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C. Boyd and D. P. Boyle Molecular diagnosis on tissues and cells: how it affects training and will affect practice in the future On 25th November 2011, a symposium organized by the Royal College of Pathologists, entitled 'Molecular diagnosis on tissues and cells', took place in London. As trainees in histopathology and cytopathology, we were stimulated to consider the role that molecular biology is likely to play in future practice and how this is addressed by our own training. The symposium provided a basis for this article. Routine samples requiring molecular analysis are equally relevant to histopathologists and cytopathologists, and molecular biology laboratories are now using cytological as well as histological material for diagnostic testing, allowing different specimen types to be used as and when they are most appropriate. The most widely used types of molecular analysis in routine cellular pathology are EGFR testing in lung cancer, molecular testing of thyroid nodules, fluorescence in situ hybridization testing of urine samples, clonality analysis in lymphoma testing, HER2 testing in breast and gastric cancer, KRAS testing in colorectal cancer, intraoperative assessment of breast cancer sentinel nodes, molecular testing of gastrointestinal stromal tumours and mismatch repair protein analysis. Of these, the majority in the UK are carried out on histopathology samples, although many are applicable to cytological samples if adequate material is obtained. We are particularly encouraged by the potential of molecular diagnostic cytology in traditionally difficult areas, such as intraoperative assessment. We believe that increasing reliance on molecular diagnostic techniques will also herald changes in training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of Cambridge (UK) placental and fetal research in the middle third of the twentieth century is reviewed on the basis of published literature and personal recollection. Joseph Barcroft is a central figure who came to fetal research late in an extremely productive career which is briefly sketched. Contemporaneous Cambridge academics in the field included J.D. Boyd (the authors' father), J. Hammond, F.H.A. Marshall, R.A. McCance, J. Needham, A.S. Parkes and Elsie Widdowson. The then current Cambridge academic geography is explained and features of its scientific life such as funding, institutional structure and ethos, teaching and clinical duties, domestic and gender roles, and political context, including war and empire, are briefly considered. The testing of research findings against general principles and use of quantitative thinking are identified as important features. Intergenerational connections, often within individual families, are identified as a striking feature. The long-term impact of Cambridge work of this period; locally, in current trophoblast and feto-placental genetic research, in Oxford in probably influencing G.S. Dawes' research leadership, and internationally, especially through D.H. Barron, and through him to the Denver School, is considered. That human placental and embryological specimens collected by J.D. Boyd have received a new lease of life as the "Boyd Collection", including use by Allen Enders is noted. Mechanisms for the maintenance of scientific quality and productivity during the period, mainly through the scientist himself relying on an internalised sense of "obligation", are contrasted with those current in the UK and more widely; formal peer-review at frequent intervals, with subsequent allocation of short-term funding. The strengths and weaknesses of each are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the contribution to the field of transport biology of W.F. Widdas' paper 'Inability of diffusion to account for placental glucose transfer in the sheep and consideration of the kinetics of a possible carrier transfer' published in the Journal of Physiology in 1952. The importance of this mathematical analysis, and of its assumptions and predictions, has been supported in a number of subsequent publications over the last half century. But its vindication emerges specifically from the recent successful solution of the three dimensional structure of a membrane transport protein, the sugar carrier lac permease. Predictions arising from the 1952 paper are confirmed by this very recent study. Reasons for the relatively slow acceptance of the Widdas carrier hypothesis and its implications are discussed.

A case report illustrates possible pathophysiological mechanisms of sudden death in psychiatric patients. Difficulties with the tendency to implicate phenothiazines as the cause of death are discussed in light of evidence that the death investigation and autopsy are often incomplete. Some suggestions are made to reduce the risk of a fatal outcome following a violent incident.