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Introduction and Aim: Immunotherapy is now being widely used for targeted therapy in several cancers. The PD-1/ PD-L1 (programmed cell death receptor/programmed cell death ligand) axis inhibits the expansion of tumour specific T cells and prevents the immune response against tumours. PD-L1 expression is seen in many cancers including gastric carcinomas and anti PDL1 antibodies are being used to produce tumour regression. This study was done to evaluate PD-L1 expression in gastric carcinomas and correlate this with the different histological types, grades and stages of these tumours Materials and Methods: In this study, 50 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma were analysed for PD-L1 expression using immunohistochemistry. PD-L1 expression was correlated with histopathological factors including histological type, differentiation, grade and stage using statistical methods. Results: A positive PD-L1 expression was observed in 52% of the cases. A positive correlation between PD-L1 positivity and tumour depth to which the tumour was invading the stomach was observed. No correlation was noted with expression of PD-L1 and histological type, differentiation, histological grade and presence/absence of nodal metastasis. Conclusion: PD-L1 expression was seen in more than half of the patients in our study. Hence it is suggested that anti PD-L1 inhibitors can be used as an adjunct in the treatment of gastric cancers, especially those with a greater depth of invasion.

Aim: To assess the clinicopathological details of patients with colorectal cancer in a tertiary care centre in India and compare it other studies reported in the literature. Study Design: This is a retrospective study conducted on all the patients who were admitted in the period of 2017 to 2020. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pathology, Saveetha Medical College, Thandalam, Chennai. The data was processed and the manuscript was prepared between June 2020 and January 2021. Methodology: Patient details were collected from the histopathology records and the parameters studied were age, gender, tumour site, histological type, differentiation and tumour stage of the colorectal carcinoma. The sampling was done using the complete enumerate sampling method. The patients diagnosed histopathologically as colorectal carcinoma were included in our study. Results: A total of 51 patients had been admitted in the years 2017, 2018, and 2019 in our institute. There was a female predominance among the patients. The mean age of the patients was lesser than the mean age of colorectal cancer cases in other studies which have been reported in the country. The most common tumour site was rectum in both the sexes and the most common histologic type was adenocarcinoma. The most common histological differentiation was moderate differentiation. Conclusion: The increased incidence in younger patients as compared to previous studies may be attributable to the lifestyle and dietary changes.

Aim: The current study aims at highlighting the clinical presentation, echocardiographic profile and histopathological details of the four cases of cardiac myxoma which we had encountered in our institution within a period of one year and to identify a relationship between the clinical behaviour and the histopathological picture. Results: Among the four cases 2 were males and 2 were females and their ages ranged from 36 to 49 years. Two of the four patients presented with chest pain and palpitations , one with dyspnoea and the other case presented with recurrent stroke. Three of the cases were located in the left atrium while one case was in the right atrium. The histopathological examination of all the cases showed stellate , round and polygonal cells surrounded by abundant myxoid stroma. There was no histopathological correlation between the different clinical presentations or locations of the myxomas. Conclusion: Although histopathological examination is necessary along with echocardiography to make a diagnosis of cardiac myxoma , there is no correlation between the different clinical presentation , site and the histopathological examination.

Dengue is a global arboviral disease of growing public health concern. Several parameters have been used to detect the infection and severity of dengue. Recent evidence suggests that platelet indices can be used to assess the severity and prognosis of dengue infection. This retrospective study aims at assessing the role of the platelet indices – Mean Platelet Volume (MPV), Platelet Distribution Width, (PDW), P-LCR (Platelet Large Cell Ratio) and Plateletcrit (PCT) and its correlation with the platelet count in 50 Dengue NS1 antigen positive cases and to find the sex ratio and the age-wise distribution of the dengue cases. The indices were obtained using an Automated Hematology analyzer and were compared with the platelet count, considering p-value

Cystic nephroma (CN) is an uncommon benign renal tumor with a bimodal age distribution. It often presents with non-specific presenting symptoms. In this study, we report a case of a 14-year-old female patient who presented with a painless abdominal mass, and a left renal cystic lesion was detected on CECT KUB. Left partial nephrectomy was done and a diagnosis of CN made following the histopathological examination of specimen. Owing to its non-specific clinical presentation and radiological findings, it is difficult to distinguish CN from other cystic lesions of kidney like cystic partially differentiated nephroblastoma, tubule-cystic renal cell carcinoma, cystic Wilm’s tumor etc., pre-op. This study emphasizes importance of histopathological examination in diagnosis of CN to prevent misdiagnosis and overtreatment. Although it has good prognosis, long term follow-up for local recurrence is recommended.

Background Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with heterogeneous communication and other comorbid manifestations. While previous studies have characterized speech deficits associated with CAS, few studies have examined variability in reading and language and/or other developmental comorbidities. We sought to identify comorbid subgroups within CAS that could be clinically relevant as well as genetically distinctive. Methods In a group of 31 children with CAS and 8 controls, we performed hierarchical cluster analysis utilizing measures of articulation, vocabulary, and reading. We also conducted a chart review of the children with CAS to examine other clinical characteristics in these children and their association with subgroup membership. Results We identified 3 comorbid subgroups within CAS of varying severity. The high severity subgroup was characterized by poor reading and vocabulary, and the moderate severity subgroup by poor reading and non-word repetition but average vocabulary, compared to the mild severity subgroup. Subgroups were indistinguishable with respect to speech sound production, the hallmark of CAS, all demonstrating poor articulation. Children in the most severe subgroup were more likely to have early problems feeding (p = 0.036). Conclusions Children with CAS may potentially be classified into comorbidity groups based on performance on vocabulary and reading measures, providing additional insight into the heterogeneity within CAS with implications for educational interventions.

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Additional file 1.