Autistic Traits,Empathizing–Systemizing,and Gender Diversity

Archives of Sexual Behavior - Previous research indicates a link between autism and transgender and gender-diverse identities, though the association is not yet fully understood. The current study...     

Marking of resection margins.

Starch was used to mark the resection margins of breast tissue simply by rolling formalin fixed specimens in, for instance, glove powder. Starch adheres satisfactorily to the specimen and is obvious, microscopically, if crossed polarisers are used. There is little "carry-over" of starch across the rest of the tissue, and subsequent radiology of specimen or blocks is not prejudiced. It is concluded that starch powder is eminently suitable in most cases as a single marker of the surgically cut surface. The method is quick, cheap, and clean. It should not be relied on, anymore than other methods, to mark the surgically cut surface of ragged or partly disrupted specimens.     

Polymorphisms and circulating levels in the insulin-like growth factor system and risk of breast cancer: a systematic review.

We reviewed all English-language articles on associations among circulating levels of the insulin-like growth factors (IGF) and their binding proteins (IGFBP), polymorphisms in their genes, and breast cancer risk. In premenopausal women, five of eight IGF-I studies and four of six IGFBP-3 studies of circulating levels found that women in the highest quantile had more than twice the risk of developing breast cancer of those in the lowest, although in some this effect was only apparent at young ages. In postmenopausal women, however, there was no consistent effect. A simple sequence length polymorphism 1 kb 5' to IGF-I was examined in relation to circulating levels of IGF-I (12 studies) or breast cancer risk (4 studies), but there was no convincing evidence of any effect. For an A/C polymorphism 5' to IGFBP-3, all three studies were consistent with a modest effect on circulating levels, but no evidence of a direct effect on breast cancer risk was seen in the only relevant study. Variation within the reference range of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 may confer only modest increases in breast cancer risk, and any single polymorphism may only account for a small proportion of that variation. Nevertheless, population attributable fractions for high circulating levels of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 and for common genetic variants could be substantial. Further large studies, or combined analysis of data from existing studies, are needed to quantify these effects more precisely.