The relation between smoking and pancreatic cancer is most consistently described. A further analysis of the relationships between family history, hormonal factors in females, dietary and nutritional factors, obesity, physical activity and pancreatic cancer is necessary.

BACKGROUND: This review discusses the epidemiologic features of bile duct and gallbladder cance in Japan, mainly focusing on results of Japan Collaborative Cohort Study (JACC Study) for Evaluation of Cancer Risk Sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan (Monbusho) in comparison with results of other studies. METHODS: The theses and papers derived from JACC Study on bile duct and gallbladder cancer were all collected for this review. Hirayama’s cohort study, which is a representative epidemiologic study, and a large scale case-control study on bile duct and gallbladder cancer in Japan by Kato et al. were also taken into consideration. Small scale cross-sectional studies or ecological studies and the studies conducted outside Japan were collected by the literature reference services on the web net such as Pub Med or Japan Centra Revuo Medicina (Igaku- Chuo- Zasshi) limited to the published after 1980 and use key words bile duct cancer, gallbladder cancer and epidemiology. RESULTS: In the JACC Study, high intake of fried food was regarded as a factor that significantly elevated the risk of the diseases (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-6.16 in males; HR = 2.98, 95% CI: 1.28-6.86 in females). The JACC Study indicated that a high intake of boiled beans had a significant preventive relation to the diseases in females (relative risk [RR] = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.26-0.98). High consumption of fish also had a significant preventive relationship to bile duct cancer in males (RR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.26-0.98) and gallbladder cancer in females (RR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.24-0.79). A history of blood transfusion also had a significant relationship (HR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.29-3.98) as which elevated the risk. The JACC Study determined bowel movement as a risk factor. The group with bowel movements less than once per six days had a significantly elevated hazard ratio (HR = 5.21, 95% CI: 1.25-21.68). CONCLUSION: As to recent epidemiologic features of bile duct and gallbladder cancer revealed by the JACC Study, its outline became obvious in comparison with the results of other studies. Evidence for the contribution of the JACC Study is strong because it provides some important findings on the epidemiology of bile duct and gallbladder cancer.

Pre-banking microbial assessment allows for microbial detection, bacterial susceptibility and resistance testing. This is useful for developing preservation mediums containing effective spectrum antibiotic agents for high quality control of corneal banking.

Tsuyoshi MATSUBA1, Momoko CHIBA1, Khongsap Akkhavong2, Aporn Sisuraj2 and Yutaka INABA1A case control study on urolithiasis was conducted in Laos, where the disease was endemic in order to clarify the relationship between diet patterns and life style related factors and the disease. As subjects of the study, 114 cases and 97 hospital based unmatched comparative subjects participated. By using a questionnaire, the diet patterns and life style related factors were asked and odds ratios were calculated for each of the factors. Factor analysis was performed to ascertain how the factors of food items were assembled by the composing factors, and covariance structure analysis (structure equation model) was adopted to clarify the relationship between those factors and the disease. Then the urolithiasis cases were divided into two groups, determined by the presence of upper and lower urinary tact stones because etiological differences were detected. Lower urinary tract stones revealed a positive relationship with traditional food items and a negative one with modern food items. In contrast, upper urinary tract stones showed a higher path coefficient to modern food items than to traditional ones in the structure equation model. It is suggested that in Laos the modernization of the diet pattern may elevate the incidence of upper urinary tract stones, though it decreases lower urinary tract stones.

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