Paul Shield

Peritoneal washing cytology

Peritoneal washing cytology (PWC) is a useful indicator of ovarian surface involvement and peritoneal dissemination by ovarian tumours. It may identify subclinical peritoneal spread and thus provide valuable staging and prognostic information, particularly for non‐serous ovarian tumours. The role of PWC as a prognostic indicator for endometrial carcinoma is less clear, due in part to the questionable significance of identifying endometrial tumour cells in the peritoneum. Detection of metastatic carcinoma in PWC is based on the recognition of non‐mesothelial cell characteristics. However a number of conditions such as reactive mesothelial cells, endometriosis and endosalpingiosis may mimic this appearance. Cells from these conditions may have a similar presentation in PWC to that of serous borderline tumours and low‐grade serous carcinoma. The presence of cilia, lack of single atypical cells, prominent cytoplasmic vacuolation, marked nuclear atypia or two distinct cell populations are features favouring a benign process. Attention to these features along with close correlation with clinical history and the results of surgical pathology should help avoid errors. Additional assistance may be provided by the use of cell blocks and special stains.

GATA3: A promising marker for metastatic breast carcinoma in serous effusion specimens

The usefulness of GATA3 (GATA‐binding protein 3 to DNA sequence [A/T]GATA[A/G]) as a marker for metastatic breast carcinoma in serous effusion specimens was investigated.

The value of calretinin and cytokeratin 5/6 as markers for mesothelioma in cell block preparations of serous effusions.

Objective:  To determine the value of calretinin and cytokeratin (CK) 5/6 in discriminating mesothelioma from adenocarcinoma in serous effusion specimens.

Planning mobile futures: the border artistry of International Baccalaureate Diploma choosers

This paper reports on a study of students choosing the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma over state‐based curricula in Australian schools. The IB Diploma was initially designed as a matriculation certificate to facilitate international mobility. While first envisaged as a lifestyle agenda for cultural elites, such mobility is now widespread with more people living ‘beyond the nation’ through choice or circumstance. Beck and others highlight how the capacity to cross national borders offers a competitive edge with which to strategically pursue economic and cultural capital. Beck’s ‘border artistes’ are those who use national borders to their individual advantage through reflexive strategy. The study explored the rationales and strategy behind the choice of the IB Diploma curriculum expressed by students in a focus group interview and an online survey. This paper reports on their imagined transnational routes and mobile orientations, and how a localised curriculum limits their imagined mobile futures.

Choosing your niche: the social ecology of the International Baccalaureate Diploma in Australia

The International Baccalaureate’s (IB) branding and reputation targets academic high achievers aiming for university entrance. This is an empirical examination of the growing popularity of this transnational secondary credential amongst local populations in Australia, focusing on its uptake across the community, and the discourses underpinning its spread and popularity. This paper reports on online surveys of 179 parents and 231 students in schools offering the IB as an alternative to Australian state curricula. It sets out to understand the social ecology of who chooses the IB and who it chooses. Statistically significant differences between IB and non-IB choosers were found in terms of family income, parent education, student aspirations, transnational lifestyles and neoconservative, neoliberal and cosmopolitan beliefs. The analysis demonstrates how the reproduction of advantage is accomplished through choice behaviours in stratified educational markets.

Rapid on-site evaluation of fine needle aspiration specimens by cytology scientists: a review of 3032 specimens.

To determine: (1) the accuracy of cytology scientists at assessing specimen adequacy by rapid on‐site evaluation (ROSE) at fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology collections; and (2) whether thyroid FNA with ROSE has lower inadequacy rates than non‐attended FNAs.

Family literacy practices and home literacy resources: An Australian pilot study

The combined impact of social class, cultural background and experience upon early literacy achievement in the first year of schooling is among the most durable questions in educational research. Links have been established between social class and achievement but literacy involves complex social and cognitive practices that are not necessarily reflected in the connections that have been made. The complexity of relationships between social class, cultural background and experience, and their impact on early literacy achievement have received little research attention. Recent refinements of the broad terms of social class or socioeconomic status have questioned the established links between social class and achievement. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to move beyond deficit and mismatch models of explaining and understanding the underperformance of children from lower socioeconomic and cultural minority groups when conventional measures are used. The data from an Australian pilot study reported here add to the increasing evidence that income is not necessarily related directly to home literacy resources or to how those resources are used. Further, the data show that the level of print resources in the home may not be a good indicator of the level of use of those resources.

Teachers' Work in Curricular Markets: Conditions of Design and Relations between the International Baccalaureate Diploma and the Local Curriculum

Abstract School‐level strategy enabled by neoliberal choice policies can produce internal curricular markets whereby branded curricula such as the International Baccalaureate are offered alongside the local government curriculum in the same school. This project investigated how such curricular markets operating in Australian schools impacted on teachers’ work. This article reports on teachers work in three case study schools that offered both the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IBD) program and the local senior schooling curriculum, then draws on an online survey of 225 teachers in 26 such schools across Australia. The analysis reveals the impact of curricular markets along two dimensions: the curriculum’s internal design, and the relational aspects of how schools manage to deliver tandem offerings within institutional constraints. Teachers working in the IBD program were shown to relish its design, despite additional demands, while teachers working in just the local curriculum reported more relational issues. The article argues that these trends suggest that there are winners and losers emerging in the work conditions produced by curricular markets.

Performance measures for Australian laboratories reporting cervical cytology: a decade of data 1998–2008

Aim: Performance measures for Australian laboratories reporting cervical cytology are a set of quantifiable measures relating to the profile and accuracy of reporting. This study reviews aggregate data collected over the ten years in which participation in the performance measures has been mandatory. Methods: Laboratories submit annual data on performance measures relating to the profile of reporting, including reporting rates for technically unsatisfactory specimens, high grade or possible high grade abnormalities and abnormal reports. Cytology‐histology correlation data and review findings of negative smears reported from women with histological high grade disease are also collected. Suggested acceptable standards are set for each measure. This study reviews the aggregate data submitted by all laboratories for the years 1998–2008 and examines trends in reporting and the performance of laboratories against the suggested standards. Results: The performance of Australian laboratories has shown continued improvement over the study period. There has been a fall in the proportion of laboratories with data outside the acceptable standard range in all performance measures. Laboratories are reporting a greater proportion of specimens as definite or possible high grade abnormality. This is partly attributable to an increase in the proportion of abnormal results classified as high grade or possible high grade abnormality. Despite this, the positive predictive value for high grade and possible high grade abnormalities has continued to rise. Conclusion: Performance measures for cervical cytology have provided a valuable addition to external quality assurance procedures in Australia. They have documented continued improvements in the aggregate performance, as well as providing benchmarking data and goals for acceptable performance for individual laboratories.

Fine-needle aspiration cytology of Merkel cell carcinoma-a review of 69 cases.

This study reviewed the clinical presentation, cytologic findings, and the immunophenotype of 69 Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) cases sampled by fine‐needle aspiration (FNA).