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Normative data for ultrasonographic measurements of the fetal maxillary bone throughout pregnancy are provided. These data potentially allow the prenatal diagnosis of abnormal maxillary bone length.

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Mutations in BRCA genes increase the risk of ovarian cancer, yet no method for early diagnosis is available. Some serous ovarian tumors are hypothesized to stem from cells of the fallopian tube fimbria. Using a novel method of computerized morphometry of the fimbrial epithelium, this study aimed to detect morphologic differences in noncancerous fimbriae between BRCA mutation carriers and noncarriers, and between healthy and serous ovarian cancer patients. Twenty-four fimbriae from healthy women (13 BRCA+, 11 BRCA-) and 21 fimbriae from women with serous ovarian cancer (10 BRCA+, 11 BRCA-), all reported as "normal" by hematoxylin and eosin examination, were subjected to computerized histomorphometric analysis. A Fast Fourier Transformation was applied to images of fimbrial epithelium and the Fast Fourier Transformation 2-dimensional frequency maps were subsequently quantified for nuclear orientation and planar distribution by a cooccurrence matrix analysis. Additional analysis of nuclear contour was applied to the fimbriae of the healthy women. Among the healthy women, significant differences were found in morphometric characteristics between the BRCA mutation carriers and noncarriers. Among the women with ovarian cancer, no significant differences were found between BRCA mutation carriers and noncarriers. Between healthy women and those with ovarian cancer, significant differences were detected, regardless of BRCA mutational status. A novel method, which combined Fast Fourier Transformation with cooccurrence matrix analysis, demonstrated differences in morphometric characteristics in the fimbriae between healthy and ovarian cancer patients, and between BRCA mutation carriers and noncarriers. The clinical significance of these observations should be investigated.

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Uterine serous papillary carcinoma (UPSC) is an aggressive tumor, often diagnosed as a metastatic disease and characterized by a high recurrence rate and poor prognosis. UPSC represents a distinct subtype of endometrial cancer which is different in clinical and pathological behaviors from endometrioid endometrial carcinoma (EEC) and resembles more to serous ovarian carcinoma. Since tumors of serous papillary of the ovary are hypothesized to stem from cells of the fallopian tube's fimbria, we hypothesized that UPSC may also origin in the fallopian tubes. In our previous study, using a novel method of computerized morphometry of the fimbrial epithelium we have found significant differences between fimbriae of healthy women and serous ovarian cancer patients. In this study we showed the presence of morphologic differences between twenty-four fimbriae from healthy women, and twenty six fimbriae from uterus cancer (13 from UPSC patients and 13 from EEC patients). All fimbriae reported by the pathologist as "normal" were subjected to a computerized histomorphometric analysis. Two-step method of computerized histomorphometry, i.e. Fast Fourier transformation (FFT) followed by a co-occurrence matrix analysis and an additional analysis of the nuclear symmetry of the tubal fimbrial epithelium were applied. Using these novel methods, we were able to show differences in the morphometric characteristics of the fimbriae in UPSC patients compared to EEC and healthy patients. It is yet to be determined the clinical significance of this observation.