of this progress remains unaccounted for in traditional estimates of long-term survival rates, which essentially reflect the survival experience of patients who were diagnosed many years ago.

Methods: The authors applied a new method of survival analysis, called period analysis, to provide up-to-date estimates of long-term survival rates.

Clinical diagnosis of ischemic versus hemorrhagic stroke: applicability of existing scores in the emergency situation and proposal of a new score.

Several scores exist to clinically differentiate between ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, but none has been developed in the emergency situation in which transient ischemic attack (TIA) and cerebral infarction might not yet be clearly distinguished. Information on 540 patients with ischemia (including TIA) or hemorrhage was abstracted from medical charts. Of 540 patients hospitalized with stroke, 98 had a hemorrhage.

Determinants of impaired renal function with use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: the importance of half-life and other medications.

Purpose: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may interfere with renal function, but little is known about the effects of the half-life of these agents, or the use of other medications, on renal function.

Subjects And Methods: Medication use was assessed during a standardized interview in a cross-sectional study of 802 patients undergoing total joint replacement because of osteoarthritis. Preoperative blood samples were used to estimate creatinine clearance using a standard formula that takes age, sex, and weight into account.

Long-lasting reduction of risk of colorectal cancer following screening endoscopy.

Several studies have suggested that incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer (CRC) may be strongly reduced for up to 10 years by endoscopic screening with removal of precancerous lesions, but so far there are no data on risk reduction beyond this period. We assessed long-term reduction of CRC risk following screening endoscopy in a statewide population-based case-control study in Saarland, Germany. Lifetime history of screening endoscopy was compared between 320 cases with CRC aged 45-80 and 263 controls with other forms of cancer recruited from the same population.

The structure of subjective well-being in middle adulthood.

Subjective well-being (SWB) is at the centre of much ageing research due to its relationship to such important outcomes as health, morbidity and successful ageing. This paper discusses essential problems associated with its definition, measurement and dimensionality. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were computed for data from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development in order to assess whether SWB is a unidimensional or a multidimensional construct.

More up-to-date monitoring of long-term survival rates by cancer registries: an empirical example.

A few years ago, a new method of survival analysis, denoted period analysis, has been developed to derive more up-to-date estimates of long-term survival rates of cancer patients, but this method has rarely been applied so far. Using empirical examples from the Saarland Cancer Registry, we illustrate how seriously traditional long-term survival estimates may lag behind survival expectations of newly diagnosed cancer patients in the case of recent improvement in prognosis, and to what extent this problem may be reduced by period analysis of survival. We conclude that period analysis should be more widely used for deriving more up-to-date long-term survival estimates.

Long-term cancer patient survival achieved by the end of the 20th century: most up-to-date estimates from the nationwide Finnish cancer registry.

A new method of survival analysis, denoted period analysis, has recently been developed, which has been shown to provide more up-to-date estimates of long-term survival rates than traditional methods of survival analysis. We applied period analysis to data from the nationwide Finnish cancer registry to provide up-to-date estimates of 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year relative survival rates (RSR) achieved by the end of the 20th century. For most forms of cancer, period estimates of long-term survival are much higher than corresponding traditional survival estimates which suggests that for these cancers there has been ongoing major progress in survival rates in recent years which so far has remained undisclosed by traditional methods of survival analysis.