In this paper, we present data from the Martinique Cancer Registry for the period 1981-2000 and interpret cancer incidence trends in the light of risk factor patterns. In Martinique, cancer data are available from 1981. The sources of information are represented by insurance records, medical evacuations, hospitals and laboratory files. We performed a Mantel-Haenszel chi test stratified on age in order to assess time trends and to compare incidence rates between men and women over the whole period. A total of 8992 incidents of cancer cases were recorded during the last 20 years among men and 6832 in women. (The overall age-standardized incidence rate is 222 per 10 person-years for men and 145 per 10 person-years for women.) The most common cancers are prostate cancer in men (104 per 10 person-years) and breast cancer in women (42 per 10 person-years). Except for thyroid and salivary gland cancer, men experienced higher incidence rates for all other cancers. Incidence of prostate cancer in men, breast cancer in women and colorectal cancer in both sexes strongly increased between 1981-1990 and 1991-2000, whereas no significant variation was observed for that of all digestive cancers together. Among women, cervical cancer incidence strongly decreased. These results demonstrate that Martinique tends to have the same cancer risk profile as France Mainland with, however, higher incidence rates for cervical, stomach and prostate cancer. Changes in lifestyle and greater accessibility to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, in particular screening, have strongly contributed to the 'epidemiological transition' observed.

A study was performed to appreciate the importance of malaria in the low valley of the Senegal River North Bank in Mauritania. The malaria incidence was assessed among patients visiting the regional hospital of Rosso (Trarza region) for a "presumptive malaria", a diagnosis assigned by the clinicians based on fever and other suggestive symptoms of malaria. The malaria prevalence rate was also measured in schoolchildren. A total of 1431 febrile outpatients were sampled for thick and thin blood films, between December 2004 and March 2005, August and November 2005, and April and July 2006. The average malaria prevalence rate was 2.5% (36/1431). It varied from 0.7% (4/576) for the period from December 2004 to March 2005 to 3.8% (18/475) from August to November 2005 and 2.1% (8/380) from April to July 2006. Of the 1040 school children of 6 to 14 years of age, the average malaria parasite prevalence rate was 0.9% (9/1040). It was 0.4% (1/224), 1.7% (7/413) and 0.2% (1/402), Respectively, in February 2004 (cold and dry season), October 2005 (rainy season) and June 2006 (hot and dry season). These very low levels of malaria endemicity and incidence are comparable with those recorded in the same area on the (South) bank of the river in Senegal. In this context of unstable malaria, characterized by the absence or a low level of natural immunity of the population, an effective monitoring is essential for an early detection and a damming up of the malaria epidemic blazes that likely occur.

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BackgroundIn Martinique, prostate cancer incidence rates have been increasing since the 1980s and are actually among the highest worldwide. Exposure to lifestyle (changes in dietary habits), environmental factors (exposure to organochlorine pesticides) and modifications in diagnostic and screening procedures, are favored etiological hypotheses. The aim of the present study is to describe and interpret prostate cancer incidence trends over the past 25 years (1981–2005) in Martinique.MethodsData on incident prostate cancer cases from 1981 to 2005 were obtained from the population-based Martinique Cancer Registry. World age-standardised incidence rates were calculated and an age-period-cohort model was used to determine average annual variations for prostate cancer during the study period. Age and period effects were assessed, employing the method proposed by Clayton and Schifflers. Relative changes in prostate cancer incidence, at five-year intervals between 1981 and 2005, were also studied with an organochlorine pesticide exposure index, built as a proxy of the relative intensity of chlordecone use on the island between 1973 and 1993.ResultsProstate cancer incidence was found to increase by 5.07% annually between 1981 and 2005. Compared to 1981–1985, prostate cancer relative risk, in men aged 50–74 years and 75 years and above was respectively 5.98% and 3.07% from 2001 to 2005. An inverse association between population pesticide exposure levels and prostate cancer risk was also highlighted, with highest prostate cancer incidences observed in urban zones showing the lowest soil contamination levels by the chlordecone pesticide (zone 1).ConclusionNo conclusive association was found between the intensity of pesticide use and the subsequent rise in prostate cancer incidence. However, it remains necessary to develop and reinforce continuous monitoring of prostate cancer incidence and mortality trends on the island. Further studies are also needed in order to consider other risk factors such as modifications in diagnostic and screening procedures over the last 25 years.

In this work, we generalise the stochastic local time space integration introduced in [8] to the case of Brownian sheet. This allows us to prove a generalised two-parameter Itô formula and derive Davie type inequalities for the Brownian sheet. Such estimates are useful to obtain regularity bounds for some averaging type operators along Brownian sheet curves.