The urokinase-type plasminogen activator-plasmin system plays an important role in many normal physiological processes including clot lysis, wound healing, embryogenesis and tissue remodelling. It is also involved in the pathogenesis of human malignancy through its ability to mediate tumour cell growth, invasion and metastatic dissemination. Interfering with this system is an appealing approach for experimental therapy of malignancy for several reasons. This concept is supported by a wealth of preclinical data. Evidence exists suggesting a role for this system in several major human tumour types. Preliminary evidence suggests that agents which block this pathway are effective in therapeutic doses that are already defined and relatively non-toxic. This form of treatment is not likely to carry cross-resistance with other types of cancer therapy and should be applicable to both localised and advanced tumours. Since heterogeneity in responsiveness among various tumour types is expected, clinical effects in given tumours would provide a basis for interpreting mechanisms of tumour progression in vivo and for future development of drugs with improved efficacy. Inhibition of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator-plasmin system remains a promising, but largely untested, area of experimental cancer therapeutics.
Photoprotection against ultraviolet light is an important part of our armamentarium against actinically derived skin cancers. However, there has been concern that adherence to photoprotection may lead to low vitamin D status, leading to negative effects on patients' health. In this work we discuss previous findings in this area, which do not give a clear picture as to the relationship between vitamin D levels and photoprotection measures, as well as research performed by the authors, who did not detect a relationship between serum 25(OH)D levels and adherence to photoprotection measures in subjects with skin cancer, as assessed by the use of sunscreen, clothing, hats, sunglasses, and umbrellas/shade through the Sun Protection Habits Index. Subjects who took vitamin D oral supplementation had greater serum 25(OH)D levels than those who did not, whereas dietary intake through foods did not predict 25(OH)D levels in the authors' study. However, there was a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in the authors' study population, highlighting the importance of assessing vitamin D status and recommending oral vitamin D supplementation when indicated.
SCOTT DUNBAR COMPARATIVE RELIGION IN EDUCATION Comparative Religion in Education 1 is made up of a collection of eight papers and these are based on the Shap Conference which was held at Easter 1969 under the auspices of the Department of Adult Education of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Dr Eric J. Sharpe provides a very interesting historical background to the comparative study of religion (CSR) in his essay, 'The Comparative Study of Religion in Historical Perspective'. He traces the development of CSR back to the years immediately following the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species (1859). CSR-as a 'scholarly discipline'-is still quite recent, but its significance and importance in education cannot be judged by its age. The question (as Dr Sharpe reminds us) is not shall we study religion but rather, how shall we approach this study. According to Dr Sharpe, Darwin's evolutionary hypothesis provided scholars with a method and this method was applied to religion as it was applied to other areas of human existence. In the light of this method it was held that religion as an historical phenomenon travelled along clearly discernible lines from its 'primitive' to its 'higher' stages. But as Sharpe points out such a view of religious development rests upon the application of an a priori theory which is taken to be axiomatic for the study of religion. And 'The idea of unbroken (or, at any rate, steady) progress from lower forms to higher seems less self-evident, in the light of inter alia two world wars, than it once did' (p. 9). Thus the extreme optimism which characterised the beginnings of CSR was in time replaced by a very sobering caution. Yet despite the failure of an earlier optimism and a contemporary caution the interest in CSR today is increasingly extensive. The reasons for this increased interest are no doubt complex and various, but among them we must include the rapid increase in communications between different parts of the world, contact with different cultures through mass-media, living in a multi-racial society and not least, dissatisfaction with the Christian faith. The question is: How is this increasing interest in CSR to be met? How should the student of comparative religion approach his discipline with a view to satisfying this need? According to Sharpe there are two alternatives: we may offer a purely descriptive account of religion or we may attempt to provide some
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