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- Ademuyiwa, Adesoji O., et al.
(author)
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Determinants of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in children in low-income and middle-income countries
- 2016
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In: BMJ Global Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2059-7908. ; 1:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Child health is a key priority on the global health agenda, yet the provision of essential and emergency surgery in children is patchy in resource-poor regions. This study was aimed to determine the mortality risk for emergency abdominal paediatric surgery in low-income countries globally.Methods: Multicentre, international, prospective, cohort study. Self-selected surgical units performing emergency abdominal surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive children aged <16 years during a 2-week period between July and December 2014. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) was used to stratify countries. The main outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality, analysed by multilevel logistic regression.Results: This study included 1409 patients from 253 centres in 43 countries; 282 children were under 2 years of age. Among them, 265 (18.8%) were from low-HDI, 450 (31.9%) from middle-HDI and 694 (49.3%) from high-HDI countries. The most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23), p<0.001) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56), p=0.009) countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1000 procedures performed.Conclusions: Adjusted mortality in children following emergency abdominal surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries. Effective provision of emergency essential surgery should be a key priority for global child health agendas.
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- Dispenzieri, Angela, et al.
(author)
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Clinical and genetic profile of patients enrolled in the Transthyretin Amyloidosis Outcomes Survey (THAOS) : 14-year update
- 2022
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In: Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 1750-1172. ; 17:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR amyloidosis) is a rare, life-threatening disease caused by the accumulation of variant or wild-type (ATTRwt amyloidosis) transthyretin amyloid fibrils in the heart, peripheral nerves, and other tissues and organs.Methods: Established in 2007, the Transthyretin Amyloidosis Outcomes Survey (THAOS) is the largest ongoing, global, longitudinal observational study of patients with ATTR amyloidosis, including both inherited and wild-type disease, and asymptomatic carriers of pathogenic TTR mutations. This descriptive analysis examines baseline characteristics of symptomatic patients and asymptomatic gene carriers enrolled in THAOS since its inception in 2007 (data cutoff: August 1, 2021).Results: This analysis included 3779 symptomatic patients and 1830 asymptomatic gene carriers. Symptomatic patients were predominantly male (71.4%) and had a mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of symptom onset of 56.3 (17.8) years. Val30Met was the most common genotype in symptomatic patients in South America (80.9%), Europe (55.4%), and Asia (50.5%), and more patients had early- versus late-onset disease in these regions. The majority of symptomatic patients in North America (58.8%) had ATTRwt amyloidosis. The overall distribution of phenotypes in symptomatic patients was predominantly cardiac (40.7%), predominantly neurologic (40.1%), mixed (16.6%), and no phenotype (2.5%). In asymptomatic gene carriers, mean (SD) age at enrollment was 42.4 (15.7) years, 42.4% were male, and 73.2% carried the Val30Met mutation.Conclusions: This 14-year global overview of THAOS in over 5000 patients represents the largest analysis of ATTR amyloidosis to date and highlights the genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity of the disease.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00628745.
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3. |
- Ferrari, Pietro, et al.
(author)
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Challenges in estimating the validity of dietary acrylamide measurements
- 2013
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In: European Journal of Nutrition. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1436-6215 .- 1436-6207. ; 52:5, s. 1503-1512
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Acrylamide is a chemical compound present in tobacco smoke and food, classified as a probable human carcinogen and a known human neurotoxin. Acrylamide is formed in foods, typically carbohydrate-rich and protein-poor plant foods, during high-temperature cooking or other thermal processing. The objectives of this study were to compare dietary estimates of acrylamide from questionnaires (DQ) and 24-h recalls (R) with levels of acrylamide adduct (AA) in haemoglobin. In the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, acrylamide exposure was assessed in 510 participants from 9 European countries, randomly selected and stratified by age, sex, with equal numbers of never and current smokers. After adjusting for country, alcohol intake, smoking status, number of cigarettes and energy intake, correlation coefficients between various acrylamide measurements were computed, both at the individual and at the aggregate (centre) level. Individual level correlation coefficient between DQ and R measurements (r (DQ,R)) was 0.17, while r (DQ,AA) and r (R,AA) were 0.08 and 0.06, respectively. In never smokers, r (DQ,R), r (DQ,AA) and r (R,AA) were 0.19, 0.09 and 0.02, respectively. The correlation coefficients between means of DQ, R and AA measurements at the centre level were larger (r > 0.4). These findings suggest that estimates of total acrylamide intake based on self-reported diet correlate weakly with biomarker AA Hb levels. Possible explanations are the lack of AA levels to capture dietary acrylamide due to individual differences in the absorption and metabolism of acrylamide, and/or measurement errors in acrylamide from self-reported dietary assessments, thus limiting the possibility to validate acrylamide DQ measurements.
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5. |
- Abelev, Betty, et al.
(author)
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Measurement of prompt J/psi and beauty hadron production cross sections at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV
- 2012
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In: Journal of High Energy Physics. - 1029-8479. ; :11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The ALICE experiment at the LHC has studied J/psi production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV through its electron pair decay on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity L-int = 5.6 nb(-1). The fraction of J/psi from the decay of long-lived beauty hadrons was determined for J/psi candidates with transverse momentum p(t) > 1,3 GeV/c and rapidity vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.9. The cross section for prompt J/psi mesons, i.e. directly produced J/psi and prompt decays of heavier charmonium states such as the psi(2S) and chi(c) resonances, is sigma(prompt J/psi) (p(t) > 1.3 GeV/c, vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.9) = 8.3 +/- 0.8(stat.) +/- 1.1 (syst.)(-1.4)(+1.5) (syst. pol.) mu b. The cross section for the production of b-hadrons decaying to J/psi with p(t) > 1.3 GeV/c and vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.9 is a sigma(J/psi <- hB) (p(t) > 1.3 GeV/c, vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.9) = 1.46 +/- 0.38 (stat.)(-0.32)(+0.26) (syst.) mu b. The results are compared to QCD model predictions. The shape of the p(t) and y distributions of b-quarks predicted by perturbative QCD model calculations are used to extrapolate the measured cross section to derive the b (b) over bar pair total cross section and d sigma/dy at mid-rapidity.
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6. |
- Abelev, Betty, et al.
(author)
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Underlying Event measurements in pp collisions at root s=0.9 and 7 TeV with the ALICE experiment at the LHC
- 2012
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In: Journal of High Energy Physics. - 1029-8479. ; :7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present measurements of Underlying Event observables in pp collisions at root s = 0 : 9 and 7 TeV. The analysis is performed as a function of the highest charged-particle transverse momentum p(T),L-T in the event. Different regions are defined with respect to the azimuthal direction of the leading (highest transverse momentum) track: Toward, Transverse and Away. The Toward and Away regions collect the fragmentation products of the hardest partonic interaction. The Transverse region is expected to be most sensitive to the Underlying Event activity. The study is performed with charged particles above three different p(T) thresholds: 0.15, 0.5 and 1.0 GeV/c. In the Transverse region we observe an increase in the multiplicity of a factor 2-3 between the lower and higher collision energies, depending on the track p(T) threshold considered. Data are compared to PYTHIA 6.4, PYTHIA 8.1 and PHOJET. On average, all models considered underestimate the multiplicity and summed p(T) in the Transverse region by about 10-30%.
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7. |
- Costas, Laura, et al.
(author)
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Reproductive Factors, Exogenous Hormone Use, and Risk of B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in a Cohort of Women From the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition
- 2019
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In: American Journal of Epidemiology. - : OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. - 0002-9262 .- 1476-6256. ; 188:2, s. 274-281
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The role of hormonal factors in the etiology of lymphoid neoplasms remains unclear. Previous studies have yielded conflicting results, have lacked sufficient statistical power to assess many lymphoma subtypes, or have lacked detailed information on relevant exposures. Within the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition cohort, we analyzed comprehensive data on reproductive factors and exogenous hormone use collected at baseline (1992-2000) among 343,458 women, including data on 1,427 incident cases of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and its major subtypes identified after a mean follow-up period of 14 years (through 2015). We estimated hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals using multivariable proportional hazards modeling. Overall, we observed no statistically significant associations between parity, age at first birth, breastfeeding, oral contraceptive use, or ever use of postmenopausal hormone therapy and risk of B-cell NHL or its subtypes. Women who had undergone surgical menopause had a 51% higher risk of B-cell NHL (based on 67 cases) than women with natural menopause (hazard ratio = 1.51, 95% confidence interval: 1.17, 1.94). Given that this result may have been due to chance, our results provide little support for the hypothesis that sex hormones play a role in lymphomagenesis.
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8. |
- Dahm, Christina C., et al.
(author)
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Fatty acid patterns and risk of prostate cancer in a case-control study nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition
- 2012
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In: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-9165 .- 1938-3207. ; 96:6, s. 1354-1361
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Fatty acids in blood may be related to the risk of prostate cancer, but epidemiologic evidence is inconsistent. Blood fatty acids are correlated through shared food sources and common endogenous desaturation and elongation pathways. Studies of individual fatty acids cannot take this into account, but pattern analysis can. Treelet transform (TT) is a novel method that uses data correlation structures to derive sparse factors that explain variation. Objective: The objective was to gain further insight in the association between plasma fatty acids and risk of prostate cancer by applying TT to take data correlations into account. Design: We reanalyzed previously published data from a case-control study of prostate cancer nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. TT was used to derive factors explaining the variation in 26 plasma phospholipid fatty acids of 962 incident prostate cancer cases matched to 1061 controls. Multiple imputation was used to deal with missing data in covariates. ORs of prostate cancer according to factor scores were determined by using multivariable conditional logistic regression. Results: Four simple factors explained 38% of the variation in plasma fatty acids. A high score on a factor reflecting a long-chain n-3 PUFA pattern was associated with greater risk of prostate cancer (OR for highest compared with lowest quintile: 1.36; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.86; P-trend = 0.041). Conclusion: Pattern analyses using TT groupings of correlated fatty acids indicate that intake or metabolism of long-chain n-3 PUFAs may be relevant to prostate cancer etiology. Am J Clin Nutr 2012;96:1354-61.
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9. |
- Ding, Ming, et al.
(author)
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Dairy consumption, systolic blood pressure, and risk of hypertension : Mendelian randomization study
- 2017
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In: The BMJ. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 1756-1833 .- 0959-8138. ; 356
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- OBJECTIVE To examine whether previous observed inverse associations of dairy intake with systolic blood pressure and risk of hypertension were causal. DESIGN Mendelian randomization study using the single nucleotide polymorphism rs4988235 related to lactase persistence as an instrumental variable. SETTING CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology) Consortium. PARTICIPANTS Data from 22 studies with 171 213 participants, and an additional 10 published prospective studies with 26 119 participants included in the observational analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The instrumental variable estimation was conducted using the ratio of coefficients approach. Using metaanalysis, an additional eight published randomized clinical trials on the association of dairy consumption with systolic blood pressure were summarized. RESULTS Compared with the CC genotype (CC is associated with complete lactase deficiency), the CT/TT genotype (TT is associated with lactose persistence, and CT is associated with certain lactase deficiency) of LCT-13910 (lactase persistence gene) rs4988235 was associated with higher dairy consumption (0.23 (about 55 g/day), 95% confidence interval 0.17 to 0.29) serving/day; P<0.001) and was not associated with systolic blood pressure (0.31, 95% confidence interval -0.05 to 0.68 mm Hg; P=0.09) or risk of hypertension (odds ratio 1.01, 95% confidence interval 0.97 to 1.05; P=0.27). Using LCT-13910 rs4988235 as the instrumental variable, genetically determined dairy consumption was not associated with systolic blood pressure (beta=1.35, 95% confidence interval -0.28 to 2.97 mm Hg for each serving/day) or risk of hypertension (odds ratio 1.04, 0.88 to 1.24). Moreover, meta-analysis of the published clinical trials showed that higher dairy intake has no significant effect on change in systolic blood pressure for interventions over one month to 12 months (intervention compared with control groups: beta=-0.21, 95% confidence interval -0.98 to 0.57 mm Hg). In observational analysis, each serving/day increase in dairy consumption was associated with -0.11 (95% confidence interval -0.20 to -0.02 mm Hg; P=0.02) lower systolic blood pressure but not risk of hypertension (odds ratio 0.98, 0.97 to 1.00; P=0.11). CONCLUSION The weak inverse association between dairy intake and systolic blood pressure in observational studies was not supported by a comprehensive instrumental variable analysis and systematic review of existing clinical trials.
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- Fanidi, Anouar, et al.
(author)
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A prospective study of one-carbon metabolism biomarkers and cancer of the head and neck and esophagus
- 2015
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In: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 136:4, s. 915-927
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Experimental and epidemiological data suggest that factors of one-carbon metabolism are important in the pathogenesis of several cancers, but prospective data on head and neck cancer (HNC) and esophagus cancer are limited. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study recruited 385,747 participants from 10 countries who donated a blood sample. The current study included 516 cancer cases of the head and neck and esophagus and 516 individually matched controls. Plasma levels of vitamins B2, B6, B9 (folate), B12, and methionine and homocysteine were measured in pre-diagnostic plasma samples and analyzed in relation to HNC and esophagus cancer risk, as well as post-diagnosis all-cause mortality. After controlling for risk factors, study participants with higher levels of homocysteine had elevated risk of HNC, the odds ratio (OR) in conditional analysis when comparing the top and bottom quartiles of homocysteine [ORQ4vs. Q1] being 2.13 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.13-4.00, p for trend 0.009). A slight decrease in HNC risk was also seen among subjects with higher levels of folate (ORQ4vs. Q1 0.63, 95% CI 0.35-1.16, p for trend 0.02). Subgroup analyses by anatomical sub-site indicated particularly strong associations with circulating homocysteine for oral cavity and gum cancer (p for trend 8 x 10(-4)), as well as for oropharynx cancer (p for trend 0.008). Plasma concentrations of the other investigated biomarkers did not display any clear association with risk or survival. In conclusion, study participants with elevated circulating levels of homocysteine had increased risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. What's new? One-carbon metabolism (OCM) involves the transfer of a carbon unit from methyl donor nutrients to molecules involved in the synthesis and methylation of DNA. As a result, dietary imbalances or deficiencies in nutrients crucial for OCM may affect DNA replication, repair, and regulation, potentially facilitating cancer development. This analysis of circulating levels of OCM nutrients in head and neck cancer and esophageal cancer patients and matched controls reveals an association between elevated levels of the amino acid homocysteine and increased risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Risk was decreased slightly by elevated folate levels.
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