Mammographic Screening Downstages Breast Carcinomas at Time of Diagnosis: A Community-Based Experience

Abstract: To determine the effectiveness of screening mammography in a community medical setting, data from a population-based, retrospective study was analyzed. Medical records of 827 patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer in California between October 1994 and March 1996 were reviewed. The primary care physician's record was abstracted for clinical history, including recommendation of screening mammography. The facility records where final diagnosis was made were abstracted for stage and treatment data. Among the patients who did not have previous screening mammography, 65.7% were diagnosed with "advanced" breast cancer (stages II, III, IV), while only 39.9% who had previous screening mammography were diagnosed with advanced breast cancer (p < 0.001). This study has reaffirmed that screening mammography of adult females generates downstaging at the time of diagnosis of breast cancer. Despite possession of a health insurance program and receiving educational materials, only 65% of patients over 50 years of age had screening mammography. As opposed to the once-a-year mailing of general reminders to all women 40 years old and older, developing a longitudinal electronic medical record in the managed care setting will support a more coordinated and individualized intervention based on age, date of last mammogram, and relative risk, among other factors. Continuing education efforts must also be directed to referring physicians, who may not yet recognize the value of screening mammography.     

Cervical cancer screening in Tamilnadu, India: a feasibility study of training the village health nurse

Uterine cervical cancer is the most common malignancy among females in developing countries, including India. The success of cervical cancer screening programs in North America and Western Europe has been the result of centralized cervical-cytology screening. This is not possible in the villages (n=17,000) of Tamilnadu where 58 percent of females in rural areas are illiterate, health infrastructure is mediocre, and cervical cytology is unknow. The present study was undertaken to examine if the village health nurse (VHN) could be trained quickly to identify a cervical abnormality by visual inspection so that we could down stage the cancer to earlier stages, more amenable to treatment. VHNs also would be trained to take an adequate Pap smear. A total of 101 VHNs were trained in batches and returned to their villages. Within two years, 6,459 engible women in the study area were screened. The agreement between the gynecologists and the VHNs in identifying cancer among those with abnormal cervix was 95 percent, and 80 percent of the Pap smears taken by VHNs were adequate by WHO criteria, making the feasibility study highly successful.Authors are with The Cancer Institute (WIA), Adyar, Madras, Tamil Nadu,India. Address correspondence to Dr Gajalakshmi, Epidemiology Division and Cancer Registry, 18, Sardar Patel Road, Cancer Institute (WIA), Madras-600 036, Tamilnadu, India. This project was funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research, Government of India, New Delhi, India.520 Cancer Causes and Control. Vol 7. 1996     

Specific staining of the axon membrane at nodes of Ranvier with ferric ion and ferrocyanide

Ferric ion and ferrocyanide were used as stains for light and electron microscopy of peripheral nerves. In rat sciatic nerves, it was found that ferric ion preferentially binds to the cytoplasmic surface of the axon membrane at nodes of Ranvier but not at internodal regions. In myelinated axons in the electric organ of the gymnotid fish, Sternarchus albifrons, the small excitable nodes are similarly stained, but the larger inexcitable nodes are not stained by ferric ion. Staining of the inner surface of the nodal membrane appears to be related to a structural specialization of this membrane, rather than accessibility to stain. Our data thus show a chemical differentiation of the inner surface of the axon membrane between nodes and internodes in normal peripheral nerve fibers and between the inner surface of the axon membrane at active nodes, inactive nodes, and the internodes in the Sternarchus electrocyte axons.     

畸变产物耳声发射用于新生儿听力筛查的影响因素分析

目的 探讨畸变产物耳声发射(DPOAE)用于新生儿听力筛查的影响因素。方法 采用GSI-70全自动便携式耳声发射仪进行新生儿听力筛查，在筛查同时，自制问卷表，对新生儿的出生史，母亲妊娠史，家族史，父母社会阶层等35个因素进行调查，调查结果运用SPSS统计软件进行统计分析。结果 住院期间82．8％的(3242／3944)新生儿通过筛查，通过率右耳高于左耳，女婴高于男婴，单胎高于多胎，足月儿高于早产儿，正常及高出生体重儿高于低出生体重儿，阴道助产高于自然产、剖宫产，P值均小于0．05。多因素logistic回归分析，出生体重、性别、胎数与初筛结果相关。42天复筛，96．4％(3167／3284)通过筛查，影响初筛结果的因素对复筛无影响。结论 新生儿的性别、分娩方式、胎数、孕周、出生体重对应用DPOAE进行的新生儿听力筛查的初筛结果有显著影响。     

小鼠胚泡着床相关基因的差减筛选

目的:筛选新的小鼠胚泡着床相关基因。方法:对孕4.5 d小鼠着床和非着床位点的子宫内膜组织进行PCR差减。获得了2个新的在小鼠胚泡着床位点高表达的EST(EST8和EST81)。结果:EST8在孕4.5 d小鼠着床位点、肝脏中表达较高,在非着床位点和卵巢中亦有微量表达。EST81主要在孕4.5 d小鼠子宫着床组织和卵巢中表达,其它各种组织中也有微量表达。用PCR方法获得了相应的全长。cDNA,长度分别为1665bp和1364bp。结论:用差减筛选获得的两种cDNA是孕小鼠着床相关基因,其功能有待进一步研究。     

Prenatal diagnosis for paediatricians

In Ontario, approximately 140,000 women deliver newborn infants each year. Of these women, 60,000 to 70,000 have multiple marker screening, 10,000 undergo amniocentesis or chorion villus sampling and virtually all have at least one prenatal ultrasound. Multiple marker screening is not used in every province and territory; however, amniocentesis and prenatal ultrasound are used throughout Canada. Most paediatric patients will have been exposed to some form of prenatal diagnosis. If an abnormality is found prenatally, parents may have concerns to discuss with the paediatrician after the child is born. Likewise, if a child with a problem is born following a normal pregnancy, the parents will want to know why the problem was missed prenatally. Paediatricians should be aware of prenatal tests that have been performed to understand better their patients and their families.     

Medical Specialization,Profession, and Mediating Beliefs That Predict Stated Likelihood of Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention: Targeting Educational Interventions

Practitioner-level educational approaches that promote screening and brief intervention (SBI) seldom consider providers' profession and medical specialization. Strategies that consider these variables may be better equipped to affect change in beliefs and behavior. The aim of this study was to identify beliefs that predict stated likelihood of practicing SBI by specialty and health profession in order to guide the direction of educational strategies. Physicians and nurse practitioners were studied that specialized in family, internal, obstetric gynecology (ObGyn), and pediatric medicine. The results indicated that independent of amount of previous postgraduate alcohol education and knowledge, self-rated competence mediated between specialty and likelihood of practicing SBI. For instance, low self-rated competence for ObGyn was a barrier that suppressed likelihood of practicing SBI. Other findings were that role legitimacy mediated the association between profession and likelihood of SBI, so that lack of role legitimacy was a barrier for physicians but not for nurse practitioners. We suggest that targeted educational strategies for ObGyn and pediatric clinicians may prove more effective than the prevalent one-size-fits all approaches aimed at general adult populations.     

Evaluation of the UK breast screening programmes

National breast screening programmes were set up in the UK inthe early 1990s. Although they are quality-assured and publishprocess measures of performance, there is a lack of data linkingthe screening process to breast cancer mortality. A new analysisof trends in England and Wales suggests that the effect of screeninghas been to reduce mortality by 8% over 10 years in those eligiblefor screening in 1990.     

Primary carcinoma of the pelvic peritoneum intercepted by screening for ovarian cancer

An asymptomatic woman found to have primary pelvic peritoneal carcinoma following serum CA125 assay and ultrasound examination is reported. The close proximity of this screen detected tumor to the normal ovary supports the possibility that an extra ovarian primary origin of carcinoma with subsequent involvement of the ovary may be more common than has previously been recorded.