The biological tumor markers' myopia: a model with CA 125 and second-look in ovarian cancer.

Preoperative CA 125 levels were measured in 36 patients with advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma in clinical response undergoing a second-look operation. All the patients had positive levels (greater than 35 U/ml) of this tumor marker at diagnosis. The correlation between antigen levels and disease status at surgery revealed a sensitivity of this assay of 0.55 (only 11/20 patients still with tumor had positive levels) and a specificity of 0.94 (15/16 patients with no tumor had less than 35 U/ml). The predictive value of a positive test was 0.92. This method unfortunately proved unable to recognize microscopic residual tumor burden, less than 0.5 cm.

[Bacteriological study at the vaginal level in sexually active women]. / Ricerca batteriologica a livello vaginale in donne sessualmente attive.

We have studied the microbiological environment of the vagina in 202 sexually active women when they came into an outpatient gynecological hospital. By some specific bacterioscopic and cultural examinations we have tried to understand the pathological role of some microrganism in sexually transmitted diseases. An elevated incidence of mycoplasm in asymptomatic subjects has shed light on the probable saprophytic behaviour of these microrganisms.

Application of nonparametric procedure for bioassay data to the evaluation of analgesics in man.

Parametric tests for bioassay data are commonly applied to scores of pain intensity and relief for the assessment of potency ratios of analgesic drugs. It has been demonstrated, however, that scores derived from semiquantitative scales often deviate from normal distribution. In addition, when scores decrease as a consequence of analgesic treatment, the variances may be nonhomogenous. Both parametric and nonparametric procedures have been employed in this study for the evaluation of results of a double-blind multicenter trial of the analgesic effect of indoprofen and ASA (both drugs at three dose levels) and placebo in episiotomy pain. There was a good agreement between potency ratios obtained with the two assays. Peak PID appeared a less efficient means of estimating potency ratio than other measurements such as SPID and TOTPAR. The nonparametric test for quantitative bioassay appears to be a valid statistical procedure for evaluating results of clinical trials, and it does not imply any assumptions as to the type of distribution of the data.