Within the framework of the APHEA2 (Air Pollution on Health: a European Approach) project, the effects of ambient particles on mortality among persons o65 yrs were investigated.Daily measurements for particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 mm (PM10) and black smoke (BS), as well as the daily number of deaths among persons o65 yrs of age, from 29 European cities, have been collected. Data on other pollutants and meteorological variables, to adjust for confounding effects and data on city characteristics, to investigate potential effect modification, were also recorded. For individual city analysis, generalised additive models extending Poisson regression, using a locally weighted regression (LOESS) smoother to control for seasonal effects, were applied. To combine individual city results and explore effect modification, second stage regression models were applied.The per cent increase (95% confidence intervals), associated with a 10 mg?m -3 increase in PM10, in the elderly daily number of deaths was 0.8% (0.7-0.9%) and the corresponding number for BS was 0.6% (0.5-0.8%). The effect size was modified by the long-term average levels of nitrogen dioxide (higher levels were associated with larger effects), temperature (larger effects were observed in warmer countries), and by the proportion of the elderly in each city (a larger proportion was associated with higher effects). These results indicate that ambient particles have effects on mortality among the elderly, with relative risks comparable or slightly higher than those observed for total mortality and similar effect modification patterns. The effects among the older persons are of particular importance, since the attributable number of events will be much larger, compared to the number of deaths among the younger population. The APHEA (Air Pollution on Health: a European Approach) project [1-3] started as an attempt to provide quantitative estimates of the short-term health effects of air pollution, using an extensive database from 10 different European countries (15 cities with w25 million people), through time series data and meta-analysis.Daily measurements of black smoke (BS), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), suspended particles (as total or particles with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than a certain cut off), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and ozone (O 3 ) were derived from existing monitoring networks. The outcome data were daily counts of total and cause-specific deaths and hospital emergency admissions. Data on potential confounders (e.g. seasonal and long term patterns, meteorological factors, day of the week, holidays, influenza epidemics, unusual events such as strikes of medical staff) were also used.Poisson regression allowing for autocorrelation and overdispersion was used in the analysis, controlling for all potential confounding factors, choosing the "best" air pollution models, and applying diagnostic tools to check the adequacy of the models.The results of APHEA were firstly reported in a series of articles describing the individu...

Elevated methylation level is associated with increased disease severity and has good ability to discriminate HPV16-positive women that have high-grade disease or worse.

Nucleic acids of human papillomavirus (HPV) isolated by manual extraction method (AmpliLute) and automated MagNA pure system were compared and evaluated with cytohistological findings in 253 women. The concordance level between AmpliLute and MagNA was very good 93.3% (κ = 0.864, P < .0001). Overall HPVpositivity detected by AmpliLute was 57.3% (30.4% as single and 27% as multiple infections) in contrast to MagNA 54.5% (32% and 23%, resp.). Discrepant results observed in 25 cases: 11 MagNA(−)/AmpliLute(+), 10 of which had positive histology; 5 MagNA(+)/AmpliLute(−) with negative histology; 8 MagNA(+)/AmpliLute(+): in 7 of which AmpliLute detected extra HPV genotypes and 1 MagNA(invalid)/AmpliLute(+) with positive histology. Both methods performed well when compared against cytological (area under curve (AUC) of AmpliLute 0.712 versus 0.672 of MagNA) and histological diagnoses (AUC of AmpliLute 0.935 versus 0.877 of MagNA), with AmpliLute showing a slightly predominance over MagNA. However, higher sensitivities, specificities, and positive/negative predictive values were obtained by AmpliLute.

Endometrial cancer is the most common malignancy of the female genital tract while aberrant DNA methylation seems to play a critical role in endometrial carcinogenesis. Galanin's expression has been involved in many cancers. We developed a new pyrosequencing assay that quantifies DNA methylation of galanin's receptor-1 (GALR1). In this study, the preliminary results indicate that pyrosequencing methylation analysis of GALR1 promoter can be a useful ancillary marker to cytology as the histological status can successfully predict. This marker has the potential to lead towards better management of women with endometrial lesions and eventually reduce unnecessary interventions. In addition it can provide early warning for women with negative cytological result.