Indoor radon exposure and lung cancer risk: a meta-analysis of case-control studies

The aim of this study was to assess a potential relationship between indoor radon exposure and the incidence of lung cancer worldwide. A systematic literature search was carried out in PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar to identify relevant studies published in English conducted in the last 15 years until January 2016. Summary relative risks (RR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model and the influence of moderators using a mixed-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed using the Q, I2 and H2 tests, and the source of heterogeneity was detected by meta-regression analysis. Publication bias was evaluated with Egger’s regression symmetry test and the contour-enhanced funnel plot. Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was performed. Twenty-five lung cancer studies (case-control studies) with 13,569 cases and 22,701 controls were included. Indoor Radon exposure was significantly associated with increased risk for lung cancer (RR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.02–1.39). Study location analysis showed that radon exposure was associated with increased risk for lung cancer from forty degrees absolute latitude (RR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.92–1.31), to fifty degrees (RR 1.26; 95% CI, 1.08–1.48), to sixty degrees (RR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.12–1.91). Indoor radon exposure may be associated with increased risk for lung cancer

A general model of dioxin contamination in breast milk: results from a study on 94 women from the Caserta and Naples areas in Italy.

BackgroundThe Caserta and Naples areas in Campania Region experience heavy environmental contamination due to illegal waste disposal and burns, thus representing a valuable setting to develop a general model of human contamination with dioxins (PCDDs-PCDFs) and dioxin-like-PCBs (dl-PCBs).Methods94 breastfeeding women (aged 19-32 years; mean age 27.9 ± 3.0) were recruited to determine concentrations of PCDDs-PCDFs and dl-PCBs in their milk. Individual milk samples were collected and analyzed according to standard international procedures. A generalized linear model was used to test potential predictors of pollutant concentration in breast milk: age, exposure to waste fires, cigarette smoking, diet, and residence in high/low risk area (defined at high/low environmental pressure by a specific 2007 WHO report). A Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis was carried out by taking into account PCDDs-PCDFs and dl-PCBs as endogenous variables and age, waste fires, risk area and smoking as exogenous variables.ResultsAll milk samples were contaminated by PCDDs-PCDFs (8.6 pg WHO-TEQ/98g fat ± 2.7; range 3.8-19) and dl-PCBs (8.0 pg WHO-TEQ/98g fat ± 3.7; range 2.5-24), with their concentrations being associated with age and exposure to waste fires (p < 0.01). Exposure to fires resulted in larger increases of dioxins concentrations in people living in low risk areas than those from high risk areas (p < 0.01).ConclusionsA diffuse human exposure to persistent organic pollutants was observed in the Caserta and Naples areas. Dioxins concentration in women living in areas classified at low environmental pressure in 2007 WHO report was significantly influenced by exposure to burns

Metodi teorici nella determinazione della struttura e della funzione di molecole di interesse biologico

Dottorato di ricerca in scienze chimiche. 8. ciclo. Tutore G. Del Re. Relatori G. Barone e M. ParrilliConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - P.za Cavalleggeri, 1, Florence / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal

A Model of European Medicine Agency (EMA)’s Decisions on Human Medicines.

This paper is aimed at examining the European medicine agency decisions in the field of human medicines. Different classes of human medicines approved in the last five years have been classified. They have been analyzed considering: i) the relation between non generic drugs and generic drugs, ii) time of approval, iii) objectives of the clinical trials, iv) criteria of efficiency, efficacy,safety. By using the Summary of the European Public Assessment Report for every human medicine in the period 2010-2015, a dataset has been arranged. A Structural Equation Model analysis was carried out. The degree of efficiency, the degree of safety, the tradeoff between efficiency and safety that lead to the EMA approval decisions are conditioned by the nature of the medicines and the characteristics of their class. Different degrees of benefits and risks underpinning the decisions have been identified together with the consequent guiding principles that lead to the EMA decision process. A latent general “safety” factor at the basis of EMA decision process was assesse

Le decisioni dell’EMA nel campo delle medicine umane

Il capitolo esamina i processi decisionali dell'EMA proponendone un modello generale sviluppato attraverso la SEM Analysis

Structural and theoretical analysis of some mesogenic azines containing strong electron donor acceptor groups

A structural and theoretical analysis of some mesogenic bis(phenylene)azines containing a methyl group on the azine system and strong electron donor–acceptor groups on the phenylene rings is reported. Starting from the X-ray molecular structures and with the support of semiempirical quantum mechanical calculations, the structural and conformational properties of the azines are analysed and compared with recent literature data on similar acetophenone azines. Some geometrical and electronic data of the molecules are also calculated and discussed in the paper, which may be useful for a better understanding of the mesophasic behaviour of the compounds

A MODEL OF SINGLE-AGENT ILLNESS SELF-REGULATION

This article is an attempt to develop a formal model of single-actor illness self-regulation; that is, a goal-oriented, emotional and cog- nitive process based upon the creation of anticipated possible futures that trigger plans, decisions, and actions aimed at correct- ing the present state. The contemplated effects of the actions are represented as a transition operator that hopefully transforms the present state into a more desirable future state. As a case study, the model is applied to the self-regulation of glycemia in type-2 diabetes. An outline for the extension of the model to multi-agent, multidimensional self-regulation is also suggested

Preventing a paradigm shift: A plea for the computational genome

Against the opinion that DNA as program is not sufficiently explanatory, we maintain that the cellular machinery is entirely computational, and we identify the crucial notion of the interpreter that expresses the gene with the minimal gene set. Epigenetics research does not so much need paradigm shifts as the unraveling of an exceedingly complex computational machine