OBJECTIVE To determine if people dying from cancer are able to prolong their own life in order to experience a certain biographical event, or whether the appearance of such an occasion leads to increased deaths before the event. METHODS We compared numbers of cancer deaths during a period of 1 week before and after biographically important occasions, which were birthday, Christmas and Easter....

Many complex genetic effects, including epigenetic effects, may be expected to operate via mechanisms in the inter-uterine environment. A popular design for the investigation of such effects, including effects of parent-of-origin (imprinting), maternal genotype, and maternal-fetal genotype interactions, is to collect DNA from affected offspring and their mothers (case/mother duos) and to compar...

OBJECTIVE To identify the most frequent gender-specific suicide methods in Europe. DESIGN Proportions of seven predominant suicide methods utilised in 16 countries participating in the European Alliance Against Depression (EAAD) were reported in total and cross-nationally. Relative risk (RR) relating to suicide methods and gender was calculated. To group countries by pattern of suicide method...

The pandemic influenza of 1918 (Spanish flu) killed 21-50 million people globally, including in Iceland, where the characteristics and spread of the epidemic were well documented. It has been postulated that genetic host factors may have contributed to this high mortality. We identified 455 individuals who died of the Spanish flu in Iceland during a 6-week period during the winter of 1918, repr...

As populations become increasingly fragmented, managers are often faced with the dilemma that intentional hybridization might save a population from inbreeding depression but it might also induce outbreeding depression. While empirical evidence for inbreeding depression is vastly greater than that for outbreeding depression, the available data suggest that risks of outbreeding, particularly in ...

OBJECTIVE To explore the spatial-temporal interaction effect within a Bayesian framework and to probe the ecological influential factors for tuberculosis. METHODS Six different statistical models containing parameters of time, space, spatial-temporal interaction and their combination were constructed based on a Bayesian framework. The optimum model was selected according to the deviance infor...

BACKGROUND Traditionally, acute undisplaced or minimally-displaced scaphoid fractures are treated by casting in short- or long-arm casts. Although reports have shown that operative treatment is safe, effective and produces satisfactory results, outcomes from current studies comparing these two methods are questionable. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effects of operative versu...

BACKGROUND It is unclear whether an 'obesity survival paradox' exists for pneumonia. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the associations between increased body mass index (BMI), pneumonia risk, and mortality risk. METHODS Cohort studies were identified from the PubMed and Embase databases. Summary relative risks (RRs) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were...

The object of this study was to assess the relative risks of cancer for a particular branch of industry by using the newly created cancer environment registry. The registry was created by a record linkage of the 1960 census to the Swedish Cancer Registry 1961-73. A cohort study was undertaken of all subjects classified in the census as working in the electronics or electrical manufacturing indu...

Quantification of the association between the intake of selenium and risk of pancreatic cancer is still conflicting. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to summarize the evidence from epidemiological studies of selenium intake with the risk of pancreatic cancer. Pertinent studies were identified by a search of PubMed and Web of Knowledge to July 2016. The random-effect model was used. Sensitivit...