[Why medicine? Analyzing students' motives for studying medicine]. / Warum Medizin studieren?

BACKGROUND: Despite increasing numbers of physicians, shortage of doctors is a predominant problem in the German health care system. AIM: AIM of the present study is a detailed and gendered analysis of current motives to study medicine in order to deduce implications for securing medical care in the future. METHODS: Study motives of medical students from Duisburg-Essen and Muenster were assessed using an online questionnaire. 13 given motives had to be rated on a 5 point Likert-scale according to their relevance for the decision to study medicine. Descriptive analysis regarding age, gender, location and study period was performed and a dichotomization of data (agreement vs. disagreement) was undertaken for logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: 1545 medical students took part in the survey (64.5% female). "Many-faceted workspaces", "varied tasks", "helping patients", "scientific interest" and "good career prospects" - backward-sorted - were the most frequent study motives indicated by medical students. The aspect "helping patients" was more important to female than to male students, the latter rated career-associated motives e. g. income, reputation etc. as more relevant. Only for about 8% of the respondents - independently of gender - compatibility of job and family was a motive to study medicine. CONCLUSION: Perspectively, results of this study could help to shape medicine in a way that will appeal to the growing up generation of doctors: a sophisticated, demanding and fulfilling occupation compatible with family with options to carve out a career for those who want to - regardless of gender. Furthermore, coaching programs paralleling either medical studies or work as clinician should be considered to improve the matching of gender-specific study motives and careers.

Registry of Experimental Cancers of the National Cancer Institute. A database resource for cancer research.

The National Cancer Institute established the Registry of Experimental Cancers in March 1970. This registry consists of a permanent collection of pathological materials on spontaneous and induced lesions in laboratory animals that includes histological slides, paraffin blocks, autopsy findings, pathological diagnoses, photographs, and experimental records. The material presently is composed of approximately 60,000 consecutive records and is a valuable resource for researchers interested in tumors and other lesions arising spontaneously or from specific induction protocols in experimental animals. The entire registry database was transferred to an object-oriented database that permits registry staff to write programs for the different data field objects, thus customizing searches and other database functions. Twenty-seven animal species are represented and a total of 6,496 diagnostic entities and 1,106 treatment and control protocols are listed. Archival material may be retrieved for analysis of molecular markers.

Angiofollicular lymphoid hyperplasia (Castleman's disease) in two mice treated with polyoma virus or urethane.

Localized angiofollicular hyperplasia, otherwise known as Castleman's disease, is described in the lymph nodes of 2 mice of different strains, one inoculated with polyoma virus at birth and the other given urethane within 24 hr of birth. A plasma cell component in the lesion, suggestive of bone marrow stem cell involvement, was present in the mouse treated with polyoma virus but absent in the mouse given intraperitoneal urethane. Dysregulated interleukin 6 has recently been reported to produce the systemic variety of angiofollicular hyperplasia in mice, but the role of this cytokine in the localized variety described in this report is not known. This lesion appears to be rare in mice, but when present it could easily be missed or overlooked because the typical layering of follicle cells and the relatively large germinal centers seen in humans do not appear prominent in mice. Although there is, obviously, no proof of a causal relationship between the lesion and polyoma virus or urethane, it is suggested that this lesion be searched for in order to estimate its frequency and possible etiologic associations.

Mouse ovarian tumors--a review including classification and induction of neoplastic lesions and description of several previously unreported types.

The purpose of this study is to review the pertinent literature on the incidence, methods of induction and pathogenesis of ovarian tumors of mice. Strains of mice with a high incidence of spontaneously occurring granulosa cell tumors (gct) and tubular adenomas (ta) are the C3HeB/Fe and C3HeB/De; strain HAN:NMRI developed Sertoli cell tumors and (DBA x Ce)F1 hybrids had a high incidence gct. Ninety-five percent of hybrid (C57BL/6J x C3H/HeJ)F1 WxWv mice which lack germ cells develop complex tubular adenomas. Strain LT, in which a high percentage of ovarian ova develop parthenogenetically, develops has a high incidence of teratomas. The use of hormones, castration and transplantation of the ovaries in a number of inbred strains results in a high incidence of ovarian tumors; in strain Maf/Sp gct and luteomas were induced in 82%. Irradiation with gamma rays produced a similar incidence of ovarian tumors in (C57L x A)F1 hybrids. The chemical inducing the highest incidence (92%) of ovarian tumors of mice is 9,10 Dimethyl 1,2 benzanthracene (DMBA). Recently, 4-Vinylcyclohexene was shown to induce a high incidence of ovarian tumors. A number of rare ovarian tumors were reported. Described are five androblastomas composed of either Leydig or Sertoli cells or a combination of the two cell types and a single undifferentiated androblastoma. Seven teratomas were described, three of which contained large amounts of neural tissue; another was classified as a teratoma with a parieto-visceral yolk-sac carcinoma component.

Mammary gland tumors in irradiated and untreated guinea pigs.

This is a report of mammary gland tumors from 62 guinea pigs. The tumors arose in the terminal ductal-lobular units as either lobular acinar carcinoma or cystadenocarcinoma or as papillary carcinomas within large ducts near the mammilla. About half the number of the males had terminal ductal-lobular carcinomas and all but 2 of the papillary duct carcinomas also arose in males. Large tumors frequently exhibited squamous, chondromatous, osseous, fatty and myoepitheliomatous types of tissues. In 2 irradiated males and 1 female the tumors metastasized. Whole-body irradiation did not produce significant changes in the number or sex distribution or in the morphology of mammary gland tumors in inbred or outbred guinea pigs. All females had cystic ovaries without increase in granulosa cells, 24 (66.6%) had uterine tumors and 13 (34.2%) had adrenal gland tumors; all males had atrophic testes, 5 (16.5%) had testicular and 6 (22.2%) had adrenal gland tumors.

Inducibility of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase in BALB/c/ki mice exposed to urban air pollution.

In two separate experiments BALB/c/ki mice were exposed to urban air pollution. Mice exposed to clean air served as controls. In both experiments there were no obvious quantitative or qualitative differences in lung or liver tissue examined by light microscopy. In both experiments higher aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activities and higher trace metal concentrations were observed in the mice exposed to polluted urban air. These data are interpreted in terms of health hazards of urban air pollutants.

Fine structural study of postcastrational adrenocortical carcinomas in female CE-mice.

Postcastrational adrenocortical carcinomas in the CE/Ki inbred strains of mice and the adrenals of noncastrated CE/Ki mice were studied using light and electron microscopic techniques. Most of the tumors appeared as large nodules of cells separated by septae comprised of collagen and blood sinusoids. The majority of tumor cells (Type 1) showed few or no lipid droplets (sudanophobic), polymorphic hyperchromatic nuclei, lack of SER, abundant RER and free ribosomes, prominent Golgi complexes, and few mitochondria with scant internal membranes. Clusters of Type 1 cells were surrounded by a basal lamina. In contrast, Type 2 cells revealed abundant and dilated tubules of SER, large number of lipid droplets and mitochondria with tubulovesicular cristae. These results suggest that Type 2 cells were probably active in steroid hormone synthesis and secretion while Type 1 cells were highly anaplastic and apparently non-steroid-secreting cells.

Simple vs. complex inheritance of inducible aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase in mouse tissues.

The genetics of induction of hepatic and lung aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) have been studied in Af/Ki and AKR/Ki mice and in their F1 and F2 progeny after administration of 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC). Furthermore, the induction of AHH was investigated using the fetal liver explant model system with 3MC, trans-1,2-dihydroxy-3MC, and 4'-bromoflavone as the inducers. The results obtained with the above strains were contrasted with those from the C57BL/6Ki, DBA/2+Ki, and their crosses. The present investigation revealed a complex pattern of inheritance of basal and inducible AHH in lung and liver of AKR/Ki and Af/Ki, with a poor correlation between lung and liver. Hepatic AHH was not fully inducible in the F1 hybrids, while the frequency distribution function in the F2 mice was suggestive of more than two distinct classes.