...the median age at death of patients who died and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection was 82 years; 95% of them had at least one comorbidity, and 60% had at least three comorbidities before ...being infected. ...total mortality in Italy showed that the COVID-19 pandemic had severely hit the country in the month of March, 2020, but there was a remarkable attenuation of the excess mortality in April and a lack of excess deaths in May. ...total mortality is a key indicator of the COVID-19 effect; the excess total mortality in March and April, 2020, in Italy was substantial (ie, a total of over 45 000 deaths), corresponding to an overall excess about 60% greater than the number of officially registered COVID-19 deaths; there was a substantial under-registration of COVID-19 deaths in March, 2020, and a smaller under-registration in April, 2020; there was no residual excess total mortality in May, 2020, when COVID-19 deaths were probably over-registered.
A primary challenge in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) studies comes from the massive amount of data and the excess noise level. To address this challenge, we introduce an analysis framework, ...named single-cell Decomposition using Hierarchical Autoencoder (scDHA), that reliably extracts representative information of each cell. The scDHA pipeline consists of two core modules. The first module is a non-negative kernel autoencoder able to remove genes or components that have insignificant contributions to the part-based representation of the data. The second module is a stacked Bayesian autoencoder that projects the data onto a low-dimensional space (compressed). To diminish the tendency to overfit of neural networks, we repeatedly perturb the compressed space to learn a more generalized representation of the data. In an extensive analysis, we demonstrate that scDHA outperforms state-of-the-art techniques in many research sub-fields of scRNA-seq analysis, including cell segregation through unsupervised learning, visualization of transcriptome landscape, cell classification, and pseudo-time inference.
Nowadays the food production, supply and consumption chain represent a major cause of ecological pressure on the natural environment, and diet links worldwide human health with environmental ...sustainability. Food policy, dietary guidelines and food security strategies need to evolve from the limited historical approach, mainly focused on nutrients and health, to a new one considering the environmental, socio-economic and cultural impact-and thus the sustainability-of diets.
To present an updated version of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid (MDP) to reflect multiple environmental concerns.
We performed a revision and restructuring of the MDP to incorporate more recent findings on the sustainability and environmental impact of the Mediterranean Diet pattern, as well as its associations with nutrition and health. For each level of the MDP we provided a third dimension featuring the corresponding environmental aspects related to it.
The new environmental dimension of the MDP enhances food intake recommendations addressing both health and environmental issues. Compared to the previous 2011 version, it emphasizes more strongly a lower consumption of red meat and bovine dairy products, and a higher consumption of legumes and locally grown eco-friendly plant foods as much as possible.
In most areas of the world, thyroid cancer incidence has been appreciably increasing over the last few decades, whereas mortality has steadily declined. We updated global trends in thyroid cancer ...mortality and incidence using official mortality data from the World Health Organization (1970–2012) and incidence data from the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (1960–2007). Male mortality declined in all the major countries considered, with annual percent changes around −2/−3% over the last decades. Only in the United States mortality declined up to the mid 1980s and increased thereafter. Similarly, in women mortality declined in most countries considered, with APCs around −2/−5% over the last decades, with the exception of the UK, the United States and Australia, where mortality has been declining up to the late 1980s/late 1990s to level off (or increase) thereafter. In 2008–2012, most countries had mortality rates (age‐standardized, world population) between 0.20 and 0.40/100,000 men and 0.20 and 0.60/100,000 women, the highest rates being in Latvia, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova and Israel (over 0.40/100,000) for men and in Ecuador, Colombia and Israel (over 0.60/100,000) for women. In most countries, a steady increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer (mainly papillary carcinomas) was observed in both sexes. The declines in thyroid cancer mortality reflect both variations in risk factor exposure and changes in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, while the increases in the incidence are likely due to the increase in the detection of this neoplasm over the last few decades.
What's New?
Trends in thyroid cancer incidence and mortality vary widely by country, but for most areas of the world, the data indicate an upward trend in incidence and a downward trend in mortality. Those trends are supported by the present analysis of thyroid cancer mortality and incidence globally. The analyses are based on data maintained by the World Health Organization (1970–2012) and Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (1960–2007). The authors attribute the rise in thyroid cancer incidence to increased detection of the disease and the decline in mortality to changes in diagnosis, treatment, and risk factor exposure.
Abstract This is a systematic review and meta-analysis aimed at providing a comprehensive and quantitative review of risk factors for falls in older people in nursing homes and hospitals. Using ...MEDLINE, we searched for prospective studies investigating risk factors for falls in nursing home residents (NHR) and older hospital inpatients (HI). When there were at least 3 studies investigating a factor in a comparable way in a specific setting, we computed the pooled odds ratio (OR) using random effect models. Twenty-four studies met the inclusion criteria. Eighteen risk factors for NHR and six for HI were considered, including socio-demographic, mobility, sensory, medical factors, and medication use. For NHR, the strongest associations were with history of falls (OR = 3.06), walking aid use (OR = 2.08) and moderate disability (OR = 2.08). For HI, the strongest association was found for history of falls (OR = 2.85). No association emerged with age in NHR (OR = 1.00), while the OR for a 5 years increase in age of HI was 1.04. Female sex was, if anything, associated with a decreased risk. A few other medical conditions and medications were also associated with a moderately increased risk. For some important factors (e.g. balance and muscle weakness), a summary estimate was not computed because the measures used in various studies were not comparable. Falls in older people in nursing homes and hospitals have multifactorial etiology. History of falls, use of walking aids and disability are strong predictors of future falls.
To update epidemiological data on alcohol and breast cancer, with special emphasis on light alcohol consumption, and to review mechanisms of alcohol mediated mammary carcinogenesis.
For ...epidemiological data, in November 2011 we performed a literature search in various bibliographic databases, and we conducted a meta-analysis of data on light alcohol drinking. Relevant mechanistic studies were also reviewed to November 2011.
A significant increase of the order of 4% in the risk of breast cancer is already present at intakes of up to one alcoholic drink/day. Heavy alcohol consumption, defined as three or more drinks/day, is associated with an increased risk by 40-50%. This translates into up to 5% of breast cancers attributable to alcohol in northern Europe and North America for a total of approximately 50,000 alcohol-attributable cases of breast cancer worldwide. Up to 1-2% of breast cancers in Europe and North America are attributable to light drinking alone, given its larger prevalence in most female populations when compared with heavy drinking. Alcohol increases estrogen levels, and estrogens may exert its carcinogenic effect on breast tissue either via the ER or directly. Other mechanisms may include acetaldehyde, oxidative stress, epigenetic changes due to a disturbed methyl transfer and decreased retinoic acid concentrations associated with an altered cell cycle.
Women should not exceed one drink/day, and women at elevated risk for breast cancer should avoid alcohol or consume alcohol occasionally only.
The beneficial association of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) with longevity has been consistently demonstrated, but the associations of MedDiet components have not been accordingly evaluated. We ...performed an updated meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies published up to 31 December 2017, to quantify the association of adherence to MedDiet, expressed as an index/score (MDS) and of its components with all-cause mortality. We estimated summary relative risks (SRR) and 95 % CI using random effects models. On the basis of thirty studies (225 600 deaths), SRR for the study-specific highest/lowest and per 1sd MDS increment were 0·79 (95 % CI 0·77, 0·81, Ι 2=42 %, P-heterogeneity 0·02) and 0·92 (95 % CI 0·90, 0·94, Ι 2 56 %, P-heterogeneity <0·01), respectively. Inversely, statistically significant associations were evident in stratified analyses by country, MDS range and publication year, with some evidence for heterogeneity across countries overall (P-heterogeneity 0·011), as well as across European countries (P=0·018). Regarding MDS components, relatively stronger and statistically significant inverse associations were highlighted for moderate/none-excessive alcohol consumption (0·86, 95 % CI 0·77, 0·97) and for above/below-the-median consumptions of fruit (0·88, 95 % CI 0·83, 0·94) and vegetables (0·94, 95 % CI 0·89, 0·98), whereas a positive association was apparent for above/below-the-median intake of meat (1·07, 95 % CI 1·01, 1·13). Our meta-analyses confirm the inverse association of MedDiet with mortality and highlight the dietary components that influence mostly this association. Our results are important for better understanding the role of MedDiet in health and proposing dietary changes to effectively increase adherence to this healthy dietary pattern.
Risk factors for lung cancer worldwide Malhotra, Jyoti; Malvezzi, Matteo; Negri, Eva ...
European respiratory journal/The European respiratory journal,
09/2016, Letnik:
48, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Lung cancer is the most frequent malignant neoplasm in most countries, and the main cancer-related cause of mortality worldwide in both sexes combined.The geographic and temporal patterns of lung ...cancer incidence, as well as lung cancer mortality, on a population level are chiefly determined by tobacco consumption, the main aetiological factor in lung carcinogenesis.Other factors such as genetic susceptibility, poor diet, occupational exposures and air pollution may act independently or in concert with tobacco smoking in shaping the descriptive epidemiology of lung cancer. Moreover, novel approaches in the classification of lung cancer based on molecular techniques have started to bring new insights to its aetiology, in particular among nonsmokers. Despite the success in delineation of tobacco smoking as the major risk factor for lung cancer, this highly preventable disease remains among the most common and most lethal cancers globally.Future preventive efforts and research need to focus on non-cigarette tobacco smoking products, as well as better understanding of risk factors underlying lung carcinogenesis in never-smokers.
We analysed data on 2842 subjects aged ≥40 years enrolled in the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS 2008–2019). Based on serum 25(OH)D concentrations, study subjects were grouped in three ...categories: vitamin D deficiency (<25 nmol/L), vitamin D insufficiency (25–49 nmol/L) and vitamin D sufficiency status (≥50 nmol/L). Differences in CVD risk factors between vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency and vitamin D sufficiency status were expressed in standard deviation scores (SDS) and estimated through weighted multiple linear regression models.
Nationally representative data source UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2008–2019) is analysed. Vitamin D status is determined according to serum concentration of 25(OH)D – deficiency: <25 nmol/L; insufficiency: 25–49 nmol/L; sufficiency: ≥50 nmol/L. Cardiovascular risk factors are compared between individuals with vitamin D deficiency and those with vitamin D sufficiency. Differences are expressed in standard deviation scores. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with high cardiovascular risk profile.
Key points
Nationally representative data source UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2008–2019) is analysed.
Vitamin D status is determined according to serum concentration of 25(OH)D deficiency: <25 nmol/L; insufficiency: 25–49 nmol/L; sufficiency: ≥50 nmol/L.
Cardiovascular risk factors are compared between individuals with vitamin D deficiency and those with vitamin D sufficiency.
Differences are expressed in standard deviation scores.
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher cardiovascular risk profile.
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