"Brienzi" - The blue Vivianite man of Switzerland: Time since death estimation of an adipocere body.

In 1996, a cadaver in adipocere condition was discovered in a bay of the Brienzer See in Switzerland. The torso was named "Brienzi" following the "Iceman" Ötzi. Several outer parts of the body were incrusted; the incrustation was in blue color.

Fatal steamer accident; blunt force injuries and drowning in post-mortem MSCT and MRI.

Steamer accidents, through contact with the bucket wheel, are very seldom today. No publication of such a kind of fatal accident could be found in literature. We present the case of a fatal steamer accident, in which the findings of a blunt traumatization of a person by the ship was completely documented by post-mortem combined multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations.

Borrelia burgdorferi persists in the brain in chronic lyme neuroborreliosis and may be associated with Alzheimer disease.

The cause, or causes, of the vast majority of Alzheimer's disease cases are unknown. A number of contributing factors have been postulated, including infection. It has long been known that the spirochete Treponema pallidum, which is the infective agent for syphilis, can in its late stages cause dementia, chronic inflammation, cortical atrophy and amyloid deposition.

Diatom detection in the diagnosis of death by drowning.

A medicolegal/algological collaboration lasting several years aimed at developing methods for dealing with dead bodies found in water where the circumstances are not clear, has led to an interdisciplinary procedure. To enable algological analysis, sample preservation and preparation must be free from contamination or carry-over at the beginning of the autopsy, although it should be noted that the demands on the digestion method are very high. One or more water samples from the site of drowning (from surface and bed) should be taken.

Germ cell tumors of the testis overexpress wild-type p53.

Several recent studies have suggested that testicular germ cell tumors express high levels of wild-type p53 protein. To clarify and confirm this unexpected result, we have investigated seminomatous and nonseminomatous germ cell tumors at the genomic, mRNA, and protein levels. Thirty-five tumors were examined for p53 overexpression using antibodies directed against the p53 (PAb1801, PAb240, and CM1), mdm2 (IF2), and p21Waf1/Clp1 (EA10) proteins.

Comparison of prognostic markers detected by immunohistochemistry in male and female breast carcinomas.

Male infiltrating breast carcinomas are rare and seem to have different characteristics, prognosis and sensitivity to hormonal treatment than those of female breast carcinomas. Our aim was to determine whether markers which have an established role in women are also important in men. 66 male infiltrating-ductal breast carcinomas were compared with 190 female breast carcinomas of the same type.

Neuropeptide Y secretion from a human insulinoma.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a 36 aminoacid peptide known to inhibit glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. NPY has been shown to be synthesized and secreted by rat islets of Langerhans. More recently, we described the presence on NPY within human islets of Langerhans and in several pancreatic endocrine tumors.

bcl-2 protein in invasive ductal breast carcinomas.

The bcl-2 gene encodes a protein which inhibits programmed cell death (apoptosis). This protein was detected by immunohistochemical techniques in 48% of invasive ductal carcinomas of the breast. It was present in well-differentiated carcinomas with hormonal receptors, and proteins synthesized under the control of oestrogens: pS2, cathepsin D and ERD5.

Immunolocalization of neuropeptide Y in human pancreatic endocrine tumors.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a 36 amino acid peptide known to inhibit glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. NPY has recently been shown to be synthetized within rat islets of Langerhans and to be secreted in a differentiated rat insulin-secreting cell line, and as to this date the localization of NPY in human endocrine pancreas has not been reported. As NPY shares high amino acid sequence homology with peptide YY (PYY) and pancreatic polypeptide (PP), the polyclonal antibodies raised against these peptides often cross-react with each other.

Expression of p53 protein in gastric carcinomas. Association with histologic type and prognosis.

We searched for p53 protein accumulation in 72 gastric carcinomas. Of the 38 cases of the diffuse type, only four were positive for p53. Of the 34 cases of intestinal type, 24 had p53 protein accumulation.

Desmin and neural marker expression in mesothelial cells and mesotheliomas.

The distribution of keratin, vimentin, desmin, muscular actin, S100, specific neuron enolase, and chromogranin was studied by immunoperoxidase staining in mesothelium, malignant mesotheliomas, and pulmonary carcinomas. The mesothelial cells were positive for keratin and vimentin on all smears of pleural and ascitic effusions; most of them were also positive for desmin but rarely for enolase and S100. None was positive for muscular actin.

p53 Gene alterations and p53 protein accumulation in infiltrating ductal breast carcinomas: correlation between immunohistochemical and molecular biology techniques.

One hundred and eighty-eight infiltrating ductal carcinomas of the breast were examined immunohistochemically (IMM) for p53, and the results were compared to those of single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). Of the 65 IMM+ cases (35%), 32 showed a genetic alteration in exons 5 to 9. In some of the IMM+ SSCP- cases, the number of 53+ cells in the tumor was too low to be detected by SSCP.

Expression of p53 protein in prostate cancers of different histologic types.

Mutations and overexpression of p53 gene in prostate carcinoma have been found but their significance in the development and progression of cancer is so far unknown. We investigated the prevalence of abnormalities of p53 protein in a heterogeneous group of prostate carcinoma to verify whether acinar and non acinar carcinomas have a different expression of p53 protein. Paraffin sections of 45 prostate carcinomas (39 acinar, 3 ductal papillary, 1 transitional cell, 1 mucinous and 1 pure small cell) were examined for the expression of p53 protein using a panel of antibodies (monoclonal antibodies Pab 1801, D07 and polyclonal antibody CM1).

[Ovarian carcinoid tumors: immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study of 8 cases].

Eight ovarian carcinoids, 4 trabecular and 4 strumal have been studied immunohistochemically for polypeptide hormones; three of them were also examined with the electron microscope. Seven of eight cases were positive for at least one polypeptide hormone. The trabecular parts of the 4 cases of strumal carcinoid were positive for pancreatic polypeptide.

Prognostic value of p53 protein expression in breast carcinomas.

A group of 196 ductal infiltrating carcinomas of the breast was examined immunohistochemically for p53. The purpose of this study was to show whether frozen and fixed tissues are equally adequate for detection of p53 and which antibodies should be used to have a prognostic value. Detection was superior on frozen to that on formalin-fixed tissues.

Oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, pS2, ERD5, HSP27 and cathepsin D in invasive ductal breast carcinomas.

Hormonal receptors and markers for prognostic evaluation were detected immunohistochemically in 196 infiltrating ductal breast carcinomas. Immunohistochemical detection of progesterone and oestrogen receptor is a method giving results generally concordant with those of the binding assay. However, immunohistochemical detection seems better.

Natural history of diffuse uveal melanocytic proliferation. Case report.

Background: Diffuse uveal melanocytic proliferation is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome resulting in rapid bilateral visual loss due to proliferation of benign melanocytes within the choroid and ciliary body. Most of the previously reported cases have been seen with bilateral involvement and typical ocular features.

Patient: The authors report the case of a 61-year-old man who presented with uniocular posterior pole lesions at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium and subsequently developed the typical bilateral lesions of diffuse uveal melanocytic proliferation.

Mammary origin of metastases. Immunohistochemical determination.

Zinc-alpha 2-glycoprotein, gross cystic disease fluid protein 15, and estrogen receptors are expressed in a great proportion of breast carcinomas. These markers were investigated by immunohistochemistry in 28 metastases from breast carcinomas and for comparison on 24 metastases from other carcinomas. A group of 83 primary nonmammary tumors was also studied.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours: an immunohistochemical study of 165 cases.

The phenotype of 165 gastrointestinal stromal tumours was studied by immunohistochemistry. In each case the phenotype was compared to the histological diagnosis. The phenotype was muscle in 49 tumours (30%), neural in 18 (11%), histiocytic in 20 (12%) and mixed in five (3%); 68 tumours (41%) were positive for vimentin only, four tumours had no markers and one tumour was positive for keratin only.

Prognostic value of serum proteins synthesized by breast carcinoma cells.

Several breast carcinoma cell lines or explants of such tumors, as well as examples of lactating or dysplastic breast tissue, synthesized three serum proteins (alpha 2-Zn-glycoprotein, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, and alpha-lipoprotein) in vitro. These proteins were detected by immunoperoxidase techniques in 126 breast carcinomas that had been evaluated clinically for more than six years. Alpha-2-Zn-glycoprotein was present in 58% of the carcinomas, whereas alpha 1-antichymotrypsin was seen in 55% and alpha-lipoprotein in 52%.

[Is papilloma of the esophagus a preneoplastic lesion? Study of 33 cases].

The etiology of esophagus papilloma is much debated: some authors attach greater importance to irritation factors, while others give preference to the viral hypothesis and suggest that this disease could eventually lead to squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. To verify the viral hypothesis, we reviewed the histological slides of the 33 cases of esophageal papilloma diagnosed in our Institute of Pathology between 1973 and 1988. We evaluated the histological diagnosis using Winckler's criteria.

Immunohistochemistry in the differential diagnosis of liver carcinomas.

Immunohistochemical techniques were used to study 177 hepatic tumors (hepatocarcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, hepatocholangiocarcinoma, adenocarcinoma of unknown origin, and metastatic carcinoma). Phenotypes suggestive of hepatocarcinoma included keratins 8 and 18, factor XIII a, alpha-fetoprotein. C-reactive protein, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) cross-reacting antigen; those in effect that excluded hepatocarcinoma were keratins 1, 5, 10, 11, 19, true CEA.

Immunohistochemistry of dysplasias and carcinomas of the esophageal epithelium.

Two types of high grade dysplasia were associated with invasive carcinomas. The first, deeply localized, had a pagetoid appearance and a particular phenotype: the dysplastic cells had keratins of low molecular weight rarely present in the esophagus; keratins of stratified epithelia were absent. This dysplasia was probably the origin of undifferentiated invasive carcinoma with which it was often associated.