Pathology
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Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, encompassing a wide variety of histological types and clinical behaviours. Current histopathological classification systems for breast cancer are based on descriptive entities that are of prognostic significance. ⋯ Novel therapeutic targets and prognostic/predictive gene signatures have been identified. This review will address the contribution of molecular methods to our understanding of breast cancer and its precursors, their use in breast cancer translational research and their impact on diagnostic breast cancer histopathology.
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Epidermal growth factor (EGF) has many biological functions, including mitogenesis, tumorigenesis, and proliferation of epidermal tissues. Previous studies have reported that the EGF +61 (A/G) single nucleotide polymorphism in the 5'-untranslated region of the EGF gene is functional, and is associated with development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in liver cirrhosis and various malignancy. Our aim was to investigate whether EGF gene A61G polymorphism could be implicated in susceptibility to and/or clinicopathological characteristics of HCC in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. ⋯ The present results show that although EGF gene A61G polymorphism is associated with development of HCC in liver cirrhosis, it is not sufficient for HCC in Chinese patients with chronic HBV infection.
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The estimation of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using the MDRD (Modification of Diet in Renal Disease) formula is a recommended practice in Australia, New Zealand and other countries. Since the original development of this formula, an international process to align assays for serum creatinine has been undertaken and a revised version of the MDRD formula has been produced for these assays. Additionally, the Cockcroft and Gault (C&G) formula remains recommended for drug dosing decisions, although there are different versions of the formula using either actual weight or calculated ideal body weight. We aimed to assess these formulae using Australian data. ⋯ The MDRD and original C&G formulae were found to be valid in an Australian setting. The C&G formula, when calculated using weight estimated from patient height, was found to underestimate GFR in some patients.