A study of inflammation-based predictors of tumor response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer.

Background: The ability of pretreatment laboratory markers of acute-phase inflammatory reactions like serum albumin level (SAL), hemoglobin (Hb), and absolute blood cell counts to predict complete pathological response (CPR) to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NACRT) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) has not yet been fully studied.

Methods: We retrospectively examined the relation between SAL, Hb and absolute blood cell counts, and CPR rates in 140 LARC patients treated with NACRT.

Results: Univariate analysis showed a significantly higher probability of CPR to NACRT in patients with clinical stage (CS) III LARC who had SAL >3.

[Infectious complications with herpes virus after ritual Jewish circumcision: a historical and cultural analysis].

Ritual circumcision performed on eight-day-old male infants is rooted in the Bible and is discussed in the earliest Jewish sources. The practice has been observed across the generations in every Jewish community in Israel and the Diaspora. According to Jewish ritual, the mohel--the ritual circumcisor--amputates the foreskin and then folds back the membrane that lies beneath it.

Preoperative radio-chemotherapy treatment in locally advanced rectal carcinoma. Results of 8-year follow-up.

Background: Preoperative radio-chemotherapy (RCT) may play an important role in decreasing local recurrence and possibly improving survival for patients with advanced rectal carcinoma.

Patients And Methods: Between 1995 and 1998 we treated 30 patients (pts) (median age 61.5 years) with advanced low rectal cancer.