Hypokalaemia and peripheral oedema in a Cushingoid patient with metastatic prostate cancer.

We report on a 75-year-old man with a history of metastatic prostate cancer who presented with haematuria, peripheral oedema, metabolic alkalosis, hypokalaemia, and hypertension. Laboratory evaluation was compatible with the diagnosis of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-dependent cushing's syndrome and suggestive of ectopic ACTH production. Pathology of a prostate biopsy specimen showed a large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) of the prostate. This report describes a case of Cushing's syndrome that was probably caused by ectopic ACTH secretion by a LCNEC of the prostate.

A Merkel cell carcinoma presenting as a solitary lymph node metastasis without a primary lesion. Report of a case and review of the literature.

Merkel cell carcinoma is an uncommon, aggressive neuroendocrine tumour of the skin. At presentation regional lymph nodes are involved in approximately one third of the patients. In this report a patient is presented in whom Merkel cell carcinoma presented as a solitary lymph node metastasis with an unknown primary skin lesion. The diagnosis of unknown primary merkel cell carcinoma including the use of immunohistochemical markers and treatment options based on data from the literature are discussed.

Subcutaneous angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma mimicking metastatic melanoma.

Angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma is an uncommon soft-tissue tumor of intermediate malignancy that is often misdiagnosed initially. As there is not one immunohistochemical marker that consequently stains positive or negative for angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma, molecular diagnostics are becoming more widely used. So far three translocations have been reported to arise in angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma: FUS-ATF1, EWSR1-CREB1, or EWSR1-ATF1. We present a case of angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma on the upper arm of a 40-year-old female, which was initially misdiagnosed as metastatic melanoma in a lymph node. Revision of the pathology revealed an angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma, which was later confirmed by a EWSR1-CREB1 translocation with molecular diagnostics. Furthermore, we review the relevant literature and provide an overview of all available case reports in the past ten years. This case report illustrates the importance for pathologists of knowing the typical pathology features of AFH and integrating immunohistochemical and molecular findings in order to prevent overdiagnosis of lymph node metastasis of a malignancy.

Women's labor force transitions in connection with childbirth: a panel data comparison between Germany, Sweden and Great Britain.

"In this paper we make use of the panel aspects of the German GSOEP, the Swedish HUS and the British BHPS data...[to analyze] labor force transitions triggered by child births of different birth orders.... We find that German and British women have even higher full-time labor force participation than Swedish women 12 months before the birth of the first child. The difference is more pronounced for second and third births than for first births. We suggest that these differences are caused by different family policy regimes where Germany can be characterized as a breadwinner regime and Sweden a regime oriented towards equal role sharing of father and mother. Our results on determinants of being in the labor force both after and before the birth of a child as well as determinants of the tempo of entering the labor force after birth show that women's own human capital is important both in Germany and Great Britain, whereas in Sweden also less educated women have entered the labor force by the time the child is 2 years old."

Effects of a second insemination after ovulation on fertilization rate and accessory sperm count in sows.

Insemination immediately after ovulation causes low fertilization results owing to a low fertilization rate and possibly also owing to polyspermic fertilization. The present experiment was undertaken to study the effects of a second insemination after ovulation on fertilization rate and embryonic development. In multiparous crossbred sows, transrectal ultrasonography was used at intervals of 4 h to determine ovulation. All sows (n = 91) were artificially inseminated with 3 x 10(9) mixed spermatozoa and, in 31 sows, a second insemination took place at 3 +/- 1 (mean +/- SD) h after ovulation. At 119 +/- 5 h after ovulation, the percentage of normal embryos and the accessory sperm count were determined. In the sows that were inseminated once, the percentage of normal embryos decreased when insemination took place more than 24 h before ovulation, from 88 +/- 20% (16-24 h; n = 15) to 63 +/- 40% (24-32 h; n = 10) (P < 0.05). In the sows that were inseminated again after ovulation, the percentage of normal embryos was high, irrespective of the period between first insemination and ovulation. The difference in percentage of normal embryos between the sows that were inseminated once or twice was significant when the first insemination took place between 24 and 32 h before ovulation; 63 +/- 40% (inseminated once, n = 10) and 97 +/- 5% (inseminated twice, n = 8) (P < 0.05). The accessory sperm count of the normal embryos in a litter was positively related to the percentage of normal embryos in a litter, and this relation was not affected by the interval between first insemination and ovulation or by the number of inseminations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effects of time of insemination relative to ovulation, as determined by ultrasonography, on fertilization rate and accessory sperm count in sows.

The effects of the timing of insemination relative to ovulation on fertilization rate, accessory sperm count and early embryo development were studied in sows. Oestrus detection was performed at intervals of 8 h. Sows were artificially inseminated once with 3 x 10(9) spermatozoa. Transrectal ultrasonography was performed at intervals of 4 h to determine when ovulation occurred and sows were killed at 120 +/- 6 h after ovulation. For each insemination-ovulation interval of 8 h, fertilization rates were as follows: > 48 h, 35% (n = 1); 48-40 h, 51 +/- 36% (n = 6); 40-32 h, 54 +/- 36% (n = 14); 32-24 h, 79 +/- 32% (n = 19); 24-16 h, 94 +/- 11% (n = 24); 16-8 h, 92 +/- 21% (n = 24); 8-0 h, 95 +/- 22% (n = 21) and for the sows that were inseminated after ovulation: 0 to -8 h, 75 +/- 38% (n = 26); -8 to -16 h, 74 +/- 43% (n = 15) and < -16 h, 0% (n = 1). The median accessory sperm count differed among the groups from 1 (insemination 40-48 h before ovulation) to 126 (insemination 0-8 h after ovulation) (P = 0.0001). Within each 8 h time interval, the normal embryos from sows with less than 90% normal embryos were less developed and had a lower sperm count than did the normal embryos from sows with more than 90% normal embryos (P < 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Natural and recombinant bovine interferon tau regulate basal and oxytocin-induced secretion of prostaglandins F2 alpha and E2 by epithelial cells and stromal cells in the endometrium.

The effects of bovine interferon tau (IFN tau) and oxytocin on secretion of the prostaglandins PGF2 alpha and PGE2 by epithelial and stromal cells in the endometrium were assessed in two experiments. Endometrial tissues were collected from cyclic cows at Day 15 after oestrus for subsequent isolation of epithelial cells (4 cows) and stromal cells (4 cows). In both experiments, confluent cells were treated with 0, 2, 10 or 50 ng mL-1 natural bovine IFN tau (nbIFN tau) or 0, 0.4, 2, 10, 50 and 250 ng mL-1 recombinant bIFN tau (rbIFN tau). Culture medium was sampled at 24 h. Oxytocin (2.0 x 10(-7) M) or placebo was then added to wells and the medium was sampled 30 and 90 min later. Epithelial cells secreted more PGF2 alpha than stromal cells whereas stromal cells predominantly secreted PGE2. Oxytocin stimulated secretion of PGF2 alpha and PGE2 (P < 0.01) from epithelial cells, but both basal secretion and oxytocin-induced secretion of PGF2 alpha and PGE2 decreased with increasing dose of either nbIFN tau or rbIFN tau (P < 0.01). At comparable doses, rbIFN tau inhibited PGF2 alpha and PGE2 secretion more strongly than did nbIFN tau (either in the absence or the presence of oxytocin). The minimal effective dose of rbIFN tau was 0.4 ng mL-1 and 50% inhibition was obtained with 1 ng mL-1 (0.043 nM). Neither nbIFN tau nor rbIFN tau nor oxytocin altered PGF2 alpha or PGE2 secretion by stromal cells. The results indicate differential prostaglandin responses by the two major endometrial cell types (epithelium and stroma) to regulatory agents such as bIFN tau and oxytocin in cattle. Suppression of prostaglandin secretion by bIFN tau in epithelial cells of endometrial tissue is supportive of an antiluteolytic effect of bIFN tau.