[One case of multiple primary carcinoma: laryngeal neuroendocrine carcinoma complicated with splenic mantle cell lymphoma]

To report a rare case of multiple primary carcinoma：laryngeal neuroendocrine carcinoma complicated with splenic mantle cell lymphoma to improve the understanding of multiple primary carcinoma. The incidence rate of multiple primary carcinoma was low. Laryngeal neuroendocrine carcinoma with mantle cell lymphoma has not been reported yet. Early diagnosis and antidiastole is very important for MPC. Pathological examination and immunohistochemistry plays an important role in the diagnosis of multiple primary carcinoma, laryngeal neuroendocrine carcinoma and mantle cell lymphoma.

Significance of Ebp1 and p53 protein expression in cervical cancer

In this study, the ErbB3-binding protein (Ebp1) and p53 protein expression in cervical cancer tissues, and its significance in the prognosis of the disease was investigated. Ebp1 and p53 protein expression was detected by immunohistochemical analysis in cervical cancer tissues (N = 60) and normal tissues adjacent to the cancer tissues (N = 60). The rates of positive Ebp1 and p53 protein expression were 35.0 and 60.0%, respectively. Ebp1 and p53 were overexpressed in cervical cancer tissues, compared to normal tissues (P < 0.05). Ebp1 and p53 protein expression was not correlated with age, tumor size, or family tumor history (P > 0.05). However, high levels of expression of Ebp1 and p53 were positively correlated with the TNM stage and lymphatic metastasis in cervical cancer patients (P < 0.05). The combined determination of Ebp1 and p53 expression levels in cervical cancer patients could support the effective prediction of metastatic potential and patient prognosis.

Risk of prostate cancer associated with a family history in an era of rapid increase in prostate cancer diagnosis (Australia)

OBJECTIVE

We conducted a case-control study of prostate cancer and familial risk of the disease in Australia between 1994 and 1998, a period during which the incidence of prostate cancer increased dramatically with widespread use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing.

METHODS

1475 cases and 1405 controls were asked about prostate cancer in their first-degree relatives. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated using logistic regression.

RESULTS

Cases were more likely to report a family history of prostate cancer than controls (OR 3.0; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.3-3.9) and cases reporting an affected relative were younger (58.8 versus 60.9 years, p < 0.0001). The OR for an affected first-degree relative increased with increasing number of affected relatives and decreased with increasing age of the case. The OR for more than one affected first-degree relative was 6.9 (95% CI 2.7-18). The OR for an affected brother was 3.9 (95% CI 2.5-6.1) and for an affected father was 2.9 (95% CI 2.1-3.9) but these were not significantly different (p = 0.2). When analyses were repeated including only diagnoses made in relatives prior to 1992, the risks were generally similar except that the OR for an affected brother decreased to 3.1 (95% CI 1.2-3.9). When only relatives' diagnoses made after 1991 were included results were again similar to those for all relatives, although the effect for brothers was greater and the attenuation with age at diagnosis dissipated.

CONCLUSIONS

The recent introduction of PSA testing that has resulted in a greater prevalence of apparent prostate cancer, does not appear to have substantially altered familial risks of disease, although effects associated with brothers may be inflated.

Estimating a delay distribution from incomplete data, with application to reporting lags for AIDS cases

Statistical inference for the probability distribution of a reporting delay is considered when delays are recorded only after a certain point in time tau. A method is proposed which utilizes data on incidences arising prior to tau. By a suitable choice of parameters we find explicit expressions for maximum likelihood estimates and standard errors. An application to reporting delay data on Australian AIDS diagnoses demonstrates that inclusion of data on AIDS diagnoses made prior to tau results in significant gains in the precision of estimates. A simulation study indicates for this data set that there is minimal bias in the estimates and the large sample formulae for the standard errors give good estimates of the standard deviation of the estimators.

Comparison of trends in HIV infection for two risk categories

Sensible plans for health-care needs and determination of priorities for expenditure require regular assessment of trends in HIV incidences. In particular, trends in the relative HIV incidences of different risk categories are useful when assessing whether current control strategies are working equally well for all risk categories. Here five tests for such trends are proposed for the analysis of AIDS incidence data and their performances are compared by a simulation study, assuming a log-linear trend in the HIV incidences for two risk categories. A convenient test based on a log-linear model for AIDS incidences is found both effective and robust to the nature of the underlying trend. The maximum likelihood estimate of the trend parameter is found stable even though estimates of other HIV incidence parameters are unstable. Smoothing of estimates of the other HIV incidence parameters is recommended because this dramatically reduces the rate of convergence of the iterative methods used to obtain the estimates.

[Morphological observations of effects on mouse brain exposed to subteratogenic--dose of methylmercury]

Short-term and long-term changes in mouse brain caused by in utero exposure to subteratogenic-dose of methylmercury were studied with electronic computer digitalized graphic system, electron microscopy and other methods. Results revealed degeneration and loss of mouse brain cells occurred both in short-term and long-term groups, but the lesions were more severe in the latter than in the former groups. The fact that exposed young mice exhibited no obvious abnormality in their outward appearance and behavior indicated subteratogenic-dose of methylmercury had a long-term and latent toxic effects on mouse brain.

Gene expression from multicopy T7 promoter vectors proceeds at single copy rates in the absence of T7 RNA polymerase

Three different genes (trpR+, tyrR+ and phi (trpR-lacZ)) were inserted into pET3a, a multicopy transcription-translation vector designed by Rosenberg et al. (1) for the T7 RNA polymerase-driven overexpression of proteins in Escherichia coli. Gene orientation was in the anticlockwise ("silent") direction. Gene expression in the absence of T7 RNA polymerase was evaluated either directly using lacZ reporter systems or indirectly by observing the susceptibility of plasmid-bearing tester strains to inhibition by an aromatic amino acid analog. The production of repressor proteins and of a Trp repressor-LacZ chimera was readily detected, at levels comparable to those of haploid trpR+ or tyrR+ E. coli strains. Such T7 vector constructs thus have two especially useful properties: first, they provide a means for the high-level production of various proteins in E. coli; second, they offer a technically advantageous point of departure for structure-function studies of genes whose overexpression from multicopy plasmids would normally be cytotoxic.