Celebration of a Milestone

A first-year osteopathic medical student, Harsh Patel, has dreamed of starting medical school for as long as he can remember. This is a photo of him at his White Coat ceremony at NSU

Comparison of automated flowcytometric reticulocyte analysis with manual reticulocyte count

Background: Reticulocytes are young or immature red blood cells released from bone marrow and that contain remanants of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and ribosomes. Reticulocyte count (RC) is the index of erythropoietic activity within bone marrow. The reticulocyte counting methods at clinical laboratories are currently divided into manual and automated.Methods: A total of 500 samples of study cases were processed by manual method using New Methylene Blue (NMB) and automated method based on flowcytometry by PENTRA XLR HORIBA hematology analyzer. All quality control parameters were evaluated and values obtained by both methods were compared using various statistical methods.Results: Automated hematology analyzer provides excellent precision and linearity with no significant carryover. On comparing manual and automated RC method good method correlation was found (correlation coefficient r-0.865), however individual case wise percent deviation between manual and automated RC and CRC varied significantly. In addition within run precision calculated for automated RC differed significantly from manual count. The mean of difference between duplicate readings (150 samples) of manual and automated RC (5% RC. Thus, automated method was found to be more precise than the manual RC.Conclusions: The manual count method for RC associated with significant imprecision compared to flowcytometric method mostly based on interobserver variation and the smaller number of cell being counted. In contrast, the automated method is rapid, easy to operate, count higher number of cells with precise measurement

Saturn V - Kennedy Space Center

Saturn V is the rocket that took the first men to the moon

Strawberry Festival - Plant City, 2019

Strawberry Festiva

Future Engineer

Komal Patel is a recent mechanical engineer graduate. The photograph is of Juhi Patel at her graduation

A case report of 29 year old male patient with breast carcinoma: diagnosed on fine needle aspiration cytology

Breast cancer has been considered a female dominated disease. Carcinoma of male breast is a rare disease representing 1% of all breast cancers and less than 1 % of all cancers in men. The mean age at presentation is mainly in sixties. We here present a case of male breast cancer presented at very young age of 29 years, diagnosed on fine needle aspiration which was confirmed later on histopathological examination

Histopathological analysis of lymph nodes in patient with clinical lymphadenopathy - 266 cases

Background: Lymphadenopathy is one of the most common clinical presentations among patients of all ages. This study has undertaken to study the histological patterns in various non-neoplastic condition, lymphoma and metastatic carcinoma in patient with lymphadenopathy and to do the clinico-pathological correlation with respect to age, sex and site of lymph node involved.Methods: Total 266 cases of lymph node biopsy were studied, for a period of 28 months at Pathology department, Government Medical College, Surat, Gujarat, India. Tissues were adequately fixed in formalin and blocks prepared, sections cut and slides were prepared, stained by routine H&E stain. A complete and thorough histopathological examination of all the slides was undertaken.Results: A total of 266 cases were studied, age range was 1-75 years, 136 were males and 130 were females. Out of 266 cases, 96 cases (36%) were non-specific lymph node hyperplasia, 81 cases (31%) were of metastatic deposits in lymph node, 70 cases (26%) were of specific non neoplastic conditions and 19 cases (7%) were of lymphoma.Conclusions: Lymph node biopsy plays an important role in establishing the cause of lymphadenopathy. Among the biopsied nodes, non-specific lymph node hyperplasia was the most common followed by metastatic deposits, specific non neoplastic conditions especially tuberculous lymphadenitis and lymphoma. Non neoplastic conditions were more common in early age while neoplastic conditions were more common in late age. TB lymphadenitis was more common in HIV positive patients as compared to general population.

Pattern of mortality in sickle cell disease: an autopsy study

Background: Sickle haemoglobin is highly prevalent in western India. Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the generic term for the group of haemoglobinopathies caused by the occurrence of haemoglobin S (Hbs) in the homozygous form –sickle cell anaemia (Hbss) or as the heterozygous combination of Hbs with another abnormal haemoglobin such as Hbsc or beta –thalassaemias (Hbs b-thal). While doing autopsy in case of death with no apparent cause, the possibility of death may be due to vaso-occlusive crisis in sickle cell disease should be kept in mind. The findings at autopsy are variation of features which may or may not be directly connected to death. The goal is to draw awareness among physicians and relatives on need of autopsy as to minimize future unexpected death from complication or crisis and to enhance knowledge on both parties.Methods: This was a study of autopsy specimens received between January 2015 to December 2015 at tertiary care hospital.Results: Total of 679 autopsy cases were received, out of which sickled erythrocytes were detected in 25 cases. The mean age at death was 30 years, a male/female ratio of 1.5:1 and peak mortality was in the 2nd to 4th decades of life. The commonest presentation was sudden death. The cause of death in middle aged patients were vaso occlusive crisis, in paediatric patients were infection and in older patients were chronic organ damage.Conclusions: Early diagnosis, prompt treatment and extended screening programme are necessary in prevalent tribal belt of western India to reduce morbidity and mortality. we should also introduce awareness programmes in tribal belt of western India

Pattern of histopathological lesions in lung autopsy

Background: A large number of pathologic conditions involve the lung parenchyma like inflammatory, neoplastic and others. The lungs are also involved in almost all terminal events of cardiovascular disease. Autopsy is an important and most useful way to find out the condition of internal organs and to evaluate any localized lesions or systemic disease and hence determine cause of death. Aims and objectives of study are to identify the histopathological spectrum of lung disease. To find out frequency of various lung pathologies in respect to age and sex.Methods: This study was retrospective and done on 649 cases of medico legal autopsies. The tissue specimens were fixed and processed. Routine paraffin sectioning was done followed by Hematoxylene and eosin (H and E) staining. Special stains were done whenever required. Relevant clinical and postmortem findings, gross and microscopic examination findings were recorded.Results: After thorough histopathological examinations, of total 649 cases, various pulmonary lesions were identified in 348(53.6%) cases while in 301(46.4%) cases no significant pathology was seen. Most commonly affected age group was 30-49 years 43.1% followed by age group of >60years 17.8%. Majority of diseased were male 285 (81.9%). Most common lung pathology found was Edema and congestion in 93 cases (26.72%), chronic venous congestion in 92 cases (26.44%) pneumonia in 65 cases (18.68%) followed by Tuberculosis/Tuberculous pneumonia in 29 cases (8.3%).Conclusions: In our population, the present study reveals that infectious disease are still the most common cause of mortality, despite recent advances in diagnostic technology, the autopsy has remained an important complementary tool for identifying and understanding pathology of disease.