Dermal exposure to the herbicide-paraquat results in genotoxic and cytotoxic damage to germ cells in the male rat.

The effects of exposure to low doses of paraquat, a herbicide, via the dermal route were studied on the spermatozoa of Sprague-Dawley rats. Paraquat (1, 1'-dimethyl-4, 4'-bipyridinium dichloride) was administered once a day for five days, at intervals of 24 h at 0, 6, 15 and 30 mg/kg, and the rats were sacrificed on days 7, 14, 28, and 42 after the last exposure. The sperm suspensions were obtained by mincing the caudae epididymes and ductus deferens for the purpose of performing a sperm morphology test, sperm count and analysis of sperm mortality and sperm motility, as per the standard procedures. The sperm count was decreased (p < 0.05) only on days 7 and 14 but sperm abnormalities increased on all days (p < 0.05). Sperm mortality increased at higher dose-levels (p < 0.05) except on day 42, and motility was affected by 30 mg/kg only on day 42. In conclusion, paraquat is a genotoxic and cytotoxic agent to germ cells in the male rat.

Atypical (symplastic) leiomyoma of the uterus--a case report.

A 30-year-old, nulliparous woman presented with a history of subfertility. On examination she was found to have uterine fibroid of 28 weeks size of gravid uterus and subsequently laporatomy myomectomy was performed. Multilobulated masses, with diameters ranging from 22 mm to 160 mm were found. Cut sections of the lobulated masses showed whitish whorled cut surface. One of the multilobulated masses had a cystic cavity, measuring 60x50x35 mm(3). Light microscopic findings of the mass with the cystic cavity showed a well-circumscribed cellular tumour composed of cells exhibiting moderate nuclear atypia which were enlarged, nuclei with prominent chromatin clumping and were distributed in areas. Some tumour cells showed large nuclear pseudoinclusions, multinucleated or multilobated tumour giant cells, smudging and few enlarged nucleoli. Mitotic activity was 4 MFs per 10 HPFs. Occasional cells with intracytoplasmic inclusions resembling rhabdoid - like features were seen. There were no atypical mitoses or tumour necroses were noted. Diagnosis of atypical leiomyoma or symplastic leiomyoma was made. Atypical or symplastic leiomyomas are rare in the region of Malaysia and the present case discusses its incidence in younger age, its morphological features along with diagnosis and clinical outcome.

E-cadherin expression correlates with histologic type but not tumour grade in invasive breast cancer.

The traditional classification of infiltrating breast carcinomas into ductal and lobular can be diagnostically challenging in a small proportion of cases with equivocal histological features and in in-situ lesions with overlapping features. Distinguishing between the infiltrating ductal (IDC) and lobular (ILC) carcinomas is clinically important because of the different pattern of systemic metastases and prognostic evaluation. E-cadherin is a potentially useful immunohistochemical marker which may serve to differentiate between the two tumour types. We therefore studied E-cadherin expression in 32 cases of breast carcinomas comprising 16 IDCs and 16 ILCs. The correlation between E-cadherin expression and the histological grade of IDCs was also analysed. Our results showed complete loss of E-cadherin expression in all ILCs, while the IDCs consistently showed variable E-cadherin positivity. No significant correlation was found between E- cadherin expression and the histological grade of IDCs. We conclude from this study that E-cadherin is a useful marker to differentiate between IDC and ILC of the breast. A larger study of IDCs is now needed to further evaluate the correlation between E-cadherin and tumour grade to estimate its prognostic potential.