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or "clusters of factors, may serve as warnings of impending cancers." To Save More Lives Nothing of this scope has ever been t|ied before, and Hammond pointed out that it is still much too early to predict just how the new approach will work out. But the American Cancer Society is conducting other important statistical studies, and he cited one of them as an example of future possibilities. A prospective or follow-up study is under way involving the occurrence of cervical cancer among more than eighty thousand women in Toledo, Ohio. The main purpose is to investigate a tentative finding which, if confirmed, might mean the saving of many lives. "Earlier studies had suggested the existence in the population of a group of 'high-risk' women—women who reported any kind of cervical complaint such as discharge or bleeding. Remember that, as far as medical science can tell, they were absolutely free of cervical cancer. Yet follow-up observations indicate that they are 10-to-15 times more likely to contract the disease than women who did not have such complaints. Another important point is that they made up a small proportion of the total group, about one out of seven women. "Now we're checking these results, among others, with the aid of an electronic computer and expect to have our answers within six months or so. Assuming that our preliminary findings are indeed valid, we shall make a strenuous effort to persuade these high-risk women to report for special medical examinations every six months. You can see the possibilities here. Most cervical cancer seems to occur in a group that can be identified beforehand, and the chances are good that by focusing on this group we may be able to lower death rates appreciably. Furthermore, our large-scale cancer prevention study is designed to locate other high-risk groups, if they exist. "This may also be the best way to get back to basic causes, a central aim of all our research. If high-risk groups are found and examined two or more times a year, medical investigators will have a unique opportunity to follow more closely than ever before the long and intricate process whose last stages are what we call cancer. According to one theory, the one I favor, this process depends ultimately on a special kind of genetic change. "Think of the body's cells as populations of living things. They are continually dying and being replaced by newborn cells and, as in all populations, there are mutations or 'sports' in every new generation. Among the mutants some cells have the potential ability to multiply abnormally. They will not do so, however, unless conditions are right—that is, unless their environment inside the body is altered in a suitable way. For example, tobacco smoke may alter the environment so as to favor lung-cell mutants capable of malignant growth at the expense of normal tissue. A kind of natural selection may be working in the body, and our research will help us evaluate this theory and others." Toward the end of our talk, Hammond emphasized the widening scope of the current large-scale survey. The primary purpose is naturally to cure and prevent cancer, but a prospective study by its very nature provides significant information about a variety of conditions. For example, out of the million persons originally interviewed five years ago about forty-five thousand have already died—and, as expected, a large proportion of them died from heart and circulatory diseases. So it is hardly surprising that results are of considerable interest to specialists in many fields. 8 THE HEALTH BULLETIN February, 1965
Object Description
Rating | |
Fixed Title * | NCHH-04: The Health Bulletin [1914-1973] |
Document Title | The Health Bulletin [1914-1973] |
Subject Topical | Public health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Contributor | North Carolina. State Board of Health. |
Publisher | Raleigh, North Carolina State Board of Health. |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1965 |
Identifier | NCHH-04-080 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 80 |
Health Discipline | Public Health |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-04/nchh-04-080.pdf |
Document Sort | all; group-b; nchh-04 |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-04-080 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-04 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb1296443 |
Description
Fixed Title * | Page 8 |
Document Title | The Health Bulletin [1914-1973] |
Subject Topical | Public health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Contributor | North Carolina. State Board of Health. |
Publisher | Raleigh, North Carolina State Board of Health. |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1965 |
Identifier | NCHH-04-080-0064 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Page Type | all; article |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Filename | healthbulletinse80nort_0064.jp2 |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 80 |
Issue Number | 4 |
Page Number | 8 |
Health Discipline | Public Health |
Full Text | or "clusters of factors, may serve as warnings of impending cancers." To Save More Lives Nothing of this scope has ever been t|ied before, and Hammond pointed out that it is still much too early to predict just how the new approach will work out. But the American Cancer Society is conducting other important statistical studies, and he cited one of them as an example of future possibilities. A prospective or follow-up study is under way involving the occurrence of cervical cancer among more than eighty thousand women in Toledo, Ohio. The main purpose is to investigate a tentative finding which, if confirmed, might mean the saving of many lives. "Earlier studies had suggested the existence in the population of a group of 'high-risk' women—women who reported any kind of cervical complaint such as discharge or bleeding. Remember that, as far as medical science can tell, they were absolutely free of cervical cancer. Yet follow-up observations indicate that they are 10-to-15 times more likely to contract the disease than women who did not have such complaints. Another important point is that they made up a small proportion of the total group, about one out of seven women. "Now we're checking these results, among others, with the aid of an electronic computer and expect to have our answers within six months or so. Assuming that our preliminary findings are indeed valid, we shall make a strenuous effort to persuade these high-risk women to report for special medical examinations every six months. You can see the possibilities here. Most cervical cancer seems to occur in a group that can be identified beforehand, and the chances are good that by focusing on this group we may be able to lower death rates appreciably. Furthermore, our large-scale cancer prevention study is designed to locate other high-risk groups, if they exist. "This may also be the best way to get back to basic causes, a central aim of all our research. If high-risk groups are found and examined two or more times a year, medical investigators will have a unique opportunity to follow more closely than ever before the long and intricate process whose last stages are what we call cancer. According to one theory, the one I favor, this process depends ultimately on a special kind of genetic change. "Think of the body's cells as populations of living things. They are continually dying and being replaced by newborn cells and, as in all populations, there are mutations or 'sports' in every new generation. Among the mutants some cells have the potential ability to multiply abnormally. They will not do so, however, unless conditions are right—that is, unless their environment inside the body is altered in a suitable way. For example, tobacco smoke may alter the environment so as to favor lung-cell mutants capable of malignant growth at the expense of normal tissue. A kind of natural selection may be working in the body, and our research will help us evaluate this theory and others." Toward the end of our talk, Hammond emphasized the widening scope of the current large-scale survey. The primary purpose is naturally to cure and prevent cancer, but a prospective study by its very nature provides significant information about a variety of conditions. For example, out of the million persons originally interviewed five years ago about forty-five thousand have already died—and, as expected, a large proportion of them died from heart and circulatory diseases. So it is hardly surprising that results are of considerable interest to specialists in many fields. 8 THE HEALTH BULLETIN February, 1965 |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-04/nchh-04-080.pdf |
Document Sort | all; group-b; nchh-04 |
Article Title | A Visit With Cuyler Hammond |
Article Author | Pfeiffer, John E. |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-04-080 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-04 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb1296443 |
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