Medicine and Public Health

The global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had a significant impact on the availability of screening for breast and cervical cancer. In Poland, two pandemic waves were observed in 2020, characterized by an increase in the number of confirmed cases and deaths caused by the SARS-CoV-2 infection. This situation has reduced the number of patients registering for mammography and cytological tests. The aim of this study is to describe the problem using the available numerical data obtained from the database of the regional branch of the National Health Fund regarding the significant decrease in the number of screening tests for breast and cervical cancer in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Background:
Nowadays, the amount of cross disciplinary research in many branches of science is growing dynamically. Multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary evaluations are being carried out. Scientific progress, in combination with the development of knowledge and new technical discoveries, allows the most complex problems to be considered in an innovative way, which results in original solutions, not present in the previous, more traditional understanding.

Material and methods:
We reviewed the current data on the evaluation of pathological tissues using current mass spectrometry methods, including advanced isotope ratio mass spectrometry in the first known atomic level cancer studies.

Results:
The first attempts to estimate the stable isotope ratio in pathological tissues appeared as a potentially new method of understanding the biology of cancer. The changes in stable isotope concentration showed the relationship with the fundamentals of cancer – its promotion stage, and the mechanisms of its progression as well as its relationship to the standard prognostic biomarkers. The advanced multidisciplinary analysis of the results of isotope ratio assessment in cancer studies culminated in the creation of ‘The Revolve(r) Heavy Nitrogen Theory of Death’, which explains the phenomena of the proliferation force of cancer cells.

Conclusions:
Stable isotope profiling performed using the highly advanced and creditable isotope ratio mass spectrometry approach reveals the previously unknown area of pathological tissue biology. Overcoming interdisciplinary barriers opens a new branch of medical studies with a potential clinical application. The intriguing results of the first attempts and potential clinical implications should form the basis of the next atomic-level cancer studies projects.

We describe the case of a COVID-positive patient with a clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis who was a prisoner at a maximum security facility without access to a prison surgical ward. The administrative and legal issues related to admitting and treating this patient on a standard surgical ward are briefly discussed.

An unusual case of gallbladder cancer with duodenal perforation presenting as massive upper
gastrointestinal bleeding is described. A case of diagnosis and treatment of gallbladder cancer is
briefly discussed.

Background:
The case of 30 years-old patient with recently diagnosed dextrocardia is discussed hererin.

Material and methods:
Dextrocardia, a specific anomaly of heart position in the chest, usually associated with situs inversus and sometimes by Karteneger’s syndrome was diagnosed in the patient by careful physical examination proven by electrocardiography and imaging.

Results:
Specific ECG changes were crucial to recognize the syndrome. The patient presented total situs inversus in physical examination. The case is a good exemplification of frequent dextrocardia oversight, since it has not been found during previous 30 years by medical professionals, including both pediatrician and occupational medicine specialist.

Conclusions:
The attention should be always turned to make a proper diagnosis because it allows to recognize properly additional diseases as well as avoid misdiagnosis in future.

A differential diagnosis of a right iliac crest mass in a 15-year-old boy is shortly discussed.
The importance of cancer awarness and adequate diagnostic procedures are underlined.