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Biomedical subjects

E Schoenfeld

Publications and source records attributed to E Schoenfeld.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Divine intervention and the treatment of chemical dependency.

Alcoholics Anonymous and related 12-step programs are the predominant influence on chemical dependency treatment programs in the United States today. 12-step programs have a strong religious orientation, despite rationalizations that Higher Power need not mean the traditional definition of God. The teaching of religious beliefs is not a proper function of therapists treating addictions in a general population. Moreover, teaching patients they can only recover through the intervention of a Higher Power locks them into a pattern of dependence on something outside themselves in order to function. 12-step programs have helped millions of people. Even more could be helped were they to eliminate the concept of needing a Higher Power.

Alcoholics Anonymous

The distribution of immunocompetent cells in the compartments of the palatine tonsils in bacterial and viral infections of the upper respiratory tract.

Employing a series of monoclonal antibodies directed against T cell subsets using the avidin-biotin complex method as the immunoperoxidase technique and using fluorescein-conjugated antisera directed against the major immunoglobulins, we have studied the distribution of immunocompetent cells in sections of tonsils from 21 patients with various inflammatory diseases of the tonsils, including Streptococcal tonsillitis, recurrent tonsillitis and tonsillitis associated with infectious mononucleosis. The following conclusions can be made in regard to our study. The percentage of T cells decreases in all compartments of the tonsils with increasing episodes of tonsillitis as well as with infectious mononucleosis and Streptococcal tonsillitis. Similarly, the percentage of HLA-DR positive cells decreases with increasing episodes of tonsillitis and is statistically significant in the mantle zone. The percentage of IgM B cells and IgD B cells tends to increase in the extrafollicular zone and decrease in the mantle zone with increasing episodes of tonsillitis as well as with increasing age. The percentage of IgG and IgA plasma cells is highest in children who have had 3-5 episodes of tonsillitis, but markedly decreases in the follicle and extrafollicular compartments in patients who have had more than 5 episodes of tonsillitis. FACS analysis of B cells in the tonsils and peripheral blood show a marked decrease in IgD in both the tonsil and the peripheral blood and a significant increase of IgG in the peripheral blood. These findings may suggest late clonal expansion of B cells in recurrent tonsillitis and Streptococcal tonsillitis. Finally, the distribution of immunocompetent cells in recurrent tonsillitis, Streptococcal tonsillitis and tonsillitis associated with infectious mononucleosis appears to be independent of age.

Adolescent

Diabetes mellitus and cancer risk: a multisite case-control study.

The association between a prior diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and cancer was examined in a large multisite case-control study based on interviews of 8220 white males and 6690 white females aged 30-89 who were admitted to Roswell Park Memorial Institute between 1957 and 1965 for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. A prior history of diabetes mellitus as diagnosed by a physician was examined as a risk factor for cancer by conducting sex- and site-specific comparisons with a common control group of 2363 white males and 2475 white females who were admitted to the same hospital during the same years, but were found not to have cancer. The findings are consistent with previous studies which have shown diabetes to be a risk factor for cancer of the uterine corpus. A positive association was also noted between diabetes and cancer of the vulva and vagina. The evidence for excess estrogen levels as the underlying mechanism for increased risk of uterine and vulvo-vaginal cancer is reviewed. No consistent association between diabetes and pancreatic cancer was observed in this study, except when those cases in which diabetes was diagnosed within a year before the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer were included. This suggests that diabetes may be an early presenting sign of pancreatic cancer rather than a risk factor. A positive association between prior diagnosis of diabetes was noted for kidney cancer and nonmelanoma skin cancer in females only. No association between type of treatment (i.e. insulin, oral agents) and cancer risk was noted.

Adult