Poster: Environmental and occupational exposure to heavy metals and metalloid and development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a population-based case control study in Emilia-Romagna and Sicily

Poster 2017 AISETOV VioliBackground and aim

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease of the motor neuron. Its etiology is still largely unknown, except for some rare forms of genetic origin. Many environmental and occupational risk factors have been evaluated as risk factors, including exposure to heavy metals, such as lead and mercury, and a metalloid, such as selenium. Clarifying the environmental component of ALS etiology could yield a better understanding of disease pathophysiology. 

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Poster: Assessment of selenium levels and risk factors for stroke and other cardiovascular disease: a cross sectional study in a seleniferous area of Punjab, India

Poster 2017 AISETOV CilloniBackground and aims 

Rural areas of Punjab in India have been found to have soil rich in selenium (Se); about 2160 hectare area is seleniferous and is populated by about 10,000 inhabitants. Selenium concentrations in these villages were reported to be as high as 65 times over non-seleniferous areas. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate selenium levels in blood, hair and nails in a group of subjects living in this area, and to evaluate the correlation between selenium exposure levels and a relevant cardiovascular risk factor and blood pressure. 

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Poster: Comparative methods to estimate of cadmium intake in an Italian population

Poster 2017 AISETOV FilippiniBackground and aim 

Cadmium (Cd) is a human toxic and carcinogens which represents one of the prioritized substances included in the current European Human Biomonitoring (HMBI4EU). Chronic Cd exposure is generally lead to kidney and bone disease, but recent findings have point out such association between Cd exposure with cardio-cerebrovascular risk factors, including glucose intolerance, diabetes and atherosclerosis. Diet is the main source of exposure in non-smoking and non-occupationally exposed subjects. The Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) for this heavy metal of 2.5 μg/kg body weight (bw) has been recently set by the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) in order to guarantee a high protection to general population. In this study we are going to compare two different methods to estimate weekly intake of Cd. 

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Poster: Correlation between intake and biomarker levels of cadmium and selenium in an Italian population: implications for biomonitoring studies

Poster 2017 AISETOV MalavoltiBackground and aim 

Cadmium (Cd) is an established carcinogenic metal, while selenium (Se) is a metalloid with both nutritional and toxic effects that shows an intriguing relation with human health, particularly with cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. This characteristic depends on its concentration and on the chemical species considered. The aim of the study is to investigate, in a general population of Modena municipality, Cd and Se levels and their correlation, having a strong implication for human health and especially when performing biomonitoring studies. 

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Poster: Implications of different methods for literature searching and assessment in systematic reviews and meta-analyses: a case study

Cape Town 2017Background

The development of an adequate literature search strategy when performing a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies may represent a key methodological issue.

Objective

We explored how adding citation chasing to a standard literature search may modify summary estimates computed in a systematic review and meta-analysis. 

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Research