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Background: Aetiology of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is not well understood, perhaps because of its distinct subtypes. High-dose ionising radiation is a known risk factor, but less is known about risk from low-dose exposure such as from diagnostic radiography.Methods: Subjects were 412 matched case-control pairs. Ten-year subject histories of diagnostic radiography were based on interview and medical records.Results: There was no convincing association between AML risk and ionising radiation exposure from diagnostic imaging procedures, either for AML overall or for any AML subtype.Conclusion: The association between diagnostic radiography and AML risk remains uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diabetics have been found to have a greater risk of colorectal cancer than non-diabetics.Methods: We examined whether this relationship differed by ethnic group, cancer site or tumour stage in a population-based prospective cohort, including 3549 incident colorectal cancer cases identified over a 13-year period (1993-2006) among 199 143 European American, African American, Native Hawaiian, Japanese American and Latino men and women in the Multiethnic Cohort.Results: Diabetics overall had a significantly greater risk of colorectal cancer than did non-diabetics (relative risk (RR)=1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.09-1.29, P-value (P)<0.001). Positive associations were observed for colon cancer, cancers of both the right and left colon, and cancers diagnosed at a localised and regional/distant stage. The association with colorectal cancer risk was significantly modified by smoking status (P(Interaction)=0.0044), with the RR being higher in never smokers (RR=1.32, 95% CI=1.15-1.53, P<0.001) than past (RR=1.19, 95% CI=1.05-1.34, P=0.007) and current smokers (RR=0.90, 95% CI=0.70-1.15, P=0.40).Conclusion: These findings provide strong support for the hypothesis that diabetes is a risk factor for colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most cases of breast and prostate cancer are not associated with mutations in known high-penetrance genes, indicating the involvement of multiple low-penetrance risk alleles. Studies that have attempted to identify these genes have met with limited success. The National Cancer Institute Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium--a pooled analysis of multiple large cohort studies with a total of more than 5,000 cases of breast cancer and 8,000 cases of prostate cancer--was therefore initiated. The goal of this consortium is to characterize variations in approximately 50 genes that mediate two pathways that are associated with these cancers--the steroid-hormone metabolism pathway and the insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway--and to associate these variations with cancer risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is compelling evidence that estrogens influence breast cancer risk. Since the mid-1980s, dietary fat intervention studies have been conducted to investigate the effect of fat intake on endogenous estrogen levels. To further our understanding of the possible relationship between dietary fat and breast cancer, we conducted a meta-analysis of dietary fat intervention studies that investigated serum estradiol levels, and we reviewed the nature of the evidence provided by prospective analytic studies of fat consumption and breast cancer risk.Methods: A computerized search of the English language literature on estrogen/estradiol and dietary fat intervention studies published from January 1966 through June 1998 was conducted using the MEDLINE database. Pooled estimates were derived from the change in estradiol levels associated with fat reduction from 13 studies. Analyses were conducted separately for premenopausal and postmenopausal women and in both groups combined.Results and Conclusions: Statistically significant reductions in serum estradiol levels of -7.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = -11.7% to -2.9%) among premenopausal women and -23.0% (95% CI = -27.7% to -18.1%) among postmenopausal women were observed, with an overall -13.4% (95% CI = -16.6% to -10.1%) reduction observed. The greatest reductions occurred in two studies in which dietary fat was reduced to 10%-12% of calories compared with 18%-25% of calories in the other studies. A statistically significant reduction in estradiol levels of -6.6% (95% CI = -10.3% to -2.7%) remained after exclusion of these two studies. Review of prospective analytic epidemiologic studies that allowed for dietary measurement error suggests that the possibility that reducing fat consumption below 20% of calories will reduce breast cancer risk cannot be excluded.Implications: Dietary fat reduction can result in a lowering of serum estradiol levels and such dietary modification may still offer an approach to breast cancer prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We evaluated parental occupation and the risk of neuroblastoma using data from a large case-control study conducted by the Children's Cancer Group and the Pediatric Oncology Group.Methods: We compared the distribution of 73 paternal and 57 maternal occupational groups among 504 newly diagnosed cases of neuroblastoma and individually matched controls obtained by telephone random digit dialing in the United States and Canada.Results: An increased risk of neuroblastoma was found for fathers employed as broadcast, telephone and dispatch operators (odds ratio [OR] = 6.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.7-50.9), electrical power installers and power plant operators (OR = 2.7; CI = 0.9-8.1), landscapers and groundskeepers (OR = 2.3; CI = 1.0-5.2), and painters (OR = 2.1; CI = 0.9-4.8). Elevated odds ratios were found for mothers employed as farmers and farm workers (OR = 2.2; CI = 0.6-8.8), florists and garden store workers (OR = 2.4; CI = 0.6-9.9), hairdressers and barbers (OR = 2.8; CI = 1.2-6.3), electric power installers and power plant operators, and sailors, fishers, and railroad workers. No increase in risk was found for other paternal occupations previously associated, including electricians, electrical equipment assemblers and repairers (OR = 1.1; CI = 0.6-2.0), or welders (OR = 0.5; CI = 0.1-1.6).Conclusion: The study reinforced some prior evidence of increased risks in electrical, farming and gardening, and painting occupations, but failed to confirm other previously reported associations. Further analyses of exposure to electromagnetic fields, metals, solvents, and pesticides are currently under way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Diagnostic radiography and acute myeloid leukemia: an interview and medical chart review study," from the volume 107 of the periodical is presented.