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Biomedical subjects

D Trichopoulos

Publications and source records attributed to D Trichopoulos.

At least 379 records · Page 21Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Delta agent and the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Sera from 87 patients with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and from 29 HBsAg-positive hospital controls were tested for delta (delta) antigen with an immunoenzymatic procedure and for anti-delta antibody, hepatitis Be antigen (HBeAg) and antibody to HBeAg (anti-HBe) by radioimmunoassay. All the sera, from both the HCC cases and the control patients, were negative for delta-antigen. Among the HCC cases 9 were positive for serum anti-delta (10%) whereas among the controls none was positive for this antibody (p = 0.067); the anti-delta-positive cases were found only among HCC patients negative for HBeAg. The lower prevalence of anti-delta among HBsAg-positive HCC patients, as compared to the corresponding prevalence among HBsAg-positive patients with chronic active hepatitis or cirrhosis (reported in the literature) indicates that the pathogenesis of HCC is frequently independent of the pathogenesis of the other HBsAg-positive common chronic liver diseases. By contrast, the higher prevalence of anti-delta among HBsAg-positive HCC cases than among HBsAg-positive controls may reflect the longer average duration of the carrier state in HCC patients (until integration is accomplished and the induction period completed). Serum HBeAg was higher among HBsAg-positive HCC patients with cirrhosis (23%) than among HBsAg-positive HCC patients without cirrhosis (6%) or HBsAg-positive controls (3%); thus, the conflicting results in the literature concerning the association of the HBeAg/anti-HBe system with HCC may be accounted for, in part, by the variable association of HCC with an underlying cirrhosis.

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular↗
PubMed1987

Hepatitis B virus, tobacco smoking and ethanol consumption in the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking histories were obtained from 194 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 456 hospital controls, and the results were analysed in conjunction with the results of serological determinations of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody to HBsAg (anti-HBs) and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) in all subjects, as well as the presence or absence of cirrhosis in HCC patients. The relative risk (RR) of HCC (and 95% confidence interval) among HBsAg-positive subjects was 13.7 (8.0-23.5), whereas the excess risk among antibody-positive subjects was small and statistically non-significant. In the presence of cirrhosis the RR for HBsAg-positive subjects was considerably higher (30.7 vs. 7.1 among HBsAg-positive subjects without cirrhosis) indicating that HBV may affect the development of HCC through at least two different and potentially multiplicative mechanisms (DNA integration and liver regeneration). Moderate ethanol consumption does not affect the risk of HCC, but there is a statistically significant and dose-dependent association between tobacco smoking and HBsAg-negative HCC. In most of the developed countries of Europe and North America, where the prevalence of HBsAg carrier state is very low and tobacco smoking very common, more cases of HCC may be due to tobacco smoking than to HBV, even though the RR for HCC is much higher among HBsAg carriers than among tobacco smokers.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Time trends of tobacco smoking, air pollution, and lung cancer in Athens.

Athens is a city with a serious air pollution problem which has existed for more than 20 years. To evaluate whether air pollution has affected lung cancer incidence (and hence, mortality) in the population of Athens we have compared standardized lung mortality between Athens and the rest of Greece taking into account the tobacco consumption trends in the respective populations and varying the postulated latency between 0 and 20 years. There is no evidence for an independent or interactive (with tobacco smoking) effect of air pollution on lung cancer mortality; the tobacco-adjusted mortality appears, if anything, lower in Athens than in the rest of Greece and the slopes of lung cancer mortality on tobacco consumption are almost identical in Athens and in the rest of Greece. By contrast, the same data are compatible with a strong effect of tobacco smoking on lung cancer mortality, an effect which appears to involve not only the early carcinogenic stages but also some of the later ones. The results of the present analysis do not support the hypothesis that air pollution, at least in Athens until 1980, has increased the incidence of lung cancer to an extent large enough to be detectable in ecological correlation analyses. Nevertheless the inherent limitations of these methods indicate that their results should be interpreted with caution and only as a step toward the gradual understanding of a complex issue.

Air Pollution↗
PubMed1987

A randomized phase II trial of aminoglutethimide and hydrocortisone versus combined aminoglutethimide, hydrocortisone and fluoxymesterone in advanced breast cancer.

Fifty postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer were included in the following randomized phase II trial: 25 patients received aminoglutethimide 1000 mg and hydrocortisone 40 mg daily. Twenty-five patients received aminoglutethimide 1000 mg, hydrocortisone 40 mg and fluoxymesterone 20 mg daily. The two groups of patients were comparable in respect to the most important pretreatment characteristics. The majority of patients in both groups had bone lesions. There was a history of response to tamoxifen in all the cases and 17 patients had positive estrogen and progesterone receptors. The evaluation of response was based on the system adopted by the UICC. In the aminoglutethimide-hydrocortisone group, 16 (64%) patients obtained a partial remission, 3 (12%) remained stable and 6 (24%) had progressive disease. In the combination treatment group, 17 (68%) patients obtained a partial remission, 3 (12%) remained stable and 5 (20%) developed progressive disease. The median duration of partial remission and stabilization of the disease was 9 and 7 months respectively in both groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Stability of two forms of Rappaport-Vassiliadis enrichment medium.

It has been shown previously (18) that the sensitivity of Rappaport-Vassiliadis medium (RV medium) prepared with tryptone Difco (RV-tryptone) in isolating salmonellae and its specificity in inhibiting competing organisms remains unchanged when the medium is held in a refrigerator for 6 to 7 months. In the present study it was found that the RV-tryptone medium held in the refrigerator for 13 to 15 months looses its specificity to a marked extent. Therefore it is prudent not to use RV-tryptone after storage of 7 months. On the other hand, it was observed that RV medium made with soya peptone (Oxoid L 44) (RV-soya) retains its sensitivity and specificity, and is therefore usable, when held in the refrigerator for 7 to 9 months and even when held at room temperature for 13 to 15 months.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Diet and breast cancer: a case-control study in Greece.

A case-control study of the role of diet in the etiology of breast cancer was conducted in Athens, Greece. There are reasons to believe that the diet of the Greek population is characterized by greater heterogeneity than that in most countries where such studies have been undertaken. The case series consisted of 120 consecutive patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer admitted to either of two teaching hospitals over a 12-month period. The controls were 120 patients admitted to a teaching hospital for trauma and orthopedic conditions during the same period. Dietary histories concerning the frequency of consumption of 120 foods and drinks were obtained by interview. Cases reported significantly less frequent consumption of vegetables as a group and, within that group, specifically of cucumber, lettuce and raw carrot. After adjustment for potential external confounding variables and for confounding between food categories, the odds ratio for persons in the highest quintile of vegetable consumers, relative to those in the lowest quintile, was 0.09 with 95% confidence limits 0.03-0.30. That is to say, the lowest quintile of vegetable consumers had about 10 times the breast cancer risk of the highest quintile. For a score based on consumption of only the 3 specified salad items the odds ratio over the extreme quartiles was 0.12 (0.05-0.32). There was no association with consumption of fats and oils, alcohol or coffee, and no significant association with any other major food category (including alcohol and coffee) after adjustment for confounding variables.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1986

Social factors and professional attitudes as determinants of the frequency of small surgical procedures among children in Greece.

Data concerning histories of Adenoidectomy (Ad), Tonsillectomy (T) and Appendectomy (Ap) were collected from the escorts (mainly mothers) of 2296 children 3-12 years-old. The children were admitted as outpatients at the First Department of Paediatrics of the University of Athens or the Polyclinic of the Children's Welfare Center of PIKPA in Pireaus, during the last six months of 1983. Among children with median age of about six years, 12 percent had already had at least one operation (Ad, T or Ap); this proportion increased to about 25 percent among children with median age of about 10 years. The cumulative incidence of Ad and/or T was higher among boys, whereas the cumulative incidence of Ap was higher among girls. The age adjusted cumulative incidence of Ap was significantly higher in the lower social class, whereas there was no social gradient with respect to Ad or T. There were strong intra-individual correlations among the three studied operations; in particular the age adjusted cumulative incidence of Ap was 2.9 times higher among children with Ad and/or T than among children without any of these operations. Since there are no apparent biomedical reasons to account for the observed intra-individual associations, it appears likely, that these associations reflect parental or physician's attitudes leading to unjustifiable operations in some of the children.

Adenoidectomy↗
PubMed1986

[Greece and the European Economic Community: relations between mortality rates by cause and indices of development].

Greece is member of the European Economic Community since 1981. This paper analyses the existing relationships between mortality rates and several indices of socio-economic development; these indices deal with the rythm of industrial development, the level of urbanization, the quality and quantity of individual consumption. These indices show marked differences within EEC. Among the factors studied, those related to nutrition show strong association with cancer and coronary mortality; the level of urbanization is associated with mortality from cardiovascular and acute respiratory causes. The employment and the BIP are directly associated with mortality from accident, intoxication and respiratory diseases.

European Union↗
PubMed1986

Short-term effects of air pollution on mortality in Athens.

Short-term effects of air pollution on mortality in Athens during the years 1975-1982 were studied. Daily values of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and smoke, measured by a five-station network of the National Observatory of Athens, were used as air pollution indicators. Mortality data were abstracted from the Town Registries of Athens and 18 other contiguous towns within the Greater Athens area. It was found that the adjusted daily mortality (estimated by subtracting from the observed value of mortality an 'expected' value, calculated after fitting a sinusoid curve to the empirical mortality data) depends positively and significantly on the level of SO2 (b = +0.0058, p = 0.05). This relation is independent of temperature, relative humidity, secular, seasonal, monthly and weekly variations of mortality as well as of synergistic effects of the above variables with season. No relation was found between smoke and adjusted daily mortality. An analysis for the determination of a possible threshold in the levels of SO2 causing health effects was also undertaken, by studying changes in the SO2 regression coefficients after successive deletion from the regression model of the days with the highest SO2 values. Our study shows that if there is an SO2 threshold it must lie slightly below the level of 150 micrograms/m3 (mean daily value).

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1986

Earthquake-related stress and cardiac mortality.

The acute effects of earthquake-related psychological stress on total and cardiac mortality were investigated using mortality data from the city of Thessaloniki (Greece) which was hit on 19 and 20 June 1978, by two strong earthquakes, measuring 5.2 and 6.4 degrees on the Richter scale, respectively. During the a priori specified three-day period of 19, 20 and 21 June, mortality from cardiac and 'all other' pathological causes increased significantly. The estimated relative risks (and 95% confidence intervals) were 3.0 (1.5-5.9) for atherosclerotic heart disease, and 1.6 (1.1-2.3) for 'all other' diseases (excluding external causes) as underlying conditions. Stress-related cardiac deaths (proximate cause) were more common when atherosclerotic heart disease was the underlying condition (p approximately 0.10), but there was no evidence of any age or sex predilection.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1986

Enhanced phagocytosis of mononuclear phagocytes in pregnancy.

The phagocytic activity of peripheral blood mononuclear phagocytes for Staphylococcus epidermis of healthy non-pregnant and pregnant women throughout pregnancy was examined in relation to gestational age. The study included 30 healthy non-pregnant women and 90 healthy pregnant women equally distributed across the three trimesters. Two variables were investigated: the number of mononuclear cells in phagocytosis and the average number of bacteria per monocyte in phagocytosis. As pregnancy progressed a gradual and significant increase was found in the number of monocytes in phagocytosis and a significantly higher proportion of macrophages with six or more bacteria per phagocyte.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Misclassification in case-control studies with two dichotomous risk factors.

The effects of misclassification are considered for a case-control study in which the effects of two dichotomous risk factors on disease risk are under investigation. When only one of the risk factors is misclassified, the summary odds ratio associated with that factor based on expected cell counts is biased towards unity, and the magnitude of the apparent interaction between the two variables is altered. When the misclassified variable is a confounder, the summary odds ratio for the exposures of interest remains partly confounded. Extensive tabulations of the results are given, for a range of prevalences, relative risks and misclassification rates of the factors. Even misclassification rates as low as 10% can prevent adequate control of confounding. The implications of this finding for the interpretation of epidemiological studies are examined.

Disease↗
PubMed1985

Diet and cancer of the stomach: a case-control study in Greece.

A case-control study focusing on the role of diet in the etiology of gastric cancer was undertaken in Piraeus, the sister city of Athens, in a population characterized by ethnic homogeneity but substantial heterogeneity with respect to dietary habits. The case series consisted of 110 consecutive patients with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the stomach, admitted to two teaching hospitals during a 3-year period; the control series consisted of orthopedic patients admitted to a nearby hospital for accidents, fractures and other orthopedic disorders, during the same time period. Dietary histories concerning the frequency of consumption (per month or per week) of about 80 food items were obtained by the same interviewer. Cases reported significantly less frequent consumption of lemons, oranges, brown bread, and raw, salad-type vegetables (particularly lettuce, onions and cucumbers) and, independently, significantly more frequent consumption of pasta, beans and nuts. A relative risk of about 40 was found between extreme quintiles when the above 9 food items were combined in a linear risk score. Use of an index constructed from the study material will clearly overestimate the level of risk between the extreme quintiles, but nevertheless the risk differences appear noteworthy, and consistent with the international variation in the incidence of gastric cancer. No significant associations were found with alcoholic beverages, coffee or tea.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Diet and other factors in the aetiology of diverticulosis: an epidemiological study in Greece.

A case control study exploring the role of diet and other biosocial factors in the aetiology of diverticulosis was undertaken in Athens, Greece, in 1981-1982. One hundred consecutive cases with radiologically confirmed diverticulosis and 110 control patients with fractures or other orthopaedic disorders were submitted to a structured interview, including frequency of consumption of about 80 food items. The main positive findings were, (i) the cases reported significantly less frequent consumption of vegetables, brown bread and, to a lesser extent, potatoes and fruits, and (ii) the cases reported significantly more frequent consumption of meat and, to a lesser extent, milk, and milk products. The difference in risk between those people who frequently consume vegetables but rarely consume meat, and those who rarely consume vegetables and frequently consume meat, was almost 50-fold.

Diet↗