Molecular diagnostic cytopathology: definitions, scope and clinical utility

Molecular diagnosis is the application of molecular biology techniques and knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of disease to diagnosis, prognostication and treatment of diseases. Although it is not widely used in routine molecular cytological practice, some examples are presented here of the application of molecular techniques to the routine cytopathological diagnosis of solid tumours and lymphoreticular malignancies. The term 'molecular diagnostic cytopathology' is proposed to define the application of molecular diagnosis to cytopathology, and the challenges of the introduction of molecular diagnosis into routine diagnostic histopathology and cytopathology are discussed. Finally, the importance of a combined morphological, immunophenotypic and molecular approach to maintain the diagnostic pathologist at the heart of the clinical decision-making process is emphasized.

Multiplex RT-PCR for the detection of leukemia-associated translocations - Validation and application to routine molecular diagnostic practice

The aim of this study was to validate the application of a commercially available multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay [He-mavision-7 System] for the seven most common leukemia translocations for routine molecular diagnostic hematopathology practice. A total of 98 samples, comprising four groups, were evaluated: Group 1, 16 diagnostic samples molecularly positive by our existing laboratory-developed assays for PML-RARalpha/t (15; 17) or BCR-ABL/t (9;22); Group 2, 51 diagnostic samples negative by our laboratory-developed assays for PML-RARalpha/t (15;17) or BCR-ABL/t (9;22); Group 3, 21 prospectively analyzed diagnostic cases, without prior molecular studies; and Group 4, 10 minimal residual disease (MRD) samples. Analysis of the two previously studied cohorts (Groups 1 and 2) confirmed the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the multiplex assay with regard to these two translocations. Additionally, however, in the

Diagnostic and prognostic biomarker discovery strategies for autoimmune disorders.

Current clinical, laboratory or radiological parameters cannot accurately diagnose or predict disease outcomes in a range of autoimmune disorders. Biomarkers which can diagnose at an earlier time point, predict outcome or help guide therapeutic strategies in autoimmune diseases could improve clinical management of this broad group of debilitating disorders. Additionally, there is a growing need for a deeper understanding of multi-factorial autoimmune disorders. Proteomic platforms offering a multiplex approach are more likely to reflect the complexity of autoimmune disease processes. Findings from proteomic based studies of three distinct autoimmune diseases are presented and strategies compared. It is the authors' view that such approaches are likely to be fruitful in the movement of autoimmune disease treatment away from reactive decisions and towards a preventative stand point.

Dogs as a diagnostic tool for ill-health in humans

Researchers have long reported that dogs and cats improve the physical and psychological health of their human caregivers, and while it is still inconclusive, a substantial amount of research now lends support for the commonly held view that "pets are good for us." Recently, studies have directed attention toward exploring the use of animals, most notably dogs, in the detection of disease and other types of health problems in people. This article reviews the evidence for dogs' ability to detect ill health in humans, focusing specifically on the detection of cancer, epileptic seizures, and hypoglycemia. The author describes the research carried out in this area and evaluates it in an effort to determine whether dogs have a role to play in modern health care as an "alert" tool or screening system for ill health. Where necessary, the author has highlighted weaknesses in the work and proposed directions for future studies.

Robust automated tumour segmentation on histological and immunohistochemical tissue images

Tissue microarray (TMA) is a high throughput analysis tool to identify new diagnostic and prognostic markers in human cancers. However, standard automated method in tumour detection on both routine histochemical and immunohistochemistry (IHC) images is under developed. This paper presents a robust automated tumour cell segmentation model which can be applied to both routine histochemical tissue slides and IHC slides and deal with finer pixel-based segmentation in comparison with blob or area based segmentation by existing approaches. The presented technique greatly improves the process of TMA construction and plays an important role in automated IHC quantification in biomarker analysis where excluding stroma areas is critical. With the finest pixel-based evaluation (instead of area-based or object-based), the experimental results show that the proposed method is able to achieve 80% accuracy and 78% accuracy in two different types of pathological virtual slides, i.e., routine histochemical H&E and IHC images, respectively. The presented technique greatly reduces labor-intensive workloads for pathologists and highly speeds up the process of TMA construction and provides a possibility for fully automated IHC quantification.

Investigation on localisation accuracy for first and higher order ambisonics reproduced sound sources

Ambisonics and higher order ambisonics (HOA) technologies aim at reproducing sound field either synthesised or previously recorded with dedicated microphones. Based on a spherical harmonic decomposition, the sound field is more precisely described when higher-order components are used. The presented study evaluated the perceptual and objective localisation accuracy of the sound field encoded with four microphones of order one to four and decoded over a ring of loudspeakers. A perceptual test showed an improvement of the localisation with higher order ambisonic microphones. Reproduced localisation indices were estimated for the four microphones and the respective synthetic systems of order one to four. The perceptual and objective analysis revealed the same conclusions. The localisation accuracy depends on the ambisonic order as well as the source incidence. Furthermore, impairments linked to the microphones were highlighted.

Thomson Scattering as a Diagnostic of Second-Harmonic Nd:YAG-Laser-Ablated Mg Plasma Plume

Thomson scattering is one of the most powerful diagnostic tools for plasma characterization, and it has been applied to a variety of plasmas. It is a nonintrusive technique, and the interpretation of the signal is relatively simple. However, this method has not been widely applied to low-temperature laser-ablated plasmas. Raman satellites have been observed in the scattering spectrum from a Mg laser-ablated plasma, giving this diagnostic the potential to be also used in density quantification of metastable states in plasmas.