Rationale: Cleaning work and professional use of certain cleaning products have been associated with asthma, but respiratory effects of nonprofessional home cleaning have rarely been studied. Objectives: To investigate the risk of new-onset asthma in relation to the use of common household cleaners. Methods: Within the follow-up of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey in 10 countries, we identified 3,503 persons doing the cleaning in their homes and who were free of asthma at baseline. Frequency of use of 15 types of cleaning products was obtained in a face-to-face interview at follow-up. We studied the incidence of asthma defined as physician diagnosis and as symptoms or medication usage at follow-up. Associations between asthma and the use of cleaning products were evaluated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards or log-binomial regression analysis. Measurements and Main Results: The use of cleaning sprays at least weekly (42% of participants) was associated with the incidence of asthma symptoms or medication (relative risk [RR], 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1221.99) and wheeze (RR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.0621.80). The incidence of physician-diagnosed asthma was higher among those using sprays at least 4 days per week (RR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.1523.89). These associations were consistent for subgroups and not modified by atopy. Dose-response relationships (P , 0.05) were apparent for the frequency of use and the number of different sprays. Risks were predominantly found for the commonly used glass-cleaning, furniture, and air-refreshing sprays. Cleaning products not applied in spray form were not associated with asthma. Conclusions: Frequent use of common household cleaning sprays may be an important risk factor for adult asthma.

Background Early detection of melanoma is the best way to improve prognosis. Digital follow up (DFU) programs of high-risk populations could be an efficient strategy for detecting early melanomas with low morbidity. Objective to report the added value of the use of the “two-step method” (digital total-body photography and digital dermoscopy) Methods Analysis of the surveillance of 618 high-risk melanoma patients included in our DFU-program from 1999 to 2008. Results A total of 11396 lesions were monitored (mean 18.44 per patient) during a median follow-up of 96 months (median 10 visits per patient). 1152 lesions, 1.86 per patient, were excised. Almost 70% (798) were lesions previously registered at least twice, while 356 (30%) were detected and removed in the same visit. During follow-up, 98 melanomas (8.5% of excised lesions) were diagnosed in 78 patients (12.6%). 53 melanomas were in situ (53.3%), while invasive (45) showed a Breslow index of less than 1 mm (median 0.5 mm) and none was ulcerated. Limitations Since there are no control groups we cannot convey if the combined use of total-body photography and digital dermoscopy is more beneficial than these techniques used separately. Conclusion DFU with Total-Body Photography and Dermoscopy in a selected high-risk population demonstrated the early detection of melanomas with a low rate of excisions. Long-term follow-up is required to allow the detection of slow growing melanomas. Based on our 10-year experience, melanomas can be diagnosed at any time, suggesting that in high-risk population, DFU should be maintained with time.

women with early menarche had lower lung function and more asthma in adulthood. This supports a role for metabolic and hormonal factors in women's respiratory health.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is a significant threat to the fetus. We examined the association between active maternal smoking and smoking cessation during early pregnancy with newborn somatometrics and adverse pregnancy outcomes including preterm delivery, low birth weight, and fetal growth restriction. One thousand four hundred mother-child pairs with extensive questionnaire data were followed up until delivery, within the context of a population-based mother-child cohort study (Rhea study), in Crete, Greece, 2007-2008. Comparing smokers to nonsmokers, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) was 2.8 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.7, 4.6] for low birth weight and 2.6 (95%CI: 1.6, 4.2) for fetal growth restriction. This corresponded to a 119-g reduction in birth weight, a 0.53-cm reduction in length, and a 0.35-cm reduction in head circumference. Smoking cessation early during pregnancy modified significantly these pregnancy outcomes indicating the necessity for primary smoking prevention.

The role of intrauterine environment in the development of obesity is increasingly recognised. Adipokines and specifically leptin have been examined as potential biomarkers predicting early development of obesity. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the epidemiological evidence for the association between leptin levels in cord blood and anthropometric measurements at birth in healthy mother-newborn pairs. A PubMed search was performed between 1994 and 2009 and manual search of reference lists of retrieved articles. Forty-four studies met the inclusion criteria set. All studies reported a positive correlation between leptin levels and birthweight. The combined correlation coefficient (r) was 0.46 [95%CI 0.43, 0.50]. Leptin levels explained 21% of variation in birthweight. Results were similar in males (r=0.55; 0.40, 0.68) and females (r=0.60; 0.50, 0.69), and between Caucasians (r=0.45; 0.39, 0.51) and eastern Asian populations (r=0.47; 0.37, 0.55). Statistically significant positive correlations were also found for birth length (r=0.29; 0.23, 0.34) and ponderal index (r=0.36; 0.31, 0.41). There was no indication of publication bias (Egger's test P-value=0.23). This meta-analysis shows a clear but moderate correlation between leptin levels in cord blood and birthweight that is observed in different population groups.