Showing papers by "American Cancer Society published in 1988"
255 citations
TL;DR: As women have begun to smoke earlier in life, smoke more cigarettes a day, and inhale more deeply, they are now observing much higher SMRs in women with lung cancer, similar in magnitude to those seen in men in the earlier studies.
Abstract: Lung cancer rates in relation to smoking habits were studied in a cohort of 619,225 women traced over a 4-yr period (1982 to 1986). A total of 1,006 lung cancer deaths was recorded. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for women smokers was 12.7 for current smokers and 4.8 for exsmokers. For those women without a history of chronic diseases, the SMR rose to 17.6 for current smokers. The SMRs rose with the number of cigarettes smoked per day to 22.0 for women who smoked 31 or more per day. SMRs also increased with depth of inhalation; this increase was independent of the number smoked per day. SMRs also increased by duration of smoking and decreased with cessation of smoking. Mortality ratios for lung cancer in women ranged from about 2 to 1 to 3 to 1 in studies carried out in the 1950s and 1960s. As women have begun to smoke earlier in life, smoke more cigarettes a day, and inhale more deeply, we are now observing much higher SMRs in women with lung cancer, similar in magnitude to those seen in men in the earlier studies.
147 citations
TL;DR: Over the next few years it will be important to establish the optimal biological doses of the interferons, so that they can maximize their usefulness in therapy and avoid the trap of thinking of them as purely cytotoxic agents.
Abstract: Recombinant interferon alpha has now been established as having a distinct if narrow role when used as a single agent in cancer therapy. The responses to single-agent therapy can be grouped as shown in Table 7. Interferon is likely to be the treatment of choice for hairy cell leukemia and possibly also for symptomatic nodular lymphoma. Interferon is very useful in treating papillomas and condylomas, and its role as a local agent will probably expand. The list of responding cancers for alpha interferon or other subtypes as a single agent is unlikely to expand greatly over the next few years. Nevertheless, in both melanoma and renal carcinoma, meaningful responses do occur. It is important to be aware of the possibility of both delayed and increasing extent of response with duration of treatment; adequate trials of interferon may therefore require longer periods of treatment than does conventional chemotherapy. Furthermore, because prior failure to respond to chemotherapy does not predict response to interferon, its use as a second-line agent should also be considered. The future of such biological agents, however, clearly lies in combination with other agents as the "fourth arm" of cancer therapy. The challenge is to define what the role of that fourth arm will be. There seems to be a clear choice with the interferons. They can be used at pharmacological doses, in which case their antiproliferative effect is likely to be due to induction of certain enzymes that result in a cytostatic effect in susceptible cancers, of which there are a limited but therapeutically important number. Alternatively, the interferons can be used at physiological doses, which are more likely to cause immunological and cell membrane effects such as NK-cell stimulation, as well as Fc-receptor and tumor-antigen expression. Thus, combination with cytotoxic agents may well require high doses, whereas combination with other biological agents, such as monoclonal antibodies or LAK cells, may be most effective at much lower doses. Over the next few years it will be important to establish the optimal biological doses of the interferons, so that we can maximize their usefulness in therapy and avoid the trap of thinking of them as purely cytotoxic agents.
120 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that developers of workplace health promotion programs should attend to organizational work climate as well as personal health characteristics of employees in an effort to increase program impact.
Abstract: Interest in workplace health promotion programs has raised important questions regarding these programs' ability to attract participants. Typically, participation has been examined as a function of personal characteristics of employees. But participa tion in a workplace health promotion program may be influenced as much by organi zational characteristics as by health-related characteristics of employees. This prelimin ary study, conducted at AT&T Communications, used path analysis, a statistical technique for controlling for the effects of causally prior variables, to develop a model of participation. The influence of three sets of factors was detected: (1) Sex of em ployee was significant, with women more likely than men to participate in the pro gram, (2) Increased perceived risk of illness led to decreased health satisfaction which in turn led to increased intention to change health habits culminating in increased participation, and (3) The organizational climate factor of perceived supportiveness of t...
111 citations
TL;DR: Smoking rates were significantly higher in groups exposed to a number of occupational hazards, compared to groups not so exposed, and some individual occupations exhibit notably high (law enforcement) or low (clergy) smoking rates.
Abstract: The distribution of cigarette smoking (as well as of cigar and pipe smoking in men) by occupation was examined in over 800,OOO men and women age 45-70 who were enrolled in the American Cancer Society’s prospective study in 1982. Striking variations were seen for men-less striking variations for women. Smoking rates were significantly higher in groups exposed to a number of occupational hazards, compared to groups not so exposed. A considerable amount of variation is related to social class, but some individual occupations exhibit notably high (law enforcement) or low (clergy) smoking rates. This information can be quite useful in planning morbidity or mortality studies of specific occupational groups or in analyzing data from existing studies.
110 citations
TL;DR: Railroad workers, heavy equipment operators, miners, and truck drivers had a higher mortality both for all causes and for lung cancer when compared with subjects with other occupations and no exposure to DE, and a dose-response effect was present.
Abstract: In 1982, the American Cancer Society enrolled over 1.2 million American men and women in a prospective mortality study of cancer and other causes in relation to different risk factors. The 2-year mortality of 461,981 males aged 40-79 years with known smoking habit has been analyzed in relation to exposure to diesel exhaust (DE) and to employment in selected occupations related to DE exposure. The relative risk (RR) for all causes of death for those exposed was 1.05 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.97-1.13). For lung cancer, the RR was 1.18 (95% CI: 0.97-1.44). A dose-response effect was present. Railroad workers, heavy equipment operators, miners, and truck drivers had a higher mortality both for all causes and for lung cancer when compared with subjects with other occupations and no exposure to DE. Truck drivers exposed to DE were not at excess risk of lung cancer if compared with truck drivers unexposed to DE, but a trend of increasing risk with duration of exposure was suggested. DE exposure was also associated with increase in mortality for accidents, cerebrovascular disease, arteriosclerosis, and cirrhosis of the liver. An association based on small numbers was also present for Hodgkin's disease and lymphoid leukemia. No association with chronic non-neoplastic pulmonary diseases or with bladder cancer was found.
98 citations
TL;DR: The unique association of primary mediastinal germ cell neoplasms with the development of non-germ cell cancers and Klinefelter's syndrome may provide some early clues for the determination of factors controlling differentiation.
Abstract: Treatment for testicular cancer has dramatically improved during the last 15 years. Much of this success has come about because of improved staging and operative techniques but, most importantly, through the introduction of successful systemic chemotherapy. Nonetheless, relevant issues still remain to be addressed in regard to the optimal therapy for patients with germ cell neoplasms. Included in these issues is delineating the most effective but minimally morbid treatment for patients with early-stage and low-volume metastatic disease while continuing to create innovative treatment approaches for poor-risk patients with metastatic disease. The unique association of primary mediastinal germ cell neoplasms with the development of non-germ cell cancers and Klinefelter's syndrome may provide some early clues for the determination of factors controlling differentiation. These observations issue a challenge to both clinical and preclinical researchers involved in the study of this neoplasm.
98 citations
TL;DR: Distinctive dose-response relationships were observed for two known alcohol-related conditions: cirrhosis of the liver and cancer of the aero-digestive tract, suggesting that results for other causes are not seriously biased by misclassification of drinking habits.
91 citations
TL;DR: A retrospective review of 30 patients with esthesioneuroblastoma, an uncommon malignancy of the upper nasal cavity, treated at a single institution from 1959 through 1986 finds that Salvage therapy has an important role in prolonging survival in this disease.
Abstract: This paper is a retrospective review of 30 patients with esthesioneuroblastoma, an uncommon malignancy of the upper nasal cavity, treated at a single institution from 1959 through 1986. Over the period of study, there has been a gradual evolution of treatment policy and technique with the introduction of craniofacial resections and complex field megavoltage radiation, as well as for Stage C disease, the addition of chemotherapy to radiotherapy and surgery. The 25 patients with a 2 year minimum follow-up are divided into 2 groups depending upon treatment era to determine the impact of modern aggressive therapy upon treatment results. Two-year survival for Group I (1959–1975) was 70% as compared with 87% for Group II (1976–1985). For Stage C disease, there was a definite improvement in survival in the later era (88% versus 50%), although relapses did not appear to be circumvented. Salvage therapy has an important role in prolonging survival in this disease.
83 citations
TL;DR: Logistic regression analysis showed that Agent Orange exposure and maternal smoking were both independently and significantly associated with miscarriage rates in a dose-related manner.
72 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The developmental role of two agents, cisplatin and etoposide, in SCLC are highlighted, including evaluation of preclinical models of synergy, clinical trials with newer agents, and theoretic and practical considerations of dosing and scheduling.
TL;DR: Subjects who exercised heavily and died of cancer of the lung, colonrectum, and pancreas had 20% to 37% higher SMR than men and women who reported moderate exercise, independent of smoking habits.
Abstract: Mortality in relation to relative weight and exercise was analyzed from data collected in the first 2 years of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II. It included data on 868,620 persons who had no history of cancer, heart disease, or stroke and who were not sick at the start of the study. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were 187 for men who were 20% or more underweight and 187 for men who were 40% or more overweight. Comparable SMR in women were 186 and 178. Current smokers had considerably higher SMR than nonsmokers for all causes of death and cancer deaths at each relative weight category. Degree of exercise reported by subjects was inversely related to mortality, independent of smoking habits. Subjects who exercised heavily and died of cancer of the lung, colon-rectum, and pancreas had 20% to 37% higher SMR than men and women who reported moderate exercise.
TL;DR: This work biochemically characterized the MHC‐encoded class I molecules from four different species of nonhuman primates using antibodies directed against human MHC class I structures and one‐dimensional isoelectric focusing (1‐D IEF).
Abstract: The usefulness of nonhuman primates in immunologically relevant research has until now been limited by difficulties in characterizing the major histocompatibility (MHC) gene products of these species. We have now biochemically characterized the MHC-encoded class I molecules from four different species of nonhuman primates using antibodies directed against human MHC class I structures and one-dimensional isoelectric focusing (1-D IEF). We demonstrated the functional relevancy of this technique of MHC typing by generating virus-specific cytotoxic T cells and assaying their cytotoxic activity against a panel of virus-transformed cells that expressed the same or differing class I structures. Only virus-infected cell lines expressing MHC class I antigens identical to those of the cytotoxic T lymphocyte population were lysed. This simple method of MHC class I typing using 1-D IEF will be useful in immunological research involving nonhuman primates and in nonhuman primate colony management.
TL;DR: A strong, stable relationship was found between combat stress and PTSD intensity for cohorts with differing intervals since the experience of combat trauma, which persisted up to 20 years after discharge from the military.
TL;DR: Vietnam veterans returning from combat were found to exhibit higher levels of behavioral disturbances, with mean scores for depression, anxiety, irritation, feelings of helplessness, and physical signs of depression significantly worse than noncombat peers.
TL;DR: Within the entire cohort, AS users of both sexes ate chicken, fish and vegetables significantly more often than did non-users and consumed beef, butter, white bread, potatoes, ice cream and chocolate significantly less often, suggesting that the weight change results are not explicable by differences in food consumption patterns.
TL;DR: It is demonstrated conclusively that mere presence in Vietnam cannot be used as a proxy for exposure to Agent Orange, and Categorization of Vietnam veterans according to herbicide exposure can be successfully accomplished, based on an existing detailed herbicide application data base.
TL;DR: This paper will summarize much of the information derived in an association between The Department of Radiation oncology of Hahnemann University Hospital and the Oncology Service of Wills Eye Hospital of Thomas Jefferson University, a collaborative effort for the treatment of primary intraocular malignancies that has spanned the last dozen years.
Abstract: This paper will summarize much of the information derived in an association between The Department of Radiation Oncology of Hahnemann University Hospital and the Oncology Service of Wills Eye Hospital of Thomas Jefferson University, a collaborative effort for the treatment of primary intraocular malignancies that has spanned the last dozen years. In that time we have treated malignant intraocular melanoma by radioactive eyeplaque brachytherapy and have begun to develop a similar program for treatment of recurring retinoblastoma. These experiences will be described.
TL;DR: In this paper, American Legion members in six states who had served in the Armed Forces during the Vietnam Era were conducted through a mailed questionnaire, in order to determine patterns of usage of Veterans Administration health facilities, as well as attitudes toward the VA and experiences at these facilities.
TL;DR: An overview of factors, attitudes, and beliefs that may influence the adoption of cancer prevention and detection strategies by health‐care providers and the public is presented.
Abstract: This paper presents an overview of factors, attitudes, and beliefs that may influence the adoption of cancer prevention and detection strategies by health-care providers and the public. Health-care practitioners require education about prevention and detection approaches to health care and the social variations in the population that may influence acceptance and adoption of these measures. The need for consistent guidelines among health professional organizations is also stressed.
TL;DR: There has been a shift toward full‐time academic oncologic practice and away from community oncology practice by fellows, and program directors indicated the fellowship program afforded more benefits to fellows than fellows perceived.
Abstract: The authors conducted a survey of American Cancer Society Regular Clinical Fellowship recipients from 1975 to 1976 and 1985 to 1986 and directors whose programs were awarded fellowships in 1985 to 1986. The survey ascertained the career paths taken or planned by the surveyed fellows, program directors' estimates of the career paths chosen by their programs' fellows from the last 5 years, and to elicit opinions on the role of the fellowship program. Response rates exceeded 70% across the three groups. The survey found that there has been a shift toward full-time academic oncologic practice and away from community oncologic practice by fellows. Program directors indicated the fellowship program afforded more benefits to fellows than fellows perceived, with the exception of the contribution to fellows' salaries. Program directors and fellows agreed on the most important aspects of a fellowship program (support a year of otherwise unavailable training and require exposure to research) but were in less agreement on other characteristics.
TL;DR: The study indicated that every cancer patlent should be asked about others in his or her immediate family who have or have had cancer to assess the full impact of the disease and to plan for supportive services.
Abstract: This pilot study explored problems in 38 families where multiple cancers had occurred. These families presented myriad problems, including financial struggles, marital discord, social isolation, depression, and substance abuse. Cancer was the focal point of life for most of the families. However, the study did not address the issue of quality of survival to any extent. Although such families are more numerous than was originally supposed, most of them had not found resources to sustain them emotionally, physically, or financially. The study indicated that every cancer patlent should be asked about others in his or her immediate family who have or have had cancer to assess the full impact of the disease and to plan for supportive services. The findings support the need for a concerted effort to increase resources and services for these special families.