Primäres zerebelläres T-Zell-Lymphom

Zusammenfassung: Primäre T-Zell-Lymphome des zentralen Nervensystems (ZNS) sind selten. Sie müssen differenzialdiagnostisch von reaktiven Läsionen unterschieden werden. Die Diagnosestellung sollte integrativ unter Verwendung von immunhistochemischen, molekulargenetischen und/oder zytogenetischen Methoden erfolgen. Wir beschreiben den Fall eines 50-jährigen Mannes, bei welchem ein primäres zerebelläres T-Zell-Lymphom diagnostiziert und eine klonale T-Zell-Rezeptorgen-Umlagerung nachgewiesen wurde. Nach 2Zyklen Chemotherapie entwickelte der Patient eine Pneumozystis-carinii-Pneumonie und verstarb 10Wochen nach Diagnosestellung. Die Autopsie ergab keinen Residualtumor im ZN

Meningotheliomatöses Meningeom in einem reifen zystischen Teratom des Ovars

Zusammenfassung: Reife Teratome des Ovars zählen zu den Keimzelltumoren. Sie machen 27-44% aller Neoplasien des Ovars und bis zu 58% der benignen Ovarialtumoren aus. In reifen und unreifen Teratomen können sich sekundäre Tumoren der 3Keimblätter entwickeln. Diese können sowohl benigne als auch maligne sein. Wir berichten über den Fall eines meningotheliomatösen Meningeoms als Anteil eines reifen zystischen Teratoms bei einer 32-jährigen Patientin. Die typische Histomorphologie und die immunhistochemisch nachweisbare Expression von epithelialem Membranantigen (EMA) und Desmoplakin sind diagnostisch wegweisen

The validity of clinical diagnoses of dementia in a group of consecutively autopsied memory clinic patients

Background: Epidemiological studies show that up to 10 % of individuals aged 65 years and older suffer from dementia, most commonly from dementia of the Alzheimer Type (DAT) [1]. Clinicopathological studies are critical to our understanding of this disease and improving the accuracy of clinical diagnoses.Objectives: Our objectives were to examine the validity of clinical diagnoses of DAT, to determine the prevalence of different forms of dementia in this sample, and to investigate the relationship between age at death and polymorbidity.Subjects and method: Clinical data were available from 221 patients who had been examined at the Basel Memory Clinic between 1986 and 1996. From this population, 34 % (75 patients) were autopsied in the Department of Pathology, University Hospital Basel, and neuropathological examinations were additionally performed on 62 (83 %) of these patients. Clinical and neuropathological data were retrospectively compared.Results: 67.8 % of the neuropathologically examined patients received a definitive diagnosis of AD (Alzheimer's disease), vascular dementia (VaD) or mixed dementia (AD and VaD). AD alone or with other histopathological hallmarks of dementia was the most prevalent neuropathological diagnosis (63 %). VaD was deemed the only cause of dementia in only 4.8 % of patients. The sensitivity for DAT was 75.9 %, the specificity 60.6 %. Increasing age was associated with an increasing number of clinical and neuropathological diagnoses.Conclusion: The sensitivity and specificity of the clinical diagnoses of DAT found in our study are similar to previous reports (2-5). Older patients had more etiologies of their dementia than younger patients. This study reaffirms the need for internationally accepted criteria for clinical and neuropathological diagnoses, as well as further clinical-neuropathological investigations to further refine the clinical diagnostic proces

The Effects of Different Canopy Covers on the Herb Layer in the Forest-Steppes of the Grazer Bergland (Eastern Alps, Austria)

The submontane belt of the eastern Alps is dominated by beech forests. However, on rocky and steep south-facing slopes, small vegetation mosaics have developed, which, to a certain degree, are similar to the Pannonian forest-steppes. In spite of their unique conservation importance and threatened status, they have received relatively little scientific attention. In this study we analyzed the spatial pattern of such mosaics. More specifically, our objective was to find out how canopy cover value inf luences the species composition of the herb layer. According to our results, canopy cover of Pinus sylvestris has a rather limited effect on the herb layer composition and species richness. Thus, in the studied canopy cover range (ca. 5–75% canopy cover), most species occurred under all canopy cover gr ades. This is presumably a result of the canopy char- acteristics and branching pattern of P. s y l v e s t r i s : it can be assumed that the physical conditions of the canopy and intercanopy patches are somewhat similar. This is in sharp contrast with the Pannonian forest-steppes dominated by Quercus pubescens . We conclude that, even though the cessation of traditional land-use may not result in a rapid change of the composition in eastern Austrian forest-steppes, every effort must be made to conserve these valuable habitats

Revisiting A Festival of Violence : Two Comments, A Response [Book Review]

When, more than thirty years ago, I was writing my second graduate research paper, I was strongly advised by the professor in the course, John Morton Blum, to stop trying to weigh the factors I hypothesized might have caused the phenomenon I was trying to explain. Just list all the causes for which there is any credible evidence, I was told; don’t even try to rank them, and certainly don’t waste your time attempting to reject any. It’s not the historian’s job, and it’s probably not possible, anyway. Tell a good story, with interesting characters and active verbs. If you must, explain, but above all, entertain-that was the Blumian credo. I largely ignored the adjuration, reinforcing the then-department chairman’s view of me as a rebel with too few causes

Hereditary Systemic Angiopathy (HSA) with cerebral calcifications, retinopathy, progressive nephropathy, and hepatopathy

Several hereditary conditions affecting cerebral, retinal and systemic microvessels have recently been described. They include CADASIL, CRV, and HERNS. We here report on a variant form of a hereditary systemic angiopathy (HSA) affecting two generations of a Caucasian family. Clinical symptoms of HSA appear in the mid-forties and are characterized by visual impairment, migrainelike headache, skin rash, epileptic seizures, progressive motor paresis and cognitive decline. Late symptoms include hepatic and renal failure. Retinal capillary microaneurysms and arteriolar tortuosity are associated with marked optic disc atrophy. Radiological hallmarks consist of multiple cerebral calcifications and tumor-like subcortical white matter lesions. Brain, peripheral nerve, muscle, kidney and colon biopsies have revealed a multi organ small vessel involvement with partly altered endothelium, perivascular inflammation and thrombotic microangiopathy. No curative therapeutic options are known for hereditary cerebral vasculopathies. The use of cyclophosphamide, azathioprine and methotrexate was of no benefit in our cases of HSA. Early diagnosis of hereditary systemic angiopathies is important in order to prevent patients from repetitive invasive diagnostic measures and to avoid the use of inappropriate and potentially harmful drug

Advancing synoptic cancer reports beyond English: the University of Bern/PathoLink approach.

Synoptic reporting (SR) increases completeness and improves the understanding of pathology reports for tumours as compared to the more traditional “narrative” style. Furthermore, it is an important step towards higher levels of structured data capture [1]. SR is defined by a set of required data elements (RDE) specific for each tumour type and a characteristic paired format of RDE and response. The College of American Pathologists (CAP) requires accredited pathology laboratories to report many cancer types in a synoptic format and for this purpose publishes a comprehensive set of protocols [2]. More recently, the International Collaboration for Cancer Reporting (ICCR)—sponsored amongst others by the European Society of Pathology—has started to publish synoptic protocols with the aim to “produce internationally standardised and evidence-based datasets for the pathology reporting of cance