International Agency for Research on Cancer

About: International Agency for Research on Cancer is a government organization based out in Lyon, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 2989 authors who have published 9010 publications receiving 929752 citations. The organization is also known as: IARC.

Pooled exposure-response analyses and risk assessment for lung cancer in 10 cohorts of silica-exposed workers: an IARC multicentre study.

Abstract: Objectives: Silica is one of the most common occupational exposures worldwide. In 1997 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified inhaled crystalline silica as a human carcinogen (group 1), but acknowledged limitations in the epidemiologic data, including inconsistencies across studies and the lack of extensive exposure–response data. We have conducted a pooled exposure–response analysis of 10 silica-exposed cohorts to investigate lung cancer.

Marijuana Use and the Risk of Lung and Upper Aerodigestive Tract Cancers: Results of a Population-Based Case-Control Study

Abstract: Background: Despite several lines of evidence suggesting the biological plausibility of marijuana being carcinogenic, epidemiologic findings are inconsistent. We conducted a population-based case-control study of the association between marijuana use and the risk of lung and upper aerodigestive tract cancers in Los Angeles. Methods: Our study included 1,212 incident cancer cases and 1,040 cancer-free controls matched to cases on age, gender, and neighborhood. Subjects were interviewed with a standardized questionnaire. The cumulative use of marijuana was expressed in joint-years, where 1 joint-year is equivalent to smoking one joint per day for 1 year. Results: Although using marijuana for z30 joint-years was positively associated in the crude analyses with each cancer type (except pharyngeal cancer), no positive associations were observed when adjusting for several confounders including cigarette smoking. The adjusted odds ratio estimate (and 95% confidence limits) for z60 versus 0 joint-years was 1.1 (0.56, 2.1) for oral cancer, 0.84 (0.28, 2.5) for laryngeal cancer, and 0.62 (0.32, 1.2) for lung cancer; the adjusted odds ratio estimate for z30 versus 0 jointyears was 0.57 (0.20, 1.6) for pharyngeal cancer, and 0.53 (0.22, 1.3) for esophageal cancer. No association was consistently monotonic across exposure categories, and restriction to subjects who never smoked cigarettes yielded similar findings. Conclusions: Our results may have been affected by selection bias or error in measuring lifetime exposure and confounder histories; but they suggest that the association of these cancers with marijuana, even long-term or heavy use, is not strong and may be below practically detectable limits. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(10):1829 – 34)

A Gene Predisposing to Familial Thyroid Tumors with Cell Oxyphilia Maps to Chromosome 19p13.2

Abstract: Familial nonmedullary thyroid cancer (FNMTC) is a clinical entity characterized by a phenotype more aggressive than that of its sporadic counterpart. Families with recurrence of nonmedullary thyroid cancer (NMTC) have been repeatedly reported in the literature, and epidemiological data show a very high relative risk for first-degree relatives of probands with thyroid cancer. The transmission of susceptibility to FNMTC is compatible with autosomal dominant inheritance with reduced penetrance, or with complex inheritance. Cases of benign thyroid disease are often found in FNMTC kindreds. We report both the identification of a new entity of FNMTC and the mapping of the responsible gene, named "TCO" (thyroid tumors with cell oxyphilia), in a French pedigree with multiple cases of multinodular goiter and NMTC. TCO was mapped to chromosome 19p13.2 by linkage analysis with a whole-genome panel of microsatellite markers. Interestingly, both the benign and malignant thyroid tumors in this family exhibit some extent of cell oxyphilia, which, until now, had not been described in the FNMTC. These findings suggest that the relatives of patients affected with sporadic NMTC with cell oxyphilia should be carefully investigated.

Validation and calibration of dietary intake measurements in the EPIC project: Methodological considerations

Abstract: The statistical power of prospective studies on diet in relation to chronic disease risk can be improved by maximizing the variation in true intake levels actually distinguished-or 'predicted'-by dietary questionnaire assessments collected at baseline. This can be achieved by 1) developing a questionnaire method that provides measurements with the smallest possible random errors, thus maximizing the correlation of measured with true habitual intake levels; and 2) increasing the between-person variation in true dietary intake levels when combining multiple cohorts in populations with diverse consumption patterns. The first approach implies that, during the development or selection of the questionnaire method, correlations between measurements and true intake levels can be monitored; the second approach requires adjustment for between-centre differences in over- or underestimation of dietary questionnaire measurements. Besides optimizing the statistical power, it is important that the magnitude of the predicted variation in true intake level is estimated accurately, so as to allow unbiased estimations of relative risks. To meet these various objectives, substudies must be conducted for the 'validation' or 'calibration' of dietary questionnaire assessments, by comparison with additional measurements that have independent sources of error. This paper reviews the methodological considerations underlying the design and implementation of such substudies in the EPIC project, a collaborative multicentre study in nine Western European countries.