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Diseases lacking in satisfactory therapies, named orphans (over 60% of the known), raise the problem of the availability of new drugs to be discovered and evaluated on toxicological and clinical bases. The estimated cost for the full development of a drug makes it not profitable (and therefore orphan drug) in the case of rare diseases and the typical diseases of developing countries. The USA with the Orphan Drug Act have faced the former, whereas WHO with the "Tropical Diseases Research" programme has faced the latter. Uncommon formulations and dosages of known substances and products no longer marketed as non-profitable are considered orphans drugs as well.

The computerized translation of "Handbook of glandular tissue doses in mammography" (HHS publication FDA 85-8239) is presented. It is registered on floppy disk and suitable for use in MS-DOS on IBM personal computer, Olivetti or compatible. The manual collects data published by many authors and suggests a method to estimate the dose released to the glandular tissue (considered at risk for breast cancer) in the most commonly used conditions for mammography. Besides translation manual, the program holds an algorithm developed by the authors, which allows the dose to the glandular tissue to be evaluated, given the following data: projection: craniocaudal or mediolateral; compression level: firm or moderate; breast size: small, medium or large; breast composition: percentage of glandular tissue content (by weight); X-ray beam quality: HVL mm Al. The algorithm is obtained from a bidimensional fit of the original data and is based on the terms contained in the manual. The program flow is guided by menus that make the procedure suitable for inexperienced operators too, both for consulting and printing and for computing program.