: Multispecies Fauna Reconstruction Requires Thinking Outside the Box.

Conservation translocations have become increasingly popular for 'rewilding' areas that have lost their native fauna. These multispecies translocations are complex and need to consider the requirements of each individual species as well as the influence of likely interactions among them. The Dirk Hartog Island National Park Ecological Restoration Project, , aspires to restore ecological function to Western Australia's largest island.

Pain relief for women undergoing oocyte retrieval for assisted reproduction.

Background: Various methods of conscious sedation and analgesia have been used for pain relief during oocyte recovery in in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedures. The choice of agent has also been influenced by the quality of sedation and analgesia as well as by concerns about possible detrimental effects on reproductive outcomes.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and safety of different methods of conscious sedation and analgesia on pain relief and pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing transvaginal oocyte retrieval.

Long-term outcomes of breast cancer in women aged 30 years or younger, based on family history, pathology and BRCA1/BRCA2/TP53 status.

Background: There are relatively few articles addressing long-term follow-up in women with breast cancer at very young ages.

Methods: We have updated and extended our population-based analysis of breast cancer diagnosed at the age < or =30 years in North-west England to include an extra 15 patients with mutation testing in BRCA1, BRCA2 and TP53, with 115 of 288 consecutive cases being tested. Kaplan-Meier curves were generated to assess overall survival, contralateral breast cancer and other second primaries.

Addition of pathology and biomarker information significantly improves the performance of the Manchester scoring system for BRCA1 and BRCA2 testing.

Background: Selection for genetic testing of BRCA1/BRCA2 is an important area of healthcare. Although testing costs for mutational analysis are falling, costs in North America remain in excess of US$3000 (UK price can be 690 pounds). Guidelines in most countries use a 10-20% threshold of detecting a mutation in BRCA1/2 combined within a family before mutational analysis is considered.

Prognostic and predictive value of centrally reviewed Ki-67 labeling index in postmenopausal women with endocrine-responsive breast cancer: results from Breast International Group Trial 1-98 comparing adjuvant tamoxifen with letrozole.

Purpose: To evaluate the prognostic and predictive value of Ki-67 labeling index (LI) in a trial comparing letrozole (Let) with tamoxifen (Tam) as adjuvant therapy in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Breast International Group (BIG) trial 1-98 randomly assigned 8,010 patients to four treatment arms comparing Let and Tam with sequences of each agent. Of 4,922 patients randomly assigned to receive 5 years of monotherapy with either agent, 2,685 had primary tumor material available for central pathology assessment of Ki-67 LI by immunohistochemistry and had tumors confirmed to express estrogen receptors after central review.

Relationship between quantitative estrogen and progesterone receptor expression and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) status with recurrence in the Arimidex, Tamoxifen, Alone or in Combination trial.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between quantitative estrogen-receptor (ER) and progesterone-receptor (PgR) expression and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER-2) status with time to recurrence (TTR) in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive primary breast cancer treated with anastrozole or tamoxifen as adjuvant therapy.

Patients And Methods: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor blocks were retrospectively collected from patients in the monotherapy arms of the Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination (ATAC) trial and centrally tested for ER, PgR and HER-2. ER and PgR were scored using continuous scales and HER-2 was scored as 0 to 3+ with 2+ cases being analyzed by fluorescence in situ hybridization.

Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis: a 25-year experience.

Background: Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a rare, benign, chronic inflammatory condition of the breast that can mimic inflammatory breast cancer and periductal mastitis (PDM). Eighteen patients with a histopathologic diagnosis of IGM, seen over a period of 25 years, were retrospectively reviewed and compared with 133 patients with PDM and 100 normal patients.

Study Design: The unit's pathology database and clinic letters for this time period were used to identify patients who had presented with IGM.

A British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit study on serious ocular injuries from fireworks in the UK.

Purpose: We conducted a surveillance study to assess the nature, management, and visual outcomes of serious ocular injuries from fireworks in the UK.

Methods: New cases of serious ocular injuries from fireworks were prospectively ascertained through the monthly active surveillance system of the British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit (BOSU). All ophthalmologists in the UK received a reporting card each month for a 2-year period commencing July 2004.

Activated c-SRC in ductal carcinoma in situ correlates with high tumour grade, high proliferation and HER2 positivity.

Overexpression and/or activity of c-Src non-receptor tyrosine kinase is associated with progression of several human epithelial cancers including breast cancer. c-Src activity in 'pure' ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) was measured to assess whether this predicts recurrence and/or correlates with HER2 expression and other clinical parameters. Activated c-Src levels were evaluated in DCIS biopsies from 129 women, with median follow-up at 60 months.

Conscious sedation and analgesia for oocyte retrieval during IVF procedures: a Cochrane review.

Background: Various methods of sedation and analgesia have been used for pain relief during oocyte recovery during IVF.

Objective: To compare conscious sedation and analgesia with alternative methods for pain relief and pregnancy outcomes.

Methods: We searched the Specialised Register of the Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, the National Research Register and Current Controlled Trials up to February 2004.

Analgesia for labour pain--analysis of the trends and associations in the Grampian region of Scotland between 1986 and 2001.

Background: Although intrapartum analgesia has been in use since Victorian times, there have been few attempts to study its usage from routinely collected data. This population based epidemiological study aimed to analyse retrospective data on the distribution of different types of labour analgesia used by women in the Grampian region of Scotland between 1986 and 2001 in order to examine time trends and associations.

Methods: Data records on all deliveries occurring in the years 1986 to 2001 were extracted from the Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank.

Effect of a farnesyl transferase inhibitor (R115777) on ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast in a human xenograft model and on breast and ovarian cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo.

Introduction: The ras pathway is essential for cell growth and proliferation. The effects of R115777, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor, were investigated in cancer cell lines expressing varying levels of growth factor receptors and with differing ras status. Effects on tumour xenografts and human ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast in a xenograft mouse model were also tested.

Penetrating ocular injuries from fish-hooks.

Purpose: To report four cases of penetrating ocular injuries from fish-hooks.

Methods: The case records of four patients who attended the ophthalmology department with ocular fish-hook injuries were reviewed.

Results: Individuals were male, between the ages of 9 and 67.

Impact of a national external quality assessment scheme for breast pathology in the UK.

Background: This article presents the results and observed effects of the UK National Health Service Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP) external quality assurance scheme in breast histopathology.

Aims/methods: The major objectives were to monitor and improve the consistency of diagnoses made by pathologists and the quality of prognostic information in pathology reports. The scheme is based on a twice yearly circulation of 12 cases to over 600 registered participants.

The NHS breast screening programme (pathology) EQA: experience in recent years relating to issues involved in individual performance appraisal.

Background: The original role of the National Health Service breast screening programme (pathology) external quality assessment (EQA) scheme was educational; it aimed to raise standards, reinforce use of common terminology, and assess the consistency of pathology reporting of breast disease in the UK.

Aims/methods: To examine the performance (scores) of pathologists participating in the scheme in recent years. The scheme has evolved to help identify poor performers, reliant upon setting an acceptable cutpoint.

The rising cost of glaucoma drugs in Ireland 1996-2003.

Background: Glaucoma affects approximately 2% of the population in developed countries and is estimated to affect 67 million people worldwide. The authors investigated the effect of the introduction of new medications on the volume and cost of drugs for glaucoma in two countries, Northern Ireland (NI, population approximately 1.7 million) and the Republic of Ireland (ROI, population approximately 3.

Conscious sedation and analgesia for oocyte retrieval during in vitro fertilisation procedures.

Background: Various methods of sedation and analgesia have been used for pain relief during oocyte recovery in IVF/ICSI procedures. The choice of agents has also been influenced by quality of analgesia as well as by concern about possible detrimental effects on reproductive outcome.

Objectives: To assess the efficacy of conscious sedation and analgesia versus alternative methods on pregnancy outcomes and pain relief in patients undergoing transvaginal oocyte retrieval.

Serious eye and adnexal injuries from fireworks in Northern Ireland before and after lifting of the firework ban--an ophthalmology unit's experience.

Background/aims: To report serious fireworks-related eye and adnexal injuries presenting to the Department of Ophthalmology in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. To assess the effect of lifting of the legislative ban on fireworks in Northern Ireland in 1996.

Method: Twelve year retrospective review from 1990 to 2001 inclusive of all ocular and adnexal injuries from fireworks requiring hospitalisation to the ophthalmology department.

Management and outcome of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy in pregnancy.

Aims: To report the management and outcomes of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy in pregnancy.

Methods: A retrospective review of 8 diabetic females who developed pregnancy related sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy requiring treatment over a 12-year period.

Results: In total, 16 eyes of eight patients were included in this series.

Management of endophthalmitis with retained intraocular foreign body.

Aims: To assess the impact of primary injection of intravitreal antibiotics and delayed pars plana vitrectomy with removal of intraocular foreign body (IOFB) in patients with clinical features of bacterial endophthalmitis and retained IOFB.

Methods: Retrospective review of all patients with clinical features of infective endophthalmitis and a retained IOFB who had immediate injection of intravitreal antibiotics and delayed pars plana vitrectomy with removal of IOFB in two vitreo-retinal centres during 1995-2001. Nine patients were identified and minimum follow-up was 3 months.

Indomethacin blocks enhanced paracellular backflux in proximal tubules.

Renal interstitial hydrostatic pressure (RIHP) is a link between increased arterial BP and natriuresis. The mechanism whereby increases in RIHP inhibits sodium and water transport across the mammalian proximal tubule epithelium may involve changes in flux across the tight junction of the proximal tubule. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of increases in RIHP and inhibition of cyclooxygenase on paracellular backflux of an extracellular marker from the renal interstitium into the proximal tubule of the rat.