UTILIZACI 3N DE T\uc9CNICAS DE FOTO-RECONSTRUCCI 3N 3D AUTOMATIZADA EN GEOMORFOLOG\ucdA: EJEMPLOS PARA DIFERENTES MORFOLOG\ucdAS Y ESCALAS

Three-dimensional photo-reconstruction methods based on Structure from Motion (SfM) and MultiView-Stereo techniques (MVS) are tested for measuring, monitoring and quantifying three different geomorphological features: i) the Corral del Veleta rock glacier and ii) five small gully headcuts in Spain and iii) Calanchi type badland in Italy. Results about the accuracy, usefulness and applicability of these techniques are presented here. The results of these analyses showed centimeter-level accuracies with average distances to the benchmark models ranging from 0.009 m to 0.42 m

Occupational exposure to ethylene oxide and risk of lymphoma

Background: Ethylene oxide, a high-volume commodity, is an established human carcinogen, although the relevant epidemiologic evidence is limited. Methods: We explored the association between occupational exposure to ethylene oxide and risk of lymphoma in a case-control study, including 2347 lymphoma cases first diagnosed in 1998-2004 and 2463 controls, from 6 European countries. The diagnosis of lymphoma was based on the 2001 World Health Organization Classification of lymphoma. Occupational exposure to ethylene oxide was retrospectively assessed by industrial hygienists and occupational physicians based on detailed self-reported information. We modeled risk of lymphoma with unconditional logistic regression analysis as a function of various exposure measures, adjusting for age, sex, and participating center. Results: Thirty-one cases and 27 controls (1.2% of the total study population) were defined as ever having been exposed to ethylene oxide (odds ratio = 1.3 [95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.7-2.1]). Lymphoma risk showed a 4.3-fold increase associated with medium-high frequency of exposure to ethylene oxide (95% CI = 1.4-13). Among major subtypes, chronic lymphocytic leukemia was consistently associated with ethylene oxide exposure, related in a dose-response manner to probability, frequency, and duration of exposure, as well as to cumulative exposure and (less definitively) with exposure intensity. Conclusions: Our results add to the evidence that ethylene oxide is a human carcinogen. \ua9 2010 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Epstein-Barr virus infection and risk of lymphoma: Immunoblot analysis of antibody responses against EBV-related proteins in a large series of lymphoma subjects and matched controls

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is consistently associated with distinct lymphoproliferative malignancies and aberrant EBV antibody patterns are found in most EBV cancer patients. We evaluate the detection of an abnormal reactive serological pattern to EBV (ab_EBV) infection and the risk of lymphoma in a multicentric case-control study. Serum samples were collected at study entry from 1,085 incident lymphoma cases from Spain, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy and 1,153 age, sex and country matched controls. EBV immunoglobulin G (IgG) serostatus was evaluated through a peptide-based ELISA combining immunodominant epitopes of EBNA1 (BKRF1) and VCA-p18 (BFRF3). Further, immunoblot analysis was performed to evaluate distinct antibody diversity patterns to EBV early antigens (EA), besides EBNA1, VCA-p18, VCA-p40 (BdRF1) and Zebra (BZLF1). Patients with chronic active EBV infection and aberrant EBV activity were characterized as having an abnormal reactive pattern (ab_EBV). Ab_EBV was observed in 20.9% of 2,238 included subjects with an increased proportion of cases presenting ab_EBV as compared to the control population (23.9% vs. 18.0% p = 0.001). Ab_EBV positivity was a risk factor for all lymphomas combined (odds ratio [OR] = 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.15-1.74), and specifically for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (OR = 2.96, 95%CI = 2.22-3.95). Lower levels of ab_EBV were observed for follicular lymphoma (OR = 0.38, 95%CI = 0.15-0.98). EBV may be involved in a larger subset of lymphomas among clinically immunocompetent subjects than previously thought, probably explained by an underlying loss of immune control of EBV latent infection. Ab_EBV is a useful tool to explore EBV imbalances preceding or paralleling possible EBV associated oncogenic events

Tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: an European multi-centre case-control study (Epilymph)

To study the role of tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking in the etiology of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), we conducted a multicenter case-control study in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Czech Republic between 1998 and 2004, which included 1,742 cases of NHL and 2,465 controls matched on age, sex and recruitment area. Tobacco smoking was not associated with the risk of NHL overall or with risk of specific histological subtypes. Similarly, there was no association between alcohol drinking and the risk of NHL overall or across histological subtypes. However, a protective effect of alcohol drinking was observed among men (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.62-0.93) and in non-Mediterranean countries (OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.61-0.86). There was no evidence of interaction between alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking in NHL etiology. The results of this large-scale European study did not support an association between tobacco and NHL and suggested a protective effect of alcohol on development of NHL for men and in non-Mediterranean countries

Statin use and risk of lymphoid neoplasms: Results from the European case-control study EPILYMPH

Background: Statins, drugs used to treat dyslipidemia, may have anticancer properties. We have evaluated lymphoma risk associated with regular statin use in an international case-control study. Methods: This case-control study included 2,362 cases of incident B- and T-cell lymphoma from Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Spain and 2,206 hospital or population controls. Information on drug use, diagnosis at admission (for hospital controls), and putative risk factors for lymphoma was collected with personal interviews. Hospital controls admitted for diseases possibly entailing use of statins were excluded from the analysis. Results: The odds ratio for regular statin use was 0.61 (95% confidence interval, 0.45-0.84); all major lymphoma subtypes showed similarly decreased risks. Decreased risks were observed in all centers. Duration of statin use was not associated with a greater reduction in the risk of lymphoma. Use of other lipid lowering drugs, such as fibrates, did not significantly modify the risk of lymphoma (odds ratio, 0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.44-1.27). Conclusion: Statin use was associated with an important reduction in lymphoma risk, adding to the growing evidence of anticancer properties of this group of drugs. These results are reassuring for the increasing number of patients taking statins on a regular basis. Copyright \ua9 2006 American Association for Cancer Research

Elaboraci\uf3n de modelos 3D de diferentes morfolog\uedas y escalas utilizando t\ue9cnicas Structure-from-Motion y fotograf\uedas terrestres

Three-dimensional photo-reconstruction methods based on the use of Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and MultiView-Stereo techniques (MVS) are tested together for measuring, monitoring and quantifying three different geomorphological features: i) the Corral del Veleta rock glacier (Granada, Spain), ii) calanchi type badlands (Sicily, Italy) and iii) five small gully headcuts (C\ue1ceres, Spain). Results about the accuracy, usefulness and applicability of these techniques are presented here. In order to quantify the accuracy, the root mean square error of the control points used during the georeferencing procedure and the average absolute distance between each point cloud and a benchmark cloud, calculated with the cloud-to-cloud and the multiscale model-to-model comparison techniques, were used. For the cases i) and iii) the benchmark point clouds were acquired by means of a terrestrial laser scanner, while for the case ii) a digital elevation model obtained by means of classical photogrammetry applied to aerial pictures taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle was used as benchmark. The results of these analyses showed centimetre-level accuracies with average distances to the benchmark models ranging from 0.01 m to 0.42 m. The estimated accuracies show that models are suitable for estimating geomorphic changes only in the case of gully headcuts. In the case of the glacier and the badlands, the obtained models are not suitable to estimate changes at an annual scale, but could be useful to produce high-quality maps or estimating morphometric parameters

Lymphoma risk and occupational exposure to pesticides: Results of the Epilymph study

Objectives: We investigated the role of occupational exposure to specific groups of agrochemicals in the aetiology of lymphoma overall, B cell lymphoma and its most prevalent subtypes. Methods: In 1998-2003, 2348 incident lymphoma cases and 2462 controls were recruited to the EPILYMPH case-control study in six European countries. A detailed occupational history was collected in cases and controls. Job modules were applied for farm work including specific questions on type of crop, farm size, pests being treated, type and schedule of pesticide use. In each study centre, industrial hygienists and occupational experts assessed exposure to specific groups of pesticides and individual compounds with the aid of agronomists. We calculated the OR and its 95% CI associated with lymphoma and the most prevalent lymphoma subtypes with unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for age, gender, education and centre. Results: Risk of lymphoma overall, and B cell lymphoma was not elevated, and risk of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) was elevated amongst those ever exposed to inorganic (OR=1.6, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.5) and organic pesticides (OR=1.5, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.1). CLL risk was highest amongst those ever exposed to organophosphates (OR=2.7, 95% CI 1.2 to 6.0). Restricting the analysis to subjects most likely exposed, no association was observed between pesticide use and risk of B cell lymphoma. Conclusions: Our results provide limited support to the hypothesis of an increase in risk of specific lymphoma subtypes associated with exposure to pesticides

Variation in DNA repair genes XRCC3, XRCC4, XRCC5 and susceptibility to myeloma

Cytogenetic analysis in myeloma reveals marked chromosomal instability. Both widespread genomic alterations and evidence of aberrant class switch recombination, the physiological process that regulates maturation of the antibody response, implicate the DNA repair pathway in disease pathogenesis. We therefore assessed 27 SNPs in three genes (XRCC3, XRCC4 and XRCC5) central to DNA repair in patients with myeloma and controls from the EpiLymph study and from an Irish hospital registry (n = 306 cases, 263 controls). For the haplotype-tagging SNP (htSNP) rs963248 in XRCC4, Allele A was significantly more frequent in cases than in controls (86.4 versus 80.8%; odds ratio 1.51; 95% confidence interval 1.10-2.08; P = 0.0133), as was the AA genotype (74 versus 65%) (P = 0.026). Haplotype analysis was performed using Unphased for rs963248 in combination with additional SNPs in XRCC4. The strongest evidence of association came from the A-T haplotype from rs963248-rs2891980 (P = 0.008). For XRCC5, the genotype GG from rs1051685 was detected in 10 cases from different national populations but in only one control (P = 0.015). This SNP is located in the 3'-UTR of XRCC5. Overall, these data provide support for the hypothesis that common variation in the genes encoding DNA repair proteins contributes to susceptibility to myeloma. \ua9 The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved

A pooled analysis of alcohol consumption and risk of multiple myeloma in the international multiple myeloma consortium

Background: Recent findings suggest that alcohol consumption may reduce risk of multiple myeloma. Methods: To better understand this relationship, we conducted an analysis of six case-control studies participating in the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium (1,567 cases, 7,296 controls). Summary ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) relating different measures of alcohol consumption and multiple myeloma risk were computed by unconditional logistic regression with adjustment for age, race, and study center. Results: Cases were significantly less likely than controls to report ever drinking alcohol (men: OR = 0.72; 95% CI, 0.59-0.89; women: OR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.68-0.95). The inverse association with multiple myeloma was stronger when comparing current to never drinkers (men:OR=0.57; 95% CI, 0.45-0.72; women:OR=0.55; 95% CI, 0.45-0.68), but null among former drinkers. We did not observe an exposure-response relationship with increasing alcohol frequency, duration, or cumulative lifetime consumption. Additional adjustment for body mass index, education, or smoking did not affect our results; and the patterns of association were similar for each type of alcohol beverage examined. Conclusions: Our study is, to our knowledge, the largest of its kind to date, and our findings suggest that alcohol consumption may be associated with reduced risk of multiple myeloma. Impact: Prospective studies, especially those conducted as pooled analyses with large sample sizes, are needed to confirm our findings and further explore whether alcohol consumption provides true biologic protection against this rare, highly fatal malignancy. \ua9 2013 AACR

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and obesity : a pooled analysis from the InterLymph Consortium

Nutritional status is known to alter immune function, a suspected risk factor for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). To investigate whether long-term over, or under, nutrition is associated with NHL, self-reported anthropometric data on weight and height from over 10,000 cases of NHL and 16,000 controls were pooled across 18 case-control studies identified through the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium. Study-specific odds ratios (OR) were estimated using logistic regression and combined using a random-effects model. Severe obesity, defined as BMI of 40 kg m(-2) or more, was not associated with NHL overall (pooled OR = 1.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70-1.41) or the majority of NHL subtypes. An excess was however observed for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (pooled OR = 1.80, 95% CI 1.24-2.62), although not all study-specific ORs were raised. Among the overweight (BMI 25-29.9 kg m(-2)) and obese (BMI 30-39.9 kg m(-2)), associations were elevated in some studies and decreased in others, while no association was observed among the underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg m(-2)). There was little suggestion of increasing ORs for NHL or its subtypes with every 5 kg m(-2) rise in BMI above 18.5 kg m(-2). BMI components height and weight were also examined, and the tallest men, but not women, were at marginally increased risk (pooled OR = 1.19, 95% CI 1.06-1.34). In summary, whilst we conclude that there is no evidence to support the hypothesis that obesity is a determinant of all types of NHL combined, the association between severe obesity and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma may warrant further investigation