Evaluation of methods for one-dimensional spatial analysis of two-dimensional patterns in mouse chimaeras.

The relative extent of cell mixing in tissues of mouse chimaeras or mosaics can be studied by comparing the distributions of the two cell populations in the tissues. However, the mean patch size is misleading because it is affected by both the extent of cell mixing and the relative contributions of the two cell populations. Previous work suggested that effects attributable to differences in tissue composition among chimaeras can be factored out either by correcting the mean patch size or by using the median patch size for the minority cell population and restricting the analysis to grossly unbalanced chimaeras.

Reduced risk of oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer among peri- and post-menopausal women in Scotland following a striking decrease in use of hormone replacement therapy.

Many countries report a decline in breast cancer incidence among peri- and post-menopausal women following a decline in HRT prescribing. To investigate recent Scottish incidence trends, European age-standardised incidence rates from 1997 to 2005 were stratified by method of first detection, ER status and age group. We developed change point models of the annual age-specific cases for the peri- and post-menopausal age groups and ER status using Poisson regression.

Diagnosis of hepatitis C virus infection in Scotland's injecting drug user population.

We estimated the extent of undiagnosed hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in injecting drug users (IDUs) in Scotland. We used record-linkage to determine HCV diagnosis status for 41 062 current/former IDUs attending drug treatment and support services between 1 April 1995 and 31 March 2006; the extent of undiagnosed HCV infection was estimated by comparing the number HCV-diagnosed to the number HCV-infected (estimated from an unlinked anonymous testing survey of 2141 current/former IDUs). In all, 9145 IDUs (22%) were diagnosed HCV antibody-positive since first attendance at drug services (diagnosis rate of 33.

Porphyrinuria in childhood autistic disorder is not associated with urinary creatinine deficiency.

Background: Urinary metabolite measurements are often normalized to levels of the ubiquitous metabolite creatinine (CRT) to take account of variations in fluid export. Following CRT normalization, excesses of porphyrins and isoprostanes have been reported in the urines of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. It was suggested (Whiteley et al.