Private Supplementary Tutoring and Socio-economic Differences in Access to Higher Education

Private supplementary tutoring in the form of preparatory courses to university entrance examinations is present in Finland alongside public higher education (HE). We explore the participation in preparatory courses. Our data derive from the university undergraduate subsample (n = 2969) of a larger cross-sectional national survey targeting tertiary students. We found a strong association between the SES of the students and preparatory course participation rates. Preparatory course participation is also more common in competitive disciplines. Students from higher SES backgrounds get more parental help in financing their participation than their counterparts coming from lower SES backgrounds. Therefore, the role of private economic capital in access to HE in Finland, despite its tuition-fee-free nature, is evident.Peer reviewe

Hyvänlaatuinen maksapesäke yllätyslöydöksenä - onko syytä huoleen? : VOMIT : Victims of modern imaging technology

Vertaisarvioitu. Teema : haima- ja maksasyöpäHyvänlaatuisten maksapesäkkeiden selvittely on seurausta lisääntyneistä kuvantamistutkimuksista. Jopa 15 %lla väestöstä löytyy jokin kaikukuvauksessa havaittava maksapesäke. Useimmiten kyseessä on hyvänlaatuinen muutos, mutta tämän varmistamiseksi tarvitaan jatkotutkimuksia. Kuvantamisessa käytettävät jatkoselvittelyt tehdään varjoainetehosteisella tietokonetomografialla tai magneetilla. Keskeisintä on tunnistaa syöpäkasvaimet. Hyvänlaatuisissa pesäkkeissä fokaalisen nodulaarisen hyperplasian ja adenooman erottaminen on tarpeen. Epäselvissä tapauksissa tarvitaan histologinen näyte. Kohdennettu biopsia adenoomasta auttaa myös sen malignisoitumis- ja vuotoriskin arviossa.Peer reviewe

Human in vivo liver and tumor bioimpedance measured with biopsy needle

acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

High stromal versican expression predicts unfavourable outcome in oral squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Versican, an extracellular matrix proteoglycan, has been noted to be expressed in several malignant tumours and has been suggested to play an important role in cancer development and tumour growth. AIMS: To investigate whether the versican expression level in the peritumoural stromal tissue of primary oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) predicts relapse‐free or disease‐specific survival. Also, to study the associations between versican expression and several other clinicopathological variables, as well as tumour cell proliferation. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was used to study the expression of versican and tumour cell proliferative activity in 139 OSCCs. All pertinent clinical data were collected retrospectively from the hospital records. RESULTS: In this cohort, versican expression did not correlate with the clinicopathological factors or tumour cell proliferation. In univariate analyses, higher risk for disease recurrence was associated with higher stromal versican expression score (p = 0.02), positive neck node status (p = 0.02), lower Karnofsky performance status (p = 0.03) and higher tumour cell proliferation index (p = 0.04). Increased disease‐specific risk of death was associated with high stromal versican expression score (p = 0.005) higher T class (p = 0.002), positive neck node status (p<0.001), higher stage (p<0.001), poorer histological differentiation (p = 0.005), worse general condition of the patient (p = 0.049) and increased tumour cell proliferative index (p = 0.02). In multivariate disease‐specific survival analysis, high stromal versican expression score (p = 0.048), poorer histological differentiation (p = 0.047) and higher stage (p = 0.002) independently predicted poorer disease outcome. CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort, increased stromal versican expression correlated with both increased risk for disease recurrence and shortened survival. High stromal versican expression may thus be considered an independent and adverse prognostic marker in OSCC