best stain for morphological study of human seminal fluid's smears

There is a high need for proper evaluation of the morphological features of human sperms. The importance of this lies in the field of andrology, male fertility and in vitro fertilization. The wet smears can give rough clue about the shape of the sperms, but it is neither accurate nor reproducible. This study aimed to determine the best stain which can be used for seminal fluid cytology. This study was conducted in Port Sudan, Red Sea State, Sudan in the period from October 2006 to September 2007. The total number of patients was 50. Samples which were collected from normospermic patients [NSP] were prepared by direct smear technique. Samples which were collected from oligospermic patients [OSP] and azoospermic patients [ASP] were prepared by direct smear technique and also by indirect smear techniques [concentration method]. Smear samples were stained by freshly prepared Harris's Haematoxylin, Papanicolaou stain, May-Grunwald Giemsa stains [MGG], supra vital stain, Giemsa stain and leishman's stain. In this study, the best stain was Harris's Haematoxylin [80% excellent for the head of sperm, 70% good for the neck, 59% excellent for the tail, 42% very good for cells in background]. Harris's stain was followed by papanicolaou stain and the third best stain was supra vital stain. MGG was better than Giemsa in staining of semen smears [75% good versus 25% good] in overall performance. The worst stain was Leishman's stain. Stained smears must be used for the morphological study of semen samples. Harris's Haematoxylin is the best stain for semen cytological features. Stains which used for the semen samples should be freshly prepared

Pattern and incidence of cancer in red sea state, Sudan

To study the incidence rate and the pattern of cancer in Red Sea State, Sudan. All the diagnosed cancer cases were recorded from the histopathology laboratory, Almawani Hospital, Red Sea State, Sudan during the period November 2003 to November 2006. The cancers were classified according to the organs affected and then ranked in their order of relative frequency. The mean age, age range, male to female ratio, the incidence rate and the age standardized rate were also calculated. The incidence rate of cancer was 12.7 per 100,000. Females were twice affected as males. The mean age of presentation was 48 years. The age standardized rate was 41.5 per 100,000. The most common cancers are breast, cervical, head and neck, gastrointestinal and skin cancer. In females, the most frequent types were breast, cervical, head and neck cancers and female genital system cancers. The most common cancers in males were head and neck, skin, soft tissue and gastrointestinal cancers. Females' cancers, especially breast cancers and cervical cancers, were the most common types of malignancies in the general population. This necessitates the establishment of screening program to all women in their reproductive life for these cancers

Clinical presentations and laboratory findings in suspected cases of dengue virus

To study the clinical presentations and laboratory findings of patients presented with fever in a Hospital in Portsudan, Sudan and to detect dengue virus antibodies in their blood. This study was carried in Almwani Hospital during the period from April to July 2005. Eighty-four patients were included in this hospital-based study. All of them had fever. Their blood films, Widal tests for typhoid, stools and urine investigations were normal. The clinical data were collected using questionnaires. Two samples of blood were taken. One was for general hematological investigation [white blood cell and platelets count], while serum was taken from the other sample for serological detection of the dengue virus antibodies using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] technique. The fever was associated with vomiting [22 patients] and abdominal pain [44 patients]. In 93% of the cases bleeding [epistaxes, purpura, malena, hematemesis, and others] occurred. Routine laboratory findings were leucopenia [90% of the cases] and thrombocytopenia [88% of the cases]. The diagnosis was confirmed by ELISA detection of dengue virus immunoglobulin M antibodies [in 88% of the patient's sera]. In endemic areas with mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti, infection with dengue virus should highly be suspected in patients presented with fever. The ELISA or rapid tests for detection of the viral antibodies should be added to the routine investigations to any patient with complain of fever with no obvious cause. Surveillance program and mosquito control measures should be activated in Portsudan