Deformation of the nasal septum in children, adolescents, and adults in Western Pomerania province of Poland.

OBJECTIVES: Nasal septum deformation (NSD) contributes to the occurrence of upper respiratory tract diseases in around 45-55% of Poland's population. The evaluation of frequency of occurrence and type of nasal septum deformation among randomly chosen representatives of the Szczecin and surrounding area population was the aim of this study. METHODS: NSD was assessed in 235 patients (123 male, 112 female) aged 5-60. Mladina's classification system was used for the evaluation. RESULTS: Deformations of nasal septum were found in 43% of the examined subjects. Type 3 of NSD dominated (12.4%), while types 2 and 1 were found in 10.3% and 4.2% of the subjects, respectively. 9.2% of the patients showed type 5 of deformation, while types 6, 4, and 7 were found in 1.3%, 3.2% and 2.7% of the patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Straight nasal septum was found in females more often than in males, mostly on the left side. Associations between NSD, on one side, and age, sex, and traumas, on the other were found. NSD influenced the quality of respiration and frequency of upper respiratory tract diseases in the examined subjects.

Upper respiratory tract diseases in self-evaluation of health status of Polish students based on the SF-36 questionnaire.

People's health beliefs have remained under the influence of various factors. Our health is determined by physical and social environment, health behaviors, and lifestyle. The evaluation of frequency of upper respiratory tract diseases among Polish students was the aim of the study. Survey was conducted among 476 students of medicine and dentistry in the Pomeranian Medical University of Szczecin and pedagogy students of the Zielona Góra University, Poland. SF 36 questionnaire with few additional questions concerning health and disease was used in the study. Students' participation in the research was voluntary and anonymous. More than 80% of medical students treat their upper respiratory infections by themselves. From all surveyed subjects only 48 (9.4%) of the students did not suffer from any illness during an academic year. Part of the students (39.7%) spends their leisure time in a passive way. Pedagogy students more often than medical ones spend their leisure time actively. Male medical students showed much lower values comparing to female medical students. Pedagogy students showed reversed situation. There was a high variability of general health components observed among female, but not male students. Frequent respiratory tract infections, lack of systematic physical activity, and low amount of sleep cause lower level of self evaluation in regard to health status among medical students.

Quality of life of patients with diseases of sinuses.

Contemporary studies provide proof of coincidence between diseases of upper and lower airways ("united airways disease"; "one-airway disease"). 184 patients from Szczecin with acute (AS) and chronic sinusitis (CS), aged between 18-78 years (mean age 45.7+/-14.7) were examined. The questionnaire used (SF-36; short form, 36 questions) allowed for a comparison of the quality of life of patients with sinuses' disease with healthy subjects. Patients from the groups studied indicated more restrictions of their daily life than did the subjects from a control group (CG). Among the CS patients the mean quality of life index was 75.5, among the AS patients--60.8 and among healthy subjects--51.8. The differences between the groups were significant at P<0.001. Our study indicate that sinusitis strongly influenced functioning of patients in all eight domains of life.

Tumour cell proliferation rate as determined by MIB-1 antibody in Wilms' tumour.

Determination of neoplastic cell proliferation becomes an important and objective element of assessing malignancy of neoplasms and their response to therapy. The basic problem in the management of Wilms' tumours in children is selection of patients to appropriate risk groups. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate proliferation index in 35 Wilms' tumours determined immunohistochemically by using monoclonal antibody MIB-1. The final analysis included 39 preparations of formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tissue sections. Proliferation index of neoplastic cells was determined in blastema, epithelium and stroma of the tumours. We found a marked difference between low proliferation index in stromal cells and high proliferation index in blastemal and epithelial cells. In tumours after chemotherapy we found higher proliferation index in epithelial cells and lower index in blastemal cells as compared to tumours before chemotherapy. Higher proliferation index in blastemal cells and epithelial cells was associated with worse prognosis. Worse prognosis was seen in cases in which after chemotherapy proliferation index in blastemal cells was still high.

Proliferation of cancer cells and stromal cells in colorectal adenocarcinomas as assessed with anti-PCNA/cyclin monoclonal antibody.

Monoclonal anti-proliferating cell nuclear antigen antibody (PCNA, PC 10) was used to measure proliferation of tumor cells and stromal cells in 27 colorectal adenocarcinomas. Mean proliferation index of cancer cells was 33.7% (SD +/- 16.3) and that of stromal cells 14.3 (SD +/- 12.5). Positive correlation between proliferation index of cancer cells and proliferation rate of stromal cells was found (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). Correlation between proliferation of stromal lymphocyte-like cells and fibroblast-like cells was noticed (r = 0.69, p < 0.001).