Growth, Leaf Gas Exchange and Leaf Anatomy of three Ornamental Shrubs Grown under different Light Intensities

The aim of this work was to determine the long-term response of growth, leaf morphology and gas exchange of three widely grown shrubs to the level of irradiance. To this purpose, one-year-old uniform rooted cuttings of Camellia x williamsii W.W.Sm. 'Debbie', Photinia x fraseri Dress 'Red Robin' and Viburnum tinus L. 'Eve Price' grown in containers were placed for 2 years under different woven polypropylene fabrics that reduced light intensity by 60 % and 30 % and, as a control, plants were also grown in full sun. Plant dry weight, LAI, LAR, NAR, RGR, mean leaf area, number, ultrastructure and gas exchange were measured during the experiment. The species reacted in different ways to shading, indicating a strong genetic influence, even if some parameters as transpiration, leaf thickness, leaf size and stomatal frequency responded similarly to irradiance. Camellia showed a great adaptability to light conditions. Shading photinia greatly reduced root biomass but did not alter leaf gas exchange, thus is not a recommendable practice for this species. Viburnum increased leaves and stems biomass and increased net photosynthesis and water use efficiency under shaded conditions. In conclusion, effects of shading can positively affect plant growth and physiology, but response to shading is species-specific

The stomach cancer pooling (STOP) project: a global consortium of epidemiological studies of gastric cancer, updated to 2021

The assessment of risk factors in cancer etiology is necessary for defining optimal preventive strategies, as well as for identifying high risk individuals, and it is therefore relevant for medical practice and cancer prevention. The Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) Project is a consortium of epidemiological studies of gastric cancer (GC), established in year 2012. The StoP Project aims to examine the role of lifestyle, environmental and genetic determinants of GC through pooled analyses of subject-level data. The consortium is the major GC dataset globally, including original data from 35 studies – with case–control study design, including 5 nested case–control within cohort studies – conducted in the Americas, Asia and Europe (Table 1), for a total of about 13,500 cases and 32,000 controls, and it is continuously expanding. To date, the StoP Project contributed a detailed quantification of the risk of GC associated to several factors, including cigarette smoking (relative risk, RR, of 1.32 for heavy vs. never smokers), alcohol drinking (RR=1.48 for heavy vs. never drinkers), socio-economic status (RR=0.60 for high vs. low education), selected dietary factors (RR=1.30 for high vs. low meat intake; RR=0.65 for high vs. low vegetables consumption; RR=0.80 for high vs. low citrus fruit; RR=0.67 for high vs. low polyphenols intake) and occupational exposures (RR=1.70 for miners; RR=1.30 for construction workers; RR=1.33 for agricultural and animal husbandry workers; RR=1.41 for blacksmiths and machine-tool operators). Planned future developments are to analyze the role of rare exposures on GC risk and to examine risk factors in understudied patient subgroups (e.g., young onset GC, gastric cardia cancer, etc.); to integrate additional studies from East Asia; to develop a genome-wide modeling of polygenic risk score in GC; to include survival analyses and to apply machine learning methods in GC risk prediction and prognostication

Growth, Leaf Gas Exchange and Leaf Anatomy of three Ornamental Shrubs Grown under different Light Intensities

The aim of this work was to determine the long-term response of growth, leaf morphology and gas exchange of three widely grown shrubs to the level of irradiance. To this purpose, one-year-old uniform rooted cuttings of Camellia x williamsii W.W.Sm. 'Debbie', Photinia x fraseri Dress 'Red Robin' and Viburnum tinus L. 'Eve Price' grown in containers were placed for 2 years under different woven polypropylene fabrics that reduced light intensity by 60 % and 30 % and, as a control, plants were also grown in full sun. Plant dry weight, LAI, LAR, NAR, RGR, mean leaf area, number, ultrastructure and gas exchange were measured during the experiment. The species reacted in different ways to shading, indicating a strong genetic influence, even if some parameters as transpiration, leaf thickness, leaf size and stomatal frequency responded similarly to irradiance. Camellia showed a great adaptability to light conditions. Shading photinia greatly reduced root biomass but did not alter leaf gas exchange, thus is not a recommendable practice for this species. Viburnum increased leaves and stems biomass and increased net photosynthesis and water use efficiency under shaded conditions. In conclusion, effects of shading can positively affect plant growth and physiology, but response to shading is species-specific

Headache: Prevalence and relationship with office or ambulatory blood pressure in a general population sample (the Vobarno Study).

The association of headache and arterial hypertension is still controversial, although headache is usually considered a symptom of hypertension. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of headache in a general population sample and the relationship with arterial hypertension, as diagnosed by office measurements and ambulatory monitoring of blood pressure (BP).In the randomized sample of the Vobarno population, 301 subjects (126 males, 175 females, age range 35-50 years) underwent a structured standardized headache questionnaire, office and 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring.Prevalence of lifetime headache and of migraine was greater in females than in males. Office and 24-h BP values did not differ between subjects without headache and subjects with headache. No differences in headache prevalence (58% vs 55%), migraine prevalence (32% vs 28%) and use of analgesic drugs in the presence of headache (82% vs 78%) were observed between hypertensive patients (93.5% newly diagnosed, 6.5% treated) and normotensive subjects.In a general population sample, hypertension (diagnosed by office and/or 24-h BP) is not associated with headache

Sleep disturbances and semen quality in an Italian cross sectional study

Introduction: In order to obtain information about the relationship between sleep disturbances and sperm parameters, we analyzed data from a study conducted in a Italian Fertility Clinic, in men of couples seeking help for infertility. Patients and methods: Male partners with or without a medical history of reproductive organ diseases (cryptorchidism, varicocele, orchitis, testicular torsion) were eligible for the study. There were 382 men evaluated from May 2014 to November 2016, all of whom completed a self-administered questionnaire on general lifestyle habits. Then all men underwent semen analysis. A total of 382 men aged 26 to 67 years (median age 39 year interquartile range 37-42) were recruited. Main results: A total of 46.3% reported having sleep disturbances. In multivariate analysis, in absence of reproductive organ diseases, semen volume was lower in patients with difficulty in initiating sleep (2.0 ml, IQR 1.5-3.0 vs 3.0 ml, IQR 2.0-3.3, p = .01), whereas in presence of reproductive organ diseases motility A was lower in patients with early morning awakening (25.0%, IQR 15.0-35.0 vs. 40.0%, IQR 30.0-50.0, p = .001). In overweight men, semen volume was lower in patients with difficulty in initiating sleep (2.0 ml, IQR 1.5-3.0 vs 3.0 ml, IQR 2.0-3.0, p = .03). Moreover, among current smokers, patients with difficulty in initiating sleep had semen volume lower (1.5 ml, IQR 1.5-2.5 vs 3.0 ml, IQR 2.0-3.5, p = .0003) and sperm concentration higher (40 millions/ml, IQR 15-60 vs 10 millions/ml, IQR 5-50 p = .03) but total sperm count was not significant different. Conclusion: Further studies are necessary to elucidate the relationship between sleep quality and semen parameters, which may have important public health implication

The Association between Peptic Ulcer Disease and Gastric Cancer: Results from the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project Consortium

Background. Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common type of cancer and the fourth most common cause of cancer-related mortality. Although the risk of GC and peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is known to be increased by H. pylori infection, evidence regarding the direct relationship between PUD and GC across ethnicities is inconclusive. Therefore, we investigated the association between PUD and GC in the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) consortium. Methods. History of peptic ulcer disease was collected using a structured questionnaire in 11 studies in the StoP consortium, including 4106 GC cases and 6922 controls. The two-stage individual-participant data meta-analysis approach was adopted to generate a priori. Unconditional logistic regression and Firth’s penalized maximum likelihood estimator were used to calculate study-specific odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between gastric ulcer (GU)/duodenal ulcer (DU) and risk of GC. Results. History of GU and DU was thoroughly reported and used in association analysis, respectively, by 487 cases (12.5%) and 276 controls (4.1%), and 253 cases (7.8%) and 318 controls (6.0%). We found that GU was associated with an increased risk of GC (OR = 3.04, 95% CI: 2.07–4.49). No association between DU and GC risk was observed (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.77–1.39). Conclusions. In the pooled analysis of 11 case–control studies in a large consortium (i.e., the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) consortium), we found a positive association between GU and risk of GC and no association between DU and GC risk. © 2022 by the authors.This work is supported by Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC), Project no. 21378 (Investigator Grant); Fondazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (FIRC); Italian League for the Fight Against Cancer (LILT); European Cancer Prevention (ECP) Organization; and UPMC Start-up Grant (to HNL). P Paragomi was supported by a cancer research training grant from NIH (grant # T32CA186873)

The Association between Peptic Ulcer Disease and Gastric Cancer: Results from the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project Consortium

Background. Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common type of cancer and the fourth most common cause of cancer-related mortality. Although the risk of GC and peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is known to be increased by H. pylori infection, evidence regarding the direct relationship between PUD and GC across ethnicities is inconclusive. Therefore, we investigated the association between PUD and GC in the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) consortium. Methods. History of peptic ulcer disease was collected using a structured questionnaire in 11 studies in the StoP consortium, including 4106 GC cases and 6922 controls. The two-stage individual-participant data meta-analysis approach was adopted to generate a priori. Unconditional logistic regression and Firth’s penalized maximum likelihood estimator were used to calculate study-specific odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between gastric ulcer (GU)/duodenal ulcer (DU) and risk of GC. Results. History of GU and DU was thoroughly reported and used in association analysis, respectively, by 487 cases (12.5%) and 276 controls (4.1%), and 253 cases (7.8%) and 318 controls (6.0%). We found that GU was associated with an increased risk of GC (OR = 3.04, 95% CI: 2.07–4.49). No association between DU and GC risk was observed (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.77–1.39). Conclusions. In the pooled analysis of 11 case–control studies in a large consortium (i.e., the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) consortium), we found a positive association between GU and risk of GC and no association between DU and GC risk

Inverse Association between Dietary Iron Intake and Gastric Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of Case‐Control Studies of the Stop Consortium

Background: Inconsistent findings have been reported regarding the relationship between dietary iron intake and the risk of gastric cancer (GC). Methods: We pooled data from 11 case‐control studies from the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project. Total dietary iron intake was derived from food frequency questionnaires combined with national nutritional tables. We derived the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for quartiles of dietary iron through multivariable unconditional logistic regression models. Secondary analyses stratified by sex, smoking status, caloric intake, anatomical subsite and histological type were performed. Results: Among 4658 cases and 12247 controls, dietary iron intake was inversely associated with GC (per quartile OR 0.88; 95% CI: 0.83–0.93). Results were similar between cardia (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.77–0.94) and non‐cardia GC (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.81–0.94), and for diffuse (OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.69–0.89) and intestinal type (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.79–0.98). Iron intake exerted an independent effect from that of smoking and salt intake. Additional adjustment by meat and fruit/vegetable intake did not alter the results. Conclusions: Dietary iron is inversely related to GC, with no difference by subsite or histological type. While the results should be interpreted with caution, they provide evidence against a direct effect of iron in gastric carcinogenesis

Inverse Association between Dietary Iron Intake and Gastric Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of Case‐Control Studies of the Stop Consortium

Background: Inconsistent findings have been reported regarding the relationship between dietary iron intake and the risk of gastric cancer (GC). Methods: We pooled data from 11 case‐control studies from the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project. Total dietary iron intake was derived from food frequency questionnaires combined with national nutritional tables. We derived the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for quartiles of dietary iron through multivariable unconditional logistic regression models. Secondary analyses stratified by sex, smoking status, caloric intake, anatomical subsite and histological type were performed. Results: Among 4658 cases and 12247 controls, dietary iron intake was inversely associated with GC (per quartile OR 0.88; 95% CI: 0.83–0.93). Results were similar between cardia (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.77–0.94) and non‐cardia GC (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.81–0.94), and for diffuse (OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.69–0.89) and intestinal type (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.79–0.98). Iron intake exerted an independent effect from that of smoking and salt intake. Additional adjustment by meat and fruit/vegetable intake did not alter the results. Conclusions: Dietary iron is inversely related to GC, with no difference by subsite or histological type. While the results should be interpreted with caution, they provide evidence against a direct effect of iron in gastric carcinogenesis. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This study was supported by the Fondazione AIRC per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Project no. 21378 (Investigator Grant). The Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia—Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit; UIDB/04750/2020) and the Laboratório para a Investigação Integrativa e Translacional em Saúde Populacional (ITR; LA/P/0064/2020) were funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education). SM was supported by the project “NEON‐PC—Neuro‐oncological complications of prostate cancer: longitudinal study of cognitive decline” (POCI‐01‐0145‐FEDER‐032358; ref. PTDC/SAU‐EPI/32358/2017), which is funded by FEDER through the Operational Programme competitiveness and Internationalization, and national funding from FCT and the EPIUnit—Junior Research—Prog Financing (UIDP/04750/2020). The authors thank the European Cancer Prevention (ECP) Organization for providing support for the StoP Project meetings and all MCC‐Spain study collaborators (CIBERESP, ISCIII, ISGlobal, ICO, University of Huelva, University of Oviedo, University of Cantabria, ibs.Granada, Instituto Salud Pública de Navarra, FISABIO, Murcia Regional Health Authority and cols)