Background:Surgical pathology is an integral part of diagnosis and management planning in patient care. In the absence of widespread automation, many small laboratories are unable to provide this service due to lack of time. Currently, the shortest processing schedule for formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues is 16 working hours; most small laboratories cannot complete the rapid schedules within the average 8–9 working hours. Thus, the availability of an 8–9 h processing schedule that provide satisfactory results can help many small laboratories in routinely providing surgical pathology services.Objectives:To evaluate the effectiveness of a new rapid processing schedule and compare it with two existing rapid processing schedules.Materials and Methods:This animal study tested a new rapid processing schedule suggested by authors with overnight preprocessing in 60% isopropyl alcohol followed by an 8 h processing schedule. This was tested and compared with the rapid processing schedules described by Godkar's (11 h) and Bancroft's (2 working days). A routinely used automatic tissue processor long cycle (17 h) was the control. Each schedule was used on 20 tongue specimens. The prepared slides were evaluated for surface area and linear tissue shrinkage, ease of sectioning, quality of hematoxylin and eosin staining, histological appearance and artifacts.Results:No statistical differences were found between schedules. Overall total average performance ranking placed Bancroft's schedule as the best with only 27.9% of the sections processed and stained showing any shortcomings, followed closely by the test schedule suggested by authors (28.7%), Godkar's (31.8%) and the automatic processor schedule/control (33.3%).Conclusion:The test results indicated that the schedule devised by authors is an effective rapid processing cycle that produces diagnostic quality histological results when compared with other conventional processing schedules for small tissue blocks (average 6 mm × 8 mm).

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Background:Internet is a useful tool to update the knowledge. The aim of the present study was to assess the current level of knowledge on the computer and internet among under graduate dental students.Materials and Methods:The study consists of self-administered close ended questionnaire survey. Questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate dental students. The study was conducted during July to September 2012.Results:In the selected samples, response rate was 100%. Most (94.4%) of the students had computer knowledge and 77.4% had their own computer and access at home. Nearly 40.8% of students use computer for general purpose, 28.5% for entertainment and 22.8% used for research purpose. Most of the students had internet knowledge (92.9%) and they used it independently (79.1%). Nearly 42.1% used internet occasionally whereas, 34.4% used regularly, 21.7% rarely and 1.8% don’t use respectively. Internet was preferred for getting information (48.8%) due to easy accessibility and recent updates. For dental purpose students used internet 2-3 times/week (45.3%). Most (95.3%) of the students responded to have computer based learning program in the curriculum.Conclusion:Computer knowledge was observed to be good among dental students.

Dr. Albert Coons et al in 1941 first initiated immunohistochemistry to identify cellular or tissue constituents by means of antigen and antibody interactions. The site of antibody binding can be identified either by direct labeling of antibody or by use of secondary labeling method. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) involves the use of labeled antibodies to localize the antigens in the tissues through antigen-antibody interactions and are visualized either by fluorescent dye, enzyme, radioactive element or colloidal gold. IHC usage has an obvious advantage over the traditional one, which uses special enzyme staining technique that identify only limited number of proteins, enzymes and certain tissue structure. IHC can be commonly employed to distinguish the tissue of epithelial and mesenchymal differentiation, cellular changes which are normally not visible in regular staining techniques, and earliest changes in transformed tissues. IHC is relatively rapid and simple method to better determine the specific neoplastic tissue origin, the behavior or progression of neoplasm. Hence IHC have gained importance in the medical research and has been considered as a crucial & widely used technique in research laboratories as well as in clinical diagnostics. In present review IHC markers for epithelial origin that can be utilized to diagnose the tumor or to determine the prognosis of the tumor..

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