[Oncologic diseases in menopause: causes and methods of prevention].

Cancers of the breast, endometrium, ovary cervix and colon clearly have an important impact on women's health worldwide, in terms of their burden on incidence and mortality. Our understanding of causes of these cancers is far from complete. However, the present state of knowledge does give clues to biological mechanisms and for continued research.

Cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and risk of hip fracture in women.

Background: Previous studies regarding the impact of cigarette smoking on the risk of hip fracture in postmenopausal women have been inconsistent, suggesting different effects in different groups. The effect of alcohol intake on fracture risk is puzzling: moderate alcohol intake appears to increase bone density, and its association with hip fracture is not clear.

Methods: To assess the associations of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption with hip fracture risk among postmenopausal women, we conducted an analysis of a population-based case-control study from Sweden.

Multicomponent polyanions. 57. Large-angle X-ray scattering study of aqueous molybdophenylphosphonate solutions.

The radial distribution functions are calculated from large-angle X-ray scattering (LAXS) measurements for one concentrated aqueous molybdate/heptamolybdate solution and five aqueous molybdophenylphosphonate solutions (lithium chloride medium). Besides water and hydrated lithium, chloride, and molybdate ions, five species in all, having different nuclearities, are postulated to exist in the solutions, according to equilibrium studies using potentiometry and 31P NMR spectroscopy. The structures of the three polymolybdate species Mo7O24(6-), Mo8O26(4-), and (C6H5P)2Mo5O21(4-), for which the structures are determined crystallographically, are confirmed to exist also in aqueous solution.

Solvation of the bismuth(III) ion by water, dimethyl sulfoxide, N,N'-dimethylpropyleneurea, and N,N-dimethylthioformamide. An EXAFS, large-angle X-ray scattering, and crystallographic structural study.

The structure of the solvated bismuth(III) ion in aqueous, dimethyl sulfoxide, N,N'-dimethylpropyleneurea, and N,N-dimethylthioformamide solution has been studied by means of EXAFS and large-angle X-ray scattering (LAXS). The crystal structures of the solid compounds octakis(dimethyl sulfoxide)bismuth(III) perchlorate, [Bi(OS(CH3)2)8](ClO4)3, hexakis(N,N'-dimethylpropyleneurea)bismuth(III) perchlorate, [Bi(OCN2(CH2)3(CH3)2)6](ClO4)3, and nonaaquabismuth(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate, [Bi(H2O)9](CF3SO3)3 (redetermination), have been determined. The aqueous solutions must be strongly acidic, since the hydrated bismuth(III) ion starts to hydrolyze into Bi6O4(OH)4(6+) complexes already at an excess of strong acid at 1.

Steric effects control the structure of the solvated lanthanum(III) ion in aqueous, dimethyl sulfoxide, and N,N'-dimethylpropyleneurea solution. An EXAFS and large-angle X-ray scattering study.

The structure of the solvated lanthanum(III) ion has been determined in aqueous, dimethyl sulfoxide, and N,N'-dimethylpropyleneurea solution by means of the EXAFS and large-angle X-ray scattering (LAXS) techniques. The close agreement between the EXAFS spectra of solid nonaaqualanthanum(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate and of an aqueous lanthanum(III) perchlorate solution shows that the hydrated lanthanum(III) ion in aqueous solution most probably has the same structure as in the solid, i.e.

Breast cancer risk in relation to amount of tissue removed during breast reduction operations in Sweden.

Background: Women who undergo breast reduction operations have substantially lowered risks of breast cancer, and the reasons remain unclear. The current investigation attempted to assess whether the reduction in breast cancer risk was related directly to the amount of breast tissue removed.

Methods: Medical record retrieval was attempted for 161 breast cancer patients in a Swedish cohort of 31,910 women who had had breast reduction surgery and for 483 women who had not developed breast cancer.

Estrogens in the causation of breast, endometrial and ovarian cancers - evidence and hypotheses from epidemiological findings.

Estrogens along with progesterone/progestins, and other hormones, are important determinants of cancer in the breast, endometrium and ovary. Estrogens may increase the risk of breast cancer through various mechanisms and at various phases of life, with a possible synergistic effect of progesterone/progestins. Exposure to high doses of placental hormones, such as estrogens and/or progesterone, during pregnancy may play a pivotal role in reducing subsequent breast cancer susceptibility.

Recolonizing carnivores and naïve prey: conservation lessons from Pleistocene extinctions.

The current extinction of many of Earth's large terrestrial carnivores has left some extant prey species lacking knowledge about contemporary predators, a situation roughly parallel to that 10,000 to 50,000 years ago, when naive animals first encountered colonizing human hunters. Along present-day carnivore recolonization fronts, brown (also called grizzly) bears killed predator-naive adult moose at disproportionately high rates in Scandinavia, and moose mothers who lost juveniles to recolonizing wolves in North America's Yellowstone region developed hypersensitivity to wolf howls. Although prey that had been unfamiliar with dangerous predators for as few as 50 to 130 years were highly vulnerable to initial encounters, behavioral adjustments to reduce predation transpired within a single generation.

Physical activity and postmenopausal endometrial cancer risk (Sweden).

Objectives: To examine the hypothesis that sedentary women have an increased risk of endometrial cancer compared to physically active women.

Methods: This is a population-based case-control study in the entire Swedish female population aged 50-74 years in 1994-1995. We obtained self-reported information on leisure-time physical activity during childhood, at ages 18-30, and recently from 709 incident case women with endometrial cancer and 3368 population controls.

Breast cancer following breast reduction surgery in Sweden.

Women undergoing breast reduction surgery have been reported to be at low subsequent risk of breast cancer, especially when the surgery is performed after age 40. To evaluate the age and time-related patterns of cancer risk following surgical removal of breast tissue, we identified 31,910 women who underwent breast reduction surgery from 1965 to 1993 in Sweden using hospital discharge register data. There were 19,975 women (63 percent) under age 40 at surgery.

Astrocyte beta1-adrenergic receptor immunoreactivity and agonist induced increases in [Ca2+]i: differential results indicative of a modified membrane receptor.

Antibodies against the C-terminus of the beta1-adrenergic receptor were used for staining cultured astrocytes from the rat cerebral cortex. Immunoreactivity was found to be localized exclusively to an intracellular organelle structure similar to the Golgi complex, with no staining of the plasma membrane. The astrocytes stained positive with BODIPY CGP 12177, a FITC-conjugated beta-adrenergic receptor agonist, and this staining was blocked by the beta1-adrenergic antagonist atenolol, indicating that these receptors are expressed on the surface of the astrocytes.

Risk of myocardial infarction after oophorectomy and hysterectomy.

To determine the risk of developing a first myocardial infarction after a hysterectomy and/or oophorectomy. Case-cohort analysis performed among 17,126 women in the Uppsala Health Care Region of Sweden, who had undergone a hysterectomy and/or oophorectomy in 1965 to 1983. Record linkage was used for follow-up and medical records to ascertain the actual history of oophorectomy.

Breast cancer risk and lifetime leisure-time and occupational physical activity (Sweden).

Objective: To clarify whether type and timing of physical activity affect postmenopausal breast cancer risk.

Methods: In a population-based case-control study within the Swedish female population 50-74 years of age, 3347 women with invasive, postmenopausal breast cancer (84% of all eligible) and 3455 controls (82% of all selected) reported on past leisure-time physical activity. Record linkage to decennial census data (1960-1990) provided estimates of their occupational physical activity.

Influence of vegetables on the expression of GSTP1 in humans--a pilot intervention study (Sweden).

Background: There are indications that a diet rich in vegetables and/or fruit has a protective effect against several types of diseases, including cancer. Data from experimental and epidemiological studies suggest that antioxidant constituents may provide protection against environmental carcinogens.

Aims: This study investigated the effect of additional vegetables in the diet on the expression of the endogenous antioxidant enzyme GSTP1 in human lymphocytes.

Organochlorines and endometrial cancer risk.

There is concern that persistent environmental pollutants such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) increase breast cancer risk, at least partially through estrogenic effects. Because the endometrium is more sensitive to estrogenic stimulation than the breast, such a carcinogenic effect should be more pronounced in the endometrium than the breast. In a population-based case-control study in Sweden, we measured serum concentrations of 10 chlorinated pesticides and 10 PCB congeners in 154 endometrial cancer cases and 205 population controls.

Estrogen receptor alpha gene polymorphisms and endometrial cancer risk.

Since the estrogen receptor alpha (ER) is an important mediator of hormonal responses such as proliferation in estrogen-sensitive tissues, we hypothesized that polymorphisms in the ER gene could be functional and associated with endometrial cancer risk. We performed a population-based case-control study in Sweden, focusing on restriction fragment length polymorphisms for XbaI and PvuII and an upstream TA repeat polymorphism. In the main analysis, 154 cases and 205 controls who never used hormone replacement therapy took part and we calculated age-adjusted and multivariate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using unconditional logistic regression.

Intellectual and physical performance and morbidity in relation to height in a cohort of 18-year-old Swedish conscripts.

To test whether short stature in young men without malformations or chronic childhood diseases is associated with intellectual and physical performance and morbidity, a large cohort of apparently healthy 18-year-old Swedish men was analysed. The original cohort consisted of all men born in 1976 and conscripted in 1994 (n = 38, 900). After exclusion due to growth-affecting disorders or missing data, 32,887 subjects were available for analysis.

Body size in different periods of life, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and risk of postmenopausal endometrial cancer (Sweden).

Objective: To measure the association between endometrial cancer risk and obesity at age 18 and recently, adult weight gain, diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

Methods: We performed a population-based, nationwide case-control study among postmenopausal women aged 50-74 years in Sweden, including 709 incident cases with histopathologically verified endometrial cancer and 3368 controls.

Results: Compared to lean women (recent body mass index (BMI), i.

Nest attendance during egg laying in pheasants.

As precocial bird species hatch synchronously, incubation during the egg-laying stage should be disadvantageous because it makes the embryos develop asynchronously. We established the patterns of nest attendance during egg laying and the start of incubation in ring-necked pheasants, Phasianus colchicus, and tested three hypotheses regarding the advantage of early incubation. To determine nest attendance, we measured egg temperatures in real pheasant nests.

Influence of perinatal factors on the onset of puberty in boys and girls: implications for interpretation of link with risk of long term diseases.

The authors examined the hypothesis that perinatal factors influence the onset of puberty. Children born as singletons in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1973-1977 were followed for height development before and during their school years (through 16 years of age). In all, 62 children born after preeclampsia, 129 born prematurely, 90 born small for gestational age, 175 born large for gestational age, 49 born short for gestational age, and 38 born tall for gestational age were compared with 688 "normal" children.

Use of oral contraceptives and endometrial cancer risk (Sweden).

Objectives: To estimate the magnitude and persistence of the protective effect of use of combined oral contraceptives (COCs) and endometrial cancer risk.

Methods: We performed a nation-wide, population-based case-control study among postmenopausal women aged 50-74 years in Sweden, which included 709 subjects with incident, histopathologically verified endometrial cancer, and 3,368 controls with an intact uterus. We used unconditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios as estimates of relative risks.

Risks of breast and endometrial cancer after estrogen and estrogen-progestin replacement.

Objective: We studied the risk of breast and endometrial cancer in a cohort of 11,231 Swedish women prescribed different replacement hormone regimens.

Methods: All 10,472 women at risk of developing breast cancer and 8,438 women at risk of endometrial cancer were followed up from the time of the questionnaire in 1987-88 through 1993, by record-linkages to the National Swedish Cancer Registry. Using data from a questionnaire we analyzed the relationships between hormone exposures and cancer risk, with non-compliers and users of less than 1 year as a reference group.

Postmenopausal hormone therapy and risk of cardiovascular disease and hip fracture in a cohort of Swedish women.

Postmenopausal estrogen use is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and hip fracture; in observational studies, different behaviors among hormone users and nonusers may partially explain these results. We examined risk of cardiovascular disease and hip fracture with medium-potency compared with low-potency or short-term estrogen use, and the effect of added progestin, among 9,236 women in Uppsala, Sweden, who responded to a mailed questionnaire in 1987-1988. Using population registries, we identified 213 cases of myocardial infarction, 289 strokes, and 114 hip fractures from 1987-1995.