A study of the correlation of prostatic pathology and serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels: a perspective from Papua New Guinea

@#A review of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) values from January 1994 to May 1997 and their correlation with the histopathology of prostate specimens was carried out in the Department of Pathology, Port Moresby General Hospital. The study has shown that this biochemical investigation has not been properly used for the maximum benefit of the patient population. Remedial measures are suggested to improve the sensitivity and specificity of PSA in a setting with limited resources.

Basis of molecular biology and its applications: II. An outline of common laboratory techniques used in molecular biology

@#No abstract available

Basics of molecular biology and its applications: I. Molecular biology in medicine: basic concepts

@#Medicine has, in recent years, incorporated wave after wave of new scientific discoveries and technologies. Molecular medicine is one of these technologies and shows a dramatic example of the impact of advances in basic science. Advances in molecular biology have revolutionized daily clinical practice, particularly in developed countries, such that practitioners who received their medical education decades ago now need to adapt to this new discipline. While molecular medicine may not be a priority health issue in developing countries such as Papua New Guinea, it is equally important to ensure that the basic principles of knowledge and understanding of what goes on in that field form part of today's teaching of all practitioners of medicine and allied health workers. The three papers in this series aim to present molecular biology and its medical applications in as simple and lucid a manner as possible so that its scientific basis and principles as well as its potential for diagnosis and management of diseases are well appreciated.

Liver disease in Papua New Guinea 1981 to 1988, twenty years after the first surveys were done

@#Twenty years after the first surveys of liver disease were done cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma were still found to be the most important liver diseases in Papua New Guinea. Hepatitis B virus appears to be the main cause of both these conditions. Data from a number of different sources suggest a prevalence of hepatitis B positivity of about 17%. The most significant new finding was grade 3 iron deposition in 8 patients. This raises the question as to whether iron storage disease may now contribute to the spectrum of liver disease in Papua New Guinea. Many biopsies in the 1960s and 1980s were interpreted as nonspecific hepatitis; in the light of recent observations, at least some of these may have been due to hepatitis C infection.