Characteristics of Coronial Autopsy Cases in the London Area of the United Kingdom, Pre and Post COVID-19 Lockdown.

Introduction: In order to reduce transmission of COVID-19, in March 2020 the UK national and devolved governments imposed restrictions including spatial distancing, stay-at-home orders, and travel restrictions. The aim of this study is to compare the characteristics of cases referred to the Coronial system for autopsy in the months before and during the lockdown period.

Methods: In all, 580 autopsy cases, performed in the London area between January and June 2020 were included in the study.

Cascade Fumarate Hydratase mutation screening allows early detection of kidney tumour: a case report.

Background: Fumarate hydratase (FH) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder which results in a major defect in cellular metabolism. It presents in infancy with progressive encephalopathy, hypotonia, seizures and failure to thrive and is often fatal in childhood. It is caused by mutations in the FH gene (1q42.

Retrogressive development: transcendental anatomy and teratology in nineteenth-century Britain.

In 1855 the leading British transcendental anatomist Robert Knox proposed a theory of retrogressive development according to which the human embryo could give rise to ancestral types or races and the animal embryo to other species within the same family. Unlike monsters attributed to the older theory of arrested development, new forms produced by retrogression were neither imperfect nor equivalent to a stage in the embryo's development. Instead, Knox postulated that embryos contained all possible specific forms in potentia.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour arising in the adrenal gland: a case report.

Introduction: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour arising in the adrenal gland is exceptional. As far as we are aware, there have been only three previous reports in the literature. We report a fourth case.

Paneth cell metaplasia in newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease in children.

Background: Paneth cell metaplasia (PCM) is well described in adults but little is known about the distribution of colonic Paneth cells and the occurrence of PCM in a paediatric population. The aim of this study is to determine whether Paneth cell hyperplasia or metaplasia characteristically occurs in the colons of children with newly diagnosed idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed colonic series from 28 new diagnoses of paediatric IBD at a tertiary referral centre, and from a further 14 children with IBD-like symptoms whose colonic biopsies and ancillary investigations were normal.

Fibro-osteochondroma of the uterus.

A case of a uterine fibro-osteochondroma in a 61-year-old woman with postmenopausal bleeding was presented. Ultrasound revealed a calcified lesion in the posterior wall of the uterus and a hysterectomy was performed. Histopathologic examination showed a well-circumscribed triphasic tumor composed of peripheral lobules of mature hyaline cartilage and foci of trabecular bone with a core of loosely arranged fibroblast-like, spindle cells.

Diagnosing eosinophilic colitis: histopathological pattern or nosological entity?

Reports of  "eosinophilic colitis"-raised colonic mucosal eosinophil density in patients with lower gastrointestinal symptoms-have increased markedly over the last fifteen years, though it remains a rarity. There is no consensus over its diagnosis and management, and uncertainty is compounded by the use of the same term to describe an idiopathic increase in colonic eosinophils and an eosinophilic inflammatory reaction to known aetiological agents such as parasites or drugs. In patients with histologically proven colonic eosinophilia, it is important to seek out underlying causes and careful clinicopathological correlation is advised.