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The purpose of this investigation was to assess the correlation of two biomarkers with the occurrence of renal flares in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Urine levels of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) were measured at baseline, and at two and four months in five groups of patients: 25 lupus nephritis patients with active disease (active LN), 10 lupus nephritis patients with SLE in remission (remission LN), 25 patients with clinical active SLE and without nephritis (active NLN), 10 patients without nephritis with SLE in remission (remission NLN) and 10 healthy controls. We used repeated measurement and ANOVA with Duncan's post hoc to analyze the data; the urine level of the two proteins could distinguish the groups based on the existence of lupus nephritis and/or activity of SLE disease. Furthermore we performed receiver operating curve analysis to identify a cutoff point with a good sensitivity and specificity to diagnose lupus nephritis with either one of the urine proteins. Finally the samples from active LN were grouped according to whether they were Class IV or other classes. Baseline urinary MCP-1, but not TGF-β, was significantly different between the classes. Further investigation into the use of these cytokines in a prospective study is needed to determine their capacity as diagnostic tools for renal flares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accuracy of intraoperative frozen section diagnosis is an important part of quality control in surgical pathology. In this study we try to evaluate the frozen section diagnosis in our center, a referral center in southern Iran. Materials and Methods: During the four-year-period of study, all the frozen sections in the affiliated hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were evaluated. Discrepant cases were studied to find out reasons for their inaccuracies. Results: In the four years, 759 frozen sections have been done, 25 of which showed discordant results. The most common site of frozen section and discrepancy was in central nervous system tumors. The reason for inaccuracy in frozen section diagnosis in 52% of cases was proved to be interpretative, 44% sampling error and the remainder due to lack of clinical information of the pathologist. Conclusion: Accuracy of our intraoperative consultation is comparable with other centers in Western countries. Most of the discrepancies can be prevented by providing more clinical information for the pathologist and more accurate sampling.