There is considerable epidemiological evidence that a Western-style diet may increase the risk of certain hormone-dependent conditions in men via its effects on hormone metabolism. Experimental evidence also suggests that dietary factors may exert subtle effects on hormone metabolism. Here we review the clinical and epidemiological evidence that diet is associated with circulating sex hormone l...

OBJECTIVES Annually reported, publically accessible Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) data from the Japanese government is a part of the total DPC database of the Japanese medical reimbursement system for hospitalization. Although medical issues can be evaluated with these data promptly, the applicability of these data in epidemiological analyses has not been assessed. METHODS We performe...

BACKGROUND Increasing regulation of medical research, in particular the requirement for explicit consent, may reduce the quantity and quality of clinical epidemiological research. AIM To assess the potential biases arising from the need for explicit consent in our hospital-based stroke research register. DESIGN Comparison of patients enrolled into our stroke research register with those inc...

Oral cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers and one of the 10 most common causes of death in the world. Epidemiological studies have shown that the prevalence of oral cancer varies from less than 0.1% to over 40% in different parts of the world. Unfortunately, the majority of oral cancers are diagnosed in advanced stages after becoming symptomatic. In comparison with malignant neoplasms at...

INTRODUCTION The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity leads to an increase risk of sleep-disordered breathing and may exacerbate their comorbidities. PURPOSE To assess the rate of obesity in children with sleep-disordered breathing and to study the possible clinical and epidemiological differences between children with and without overweight in a private hospital in the Mediterranean ar...

Objective: To compare the epidemiological, the clinical and the paraclinical profile of osteoarticular infections in HIV-positive patients and in HIV-negative patients. Patients and Methods: patients with Osteoarticular infections recognized on the basis of radioclinical and epidemiological arguments were included in this study. The comparison that was based on the existence or was not of HIV i...

social comparison is important as it can be either encouraging or discouraging for the person who makes it. although studies concerning social comparison in the classroom context abound, few deal with the relationship between the role of social comparison orientation and tendencies in academic achievement in a competition based educational context. adopting a non- experimental ex-post facto des...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important public health problem all over the world. Vaccination is one way to prevent it, and several strategies can be used depending on endemicity, the main pattern of HBV transmission and the demographic structure of the population. In this study, an economic comparison of 3 vaccination strategies (mass adolescent vaccination, mass infant vaccination a...

Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis (SDSE) is an emerging human pathogen that causes life-threatening invasive infections such as streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Recent epidemiological studies reveal that invasive SDSE infections have been increasing in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Almost all SDSE carry Lancefield group G or C antigen. We have determined the complete genom...

We compare experts’ judgments of the appropriateness of a treatment (interferon treatment for melanoma) on the basis of important attributes of this disease (thickness, ulceration, lymph node involvement and type of metastases) to a decision analytic model in which the probabilities of deterioration are derived from the medical literature and from epidemiological studies. The comparison is base...