Lutwin Beck - Böcker

In the past, research in cancer immunology has produced informa­ tion important for other medical disciplines. It helped, for example, in formulating the laws of immunogenetics and in achieving a better understanding of the mechanism governing the fate of allotrans­ planted tissue. Cancer has often been considered a foreign body, and therefore many attempts have been made to cure it on the basis of the immunological principles applicable to parasitic, bacterial, or viral diseases. Vaccination has been investigated clinically for its po­ tential to prevent cancer [1], and clinical research into the cure of cancer has included active immunization [2], nonspecific stimulation of defense mechanisms [3], and transfer of passive immunity by cells [4] or by antibodies [5]. These experiments have been of limited value and in some cases have even had an adverse effect. The reputation of cancer immunology has suffered, and the concept has often been severely criticized. However, the basic postulate that cancer must originate from the body's own cells, and that the immune system belongs to the principal regulatory mechanisms, remains valid. In recent years new research into clinical cancer immunotherapy has included critical appraisal of all its potential benefits, and also of the risks and limitations. It is dangerous to make unrealistic promises or to speak or think in terms of "miracle weapons" or a "magic bul­ let.

Das Buch enthält die Vorträge des XVIII. Seminarkongresses 1989 für Psychosomatische Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe. Die Beiträge behandeln u. a. Bilder der Weiblichkeit, Schwangerschaftskonflikt, Pubertät und Adoleszenz sowie aktuelle Themen aus Forschung und Praxis. Der neue Band dieser Fortbildungsreihe vermittelt Gynäkologen, interessierten Ärzten anderer medizinischer Fachdisziplinen sowie klinisch tätigen Psychologen das relevante notwendige Wissen über psychosomatische Zusammenhänge und Störungen. Es enthält praxisnahe Hinweise für eine erfolgreiche Behandlung auf diesem für Arzt und Patientin problematischen Gebiet.

Endorphins and other endogenous opioids appear to be the connecting link between reproductive functions and stress adaption of the human organism. This book contains the con- tributions of an international group of biologists, bioche- mists, and endocrinologists on the opioidergic control me- chanisms in reproduction and stress physiology. Main topics covered are: endogeneous opioids and the pituitary-gonadal system; ovarian endorphinsecretion; pregnancy-associated changes of plasma endorphin; and opioid control of the hypo- thalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. Although all chapters give an excellent review on various studies in basic opioid re- search, there are numerous clinical implications mentioned in this book.

Minimal neoplasia may be defined as a small cancer that has progressed beyond its site of primary origin into the surrounding tissue, but that has not yet reached the stage of deeper invasion or metastasization. The basic principles of this minimal cancer are presented in chapters on molecular, biological and experimental aspects, and, in particular, on the clinical manifestations in various organs: preleukemia, incipient lymphoma, and minimal carcinomas of the uterine cervix, breast, thyroid, larynx, lung, prostate, stomach and colon. A separate chapter is devoted to cryptic gliomas. The latest morphological methods including cytology, early clinical diagnostics and, in particular, radiodiagnostics, are considered. The reader can expect up-to-date information about prompt diagnosis of the very early manifestations of cancer, together with inferences on therapy, which, especially in tumors of the uterine cervix, breast and thyroid, differs considerably from the treatment of advanced neoplasia.