Few modifiable risk factors have been implicated in the etiology of pancreatic cancer. There is little evidence for the effects of caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, or tea intake on risk of pancreatic cancer. We investigated the association of total coffee, caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption with risk of pancreatic cancer. This study was conducted within the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer cohort, comprising male and female participants from 10 European countries. Between 1992 and 2000, there were 477,312 participants without cancer who completed a dietary questionnaire and were followed up to determine pancreatic cancer incidence. Coffee and tea intake was calibrated with a 24-hour dietary recall. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were computed using multivariable Cox regression. During a mean follow-up period of 11.6 y, 865 first incidences of pancreatic cancers were reported. When divided into fourths, neither total intake of coffee (HR, 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83-1.27; high vs low intake), decaffeinated coffee (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.76-1.63; high vs low intake), nor tea were associated with risk of pancreatic cancer (HR, 1.22, 95% CI, 0.95-1.56; high vs low intake). Moderately low intake of caffeinated coffee was associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer (HR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.02-1.74), compared with low intake. However, no graded dose response was observed, and the association attenuated after restriction to histologically confirmed pancreatic cancers. Based on an analysis of data from the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer cohort, total coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption are not related to the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Objectives Evidence suggests that certain occupations and related exposures may increase the risk of malignant lymphoma. Farming, printing and paper industry, wood processing, meat handling and processing, welding, shoe and leather manufacturing and teaching profession are among the categories that have been implicated in previous studies. The relationship between occupation and malignant lymphoma has been investigated in a large European prospective study. Methods We investigated occupational risks for lymphomas in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). The mean follow-up time for 348 555 subjects was 9 years (SD: 2 years). The analysis was based on 866 and 48 newly diagnosed cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). These were identified in the EPIC subcohorts with occupational data. Data on 52 occupations were collected through standardised questionnaires. Cox proportional hazard models were used to explore the association between occupation and risk of malignant lymphoma. Results The following occupations were positively associated with malignant NHL after adjustment for study centre, age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), smoking and alcohol: butchers (HR=1.53, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.48, including multiple myeloma/plasmacytoma; HR=1.30, 95% CI 1.00 to 2.66, excluding multiple myeloma/plasmacytoma) and car repair workers (HR=1.50, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.00, including multiple myeloma/plasmacytoma; HR=1.51, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.31, excluding multiple myeloma/plasmacytoma). HL was associated with gasoline station occupation (HR=4.59, 95% CI 1.08 to 19.6). Conclusion The findings in this current study of a higher risk of NHL among car repair workers and butchers and a higher risk of HL among gasoline station workers suggest a possible role from occupationally related exposures, such as solvents and zoonotic viruses, as risk factors for malignant lymphoma.

Diesel exhaust is hazardous to human health. In time, this has led the EU to impose on manufacturers lower and lower emission standards. These limits are very challenging in particular for nitrogen oxides (NO_x) emitted by diesel-fueled vehicles. For the town of Milan (Italy), we used a complex modeling system that takes into account the NO_x emissions from vehicular traffic and other urban sources, as well as their dispersion and chemical transformations in the atmosphere related to meteorological parameters. The traffic emissions in the Milan urban area were estimated using the geometric and structural characteristics of the road network, whereas the traffic flows were provided by the Environment and Territory Mobility Agency. Car emissions were estimated by the official European method COPERT 5. The nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentrations were estimated under two scenarios: the actual scenario with real emissions and the Diesel Emission Standards Compliance (DESC) scenario. Using a recent meta-analysis, limited to European studies, we evaluated the relationship between NO₂ concentrations and natural mortality. For the actual scenario, the NO₂ annual concentration mean was 44.3 µg/m³, whereas under the DESC hypothetical scenario, this would have been of 37.7 µg/m³. This “extra” exposure of 6.6 µg/m³ of NO₂ leads to a yearly excess of 574 “natural” deaths. Diesel emissions are very difficult to limit and are harmful for exposed people. This suggests that specific policies, including traffic limitations, need to be developed and enforced in urban environments.

La diffusione delle sigarette elettroniche (e-cig) e delle cosiddette heat-not-burn (HnB), note anche come prodotti del tabacco riscaldato, presentate come alternativa meno nociva alle tradizionali sigarette, ha richiesto ulteriori studi approfonditi att