Design of hearing aid shells by three dimensional laser scanning and mesh reconstruction

Hearing aid shells (or earmolds) must couple the hearing aid with the user's ear. Earmolds have to fit the subject's outer ear canal properly to ensure a good performance of the aid. Because of the great variability in the anatomical pattern of the ear, earmolds are custom made. At present, an impression of the subject's ear canal is taken and used to fabricate the silicon-made mold. The postimpression activities that typically are performed during the fabrication process modify the physical dimensions of the resulting earmold and thus affect the fit of the product. A novel system for 3-D laser scanning and mesh reconstruction of the surface of ear canal impressions is presented. The reconstructed impression can be digitally stored and passed directly to dedicated CAD 3-D printing machines to model the silicon earmold and thus achieve the best possible fit. The proposed system is based on a couple of cameras and a commercial laser for the surface digitization and on a straightforward algorithm, based on the deformation of a geometric model, for the reconstruction of the acquired surface. Measurements on objects of well-known geometric features and dimensions are performed to assess the accuracy and repeatability levels of this 3-D acquisition system. Robustness to noise of the proposed reconstruction algorithm is determined by simulations with a synthetic test surface. Finally, the first measurements (acquisition+reconstruction) of closed surfaces from ear canal impressions are reported

Oral contraceptives and primary liver cancer.

The relative risk for developing primary liver cancer in northern Italian users of oral contraceptives, compared to matched controls was calculated based on reported cases in hospitals in the greater Milan area from 1984-1987. The incidence of and mortality from primary liver cancer, as well as the prevalence of oral contraceptive usage, have both been rising to Italy since the late 1950s. 21 cases of liver cancer, in women aged 32-59 (median 50), occurred in the Milan area during the study period. These women, and 145 controls matched for age but admitted to hospitals for a variety of non-neoplastic diseases, were interviewed with a structured questionnaire covering socio-demographics, life style, diet, medical history, and history of use of oral contraceptives and other drugs. 19.0% of the cases had used oral contraceptives compared to 7.6% of controls, a relative risk of 1.8 for up to 5 years' use, and 8.3 for 5 years. History of hepatitis was associated with 14% of cases and 7% of controls. Italians have a higher incidence of liver neoplasms that northern Europeans and Americans, probably because of higher incidence of risk factors, such as hepatitis and alcohol use. The attributable risk for oral contraception, however, is lower in this population

Intrauterine device use and risk of endometrial cancer.

The relationship between intrauterine device (IUD) use and risk of endometrial cancer has been analysed in a case-control study conducted in Italy between 1983 and 1992, including 453 patients with histologically confirmed endometrial cancer and 1,451 controls admitted for acute, non-gynaecological, non-hormonal, non-neoplastic conditions to the same network of hospitals where cases had been identified. Two (0.4%) cases versus 36 (2.3%) controls reported ever using an IUD. The corresponding multivariate relative risk was 0.4 (95% CI 0.1-1.0). The results of this study and the few published available epidemiological data suggest a protective role of IUD use on endometrial carcinogenesis, but potential selective mechanisms for IUD utilisation (indication bias) should be carefully considered in the interpretation

Assessment of foetal exposure to the homogeneous magnetic field harmonic spectrum generated by electricity transmission and distribution networks

During the last decades studies addressing the effects of exposure to Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (ELF-EMF) have pointed out a possible link between those fields emitted by power lines and childhood leukaemia. They have also stressed the importance of also including in the assessment the contribution of frequency components, namely harmonics, other than the fundamental one. Based on the spectrum of supply voltage networks allowed by the European standard for electricity quality assessment, in this study the exposure of high-resolution three-dimensional models of foetuses to the whole harmonic content of a uniform magnetic field with a fundamental frequency of 50 Hz, was assessed. The results show that the main contribution in terms of induced electric fields to the foetal exposure is given by the fundamental frequency component. The harmonic components add some contributions to the overall level of electric fields, however, due to the extremely low permitted amplitude of the harmonic components with respect to the fundamental, their amplitudes are low. The level of the induced electric field is also much lower than the limits suggested by the guidelines for general public exposure, when the amplitude of the incident magnetic field is set at the maximum permitted level

Oral Contraceptive Use and Invasive Cervical Cancer

Parazzini F (Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, 20157 Milan, Italy), La Vecchia C, Negri E and Maggi R. Oral contraceptive use and invasive cervical cancer. International Journal of Epidemiology 1990; 19: 259-263. The relationship between oral contraceptive use and the risk of invasive cervical cancer was investigated using data from a hospital-based case-control study conducted in the greater Milan area, Northern Italy. A total of 367 women under 60 years of age with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of invasive cervical cancer was compared with a group of 323 controls admitted for a spectrum of acute conditions, non-gynaecological, hormonal or neoplastic and apparently unrelated to oral contraceptive use. Cases had used oral contraceptives more frequently than controls, the age-adjusted relative risk (RR) being 1.53 (95% confidence interval 0.99-2.36). The risk increased with duration of use: compared with never users the age-adjusted RR was 1.48 for up to two years and 1.83 for more than two years (x12 = 5.28, p = 0.02). Allowing for major identified potential confounding factors, including sexual and reproductive habits, by means of multiple logistic regression, did not explain the associaton (multivariate RR 1.85 for ever use, 1.05 for up to two years and 2.47 for more than two years). When the interaction between oral contraceptive use and parity or sexual habits was analysed, the effects of various factors appeared independent: the point estimate for multiparous oral contraceptive users versus nulliparous never users was 8.01. There was no consistent influence on risk of invasive cervical cancer of age at first use, whereas the RRs were slightly greater for women who had first used oral contraceptives less than ten years before or had last used them less than five years before diagnosis: these findings, however, were far from significan

Survival and prognostic factors of early ovarian cancer.

Survival and prognostic factors were analysed in 150 patients with histologically confirmed epithelial ovarian cancer stage IA-IIA. The relapse-free and overall survival rates were, respectively, 81% and 88% after 3 and 74% and 84% after 5 years. The analysis of various prognostic factors indicates as the main factor the grade differentiation of the tumour

Effect of body mass and physical activity at younger age on the risk of prostatic enlargement and erectile dysfunction : Results from the 2018 #Controllati survey

Objective: Overweight and low physical activity (PA) increase the risk of prostatic enlargement and erectile dysfunction (ED). Less clear is the role of these factors at young age on the lifelong risk. Materials and methods: During June 2018 the Italian Society of Urologists organized the month of Male Urologic Prevention "#Controllati". Men aged 18 years or more were invited to attend urologic centers for a visit and counselling about urologic/andrologic conditions. Each participating man underwent a physical examination and was asked about urologic symptoms, sexual activity and possible related problems. Results: We analyzed data from 2786 men, aged 55.1 years (SD 10.9, range 19-97). A total of 710 (25.5%) subjects had a diagnosis of prostatic enlargement and 632 (22.7%) of DE. Overweight/obese men were at increased risk of prostatic enlargement and ED with corresponding odds ratio (0R) in comparison with normal or underweight men, being respectively 1.18 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.00-1.44) and 1.69 (95% CI 1.39-2.05). The OR of prostatic enlargement in comparison with men reporting at age 25 a BMI < 25.0 was 1.22 (95% CI 1.01-1.51) for men with a BMI at 25 years of age 65 25; the corresponding OR value for ED was 1.17 (0.92- 1.48). Considering total PA at diagnosis, the OR of prostatic enlargement in comparison with no or low PA, was 0.69 (95%CI 0.55-0.86) for men reporting moderate PA and 0.75 (95%CI 0.58-0.98) for those reporting intense PA. When we considered PA at 25 years of age, the OR of subsequent diagnosis of prostatic enlargement, in comparison with men reporting no/low PA at 25 years of age was 0.81 (95%CI 0.63-1.04) for men reporting moderate PA and 0.70 (95%CI 0.52-0.99) for those reporting intense PA. Conclusions: These findings underline the utility of encouraging healthy lifestyle habits among young men in order to reduce the subsequent risk of prostatic enlargement and ED