This chapter deals with the various changes that may occur in a muscle under pathological conditions. As we show, very few abnormalities are in themselves pathognomonic of a particular disease. However, by evaluating the constellation of different changes that are…
In this chapter, the composition and appearance of normal muscle will be discussed. The first part will be concerned with the anatomical constituents of normal muscle at the light microscope level, followed by histochemical aspects of the different types of…
Just as every pathologist has particular preferences for routine stains, so muscle histochemists have tended to develop preferences for particular reactions, especially in the interpretation of fibre types. In the early days of the application of histochemical techniques to the…
The Evolving Role of Muscle Pathology Muscle biopsy has been an important part of the assessment of patients with a neuromuscular disorder for many decades. The use of frozen sections and the application of histochemistry and electron microscopy have identified…
Introduction According to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) there were 279,000 cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed worldwide in 2008 ( ). The estimated five-year prevalence of people living with pancreatic cancer is projected at 3.5% per 100,000 and…
Introduction to EMCIT Concept The concept of enzyme-mediated cancer imaging and therapy (EMCIT) involves the use of an enzyme specifically overexpressed on the surface of cancer cells. As such, the enzyme can act as a mediator for the hydrolysis of…
Introduction The underpinning and ultimate promise of personalized therapy is that the molecular fingerprint of a patient’s tumor becomes the rationale for targeted and patient-tailored therapy. Until recently, this fingerprint has been a genomics-centered analysis using exome panels, whole genome…
An Introduction and Brief Overview of MicroRNAs MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs 22 nucleotides in length that carry out complex regulatory functions through post-transcriptional targeting and modification. Initially, these miRNAs were discovered through analyses of Caenorhabditis elegans development, in…
Introduction Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer death in North America. The five-year survival rate is only 5.1% . The high lethality related to pancreatic cancer is due to a number of factors. It is biologically…
Acknowledgment We acknowledge Dr Fazlul Sarkar for providing the necessary reagents (CSCs) to conduct the studies described in this chapter. Introduction Pancreatic cancer (PC) kills ∼300,000 individuals worldwide, and each year in the United States there are an estimated 43,920…