Smoking habits in Romania.

The main aspects and consequences of tobacco use resulting from a series of field surveys in Romania are reviewed. The proportion of smokers in middle-aged adults is about 10 per cent for women and 40 to 50 per cent for men. Cigarettes are practically the only form of tobacco consumed--cigars are very rarely smoked and pipe-smoking accounts for less than 1 per cent of tobacco use. Less than 10 per cent of smokers use more than 25 cigarettes a day. Age at starting to smoke is low, with a quarter of smokers taking up the habit by the age of 15. Ninety per cent of the smokers admit to inhaling, and about half the men and nearly all the women smoke filter cigarettes.

Histochemical patterns in human breast tumours.

Histochemical investigations carried out on 104 breast tumours (10 benign proliferations and 94 carcinomas) showed that breast carcinomas were characterized by various enzymological equipments in relation to tumour differentiation degree, histogenesis, functional stage, site of tumour cells in the carcinomatous islands or cords and to hormonal factors. Tumour cells -- stroma interrelationships study pointed out that high glycolysis (high LDH, NADPH2-TR, NADH2-TR activities) and an intense LEPA-activity of tumour cells seem to be favourable for proliferation and local tumour cells migration.

A comparative study of allogenic "first set" and "second set" skin rejection in mice.

In our case, where the difference between donor WHT/Ht(H--2d) and recipient C57B1/6 (H--2b) was at the H--2 locus of histocompatibility, the FSg rejection occurred between the 6th and the 10th day, while the SSg rejection was two days earlier. The morphological study emphasized that the cellular infiltrate in the FSg is predominantly lymphocytic, while in the SSg it is predominantly granulocytic. The vascularization settles on the second day postgrafting in the FSg as well as in the SSg, but is scarce and quickly destroyed in the SSg, thus being explained the scanty supply of lymphocytes in the latter graft type. The histochemical reactions demonstrated an increase of the NMPS in skin allograft from the moment of settling till the end of the rejection and a decrease of AMPS, till the complete disappearance, in the rejected graft. Little morphological differences were found between colateral draining nodes and contralateral ones during the reaction to the graft. An important feature described is the presence at the bed graft level of some cells morphologically identical to the IB encountered in great number in the TDA of lymph nodes in the allograft-bearing mice.

[The effects of nitroglycerin administered intravenously in acute myocardial ischemia]. / Efectele nitroglicerinei administrata intravenos în ischemia miocardica acuta.

The effects of i.v. nitroglycerin were studied by ECG and enzymatically in 16 patients (mean age 57.9 +/- 1.4 years) (NTG) in comparison with a control lot (c) of 17 patients (mean age 62.7 +/- 2.1 years) treated with dipyridamole and/or nifedipine (N), admitted in the first 4-10 hours after the onset of the first symptoms. The patients with heart failure and those with Q waves and CPK or LDH values greater than 2 x n were not admitted. NTG was administered in doses of 20 micrograms--60 microgram/hour for 24-96 hours and systolic AT (s) was kept under 10% of the basic values but not under 100 mmHg. Myocardial infarction appeared in 9 N-treated patients (54.86%) and 11 controls (58.25%) (p = 0.07). The size of myocardial necrosis was reduced in the N-treated patients. Peak serum CPK levels had considerably less increases in N (from 72.9 U to 73.4 U) (p greater than 00.5) versus C from 34.2 U to 364.5 U) (p less than 0.001). The sum of segmentary depression failed from 9.13 mm to 3.19 mm (p less than 0.05) in N, whereas in C the decrease was not significant (6.12 mm as against 9.38 mm; p greater than 0.05). The evolution was severe in C, as the angina crises (14 cases versus 2 cases, p less than 0.01) and the extension of the infarction (8 cases versus, 0; p 0.05) less than 0.05) appeared more frequently than in N. Only two patients in C died (p less than 0.05). Therefore, i.v. NTG administration in small doses in acute myocardial infarction leads to immediate disappearance of the anginal pain, lowers the extent of the myocardial necrosis and improves the clinical evolution.

Dexamethasone-isonicotinate aerosol in the long-term treatment of steroid-dependent asthmatic children.

Dexamethasone-isonicotinate aerosol (DIA) was administered to twenty-nine steroid-dependent children with chronic perennial asthma, in an open trial during one year. An attempt was made to withdraw systemic corticosteroid therapy. As judged by clinical results, inhaled dexamethasone-isonicotinate controlled the asthma quite as well as did previous therapy. Oral corticosteroids were withdrawn in 27 patients, and the dosage considerably reduced in another two. Cushingoid features subsided. There was a statistically significant improvement in most pulmonary function parameters (airway obstruction and lung hyperinflation were reduced towards normal). Reduction of systemic steroid dosage resulted in the appearance of previously suppressed manifestations such as hay fever, eczema, and nasal polyps. There was no increased tendency to the occurrence of respiratory tract infection; routine examination showed Candida albicans in about 37% cultures.

Prevalence of respiratory symptoms in towns with different air pollution.

An epidemiologic study was carried out for the estimation of air pollution as a risk factor for chronic obstructive lung disease. The whole male population aged 40 to 60 years was investigated in a polluted and a non-polluted control town. The subjects with occupational exposure to dusts, gases and irritant vapours were discarded from the study. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms and of chronic bronchitis in the polluted town was twice that in the control (non-polluted) one. These results are discussed in the light of some previous investigations of the authors and of the available data in the literature.

Dexamethasone isonicotinate aerosol therapy in patients with chronic bronchial asthma.

Dexamethasone isonicotinate aerosols were used for the management of 106 patients (33 men, 73 women) with bronchial asthma (mean age 32.7 years); 62 of the patients were steroid-dependent (maintenance dose 1 to 25 mg prednisone/day for 0.5 to 11 years) at the start of the study. A diary of symptoms (including consumption of antiasthmatic drugs) was kept; physical examination and measurement of pulmonary function (peak flow rate, forced expiratory volume in one second) were performed during a one-to-four week control period, as well as at various intervals (up to 14 months) after the start of corticosteroid aerosol therapy. Clinical subjective and objective improvement was accompanied by a significant increase in ventilatory function indices (e.g. the FEV1.0 rose from a control average of 55.5% of predicted to 72% after 4 weeks and 85% after 12 months). The antiasthmatic drug consumption decreased markedly. Administration of systemic steroids could be withdrawn in 49 of the 62 steroid-dependent patients (79%); in the remaining 13 the dose was only lowered. The side-effects were minor (hoarseness of the voice, oropharyngeal candidosis), and limited to a few cases. It is concluded that bronchial asthma can be successfully controlled in four fifths of the patients by very low doses of dexamethasone isonicotinate aerosols, with practically no systemic effects.

The role of some viruses in acute pneumonias in adults.

Virological and bacteriological investigations were performed in 85 patients with acute pneumonias and virus isolation or serological evidence of virus infection were obtained in 37.6% of the cases. Influenza A2 and B viruses were incriminated in 14.1% of the patients; parainfluenza viruses in 7% and adenoviruses in 17.2% of the cases. Coxsackie virus was isolated from one patient's blood, and poliovirus 3 was recovered in 3 cases. In 5 cases associated virus infections were detected.

Coronary heart disease and risk factors in some special type collectivities.

Transversal epidemiologic investigations carried out in different populations from several regions of Romania : Gurghiu Valley (lumberjacks from a mountain region), Danube Delta and Razelm lagoon complex (fishermen), and Bucharest have shown that, in spite of the high caloric value of food and even of a high intake of saturated fats, mean serum cholesterol is lower in the rural areas than in Bucharest, probably owing to the strenuous physical work. However, except myocardial infarction, more frequent in the urban than in the rural regions, the other forms of coronary heart disease have a relatively higher frequency in villages, particularly atrial fibrillation and ECG signs of ischemia. These findings might be explained by a greater prevalence of hypertension in these populations. It is concluded that the risk factors, which act synergically, depend on the complex structure of the "ecologic niche".