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Background: There are several methods of platelet count used in hematology laboratory. These methods are manual counting, automated hematology analyzer counting, platelet count estimation by peripheral blood smear (PBS) method etc. Many diseases such as dengue, malaria, pregnancy induced hypertension etc. may leads to severe thrombocytopenia. Timely and precise diagnosis of platelet count plays very crucial role in critical care management of thrombocytopenia cases. The present study was undertaken to estimate platelet counts by PBS method and correlate them with results from automated hematology analyzer method.Methods: Study included one hundred randomly collected blood samples in EDTA anticoagulant vacutainer tubes. Each blood sample was processed for platelet count estimation with automated hematology analyzer and Leishman’s stained PBS examination. The statistical analysis was done by using Pearson's correlation test to access the agreement between both the methods.Results: The Pearson's correlation test showed significant positive correlation for platelet count estimation between both the methods. (r =0.9789).Conclusions: Platelet count estimation by PBS method is reliable and statistically significant when compared to hematology analyzer method. PBS platelet estimation method can be taken as early and rapid procedure for platelet assessment in critical severe thrombocytopenia cases. This method is simple, cheaper and can be done in rural hospital setup where automation is not available.
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Background & objectives: Epigenetic alterations, in addition to multiple gene abnormalities, are involved in the genesis and progression of human cancers. Aberrant methylation of CpG islands within promoter regions is associated with transcriptional inactivation of various tumour suppressor genes. O6-methyguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is a DNA repair gene that removes mutagenic and cytotoxic adducts from the O6-position of guanine induced by alkylating agents. MGMT promoter hypermethylation and reduced expression has been found in some primary human carcinomas. We studied DNA methylation of CpG islands of the MGMT gene and its relation with MGMT protein expression in human epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Methods: A total of 88 epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) tissue samples, 14 low malignant potential (LMP) tumours and 20 benign ovarian tissue samples were analysed for MGMT promoter methylation by nested methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) after bisulphite modification of DNA. A subset of 64 EOC samples, 10 LMP and benign tumours and five normal ovarian tissue samples were analysed for protein expression by immunohistochemistry. Results: The methylation frequencies of the MGMT gene promoter were found to be 29.5, 28.6 and 20 per cent for EOC samples, LMP tumours and benign cases, respectively. Positive protein expression was observed in 93.8 per cent of EOC and 100 per cent in LMP, benign tumours and normal ovarian tissue samples. Promoter hypermethylation with loss of protein expression was seen only in one case of EOC. Interpretation & conclusions: Our results suggest that MGMT promoter hypermethylation does not always reflect gene expression.