Gastric resections for carcinoma are common, but gastric carcinoma in South Africa, and particularly within the Western Cape province, has not been well documented.The objective of the study was to immunohistochemically evaluate HER2/ neu overexpression, determine aberrations in β-catenin and epithelial-cadherin (E-cadherin) expression, and correlate these fi ndings with gastric carcinoma subtypes.Ninety-seven gastric adenocarcinoma resections were morphologically categorised as intestinal-, diffuse- or mixed-type adenocarcinomas, and immunohistochemically stained for β-catenin, E-cadherin (extracellular and cytoplasmic domains) and HER2/neu. The results of staining were compared between the subtypes for statistically signifi cant differences. All 97 cases were confi rmed as gastric adenocarcinomas, with 39 (40%) intestinal- type, 51 (53%) diffuse-type, and 7 (7%) mixed-type tumours identifi ed. Patient ages ranged from 18-84 years. HER2/neu was overexpressed in 12 (12%) cases, with intestinal-type morphology (p = 0.017) reported in nine. Fourteen cases (14%) demonstrated abnormal β-catenin localisation. Aberrant E-cadherin (extracellular domain) localisation occurred in 36 (37%) cases. Diffuse-type morphology was associated with a signifi cantly high proportion (p = ≤ 0.001). Aberrant E-cadherin (cytoplasmic domain) localisation occurred in 7 (7%) cases. A signifi cantly high proportion (six of these cases) (p = 0.023) of these was diffuse-type morphology. Eleven (11%) adenocarcinomas occurred in patients aged ≤ 40 years, with intestinal morphology reported in nine of these 11. Aberrant E-cadherin (extracellular domain) localisation was noted in seven of the 11, a signifi cantly high proportion when compared to that in the older patients (p = 0.025).Distinct immunomorphological correlations are apparent in tumours demonstrating HER2/neu overexpression or abnormal E-cadherin localisation. Intestinal morphology, poor differentiation and E-cadherin abnormalities are frequently demonstrated in tumours occurring in younger individuals.
The study explores the developing of a model for the teaching and learning fluid mechanics at open distance university. Most of the students are employed. The model emphases blended learning, flexible learning and student-cantered learning. Fluid mechanics it a module offered at first level of mechanical engineering, which consists of two formative assessment, one submissive assessment and laboratory assignment. This study employed an activity theory as a framework. The quantitative approach was used to collect data. Data consists of student’s assignments (theory and practical) final examination scores. The results indicated average pass rates during 2015 and 2017. However, the pass rates during 2016 was good. It is recommended that cognitive analysis of the student responses could improve the performance rate, quality and enhancement to teaching and learning.
The study was conducted to assess the expression levels of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) proteins (E-cadherin, N-cadherin, snail-1 and vimentin) and miRNA-21. In addition, we correlated these data with clinicopathological features in Colorectal cancer.H&E slides from a total of 59 formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks were examined by a pathologist to demarcate normal and tumour regions. Immunohistochemical analysis of mismatch repair proteins (MLH1, MSH2 and MSH6) and EMT markers (E-cadherin, N-cadherin, snail-1 and vimentin) was performed. The miRNA-21 expression levels were determined using qRT-PCR and the data was analysed using the relative quantification method. The Fisher's exact and Pearson's χ2 tests were used to correlate snail-1, E-cadherin, miRNA-21 and clinicopathological data.Our results showed a statistically significant correlation between high miRNA-21 expression levels and E-cadherin positive cases. There was also an association between high miRNA-21 expression levels and negative snail-1 expression. No significant correlation was seen between miRNA-21 expression levels and clinicopathological features. Moreover, high expression levels of miRNA-21 were significantly associated with the sporadic cases.Our data suggest that miRNA-21 in association with E-cadherin and snail-1 does not play a significant role in the development and progression of this disease.
This study investigated the use of pressure cooking with different retrieval solutions at variable pHs to determine the optimum protocol for the extraction of high quality DNA from formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues. Further, the oxidation effect on the archived FFPE tissues in relation to the age of the tissue blocks was also explored. The main aim of the study was to investigate this technique on 11 gastric cancers. The design of our study was based on the principles of the antigen retrieval technique using a conventional pressure cooker to improve the quality of DNA extracted from FFPE tissues. In addition to the gastric cancers, lymphoma, breast, prostatic, and colorectal carcinomas were used to eliminate tissue bias. Statistical correlation was done using the paired t-test and Benjamini-Hochberg test. Our findings show that high DNA concentrations were obtained using the different retrieval solutions with pressure cooking, compared to the control samples that were not subjected to this procedure. The mean DNA concentration increased with all the solutions tested but DNA yield was significantly higher in 3 of the 4 retrieval solutions used. The use of antigen retrieval solutions at high pressure and temperature provided by pressure cooking may enable the reversal of the crosslinking effect of formalin in FFPE tissues. Further, the observation that the DNA extracted from recently processed blocks was of a superior yield as opposed to older tissue blocks, confirms that oxidation does have a deteriorating effect on DNA.
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