Relation between the hormonal and epidemiological aspects of esophageal cancer in Japan.

Esophageal cancer with endemic distribution of high-risk areas in the world is also known to be more prevalent in the male--and in the aged-populations than in their counterparts. The hormonal characteristics of esophageal cancer patients and the geographical distribution of high and low-risk areas in Japan were comparatively investigated in search of the etiology of this neoplasia. A case-control study of 14 urinary steroids indicated that cancer patients of both sexes were associated with an acceleration of cortisone to hydrocortisone conversion within their bodies.

Does surgical stress cause tumor metastasis?

The purpose of this study was to test the validity of our working hypothesis that the stress of radical surgery may affect the prognosis of a cancer patient by precipitating hematogenous tumor metastasis, and that enhancement of this type of tumor metastasis is mediated by an increase of glucocorticoid activity that is induced in a cancer patient by surgical stress. Practically, we looked for the presence of glucocorticosteroid excess in cervical cancer patients in the course of radical surgery, and also tested the possible impact of glucocorticoid excess on the development of tumor metastasis in mice with i.v.

Relation between the hormonal and epidemiological aspects of ovarian cancer patients in Japan.

We compared the hormonal and epidemiological aspects of ovarian cancer patients in search of the etiology of this neoplasia. Case-control studies of Japanese women with and without cancer were conducted in parallel, with regard to both the excretion of 14 urinary steroids and the pertinent physical and physiological parameters. The results obtained are as follows: 1) premenopausal ovarian cancer patients before and after radical ovariectomy and postmenopausal-postoperative patients were associated with a specified steroid deviation profile characterized by a combination of general depression of androgens, progestins and corticosteroids with sole rescue of tetrahydrocortisol (THF) in urine.

Differential surface structures of invasive and non-invasive Ehrlich ascites tumor cell lines with special reference to the effect of hydrocortisone treatment.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relation between the fine structure of the tumor cell surface and the tumor malignancy by scanning electron microscopy. Practically, comparison was made between the invasive Ehrlich ascites clone 1 tumor and the non-invasive Ehrlich ascites clone 3 tumor, and also between the 4th postinoculation day and the 6th postinoculation day as regards the growth of microvilli on the cell surface. On the 4th postinoculation day, an invasive clone 1 tumor cell was indistinguishable from a non-invasive clone tumor cell because of their common paucity of microvilli development.

Interrelation between Western type cancers and non-Western type cancers as regards their risk variation in time and space. IV. Hormonal transition of Japanese women from the pro-cervical cancer age through the pro-endometrial cancer age to the pro-hypogonadism age.

Chronological trend of urinary steroid excretions in Japanese women was investigated during the period of June 1972 to August 1986 using healthy women of urban and rural origins, patients with breast cancer and patients with either cervical cancer or endometrial cancer. The excretions of 14 neutral steroids were estimated by gas liquid chromatography, and the obtained data were tentatively correlated with the epidemiological backgrounds. In the course of the chronological transition from the 1st stage (1972-1974) to the 2nd stage (1975-79), the urinary steroid pattern of Japanese women with and without cancer experienced a common change to produce specific deviations that were in agreement with the hormonal characteristics of a pill user or of an endometrial cancer patient.

Cyclosporin A is a hormonal immunomodulator. II. Mouse study.

The present study investigated the effects of hydrocortisone (HCA) and cyclosporin A (CS) on the wet weights of various target tissues and on the plasma levels of 6 steroids and cholesterol (CH) in Swiss mice of both sexes. The effects of CS on the weights of the spleen and forestomach, as viewed from their steroid dependencies in weight change, were different for each tissue and for each sex: CS effect on the male spleen was characterized as a mixture of a major androgenic element and a minor corticosteroid-like element, whereas that on the female spleen was scored as purely androgenic. Similarly, CS effects on the male and female forestomachs were interpreted respectively as estrogenic and androgenic in nature.

Cyclosporin A is a hormonal immunomodulator. I. Human study.

The immunosuppressant Cyclosporin A (CS) is known to induce 2 hormonal disorders as side effects of its long-term use: gynecomastia in male subjects and hirsutism in female subjects. The present study was started to investigate the problem of whether or not the above steroid-mimetic actions of CS are to be related to the immunosuppressive effect of that substance. Practically, a case-control comparison of 14 urinary steroid excretions was made for each sex with healthy controls and kidney transplant recipients undergoing CS-free and CS-dependent immunosuppressive treatments on the one hand, and the success rate of kidney transplantation was compared between the CS-free treatment group and the CS-dependent treatment group on the other hand.

The genesis of breast cancer is a two-step phenomenon. II. Dissociation of two biomarkers in cancer patients from a low risk area of Japan.

The association of dual steroidal disorders with breast cancer, as proposed on the basis of a case-control study in a high risk area of Japan, was tested for its validity in breast cancer patients from a low risk area of Japan. A state of glucocorticoid excess, the first hormonal trait of a breast cancer patient, was assessed using a urinary steroid parameter (a reduction of the androsterone to tetrahydrocortisol ratio by definition), and/or using a physical parameter (an elevation of the waist to hip circumference ratio by definition). Inclination to ovulation failure, the second hormonal trait, was tested using another urinary steroid parameter (a specified disorder of progestin metabolism by definition), and/or a demographic parameter (a reduction in the number of live births by definition).

The genesis of breast cancer is a two-step phenomenon. I. Differential effects of aging on the cancer incidence in the United Kingdom and Japan.

The present study investigated comparatively the relation between host age and age-specific incidence rate (ASIR) of breast cancer in the United Kingdom and Japan. Comparison was also made between breast cancer and 5 non-mammary neoplasias as regards the cancer incidence/age profile. The results obtained are as follows: 1) the ASIR profile of breast cancer in the age range of 22.

Interrelation between western type cancers and non-western type cancers as regards their risk variations in time and space. III. A contrast between bladder cancer and stomach cancer.

The present study attempted to get insight into the etiology of bladder cancer by investigating the relation of this neoplasia to other 4 cancers as regards their risk variations in time and space. The results obtained are as follows: 1) Caucasians in Western countries were more inclined to develop bladder cancer than other ethnic groups, as compared among 43 population units of the world in terms of the age-adjusted incidence rate (AAIR). 2) In the same 43 comparison sets, male populations were always higher than female populations in their bladder cancer risks.

Thermoresistant Propagules of Neosartorya fischeri ; Some Ecologic Considerations.

Neosartorya (.) fischeri (Wehmer) Malloch and Cain is a significant agent causing molding of canned fruits. This genus made up 49.

Nutrition and breast cancer risk in Japan.

The present study investigated the problem of whether or not the intake of an Western-style diet will induce within the host a specified hormonal change that increases the risk for breast cancer (BC). The key observations obtained are as follows: 1) The risk for BC in Japan has been increasing for the last 20 years in parallel with the Westernization of dietary habits (increase of fat and animal protein in the diet). 2) A Japanese BC patient is distinguishable from a corresponding normal control by (a) an increase of waist/hip ratio (more specifically, an increase of abdominal fat) and (b) a decrease in the number of live births (relative infertility).

The regularity of intersteroidal relations in urine as related to the law of mass action.

The relation between 14 urinary steroid excretions was investigated by intersteroidal regression analysis with urine from 59 follicular stage women, 135 luteal stage women and 5 female patients with adrenal disorders. The regularity of intersteroidal relation in urine, as detected for all steroid pairs of all groups studied, was explained in terms of the law of mass action, and a chemical equilibrium point was located with a high degree of reproducibility for each steroid and for each group. The theoretical and practical usefulness of urinary steroid regression analysis is emphasized in relation to the possible impact of multihormonal information on endocrinology.

Is N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine a hormonal carcinogen? (Review).

The hormonal aspect of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) is discussed in relation to its carcinogenic potency for the gastric epithelium. The action of MNNG, as assessed in terms of a) the affinities for both the glucocorticoid receptor and androgen receptor of mouse, b) the effects on the turnover of hydrocortisone and dihydrotestosterone in the glandular stomach of mouse, c) the induction of ornithine decarboxylase in the same tissue, and d) the interfering effect on the hydrocortisone - linked acceleration of water turnover at the whole body level of a mouse, points to the steroid-mimetic nature of the carcinogen. It is suggested that MNNG may behave like an androgen antagonist on the one hand, and like a chimera between glucocorticoid agonist and glycocorticoid antagonist on the other hand.

Human postmortem thyroid 131I content and risk estimates in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia following the Chernobyl accident.

From 3 May to 4 August 1986, thyroids of 416 postmortem subjects in Bratislava (population: approximately 400,000) were measured for 131I. Subsequently, dose rates in this organ for the day of exitus were calculated. Mean dose commitments were estimated by integrating linear or quadratic-periodic regression lines drawn through scatterplots of logarithmically transformed daily dose rates.

Investigation of professional nickel exposure in nickel refinery workers.

For assessing the real exposure level of nickel in electrolytical nickel production workers we monitored the following indicators of Ni load. (a) Stationary air sampling of Ni, (b) personal air sampling of Ni, (c) urine Ni excretion determined on group basis, (d) the 4 hours specimen of Ni excretion determined on an individual basis. A tentative limit for Ni in urine, roughly corresponding to the MAC 0.

Mercury levels in the components of the environment and diets.

The levels of mercury in water, soil, plants, poultry and poultry products, fish, dustfall as well as in total daily diet of apprentices were measured. The main purpose of our study was to estimate the average daily intakes of mercury.

A study of occupational exposure to isopropylbiphenyls (Sure Sol-250).

Environmental and medical examinations in workers exposed to the isopropylbiphenyl (IPBs) mixture, Sure Sol-250, in a capacitor-manufacturing plant were carried out once a year for three years. Levels of the total IPBs ranged from 0.03 to 36.

T-2 toxin degradation by micromycetes.

The biodegradation of T-2 toxin was studied by strains of micromycetes which were isolated from the environment. The 26 tested strains were divided into three groups. Group contains strains which degraded T-2 toxin very fast.

Familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with temporal and spatial separation of affected members.

Familial occurrence of three definitive and two possible cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) with temporal and spatial separation in the area of focal CJD accumulation in Slovakia is reported. Incubation period is 51 and 53 years respectively, if spatial and temporal separation of affected siblings is considered, and 51 years when the time interval between the death of the affected mother and the clinical onset in the first affected child is determined. Affected children tend to die at the same time (mean difference 3.

Immunological markers in patients with different forms of viral hepatitis B treated by "conventional" therapy or with HuIFN alpha.

Selected immunological, biochemical, and other viral hepatitis B (VH-B) markers were followed and analysed during "conventional" or human interferon alpha (HuIFN alpha) therapy of patients with different forms of VH-B. The immunological data obtained from "conventionally"-treated acute hepatitis B (AH-B), prolonged acute hepatitis B (AH-BP) or chronic active hepatitis B (CAH-B) patients disclosed differences unsatisfactory for comparison of the influence of HuIFN alpha therapy on changes of the immunological markers. More valuable data were obtained through continuous registration of the dynamics of selected blood markers.

Transient increase of HBsAg levels following human IFN alpha treatment signalises the patient's response in chronic active hepatitis B.

Eleven patients in early stages of chronic active hepatitis B (CAH-B) were treated for weeks or months with a natural or recombinant human interferon alpha (Hu IFN alpha). Changes of serum levels of selected hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers were observed after Hu IFN alpha administration. Increase of HBsAg level accompanied by more or less simultaneous HBeAg level depression was the most interesting observation.

Interrelation between Western type cancers and non-Western type cancers as regards their risk variations in time and space. II. Nutrition and cancer risk.

The present study comparatively investigated the relation between the per capita consumption of various food factors and the risks of 6 cancers in 19 countries of the world. The age-adjusted death rates (AADRs) of Western type cancers (cancers of the breast, prostate, colon and lung) were positively correlated with the intakes of total calorie, meat-milk-eggs, animal protein and fats-oils, and were negatively correlated with the intake of cereals, potato etc. The AADRs of non-Western type cancers (cancers of the esophagus and stomach) showed correlations that were just the reverse of those of Western type cancers.

Interrelation between Western type cancers and non-Western type cancers as regards their risk variations in time and space. I. Mathematical linkage among multiple cancer incidences.

The present study attempted to clarify the interrelation between multiple cancer risks by comparatively investigating the age-adjusted incidence rates (AAIR) of 8 neoplasias in 20 selected populations of the world for the last 20 years. Cancers of the stomach (for both sexes) and uterine cervix were on the decline in their incidences, and cancers of the colon (for both sexes), lung (for both sexes), breast and endometrium were on the rise in the period 1960 to 1980. Cancers of the esophagus (for both sexes) and ovary exhibited little change in their incidences during this period.