Metalurgical remains from Ibiza-town (Balearic Islands)

Se presentan los análisis de seis muestras de escoria halladas durante trabajos de acondicionamiento urbanístico de la ciudad de Ibiza (Islas Baleares). Estas muestras, que son unas de las primeras muestras de escoria analizadas procedentes del casco antiguo de la ciudad de Ibiza, corresponden a productos de un taller metalúrgico dedicado a la industria broncínea. Las tres primeras muestras son restos de elementos metálicos de bronces ternarios (cobre, estaño y plomo) en fase de producción. Esos metales se mezclarían en vasos (crisoles), a los que corresponden las tres últimas muestras, que conservan en algún caso restos de esos tres elementos (cobre, estaño y plomo). Como nota interesante, están fabricados en arcillas ricas en hierro y cal, cuya adición posiblemente sea intencional a juzgar por paralelos históricosThe analyzes of six samples of slag found during urban development works in the city of Ibiza (Balearic Islands) are presented. These samples, which are one of the first samples of slag analyzed from the old town of Ibiza town, correspond to products from a metallurgical workshop dedicated to the bronze industry. The first three samples to be discussed are remains of ternary bronze metallic elements (copper, tin and lead) in the production phase. These metals would be mixed in ceramic vessels (crucibles), to which the last three samples correspond, which in some cases retain traces of these three elements (copper, tin and lead). These fragments of crucibles are made of clays rich in iron and lime, the addition of which is possibly intentional judging by historical parallel

Evidence Update on the Relationship between Diet and the Most Common Cancers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study: A Systematic Review

FundingE.U.-G. is supported by the Programa Operativo Fondo Social Europeo (FSE) de Andalucia (20142020) and Junta de Andalucia (reference DOC_01618).The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) is a multicentre prospective study conducted in 23 centres in 10 European countries. Here we review the findings from EPIC on the relationship between diet-related exposures and incidence or mortality from the four most frequent cancers in the European population: colorectal, breast, lung, and prostate cancer. We conducted a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines and identified 110 high-quality studies based on the EPIC cohort. Fruit and vegetable consumption had a protective effect against colorectal, breast, and lung cancer, whereas only fruit had a protective effect against prostate cancer. A higher consumption of fish and lower consumption of red and processed meat were related with a lower risk of colorectal cancer; and higher consumption of fatty fish with lower risk of breast cancer. Calcium and yogurt intake were found to protect against colorectal and prostate cancer. Alcohol consumption increased the risk for colorectal and breast cancer. Finally, adherence to the Mediterranean diet emerged as a protective factor for colorectal and breast cancer. The EPIC study results are in agreement with the latest evidence from leading authorities on cancer prevention and help to inform public prevention policies and strategies.Programa Operativo Fondo Social Europeo (FSE) de Andalucia (20142020)Junta de Andalucia DOC_0161

Incidence rate trends for colorectal cancer in Navarre (North of Spain) in the 1990-2005 period

Fundamento. En España, se ha observado un aumento de la incidencia de cáncer colorrectal (CCR) en ambos sexos en los últimos años, posiblemente debido a las mejoras diagnósticas, a la occidentalización de la dieta y al empeoramiento de los niveles de obesidad entre otros. En este trabajo se han estudiado las tendencias de la incidencia de CCR en las diferentes áreas de salud de Navarra (norte de España) durante el período 1990-2005. Métodos. Para cada sexo y área, se obtuvieron las tendencias de las tasas de incidencia y los correspondientes intervalos de confianza mediante modelos de P-splines. Resultados. Se observa una tendencia creciente de la incidencia de CCR en la mayoría de las áreas para ambos sexos, siendo menos pronunciada en las mujeres que en los hombres. En la zona centro de Pamplona (la capital) se observa una tendencia decreciente para los hombres durante el período estudiado. Conclusiones. Para cambiar las tendencias crecientes observadas en la mayoría de las áreas de la provincia, la prevención primaria es la mejor estrategia. Sin embargo, adquirir estilos de vida saludables tiene resultados a largo plazo por lo que un programa de detección temprana serviría como estrategia de prevención a más corto plazo.Background. In Spain, an increase in the incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) has been observed in both sexes in recent years, probably due to an improved diagnostic, the westernization of dietary habits, and worse obesity levels, among others factors. In this work, CRC incidence rate trends in different health areas in Navarre (northern Spain) are studied during the 1990-2005 period. Methods. An estimated incidence trend curve for each health area and the corresponding confidence bands were obtained for each gender using P-spline models. Results. These results show an increasing trend of CRC in most of the areas in both sexes, being less pronounced in women than in men. In the central area of Pamplona (the capital city) a decreasing trend has been observed for men during the studied period. Conclusions. Primary prevention is the best strategy to change the increasing trend observed in most areas of the province of Navarre. However, a healthy lifestyle has long-term results, so it is important to have an early detection program that would serve as a short-term prevention strategy.Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Proyecto MTM2008- 03085 y MTM2011-22664) y por el CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP)

Dietary Intake of Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) and Mortality among Individuals with Colorectal Cancer

Funding [WCRF 2015/1391, PI: M. Jenab] was obtained from Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF), as part of the World Cancer Research Fund International grant program. The coordination of EPIC is financially supported by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and also by the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, which has additional infrastructure support provided by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The national cohorts are supported by: Danish Cancer Society (Denmark); Ligue Contre le Cancer, Institut Gustave Roussy, Mutuelle Generale de lEducation Nationale, Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) (France); German Cancer Aid, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Germany); Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC-Italy, Compagnia di SanPaolo and National Research Council (Italy); Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS), Netherlands Cancer Registry (NKR), LK Research Funds, Dutch Prevention Funds, Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland), World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), Statistics Netherlands (The Netherlands); Health Research Fund (FIS) - Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Regional Governments of Andalucia, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia and Navarra, the Catalan Institute of OncologyICO (Spain); Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Research Council and County Councils of Skane and Vaesterbotten (Sweden); Cancer Research UK (14136 to EPIC-Norfolk; C8221/A29017 to EPIC-Oxford), Medical Research Council (1000143 to EPIC-Norfolk; MR/M012190/1 to EPIC-Oxford) (United Kingdom). The EPIC-Norfolk study (DOI 10.22025/2019.10.105.00004) received funding from the Medical Research Council (MR/N003284/1 and MC-UU_12015/1) and Cancer Research UK (C864/A14136). V. Fedirko is supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Rising Stars Award (Grant ID RR200056). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) may promote oxidative stress and inflammation and have been linked to multiple chronic diseases, including cancer. However, the association of AGEs with mortality after colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis has not been previously investigated. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals for associations between dietary intake of AGEs with CRC-specific and all-cause mortality among 5801 participant cases diagnosed with CRC in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study between 1993 and 2013. Dietary intakes of AGEs were estimated using country-specific dietary questionnaires, linked to an AGE database, that accounted for food preparation and processing. During a median of 58 months of follow-up, 2421 cases died (1841 from CRC). Individually or combined, dietary intakes of AGEs were not associated with all-cause and CRC-specific mortality among cases. However, there was a suggestion for a positive association between AGEs and all-cause or CRC-specific mortality among CRC cases without type II diabetes (all-cause, P-interaction = 0.05) and CRC cases with the longest follow-up between recruitment and cancer diagnosis (CRC-specific, P-interaction = 0.003; all-cause, P-interaction = 0.01). Our study suggests that pre-diagnostic dietary intakes of AGEs were not associated with CRC-specific or all-cause mortality among CRC patients. Further investigations using biomarkers of AGEs and stratifying by sex, diabetes status, and timing of exposure to AGEs are warranted.Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF), World Cancer Research Fund International grant program WCRF 2015/1391World Health OrganizationDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College LondonDanish Cancer SocietyLigue Contre le Cancer (France) Institut Gustave Roussy (France) Mutuelle Generale de lEducation Nationale (France)Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm)Deutsche Krebshilfe German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) (Germany) German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE) (Germany)Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF)Fondazione AIRC per la ricerca sul cancro Compagnia di San Paolo Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)Netherlands GovernmentWorld Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF)Health Research Fund (FIS) - Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)Junta de Andalucia Regional Government of Asturias (Spain) Regional Government of Basque Country (Spain) Regional Government of Murcia (Spain) Regional Government of Navarra (Spain) Catalan Institute of OncologyICO (Spain)Swedish Cancer Society Swedish Research Council County Council of Skane (Sweden) County Council of Vaesterbotten (Sweden)Cancer Research UK 14136 C8221/A29017UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Medical Research Council UK (MRC) 1000143 MR/M012190/1 UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Medical Research Council UK (MRC)European Commission MR/N003284/1 MC-UU_12015/1Cancer Research UK C864/A14136Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Rising Stars Award RR20005

A nutrient-wide association study for risk of prostate cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition and the Netherlands Cohort Study.

Funder: Centre International de Recherche sur le Cancer; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100008700PURPOSE: The evidence from the literature regarding the association of dietary factors and risk of prostate cancer is inconclusive. METHODS: A nutrient-wide association study was conducted to systematically and comprehensively evaluate the associations between 92 foods or nutrients and risk of prostate cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Cox proportional hazard regression models adjusted for total energy intake, smoking status, body mass index, physical activity, diabetes and education were used to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for standardized dietary intakes. As in genome-wide association studies, correction for multiple comparisons was applied using the false discovery rate (FDR < 5%) method and suggested results were replicated in an independent cohort, the Netherlands Cohort Study (NLCS). RESULTS: A total of 5916 and 3842 incident cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed during a mean follow-up of 14 and 20 years in EPIC and NLCS, respectively. None of the dietary factors was associated with the risk of total prostate cancer in EPIC (minimum FDR-corrected P, 0.37). Null associations were also observed by disease stage, grade and fatality, except for positive associations observed for intake of dry cakes/biscuits with low-grade and butter with aggressive prostate cancer, respectively, out of which the intake of dry cakes/biscuits was replicated in the NLCS. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide little support for an association for the majority of the 92 examined dietary factors and risk of prostate cancer. The association of dry cakes/biscuits with low-grade prostate cancer warrants further replication given the scarcity in the literature

Circulating Folate and Vitamin B12 and Risk of Prostate Cancer: A Collaborative Analysis of Individual Participant Data from Six Cohorts Including 6875 Cases and 8104 Controls.

BACKGROUND: Folate and vitamin B12 are essential for maintaining DNA integrity and may influence prostate cancer (PCa) risk, but the association with clinically relevant, advanced stage, and high-grade disease is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the associations between circulating folate and vitamin B12 concentrations and risk of PCa overall and by disease stage and grade. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A study was performed with a nested case-control design based on individual participant data from six cohort studies including 6875 cases and 8104 controls; blood collection from 1981 to 2008, and an average follow-up of 8.9 yr (standard deviation 7.3). Odds ratios (ORs) of incident PCa by study-specific fifths of circulating folate and vitamin B12 were calculated using multivariable adjusted conditional logistic regression. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Incident PCa and subtype by stage and grade. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: Higher folate and vitamin B12 concentrations were associated with a small increase in risk of PCa (ORs for the top vs bottom fifths were 1.13 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02-1.26], ptrend=0.018, for folate and 1.12 [95% CI, 1.01-1.25], ptrend=0.017, for vitamin B12), with no evidence of heterogeneity between studies. The association with folate varied by tumour grade (pheterogeneity0.05). Use of single blood-sample measurements of folate and B12 concentrations is a limitation. CONCLUSIONS: The association between higher folate concentration and risk of high-grade disease, not evident for low-grade disease, suggests a possible role for folate in the progression of clinically relevant PCa and warrants further investigation. PATIENT SUMMARY: Folate, a vitamin obtained from foods and supplements, is important for maintaining cell health. In this study, however, men with higher blood folate levels were at greater risk of high-grade (more aggressive) prostate cancer compared with men with lower folate levels. Further research is needed to investigate the possible role of folate in the progression of this disease

Lifestyle factors and risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a multinational cohort study

Abstract: Background: Although lifestyle factors have been studied in relation to individual non-communicable diseases (NCDs), their association with development of a subsequent NCD, defined as multimorbidity, has been scarcely investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between five lifestyle factors and incident multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 291,778 participants (64% women) from seven European countries, mostly aged 43 to 58 years and free of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and type 2 diabetes (T2D) at recruitment, were included. Incident multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases was defined as developing subsequently two diseases including first cancer at any site, CVD, and T2D in an individual. Multi-state modelling based on Cox regression was used to compute hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of developing cancer, CVD, or T2D, and subsequent transitions to multimorbidity, in relation to body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and their combination as a healthy lifestyle index (HLI) score. Cumulative incidence functions (CIFs) were estimated to compute 10-year absolute risks for transitions from healthy to cancer at any site, CVD (both fatal and non-fatal), or T2D, and to subsequent multimorbidity after each of the three NCDs. Results: During a median follow-up of 11 years, 1910 men and 1334 women developed multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. A higher HLI, reflecting healthy lifestyles, was strongly inversely associated with multimorbidity, with hazard ratios per 3-unit increment of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.71 to 0.81), 0.84 (0.79 to 0.90), and 0.82 (0.77 to 0.88) after cancer, CVD, and T2D, respectively. After T2D, the 10-year absolute risks of multimorbidity were 40% and 25% for men and women, respectively, with unhealthy lifestyle, and 30% and 18% for men and women with healthy lifestyles. Conclusion: Pre-diagnostic healthy lifestyle behaviours were strongly inversely associated with the risk of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases, and with the prognosis of these diseases by reducing risk of multimorbidity

A Body Shape Index (ABSI) achieves better mortality risk stratification than alternative indices of abdominal obesity: results from a large European cohort

Abstract: Abdominal and general adiposity are independently associated with mortality, but there is no consensus on how best to assess abdominal adiposity. We compared the ability of alternative waist indices to complement body mass index (BMI) when assessing all-cause mortality. We used data from 352,985 participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for other risk factors. During a mean follow-up of 16.1 years, 38,178 participants died. Combining in one model BMI and a strongly correlated waist index altered the association patterns with mortality, to a predominantly negative association for BMI and a stronger positive association for the waist index, while combining BMI with the uncorrelated A Body Shape Index (ABSI) preserved the association patterns. Sex-specific cohort-wide quartiles of waist indices correlated with BMI could not separate high-risk from low-risk individuals within underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) or obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) categories, while the highest quartile of ABSI separated 18–39% of the individuals within each BMI category, which had 22–55% higher risk of death. In conclusion, only a waist index independent of BMI by design, such as ABSI, complements BMI and enables efficient risk stratification, which could facilitate personalisation of screening, treatment and monitoring

Baseline and lifetime alcohol consumption and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma in the EPIC study

Background: Results from several cohort and case–control studies suggest a protective association between current alcohol intake and risk of thyroid carcinoma, but the epidemiological evidence is not completely consistent and several questions remain unanswered. Methods: The association between alcohol consumption at recruitment and over the lifetime and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma was examined in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Among 477 263 eligible participants (70% women), 556 (90% women) were diagnosed with differentiated thyroid carcinoma over a mean follow-up of 11 years. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. Results: Compared with participants consuming 0.1–4.9 g of alcohol per day at recruitment, participants consuming 15 or more grams (approximately 1–1.5 drinks) had a 23% lower risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (HR=0.77; 95% CI=0.60–0.98). These findings did not differ greatly when analyses were conducted for lifetime alcohol consumption, although the risk estimates were attenuated and not statistically significant anymore. Similar results were observed by type of alcoholic beverage, by differentiated thyroid carcinoma histology or according to age, sex, smoking status, body mass index and diabetes. Conclusions: Our study provides some support to the hypothesis that moderate alcohol consumption may be associated with a lower risk of papillary and follicular thyroid carcinomas