A proposal for cellularity assessment for EGFR mutational analysis with a correlation with DNA yield and evaluation of the number of sections obtained from cell blocks for immunohistochemistry in non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Aims: Different approaches have been described for reporting specimen adequacy for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation analysis. We aimed: (1) to conduct cellularity assessment and to investigate its association with DNA yield, (2) to compare the H&E slides taken before and after the thick sections (curls) obtained for EGFR testing and (3) to evaluate the number of ancillary studies performed.

Methods: Cell block (CB) slides of 110 non-small cell lung carcinoma cases submitted to EGFR analysis from 2010 to 2012 were reviewed for total cellularity (ranges 1-100, 100-250, 250-500, 500-750, 750-1000 and >1000 cells), tumour cellularity (ranges 1-50, 50-100, 100-300 and >300 cells) and the percentage of tumour cells.

Antibody responses of grazing alpacas (Lama pacos) in New Zealand to intestinal nematodes.

Alpaca (Lama pacos) were grazed for 10 months (October 1992-June 1993) on pasture with sheep or on pasture which had been recently grazed by sheep. The alpaca, of various age groups, totalled 94 at the beginning of the experiment and during the course of the experiment 32 progeny (cria) were born, 10 in spring 1992 and 22 in autumn 1993. Serum levels of specific antibodies to excretory/secretory antigens of the third larval stage (L3) of Cooperia curticei, Ostertagia circumcincta or Trichostrongylus colubriformis and somatic antigens from adult T.

A preliminary study of copper supplementation in alpacas (Lama pacos).

Supplementing three alpacas with Cu as cupric sulphate (10 mg Cu/kg liveweight) as a single oral dose resulted in no change in the mean plasma Cu concentrations over 30 days while a single oral dose of cupric oxide needles (2.5 g) given to three alpacas caused a small but significant increase in the mean plasma Cu concentrations during days 10-30 following treatment. The mean plasma Cu concentrations of four untreated animals ranged from 4.

Nematode burdens of alpacas sharing grazing with sheep in New Zealand.

Sheep and alpacas of similar age groups (6, 18 and 36+ months) were grazed for 16 weeks on pasture contaminated by lambs. Faecal egg counts, bulked larval cultures, lungworm larvae in faeces, dag scores, liveweight changes and nematode larvae on pasture were measured. Chabertia, Oesophagostomum, Cooperia, Ostertagia and Haemonchus and Trichostrongylus larvae were cultured from both the sheep and the alpacas.