According to the literature available, HER2(human epidermal growth factor 2)status in gastric carcinoma has been studied worldwide, however there is a paucity of published data from India. Hence, this study was taken up to evaluate HER2 overexpression in gastric adenocarcinoma patients and to assess the relationship between its expression and clinicopathological tumor parameters. Prospective study was conducted in a teaching hospital over a period of 27 months. Total or subtotal gastrectomy resection specimens and small biopsies were included in the study. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was carried out on all the cases to evaluate the expression of HER2 in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples. Fluorescence Insitu Hybridization (FISH) was done for equivocal cases on IHC. The data was analyzed using Chi square test / Fisher's Exact Test. Odds ratio was computed between HER2 and other pathologic variables. HER2 overexpression was confirmed in 16 (27.6 %) cases of which 15 (93.8 %) cases were of intestinal type whereas only 1 (6.2 %) case of diffuse type adenocarcinoma. Hence, HER2 positivity was significantly more common in the intestinal type of gastric cancer compared to the diffuse type (p = 0.045). Positivity of HER2 was more in small biopsies as compared to the resection specimens in this study but the p value was not significant. There was no difference in HER2 overexpression in relation to the age, gender, tumor site, tumor differentiation and stage. HER2 overexpression is more prevalent in the intestinal subtype. The relatively high percentage of HER2 positive tumors may provide a useful target for immunotherapy of these cancers.

Introduction: Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease that is a common cause for damage to gingiva and periodontal tissue and for the loss of teeth. Tooth mobility, pathological migration and alveolar bone loss are common sequelae of periodontitis. Two types of periodontitis known are Chronic and Aggressive type. In gingival crevicular fluid (GCF), the activity of Alkaline phosphatase has been considered as a useful diagnostic and prognostic marker of periodontal disease. Based on this observation, a study has been conducted in patients with chronic and aggressive periodontitis and their age and gender matched healthy controls to assess the ALP levels in GCF. Material and methods: GCF alkaline phosphatase activity was observed in patients with aggressive and chronic periodontitis and their age and gender matched healthy controls. Results: On Comparison between GCF alkaline phosphatase levels between both aggressive and chronic periodontitis and their age and gender matched controls, the mean difference was statistically significant (P < 0.01) when paired t test was used. Conclusion: In patients with aggressive and chronic periodontitis, the mean alkaline phosphatase levels were increased significantly in comparison to healthy controls.

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