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Biomedical subjects

J Sandor

Publications and source records attributed to J Sandor.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Association between gastric cancer mortality and nitrate content of drinking water: ecological study on small area inequalities.

The carcinogenic feature of N-nitroso compounds has been well established. Similarly, the transformation of ingested nitrate to N-nitroso compounds in the stomach has been thoroughly documented, nevertheless nitrates' carcinogenic effect has not been proved convincingly in human. The present study was aimed to investigate a population of small villages provided by drinking water with high and widely variable nitrate content (72 mg/l median, 290.7 mg/l 95-percentile concentration). Empirical Bayes estimates for settlement-specific age-, sex-, and year-standardised mortality ratios of gastric cancer (GC) were related to the settlement level average nitrate concentrations in drinking water controlling for confounding effects of smoking, ethnicity and education. The log-transformed average nitrate concentration showed significant positive association with stomach cancer mortality in linear regression analysis (p = 0.014). The settlements were aggregated according to the nitrate concentration into 10-percentile groups and the standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated. Those groups with higher than 88 mg/l average nitrate concentration showed substantial risk elevation and the log-transformed exposure variables proved to be significant predictors of mortality (p = 0.032) at this level of aggregation also. The association seemed to be fairly strong (r2 = 0.46). Although this investigation constituting an ecological study has certain limitations, it supports the hypothesis that the high level of nitrate in drinking water is involved in the development of GC.

Bayes Theorem↗

Somatotroph recruitment by glucocorticoids involves induction of growth hormone gene expression and secretagogue responsiveness.

Prior research indicates that growth hormone (GH) cell differentiation can be induced prematurely by treatment with glucocorticoids in vitro and in vivo. However, the nature of these responses has not been fully characterized. In this study, the time course of corticosterone induction of GH-secreting cells in cultures of chicken embryonic pituitary cells, responsiveness of differentiated somatotrophs to GH secretagogues, localization of somatotroph precursor cells within the pituitary gland, and the effect of corticosterone on GH gene expression were determined to better define the involvement of glucocorticoids in somatotroph recruitment during development. Anterior pituitary cells from embryonic day 12 chicken embryos were cultured in 10(-9) M corticosterone for 4 to 48 h and were then subjected to reverse haemolytic plaque assays (RHPAs) for GH. Corticosterone treatment for as short as 16 h increased the percentage of GH cells compared with the control. When corticosterone was removed after 48 h and cells were cultured for an additional 3 days in medium alone, the percentage of GH secretors decreased but remained greater than the proportion of somatotrophs among cells that were never treated with corticosterone. To determine if prematurely differentiated somatotrophs were responsive to GH secretagogues, cells were exposed to corticosterone for 48 h and then subjected to GH RHPAs in the presence or absence of GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) or thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH). Approximately half of the somatotrophs induced to differentiate with corticosterone subsequently released more GH in response to GHRH and TRH than in their absence. The somatotroph precursor cells were localized within the anterior pituitary by culturing cells from the caudal lobe and cephalic lobe of the anterior pituitary separately. Corticosterone induction of GH cells was substantially greater in cultures derived from the caudal lobe of the anterior pituitary, where somatotroph differentiation normally occurs. GH gene expression was evaluated by ribonuclease protection assay and by in situ hybridization. Corticosterone increased GH mRNA in cultured cells by greater than fourfold. Moreover, corticosterone-induced somatotroph differentiation involved GH gene expression in cells not expressing GH mRNA previously, and the extent of somatotroph differentiation was augmented by treatment with GHRH in combination with corticosterone. We conclude that corticosterone increases the number of GH-secreting cells within 16 h, increases GH gene expression in cells formerly not expressing this gene, confers somatotroph sensitivity to GHRH and TRH, and induces GH production in a precursor population found primarily in the caudal lobe of the anterior pituitary, a site consistent with GH localization in adults. These findings support the hypothesis that glucocorticoids function to induce the final stages in the differentiation of fully functional somatotrophs from cells previously committed to this lineage.

Animals↗

From ministry orders towards constitutional debate: lessons drawn from the past 50 years of abortion laws in Hungary.

This article is an analytical and chronological review of the changing course of abortion law in Hungary since the end of the second world war. During that period, official attitudes toward abortion, and the legal and policy frameworks that give concrete expression to them, have changed several times, sometimes moving back and forth between restrictiveness and permissiveness. Prof. Sandor examines these developments and situates them within the larger context of Hungarian law and public policy, with a view to illuminating the issues at stake in the current abortion debates going on in Hungary.

Abortion, Illegal↗

Why laparoscopic cholecystectomy today?

Traditional open cholecystectomy became the "gold standard" of surgical treatment for symptomatic gallstone disease during the last century. In spite of its good results, clinicians have been trying to establish effective nonsurgical methods of eliminating gallstones. Although oral, percutaneous, or retrograde litholysis can be used effectively for cholesterol stones, these represent only 10% of all gallstones. Moreover, intracorporeal lithotripsy is an invasive method, and while extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is a promising procedure, even after careful selection, only 70%-80% of the patients become stone-free within 1 year. In fact, none of the methods which leave the gallbladder intact are free of complications, and they are followed by 50% stone recurrence within 5 years. Since 1987, laparoscopic cholecystectomy has become the procedure of choice as it is safe and only minimally invasive. We believe that the laparoscopic technique is a promising way to the surgery of the future.

Bile Acids and Salts↗

Unexpected gallbladder cancer and laparoscopic surgery.

Case histories of three patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for unexpected gallbladder cancer are reviewed. Port-site recurrence was observed in two of them. In one patient whose abdominal wall recurrent tumor was excised, a new recurrence developed, but after the reexcision she is symptom-free 10 months after the last procedure. The surgeon has to be aware of the fact that the survival rate can be doubled in stage pT2 if cholecystectomy is followed by extended radical operation. Only gallbladder cancer in stage pT1 does not need further procedure, except for excision of port sites. In case of uncertain diagnosis preoperative frozen section is recommended. Port-site recurrence does not mean an incurable stage of the disease or a sign of diffuse metastases. Even after reexcision of abdominal wall metastasis patients might be free from other detectable recurrences.

Abdominal Muscles↗

[Use of sham feeding tests in the control of complete denervation of the stomach in selective proximal vagotomy].

Sham-feeding tests were preoperatively and postoperatively used by the authors in an attempt to check on completeness of selective proximal vagotomy. The quotient of sham feeding to peak acid output Pentagastrin seemed to provide useful information, in that context. This examination proved to differ from the Hollander test, in that it was harmless to the patient and also provided a better physiological approach to obtaining evidence to postoperative decline of secretion. Significant decline in gastric secretion was postoperatively recorded from 19 patients. Such decline was less strongly pronounced in one patient in whom recurrent ulcer developed together with pyloric stenosis. Induction of merely submaximum vagus stimulation and the need for good cooperation of the patient are considered drawbacks of the sham-feeding test.

Duodenal Ulcer↗