The prognostic significance of micrometastases in node-negative squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva

Nodal involvement is one of the most significant prognostic factors in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the vulva. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 31 women with histologically node-negative SCC from a population-based cohort of Grampian women. Median follow-up was 42 months after radical vulvectomy with groin node dissection. In total, 13 women (42%) were found to have micrometastases on immunohistochemistry. The risk of recurrence was almost 20-fold higher in those with micrometastases compared to those without (hazard ratio=19.6 (95% CI 2.3–171)

The expression of HSP60 and HSP10 in large bowel carcinomas with lymph node metastase

BACKGROUND: The involvement of Heat Shock Proteins (HSP) in cancer development and progression is a widely debated topic. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the presence and expression of HSP60 and HSP10 in a series of large bowel carcinomas and locoregional lymph nodes with and without metastases. METHODS: 82 Astler and Coller's stage C2 colorectal cancers, of which 48 well-differentiated and 34 poorly-differentiated, were selected along with 661 lymph nodes, including 372 with metastases and 289 with reactive hyperplasia only, from the same tumours. Primitive tumours and both metastatic and reactive lymph nodes were studied; specifically, three different compartments of the lymph nodes, secondary follicle, paracortex and medullary sinus, were also analysed. An immunohistochemical research for HSP60 and HSP10 was performed and the semiquantitative results were analysed by statistical analysis to determine the correlation between HSPs expression and 1) tumour grading; 2) degree of inflammation; 3) number of lymph nodes involved; 4) lymph node compartment hyperplasia. Moreover, western blotting was performed on a smaller group of samples to confirm the immunohistochemical results. RESULTS: Our data show that the expression of HSP60, in both primary tumour and lymph node metastasis, is correlated with the tumoral grade, while the HSP10 expression is not. Nevertheless, the levels of HSP10 are commonly higher than the levels of HSP60. In addition, statistical analyses do not show any correlation between the degree of inflammation and the immunopositivity for both HSP60 and HSP10. Moreover, we find a significant correlation between the presence of lymph node metastases and the positivity for both HSP60 and HSP10. In particular, metastatic lymph nodes show a higher percentage of cells positive for both HSP60 and HSP10 in the secondary follicles, and for HSP10 in the medullary sinuses, when compared with hyperplastic lymph nodes. CONCLUSION: HSP60 and HSP10 may have diagnostic and prognostic significance in the management of this tumour and their overexpression in tumoral cells may be functionally related to tumoral progression. We hypothesise that their expression in follicular and medullary cells of lymph nodes may be induced by formation of metastases. Further studies based on these observations could lead to a better understanding of the HSPs involvement in colorectal cancer progression, as well as other neoplasms

Lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy in gynecological cancers: a critical review of the literature

Although it does not have a long history of sentinel node evaluation (SLN) in female genital system cancers, there is a growing number of promising study results, despite the presence of some aspects that need to be considered and developed. It has been most commonly used in vulvar and uterine cervivcal cancer in gynecological oncology. According to these studies, almost all of which are prospective, particularly in cases where Technetium-labeled nanocolloid is used, sentinel node detection rate sensitivity and specificity has been reported to be 100%, except for a few cases. In the studies on cervical cancer, sentinel node detection rates have been reported around 80–86%, a little lower than those in vulva cancer, and negative predictive value has been reported about 99%. It is relatively new in endometrial cancer, where its detection rate varies between 50 and 80%. Studies about vulvar melanoma and vaginal cancers are generally case reports. Although it has not been supported with multicenter randomized and controlled studies including larger case series, study results reported by various centers around the world are harmonious and mutually supportive particularly in vulva cancer, and cervix cancer. Even though it does not seem possible to replace the traditional approaches in these two cancers, it is still a serious alternative for the future. We believe that it is important to increase and support the studies that will strengthen the weaknesses of the method, among which there are detection of micrometastases and increasing detection rates, and render it usable in routine clinical practice

Interindustrielle Verflechtung und Beschaeftigung in Jugoslawien

Bibliothek Weltwirtschaft Kiel A 161760 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Industrielle Verflechtung und Beschaeftigung in Jugoslawien

With many refs.SIGLECopy held by FIZ Karlsruhe; available from UB/TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Academic course scheduling under workload and changeover constraints

SIGLEAvailable from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel W 351 (337) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

New Modelling Concepts and Their Impact on Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling

this paper we consider nonpreemptive project scheduling models with mode identity and partially renewable resources. Mode identity refers to a generalization of the multi--mode case where the set of all activities is partitioned into disjoint subsets while all activities forming one subset have to be processed in the same mode. Time and cost incurred by processing a subset of activities depend on the resources assigned to it. Partially renewable resources are capacitated over arbitrary subsets of periods. Both concepts represent substantial and non--trivial extensions of common scheduling concepts, the former of the multi--mode case of project scheduling, the latter of all types of scarce resources, containing renewable and nonrenewable resources as special cases. 2 Handbook on Recent Advances in Project Scheduling Traditional resource-constrained project scheduling approaches (cp., e.g., Demeulemeester and Herroelen 1992, Patterson 1984) have been restricted to the case where each activity may be performed in only one predefined way. In this context, the resource--constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) is one of the most important problems (cp., e.g., Baar et al. 1997, Brucker et al. 1998, Demeulemeester and Herroelen 1997, Klein and Scholl 1997, Kolisch 1996a, Kolisch 1996b, Kolisch and Drexl 1996, Mingozzi et al. 1997, Sprecher 1996). More recently efforts have been made to formulate and solve the more general preemptive project scheduling problem where activity durations are functions of consumed resources (cp., e.g., B/la zewicz et al. 1986, 1996). Meanwhile efforts have been documented (cp., e.g., Drexl 1991, Elmaghraby 1977, Kolisch 1995, Kolisch et al. 1995, Patterson et al. 1990, Sprecher 1994, Sprecher and Drexl 1998, Sprecher et al. 1997, Talbot 198..