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A prospective randomized study was carried out in patients with squamous carcinoma of the cervix, stage IIIB. The trial considers the randomization in three different arms: the control group, 53 evaluable patients who were treated with radiotherapy; the neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus radiotherapy group, in which 52 evaluable patients were subjected to the neoadjuvant treatment followed by radiotherapy, and the surgical group which included 50 evaluable patients who were administered neoadjuvant cytostatic treatment followed by surgery and whole pelvis irradiation. The ‘quick VBP scheme’ was the neoadjuvant scheme used. Overall survival is, after 4 years follow‐up, 37% in the control group, 53% in the neoadjuvant radiotherapy group and 63% in the surgical group; this was due to a decrease in pelvic recurrences. Distant metastases were similar in the three groups. In those cases with good response, in the neoadjuvant radiotherapy group, an unexplained unusual incidence of distant metastasis was observed. Surgery is ‘a priori’ the best treatment after neoadjuvant chemotherapy because the best cure rates were obtained with it; but the patients with unresectable tumors after neoadjuvant chemotherapy constitute a high risk group. Patients with hydronephrosis, bilateral parametrial involvement or bulky lymph node metastases are another high risk group in which the development of new therapeutic strategies is wholly justified.

In this study lipid and apolipoprotein patterns were investigated at birth and compared with those of adults. In cord sera, cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were 38.2, 46.2, 50.5, and 31.9%, respectively, of adult values. Apolipoprotein A_II, B and C_III were 48.6, 30.6 and 44.5% of adult values, while apo A_I, apo C_II and apo E showed values approaching those of adults (63.4, 73.3 and 89.7%, respectively). Also cholesterol/HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratios were lower in newborns. In cord sera, lipids were correlated with various apolipoproteins in a surprisingly different way from adult sera. HDL cholesterol was not inversely correlated with triglycerides, and showed a highly positive correlation with apo E, apo C_II and apo C_III, which did not correlate with HDL cholesterol in adults. These data supported the presence of significant differences in plasma concentrations and composition of lipoproteins at birth. Therefore HDL, apo C_II, and apo E seem to play a different and more important metabolic role in neonatal lipid metabolism.

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Planimetric and immunohistologic studies of Langerhans' cells were performed on epithelial sheets dissected from paired biopsy specimens removed from histopathologically normal and abnormal areas of cervices infected by the human papillomavirus. The results showed that epithelial lesions associated with human papillomavirus types classically not related to malignancy (such as types 6 and 11) showed a similar decrease in the Langerhans' cell number to that induced by types 16 and 18. This phenomenon was analyzed in condylomas and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia of low degree, in which human papillomavirus DNA was detected by Southern blot. On the other hand, a significant decrease was observed in Langerhans' cell number in areas of condyloma and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia compared to normal (control) areas from the same patients. It was also confirmed that Langerhans' cell density increases along with the grade of intraepithelial neoplasia.

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