Registro nazionale mesoteliomi: stato dell'arte del C.O.R. Puglia

RIASSUNTO. In Puglia l’attività di sorveglianza, attiva dal 1988 ed afferente al Registro Nazionale Mesoteliomi dal 2002, ha individuato 1069 casi di mesotelioma maligno occorsi in soggetti residenti nel territorio regionale. Lo studio si pone l’obiettivo di individuare le attività lavorative con maggior rischio di esposizione ad amianto, l’individuazione delle classi d’età più colpite con le relative differenze di genere, in confronto con i dati nazionali. I risultati ottenuti indicano come, la presenza di un polo siderurgico, numerosi cantieri navali ed un porto militare nella provincia di Taranto, di una industria del cemento-amianto a Bari e di raffinerie nelle province di Foggia e Brindisi, ha determinato un di scostamento dei dati da quelli nazionali

An electronic nose distinguishes exhaled breath of patients with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma from controls

BACKGROUND: Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) is a tumour of the surface cells of the pleura that is highly aggressive and mainly caused by asbestos exposure. Electronic noses capture the spectrum of exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs) providing a composite biomarker profile (breathprint). OBJECTIVE: We tested the hypothesis that an electronic nose can discriminate exhaled air of patients with MPM from subjects with a similar long-term professional exposure to asbestos without MPM and from healthy controls. METHODS: 13 patients with a histology confirmed diagnosis of MPM (age 60.9±12.2 year), 13 subjects with certified, long-term professional asbestos exposure (age 67.2±9.8), and 13 healthy subjects without asbestos exposure (age 52.2±16.2) participated in a cross-sectional study. Exhaled breath was collected by a previously described method and sampled by an electronic nose (Cyranose 320). Breathprints were analyzed by canonical discriminant analysis on principal component reduction. Cross-validated accuracy (CVA) was calculated. RESULTS: Breathprints from patients with MPM were separated from subjects with asbestos exposure (CVA: 80.8%, sensitivity 92.3%, specificity 85.7%). MPM was also distinguished from healthy controls (CVA: 84.6%). Repeated measurements confirmed these results. CONCLUSIONS: Molecular pattern recognition of exhaled breath can correctly distinguish patients with MPM from subjects with similar occupational asbestos exposure without MPM and from healthy controls. This suggests that breathprints obtained by electronic nose have diagnostic potential for MPM

OCCUPAZIONE PATERNA CON SOCIAL MIXING NELLA EZIOLOGIA DELLE LEUCEMIE INFANTILI

There are contradictory studies about the role of paternal employment in jobs in which exchanges with other people (“social mixing”) are frequent, such as policemen, military guards and teachers in the etiology of childhood leukemia. We studied 84 incident cases of childhood leukemia and 162 nephrologic controls, selected in University Hospital Policlinico of Bari”. Cases and controls, recruited on the basis of precise criteria, were subjected to blood sampling and administration of standardized questionnaire by trained personnel. Genetic polymorphisms of CYP1A1 ..