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Based upon a risk analysis of farm-related injury data, priority areas for farm safety research and education were identified. Risk was defined as the Expected Injury Cost (EIC) index per farm worker per year. The expected costs of farm-related injuries were correlated with the risk factors of employment status, gender of farm worker, age of farm worker, hours of exposure, type of agricultural operation, and common hazards on the farm. Since the EIC index combines the probability of injuries with the severity of injuries, it provides a scientific basis for defining agricultural safety research and educational priorities.

In analogy to Kuhnle et al. (1984) the role of etoposide in patients with cisplatin-refractory ovarian cancer was evaluated. 45 patients were treated with 150-200 mg of etoposide per sa. m. on days 1-3. Acute toxicity was tolerable except alopecia grade III. Remarkable, however, was the induction of two fatal cases of leukaemia following etoposide treatment. The first patient, who was 27 years old, with FIGO stage IIb serous cystadenocarcinoma, which was treated with cisplatin/epirubicin and after a latent period of 45 months, a local recurrence was treated with 8 cycles of etoposide. Twenty-three months after discontinuation of etoposide therapy, the patient showed acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) of M5b-subtype according to the FAB classification. Two days after diagnosis, the patient died of the disease. The second patient, a 55-year old woman with FIGO stage IIa serous cystadenocarcinoma, was treated with cisplatin/cytoxan; 8 cycles of etoposide were given as a second line therapy. This patient, 21 months after discontinuation of etoposide therapy showed a pre-pre-B-acute lymphocytic leukaemia with coexpression of the myeloid antigens. Two months after diagnosis, the patient died of the disease. In 4 out of 38 patients, a complete and in 7 patients a partial remission was induced by etoposide treatment and survival of these responding patients was prolonged in comparison with the nonresponder. The survival was also dependent on CA-125 serum level and the cumulative dose of etoposide administered. Etoposide treatment is an acceptable option as salvage therapy in refractory ovarian cancer.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Patients with recurrent gynaecological carcinomas have a poor prognosis, with a survival of a few months. Three patients with a recurrent vulva carcinoma, one patient with a recurrent cervical carcinoma, one patient with a recurrent endometrial carcinoma, and one patient with a recurrent breast carcinoma underwent PDT after parenteral or topical sensitisation with Photosan 3. From these patients, two of them showed a complete response with no evidence of disease for 32 and 29 months. One patient responded partially with two recurrences, which were treated twice after tropical sensitisation, living now 21 months. The remaining three patients showed partial response and died 3 to 8 months after PDT. The energy applied was derived from an argon-dye-laser ranging between 225 and 750 joule/cm2. Photosan 3 was given intravenously at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg body weight and was tolerated without any allergic reaction. The response rate in three of six patients in recurrent gynaecological malignancies encourages us to pursue PDT in gynaecological disease.

Methods to dispose of unused concentrated and dilute formulated pesticide suspensions or solutions such as rinsate are urgently needed by small-scale farm operators and applicators. The suitability of solid-state fermentation (SSF) techniques to dispose of atrazine (2-chloro-4-[ethylamino]-6[isopropylamino]-1,3,5-triazine, purity 99.0%) and carbofuran (2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-7-benzofuranyl methylcarbamate, purity (SEW) formulations was evaluated. Pesticides were added to bioreactors containing either sphagnum peat moss or steam-exploded wood (SEW) and monitored periodically for disappearance. Soil column leaching studies and the USEPA standard toxicity characteristic leaching procedurs were used to assess the potential environmental hazard of land application of spent lignocellulosic matrix materials.

Small-scale farm operators have a pressing need for methods to dispose of unused concentrated and dilute formulated pesticide suspensions or solutions such as rinsate. The suitability of solid state fermentation (SSF) techniques to dispose of chlorpyrifos and metolachlor was evaluated. Pesticides were added to bioreactors containing either sphagnum peat moss, steam-exploded wood (SEW), or a wheat straw-horse manure mixture. Sorbent material was sampled periodically to determine pesticide content. In peat, SEW, and wheat straw-horse manure filled bioreactors containing chlorpyrifos at a loading rate of 1.0 g kg −1 (dry wt. basis), solvent extractable levels of pesticide decreased to 0.5, 24, and 0.6% of starting levels in 290, 270, and 290 days of bioreactor operation, respectively. In peat, SEW, and wheat straw-horse manure filled bioreactors containing metolachlor at a loading time of 2 g kg −1 (dry wt. basis), solvent extractable levels of pesticide decreased to 23, 49, and 0.3% of starting levels within 315, 315, and 120 days of reactor operation, respectively. Soil column leaching studies were conducted using peat and wheat straw-horse manure sorbents following bioreactor shutdown, to assess the potential environmental hazard of land applying spent sorbent materials. The amount of chlorpyrifos and metolachlor leached from peat was greater than that from wheat straw-horse manure. Based on leachability studies, the wheat straw-horse manure was superior to peat as a disposal matrix material. The use of SSF techniques to dispose of pesticide waste may prove a viable alternative to other disposal methods that are either too expensive or technically sophisticated.

Installing guards over unloading sumps in grain bins would reduce injuries caused by accidental contact with screw conveyors used to unload bins. But installing guards would also reduce the rate of grain flow from the bins. This study was undertaken to measure flow of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans through guarded and unguarded 15 cm (6 in.) and 23 cm (9 in.) square, horizontal orifices, and to determine the flow reduction caused by the guards. The ratio of guarded to unguarded volumetric grain flow ranged from 0.34 to 0.69 depending on grain type and orifice size. We tried to predict grain flow through guarded orifices by summing theoretical grain flow through the small openings in the guards. The ratios of measured to predicted grain flow for guarded orifices were 1.07 to 1.32 for wheat, 0.94 to 1.17 for corn, 0.85 to 0.91 for sorghum, and 0.73 to 0.87 for soybeans.

In a retrospective analysis of 429 endometrial carcinoma and 29 malignant mixed Mullerian tumour (MMMT) patients, the prognostic factors were evaluated. More than 80% of endometrial carcinomata were staged as I or II, whereas about 30% of MMMT's already in stage III or IV (p less than 0.05). MMMT patients were 10 years older than the carcinoma group (73a vs 63a; p less than 0.001). The risk factors parity, adipositas, and diabetes were equally distributed in the two groups, the survival was worse in MMMT (p less than 0.0001). Applying univariate analysis stage, grading, myometrial invasion and type of therapy significantly affected the survival of endometrial carcinoma patients. After a Cox regression, only stage and grading remained significantly associated with the prognosis. For MMMT's, the survival was also influenced by stage, myometrial invasion, and kind of therapy. Moreover, the parity was found to affect markedly the course of disease. Cox regression of our data excluded all but stage and parity. The beneficial influence of parity on the prognosis of MMMTs, despite a latency of more than 20 years from the last birth to tumour appearance, is unique in oncology.

Neopterin, a pyrazinopyrimidine compound, is a marker of activation of cell-mediated immunity. Urinary neopterin concentrations were measured in a total of 44 patients with uterine sarcomas. Pretherapeutic neopterin excretions were elevated in 78% (14/18). The mean neopterin concentration of patients with sarcomas was significantly higher (P less than 0.0001) than that obtained in women with benign myomas and healthy controls. Furthermore, a significant correlation of normal or raised neopterin concentrations with the clinical course of disease was found. These data suggest that urinary neopterin measurement might be a useful immunologic marker for women with uterine sarcomas.

The value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was studied in a case of a gestational trophoblastic tumour. In addition to the tumour size, MRI made it possible to measure necrotic areas, which are assumed to be a sign of response to chemotherapy. Moreover, uterine zonal anatomy and subserosal uterine veins yielded important information on tumour biology. Complete remission was induced in high-risk patients by etoposide, methotrexate, and actinomycin D treatment.

A spontaneous rupture of the vaginal vault with small intestine prolapse as a late complication after hysterectomy is a rare event. Risk factors are postmenopausal status, previous vaginal hysterectomy and symptoms of enterocele. We report on a case of a vaginal small bowel prolapse after hysterectomy one year ago. The intestinum was reponated by vaginal approach. A partial resection of the small bowel was not necessary. Accept a short subileus attack two days after operation the postoperative course was without complications. According to literature there are only a few similar cases.

In analogy to Kühnle et al. (1984) the role of etoposide in patients with cisplatin-refractory ovarian cancer was evaluated. 45 patients were treated with 150-200 mg of etoposide per sa. m. on days 1-3. Acute toxicity was tolerable except alopecia grade III. Remarkable, however, was the induction of two fatal cases of leukaemia following etoposide treatment. The first patient, who was 27 years old, with FIGO stage IIb serous cystadenocarcinoma, which was treated with cisplatin/epirubicin and after a latent period of 45 months, a local recurrence was treated with 8 cycles of etoposide. Twenty-three months after discontinuation of etoposide therapy, the patient showed acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) of M5b-subtype according to the FAB classification. Two days after diagnosis, the patient died of the disease. The second patient, a 55-year old woman with FIGO stage IIa serous cystadenocarcinoma, was treated with cisplatin/cytoxan; 8 cycles of etoposide were given as a second line therapy. This patient, 21 months after discontinuation of etoposide therapy showed a pre-pre-B-acute lymphocytic leukaemia with coexpression of the myeloid antigens. Two months after diagnosis, the patient died of the disease. In 4 out of 38 patients, a complete and in 7 patients a partial remission was induced by etoposide treatment and survival of these responding patients was prolonged in comparison with the nonresponder. The survival was also dependent on CA-125 serum level and the cumulative dose of etoposide administered. Etoposide treatment is an acceptable option as salvage therapy in refractory ovarian cancer.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Patients with recurrent gynaecological carcinomas have a poor prognosis, with a survival of a few months. Three patients with a recurrent vulva carcinoma, one patient with a recurrent cervical carcinoma, one patient with a recurrent endometrial carcinoma, and one patient with a recurrent breast carcinoma underwent PDT after parenteral or topical sensitisation with Photosan 3. From these patients, two of them showed a complete response with no evidence of disease for 32 and 29 months. One patient responded partially with two recurrences, which were treated twice after tropical sensitisation, living now 21 months. The remaining three patients showed partial response and died 3 to 8 months after PDT. The energy applied was derived from an argon-dye-laser ranging between 225 and 750 joule/cm2. Photosan 3 was given intravenously at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg body weight and was tolerated without any allergic reaction. The response rate in three of six patients in recurrent gynaecological malignancies encourages us to pursue PDT in gynaecological disease.

Patients with recurrent gynecological carcinomas have a poor prognosis with a median survival time of 3 - 6 months. Four patients with recurrent vulva carcinomas, one patient with a recurrent breast cancer, and one with a recurrent cervical carcinoma underwent PDT after parenteral or topical sensitization with Photosan 3. Of those patients two women made a complete recovery with no evidence of disease 27 and 24 months after. One patient responded partially with two recurrences which were retreated twice after topical sensitization, she has survived 16 months. The remaining patients showed partial response and died 3 and 8 months after PDT. The energy delivered by an argon-dye-laser ranged between 225 and 750 J/cm 2 . Photosan 3 was given intravenously at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg body weight and was tolerated without any allergic reaction. A response rate of nearly 50% in recurrent gynecological malignancies encourages us to pursue PDT in gynecological diseases.

The value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was studied in a case of a gestational trophoblastic tumour. In addition to the tumour size, MRI made it possible to measure necrotic areas, which are assumed to be a sign of response to chemotherapy. Moreover, uterine zonal anatomy and subserosal uterine veins yielded important information on tumour biology. Complete remission was induced in high-risk patients by etoposide, methotrexate, and actinomycin D treatment.

The combination of intracavitary and external-beam radiation is the treatment of choice in advanced cervical cancer. Low-dose regimens using radium were widely abandoned in favour of high-dose-rate afterloading systems. We compared in this retrospective analysis of 550 patients the 2 different treatment modalities. We could observe neither in overall survival, nor in the incidence of side effects, any significant difference. Although the change from low- to high-dose-rate radiation therapy was not accompanied by a benefit in survival, the latter modality displayed several advantages e.g. a reduced exposure of personnel to radiation and shorter duration of confinement to bed. Patient survival rate was dependent mainly on parameters of tumour burden (FIGO stage), i.v. pyelogram or CT scan of paraaortic lymph nodes. On the other hand, neither the histological classification as epidermoid or adenocarcinoma nor the WHO grading, were useful predictors of patient outcome.

In a retrospective analysis of 429 endometrial carcinoma and 29 malignant mixed Müllerian tumour (MMMT) patients, the prognostic factors were evaluated. More than 80% of endometrial carcinomata were staged as I or II, whereas about 30% of MMMT's already in stage III or IV (p less than 0.05). MMMT patients were 10 years older than the carcinoma group (73a vs 63a; p less than 0.001). The risk factors parity, adipositas, and diabetes were equally distributed in the two groups, the survival was worse in MMMT (p less than 0.0001). Applying univariate analysis stage, grading, myometrial invasion and type of therapy significantly affected the survival of endometrial carcinoma patients. After a Cox regression, only stage and grading remained significantly associated with the prognosis. For MMMT's, the survival was also influenced by stage, myometrial invasion, and kind of therapy. Moreover, the parity was found to affect markedly the course of disease. Cox regression of our data excluded all but stage and parity. The beneficial influence of parity on the prognosis of MMMTs, despite a latency of more than 20 years from the last birth to tumour appearance, is unique in oncology.

The tumour necrosis factor (TNF) stimulates in cultured JAR choriocarcinoma cells the biosynthesis of hCG, including the free alpha and beta chain and the holo-hCG. Although elevated serum TNF levels have been shown by Balkwill et al. (1987) in about 50% of tumour patients, we were unable to confirm these data in the 10 examined patients, who had a choriocarcinoma. Despite its excellent in-vitro action, INF could not be confirmed to exercise an influence on the regulation of hCG in choriocarcinoma patients.

Die Problematik der Operationen im Bereich der Wirbelsaule mit Ruckenmarkbeteiligung ist groser, als dies in der akuten Phase, d. h. sofort nach dem Unfall, angenommen wird.

The tumour necrosis factor (TNF) stimulates in cultured JAR choriocarcinoma cells the biosynthesis of hCG, including the free alpha and beta chain and the holo-hCG. Although elevated serum TNF levels have been shown by Balkwill et al. (1987) in about 50% of tumour patients, we were unable to confirm these data in the 10 examined patients, who had a choriocarcinoma. Despite its excellent in-vitro action, INF could not be confirmed to exercise an influence on the regulation of hCG in choriocarcinoma patients.

Concentrations of neopterin, a product of activated macrophages, in serum from 662 apparently healthy individuals (ages 1 to 97 years, median 22 years) were measured by radioimmunoassay and the results statistically analyzed. Consistent with prior investigations on the urinary excretion of neopterin, we found no significant sex dependence, but values for subjects younger than 18 or older than 75 years were significantly higher. Renal clearance of neopterin in nine healthy individuals was 218 (SD 44) mL/min, which suggests that the kidneys have an active role in neopterin excretion. Results for neopterin concentrations measured in serum by RIA and "high-performance" liquid chromatography (HPLC) are consistent, but for urinary neopterin the concordance between methods was weak. Therefore, the RIA should be used only for measuring neopterin in serum. In comparison of the clinical utility of serum neopterin and urinary neopterin/creatinine concentrations, in patients with gynecological tumors, the latter values (measured by HPLC) discriminated slightly better between patients with favorable and unfavorable prognoses.

Patients with refractory ovarian cancer were treated intra-peritoneally with interferon-gamma. The maximum tolerated dose was achieved at 2 mg/m2. The substance was administered 3 times per week every second week. Interferon-gamma treatment activated locally the macrophages and induced a rise in neopterin urine, serum, and ascites levels. The tumor marker CA-125 showed marked fluctuations of more than 100% during interferon treatment and this was not correlated with neopterin. A flu-like syndrome and especially fatigue were the dose limiting side effects. Two of 3 evaluable patients died on tumor progression whereas one is now 18 months clinically free of disease.

Combination chemotherapy with epirubicin-cisplatin was employed after surgical treatment in 67 women with ovarian carcinoma. 50 mg/m2 of epirubicin and cisplatin each were administered at monthly intervals. The response rate was correlated with the clinical stage and the residual disease. Tumor regression (CR + PR) was observed in 63.6% of patients with stage III disease, and in 50% of those with stage IV disease. Furthermore, complete or partial responses were obtained in 86.4% of patients with a residual deposit of 2-5 cm, and in 33.3% of women with a residual deposit exceeding 5 cm in diameter. Anemia occurred in 47.8%, leukopenia in 43.3%, and thrombocytopenia in 4.5% of the patients. No cardiotoxicity was recorded.

Es wird ein diskontinuierlicher Prozes fur die Technik der Polykondensation beschrieben und seine Charakteristik anhand von Verweilzeitverteilung, Konzentrationsverlauf und Raum-Zeitausnutzung erlautert. Eine Ubertragung dieses Prozesses auf eine Kaskade aus hintereinander geschalteten Ruhrreaktoren oder auf das Stromungsrohr wurde eine Veranderung der Prozescharakteristik hervorrufen, die mit einer Qualitatsminderung des Reaktionsproduktes verbunden ware. Es wird daher ein Prozestyp (Zellenprozes) abgeleitet, der kontinuierlich unter exakter Einhaltung der diskontinuierlichen Prozescharakteristik ablauft. Hierzu kann der Schneckenzellen-Reaktor verwendet werden. Versuche mit diesem Reaktor bestatigen die Erwartungen und bieten neue Moglichkeiten der kontinuierlichen Produktion verschiedener Stoffe.

Einfache Konstruktion, geringe Anspruche an die Wartung und Betriebssicherheit sind die wichtigsten Vorzuge der Wasserringpumpe. Fur die geforderte Luftmenge und die richtige Auslegung ist vor allem die relative Exzentrizitat von Bedeutung. Messungen geben Hinweise fur die Berechnung von Wasserringpumpen, wie an einem Beispiel erlautert wird.

Gehirnhydrolysate zeigen im hypoglykamischen Koma einen Weckeffekt, der sich sowohl klinisch wie auch elektrencephalographisch demonstrieren last. Bei 7 verschiedenen Patienten wurde diese Weckwirkung in 9 Untersuchungen unter EEG-Kontrolle nachgewiesen; es handelte sich dabei durchwegs um Schizophrene im therapeutischen Insulinkoma. Das Uberwiegen des klinischen bzw. des hirnelektrischen Weckeffektes wechselte von Fall zu Fall.

Durch Papierelektrophorese konnte festgestellt werden, das Sterilmilcheasein keine Anderung in seiner Loslichkeit, im Phosphorgehalt sowie seinem elektrischen Verhalten gegenuber Nativcasein aufweist. Dagegen treten bei der Hocherhitzung in der Proteinzusammensetzung des Milchserums wesentliche Veranderungen auf. Bei verschiedenen Kasesorten wurde die zuerst ablaufende Molke (Bruchmolke) mit der nach 5 Std. abtropfenden verglichen; die beobachteten Veranderungen der prozentualen Anteile der einzelnen Proteinkomponenten werden diskutiert. Bei der Kasereifung von Limburgerkase konnte keine Anderung im Phosphorgehalt der einzelnen Caseinkomponenten festgestellt werden.