Solid and cystic papillary neoplasm of pancreas--a report of seven cases.

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinico-pathological features of patients with solid and cystic papillary neoplasm of the pancreas. METHODS: The clinico-pathological features of solid and cystic papillary neoplasm of the pancreas were studied in seven fully documented and confirmed cases presented during the last seven years. RESULTS: All the patients were women with a median age of 18 years (range 12-40). Four presented with epigastric pain and three had a painless abdominal lump. The median duration of symptoms prior to presentation was 3 months (range 1-6). The tumor size ranged from 6-16 cm (mean 10 cm). Preoperative diagnosis was established by fine needle aspiration cytology in three patients. All the seven underwent resection. Pericapsular adhesions were found in two patients. All the patients were free of disease on follow-up ranging from 3-60 months (median 16 mo). CONCLUSION: Occurrence in young females, solid and cystic areas on imaging, resectability in spite of large size, and good prognosis are the important features of this tumor.

Unusual splenic metastasis from oesophageal cancer.

The most common visceral metastasis from oesophageal carcinomas are lungs and liver. A case of splenic metastasis from a squamous carcinoma of oesophagus is reported. To our knowledge, splenic metastasis without any nodal disease has not been described previously. The pattern of reported metastasis is summarised.

Cytogenetic studies in a population suspected to have chromosomal abnormalities.

The present study describes the cytogenetic findings in cases suspected with chromosomal abnormalities, in cases of mental retardation, multiple congenital malformations, clinical features of Down's syndrome, Klinefelter's syndrome, Turner's syndrome, ambiguous sex, sterility, amenorrhea and history of repeated spontaneous abortions in couples. Cytogenetic studies were done in 144 of the total 205 cases. In all, 57 (39.58%) were shown to have chromosomal abnormality and of these, 34 cases (25.7%) were Down's syndrome. Sex chromosome abnormality was found in 19 cases (13.2%). The results confirm the significant contribution of chromosomal abnormalities in the genesis of mental retardation, and abnormal sexual development.

Nucleolar organizer region heteromorphism associated with trisomy-21: a risk factor for non-disjunction?

An unusual nucleolar organizer region (double NOR) on chromosome 13 was observed in a Down syndrome child [47, XY, +21, dNOR(13)]. The variant chromosome was inherited from the mother [46, XX, dNOR(13)]. The extra chromosome 21 in the proband was maternal origin. The frequency of NOR chromosome association showed relatively high frequency in the mother and proband as compared to the controls. The result suggest that chromosome variants involving extra copies of NOR may indeed be involved in the meiotic nondisjunction of chromosome-21.

Correlation of fragile sites and bleomycin induced chromosome break points.

Bleomycin (Blm) induced break points in human chromosome preparations were compared with the known fragile sites. A total of 136 breaks were observed from 100 well spread G-banded plates (1.3 bps/cell). These correspond to a total of 57 break prone sites. Of these 57 sites, 24 correspond to the known fragile sites, 5 to sites of protooncogenes and neoplasia, 26 sites correspond to more than one known site of fragility, protooncogene, neoplasia or reciprocal translocation sites, and 2 unknown sites. The findings suggest that fragile sites, either commonly expressed or induced, might be a predisposing factor for chromosome aberrations in human. The expression of fragile sites induced by Blm and their correlation with the known cancer chromosome break points, oncogenes and reciprocal translocation, suggest that the fragile sites are prone to mutagenic action.

Studies on the inhibition a fatty acid synthesis in the chicken liver by adenine compounds in vitro.

The biosynthesis of fatty acids from [1-14C]-acetate in the chicken liver slices in vitro was inhibited by cAMP, adenosine, 5'-AMP, 3'-AMP, ATP, NAD and FAD but not by adenine, guanine or inosine. The minimum structural requirement for inhibition appears to be adenosine. The inhibitory action of adenosine, 5'-AMP and NAD on fatty acid synthesis is likely to be mediated by adenosine or its metabolites since adenosine deaminase reverses the inhibition while it has no effect on the inhibition by cAMP; thus, the inhibitory effect of cAMP is probably not mediated through its hydrolysis products, 5'-AMP, or adenosine.