Three cases of oral syphilis - an overview.

Syphilis is an infectious disease caused by the organism Treponema pallidum. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of new cases of syphilis in the UK over the past decade. Intra-oral ulceration is often the only presenting feature of the disease, which then enters a latent period.

Evaluation of human papillomavirus testing for squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil in clinical practice.

Background: Oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a subtype of head-and-neck cancer with a distinct clinical and prognostic profile. While there are calls to undertake HPV testing for oropharyngeal SCCs within the diagnostic setting and for clinical trials, there are currently no internationally accepted standards.

Methods: 142 tonsil SCCs were tested using p16 immunohistochemistry (IHC), high-risk HPV DNA in situ hybridisation (ISH) and HPV DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR; GP5+/6+ primers).

Galectin-3 does not reliably distinguish benign from malignant thyroid neoplasms.

Aims: To determine whether galectin-3 is a sensitive indicator of thyroid malignancy. It has been suggested as a potential marker for differentiating thyroid carcinoma from benign or non-neoplastic lesions in preoperative fine-needle aspirates (FNAs).

Methods: Galectin-3 protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed thyroid tissues from 124 patients with histological diagnoses of papillary carcinoma (n = 38), follicular carcinoma (n = 19), follicular adenoma (n = 32) and dominant nodules of multinodular goitre (n = 35).