Pre-Vaccination Human Papillomavirus Genotypes and HPV16 Variants among Women Aged 25 Years or Less with Cervical Cancer.

Background: In 2007, Australia introduced a national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program. In 2017, the onset of cervical screening changed from 18 to 25 years of age, utilising human papillomavirus (HPV) nucleic acid testing. The objective of the study is to describe the HPV genotypes and HPV16 variants in biopsies from women ≤ 25 years of age with cervical carcinoma (CC) (cases), compared with those aged >25 years (controls), in a pre-vaccination cohort.

Tumor-Infiltrating Neutrophils after Neoadjuvant Therapy are Associated with Poor Prognosis in Esophageal Cancer.

Background: In esophageal cancer (EC), there is a paucity of knowledge regarding the interplay between the tumor immune microenvironment and response to neoadjuvant treatment and, therefore, which factors may influence outcomes. Thus, our goal was to investigate the changes in the immune microenvironment with neoadjuvant treatment in EC by assessing the expression of immune related genes and their association with prognosis.

Methods: We examined the transcriptome of paired pre- and post-neoadjuvant treated EC specimens.

Locally extensive angio-invasive Scedosporium prolificans infection following resection for squamous cell lung carcinoma.

We report a case of Scedosporium prolificans infection in a patient following surgery for squamous cell lung carcinoma. Combination therapy with voriconazole and terbinafine was commenced for intrathoracic infection and mycotic vasculitis. In spite of antifungal treatment, he developed culture-positive sternal and rib osteomyelitis four months later.

Standardization in immunohistology.

The rapid acceptance of immunohistology as an invaluable adjunct to morphologic diagnosis has been possible because of the development of new and more sensitive antibodies and detection systems that allow its application to formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPT). More importantly, antigen-retrieval techniques have resulted in some degree of consistency allowing immunohistology to be used reliably as a diagnostic tool. The advent of prognostic and predictive biomarkers, and the desire for individualized therapy has resulted in mounting pressure to employ the immunohistological assay in a quantitative manner.

Epidemiology and carcinogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) shows marked variation worldwide but the magnitude of this tumor is reflected by the occurrence of at least 1 million new cases annually and the uniformly dismal outlook with median survivals of <25 months after resection and <6 months with symptomatic treatment. The strikingly uneven distribution of this tumor parallels the prevalence of hepatitis B infection with rising incidence in western countries attributed to hepatitis C infection. Chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis constitute the major preneoplastic conditions in the majority of HCCs and may be related to other etiologic agents such as environmental chemical carcinogens including nitrites, hydrocarbons, solvents, organochlorine pesticides, and the chemicals in processed foods, cleaning agents, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, as well as plant toxins such as anatoxins produced by fungi that cause spoilage of grain and food in the tropics.

The pathology of dengue hemorrhagic fever.

An estimated 2.5 billion people are at risk of dengue infection, and of the 100 million cases of dengue fever per year, up to 500,000 develop dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) or dengue shock syndrome (DSS), the life-threatening forms of the infection. The large majority of DHF/DSS occurs as the result of a secondary infection with a different serotype of the virus.

How does antigen retrieval work?

The introduction of antigen retrieval has enabled immunohistology to become an integral component of morphologic diagnosis, routinely employed in cancer diagnosis, and for the identification of therapeutic and prognostic markers. The mechanism of antigen retrieval, however, remains speculative with the key to our understanding embedded in the actions of formaldehyde on proteins. One commonly held concept is that heat primarily breaks down protein cross-linkages that occur with aldehyde fixation, thus "unmasking" protein epitopes of interest.

The morphological spectrum of lymphadenopathy in HIV infected patients.

Aims: To study the histological spectrum of lymphadenopathy in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected Thai patients.

Methods: Lymph nodes from 55 HIV infected patients were accessioned over a 19 month period in two pathology laboratories in Bangkok, Thailand. These were examined with H&E, Ziehl-Neelsen, periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), PAS with diastase (PAS/D), Gram and methenamine stains.

Controversies in the assessment of HER-2: more questions than answers.

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) is over-expressed in 15% to 30% of breast cancers and is a poor prognostic marker in node-positive patients. HER-2 expression is an indicator of greater sensitivity to anthracycline-based chemotherapy and is the major criterion for selection for treatment with the anti-HER-2 antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin). Fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry (IHC) are the 2 most commonly used methods for detection of the gene and protein, respectively.