[1896: How nascent radiotherapy gathered Roentgen, Pasteur and the Lumière brothers]. / 1896 : comment la radiothérapie naissante a pu réunir Roentgen, Pasteur et les frères Lumière.

On the 4th July, 1896, in his medical office of Les Échelles (Savoie, France), Victor Despeignes performed the very first radiotherapy against cancer, documented by indisputable proofs. However, the intellectual and practical approach that leads to this first radiotherapy may appear unexpected to date. Indeed, it is likely that the treatment that Despeignes applied to his neighbour, who did not suffer from stomach cancer, was born with the indirect support of the Lumière brothers, on the basis of a biological theory (the parasitory theory of cancer) that is irrelevant today, with an experimental protocol based on experiments performed on tuberculosis et in a bifractionated model linked by the constraints of a district medical doctor.

Hypopharyngeal carcinoma after radiation for tuberculosis: radiation-induced carcinoma.

Radiation may cause radiation-induced cancers after a long latency period. In a group of 111 patients surgically treated for hypopharyngeal carcinoma, patients previously treated with radiotherapy for tuberculosis in the neck were compared to patients without previous radiotherapy. Seven patients (7.4%) underwent radiotherapy (median age 15 years) and developed a hypopharyngeal carcinoma (median age 70 years, median latency period 54.4 year). Considering this long latency period and the localisation in the previous radiation field these tumours can be classified as potentially radiation-induced carcinomas. Patients with potentially radiation-induced carcinomas were significantly older when the hypopharyngeal carcinoma was diagnosed (p=0.048), were more frequently females (p=0.05) and had a worse 5-year regional control rate (p=0.048). When radiotherapy is considered in young patients the risk of induction of tumours has to be kept in mind.

Comorbidity in newly diagnosed thyroid cancer patients: a population-based study on prevalence and the impact on treatment and survival.

BACKGROUND: Comorbidity may be an important contributory factor to differences in the treatment and outcome of cancer, especially in older patients. It might also provide information on the aetiology of the cancer in cases of high or low frequency. The aim of this study was to describe the spectrum of comorbidity and the possible impact on treatment and survival in newly diagnosed thyroid cancer (TC). DESIGN: A population-based observational study. SETTING: The Eindhoven Cancer Registry, Comprehensive Cancer Centre South (IKZ), the Netherlands. METHODS: Demographic, histological and treatment data on all 417 TC patients diagnosed between 1 January 1993 and 31 December 2002 were collected and followed up till 2004. An adapted version of the list of Charlson was used for registration of clinically relevant concomitant disorders. The prevalence of comorbidity at diagnosis was analysed according to gender, age, histological type and therapy. Crude 6-month and 1- and 5-year survival rates were determined. A regression analysis was performed to identify independent variables related to survival. RESULTS: Information on comorbidity was available for 378 patients (91%). Comorbidity was present in 32% of the patients; 23% had one and 12% had two or more concomitant diseases. The prevalence of comorbidity increased with age. Hypertension was the most frequent comorbidity (18%), followed by 'other cancers' (7%), cardiovascular diseases (6%) and diabetes mellitus (6%). The prevalence of hypertension was twice as high as expected at all age groups. Six patients > 60 years had had tuberculosis. Initial surgical treatment was negatively related to the presence of concomitant diseases in patients < 70 years (P = 0.02), but not in patients > or = 70 years. Comorbidity was not independently associated with crude survival up to 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: A previous diagnosis of hypertension was associated with TC. The use of external radiation for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for tuberculosis probably explains the high prevalence of former tuberculosis in elderly TC patients. Treatment choices appeared to be influenced by the presence of comorbidity. Comorbidity did not affect survival up to 5 years; a study with a longer period of follow-up is needed.

Testing the equality of two Poisson means using the rate ratio.

In this article, we investigate procedures for comparing two independent Poisson variates that are observed over unequal sampling frames (i.e. time intervals, populations, areas or any combination thereof). We consider two statistics (with and without the logarithmic transformation) for testing the equality of two Poisson rates. Two methods for implementing these statistics are reviewed. They are (1) the sample-based method, and (2) the constrained maximum likelihood estimation (CMLE) method. We conduct an empirical study to evaluate the performance of different statistics and methods. Generally, we find that the CMLE method works satisfactorily only for the statistic without the logarithmic transformation (denoted as W(2)) while sample-based method performs better for the statistic using the logarithmic transformation (denoted as W(3)). It is noteworthy that both statistics perform well for moderate to large Poisson rates (e.g. > or =10). For small Poisson rates (e.g. <10), W(2) can be liberal (e.g. actual type I error rate/nominal level > or =1.2) while W(3) can be conservative (e.g. actual type I error rate/nominal level < or =0.8). The corresponding sample size formulae are provided and valid in the sense that the simulated powers associated with the approximate sample size formulae are generally close to the pre-chosen power level. We illustrate our methodologies with a real example from a breast cancer study.

Aspects épidémiologiques de la tuberculose pulmonaire à bacilloscopie positive au Mali pendant la décennie 1995-2004

Notre etude etait retrospective. Elle concernait l'evolution de l'incidence de la tuberculose pulmonaire a bacilloscopie positive au Mali pendant la decennie 1995 - 2004. Durant cette periode; la TPM+ representait plus de 67;27de l'ensemble des formes confondues de tuberculose sur le territoire malien. Les adultes jeunes etaient les plus touches. La letalite tuberculeuse variait entre 2;52 et 9;12. L'abandon du traitement; l'echec therapeutique; les perdus de vue; les transferts etaient des facteurs determinants de la letalite liee a la tuberculose. Une progression de l'incidence de la TPM+ a ete constatee

[Inhibitory effects of electric UHF field and magnetic infrared laser irradiation on Mycobacterium tuberculosis]. / Ingibiruiushchee deistvie élektricheskogo polia UVCh i magnito-infrakrasno-lazernogo izlucheniia na mikobakterii tuberkuleza.

Microbiological studies indicate that stimulating the multiplication of Mycobacteria tuberculosis, electric UHF fields at 40 and 70 W make them available for drug exposure despite drug resistance. Unlike the electric UHF fields, MILI has a direct inhibitory effect on Mycobacteria tuberculosis that are sensitive and resistant to antibiotic drugs, by potentiating their action. In the clinical setting, chemotherapy in combination with electric UHF fields and MILI therapy reduces the time of disappearance of clinical signs of the disease, infiltration resolution, bacterial isolation, and decay cavity closure.

Effect of local ultraviolet irradiation on infections of mice with Candida albicans, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, and Schistosoma mansoni.

In this study, we investigated whether mice given ultraviolet (UV)-B (280-320 nm) radiation in doses sufficient to alter cutaneous immune cells and impair the induction of contact hypersensitivity would also have impaired resistance to infectious agents administered at the site of UV irradiation. C3H mice were exposed to 400 J/m2 UVR from FS40 sunlamps on four consecutive days. Immediately after the last UV treatment, groups of mice were injected subcutaneously with Candida albicans, injected intradermally (ID) with Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), or infected percutaneously with Schistosoma mansoni in UV-irradiated skin. The induction of the delayed hypersensitivity response to C. albicans and BCG, as assessed by footpad swelling, was unaffected by UV irradiation. However, the number of viable mycobacteria recovered from the lymphoid organs of BCG-infected mice was increased significantly in the UV-irradiated animals for a period of more than 2 months. Low-dose UV irradiation of the skin at the site of infection did not influence the number of S. mansoni parasites recoverable from the internal organs of mice that had been infected with cercariae percutaneously 6 weeks earlier. We conclude that the ability of UV radiation to impair the development of cell-mediated immunity to antigens introduced in a UV-irradiated site is not universal and depends on the particular antigen administered. We hypothesize that the involvement of epidermal Langerhans cells as the primary antigen-presenting cells in the induction of cell-mediated immunity may be the critical factor in determining whether a particular immune response will be affected by local UV irradiation.

[Effect of low-energy helium-neon laser on the biological properties of Mycobacterium tuberculosis]. / Vliianie nizkoénergeticheskogo gelii-neonovogo lazera na biologicheskie svoistva mikobakterii tuberkuleza.

The results of experimental studies of M. tuberculosis biological properties tested in guinea pigs which were subjected to different doses of helium-neon laser radiation are given. The functional evidence is compared with the results of electron microscopic study of the irradiated culture. The investigation revealed that laser radiation caused changes in biological properties of M. tuberculosis. A decrease in growth properties and virulence was found to be related to a radiation dose. It is suggested that a drop in the biological activity of M. tuberculosis under laser radiation be associated with its influence on the Mycobacterium lipid layer which contains a cord-factor and responsible for their virulence.

[The effects of radium-224 in children and adults (author's transl)]. / Die Wirkung von Radium-224 bei Kindern und Erwachsenen.

During 1944-1952 a large number of German patients were injected with "Peteosthor", a solution of Ra-224 with added traces of eosin and colloidal platinum. In high doses this treatment has been followed by an increased frequency of malignant bone sarcomas, benign exostoses, growth retardation, tooth breakage, kidney diseases, liver diseases and cataracts. This information is being used to estimate the bone cancer risk from Plutonium.

O tratamento em massa da tuberculose

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A experiência de quimioterapia de curta duração no Hospital Estadual "Santa Maria"

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