[Detection of monoclonality in childhood lymphoma with the polymerase chain reaction].

We studied monoclonality of tumour cells by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in paediatric lymphomas. In B-lymphomas we detected monoclonal rearrangement of the immunoglobulin of the T-cell receptor delta and gamma chain (TCR, TCR-delta, TCR-gamma) by an analogous way. We examined a group of 37 paediatric patients with lymphomas (26 with B-lymphomas and 11 with T-lymphomas).

[N-myc oncogene amplification in tumors of the sympathetic nervous system: preliminary study of methods and clinico-pathologic correlations].

Tumors of the sympathetic nervous system (NT), namely neuroblastoma (NB) and ganglioneuroblastoma (GNB), have a variable clinical course. Prognostic factors include clinical stage, age of the patient, histological grade, and changes at the genomic level, of which amplification of N-myc oncogene is a well recognized phenomenon. The aim of this study was to establish the status of the N-myc oncogene in NT and to compare the results with histopathological grading, with risk groups according to criteria outlined by Joshi et al.

DNA ploidy in neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma is perhaps the most heterogeneous childhood cancer in terms of clinical behavior. Stage of disease, age at diagnosis, levels of urinary catecholamine excretion, N-myc amplification, and DNA ploidy have been found to be significant prognostic factors. The aims of this combined retrospective-prospective study are to verify the prognostic significance of DNA ploidy and to show its correlation with other prognostic signs.

Staining of microsporidian spores by optical brighteners with remarks on the use of brighteners for the diagnosis of AIDS associated human microsporidioses.

Conditions for the effective fluorescence labelling of microsporidian spores by optical brighteners, based on the presence of chitin in the spore wall, are described. Spores of Vairimorpha ephestiae, V. necatrix, V.