Mesothelioma mortality in Greece from 1983 to 2003.

OBJECTIVE: To present summary statistics of the Greek mesothelioma epidemic including summaries by occupation and geographical area. METHODS: The National Statistics Service provides our data, which contain all deaths from 1983 to 2003 where mesothelioma was mentioned on the death certificate. RESULTS: The annual number of mesothelioma deaths has increased from 9 in the 3-year period of time 1983-1985 to 53 in 2001-2003. Current deaths in males account for about 72% of the cases. The area of Epirus in Greece has the highest cause-specific mortality rate over the period 1983-2003. The occupational group which is related to the higher number of mesothelioma deaths was clerks and those occupied in business; following farmers, workers-technicians and drivers. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest a change in the balance of risk away from traditional asbestos exposure industries to industries where one could describe the exposure as secondary such as plumbers, technicians, drivers, farmers. Also, we found out that the higher cause-specific mortality rate was 0.38/100,000 population in Epirus, the lower was 0.025/100,000 in Thessalia and the national average rate was 0.10/100,000 population.

Serum vascular endothelial growth factor is related to systemic oxidative stress in patients with lung cancer.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is known to play crucial role in tumour angiogenesis. It is demonstrated that VEGF can be up-regulated by oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to determine the serum VEGF levels and oxidative stress in patients with primary lung cancer and to investigate their association with clinicopathologic factors. We measured serum VEGF levels and oxidative stress in 63 patients (age 63.02+/-1.12 S.E.M.) with primary lung cancer before any treatment (39 NSCLC and 24 SCLC; 6 patients stage I, 3 stage II, 25 stage III and 29 stage IV) and 25 normal subjects. The serum VEGF levels were measured with enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Serum oxidative stress levels were detected by a commercially available assay (D-ROMs test, Diacron, Grossetto, Italy). The levels of oxidative stress in patients were higher than those in normal subjects (555.3+/-30.35 UCarr vs. 360.1+/-17.46 UCarr). Additionally, a significant difference was found in serum VEGF levels between lung cancer patients and healthy control subjects (428.1+/-38.42pg/ml vs. 298.8+/-19.89pg/ml, respectively, p=0.040). Interestingly, serum oxidative stress presented a significant correlation with serum VEGF levels in patients with lung cancer (r=0.542, p=0.002). Serum VEGF levels were significantly associated with the clinical staging (N-stage) of the patients (p=0.023), performance status (p=0.004) and age (p=0.004). In conclusion, oxidative stress and VEGF are significantly increased in patients with primary lung cancer. The correlation between them might implicate new aspects of the mechanisms controlling tumour angiogenesis and may present clinical interest in the future. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the role of oxidative stress and VEGF as possible biomarkers for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with lung cancer.

Indoor maternal smoking doubles adolescents' exhaled carbon monoxide.

UNLABELLED: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of indoor smoking. Exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations were measured on a CO monitor by a vital capacity manoeuvre in three groups of adolescents: non-smokers with non-smoking families, non-smokers with smoking mothers, and smokers. Each group included eight families. Smokers had higher exhaled CO (mean +/- SD, 35.67 +/- 14.62 ppm) than non-smokers with smoking mothers (6 +/- 2.5 ppm) and non-smokers (2.37 +/- 0.56 ppm), late in the evening (21.00 h). The levels of exhaled CO in non-smoking adolescents doubled if their mothers smoked. CONCLUSION: Exhaled CO can be used as an indicator of indoor smoking. Maternal smoking plays a major role in the health of adolescents.