Familial risk factors for breast cancer among Arab women in Israel.

The incidence of breast cancer in Arab women is low compared with western populations in other countries. Very few studies on risk factors for breast cancer in Arab women have been reported. The aim of the present study was to evaluate familial risk factors for breast cancer among Arab women in Israel. A case-control study was carried out on 72 Arab women diagnosed with breast cancer and 140 healthy controls. Cases were identified through oncology wards and controls were sampled from community and hospital out-patient clinics. All participants were interviewed and information obtained on family history of breast cancer and other cancers, and other potential risk factors. Eight women with breast cancer and five women without breast cancer had a first-degree relative with breast cancer. The odds ratio for breast cancer for a woman with a first-degree relative with breast cancer was 3.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-10.7, P = 0.04). The odds ratio for Muslim women with a first-degree relative with breast cancer was higher than that for Christian women (6.07 and 1.53, respectively). Family history of breast cancer was a risk factor for breast cancer in Arab women. The estimated relative risk associated with an affected first-degree relative was generally higher than that reported from other populations.

Indication of different forms of therapy in long-term in-patient treatment.

The contribution presented attempts to demonstrate disturbance characteristics in children who are used in practice as differential indication criteria in the choice between medical-pedagogical and psychotherapeutic methods of treatment. 171 of a total of 238 children in a medical-pedagogical/psychotherapeutic children's home were examined; these children were discharged between the foundation of the institution in 1968 and July 1987. Apparently, the presence of a partial performance weakness, a hyperkinetical/development-dependent or dissocial disturbance as well as a disturbance of the central nervous system can be regarded as indicators for medical-pedagogical measures, the diagnosis of a neurotic/emotional disturbance as well as at least average intelligence level as indication criteria for an analytical child therapy. The disturbance conditions found correspond with the indicators for a medical-pedagogical and/or psychotherapeutical treatment described in specialist literature. Moreover, the success quota was compared with the remission rate known in child psychiatric practice.

[Cancer in residents of heavy traffic areas]. / Krebs bei Anwohnern verkehrsreicher Strassen.

A part of the emission of automobiles (exhaust gases, brake-block rubbing-off) is known to be cancerogenic. This study examines the risk of getting cancer, for citizens of Hamburg who are living in streets with high traffic frequency (more than 30,000 automobiles a day). The cancer frequency from 61,636 exposed persons were (standardised to age and specific for sex) related to 11,794 cases of cancer in the years of 1970 to 1972 in the population of Hamburg (1.8 million citizens). 483 cases of all cancer were found within the study group and vs. 455.0 had been expected (SMR = 1.06). 242 of these were men vs. 217 had been expected/SMR = 1.12). 100 cases of death from pulmonary cancer were found and vs. 74.5 expected (SMR = 1.34), 53 cases of colonic cancer vs. 31.5 expected (SMR = 1.68). The presented data cannot explain external variables, such as smoking cigarettes. The risk of getting cancer for citizens, who are living in streets with high automobile frequency and -emissions, should be evaluated further more by specific studies.