Long-term follow-up of psychological distress following earthquake experiences among working Italian males: a cross-sectional analysis

This report details relationships between earthquake exposures in 1980 and 1983 to 1984 and psychological distress reported in 1994. Participants are 555 Italian male factory workers from Naples, Italy. Those men who experienced damage from the 1980 quake reported higher levels of psychological distress (across several dimensions of the Symptom Checklist) than those without damage; additionally, 30% of these men reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While men evacuated as a result of the 1983 to 1984 Bradyseism earthquakes did not report higher distress levels (Symptom Checklist) than their nonevacuated colleagues, they did report more PTSD-like symptoms than those not evacuated. Financial loss from the Bradyseism quakes was associated with higher distress across all measures (seven Symptom Checklist dimensions and presence of PTSD symptoms). Additionally, social network disruptions following 1983 to 1984 evacuation were associated with greater distress (not all measures). These findings suggest that psychological distress from natural disasters may be very long lasting.     

Haemoglobin E in pregnancy. A case report. Diagnosis, familiar study and counselling, follow up until delivery and new-born observation

Haemoglobin E is a beta chain variant quite common in Southeastern Asia. The case of a gravid Thai woman with a microcytic anaemia is reported. The diagnosis of homozygous haemoglobin E was suspected on the basis of ethnic considerations when analysis of her haemoglobin showed the absence of normal HbA1 and about 100% of a variant Hb with electrophoretic mobility with HbC and HbA2. Identification of the haemoglobin variant was performed by using an association of alkaline electrophoresis on agarose gel, acid electrophoresis on agarose gel, haemoglobin isoelectrofocusing, high performance liquid chromatography. A study of haemoglobin pattern in the partner, parents and siblings was also performed. Pregnancy continued without any problems until the 40th week when a caesarean section was performed due to a difficult labour with foetal distress. The haemoglobin pattern of the new-born was studied at birth and after 1 year; as expected, it was quite normal at birth and a heterozygous condition for HbE was observed after 1 year. HbE, in even heterozygous and homozygous states, gives a mild clinical picture but its association with other haemoglobinopathies, such as a double heterozygous state (i.e. HbE/beta Thalassaemia) gives rise to a severe transfusion dependent thalassaemia syndrome. It is the authors' opinion that only a strict interaction between obstetricians and pathologists is the possible correct answer to the new diagnostic question proposed by a rapidly evolving inter-ethnic society.     

Dietary lignan intakes and risk of pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer

Lignans are plant compounds metabolized in the mammalian gut to produce the phytoestrogens enterolactone and enterodiol. Because estrogens have been linked to breast cancer etiology, lignans could affect breast cancer risk through modulation of endogenous estrogen metabolism or competitive inhibition with estrogen receptors. We examined breast cancer risk and dietary lignan intake in a population-based case-control study of 1,122 women with primary, incident, histologically confirmed breast cancer and 2,036 controls frequency matched to cases on age and county of residence as part of the Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer (WEB) Study. Diet was assessed with a self-administered 104-item food frequency questionnaire and other relevant data were collected by detailed in-person interviews. Lignans were expressed as the sum of the dietary precursors secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for age, total energy and other breast cancer risk factors. Premenopausal women in the highest quartile of dietary lignan intake had reduced breast cancer risk (OR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.44-0.98). No association was observed between lignan intakes and postmenopausal breast cancer. Our results suggest that dietary lignans may be important in the etiology of breast cancer, particularly among premenopausal women.     

Geographic clustering of residence in early life and subsequent risk of breast cancer (United States)

ObjectiveThis study focused on geographic clustering of breast cancer based on residence in early life and identified spatio-temporal clustering of cases and controls. Methods: Data were drawn from the WEB study (Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer Study), a population-based case–control study of incident, pathologically confirmed breast cancer (1996–2001) in Erie and Niagara counties. Controls were frequency-matched to cases on age, race, and county of residence. All cases and controls used in the study provided lifetime residential histories. The k-function difference between cases and controls was used to identify spatial clustering patterns of residence in early life. Results: We found that the evidence for clustered residences at birth and at menarche was stronger than that for first birth or other time periods in adult life. Residences for pre-menopausal cases were more clustered than for controls at the time of birth and menarche. We also identified the size and geographic location of birth and menarche clusters in the study area, and found increased breast cancer risk for pre-menopausal women whose residence was within the cluster compared to those living elsewhere at the time of birth. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that early environmental exposures may be related to breast cancer risk, especially for pre-menopausal women.     

Prevalence of inherited ataxias in the province of Padua, Italy

Few population studies are available on epidemiological indexes of hereditary ataxias. An investigation on the prevalence rate of these movement disorders is in progress for the Veneto region, the main area of northeast Italy with a population of 4,490,586 inhabitants. The first results of this epidemiological survey concern the province of Padua, which numbers 845,203 residents (January 1, 2002). The prevalence rate of inherited ataxias has been estimated at 93.3 cases per million inhabitants. The most common types appeared to be the autosomal dominant forms, namely spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 and 2, with a prevalence of 24 per 1,000,000. In the same population, with a prevalence rate of 6 per 1,000,000, Friedreich's ataxia was defined as the prominent recessive autosomal form. There were very rare cases of ataxia telangiectasia, ataxia with vitamin E deficiency and cerebellar ataxia with congenital muscular dystrophy, a recently identified autosomal recessive disease.     

Ancestry reported by white adults with cutaneous melanoma and control subjects in central Alabama

Background  

We sought to evaluate the hypothesis that the high incidence of cutaneous melanoma in white persons in central Alabama is associated with a predominance of Irish and Scots descent.     

Lung cancer in humans is not associated with lifetime total alcohol consumption or with genetic variation in alcohol dehydrogenase 3 (ADH3)

Although there is clear evidence that smoking is the primary risk factor for lung cancer, not all variation in disease risk is understood. There is some evidence that alcohol may contribute to risk. We examined lifetime and recent (12-24 mo previous) alcohol consumption in relation to risk of lung cancer in a case-control study in western New York. In addition we examined the alcohol dehydrogenase 3 (ADH3) genotype in relation to lung cancer risk; ADH3 is rate limiting in alcohol metabolism and has a functional polymorphism. We interviewed incident, primary, histologically confirmed lung cancer cases (n = 111) in two counties. Controls were randomly selected from among those residing in the counties, frequency-matched to cases for age and race (n = 1546). Lifetime and recent total alcohol and beverage-specific alcohol consumption as well as relevant confounders were assessed by interview. ADH3 genotype was evaluated by a PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Because of the small sample size, power was limited and CI were wide. Residual confounding by smoking remains a concern. Although we found a significant trend for increased risk for beer consumption in the recent period (odds ratio 1.67, 95% CI 0.96-2.92, P for trend = 0.05), chance cannot be ruled out as an explanation. We found no evidence of risk related to lifetime alcohol consumption nor evidence that alcohol dehydrogenase genotype modifies risk related to alcohol and lung cancer.