91047759 Alcohol and other dietary factors in relation to serum hormone concentrations in women at climacteric

267 before treatment, then every 3 months for the first 2 years and every year for the next 3 years for determinations of bone mass, serum lipoproteins and bleeding patterns. The comparison group was followedup in parallel for the first 4 years. Forearm bone mass was measured with single photon absorptiometry. Blood and urine samples were taken in the morning after an overnight fast and tobacco abstinence. Main outcome measures: The effects of hormone therapy on bone mineral content in the forearm, on serum and urine indices of calcium metabolism, on serum levels of total, high (HDL-C) and low (LDL-C) density lipoprotein cholesterol, and bleeding pattern. Results: Bone mineral content in the forearm was stable during the 5 years of treatment, whereas it declined significantly averaging 10% after 4 years in the comparison group. The biochemical estimates of bone turnover decreased to premenopausal level in the hormone group, whereas they remained at a high level in the comparison group. In the hormone group total cholesterol and LDL-C decreased by 20% whereas HDL-C was virtually unchanged. The treatment was associated with minor irregular bleeding in nine women during the first 6 months of treatment, after which no bleeding was experienced. Conclusion: Continuous combined oestrogen/progestogen therapy can keep early postmenopausal women free of bleeding episodes for a period of 5 years, after the first 6 months in which spotting occurs in 25%. The therapy prevented bone loss completely. The changes in serum lipoproteins were concordant with a lipid profile associated with a decreased risk of coronary heart disease.

91047154 Steroid receptors and Ki-67 reactivity in ovarian cancer and in normal ovary: Correlation with DNA flow cytometry, biochemical receptor assay, and patient survival

lsola J.; Kallioniemi O.-P.; Korte J.-M.; Wahlstrom T.; Aine R.; Helle M.; Helin H. Department

of Biomedical Sciences, Box 607, University of Tampere, Tampere

J. PATHOL. 1990 162/4 (295-301) Steroid hormone receptors and reactivity for Ki-67 proliferation antigen were studied immunohistochemically in non-neoplastic post-menopausal human ovary and in 29 ovarian cancers. In the normal ovary, oestrogen (OR) and progesterone receptors (PR) were found in the surface epithelium and PR also in the ovarian stroma. Of the ovarian carcinomas 38 per cent (I l/29) contained OR and 69 per cent (20129)PR. Oestrogen receptor expression was confined to malignant cells, whereas PR was present occasionally also in the tumour stroma. In most cases, ORs and PRs were found only in a small population of cancer cells. The growth fractions assessed by the percentage of Ki-67-positive cells ranged from I to 59 per cent (mean 19.7 per cent) with a significant correlation (r = 0.74, P < 0.0001) to S-phase values (mean 12.9 per cent, range I .2-25.9 per cent) determined by DNA flow cytometry. High Ki-67 (B I5 per cent) and S-phase levels (Z 7.5 per cent) correlated with advanced disease stage and patient survival but not with OR or PR status, suggesting that hormone-receptor pathways and proliferative activity are not related in ovarian cancer. Positive OR status, however, identified patients with a better prognosis (P = 0.02). suggesting a correlation with tumour differentiation. The independent prognostic value of oestrogen receptor status and Ki-67 remains to be determined, but the prognostic impact of Ki-67 was comparable to that of S-phase values.

91047759 Alcohol and other dietary factors in relation to serm

hormone concentrations in women at climacteric

London S.; Willett W.; Longcope C.; McKinlay S. USC Medical School, PMB B306, 1420 San Pablo St, Los Angeles, CA 90033 AM. J. CLIN. NUTR. 1991 53/l (16&171) The relationships between concentrations of endogenous hormones in serum and dietary intakes of alcohol, fat, fiber, and caffeine were examined in 325 healthy Massachuesetts women aged 5&60 y who reported having a normal menstrual period within the previous I2 mo. Diet was assessed by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Hormones assayed were estrone, estradiol, percent free estradiol, sex-hormonebinding globulin (SHBG), cortisol, and gonadotrophins. Alcohol intake was not associated with concentrations of estrogens or gonadotropins. Neither total fat intake nor the fat composition of the diet influenced hormone concentrations. Fiber intake was positively correlated with SHBG; no associations with

268 estrogens

were seen. Caffeine

intake was inversely correlated

with free estradiol

and positively

correlated

with SHBG. These data suggest that fat, fiber, and alcohol intakes of US women at climacteric determinants of variations in estrone and either total or percent free estradiol.

are not

91047847 Does physical exercise influence the frequency of postmenopausal hot flushes? Hammar M.; Berg G.; Lindgren R. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. University Hospital, 581 85 Linkoping ACTA OBSTET.

GYNECOL.

SCAND.

1990 69/5 (409412)

The frequency of moderate and severe hot flushes was investigated in a group of women (n = 142) who took part in organized physical exercise on a regular basis, and a control group of all women 52 and 54 years old in the city of Linkoping, Sweden (n = 1,246). Only women with natural menopause and without a history of hormonal replacement treatment were statistically compared in the study. It appeared that moderate and severe vegetative symptoms with hot flushes and sweatings were only half as common among the physically active postmenopausal women (21.5%)) as in the control group (43.8%). Although this could be due to a positive selection of these physically active women, it might also be due to the fact that exercise may affect the mechanisms that elicit hot flushes in peri- and postmenopausal women.