Evaluation of various modalities for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in body fluids.

Diagnosis of tuberculosis in body fluids remains an enigma. This study is an attempt to evaluate various modalities like smear, culture & PCR for the same. Out of 110 samples of body fluids, 68(61.8%) were negative by all the modalities, 11(10%) could be diagnosed by all modalities. 25(22.72%) were diagnosed by PCR alone. 3(2.7%) showed a growth on culture alone while 3 cases (2.7%) could be demonstrated only on smear.

Cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin and cellular proliferation marker AgNOR in bladder lesions--usefulness and limitations.

The objective of this study on bladder lesions was to assess the relationship of (a) the proliferative activity measured by AgNOR counts, and (b) the loss of cell adhesion leading to acquisition of invasive properties as assessed by E-Cadherin expression. Paraffin embedded tissue biopsies from normal urothelium and malignant urothelial lesions were randomly selected from our surgical pathology files. AgNORs were analysed by the silver staining method and E_cadherin expression by immunohistochemistry. An increase in M&P AgNOR counts was observed from normal through benign to malignant tumors. A corresponding decrease in E Cadherin expression was noticed from normal through different grades of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). A correlation was found between a high P AgNOR and decreased E_cadherin expression with stromal and muscle invasive tumors. It is deduced that when low grade tumors show a high P AgNOR and loss of E_cadherin expression, it is a significant indicator of the possible aggressive behavior in terms of stromal or muscle invasion and progression to a higher grade in future.

Detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) types in precancerous and cancerous lesions of cervix in Indian women: a preliminary report.

One hundred cervical tissues including 72 malignancies (68 squamous cell carcinomas, 3 adenocarcinomas, 1 neuro-endocrine carcinoma), 24 cases of CIN of various grades and 4 normals were examined for the presence of Human Papilloma virus (HPV) types by non isotopic in-situ hybridisation. Biotinylated probes to HPV types 16 and 18 were used in all the cases and 31 and 33 in 15 squamous Carcinomas. HPV DNA sequences were detected in 55/72 (76.4%) of the malignant lesions, of which among squamous Carcinomas. HPV 16 alone was present in 12 of 68 cases (17.64%) and type 18 in 15 of 68 cases (22.0%). 20/68 (29.4%) showed both types 16 and 18. Of the 15 cases examined for types 31 and 33.5 cases showed presence of both types. All three adenocarcinomas were negative for HPV 16, but positive for HPV 18. The solitary case of Neuroendocrine Carcinoma showed only HPV 18. Of the 24 CINS, type 16 was detected in 7/24 cases (29.1%) type 18 in 2/24 (8.3%) cases and both types in 1/24 (4.1%). None of the normal cases showed positive signals for HPV. The overall results show a slight preponderance of HPV 18 in this group of carcinoma of cervix studied and correlate with poor differentiation and greater aggressive behaviour of cervical cancer which is the most common type of cancer among women in this country.