Educación Médica. Renovación en la enseñanza de las ciencias morfológicas

* Este artículo fue escrito antes que la Asamblea Universitaria de la Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia dejara sin efecto la fusión de los Departamentos de Ciencias Morfológicas y de Patología

Detection of AA-type amyloid protein in labial salivary glands

Objectives: Among the diverse forms of amyloidosis, secondary type is the most frequent one. Diagnosis of amyloid deposition is based on the identification of the fibrillary protein amyloid by means of Congo Red (CR) or crystal violet (CV) stains, but these techniques do not differentiate between the different types of amyloid fibrils. The aim of this study was to identify by immunofluorescence (IF) AA amyloid a pathological fibrillar low-molecularweight protein formed by cleavage of serum amyloid A (SAA) protein in labial salivary gland (LSG) biopsies from patients with secondary amyloidosis. Study design: 98 LSG were studied, 65 were from patients with secondary amyloidosis and 33 from subjects with chronic inflammatory diseases without evidence of this anomaly. All sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E), CV, CR and IF using anti-AA antibodies. Positive and negative controls were used for all techniques. Results: CV and CR demonstrated that the amyloid substance was found mainly distributed periductally (93.8%), followed by periacinar and perivascular locations (p<0.001); however, the IF demonstrated that amyloid AA substance predominates in the periacinar area (73.8%), followed by periductal and perivascular locations (p<0.001). IF has a sensitivity of 83%, 100% of specificity, 100% of predictive positive value and 75% of predictive negative value.Conclusions: The results of this study confirm the efficacy of the LSG biopsy as a highly reliable method for diagnosis of secondary amyloidosis

GM and KM immunoglobulin allotypes in the Galician population: new insights into the peopling of the Iberian Peninsula

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The current genetic structure of Iberian populations has presumably been affected by the complex orography of its territory, the different people and civilizations that settled there, its ancient and complex history, the diverse and persistent sociocultural patterns in its different regions, and also by the effects of the Iberian Peninsula representing a refugium area after the last glacial maximum. This paper presents the first data on <it>GM </it>and <it>KM </it>immunoglobulin allotypes in the Galician population and, thus, provides further insights into the extent of genetic diversity in populations settled in the geographic extremes of the Cantabrian region of northern Spain. Furthermore, the genetic relationships of Galicians with other European populations have been investigated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Galician population shows a genetic profile for <it>GM </it>haplotypes that is defined by the high presence of the European Mediterranean <it>GM</it>*<it>3 23 5* </it>haplotype, and the relatively high incidence of the African marker <it>GM*1,17 23' 5*</it>. Data based on comparisons between Galician and other Spanish populations (mainly from the north of the peninsula) reveal a poor correlation between geographic and genetic distances (<it>r </it>= 0.30, <it>P </it>= 0.105), a noticeable but variable genetic distances between Galician and Basque subpopulations, and a rather close genetic affinity between Galicia and Valencia, populations which are geographically separated by a long distance and have quite dissimilar cultures and histories. Interestingly, Galicia occupies a central position in the European genetic map, despite being geographically placed at one extreme of the European continent, while displaying a close genetic proximity to Portugal, a finding that is consistent with their shared histories over centuries.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings suggest that the population of Galicia is the result of a relatively balanced mixture of European populations or of the ancestral populations that gave rise to them. This would support the importance of the migratory movements that have taken place in Europe over the course of recent human history and their effects on the European genetic landscape.</p