Browsing by Author "Marmut, Z. (6506037110)"

INTRODUCTION: Preliminary researches taken part in Yugoslavia showed the risky low concentration of selenium in soil, food items and in serum of the examined population [10]. This research was carried out to discover the some factors which could influence the relationship of serum selenium concentration and the appearance of malignant diseases. METHODS: The investigation was carried out in two Belgrade communities, one rural (Barajevo), and the other central (Stari Grad), in two groups: cancer patients (57 + 17) and healthy controls (41 + 13). These groups were similar in median age and gender. Samples of human serum were obtained by venepunction, and after wet digestion selenium concentration was determined by hydride generated AAS (Perkin-Elmer 5000). Anamnestic data concerning family history of malignancy and comorbidity, especially chronic noncommunicable diseases, were collected by questionnaire. All the participants were asked about their health related habits like: cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. Dietary habits were assessed by food frequency method. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as the parameter of nutritional status. RESULTS: The mean serum selenium level in cancer patients and healthy control (Table 1) were not significantly different. But, both cancer patients and healthy controls from Barajevo have significantly lower values comparing to those living in Stari Grad. Table 2 shows the relationship between serum selenium level and various environmental factors. The factors identified as the most important are: living in community Barajevo, age, history of chronic disease and some dietary factors. The univariate analysis (Table 3) revealed that factors like cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, family history of malignancy and comorbid states were not important predictive factors for patient malignant disease. The multivariate analysis revealed that consumption of sugar, fat and fruit were of the highest predictive value in assessing cancer relative risk. DISCUSSION: The results of selenium serum level in investigated population are in agreement with those published by Maksimovic [10]. They are among the lowest concentrations in Europe, especially in participants living in Barajevo. Thought the number of investigators found generally lower serum selenium levels in cancer patients, the finding is not entirely consistent [14, 15], and so are the results obtained here. Consumption frequency calculated for 44 food items which may be most important source of dietary selenium intake (like: meat, fish, diary products and cereals), didn't show important relationship with serum selenium levels. People living in Barajevo consume food grown in their own soils (proofed deficient with selenium), and this might the reason for the striking differences in serum selenium levels between people living in Barajevo and Stari Grad. CONCLUSION: The results obtained in this investigation indicated that serum selenium level is low both groups cancer patients and healthy controls too. Food items identified as sources of selenium in diet are not connected with this low selenium level.

Since the evidence to data suggest that some obese person respond well to non-pharmacological measures, the aim of this study was to examine the extent of body weight reduction necessary to reduce blood pressure to normal values. A group of 250 obese women with hypertension (blood pressure measurements over 160/95) and an overweight of at least 20 per cent excess of ideal weight was included in the study. The patients were advised to take well balanced low-calorie (about 1000 kcal/day) diet containing 66 g proteins, 140 g carbohydrates, 13 g fat and 0.5 g salt. They were advised to increase daily physical activities. Low-calorie diets were used to decrease body weight in groups of patients with changed of unchanged antihypertensive drug therapy, also. Decrease in body weight resulted in significant decrease in blood pressure; over two-thirds of complaint patients achieve normal blood pressure with a loss of only 5-10 per cent of their weight excess even if at this point they were still overweight. In the group receiving no drug therapy 78 per cent reached normal blood pressure, 76 per cent in the patients whose antihypertensive treatment had to be modified during the study and 63 per cent in the group receiving unchanged drug therapy. It was concluded that weight reduction program (diet and physical activity) can be a possible approach to treat hypertension without drugs and patients can attain normotension long before achieving the ideal weight.

Preliminary researches taken part in Yugoslavia showed the risky low level of selenium (Se) in soil, food items and in serum of the examined population; therefore the aim of this research was to discover the specific factors which could influence the serum concentration of selenium and the appearance of malignant diseases. The case-control study included the group of malignant diseased patients from urban and rural regions of Belgrade and the group of healthy pairs matches the group of diseased subjects in sex and age and not blood related. We followed the serum concentration of selenium using the method of atomic absorption spectrophotometry on spectrophotometer Perkin-Elmer model 5000. We also used an interview in order to discover different factors that can influence the serum concentration of selenium and the appearance of malignant diseases, like nutrition status by 'food frequency' method, risky behavior such as: smoking, alcohol consumption, use of toxic chemical compounds. The differences in average values of serum concentration of selenium between diseased and control subjects were not statistically significant, but both were below the lowest noticed in all previous reports. We also noticed the significant difference between subjects from rural and urban communities: The lowest level of Se was found in patients with breast cancer. Factors that showed the most significant influence on malignant diseases tested by logistic regression (shown odds ratios) were dwelling conditions and intake of some food items. On the contrary: smoking, alcohol consumption, chronic diseases, use of toxic chemical compounds didn't show statistically significant correlation with malignant disease. The levels of Se of our subjects were classified in quartiles by using 35 variables in the method of canonic discrimination analyses. So these results showed the multifactorial nature. Among these factors, the most significant were those connected with dwelling place (flat dimension and comfort), health parameters, frequency of using 15 food items (milk and milky products, fish, poultry, vegetables, fruit), food supplying. We made a conclusion that modification of nutrition in with more regular meals, more cereals intake, fruit, vegetables, fish and poultry (food with great amount of selenium) as well as using food from different regions of the country, should have double positive influence on prevention of low Se and elimination the negative nutritional habits which are risky factors for malignant diseases. The usefulness of fertilizers enriched with selenium should be seriously considered.