Articles: disease.
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Eur. J. Obstet. Gynecol. Reprod. Biol. · Feb 1993
Multicenter StudyPreliminary report of unexpected local reactions to a progestogen-releasing contraceptive vaginal ring.
This is the first report of vaginal erythematous areas associated with the use of a levonorgestrel-releasing contraceptive ring. Of 139 female subjects, 48 developed lesions of varying size and degrees of redness. Sixteen of these have undergone serial colposcopy and thirteen have also had biopsy examinations, which revealed acetowhite areas and, histologically, chronic inflammation with widely dilated vessels and frequently with thinning of the epithelium. The cause remains uncertain but hormonal, chemical and physical effects might all have a role.
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The relationship between reproductive variables (parity, age at first birth, number of induced and spontaneous abortions) and cancer risk has been analysed using data from an integrated series of case-control studies conducted in northern Italy between 1983 and 1992. The overall data-set included women below age 75 with histologically confirmed cancers of the following sites: oesophagus, 58; stomach, 280; colon, 405; rectum, 210; liver, 82; gall-bladder, 29; pancreas, 129; breast, 3,415; cervix, 742; endometrium, 725; ovary, 953; bladder, 68; kidney, 56; thyroid, 180; lymphomas, 80; myelomas, 57; and a total of 5,619 controls admitted to hospital for acute non-neoplastic, non-gynaecological, non-hormone-related conditions. Multivariate odds ratios, as estimators of relative risks (RR), were obtained after allowance for age, education, use of oral contraceptives and oestrogen replacement treatments, plus various reproductive factors. ⋯ For induced abortions, there was a strong inverse trend in risk for endometrial cancer (RR = 0.5), and the RRs were below unity also for colon and breast cancer. In contrast, cervical cancer was directly associated with the number of spontaneous abortions. Although the underlying aetiological interpretations are different for various cancer sites, this study provides, in a large and uniform data-set, quantitative information on the long-term impact of reproductive factors on cancer risk.
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Bulletin on narcotics · Jan 1993
ReviewDrug injecting and HIV infection among the population of drug abusers in Asia.
Opium has been produced and consumed since the nineteenth century in the areas of Asia currently referred to as the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle. In the 1970s and 1980s, most countries from Afghanistan to Japan experienced a heroin epidemic of varying degrees of severity. Opium and heroin abuse appeared to be more severe in countries and areas where those drugs were produced, an exception being Hong Kong, which has had a large population of heroin abusers for more than two decades. ⋯ Great caution should be exercised in interpreting prevalence because of vast differences in methods of assessment. Given the vulnerability of intravenous drug abusers to rapid transmission of HIV infection, the prevention of drug injecting is of paramount importance in arresting the spread of the epidemic. Efforts to contain drug abuse, though difficult, are a principal means of achieving that end.
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The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of unclassified hypertension during pregnancy and its consequences on infant's health in an African urban setting: Pikine, a suburb of Dakar, Senegal. A cross-sectional study of a random sample of pregnant women and a prospective study, from the inclusion to seven days after delivery, were performed. 886 women attending the prenatal centers were included in the cross-sectional study. 471 pregnant women were included in the follow-up study. The prevalence of DBP > or = 120 mmHg was 0.7%; 5.7% of the women had DBP > or = 95 mmHg. ⋯ Using 95 mmHg as a cutpoint, the relative risk of adverse outcome associated with a DBP > or = 95 mmHg was 2.5 (CI 95%: 1.4-4.3). This risk was significantly increased among women who reported difficult living conditions. Eight percent of the adverse outcomes of pregnancy, 10% of the low birth weights and 8% of the perinatal mortality were found to be associated with DBP > or 95 mmHg.