A quick guide to cancer epidemiology

This short and essential book [1] is addressed essentially to medical and public health students, and to anyone interested in a summary up to date presentation of cancer epidemiology and prevention. It is subdivided into four major sections, that include principles of primary and secondary cancer prevention, the current global burden of neoplasms,..

A systematic literature review on the policies and economic evaluation of organ transplantations in EU

Background: transplantation of human organs and tissues saves many lives and restores essential functions in combination of high measurable quality indicators. In spite of the fact that organ transplants have saved thousands of lives and greatly improved the quality of life of thousands more, regrettably many people will not benefit from this therapeutic procedure. Methods: this review is based on economic evaluation studies published since 2000 and reviews published since 1987 for kidney, liver, lung, heart, pancreas, and small bowel transplantations that were conducted in 2010. Results: empirical evidence showed that the costs of organ transplantations have generally decreased over time due to improvements in medicine, while survival and quality of life have improved. This indicates that the cost-effectiveness of transplantation has also improved over this period. Conclusions: cost effectiveness studies on organ transplantations could contribute to the efforts of policy makers in maximising societal health benefits by managing society’s scarce resources. The differences between EU country are not only associated with different legal procedures but are also associated with social, organizational and several other factors

Small relative age effect appears in professional female italian team sports

: The relative age effect (RAE) concerns those (dis)advantages and outcomes resulting from an interaction between the dates of selection and birthdates. Although this phenomenon is well known in a male context, limited data are available in female sports. Thus, the aim of this study was to quantify the prevalence and magnitude of the RAE in a female Italian context at the professional level in basketball, soccer, and volleyball. A total of 1535 birthdates of elite senior players were analyzed overall and separately between early and late career stages. Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests were applied to investigate the RAE in each sport. An asymmetry in birthdates was observed in all sports (Crammer's V ranged = 0.10-0.12). Players born close to the beginning of the year were 1.62 and 1.61 times more likely to reach first and second Italian divisions of soccer and volleyball, respectively, than those born in the last part of the year. A small over-representation of female athletes born close to the beginning of the year is evident at the senior professional level in all Italian investigated team sports. In soccer, this trend was more evident in the first stage of a senior career

Improving vaccination coverage among healthcare workers in Italy.

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