Role of Papinicolaou Smears in the Diagnosis of Premalignant and Malignant Lesions of the Cervix.

Cervical carcinoma is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among women worldwide and has been considered as one of the preventable cancers. Aim: To determine the prevalance of various lesions on cervical cytology and to study the clinicopathologic correlation of conventional Papanicoloau smears for the diagnosis of squamous intraepithelial lesion and invasive carcinoma using the Bethsda system for reporting cervical cytology. Material and method: The study included a retrospective reviewing of conventional cervical smears reported in the Department of pathology, Government medical College, Miraj over a period of six months from January 2012 to June 2012. Results: Epithelial cell abnormalities were found in 3% cases. Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) and atypical squamous cell- cannot exclude HSIL(ASC-H) was seen in 3(0.91%) cases each. Squamous intra-epithelial lesion was seen in 6(1.83%), out of which 2(0.61%) had low grade squamous intra-epithelial lesion(LSIL) exhibiting koilocytic atypia and 4(1.22%) had high grade squamous intra-epithelial lesion(HSIL). Invasive squamous cell carcinoma was seen in 4(1.22%) cases. The mean age of patients with LSIL was 43.4 years, and that with HSIL and invasive carcinoma was 53 years and 54 years, respectively. Conclusion: Cervical screening using Pap smear helps to detect premalignant and malignant cervical lesions at an early stage.

Hemagglutination pattern of galactose specific lectin from Pedilanthus tithymaloides in diabetes mellitus.

The usefulness of a galactose specific lectin from P. tithymaloides was examined to study the hemagglutination pattern in 193 patients with diabetes mellitus out of which 34 cases were of insulin dependent. A control of 72 normal subjects was also included. The hemagglutination titre against a partially purified lectin from P. tithymaloides of control group ranged from 9.1 to 170 units per mg protein with a mean value of 54 units per mg protein. Significantly low titre was observed in the cases with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, while non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus cases did not show any significant change. Further significant reduction in the titre in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus group was shown to occur along with the increased duration of the diabetic condition, reflecting measurable erythrocyte surface alterations.

Effects of gamma irradiation on histomorphology of some endocrine glands of the rain quail, Coturnix coromandelica (Gmelin).

Effects of single, whole-body 60Co-gamma irradiation in different doses (250 rad to 15 k rad) on histology of thyroid, adrenal and pancreatic islets of the rain quail were studied. A low dose of 250 rad failed to evoke any change in histology of the glands studied. Doses of 500 rad and 1 k rad resulted in hypoactivity of thyroid but could not affect adrenal and pancreatic islets. Exposure to 1.5 k rad and higher doses caused hyperplasia and hypertrophy of thyroid and hypertrophy of adrenal gland. Thyroid was injured by heavy irradiation. Doses up to 3 k rad did not bring about any change in islet cells, however, higher doses resulted in degenerative changes in islet cells. alpha-islets were affected by 7 and 15 k rad but necrotic changes in beta-islets were observed only after exposure to 15 k rad. The results indicate that thyroid is the most sensitive and pancreatic islet, highly resistant to gamma radiation.