Familial breast cancer. Part II: Relationships with histology, staging, steroid receptors and serum tumor markers.

Purpose: To identify differences in clinical characteristics, histological features, hormone receptor status, and tumor marker expression between patients with sporadic and familial breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: As in the previous Part I of this study, two groups of women with breast cancer were compared. The first group (group I) included 504 patients with a family history of breast cancer.

Effect of short-term losartan treatment in patients with primary aldosteronism and essential hypertension.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of short-term treatment with losartan, a selective and competitive angiotensin II (AngII) receptor blocker, on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), active renin and kallikrein activity (KA) in patients with essential hypertension and primary aldosteronism. Nine patients with primary aldosteronism (5 with Conn adenoma and 4 with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism) and 9 patients with essential hypertension were included in the study. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly after losartan treatment in both patient groups.

Formation of DNA adducts in tissues of mouse progeny through transplacental contamination and/or lactation after administration of a single dose of ochratoxin A to the pregnant mother.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin which has been detected in foods of plant origin, in edible animal tissues, and in human sera, urine, and milk in many countries. OTA is nephrotoxic and carcinogenic in mice and rats and is suspected to play a key role in the etiology of Balkan endemic nephropathy and/or associated urinary tract tumors. In the present study, some early signs of genetic impairment, including the presence of DNA adducts in target tissues from the progeny of mice after administration of a single OTA dose during late pregnancy, have been investigated.

Clinical study of the effect of the preparation DEODAN on leukopenia, induced by cytostatics.

The aim of the study is to establish the effect of the preparation DEODAN on leukopenia induced by chemotherapeutics in oncological patients. DEODAN is an oral preparation, obtained from lyzozyme lysates of Lactobacillus bulgaricus strain "I. Bogdanov patent strain tumoronecroticance B-51" ATCC 21815, called shortly LB51.

Projected cancer incidence rates in Bulgaria, 1968-2017.

Background: Incidence predictions are applicable when planning preventive or screening health care programmes, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation facilities. The aim of this study was to predict future (1993-2017) incidence rates of the most common sites of cancer in Bulgaria: breast, cervix and corpus uteri in females, and lung, prostate and stomach in males.

Method: Observed numbers of incident cases in the period 1968-1992 and observed (predicted) population size were employed.

Genotoxic changes in the pulmonary alveolar macrophages of mice, rats and hamsters treated with tobacco smoke.

To determine whether tobacco smoke (TS) is genotoxic for lung tissue macrophages (pulmonary alveolar macrophages, PAM) as a general result of its inhalatory action BD6 rats, Syrian golden hamsters and BDF1 (C57BlxDBA2) mice were subjected to wholebody exposure for 90 or 60 min daily (600 cm3 mainstream smoke in 16-1 glass chamber, 9 or 6 exposures of 15 min each, respectively), for different periods ranging up to 30 days. A significant enhancement of the frequency of polynucleated macrophages (BiN PAM) was observed in all animal species after more than 10-days of repeated exposure to TS. The increased level of BiN PAM (the number of bi- (+) poly-nucleated PAM) correlates with the duration of exposure to TS: on day 20 after the start of inhalation, more than 25/1000 of mice PAM were polynucleated, while on day 30 this applied to approximately 50/1000.

Molecular and epidemiological approaches to the etiology of urinary tract tumors in an area with Balkan endemic nephropathy.

Recently, we completed a second biostatistical study of urinary tract tumors (UTT) in areas with Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) in the Vratza district, Bulgaria, during the period 1975 to 1991. We confirmed the positive correlation between the incidence of urinary tract tumors (UTT) and BEN demonstrated in our first population-based case control 1977 study. A UTT incidence of 98.

Trends in incidence of various cancers in Bulgaria, 1981-1990.

Background: Bulgaria has undergone considerable social changes in the last 40 years, including a transition from a 75% rural to a 75% urban population. These changes might be expected to be reflected in disease rates. The Bulgarian cancer registry has computerized data on cancer incidence throughout the country from 1981 onwards.

Role of radioimmunoscintigraphy and SPET in the diagnosis of patients with malignant melanoma.

The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of radioimmunoscintigraphy and single photon emission tomography in the diagnosis of malignant melanoma. Radioimmunoscintigraphy was carried out on 47 patients with stage I to IV malignant melanoma. Seven patients had primary melanoma; the remaining patients had 57 clinically suspected lesions.

Dominant-lethal mutations and micronucleus induction in male BALB/c, BDF1 and H mice by tobacco smoke.

The mutagenicity of whole tobacco smoke (TS) was examined in male BALB/c, BDF1 and H mice using the dominant lethal and micronucleus tests in bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes. Male mice (about 80 days old) from the three strains were treated with TS on 5 days/week for 8 weeks. The animals were divided into three groups for every strain: control and two experimental groups.

The soft-tissue tumours induced in Syrian hamsters by herpes simplex virus type 1 and a chemical promoter.

Adult male Syrian hamsters were inoculated subcutaneously with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1, 10(6) PFU) or ultraviolet-inactivated HSV-1. One week later 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA, 2 x 20 nmol weekly) was topically applied to the dorsal skin at the site of virus inoculation for 6 months. Control animals received HSV-1 only or topical treatment with TPA in acetone or acetone alone.

Monoclonal antibodies distinguishing between two rat pancreatic carcinoma cell lines with different metastatic capacities.

Two new monoclonal antibodies, E5/E10 and E10/B4, were raised which reacted with surface antigens on the metastatic rat pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line ASML, but not with antigens localized on the cell surface of the nonmetastatic rat pancreatic adenocarcinoma line AS. These two monoclonal antibodies are of the IgG1 subclass and recognize protein bands with molecular weight 28,000 and 35,000 D. E5/E10 and E10/B4 cross-reacted only with antigens on the human colon cancer cell line HT-29, as well as with normal rat kidney.

Ochratoxin A and other mycotoxins in cereals from an area of Balkan endemic nephropathy and urinary tract tumours in Bulgaria.

The etiology of Balkan endemic nephropathy and urinary tract tumours in the rural population of the endemic regions remains unknown. As one hypothesis involves mycotoxins, a survey was carried out to investigate the possible involvement of the nephrotoxic mycotoxins ochratoxin A and citrinin. Recently, this survey was extended to screening for the presence of other mycotoxins--aflatoxins, citrinin, sterigmatocystin and zearalenone.

Genetic predisposition to Balkan endemic nephropathy: ability to hydroxylate debrisoquine as a host risk factor.

The objective of this study was to examine the association between efficiency of oxidative metabolism and risk for developing Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) and/or transitional-cell carcinoma of the urinary tract, using a case-control design controlling for age, gender and socioeconomic factors. Over 900 urine samples were taken from 646 subjects, divided into the following groups: healthy subjects from areas with no BEN; healthy subjects from villages with BEN; subjects suspected of having BEN; and subjects with BEN and/or upper urinary tract tumours (UUT). BEN patients and controls from the same villages were of similar age.

Ochratoxin A in human blood in relation to Balkan endemic nephropathy and urinary tract tumours in Bulgaria.

Ochratoxin A is suspected of being one of the etiological agents responsible for Balkan endemic nephropathy and the associated urinary tract tumours. Contamination of cereals by this mycotoxin has been found to be more frequent in areas of endemic nephropathy than in areas where the disease is absent. As ochratoxin A binds to serum albumin, it should be detectable in biological fluids from exposed populations.