Wiener klinische Wochenschrift
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Jan 2004
Comparative StudyPrognostic markers in breast cancer: the reliability of HER2/neu status in core needle biopsy of 325 patients with primary breast cancer.
The assessment of HER2/neu overexpression in tissue provides information about one of the most relevant prognostic and predictive markers in breast cancer: overexpression of HER2/neu is associated with worse prognosis in primary breast cancer. Since core needle biopsy is increasingly used for the diagnosis of breast cancer, the purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of HER2/neu evaluation using this technique in patients with primary breast cancer. ⋯ As proven with this large series of patients, the assessment of HER2/neu status by core needle biopsy in breast cancer is accurate. Notwithstanding, in order to minimize the number of false-positive results, strongly positive core needle biopsies identified using immunohistochemistry should be confirmed by FISH analysis.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Jan 2004
Quantification of recent smoking behaviour using proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS).
Smoking is the most important single risk factor in current public health. Surveillance of exposure to tobacco smoke may be accomplished using environmental monitoring or in-vivo tests for smoking biomarkers. Acetonitrile exhaled in human breath has been described as a potential marker mirroring recent smoking behavior. ⋯ Analysis using the receiver-operating-characteristic curve demonstrated that smoking can be predicted with a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 91%, using a cut-off concentration of 20.31 parts per billion of acetonitrile. This first field survey of exhaled acetonitrile in a large group of test persons demonstrates the feasibility of a rapid and non-invasive test for recent exposure to tobacco. We conclude that analysis of exhaled-breath acetonitrile may serve as a method of determining recent active smoking behaviour.
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To find out if patients with proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) due to complicated retinal detachment are at risk to acquire the same disease or other vision-threatening retinal abnormalities in the fellow eye. To furthermore assess in what time-period they appear and if subgroups of patients have special risks. ⋯ Patients with PVR have a greater than 50% risk of developing vision-threatening retinal abnormalities in their fellow eye and a 37% risk to develop PVR from rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. More than two thirds of abnormalities in the fellow eye developed within five years of surgery of the primary eye.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Jan 2004
Clinical and epidemiological features of Lyme borreliosis in Bulgaria.
Data on disease expression and epidemiological characteristics of Lyme borreliosis in south-eastern Europe are scarce. ⋯ The results of the study show that the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of Lyme borreliosis in Bulgaria are similar to those in the majority European countries but possess some distinguishing characteristics.