[Oral cancer screening: what can the healthcare system do to reduce the burden of disease?].

Due to its high incidence and mortality, oral cancer makes a group of diseases of public health importance. Oral screening is a simple three-step procedure: the first step is questioning the patient about his/her smoking/drinking habits, secondly, visual inspection of the oral cavity, and finally, palpation of regional lymph nodes. If precancerous conditions or any form of oral cancer are suspected, the task is to send the examined person to oral clinical care.

[Ancient schwannoma of the cauda equina].

Összefoglaló. A cauda equina daganatai a leggyakrabban lumbagós panaszokkal jelentkeznek. Általában késői stádiumban ismerik fel őket, mivel lassan növekednek, az anatómiai környezet tágas, a megjelenő tünetek nem specifikusak, valamint az érintett betegek többsége fiatal és egyébként egészséges.

[Anticancer drug research in Hungary, 1950-2000].

The present review about the history of anticancer drug research in Hungary intends to call attention to the importance of studies on their mode of action. Several lines of evidence suggest that clinically usable oncopharmacological properties could be revealed by this way. Among the numerous compounds certain alkylating sugar alcohols and 2'-deoxyuridine derivatives were submitted to detailed investigations concerning their mode of action.

[Barrier- and autophagic functions of the intestinal epithelia: role of disturbances in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease].

Crohn's disease is a widely known debilitating chronic inflammatory disease, mostly affecting terminal ileum and/or colon. Epidemiological, familial and twin studies suggest that genetic factors play an important role in susceptibility to the disease. Clinical observations suggest that ill-defined environmental factors also play a part.

[Host defense peptides and peptidomimetics as new weapons for cancer treatment].

Host defence peptides (HDP) produced by almost all species of living organisms and widely recognized as antimicrobial antibiotics have also proved to be capable of killing a wide variety of cancer cells. In this respect they have many advantages over conventional cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents. They seem to kill cancer cells by effects on plasma membranes and/or the membranes of mitochondria.