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Biomedical subjects

C Fisher

Publications and source records attributed to C Fisher.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Structural limits on verb mapping: the role of analogy in children's interpretations of sentences.

The structure of sentences in which a verb is used can provide hints about its meaning (Landau & Gleitman, 1985). One possible view of how this works appeals to innate rules linking grammatical categories with semantic ones (e.g., if subject then agent). However, this view requires considerable syntactic knowledge on the part of the child to use structural cues; The child must already be able to identify the grammatical parts of a sentence-in a particular language-in order to gain access to such rules. In this paper I propose an alternative route from structure to verb meaning and present evidence for its use. A task was devised to deny preschoolers access to linking rules like "if subject then agent," by not identifying the subject. In three experiments, children learned novel verbs in different sentence contexts. The identity of the subject and object of each sentence was hidden by using ambiguous pronouns (e.g., she and her). Thus only the number of arguments (transitive vs intransitive sentences) and their marking by preposition (to vs from) could provide cues to verb meaning. Meanings were assessed by asking children to point to the one performing the labeled action. Children's choices revealed sensitivity to both number and marking of arguments. These results suggest that very little explicit syntactic knowledge is needed to give children some structural cues to verb meaning. I suggest that a sentence structure has an abstract, relational meaning of its own, independent of the identity of its arguments, that can be applied by analogy to the child's conceptual representation of an event.

Child Language↗
PubMed1996

Long-term follow-up of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analog treatment for recurrent endometrial cancer.

To test the antitumor effect of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs, 32 consecutive patients with recurrent endometrial cancer that had progressed through conventional treatments were entered into an open observational trial of treatment with this class of compounds. Patients recruited had progressive, symptomatic, and measurable disease. Treatment was with monthly subcutaneous injections of GnRH analog. Measurements of gonadotrophins, sex hormones, and tumor dimensions were made together with repeat biopsy when possible to assess response to treatment. An objective response was seen in nine patients (28%, 95% CI 13-43%). Responses were seen within the first 2 months of treatment and included pelvic as well as distant sites of recurrence. Significantly greater response rates were seen in previously irradiated sites when compared with nonirradiated sites of recurrence (0.01 > P > 0.001). There was no significant difference between the response in patients with G3 lesions compared with patients with G1/G2 lesions (P > 0.5). Response did not correlate with previous progestogen exposure. No evidence of disease flare or drug toxicity was observed. GnRH analogs have a significant and durable antitumor effect in recurrent endometrial cancer which warrants further examination in comparison with progestogens.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Boron neutron capture irradiation of the rat spinal cord: effects of variable doses of borocaptate sodium.

The Fischer 344 rat spinal cord model has been used to evaluate the response of the central nervous system to boron neutron capture irradiation with variable doses of the neutron capture agent, borocaptate sodium (BSH). Three doses of BSH, 190, 140 and 80 mg/kg body weight, administered by i.p. injection, were used to establish the time course of 10B accumulation in and removal from the blood. After administration of the two lower doses of BSH, blood 10B levels peaked at 0.5 h after injection, with no significant (P > 0.1) change at 1 h after injection. Beyond this time point, levels of 10B in the blood began to decrease after a dose of 80 mg/kg BSH, but remained constant until 3 h after administration after the two higher doses of BSH. Myelopathy developed after latent intervals of 20.4 +/- 0.1, 20.8 +/- 1.4, 15.0 +/- 0.8, 15.4 +/- 0.4 and 15.6 +/- 0.4 weeks, following irradiation with thermal neutrons in combination with BSH at doses of 20, 40, 80, 140 and 190 mg/kg body weight, respectively. The radiation-induced lesion in the spinal cord was white matter necrosis. ED50 values for myelopathy were calculated from probit-fitted dose-effect curves. Expressed as total physical absorbed doses, these values were 20.7 +/- 1.9, 24.9 +/- 1.2, 27.2 +/- 0.9, 28.4 +/- 0.6 and 32.4 +/- 1.9 Gy after irradiation with thermal neutrons in the presence of 20, 40, 80, 140 and 190 mg/kg body weight of BSH, respectively. The compound biological effectiveness (CBE) factor values, estimated from this data, were in the range 0.49-0.55. There was no significant (P > 0.1) variation in the CBE factor for BSH as a function of increasing 10B concentration in the blood. It was concluded that there was no significant synergistic interaction between the low and high linear energy transfer (LET) components of the boron neutron capture (BNC) radiation field.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Medullary carcinoma of the thyroid misdiagnosed as differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Four patients are presented, who were initially diagnosed and treated for differentiated thyroid carcinoma, but subsequently discovered to have medullary carcinoma. We suggest that tumour histopathology needs to be carefully reviewed in all cases of thyroid cancer, especially those having atypical clinical or pathological features. This should be completed prior to further therapeutic intervention, such as the administration of ablative radioactive iodine.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Spermatocytic seminoma: a clinicopathological review of ten patients.

Spermatocytic seminoma is an uncommon variety of testicular neoplasm, differing from its classical counterpart at both clinical and pathological levels and having a low propensity to metastasize. This is a retrospective review of ten patients with pathologically confirmed and reviewed disease who were seen at the Royal Marsden Hospital. All patients presented as Stage I. Five were treated with radiotherapy and five have undergone surveillance. The median age was 56.5 years. The median follow-up is 8 years and no patient has relapsed. Two have died of intercurrent disease. Our series supports others of a similar size in the literature with respect to both the rarity and the good prognosis of spermatocytic seminoma. With only one case of relapse confirmed in the literature, this is a subgroup of patients in whom radiotherapy can safely be omitted.

Combined Modality Therapy↗
PubMed1996

DNA indices of primary and recurrent squamous cell carcinomas of the tongue and tonsil using image cytometry.

Ploidy status of squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN) from primary and recurrent tonsillar and tongue lesions has not been compared using image cytometry. We have measured and compared the DNA indices in 41 cases. There were 29 tongue SCCHN, 20/29 were primary and 9/29 were recurrent. Mean DNA index (DI) was 1.19 (range 0.70-1.81) and 1.28 (range 0.79-1.94) respectively. There were 12 tonsillar cases, 10/12 primary and two out of 12 recurrent. Mean DI was 0.84 (range 0.57-1.09) and 1.00 (range 0.98-1.02) respectively. Mean DNA indices of both primary carcinomas were lower than the mean DNA indices of the recurrent carcinomas. This difference between the two groups may be a reflection of their tumour biology. However, since our study is small no definite conclusions can be made at this stage. We aim in the future to evaluate the prognostic role of DNA indices of patients with paired primary and recurrent SCCHN. This may be of clinical value and improve the treatment modalities available to this group.

Aneuploidy↗
PubMed1996

Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the maxilla--the value of histopathology in diagnosing a second primary.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma is the commonest tumour of minor salivary glands. In the case described here a pulmonary mass was found. This was likely to be a distant metastasis, particularly as the primary tumour was of cribriform subtype with perineural invasion and resection was microscopically incomplete. However, surgical excision of the pulmonary mass enabled histopathological studies to be carried out which found it to be an unrelated bronchioloalveolar carcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma, Bronchiolo-Alveolar↗
PubMed1996

Paratesticular sarcomas revisited: a review of cases in the British Testicular Tumour Panel and Registry.

OBJECTIVE: To assess differences in the histopathological diagnoses of a series of paratesticular sarcomas following changes in the morphological classification of these tumours and the availability of investigations to define their immunophenotype, and to consider the impact of these changes on clinical management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-six soft tissue tumours of the paratesticular region, originally submitted to the British Testicular Tumour Panel and Registry between 1958 and 1967 were re-examined histologically using modern diagnostic criteria, including immunohistochemical features. Where possible, follow-up was brought up to date. RESULTS: Thirteen (35%) of the diagnoses made in 1967 were changed; of these, seven changes were attributable to the results of immunohistochemical tests and one involved the identification of an entity not recognized in 1967 (spindle cell rhabdomyosarcoma). CONCLUSION: The changes in diagnoses of major clinical relevance involved three neoplasms (8%) in which the recent opinion was rhabdomyosarcoma, a tumour for which successful treatment protocols are currently available.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Pleomorphic hyalinizing angiectatic tumor of soft parts. A low-grade neoplasm resembling neurilemoma.

Fourteen examples of an unusual mesenchymal tumor characterized by sheets and fascicles of mitotically inactive, hemosiderin-stippled, spindled, and pleomorphic cells, situated around an angiectatic vasculature, are described. The 14 tumours developed in eight women and six men (aged 32-83 years) and ranged in size from 2.3 to 8 cm. Eleven cases presented in the subcutaneous tissues, of which eight were located in the lower extremity. All featured prominent clusters of thin-walled ectatic vessels surrounded by perivascular hyaline material representing a combination of fibrin and collagen. In three cases the perivascular hyalinization was so extensive that it constituted more than half of the total tumor area. The tumor cells were similar to those of malignant fibrous hystiocytoma but differed from them by the presence of prominent intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions, the extreme scarcity of mitotic figures, and the occasional presence of CD-34 expression. These tumors also shared several features with neurilemomas, such as their unusual vasculature, intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions, lack of mitotic figures, and abundance of mast cells. They could be distinguished from neurilemomas, however, by the usual presence of infiltrative margins and the absence of S-100 protein. Follow-up information on eight patients (6 months to 25 years) indicated recurrences in four cases, with one of the three patients experiencing numerous recurrences over a 25-year period. No patient has developed metastases, however. We suggest that this tumor is a low-grade sarcoma of uncertain lineage in which the vascular changes are, in part, reflective of its slow growth.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Natural history and prognosis of untreated stage I epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the independent significance of prognostic factors in stage I invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 1980 and 1994, all patients with stage I EOC (borderline tumors excluded) following surgical resection were entered onto this study. No patient received adjuvant therapy and patients were monitored as follows: years 1 to 2-physical examination and serum CA125 every 3 months and computed tomographic (CT) scan every 6 months; years 3 to 5-physical examination and serum CA125 every 6 months and CT scan yearly; years 5 to 10-annual physical examination and serum CA125, with CT scan if clinically indicated. RESULTS: A total of 194 patients entered the study. The median patient age was 54 years (range, 15 to 83), and the median follow-up duration 54 months (range, 7 to 157). Five-year survival rates were as follows: stage IA, 93.7%; stage IB, 92%; and stage IC, 84%. Multivariate analysis using Cox's regression identified grade (P < .001), presence of ascites (P = .05), and surface tumor (P < .01) as independent poor prognostic factors. International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) substage did not appear to have independent prognostic significance. Intraoperative capsule rupture was not found to be prognostically significant. The impact of pre-operative rupture remains unclear. CONCLUSION: This is an important series, as no patient received adjuvant therapy, and represents the natural history of surgically resected stage I EOC.

Adolescent↗