Response to chemotherapy and association with three tumour markers in breast cancer patients in Ghana

Purpose: Oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2/neu) expression in breast cancer patients predict response to chemotherapy though recorded extent vary. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the relationship between ER, PR and HER2/neu expression and response of breast cancer to chemotherapy at a tertiary hospital in Ghana. Methods: Records of all breast cancer cases seen from 2009 through 2011 were reviewed. Their receptor status, first line treatment [4 cycles of Adriamycin (60mg/m2) + Cyclophosphamide (600mg/m2)], second line treatment [Capecitabine (1g/m2) + Paclitaxel (170mg/m2)] and clinical response were extracted.Results: Complete remission after first and second line treatments were observed in 36 (38.3%, 95% CI: 28.5 to 48.9) and 34 (58.6%, 95% CI: .44.9 to 71.4) respectively. After both first and second line treatment 70 (74.5%, 95% CI: 64.4 - 82.9) had gone into remission. Prevalence of ER, PR, HER2/neu and Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) were 34.0% (95% CI: 24.6 to 44.5), 20.2% (95% CI: 12.6 to 29.7), 8.5% (95% CI: 3.7 to 16.1) and 59.6% (95%CI: 48.9 to 69.6) respectively. ER and PR positivity were independently associated with complete remission after first line treatment while TNBC was associated with non-remission. Conversely ER was independently associated with non-remission after second line treatment while TNBC was associated with complete remission. Conclusion: ER and TNBC status are significant predictors of complete remission and non-remission respectively after chemotherapy for breast cancer patient in Ghana.................................................................Cite this article as:Amankwaa-Frempong E, Yeboah FA, Nguah SB, Afriyie OO. Response to chemotherapy and association with three tumour markers in breast cancer patients in Ghana. Int J Cancer Ther Oncol 2014; 2(3):02034. DOI: 10.14319/ijcto.0203.

Survival rates of head and neck cancers in Ghana: a retrospective study at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital

OBJECTIVE: Data was collected to evaluate the survival rates of head and neck (conjunctiva, oropharyngeal and non-oropharyngeal) squamous cell carcinomas in Ghana. DATA DESCRIPTION: We provided data on a retrospective review of 8 years (January 2004 to December 2009) survival rate of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana. The data consist of patient demographic data and clinicopathological findings which includes tumour site, tumour stage and histological grades of the patients. Clinical outcome measurement was death through to January 2013 on record and confirmed from the hospitals birth and death registry department. More than 85% of death cases were confirmed by gender, age, and folder identification numbers from the birth and death registry

A Formal Syntactic Analysis of Complex-Path Motion Predicates in Ghanaian Student Pidgin (GSP)

This dissertation provides a formal syntactic analysis of complex-path motion predicates in Ghanaian Student Pidgin (GSP) – an English-lexified expanded pidgin spoken by (mostly male) students in Ghanaian high schools and universities – within the Generative Constructivist framework. The data for the study was collected from three speakers with an instrument consisting of a battery of animated video-clips designed to elicit and contrast the following set of parameters that correspond to the various subcomponents of a motion event – path, telicity, result and agentivity. With regard to the path subcomponent, the dissertation found that GSP is able to express the 3-D vectorization of the path in motion predicates via verbal morphology in Serial Verb Constructions – a proposal which had already been argued by some earlier researchers (Benedicto, Cvejanov, & Quer, 2008; Benedicto & Salomon, 2014; Zheng, 2012). On the issue of the Telicity subcomponent, this dissertation follows in the footsteps of Borer (2005) who argues (among other things) that an event is telic when the functional projection, AspQ, is assigned range by a subject-of-quantity internal constituent. However, where this dissertation forges new ground is in proposing that, in motion predicates, it is not the internal constituent that assigns range to AspQ, as usually assumed, but rather the reaching of an endpoint (which obtains in GSP as the REACH substructure). Additionally, the dissertation also shows that this is only compatible with a reachable (i.e. non-projective) XPLOC – a connection made possible by analyzing the internal structure of the XPLOC along the lines of Svenonius, 2008, 2010). The chapter on the Resultative subcomponent shows that the Resultative substructure (unlike some prevailing analysis, e.g. Ramchand, 2008) is independent of Telicity. Finally, with regard to agentivity, the dissertation makes a crucial discovery about the structural difference between initial contact and continuous contact agentives – i.e. the additional functional projection of a grammacticalized make (present in initial contact agentives, but absent from continuous contact agentives) which signals the separation of the figure from the agent

Response to chemotherapy and association with three tumour markers in breast cancer patients in Ghana

Purpose: Oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2/neu) expression in breast cancer patients predict response to chemotherapy though recorded extent vary. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the relationship between ER, PR and HER2/neu expression and response of breast cancer to chemotherapy at a tertiary hospital in Ghana. Methods: Records of all breast cancer cases seen from 2009 through 2011 were reviewed. Their receptor status, first line treatment [4 cycles of Adriamycin (60mg/m2) + Cyclophosphamide (600mg/m2)], second line treatment [Capecitabine (1g/m2) + Paclitaxel (170mg/m2)] and clinical response were extracted.Results: Complete remission after first and second line treatments were observed in 36 (38.3%, 95% CI: 28.5 to 48.9) and 34 (58.6%, 95% CI: .44.9 to 71.4) respectively. After both first and second line treatment 70 (74.5%, 95% CI: 64.4 - 82.9) had gone into remission. Prevalence of ER, PR, HER2/neu and Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) were 34.0% (95% CI: 24.6 to 44.5), 20.2% (95% CI: 12.6 to 29.7), 8.5% (95% CI: 3.7 to 16.1) and 59.6% (95%CI: 48.9 to 69.6) respectively. ER and PR positivity were independently associated with complete remission after first line treatment while TNBC was associated with non-remission. Conversely ER was independently associated with non-remission after second line treatment while TNBC was associated with complete remission. Conclusion: ER and TNBC status are significant predictors of complete remission and non-remission respectively after chemotherapy for breast cancer patient in Ghana.................................................................Cite this article as:Amankwaa-Frempong E, Yeboah FA, Nguah SB, Afriyie OO. Response to chemotherapy and association with three tumour markers in breast cancer patients in Ghana. Int J Cancer Ther Oncol 2014; 2(3):02034. DOI: 10.14319/ijcto.0203.4</p

Cytopathology practice in Kumasi: A 2-year retrospective audit

Aim: Surgical pathology service is generally unavailable in most developing countries and comes with challenges. Cytopathology is a reliable, inexpensive adjunct to surgical histopathology. We present a retrospective review of the various cytopathology cases received at the department. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of 836 cytopathology cases from January 2010 to December 2011 at the Department of Pathology of our hospital was conducted. All cytopathology reports and records from the department were retrieved and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16 for windows. Results: A total of 836 (mean age 38.18 ± 22.18) cases were reviewed, at an average of approximately 418 cases performed a year (5.7% of the total workload). More than half (58.0%) of the cases received had no clinical diagnosis indicated on request forms. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of the cases were diagnosed as either definite or nondefinite. The breast was the most aspirated specimen site (20.2%). Benign cases formed 45.0% of all the cases and 29.0% were malignant. There were more benign than malignant cases with respect to all sites aspirated except the breast (18.3%), lymph nodes (35.0%), and soft tissues (11.7%) where the reverse occurred. Conclusion: Patronage of cytopathology in Kumasi is increasing and serves as a quick, cheap, and effective alternate means for diagnosis. Improving and expanding on the current practice will ensure that pathologists in practice sustain and improve diagnostic cytopathology and provide material for training young pathologists

Optimized recovery of DNA and subsequent short tandem repeat profiling of different tissues sampled from embalmed human cadavers

Introduction: Storage of specimens sampled from human remains for pathological testing, embalming for burial purposes, and for human identification often requires formalin fixation and/or paraffin embedding. Current knowledge in molecular biology techniques and forensic DNA analysis makes it possible to optimize the extraction of amplifiable DNA from formalin-fixed tissues by improving the pre-treatment, optimizing the digestion condition of proteinase K, simplifying the extraction protocol and purifying the extracted DNA with optimized volumes of alcohol. Aim: This research sought to extract amplifiable DNA from thirteen brain, bone marrow and cartilage samples from four formalin embalmed human cadavers. Materials and Methods: Brain, cartilage and bone marrow samples were taken from four different cadavers at autopsy at the Ghana Police Hospital mortuary in Accra, Ghana sixty-two days after embalming. An optimized preparation and DNA extraction protocol was carried out on all the samples. Brain samples were also taken from a non-formalin treated fifth cadaver of known STR profile, and standard DNA extraction performed to serve as positive control. Results: Our optimized protocol yielded detectable quantities of DNA from the samples when quantified with the 7500 Real-Time PCR equipment. The extracted DNA also yielded full STR profiles with varying peak heights for forensic identification purposes. The measured degradation indexes of the DNA samples were greater than 1.0, with peak heights of generated STR profiles above the limits of detection of the 3500 genetic analyzer. Conclusion: Our current study demonstrated an optimized method of DNA extraction from tissues (brain, cartilage and bone marrow) sampled from formalin embalmed human cadavers. The optimized protocol reduced the concentration of formalin fixation residues in extracted DNA from formalin-fixed tissues, thereby improving the amplification efficiency for STR profiling. Brain, bone marrow and cartilages can be a good source of DNA from embalmed and degraded human remains, though for skeletonized human remains together with teeth and long bones

Mental State Examination

This module provides a structured way of observing and describing a patient's current state of mind, under the domains of appearance, attitude, behavior, mood and affect, speech, thought process, thought content, perception, cognition, insight and judgment. There are some minor variations in the subdivision of the Mental State Examination (MSE) and the sequence and names of MSE domains. The purpose of the MSE is to obtain a comprehensive cross-sectional description of the patient's mental state, which when combined with the biographical and historical information of the psychiatric history, allows the clinician to make an accurate diagnosis and formulation, which are required for coherent treatment planning. The data are collected through a combination of direct and indirect means: unstructured observation while obtaining the biographical and social information, focused questions about current symptoms, and formalized psychological tests. Authors: Celice McDermott, Nana Osem Osei, Tutu Akua Nketiah, Adjapong Kojo, Twum Nimako, Oppong Victor Barnor, Cary Engleberg, Veronica Boatemaa Owusu-Afriyie Institutions: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133158/1/medical_african_health_oer_network-mental_state_examination-November10.zi

Genetic identification of three exhumed human remains at a hospital in Ghana: a forensic case report

DNA identification is very important in cases of high decomposition of dead bodies, in which the bodies cannot be identified by physical means.To compare the results of DNA typing, it is necessary to have related subjects with which to perform comparative analyses. Such tests are normally performed by comparing DNA profiles from people known to be immediate family members of the presumptive victim, such as parents or children because they share half of their genetic material with the unidentified.We report on how DNA analysis was used to solve a case of mixed-up bodies at a local mortuary in Ghana, West Africa. Two families and three buried human remains were in contention in this case. The first body (E9) was buried three months before exhumation. The second body (E11) was buried two and a half months before exhumation whiles the third body (E10) was buried a month before exhumation. Exhibit E5 was taken from an alleged child of the deceased, E11. Toenails of the exhumed bodies were sampled by a pathologist and used for DNA extractions using the QIAamp DNA Investigator Kit.&nbsp;Profiles from relatives were generated for comparison purposes. All samples gave a quality amount of genomic DNA after quantification. DNA was amplified with a GlobalFiler PCR amplification kit. Profiles from relatives were generated for comparison purposes.The human remains (exhibit E11) cannot be excluded as the biological father of the child (exhibit E5) because they share common alleles at all 23 genetic loci. The applicable combined paternity index was 17218125604.492 assuming a prior probability of 0.5. The probability of paternity is 99.99999999%. Based on this relationship testing, one of the bodies was successfully identified and handed over to the family for re-burial