The lancet oncology
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Hyperthermia, the procedure of raising the temperature of tumour-loaded tissue to 40-43 degrees C, is applied as an adjunctive therapy with various established cancer treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The potential to control power distributions in vivo has been significantly improved lately by the development of planning systems and other modelling tools. This increased understanding has led to the design of multiantenna applicators (including their transforming networks) and implementation of systems for monitoring of E-fields (eg, electro-optical sensors) and temperature (particularly, on-line magnetic resonance tomography). ⋯ Therefore, further development of existing technology and elucidation of molecular mechanisms are justified. In recent molecular and biological investigations there have been novel applications such as gene therapy or immunotherapy (vaccination) with temperature acting as an enhancer, to trigger or to switch mechanisms on and off. However, for every particular temperature-dependent interaction exploited for clinical purposes, sophisticated control of temperature, spatially as well as temporally, in deep body regions will further improve the potential.
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The lancet oncology · Aug 2002
ReviewCigarette smoking and lung cancer: chemical mechanisms and approaches to prevention.
Much is now known about the carcinogens in cigarette smoke, their conversion to forms that react with DNA, and the miscoding properties of the resulting DNA adducts that cause the many genetic changes known to exist in human lung cancer. The chronic exposure of pulmonary DNA to a multitude of metabolically activated carcinogens is consistent with our current understanding of cancer as a disease resulting from many changes in key genes regulating growth. ⋯ Three prevention-related topics are discussed: human uptake of tobacco carcinogens as a way of assessing risk and investigating mechanisms; individual differences in the metabolic activation and detoxification of carcinogens, which may relate to cancer susceptibility; and chemoprevention of lung cancer in smokers and ex-smokers. These new approaches are necessary as adjuncts to education and cessation efforts, which despite some success have not eliminated tobacco smoking.