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Biomedical subjects

F Merletti

Publications and source records attributed to F Merletti.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Appearance, site of occurrence, and physical and clinical characteristics of oral carcinoma in Torino, Italy.

The appearance, site of occurrence, and selected physical and clinical characteristics are reported for 102 symptomatic carcinomas diagnosed during a 30-month period in Torino, Italy. Erythroplasia was a more significant visual component than leukoplakia, confirming the results of a previous study on asymptomatic cancer in a US population. Floor of the mouth, oral tongue, and soft palate complex accounted for 75% of all sites and 84% of sites if posterior pillar is excluded. Seventeen percent of the lesions were T1, 60% T2, and 23% larger than T2. Size of the lesion was associated with anterior or posterior position and the mobility of the structure, as well as with ulceration, bleeding, and lymphadenopathy (55% of cancers had no nodal involvement). Tumefaction, burning, and pain were the most frequently reported symptoms. About 50% of patients experienced a time lapse between onset of symptoms and final diagnosis of less than 3 months, and this proportion was higher among patients with T1 cancers.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

A mortality cohort study in a north Italian aircraft factory.

Mortality in a cohort of 8626 workers employed between 1954 and 1981 in an aircraft manufacturing factory in northern Italy was studied. Total follow up was 132,042 person-years, with 76% accumulated in the age range 15 to 54. Median duration of follow up from the date of first employment was 16 years. Vital status was ascertained for 98.5% of the cohort. Standardised mortality ratios were calculated based on Italian national mortality rates. Altogether 685 deaths occurred (SMR = 85). There was a significant excess of mortality for melanoma (6 cases, SMR = 561). Six deaths certified as due to pleural tumours occurred. No significant excess of mortality was found in specific jobs or work areas.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

A comparative study of smoking, drinking and dietary habits in population samples in France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. II. Tobacco smoking.

This paper describes the smoking habits of six populations in France, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. A total of 2,965 men and 2,369 women have been interviewed. The proportion of ever smoking men is almost the same (75 to 80%) everywhere but in Geneva and Calvados a higher proportion of smokers quitted the habit (over 30%). In females, on the contrary, the prevalences of ever smokers is higher in Torino (42%) and Geneva (36%) than in Spain (25%) and Calvados (19%). Young females, however, tend to smoke more and intercountry differences tend to disappear. In both sexes successive generations begin to smoke earlier. Exclusive use of black tobacco is still very high in Calvados (90%) and Navarra (80%) whilst it tends to disappear in Italy (30%). Plain cigarettes decrease everywhere, especially in Spain and Varese, but they are still smoked by the majority of men in Calvados. The results suggest that the tobacco epidemic is still increasing in those areas where it began more recently.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Incidence of breast cancer in Piedmont: 1979-1981.

A population-based survey of histologically diagnosed breast cancer was carried out among residents in Piedmont. A total of 5267 incident cases occurring in 1979-1981 was collected, corresponding to an age-standardized (on the world population) incidence rate of 49.5/100,000 per year. Rates (standardized on the population of Piedmont in 1981) were highest in the city of Torino (112.4/100,000 per year) and lowest in the province of Cuneo (67.5), whereas in the other provinces they ranged between 85.3 and 90.0. Estimation of rates in the 54 Local Health Authorities of Piedmont detected up to 2-fold differences between adjacent areas. A correlation was found between rates and size of the population of town of residence. Comparison with age-specific incidence rates from the Cancer Registry of the nearby province of Varese suggested a loss of nonhistologically confirmed cases selectively in older age groups. The distribution of cases diagnosed in 1979 by histologic type is presented. The proportion of diagnoses reported in terms which were consistent with the 1978 WHO Histological Typing of Breast Tumours was 61.3%. It was highest among cases identified in Pathology Services located in University Hospitals and/or diagnosing more than 50 breast cancers per year.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Cancer of the breast in women born in southern Italy and who migrated to the city of Torino.

Individual demographic data of 459 women living in Torino with incident breast cancer diagnosed in 1979 were compared with those of a random sample of 1800 women drawn from the list of residents in the same city. Among women aged 25-44 and 45+ years, age-adjusted odds ratios for birth in southern Italy were respectively 1.3 (95% CL, 0.1-2.1) and 0.7 (95% CL, 0.5-0.9). In women aged 45+ years, odds ratios increased with length of residence in Torino.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Target organs for carcinogenicity of chemicals and industrial exposures in humans: a review of results in the IARC monographs on the evaluation of the carcinogenic risk of chemicals to humans.

Epidemiological observations indicate that cancers affecting different organs and systems in humans have different causes. At the descriptive level, cancer incidence and mortality rates exhibit patterns of geographic and temporal variation which are distinct and separate for each cancer site and even, at a given site, for different histological types (for instance, increasing squamous cell carcinoma of the lung and decreasing stomach cancer in most developed countries in recent decades). The existence of these distinct patterns in itself indicates that different causes are at the origin of cancers at different sites. Hence, it is of scientific and practical importance not only to identify agents that are carcinogenic to humans but also to specify as definitely as possible the target organ(s) of their action. This is done in the present review of results in the International Agency for Research on Cancer Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans.

Bibliographies as Topic↗
PubMed1982

Mammographic features of the breast and breast cancer risk.

The authors conducted a case-control study at two Boston, Massachusetts, are hospitals to evaluate the relation of anatomic features of the breast, visible on the xeromammogram, to the risk of breast cancer. The cases were 408 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer and the controls were 1021 women without signs or symptoms of breast disease. The features of the breast assessed were the "parenchymal pattern" as defined by Wolfe (Am J Roentgenol 1976; 126:1132-9), and specific radiologic characteristics which are components of the parenchymal pattern classification. Women whose mammogram showed the P2 or DY parenchymal patterns were at elevated risk compared to women with the N1 pattern. Further, risk increased regularly with increases in the percentage of the breast that showed nodular densities and with increases in the average size and concentration of these densities. Women with extensive homogeneous density were also at elevated risk. These findings were observed only among women aged 20-59 years. In this group, women with nodular densities in 60% or more of the breast appeared to have a five-fold increase in risk compared to women without nodular densities in the breast.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

The relation of mammographic features of the breast to breast cancer risk factors.

The authors evaluated the relation of breast cancer risk factors to the appearance of the breast on xeromammograms. Subjects were 1021 women without breast cancer whose first xeromammographic examination at one of two Boston, Massachusetts, area hospitals was done for a reason described as "baseline" or "routine." The principal mammographic features assessed were the percentage of the breast showing nodular densities and the percentage showing homogeneous density. The extent of nodular and homogeneous densities decreased as age increased. The amount of both types of density decreased with increase in the number of full-term pregnancies. The percentages of the breast showing nodular and homogeneous densities were slightly higher for premenopausal compared to postmenopausal women, and for women with a history of breast biopsy or aspiration compared to women without. Certain characteristics of observed relations between risk factors and mammographic features differed for the two types of densities.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A standard tool for the analysis of occupational lung cancer in epidemiologic studies.

A standard tool for the analysis of known and suspected causes of occupational lung cancer in population-based studies is proposed in order to allow comparable definitions of exposure or of categorizations of occupations. It is based on a list of occupations and industries known (list A) or suspected (list B) to be associated with lung cancer. The lists were translated into codes of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (1968) and the International Standard Industrial Classification (1971). The specificity of the categorization is compromised for some groups that are defined by highly specific production processes or exposures. Nevertheless, the grouping is based on a highly valid source of information in population-based studies. It is proposed for use in the assessment of the public health impact of occupational lung cancer.

Carcinogens↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Proportion of lung tumors attributable to occupation].

This paper reviews estimates of the proportion of lung cancer attributable to occupational exposures and presents estimates for the City of Turin where a population-based case-control study on lung cancer has been conducted in 1991-1992 among the residents. An analysis of six hundred and five cases (505 males and 100 females) and 859 controls (684 males and 175 females) with histological/cytological confirmed diagnosis of lung cancer and occupational and smoking complete histories has been performed to estimate the proportion of lung cancers attributable to occupation in the city of Turin. The occupational exposure has been assessed with two different classifications: a) classification of a checklist of occupations as obtained from the study questionnaire according to industries and occupations known (List A) and suspected (List B) to be associated with lung cancer; b) translation of ISCO-ISIC codes for industries and occupations according to the same List A and List B. The population attributable risks are comparable when estimated with the two different classifications. In the city of Turin, at the beginning of the Nineties, about 10%-15% of lung cancers in males and 2%-5% in females could be attributed to occupational exposure.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Database of occupations and industrial activities that involve the risk of pulmonary tumors].

Lists of occupations and industries associated with lung cancer are a useful tool to estimate attributable risks for occupational exposures. They were first published in 1982, based on IARC Monographs. List A included industries, processes and occupations definitely entailing carcinogenic risk, list B those probably/possibly carcinogenic. In 1995 the lists had been updated. We carried out a further update, reviewing IARC Monographs Volumes 62-75, focusing on Group 1, 2 A, and 2 B agents, and coded the lists according to widely used classifications: ISIC Rev. 2, ISIC Rev. 3, NACE Rev. 1, and ISTAT ATECO 1991 (for economic activities); ILO-ISCO 1968 and ISTAT-Classificazione delle professioni 1991 (for occupations). In order to evaluate temporal and geographical variations in attributable risk, exposure assessment must be performed consistently across different studies and standard tools to identify exposures, such as the one we propose here, are needed. The lists can also help to develop maps of industrial activities entailing carcinogenic risk at local, regional, and national level, and to identify economic activities that deserve priority action to control occupational exposures to carcinogens. The classifications were originally developed for economic and demographic purposes, and some exposure circumstances cannot be coded with sufficient specificity. This applies to productions or processes (i.e.: PVC production) that could be classified only by codes corresponding to wide groups of economic activities and/or occupations: in these instances we associated no code, so as not to inflate the estimates of exposed workers. As a consequence, however, certain exposures are not represented in the coded version of the lists. Even keeping in mind such limitations, coding makes the lists easier to apply, and increases the comparability of studies on lung cancer and occupation, as well as of surveys on exposure prevalence.

Databases as Topic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Problems and perspectives of occupational carcinogenesis].

Epidemiologic research has played an important role in identifying and confirming the carcinogenicity of chemicals. This was facilitated in the past by the high levels of exposure and by the simple correspondence between one exposure and one or few job titles. Today we are faced with a different picture: workers are exposed to complex mixtures, exposure levels have decreased while mobility of the work-force has increased. In this changing context, epidemiology needs new methodological tools to improve the validity of risk assessment. The most promising of these seem to be the new techniques of biochemical epidemiology and the development of job-exposure matrices. Among the more traditional tools, record-linkage studies may be relevant in identifying long-term occupational hazards. The methodological problems and the ethical and operative implications of these trends in research are discussed.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗