Rinsho byori. The Japanese journal of clinical pathology
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Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH) are important technologies to examine the protein expression and gene amplification of human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2/neu (HER-2/neu), respectively, in breast cancer tumors; however, tumor samples are not always available for examination. Therefore, an easy and sensitive examination to detect HER2-overexpressed tumors should be developed. The extracellular domain of HER-2/neu protein (HER2ECD) has been reported to be observed in the serum of many patients with metastatic breast cancer. In this study we assessed the clinical usefulness of serum HER2ECD (sHER2ECD) as a biological marker in breast cancer. ⋯ The sHER2ECD assay by the CLIA method may be useful for the diagnosis and monitoring of metastatic/recurrent breast cancer.
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The vasculitides are defined by the presence of leukocytes in vessel walls with reactive damage to mural structures. Vasculitis may occur as a primary process or may be secondary to another underlying disease. In general, the affected vessels vary in size, type, and location in association with the specific vasculitic disorder. ⋯ Antibodies with target specificities for PR3 and MPO are called PR3-ANCA and MPO-ANCA, respectively. Vasculitides associated with serum positivity for ANCA that affect small to medium-sized vessels are commonly known as ANCA-associated vasculitis and include Wegener's granulomatosis, microscopic polyangiitis, and Churg-Strauss syndrome. In this article, the pathogenesis of ANCA will be reviewed as well as the pitfalls regarding its clinical application.
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The purpose of education in the Course of Medical Technology, Tohoku University School of Health Sciences, is to educate students to become medical technologists in hospital laboratories, or scientific staff of medical companies. Many papers have been published in this journal about proper education in the Course of Medical Technology; therefore, in the present paper, I describe my thoughts on how to teach students, and my personal opinion on the national examination for medical technologists.