Comparative analysis of three functional predictive assays in lymphocytes of patients with breast and gynaecological cancer treated by radiotherapy.

Purpose: There is a need to develop predictive tests that would allow identifying cancer patients with a high risk of developing side effects to radiotherapy. We compared the predictive value of three functional assays: the G(0) aberration assay, the G(2) aberration assay and the alkaline comet assay in lymphocytes of breast cancer and gynaecological cancer patients.

Material And Methods: Peripheral blood was collected from 35 patients with breast cancer and 34 patients with gynaecological cancer before the onset of therapy.

Severe A/H1N1 influenza in four pregnant women in Podkarpacie Province of Poland.

Unlabelled: Pregnant women, just like the rest of the population, are at risk of the novel A/H1N1 infection. However, since they belong to a more susceptible group of patients, the risk of a severe course of the disease is significantly higher when compared to their non-pregnant counterparts. This risk is especially great when the infection is accompanied by chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes mellitus, resulting in an increased morbidity and mortality of both the mother and the fetus.

Enhanced chromosomal radiosensitivity in peripheral blood lymphocytes of larynx cancer patients.

Purpose: The chromosomal radiosensitivity in peripheral blood lymphocytes of cancer patients was reported to be higher than that of healthy donors. This effect is especially prominent when aberrations induced in the G2 phase of the cell cycle are analyzed. The aim of our study was to investigate if the G2 aberration frequencies in lymphocytes of patients with larynx cancer are higher than in the case of control individuals.