Comparisons of antidotal efficacy of chelating drugs upon acute toxicity of Ni(II) in rats. Six chelating drugs were administered to rats by im injection at equimolar dosages in order to compare their relative effectiveness in prevention of death after a single parenteral injection of NiCl2. Triethylenetetramine and d-penicillamine were most effective antidotes for acute Ni (II)-toxicity. In order of decreasing antidotal effectiveness, diglycyl-L-histidine-N-methylamide, sodium diethyldithiocarbamate and calcium disodium versenate significantly reduced the acute mortality of rats following ip injection of Ni (II). Alpha-Lipoic acid was not effective as an antidote for acute Ni (II)-toxicity.


Effect of hydroxycobalamin on the inhibition of cytochrome c oxidase by cyanide. II - In isolated cytochrome C oxidase. The effects of hydroxycobalamin on inhibition of the isolated cytochrome c oxidase (EC 1.9.3.1) by cyanide were studied. No effect of hydroxycobalamin (HCo) and cyanocobalamin (CNCo) was observed on isolated cytochrome c oxidase. When cytochrome c oxidase inhibited by cyanide was treated with HCo the reversal of inhibition could be observed through the spectrum of cytochrome c oxidase without reversal of activity; CNCo had no effect. The treatment of cyano-cytochrome c oxidase with HCo suggests that there is the formation of cobalamin-cytochrome c oxidase complex plus CNCo, and it is possible that complex formation would be between the cobalt of cobalamin and proteic part of cytochrome c oxidase.


Effect of narcotic dependence and withdrawal on striatal dopamine-sensitive adenylate cyclase and synaptosomal cyclic AMP metabolism. In rats rendered tolerant to the dependent on morphine, striatal cyclic AMP metabolism was significantly enhanced as reflected by elevated cyclic AMP levels and adenylate cyclase activity. Following withdrawal from morphine treatment, whereas the activity of straital adenylate cyclase was significantly reduced when compared to morphine-dependent rats, the drop in cyclic AMP was not significant. Although addition of dopamine (40 muM) stimulated equally well the striatal adenylate cyclase from control or morphine-dependent animals, the activity of dopamine-stimulated enzyme was blocked in animals undergoing withdrawal. The crude synaptosomal fraction of the whole brain obtained from morphine-dependent rats exhibited an even more pronounced increase in cyclic AMP which was accompanied by elevated adenylate cyclase and protein kinase activity. Naloxone administration suppressed this rise in cyclic AMP and reversed the morphine-stimulated increases in adenylate cyclase and protein kinase. Following the withdrawal of morphine treatment, alterations in cyclic AMP metabolism were similar to those noted for the morphine-naloxone group.


Ontogenesis of serotonergic systems in rat brain. It was shown that the concentration of brain 5-HT rises slowly, reaching mature values by 80 days of age, while the catabolic product of 5-HT, i.e., 5-HIAA, drops from a high perinatal value to lower values by adulthood. This is indicated of poorly developed storage mechanisms at this early period in life. It was also shown that MAO develops at a rapid rate, acquiring mature values by 20 days. The activity of MAO towards substrates develops at different rates, although the general pattern of development is the same.


Growth kinetic studies of avian infectious bronchitis virus in tracheal organ cultures. An egg-adapted vaccine strain (H120) and an organ culture-passaged field strain (HV-10) of avian infectious bronchitis (AIB) virus were propagated in tracheal organ cultures and their growth kinetics examined using nine-day-old embryonated fowl eggs and chick tracheal explants for virus assay. When the H120 strain was assayed in embryonated eggs, titres were approximately log10 2-0 ID50 (50 per cent infectious dose) per ml higher than when assays were performed in tracheal explants. The HV-10 strain, assayed in tracheal explants, yielded higher titres than did the H120 strain, but when assayed in embryonated eggs, yielded only minimal and variable virus titres.


The pathogenesis of pulmonary emphysema (II). The most important primary cause of generalized pulmonary emphysema is in all probability the loss of mechanical stability of the connective tissue framework in the lung parenchyma. The complexity of the interrelations and interdependencies between the fibres and the ground substance, leads to the mapping out of a more detailed outline of the vulnerable parts in a similar framework. It is concluded that the junctions especially constitute weak spots. Glycosaminoglycans, glycoproteins and proteoglycans particularly hold a key position as cementing substances. The importance of female sex hormones in the metabolism of the ground substance is indicated. A survey is given of the possible threats to a similar system. An attempt is made to disentangle the multitude of possible pathogenetic pathways which lead to emphysematous disintegration. Perspectives of future emphysema research are discussed on the basis of these considerations. Preventive, protective, and reconstructive measures are proposed.


Quantitative bone scanning.

Quantitative bone scanning. The use of a computer coupled on-line with the scintillation camera allows an improvement of the finding of skeletal scintigraphy realized with 99mTc-pyrophosphate, making possible the identification of the smallest bone lesions. It also makes possible the quantification of the uptake degree of the radioindicator demonstrating, in normal subjects, an uptake ratio between the various skeletal segments of 1.07 +/- 0.06. In 44 metastatic lesions the ratio was 1.80 +/- 0.32, whilst in 14 areas of slight hyperfixation of the tracer a value of 1.24 +/- 0.09 was found. Since we were dealing with patients suffering from metastatic bone neoplasms, the authors outline the possibility that the quantification of data will allow the demonstration of the bone metastases even more precociously than with traditional scintigraphix examination.


Pathology produced by isocyanates: methods of immunological investigation. A group of 182 workers exposed to diisocyanates (varnishers, carpenters, producers of polyurethane resins and expanded plastic) were examined to study the immunogenic capacity of these substances. The skin tests, particularly the intradermal tests, revealed reactions of the immediate, accelerated and/or delayed types due to the presence of IgE and IgG, in addition to responses of the cellular type. This was confirmed by passive transfer in guinea-pigs and man and immunohaematological tests such as passive haemagglutination and lymphocyte transformation. In 4 cases it was possible to demonstrate thermoresistant, homocytotropic immunoglobulins, that were not dependent on complement and behaved like reagins (i.e. short-term anaphylactic IgG). Exposure tests were performed on 45 cases; the results are analyzed and compared with those of the skin tests. It is concluded that both these groups of tests are of value in investigating the aetiopathogenesis of the pathology of the isocyanates: the skin tests for initial screening, and then the exposure tests for resolving doubtful diagnoses. Cross-reactions were also demonstrated between toluene-diisocyanate and methylene-diisocyanate. Two phases could be considered in the pathogenesis; in the first phase, signs of inflammation appeared at the primary sites of contact with the irritant, then the ability of the diisocyanates to form a conjugate with organic proteins results in the production of a complete antigen and consequent sensitization of the exposed person. The appearance of symptoms naturally depends on subsequent exposure and the immunogenic capacity of the patient: the response is mainly of the reagin type in atopic patients and of type 3 in non-atopic patients.


Progressive supranuclear palsy: report of two cases (author's transl). Two cases of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) are reported in two men (49 and 75years old) who for one and four years respectively had sudden falling while walking. Rigidity of the neck was an carly feature that prgressed to involve the upper trunk while "subcortical dementia", dysarthria and dysphagia appeared. They had a complete paralysis of vertical eye movements and slow horizontal voluntary eye movements. Oculocephalic reflexes were intact. On caloric stimulation vestibulo-ocular responses were present but only slow saccadic eye movements were observed. With surface electrodes eye movements were studied during the REM phase of sleep. Our patients had both vertical and horizontal eye movements during paradoxal sleep. This findings is in keeping with a supranuclear ophtalmoplegia, and may help in antemorten diagnosis of PSP.


[Hormonal investigations in a patient with mucopolisaccharidosis (author's transl)]. In one patient with mucopolisaccharidosis endocrine investigation were performed. The results indicate an impaired regulation of hypothalamus-hypophysis-adrenocortical system. The hypothalamus GH sstem appears to be involved to a lesser extent. A dysfunction of the central nervous system is suggested.


Ethanol-induced depletion of cerebellar guanosine 3',5' -cyclic monophosphate. Single doses of ethanol a severe depletion (95 percent) of cerebellar guanosine 3',5' -cyclic monophosphate (cyclic GMP) within 1 hour after administration. The degree of this depletion is dose-dependent and is a function of the amount of ethanol in the blood. Interactions between ethanol and cyclic GMP may account for some of the intoxicating properties of ethanol.


Enhanced template activity in chromatin from adrenal medulla after phosphorylation of chromosomal proteins. Translocation of protein kinase to the nucleus had been implicated earlier in the transsynaptic control of gene expression mediated by cholinergic nerves in adrenal medulla. Phosphorylation of chromosomal proteins by adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate-dependent protein kinase and adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate enhances the template activity of chromatin from adrenal medulla. When homologous RNA polymerase II is used the relative activation is greater than that obtained with Escherichia coli RNA polymerase. The substrate for such phosphorylation does not seem to be RNA polymerase II. Phosphorylation of specific acidic protein probably mediates this enhancement of template activity.


Electrotonic processing of information by brain cells. In contrast to well-studied through-protection neurons that propagate information from one region to another in the central nervous system, short-axon or axonless neurons form local circuits, transmitting signals through synapses and electrical junctions between their dendrites. Interaction in this dendritic network proceeds without spike action potentials. Interaction is mediated by graded electrotonic changes of potential and is transmitted through high sensitivity (submillivolt threshold) synapses rather than by lower sensitivity (20 to 100-mv threshold) synapses typical of projection neurons. A crucial feature of local circuits is their high degree of interaction both through specialized junctional structures and through the extracellular fields generated by local and more distant brain regions. The anatomical evidence for the nature and distribution of neuronal local circuits in the nervous system is surveyed. Bioelectric mechanisms are discussed in relation to the special properties of local circuits, including dendrodendritic synapses, synaptic sensitivity, electrotonic coupling, and field effects. Intraneuronal and interneuronal transport of various types of substances suggests that the biochemical and the bioelectrical parameters are functionally interwoven. Through such interactions neuronal local circuits, with their distinctive properties, may play an essential role in higher brain function.


Brainstem neurons without spontaneous unit discharge. A new class of single neurons showing no spontaneous activity in waking, rapid eye movement sleep, and slow-wave sleep was found in the brainstem of unrestrained cats. Systematic testing showed that these cells discharge only in response to specific stimuli and remain silent for as long as 40 minutes in the absence of stimulation. Silent cells were widely distributed in the pons and midbrain and constituted a major percentage of observed neurons. The economy of discharge shown by these cells contrasts with the spontaneous activity of virtually all other neurons that have been observed in the brains of unrestrained animals and suggests the widespread existence of specialized neural systems that show only phasic activity.


Lymphocyte-differentiating hormone of bursa of fabricius. Induction of early lymphocyte differentiation was studied in vitro in fractionated bone marrow cells of newly hatched chickens, with alloantiserums to identify newly differentiated B cells (Bu-1+) and T cells (Th-1+). Thymus extract induced selective T cell differentiation; the activity of the extract corresponds to that of thymopoietin. Bursal extract induced both B cell and T cell differentiation, but at lower concentrations B cell differentiation was always greater. This activity is ascribed to a lymphocyte-differentiating hormone of the bursa of Fabricius, for which the name bursopoietin is suggested.


Specificity of in vitro binding of primate Type C viral RNA and the homologous viral p12 core protein. The binding of type C viral p12 proteins to purified viral RNA has been examined in vitro with the use of a family of closely related infectious primate type C viruses--the woolly monkey (SSAV) and gibbon (GALV) group. This in vitro protein-RNA binding is type specific. The system should serve as a model for studies of the evolution of nucleic acid binding proteins.


Embryonal neoplasms in the opossum: a new model for solid tumors of infancy and childhood. Opossums fed the chemical carcinogen ethyl nitrosourea early in postnatal life developed a variety of epithelial and mesenchymal embryonal neoplasms that were closely analogous, in morphology and biological behavior, to tumors of human infancy and childhood for which experimental models in laboratory animals are either imprecise or nonexistent. The embryonal tumors were found in association with, and occasionally at the same sites as, a limited number of malformations.


Phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase is elevated in fibroblasts from patients with the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. In subconfluent cultures of fibroblasts from patients with complete or partial deficiencies of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase activity is elevated. The abnormally high catalytic activity of the synthetase appears to account for the overproduction of purines by the cultured mutant cells and presumably for that by the patients.


Insulin binding to cultured human fibroblasts increases with normal and precocious aging. Specific and nonspecific [125I]insulin binding and concentration of unlabeled hormone producing 50 percent competition with 1.0 nanomolar [125I]insulin for specific binding sites correlated positively with age of fibroblast donors. Cells from four children with precocious aging--three with progeria and one with Rothmund syndrome-resembled those from the chronologically old.


Streptozotocin-induced pancreatic insulitis: new model of diabetes mellitus. Multiple small injections of streptozotocin in mice produce pancreatic insulitis, with progression to nearly complete beta cell destruction and diabetes mellitus. The timing and appearance of the inflammatory islet lesions suggest but do not prove that streptozotocin acts by initiating a cell-mediated immune reaction. Ultrastructural evidence of abundant type C viruses within beta cells of treated mice suggests that streptozotocin may activate murine leukemia virus in vivo in susceptible hosts.


[Osteochondritis dissecans and osteonecrosis of the lower end of the femur. Value of bone marrow functional exploration]. The authors report the results of 19 functional investigations carried out for osteochondritis in 11 cases, and osteonecrosis of the knee in 8 cases. The 8 cases of osteonecrosis all had hemodynamic disorders with increased pressure in the bone marrow and stasis due to circulatory obstruction. On the other hand, 5 cases of osteochondritis out of the 11 explored had no disturbance of marrow blood supply. However, of the 6 cases of osteochondritis with vascular disorders, there were 5 who had some other reason which might explain the disorder blood supply within the bone. It thus seems that one may contrast two types of disease: -One, characterized by an intra-osseous circulatory disorder for which one might reserve the terms osteonecrosis, which occurs in patients aged over 60 years, but which may be observed in juvenile forms. - The other, characterised by the absence of any hemodynamic disturbance and in which the foreign body seems to result from a very localised disorder which does not affect the bone marrow blood supply. One may use here the term, osteochondritis. We propose to substitute this physiopathological classification for the classical division based on age and on X-rays. Investigation of the blood supply of the bone, permits, as with strontium, early diagnosis at a pre-radiological stage.


[Tumors of the glomus jugulare].

[Tumors of the glomus jugulare]. Tumours of the glomus jugulare always raise diagnostic and therapeutic problems. We decided to review the pathology and clinical findings whilst reporting a typical case found on our neurology unit. After a brief review of the embryology, anatomy and histology of the glomus jugulare, the authors report the case of a patient who presented a recurrent intracranial form with involvement of several cranial nerves, together with associated involvement of the carotid glomus. This was a familial disease. The patient was operated on with excellent results. The authors then present a clinical description of the various signs in glomus tumours,; depending more on the origin of the tumours than on the length of history. They then criticize the diagnostic interest of radiology, emphasizing the interest of angiography which may demonstrate a pathological vascular focus derived from the internal carotid artery together with the vertebro-basilar system. Retrograde jugulography also provides important information. The treatment of glomus jugulare tumours is, above all, surgical. They are approached through the ear in order to localise the intra-petrous part, or else, they may be approached through the skull. A combined otological and neuro-surgical approach to sometimes necessary for the lesion may involve both the petromastoid region and the posterior cerebral fossa. Radiotherapy is often advised after operation, in view of the importance of the vascular component of these tumours. The results of treatment are, on the whole, satisfactory.


[Infections during malignant blood diseases. Value of the carbenicillin-gentamicin combination]. The association of carbenicillin and gentamicin was used as a routine in the early treatment of 48 attacks of fever, in 38 patients who mostly had acute leukemia and marrow aplasia. The attacks of infection may be classified as follows: 30% septicemia, 30% local infections, 40% no bacteria were identified. Among the septicemias, we noted 5 septicemias due to pyocyaneus, 4 due to klebsiella. On the whole, in the attacks of fever, the association of carbenicillin and gentamicin proved effective in 70% of cases, but a cure was obtained in only 56% of cases. In vitro, the association carbenicillin-gentamicin proved justified in 70% of cases. There was no special intolerance, apart from a few cases of hypokalemic alkalosis. The association carbenicillin-gentamicin, by its broad spectrum and especially in view of its elective effect on the pyocyaneus is an excellent initial form of antibiotic therapy, when faced with infection in a patient with malignant blood disease. However, it should be recognised that the efficacy of this association depends on the number of circulating polynuclear cells and that some bacteria, such as the klebsiella, are clear cells and that some bacteria, such as the klebsiella, are often resistant to this antibiotic association.


[Results of medical treatment of gastroduodenal ulcers with disordered gastric emptying]. The efficacy of medical treatment was studied in 53 patients with a peptic ulcer responsible for disturbed gastric emptying. An improvement in gastric emptying was noted in 38 cases and persistence of the disorder in 15 cases. These results were not related to the dose of anticholinergic drug, nor to the degree of disturbance in gastric emptying. Only one improvement was noted out of 7 cases of pyloric ulcer. A relapse of disturbed gastric emptying, occurred in 17 out of 38 patients who were initially improved. 25 patients out of 53 were finally operated on, 15 owing to persistence of the gastric emptying disturbance under treatment and 10 owing to a relapse. Out of 18 gastrectomy specimens, the ulcer was found to be healed in 7 cases. It seems that disturbed gastric emptying may be due to fixed deformities of the pylorus which are little changed by medical treatment, and minor disturbances of emptying regress well under treatment. Disturbed gastric emptying due tp pyloric ulcer is the most difficult to treat medically.


[Septicemic complications of venous perfusion catheterization. 4 years' experience in an intensive care unit]. Septicemia is a complication of prolonged venous catheterisation; although rare, is at present important owing to the severity of the condition and the possibility of prevention. The severity should lead one to very careful precautions to avoid sepsis, which antibiotic therapy and emergencies often lead one to neglect. The development of research on the prophylaxis of septicemia suggests that in the future, prolonged intravenous fluid may be given less dangerously. They are usually essential during the initial stages of intensive care.


[Cardiac insufficiency caused by the use of daunorubicin. Clinical and developmental study of 4 recent cases]. Out of a total of 126 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, including 69 children aged less than 15 years, and 57 adults aged less than 60 years, who were treated with daunomycin (D.N.R.) initially and with several courses of reinduction, we noted 4 cases of decompensated heart failure (3.1%). 3 cases occurred in children aged 4, 5 and 5 years, and in the last case, in a young adult, of 19 years. Three of these patients were in complete remission of the blood and were only undergoing courses of reinduction. The 4th was in incomplete remission. When symptoms first occurred, about 2 months after the last injection of D.N.R. the total dose administered varied between 14 and 31 mg/kg, extending over periods of 5 to 16 months (average monthly dose 1.9 to 2.8 mg/kg). Except in one case, the course only mildly influenced by the symptomatic treatment and death occurred in 3 patients within from 15 days to 5 months after the onset of the first symptoms. The last patient is still alive and seems stabilised with a follow up period of 9 months. The responsibility of D.N.R. in the development of this myocarditis appears very likely. The unforeseable character of such complications, which are independent of age, and not necessarily linked to any excessive dosage, should be taken into consideration in the indications for D.N.R. in spite of their relative rarity.


Wilms' tumor with bony metastases.

Wilms' tumor with bony metastases. A case of Wilms' tumor with extensive bony metastases and involvement of unusual sites such as lacrimal and salivary glands without pulmonary metastases is presented.


Carcinoma of the colon in a child.

Carcinoma of the colon in a child. A case of mucinous adenocarcinoma of the colon in a 12-year-old girl is reported. There was no evidence of pre-existing familial polyposis or ulcerative colitis, conditions which predispose to colon carcinoma in childhood. A review of the literature revealed 103 previously reported cases. The salient features of the disease are discussed.


Primary carcinoma of the liver.

Primary carcinoma of the liver. Four hundred and six patients with primary carcinoma of the liver were admitted to the University Surgical Service at this hospital. The males predominated, 5:1, and except for two patients, all were Chinese. The Hong Kong-born Chinese appeared to be relatively free of the disease which was common among the immigrants from the province of China adjoining Hong Kong. In 199 patients no treatment was possible, while in 83, resection was carried out. In 61 patients, surgical treatment was obligatory because of spontaneous rupture. In the remaining 81 patients, a clinical trial of five categories--hepatic dearterialization, hepatic arterial infusion of 5-fluorouracil, hepatic arterial ligation and portal venous infusion of 5-fluorouracil, radiotherapy and no treatment--was carried out.


Monitoring of visual function during parasellar surgery. Damage to the visual system is an unfortunate complication of surgery in the area of the optic chiasm. It is now possible tomonitor the functional status of the visual system intreoperatively at regulat intervals. This is accomplished by recording the Visual Evoked Response to flashes of light from light-emitting-eiodes. These diodes are embedded in a special plastic shell which inserts under the eye lids of each eye. Since the light comes from the diodes in the plastic shell, there is no need to disturb the surgical procedure when a test run is desired. A record is obtained by averaging 100 three-per-second flashes.


Cerebellar glioblastoma multiforme in an adult. One of the few well documented cases of cerebellar glioblastoma multiforme in an adult is reported. In addition, to our knowledge, it is the first reported case in which the angiographic, pneumoencephalographic, nuclear scan and CAT data have been correlated. In this case the CAT scan proved the most sensitive in the demonstration of tumor.


The Pulfrich stereo-illusion as an index of optic nerve dysfunction. A simple test based on the Pulfrich phenomenon may provide an indication of optic nerve dysfunction. When a small object swinging pendulum fashion is viewed binocularly by a person with one eye covered by a neutral density filter, the object appears to swing in an elliptical path. The patient with optic nerve dysfunction may see it this way without use of a filter. The Pulfrich theory is explained, clinical applications are discussed, and instructions for constructing a Pulfrich apparatus are given.


[Enzootic bovine leukaemia, diagnosis, distribution and control in the Netherlands (author's transl)]. The results of studies on the incidence of enzootic bovine leukaemia in the Netherlands from 1968 to 1975 inclusive are given. The serological methods used (fluorescent antibody technique, immunoperoxidase test, micro complement fixation test and gel diffusion test) were found to be of great value especially for the early diagnosis of the disease. Antibodies to bovine leukaemia virus are already detected long before the onset of persistent lymphocytosis. The results obtained so far with serological methods confirm earlier haematological findings that enzootic bovine leukaemia is non-existent in the Dutch Friesian-Holstein and Meuse-Rhine-IJssel breeds. The first cases of enzootic bovine leukaemia were observed in import cattle in 1970. The geographic distribution of farms exploiting import cattle in which the disease has been diagnosed is presented on chart 1. Methods used to control enzootic bovine leukaemia are briefly described.


Late effects in the central nervous system. A study of biochemical alterations after local exposure of the rat brain to 2 krd. The brain area of female rats three months of age was exposed to 2 krd of X-rays, and various biochemical parameters were retermined as well as NAD(H) in vivo fluorescence of the brain surface after time intervals from one day to 18 months. During the early period, an increase in the uptake of alpha-aminobutyrate (AIB) and a temporary depression in beta-glucuronidase and cathepsin activity followed by an activation at one month was seen. Somewhat later, acid phosphatase increases. During the intermediate period, DNA and serotonin content and AIB uptake by brain increase, whereas AIB uptake by heart and muscle decreases. A fall in sialic acid content is also noted at this time. During the late phase collagen increases, AIB uptake by brain and liver decreases. No changes were found with respect to NAD(H) fluorescence and its response to breathing of low oxygen concentrations.


Possibilities and limitations of ultrasonic diagnosis of space occupying lesions in internal medicine. Possibilities and limitations of ultrasonic tumour diagnosis in internal medicine (thyroid gland, liver, pancreas, kidney, malignant lymphomas) are discussed on the basis of a five years experience with about 4,000 examinations a year. A real time and gray-scale technique is used. The accuracy of the presented ultrasonic findings is proven by comparative studies. Besides the well known advantages of ultrasonography the independence from contrast medias must be stressed in comparison to diagnostic radiology. The main limitations of ultrasonography are the impossibility of diagnosing tumours smaller than 1.5-2 cm and the absence of an ultrasonic pattern typical of malignancy. To establish a morphobiological diagnosis, ultrasonically guided fine needle biopsy has proved to be a reliable method.


Functioning malignant nonchromaffin paraganglioma of retroperitoneum with metastases. A case is reported of a functioning, malignant nonchromaffin paraganglioma (chemodectoma) of the retroperitoneum with metastases in a seventeen-year-old boy. The literature is reviewed and the treatment modalities are discussed.


[Induction of cell differentiation by ACTH in a monolayer culture of human fetal adrenal glands]. Investigations carried out testified to the fact that fibroblast-like cells in the monolayer culture of the human fetus adrenal glands are heterogenic. Under the effect of ACTH physiological doses nearly all of them are differentiated into specialized hormone-producing cells, the rest part - into fibroblasts.


[Dynamics of changes in the activity of plasma lactate dehydrogenase, leucylarylamidase and GOT and GPT aminotransferases in poultry following damage to the organism caused by cadmium and tetrachloromethane]. In the experiments performed with broilers, after a per os application of tetrachloromethane and cadmium (Cd+2), the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), leucylarylamidase (LA), and the GOT and GPT amino transferase was determined in the blood plasm. By means of an electrophoretic division of the blood plasm of clinically healthy broilers one enzymatically active fraction of LA and LDH was ascertained. The injury caused to the organism of poultry by carbon tetrachloride and cadmium did not affect the heterogeneity of these two enzymes. After an application of tetrachloromethane (CCl4) in the dose of 8 and 10 ml kg-1 the total activity of LDH and LA changed. The influence of cadmium on the organism in the total dose of 200 mg kg-1 resulted in the changed activity of LDH, GOT, and LA. From the results obtained it has been assumed that the examined activity of LDH, GOT, and LA can be utilized for the diagnosing of non-specific injuries of the organism of poultry.


[Marek's disease--characterization of the VUB-70 strain in vivo]. In the course of serial passaging of the strain of Marek's disease (MD) (VUB-70) in White Leghorns the author investigated the morbidity, mortality, development of the MD-specific changes, and the effect of sex on these indices, for the purpose of characterization of the biological properties of an isolated strain of MD in vivo. The incubation period lasted from 41 to 46 days p. inf. on the first day of life. Pullets showed greater sensitiveness towards infection not only through higher morbidity and mortality, but also due to a larger number of tumorous changes. In MD-positive animals the same proportion of macroscopic and microscopic changes was found. The average occurrence of Marek's disease amounted to 74.4 p. c. On the basis of the biological properties in vivo the VUB-70 strain was characterized as a medium pathogenic strain of the acute form of Marek's disease.


Pathogenesis of digestive tract lesions in duck plague. White Pekin ducklings were inoculated orally with duck plague virus. Tissues from the digestive tract were collected daily after inoculation and examined by light, electron and fluorescent microscopy. There were necrosis and degeneration of stratified squamous epithelium of the esophagus and cloaca, epithelium of intestinal crypt and esophageal submucosal glands, macrophages in the lamina propria, and submucosal fibrocytes and lymphocytes. Submucosal hemorrhages occurred after degeneration and necrosis of lymphocytes, macrophages, fibrocytes and epithelial cells. Viral antigens were detected in all these cells by use of fluorescein-labeled antibodies. With the electron microscope, nucleocapsids were seen in the nuclei, budding through the inner nuclear membrane; enveloped virions were present in cytoplasmic vacuoles  of macrophages, epithelial cells and fibrocytes. In lymphocytes, nucleocapsids were also in the nuclei, but karyorrhexis and cytolysis occurred before viral maturation was completed.


Ultrastructural changes in bovine lingual epithelium infected with vesicular stomatitis virus. Vesicular stomatitis virus was inoculated into the dorsal lingual epithelium of three cows. The reaction that developed in 72 h was characterized by severe acute diffuse glossitis with intercellular edema and necrosis of keratinocytes. Virions budded from the plasma membrane and were in the intercellular spaces. Reduplication of desmosomes was a prominent alteration, and normal desmosomes were within the cytoplasm. Intracytoplasmic desmosomes appeared to be formed by endocytosis after breaks occurred in the plasma membrane of one cell; endocytosis of loops of plasma membrane containing desmosomes; and formation of desmosomes on invagination of the plasma membrane.


Neuromuscular lesions in restrained rabbits. Ten of 16 rabbits restrained 6 h daily for 35 days developed focal to diffuse degeneration of the sciatic nerves. Very small necrotic areas also were found in the skeletal muscles of seven of 16 rabbits, but the muscle lesions did not correlate with the nerve changes.


Feline intestinal adenocarcinoma. A clinicopathologic study of 22 cases. Twenty-two cases of intestinal adenocarcinoma were diagnosed in an 11-year survey of 3145 feline necropsies. Histologically, tumors were grouped into four classes: (1) carcinoma with solid groups of cells, (2) adenocarcinoma with solid and acinar cells, (3) papillary adenocarcinoma, and (4) mucinous adenocarcinoma. Tumors were commonest in the ileum. Connective tissue, as well as epithelial metaplasia, were associated more often in this group of intestinal adenocarcinomas nomas than seen before. Hypertrophy and hyperplasia of muscular layers of the unaffected sections of intestines were seen in most of the small bowel and in half of the large bowel carcinomas in this series.


Naturally-occurring Sendai virus infection of athymic nude mice. Nude (nu/nu) mice, Balb/c-derived, responded to a naturally-occurring Sendai virus infection in a different manner than conventional mice. They developed a chronic debilitating disease and a persistent viral infection of the respiratory tract with intranuclear inclusion bodies in tracheal, bronchial and bronchiolar epithelial cells, laryngeal and tracheal glandular epithelium and in type I and II alveolar cells. The infection was identified by serologic and tissue culture studies, the mouse antibody production test and ultrastructural examination of pulmonary lesions. Phlebitis of pulmonary veins, suppurative rhinitis and otitis media accompanied the viral infection while some mice developed a secondary bronchopneumonia.


Meningoencephalomyelitis in horses associated with equine herpesvirus 1 infection. During an outbreak of abortion caused by equine herpesvirus 1, a neurologic disease characterized clinically by dullness and ataxia occurred in several mares. Equine herpesvirus 1 was isolated from brain and lung of two severely affected mares. Histologically, both mares had disseminated meningoencephalomyelitis characterized by necrotizing arteritis, focal malacia in grey and white matter of brain and spinal cord, and accumulation of lymphocytes and neutrophils in paravertebral ganglia. Eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies occurred in foci of necrosis in thyroid adenomas of both mares.


Glomerulonephritis caused by murine cytomegalovirus. Potentiation by antithymocyte serum. Murine cytomegalovirus was found to be highly nephrotropic in mice treated with antithymocyte serum. The earliest histologic change was characteristic intranuclear inclusions in the glomerular endothelial cells. This change was followed by an eosinophilic thickening of the glomerular capillary loops. In later stages, proliferation of capsular epithelial cells and glomerular sclerosis was prominent. Tubular casts were present, and perivascular lymphoid aggregations were seen in the medulla and juxtamedullary section 56 days after inoculation. No conspicuous lesions occurred in uninfected mice treated with antithymocyte serum or in untreated infected mice. The possible mechanisms of the renal lesions are discussed.


Disseminated necrotizing myeloencephalitis: a herpes-associated neurological disease of horses. Equine viral rhinopneumonitis type I virus was isolated from spinal cord and brain of a paraparetic horse with disseminated necrotizing myeloencephalitis. Necrotic arteriolitis,nonsuppurative necrotizing myeloencephalitis and Gasserian ganglioneuritis were present. On record were 12 more cases of horses with similar lesions. The horses had been ataxic or paretic for up to several weeks. A field survey indicated that 14 of 24 horses with acute myelitic signs developed them after recent exposure to respiratory disease.


Gnotobiotic piglets experimentally infected with neonatal calf diarrhoea reovirus-like agent (Rotavirus). Gnotobiotic piglets were infected with a strain of rotavirus that had been isolated from a calf and passaged four times in piglets. The resulting disease was studied by light and electron microscopy at 21, 44 and 68 h after inoculation. In the small intestine infection caused desquamation of the epithelial cells of the villi resulting in severe stunting. There was severe damage to microvilli and accumulation of lipid within the cytoplasm. Virus particles were seen in epithelial cells covering the stunted villi. Infection also caused desquamation of the superficial epithelial cells of the stomach mucosa and of the epithelial cells of the bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli of the lungs.


Intranuclear inclusions in a myopathy of late onset. Filamentous intranuclear inclusions in a case of myopathy of late onset are described. The filaments were usually in parallel array although occasionally they were haphazardly arranged in bundles ranging up to 5 mu in length. The filaments were approximately 120 A in diameter and were separated by a space measuring 180-220 A. Possible explanations of their occurrence in the nucleoplasm are discussed, including possible origin from the cytoplasm as a result of invagination of nuclear membrane and intranuclear entrapment of myofibrils from the cytoplasm. Their appearance does not suggest any recognizable structure such as myofilaments or virus. It is possible that the filaments are protein newly synthesized as a direct result of virus infection with invasion of the nuclei of the muscle cell.


Lamellated bodies in the neurons of the submucosal ganglia in the sphincter of Oddi of the dog. Peculiar neurons and nerve processes, which contained remarkable amounts of lamellated, electron-dense bodies, "myeloid bodies", are described. They were found among normal looking neurons in the submucosal ganglia of the sphincteric musculature of Oddi. The innervation and ultrastructure of the ganglia were studied in apparently healthy, young dogs bred for experimental purposes. The possible function of these neurons and processes is discussed.


[Radiation therapy of patients with inoperable cancer of the pancreas]. Radiotherapy was employed in 60 patients, symptomatic treatment--in 10 patients with pancreatic cancer, 9 of them had the disease in stage III. Radiotherapy, using betatron 25 Mev, was conducted by a longitudinal method, distant gammatherapy--through a wolfram and the radiation source focused grid. Single focal dosage was 150--200 rad, total--5000--8000 rad. The treatment proved to be uneffective in 31.7 per cent of patients.


[Experimental data on the virological study of pasteurized milk]. Virological analyses of sterile milk per se enabled the poliovirus to be disclosed with a concentration of 30 infection units in 1 ml. To determine such doses of the viruses in pasteurized milk the viruses have to be concentrated, for prior to cytopathogenic manifestations subsequent to these viral doses there occurs bacterial germination. In achieving poliovirus concentration in pasteurized milk are suitable polyethyleneglycol, molecular weight 15 000, and polyvinylpyrolidon, molecular weight 10 000, in a 10% concentration. Dilution of milk with Hanks' solution in the ratio of 1:4 and 1:9 improves the process of the poliovirus sorption-eluation with the polymer, enabling it to detect 3 BOU of the virus in 1 ml of milk. The AB-17-8 anionite and Ky-21-8 cationite are capable of adequately sorbing the poliovirus in pasteurized milk, but it is only from the cationite, and then only in a small amount, that eluation of the virus can be accomplished.


[Obesity in correlation with nutrition in representative settlements of the industrial-agrarian complex in Burgas]. The authors investigated the obesity incidence in connection with nutrition factors in 13 representative settlements of Industry-Agrarian Complex Burgas. They established that obesity covers 42,4 per cent of the population above the age of 14 and is 1,5 times more often among females as compared with males. The correlation among youths (age 14-25), mature aged subjects (26-50) and advanced aged ones (over 51) is 1:5,5:4,5. The light I and II stages prevail (88,6 per cent of all the cases) and the majority of the "pure" cases of obesity (73,6 per cent) have no complains.


[Immunologic study of suspension cultures prepared from hematopoietic organ cells of baboons with lymphoma]. The cytoplasmic antigen was determined by the indirect immunofluorescence test using serum from a Burkitt lymphoma patient with a titer of antibody to Epstein-Barr virus capsid antigen of 1.320, in the cytoplasm of 2--6% of cells of suspension cultures obtained from baboons with lymphoma. There was a correlation between the number of antigen-containing cells in this cultures and the number of cells in which herpes virus was determined by electron microscope studies. Sera from baboons with lymphoma from which the suspensions cultures had been prepared contained high titers of antibody to herpes virus of baboons (HVB) and to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Specific differences between the antigens produced in the cultures by HVB and EBV were minimal, indicating their immunological similarity. Lymphoblastoid cultures prepared from hemopoietic organs of baboons with lymphoma belong to B cell type.


[Effect of 2-deoxy-d-glucose on enterovirus reproduction in HEp-2 cell cultures]. The influence of 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2DG) on reproduction of some enteroviruses was  studied. When 2DG was added to carbohydrate-free medium. It exerted a marked inhibiting effect on reproduction of poliovirus type I (virulent and attenuated variants) and Coxsackie B1, B2, B3, B5 and B6 viruses. The agent was inactive for virulent and attenuated poliomyelitis type II viruses. Poliomyelitis type III and Coxsackie B4 viruses were shown to be incable of multiplication in carbohydrate-free medium when the maintenance medium in cell cultures was lactalbumin hydrolysate in Hank's solution without-glucose. The inhibiting effect of 2DG on sensitive enteroviruses was irreversible and manifest at a concentration as low as 0.1 mg/ml. The effect of the agent was directed to the active stages of intracellular enterovirus synthesis. The possible mechanism of inhibition of enterovirus reproduction in the presence of 2DG is discussed.


[Comparative antigenic analysis of J-96 cell oncornavirus and Mason-Pfizer virus from a spontaneous monkey mammary tumor]. A comparative study of the antigenic structure of oncornavirus of J-96 cells and Mason-Pfizer virus (M-PVM) isolated from cells of M. rhesus spontaneous mammary tumour was carried out using immunodiffusion in agar, immune autoradiography and indirect immunofluorescence procedures. Immune rabbit serum to disrupted J-96 virus detected by agar immunodiffusion in preparations or purified virus three soluble antigens one of which was identical to group-specific M-PVM antigen.


[The clinical significance of the radioimmunological determination of plasma ACTH (author's transl)]. The clinical significance of the direct determination of plasma ACTH was investigated in healthy persons and in patients with primary or secondary adrenocortical insufficiency, with Cushing's syndrome or with acromegaly. The sensitivity of the radioimmunological method facilitated the detection of diurnal changes in plasma ACTH in healthy subjects and of variations in plasma ACTH after the administration of dexamethasone and glucagon. The determination of plasma ACTH appears to be a useful procedure of diagnostic value in patients suffering from primary adrenal insufficiency accompanied by high concentrations of plasma ACTH. However, in patients suffering from Cushing's syndrome or secondary adrenocortical insufficiency it is still essential to carry out the dexamethasone suppression test or the metopiron test, respectively.


[Morphological aspects of organic brain syndromes (author's transl)]. Organic psychoses are caused by a variety of disorders. In general, they are due to diffuse dysfunction of the brain without any specific anatomical basis, but they may be modified by disorders of some distinct neuronal systems as a result of local accentuation of a dissuse morbid process or localized brain damage. Acute organic psychoses are usually caused by disorders of the blood-brain barrier (cerebral oedema), acute neuronal dysfunction of disorders of synaptic transmission. Acute lesions may be reversible or terminate in stationary defective states or progressive neuronal degeneration. In late stages, the anatomical sequelae of the basic process and of secondary lesions are hardly to be separated. The non-specificity and inconsistency of brain lesions is demonstrated in chronic alcoholic psychoses. In senile organic psychoses there are quantitative correlations between psychopathological, neurophysiological (slowing of the basic rhythm) and morphological changes, mainly characterized by loss of neurons and synaptic contacts. Vascular syndromes are often over-diagnosed clinically. Localized mental syndromes are non-specific, but show characteristic locations, as they are commonly associated with dysfunction of neuronal systems engaged in storing and recall of information (frontobasal region and limbic system). Further detailed studies are needed in order to achieve better correlation between specific features of behavioural and intellectual defects and anatomical location and quantitiy of lesions.


Induction of tumors in the stomach and nervous system of the ACI/N rat by continuous oral administration of 1-methyl-3-acetyl-1-nitrosourea. Three groups of ACI/N rats of both sexes received continuous administration of 66 (Group I), 30 Group II), or 13(Group III) ppm solution of 1-methyl-3-acetyl-1-nitrosourea (Ac-MNU) in their drinking water. Tumors were found most frequently in the stomach and nervous system. The former was more frequently found in the male than in the female. The incidence was highest in males of Group II, 28/30 (93%), and lowest in females of Group I, 4/30 (13%). Histologically, all epithelial tumors of the stomach were benign adenomas except 5 adenocarcinomas. Neurogenous tumors were more frequently seen in the female than in the male. The incidence was highest in females of Group I, 29/30 (97%), and lowest in males of Group III, 6/28 (21%). The tumors were predominant in the central nervous system, especially in the hemispheres. Transplantation studies were done in some of these tumors. Although gastric tumors failed to get positive transplantation, all the neurogenous tumors transplanted were positive.


Histophysiologic response of the pituitary-inertrenal system to salicylate and adrenocorticotropin in catfish, Heteropneustes iossilis (Bloch). The interrenal and pituitary cells showed increase in nuclear diameter eight days after treatment with ACTH, salicylate or salicylate + ACTH. After ACTH treatment, however, the cytoplasm in the interrenal cells was granular. Similarly, the lead-haematoxylin positive (PbH + ve) cells in the rostral pars distalis also showed partial depletion of stainable granules after ACTH treatment. Salicylate or salicylate ACTH caused depletion of cytoplasmic material in both the interrenal as well as PbH + ve cells.


Effect of ACTH and bilateral gonadectomy on the adrenocortical tissue of an air-breathing fish -- Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch). The mammalian ACTH (20 I.U.) injected in Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) caused hyperplasia of the adrenocortical tissue. The interrenal as well as chrome cells became vacuolated. The interrenal nuclear size increased by 15% as an average than the control fishes. The glycogen granules were found to be absent from the interrenal cells. The effect of bilateral gonadectomy in both sexes has been marked in the gradual decrease of the interrenal nuclear diameter which 12 weeks after the operation, recorded nearly 25% reduction in size. The glycogen content was reduced considerably. Removal of gonads during maturation period bringing inhibition of hyperplasia of the gland at the time of spawning possibly indicates action of gonadal steroids on the physiological alterations of the interrenal cells.


[The occurence of Psammom bodies in the thyroid gland of aged rats]. The author examined the thyroid glands of 52 aged (18 to 30 months old) and 14 young (6 months old) male rats with histophysiological methods. By means of light-microscopical examinations he observed laminated colloid, i.e. psammom bodies which contained calcium and iron, in the follicles of the thyroid glands of the old rats. Founding himself upon data of the literature, he deals with the questions of the occurrence and origin of the psammom bodies. Relying on his own examinations he is of the opinion that in the case of animals involution and dystrophic of a certain degree connected with senescence calls forth on oedema which and besides also the adenomas occurring in greater numbers means a disorder of the metabolic processes taking place in the thyroid gland and a possibility of the formation of psammom bodies. Eventually, in the authors opinion it cannot be stated with certainty -- at least in the case of animals -- that there is a close relationship between the occurrence of psammom bodies and the neoplasma.


[Enzyme histochemical studies on the macula and Goormaghtigh cells of the guinea pig kidney]. Starting from the ultrastructural differences observed between the juxtaglomerular apparatus of the rat and that--only very rarely analysed--of the guinea pig kidney, the authors supposed that enzymhistochemical differences might also exist. This hypothesis could be confirmed by the results obtained in the Macula densa- and the Goormaghtigh-cells (Tab. 1 and 2). Indeed, in both places the Isocitrate dehydrogenase- and the Malate dehydrogenase-activities are stronger in the guinea pig than in the rat. On the other hand, the Glucose-6-phosphate and the 6-Phosphogluconate dehydrogenases show clearly weaker activities in the guinea pig Macula-cells compared with those of the rat, where these two enzymes give by far the strongest reaction. Metabolic differences might be related to the described diversities of the enzyme equipment.


[The so-called amaurotic idiocies. Clinical, morphological and biochemical findings as a basis for modern classification]. First of all seven of our own thoroughly investigated cases of so-called amaurotic idiocies are presented, they are two infantile, two juvenile, two late infantile one, as well as one adult case. The two infantile cases represent the typ of a GM2-gangliosidosis: with cerebral symptoms and cherry-red spot in the macula they correspond clinically to the typical picture of Tay-Sachs disease. Lightmicroscopically they show neuronal storage, electronmicroscopically a deposition of "membranous cytoplasmic bodies" and biochemically a strong increase in ganglioside GM2. The two juvenile cases correspond in their symptoms and findings to the so-called ceroid-lipofuscinoses or "Myoclonic variant of amaurotic idiocy", respectively. Clinically most remarkable is the deterioration of vision caused by retinitis-pigmentosa-like changes of the fundus, which sets in at the beginning of the disease and precedes the cerebral symptoms by years. The extinguished electroretinogramm corresponds in the histological retina findings to a severe lesion of the layer of rods and cones in the sense of a tapeto-retinal degeneration. Neuropathologically finegranular, Sudan-Black-B- and PAS-positive material is mainly but not exclusively stored in the neurons. The electronmicroscope shows them to be lipofuscin-like inclusions, as well as "curvilinear" or "fingerprint-bodies". Depositions are also to be found in astrocytes and in the cells of the vascular walls. The ganglioside pattern is normal in the brain tissue of the biochemically investigated case. Of the two late infantile cases the first represents a GM2-gangliosidosis, the second one corresponds to the ceroid-lipofuscinosis. The adult patient, who suffered from an ill-defined psychiatric disease and died at the age of 51 presents a diagnostically problematic case, showing a relatively slight, regionally rather differently accentuated intraneuronal storage of granular material and biochemically a slight increase in ganglioside GM2. On discussing our own findings and commenting on the relevant literature various aspects of amaurotic idiocies are considered, such as genetics, neuropsychiatry, ophthalmology, pathomorphology and biochemistry. In this respect special attention is paid to the pathomorphological substrate documented, as localization, degree and kind of tissue changes determine the clinical picture. This is also the case for the correlation between the findings of the different fields, so e.g. concerning the ophthalmological findings it is shown, that in gangliosidoses with preserved ERG histologically a storage in the nerve cells of the ganglion cell-layer only is to be found, where as the ceroid-lipofuscinoses with early onset of deterioration of vision and extinguished ERG in the histological picture of the retina show an additional severe lesion of the layer of rods and cones...


Poliovirus antibody differentiation. Methods and application for strain specific diagnosis in complications after oral vaccination. Differentiation both of cf. and neutralizing antibodies against poliovirus seems to be a suitable method for the discrimination of the causative virus strain-either wild type or attenuated- of the clinical disease. Antibody differentiation is not only a completion of the virus strain differentiation methods (marker tests) but is especially of value in those cases in which no virus could be obtained for characterization, when indemnity claims for vaccination incidents are to be evaluated.


Varicella-zoster antibodies in adult patient with haemoblastoses. Indirect haemagglutination (IH) antibodies to varicella-zoster (VZ) virus were investigated, under the identical conditions of a single experiment, in a group of patients with haemoblastoses and 80 normal adults of equal age groups. Statistical significance of the differences in VZ antibody geometric mean titres between the individual haemoblastoses and normal controls was examined by means of variance analysis. A significantly raised mean titre was still found in the Hodgkin's disease group.


[Premature and usual periods of "rapid" sleep during attacks of diurnal narcolepsy]. The authors studied some psychophysiological characteristics of precocious and usual periods of rapid sleep in 17 patients with polysymptomatic narcolepsy during 92 attacks of day sleep. Precocious rapid sleep duffers from usual one in an inclusion into the dream content the experimental situations and their emotional saturation. The patients underestimated the duration of sleep and were unsatisfied by its quality. These differences indicate to a functional interconnection of rapid sleep with delta-sleep in the process of brain integration of information and assist to understand the pathogenesis of some traits of narcolepsy.


On the occurrence of lipoprotein-x in non-hemolytic jaundice. In cholestasis, serum lipids are altered. The alterations could at least partially be ascribed to the occurrence of an abnormal lipoprotein, LP-X. In 103 patients with jaundice, out of whom 16 had extra-hepatic cholestasis, the presence of LP-X was tested and semi-quantificated (by visual grading) utilizing an immunological technique. In extra-hepatic cholestasis, all patients showed LP-X in serum, while in intra-hepatic drug-induced cholestasis 87% revealed this phenomenon. At the initial stage of acute hepatitis, in drug-induced cholestasis, and in extra-hepatic cholestasis, the semi-quantificated LP-X correlated with alkaline phosphatase values. In extra-hepatic cholestasis, LP-X disappeared soon after the obstruction was relieved by operation.


The importance of growth hormone and liothyronine in induced hypocalcaemia in hypophysectomized animals. The resistance to hypocalcaemia induced by synthetic salmon calcitonin (SCT) was studied in intact and hypophysectomized rats. The recovery from hypocalcaemia was greatly impaired in the latter group, but this was normalised by small doses of purified human growth hormone (GH). The initial hypocalcaemic response to SCT was delayed in the hypophysectomized rats. This was not affected by treatment with GH, but normalised by substitution with liothyronine. We conclude that GH accelerates the recovery from hypocalcaemia in hypophysectomized animals, perhaps by a stimulation of parathyroid activity, while thyroid hormone accelerates the initial hypocalcaemic response to SCT, probably by restoring the reduced rate of bone resorption.


Co-existent primary hypothyroidism and isolated ACTH deficiency. A 52 year old man is described in whom the simultaneous occurrence of isolated adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) deficiency and primary hypothyroidism was documented by the determination of six anterior pituitary hormones by specific radioimmunoassays after suitable stimulations. The urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids excretion was persistently reduced and was increased by repeated ACTH injections. The low basal metabolic rate, reduced serum thyroid hormones and elevated serum thyrotrophic  hormone were consistent with primary hypothyroidism. After resumption of euthyroidism, secretory reserves of growth hormone and ACTH were assessed. The growth hormone reponse to insulin-induced hypoglycaemic was normal. No rise in plasma cortisol and ACTH was observed following insulin-induced hypoglycaemia. Plasma ACTH was not augmented by iv infusion of metyrapone. The pathogenesis of two co-existent endocrine deficiencies was discussed.


In vitro synthesis of steroids by a feminising adrenocortical carcinoma: effect of prolactin and other protein hormones. The study describes the effects of ACTH, prolactin and other protein hormones on the synthesis and secretion of steroid hormones by tissue from a feminising adrenocortical carcinoma removed from a post-menopausal female. Steroid production by the tissue was determined by high resolution-mass fragmentography and by radioimmunoassay. Prolactin and ACTH stimulated the synthesis of estrogens by the tissue whereas GH, LH and ACTH were more effective than prolactin in stimulating androgen synthesis. The effect of protein hormones, other than ACTH, on adenylate cyclase activity of this tumour tissue indicated a lack of specificity of the membrane receptor sites.


Seminal vesicle epithelium in fine-needle aspiration biopsies of the prostate as a pitfall in the cytologic diagnosis of carcinoma. The morphologic features of seminal vesicle epithelial cells were studied in a material of ca 3,300 fine-needle aspiration biopsies of the prostate. Seminal vesicle material was considered to be found in 50 cases. The most usual and distinctive features in seminal vesicle epithelial cells were yellowish-brown cytoplasmic pigment granules and large hyperchromatic polyploid nuclei. Intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions, nuclear folding and prominent nucleoli were observed in approximately one third of the cases. Seminal vesicle secretion and stromal cells were seen in most cases, spermatozoa less frequently. The recognition of seminal vesicle epithelial cells in fine-needle aspiration biopsies of the prostate is considered to be important in the avoidance of cytodiagnostic errors.


Plasma aldosterone concentrations related to 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone in congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Plasma aldosterone and 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) concentrations were measured in 35 patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia resulting from 21-hydroxylase deficiency. Ten patients had never been treated and among them were 4 salt-losing infants. Both aldosterone and 17-OHP were high in the 6 untreated non salt-losers. The values ranged respectively from 110 to 376 pg/ml and from 150 to 292 ng/ml. Results were variable in the 4 salt-losers. Three out of 5 untreated non salt-losers who were submitted to a low sodium diet, responded by doubling their aldosterone levels. When plasma 17-OHP concentrations were less than 30 ng/ml, the mean aldosterone level in the treated non salt-losers (n=6) was 15.3 pg/ml +/- 4.3 (SE). This value was not different from the mean level found in the control children (n=7), 18.8 pg/ml +/- 3.2. In the treated salt-losers (n=9), the measured aldosterone levels were less than or equal to 10 pg/ml 7 times out of 9. When the treated patients exhibited plasma 17-OHP concentrations greater than 30 ng/ml, the salt-losers (n=11) were distinguished from the non salt-losers (n=8) in that they showed as significantly lower aldosterone mean level, 24.6 pg/ml +/- 4.3 against 69 pg/ml +/- 13.4 found in the non salt-losers. The salt-losers displayed no aldosterone increases to synthetic ACTH stimulation under treatment or at the withdrawal of treatment, while positive aldosterone responses were often observed in the non salt-losers. In the latter group, studied under different conditions (with and without therapy, on low sodium diet, after ACTH test) a significant correlation was found between aldosterone and 17-OHP levels expressed in log. values, (n=38, r=0.80, P less than 0.001). The relationship could also be established with the values obtained from all the salt-losers, but it was less significant, (n=35, r=0.46, P less than 0.02).


Cytologic characteristics of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the cervix uteri. Cytologic characteristics of three cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the cervix uteri are reviewed. The clusters of malignant cells tend to form large acini and mimic the pattern seen in histologic sections. The resemblance to cells of adenocarcinoma of the endometrium is noted. When the acinar pattern is recognized in cervical smears, adenoid cystic carcinoma of the cervix may be suspected.


Effects of ACTH and its O-nitrophenyl sulphenyl derivative on adrenocortical function in vivo. Both ACTH and NPS-ACTH in which the single tryptophan residue of the hormone is modified were able to stimulate adrenal corticosterone concentration to the same extent in hypophysectomized rats, although a higher dose of NPS-ACTH was required. ACTH stimulated adrenal cyclic AMP levels 120-fold in hypophysectomized rats whereas NPS-ACTH caused a marginal increase. In the case of ACTH, low doses of the hormone capable of producing maximal stimulation of corticosterone synthesis did not produce any detectable change in cyclic AMP concentration. The rates of secretion of corticosterone induced by ACTH and NPS-ACTH in vivo were the same. NPS-ACTH was found to be 1.2% as potent as ACTH. The role of cyclic AMP in adrenal repair was investigated by administering equipotent doses of ACTH or NPS-ACTH to hypophysectomized rats. In adult rats both failed to produce a significant increase in adrenal weight. Adrenal function (measured by responsiveness to exogenous ACTH in vitro) was restored by NPS-ACTH but not to the same degree as ACTH. In hypophysectomized weanling rats, ACTH produced a small but significant increase in adrenal weight but NPS-ACTH did not. These results suggest that an increase in adrenal cyclic AMP may not be obligatory for the stimulation of steroidogenesis by ACTH and that some of the trophic actions of the hormone may be mediated by cyclic AMP.


Ultrastructure of the Gunn rat substantia nigra I. Cytoplasmic changes. The substantia nigra of various aged hyperbilirubinemic (Gunn) rats was studied by means of electron microscopy. The cytological features observed in the neuronal somata were the presence of (1) complex membranous bodies (CMBs), (2) dilated cisternae of granular endoplasmic reticulum, (3) single membrane bound vacuoles and (4) enlarged mitochondria. Nearly every neuronal soma studied in two week old Gunn rats contained CMBs, which consisted of several layers of membrane that usually, but not always surrounded small islands of cytoplasm. On occasion CMBs were seen to be directly connected with granular endoplasmic reticulum and, in a few instances, they were located within a cistern of endoplasmic reticulum. There were significantly fewer CMBs in the neuronal somata of adult Gunn rats. They were located peripherally in the somata or in the proximal portions of dendrites. Furthermore, in these animals the cytoplasm appeared normal and did not exhibit the features commonly seen in younger animals. Only a few hyperchromatic neurons were observed and no pronounced gliosis was evident. Therefore it is assumed that the majority of substantia nigra neurons recovered from the toxic effect of bilirubin or that the concentration of bilirubin deposited in the substantia nigra is not sufficient to be lethal. The hypothesis that is considered is that CMBs represent autophagic activity which results from exposure of neurons to bilirubin. The adjacent neurites and glia did not demonstrate the cytoplasmic changes that were characteristic of the neuronal somata.


The efficacy of melphalan in the combined chemotherapy of malignant trophoblastic disease. Steadily progressive improvement in the diagnostic and therapeutic management of malignant trophoblastic disease has occurred over the last few decades. The most important diagnostic aid is the determination of serum HCG by sensitive radioimmunoassay which allows the detection of minute amounts of the hormone and permits discrimination between LH and HCG. Therapeutic advances include the use of combinations of different cytostatic drugs which have increased the cure rate from approximately 50% to a range of 80-95% (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Malignant trophoblastic disease is rare in the Scandinavian countries which effectively limits opportunities to acquire experience within individual centers. However, a series of 23 cases has been collected at the Karolinska Hospital during the last 10 years. Patients who developed resistance against methotrexate were successfully treated by a combination of an alkylating agent melphalan (Alkeran), actinomycin D and methotrexate. In some cases this modification of a triple-therapy regimen has turned out to be life-saving.


Adrenocorticotrophin and glucocorticoid response to exchange transfusion. Plasma adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) and glucocorticoid concentrations were measured during and for 3 hours after exchange transfusion in four groups of infants. Transfusion with ACD blood via the umbilical artery were performed on 10 infants of 35--40 weeks gestation and 11 infants of 27 to 33 weeks gestation. Ten transfusions via the umbilical vein were performed with ACD blood and 9 with heparin blood on infants of 32 to 41 weeks gestation. In all four types of transfusion there was a significant washing out of ACTH and glucocorticoids from the baby. An associated rise of plasma ACTH and glucocorticoid levels indicated increased secretion in the larger infants transfused with ACD blood via the umbilical artery. Equivocal results were obtained in the other groups. After all types of transfusion plasma glucocorticoid levels remained relatively constant for one hour and then doubled and then doubled in the second and third hour. The results suggest that (a) exchange transfusion via the umbilical artery is more stressful than that via the umbilical vein, (b) the glucocorticoid response of premature infants to exchange transfusion is similar to that of mature ifants, (c) an unspecified stimulus, which is not solely hypoglycaemia nor the metabolic reaction to a citrate load, results in a rise in plasma glucocorticoid levels 2-3 hours after all types of transfusion.


Pseudohypoparathyroidism: a difficult diagnosis in early childhood. We have studied one adult and three children with pseudohypoparathyroidism and observed that the physical character of short metacarpal bones is not evident in the first 4-5 years of life, that hypocalcaemia and hyperphosphataemia may be absent in the first years of life, but that the renal unresponsiveness to parathyroid hormone can still be demonstrated. Our data confirm earlier observation that in evaluating the renal responsiveness to parathyroid hormone, urinary cyclic AMP is a better parameter than urinary phosphorus. Thus in early childhood, it may be difficult to differentiate between a normal child, a child with pseudohypoparathyroidism and a child with pseudo-pseudohypoparathyroidism unless the renal parathyroid hormone responsiveness is studied.


A comparative study of DNA-dependent RNA polymerases from rat ascites hepatoma cell nuclei and from rat liver nuclei. DNA-dependent RNA polymerases (EC 2.7.7.6) were extracted and partially purified form the nuclei of rat ascites hepatoma cells (AH-130) induced by 4-dimethylaminoazobenzene. The patterns of RNA synthesis and the properties of these enzymes were compared with enzymes from the nuclei of rat liver. The specific activity of RNA polymerase in the homogenate from the nuclei of AH-130 cells was the same as normal rat liver nuclei. RNA polymerase was solubilized from the homogenate at high ionic strength and separated into two forms by DEAE-Sephadex column chromatography. Enzymatic characterization showed that these enzymes corresponded to RNA polymerase I and II. RNA polymerase I more effectively transcribed native DNA than denatured DNA at low salt concentration, but at high salt concentration RNA polymerase I effectively transcribed denatured DNA. RNA polymerase II more effectively transcribed denatured DNA. In AH-130 cells the activity of RNA polymerase I was 4 to 5 times higher than RNA polymerase II, and in rat liver the activity of RNA polymerase I was 1.5 to 2 times higher than RNA polymerase II. The activity of RNA polymerase I in AH-130 cells may have increased by induction.


A new histochemical method using human placenta alkaline phosphatase for demonstrating concanavalin A binding sites on cell surfaces. Human placenta alkaline phosphatase (HP-ALP), a glycoprotein, was stained histochemically for the purpose of examining the concanavalin A (Con A) binding sites on the cell surface. HP-ALP was bound to the cell surface by Con A. This simple method successfully detected Con A binding sites on the cell surface.


Interferon production by human leukaemic leucocytes. The Sendai virus-induced interferon (IF) production by partially purified human leucocyte suspensions of normal donors and of leukaemic patients have been investigated in vitro. (i) An increased production was observed with leucocytes taken from patients suffering from chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) during exacerbation, but the production was approximately normal with cells taken during remission. (ii) IF production was not influenced by large doses of cytostatics (DBM, 5-FU, FUDR, 5-HU, 6-MP, cyclophosphamide) irrespective of whether normal or CML leucocytes were used. (iii) In contrast, production was inhibited in both systems by inhibitors of RNA or protein synthesis (actinomycin D, puromycin, cycloheximide). (iv) CML leucocytes produced IF for a prolonged period of time as compared to normal leucocytes. (v) Leucocytes from children with acute blastic leukaemia and those from adults with chronic lymphoid or acute paramyeloblastic leukaemia produce, in contrast to normal leukocytes, approximately as much IF in the absence as in the presence of serum. It is concluded that the Sendai virus-induced IF synthesis in CML leucocytes requires de novo protein synthesis.


Serological differential diagnosis of viral hepatitis in adults. Serum samples from different groups of adults were tested for HBsAg and IHxAg, using a complement-fixation microtest and the Indian-ink immune reaction, respectively. (i) In healthy men 18-24 years of age, living in camps in closed communities, HBsAg was demonstrated in 1.5%, IHxAg in 12.2%, and both antigens in 0.7%. The incidence of HBsAg positivity seems to be age-dependent and influenced by environmental factors. (ii) For patients hospitalized with liver and/or biliary-tract diseases other than hepatitis, the respective percentages were 10, 13.5 and 4.5%. (iii) Of the cases clinically diagnosed as infectious hepatitis (IH, hepatitis A) or serum hepatitis (SH, hepatitis B), 14% were positive for both antigens whereas 10% were double-negative; 76% were positive for either HBsAg or IHxAg. In two-thirds of the single-positive cases the demonstrated antigen agreed with the clinical diagnosis, in one-third the unexpected antigen was present. (iv) SGPT and thymol turbidity values agreed better with the serological findings that with the clinical diagnosis. The number of days in hospital appeared to be related to both the serological findings and the clinical diagnosis. The clinical course was the most severe for those having both antigens in blood. (v) IHxantibodies from early convalescence were sensitive, those from a later stage were resistant, to 2-mercaptoethanol. (vi) No correlation was found between the presence of IHxAg and that of the rheumatoid factor. (vii) The IHx Indian-ink reaction is disturbed by the presence of labile serum proteins while the essentially similar reverse passive haemagglutination reaction was not affected by them. (viii) Testing for IHxAg seems to be a procedure valuable in the differential diagnosis of IH and SH, though the results are less convincing in adult age than in childhood.


Virus content and effectiveness of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines. (I) The amount of 22 nm particles in 26 batches of cattle tongue epithelium extract used for the preparation of C-type vaccine was determined with an improved 50% haemolytic and point complement fixation test after fluorocarbon precipitation of non-immunizing 7 nm particles. The total amount of 22 nm and 7 nm particles (alpha GN value) varied considerably from batch to batch, 22 nm components (alpha GF value) showing a maximum 5-fold difference. (ii) Effectiveness of vaccines with known virus content was tested in adult mice challenged with an adapted virus strain. In commercial C-type vaccines the complement-fixing activitiy of 22 nm particles and the potency of the vaccine showed a logarithmic regression (mouse index = -1.43 + 2.27 1g alpha GF).


Effect of rehydration of rat liver tissue after water deprivation. Male albino rats were deprived of water for 6 days, then they were allowed to drink tap water ad libitim. The structure of the liver was examined by light and electron microscopy, and the protein and dry matter contents, oxygen consumption and glucose-6-phosphatase activity of the liver were determined after rehydration. At 10 minutes, the mitochondria showed signs of division and a peculiar transformation of the cristae. At 60 minutes, the membranes of the rough endoplasmic reticulum were found to have proliferated. At 12 hours, the smooth-surfaced membranes showed hypertrophy and the bile canaliculi were distended. At 24 hours all rehydration induced organelle alterations were declining. The biochemical findings agreed well with the fine structural changes and both were indicative of an enchanced functional capacity of liver cells during rehydration.


Intranuclear virus-like particles in HBsAG- and IHxAG-negative acute hepatitis (type C?) (Preliminary report). Virus-like particles, acute hepatitis, hepatitis type C. Intranuclear virus-like particles were found by electron microscopy in liver cells of a woman suffering from mild HBsAG- and IHxAG negative acute hepatitis. The particles encountered were morphologically different from those found in hepatitis B and hepatitis A respectively. Futher studies are required to clarify whether the structures represent an incidental finding of a new human (passenger) virus or they may be related to the aetiological agent of the supposed hepatitis type C.


Biochemical evidence on the role of gangliosides in nerve-endings. From the biochemical and developmental data in the literature, there appears to be some specific relationship of gangliosides to synapses. Whether the concentration of polysialo-gangliosides is located in the immediately pre-synaptic part of the neuronal plasma membrane is not known. There are many unanswered questions about the gangliosides, which we have attempted to pose in this article. There are as many hypotheses about roles for gangliosides, and virtually no data to back them up. In fact there are not even real indications of possible functions. We believe that it will be very difficult to define the functions of gangliosides until more of the basic questions are answered-even if their synaptic localization is a constant temptation to speculate.


Possible functional role of gangliosides. The brain ganglioside pattern of taxonomically close and distant related fish living at different temperatures were compared with the mammalian pattern. Furthermore the goldfish brain pattern was investigated after adaption (acclimitization, acclimation) to different temperatures. The results demonstrate correlations between body temperature and brain gangliosides: the lower the body temperature of animals, the higher the relative proportion of multi-sialo-gangliosides. The results are discussed with respect to the possible functional role of Ca++-ganglioside-complexes for the process of synaptic transmission.


Effects of brain gangliosides on functional recovery in experimental regeneration and reinnervation. The effect of brain cortex gangliosides has been tested in two different experimental models of peripheral sympathetic regeneration and reinnervation: a) the preganglionic trunks of the cervical sympathetic nerve were joined in an end-to-end anastomosis after severing the preganglionic trunk, caudally to the superior cervical ganglion; this reinnervation is mainly of cholinergic type. b) the postganglionic trunks of the superior cervical ganglion were joined in an end-to-end anastomosis after severing the postganglionic trunk; this reinnervation is mainly of adrenergic type. Functional recovery following the regeneration and reinnervation has been evaluated by measuring tha contraction of the nictitating membrane, evoked by electrical stimulation of the sympathetic trunk caudally to the point of anastomosis. Some of the operated animals were daily treated with 50mg/kg i.p. of brain cortex gangliosides during the entire post-operative period. Forty-five, sixty days after the operation we observed in the treated animals of both experimental sets a relevant increase in the functional recovery (between 30 and 100%) compared to the operated but untreated controls. In the case of postganglionic anastomosis the physio-pharmacological studies were substantiated by the histochemical fluorescence observations of the distributions of catecholamines in the smooth muscle of the nictitating membranes. These results strongly suggest that the treatment with gangliosides greatly influences the regeneration and reinnervation process of both cholinergic and adrenergic nerve fibers.


Remote effects of focal cancer on the neuromuscular system. The remote effects of cancer on the neuromuscular system include type II muscle fiber atrophy, dermatomyositis/polymyositis, myasthenia gravis, the facilitating myasthenic syndrome, peripheral neuropathy (including amyloid neuropathy), and possibly amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The clinical and pathological findings and a number of possible pathokinetic mechanisms of these disorders are discussed. In none is the pathokinetic mechanism known. Hence, much work remains in therapeutically oriented research of the mechanisms in all of the remote effects of cancer on the neuromuscular system.


Role of radiation therapy in the management of neoplasms of the central nervous system. Radiation therapy plays an important role as an adjunctive treatment modality with surgery and/or chemotherapy in a number of primary and secondary CNS neoplasms, including glioblastoma multiforme, lower grade gliomas, brainstem tumors, medulloblastoma, ependymoma, most pituitary and parapituitary tumors, brain metastases, and epidural spinal cord metastases; it also has an important function in the total management of childhood leukemia. Radiation therapy can also be extremely effective as the primary or sole treatment of pituitary adenomas, craniopharyngioma, and cerebral and epidural metastases. The relative roles of, and indications for, surgery versus irradiation have been discussed. There is clearly a need for more information regarding the natural history relative response of specific tumors to the various therapeutic modalities available, as well as the most effective and safe ways to combine treatments. To this end, it is mandatory that surgeons, radiotherapists, neurologists, pathologists, and internists begin to intercommunicate more freely and objectively. Hopefully, in areas that continue to be controversial, well-designed clinical trials can begin to furnish the necessary answers. This is particularly relevant as all of the disciplines mentioned are developing newer and hopefully more effective diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities.


The use of electromyography in angiology. The author of the present study examined electric activity of the muscle in three types of chronic arterial occlusions, i.e. in obliterating atherosclerosis, obliterating thromboangiitis and diabetic angiopathy. He obtained two different electromyographic patterns. One, present in patients suffering from obliterating atherosclerosis, showed signs of a peripheral nerve-damage (characterized by broad action-potentials) and another, found in patients with obliterating thromboangiitis and in diabetics suffering from diabetic angiopathy, with a pattern corresponding to a combined injury--of impaired muscle-fibre and peripheral nerve (characterized by pathological action-potentials of short and long duration). The last group could be further divided into a subgroup where both electromyographic lesions were distinctly noted, comprising patients with obliterating thromboangiitis, and another subgroup, clearly characterized by primary myogenic disorder with a milder disturbance of peripheral nerves. The last subgroup consisted of diabetic patients suffering from diabetic angiopathy. According to the author's suggestion, the divergence in electromyographic patterns in individual diseases of peripheral arteries may be conditioned by different in individual diseases of peripheral arteries, may be conditioned by different localisations of arterial occlusions. Various preferential levels of arterial occlusions give to various diseases a different clinical, as well as electromyographical feature. Neurogenic findings in obliterating atherosclerosis is determined by occlusions of large arteries. From these vessels afferent branches divert for the nutritive supply of the nerve-trunk of the leg. This results in ischaemic lesions of nervous fibers of various degrees in the leg. In the periphery a total of fine or gross changes may be registered on the electomyogram--as a sign of a peripheral nervous lesion. Electromyographic pattern of obliterating thromboangiitis reveals changes similar to those of obliterating atherosclerosis--namely a picture of a peripheral nervous lesion--but in addition there appear regular changes indicating a primarilly muscle impairment. The interpretation means that nervous impairment is present. In fact, no occlusions of the main arteries take place at the level of the diverted nutrient branches of the nerve-trunk, but obliterating thromboangiitis, affecting small and medium vessels, presses the occlusions more proximally to the nervous trunk. The final result and effect is the same and in more severe instances even more striking. Nutrient muscle-arteries, being vessels of medium caliber, are obturated--in cases of obliterating thromboangiitis--commonly with main trunks in the tibial and foot-zone. Possibilities of a collateral circulation in instances where medium and small arteries are obturated, are worse than in large artery-occlusions and the blood-flow becomes more impaired. Realizing the adjacent diffuse affection of arteriolar muscle-net, we get a picture described by Scalabrino and Bianchi...


Personal air sampling for vapors of aniline compounds. A method has been developed for air sampling and laboratory analysis of vapors of seven aniline compounds: aniline, N,N-dimethylaniline, o-toluidine, 2,4-xylidine, panisidine, o-anisidine, and p-nitroaniline. Air is drawn by a personal sampling pump from a worker's breathing zone through a tube containing silica gel to collect any anilines present. In the laboratory each silica gel section is transferred to a glass-stoppered tube and desorbed with ethanol. An aliquot of this is analyzed by gas chromatography to determine the amount of each aniline compound present. The sampling tube can be used for short-term sampling at 1000 cm3/min or for sampling up to eight hours at 200 cm3/min. Maximum interference effects of water vapor have been considered. Results of retention, desorption, storage, accuracy, and precision studies are presented.


Vitamin B12 levels and nerve conduction velocities in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. Serum vitamin B12 concentrations were measured in 60 patients undergoing repetitive hemodialysis and in undialyzed patients with chronic renal failure. Dialysis patients had significantly lower serum vitamin B12 levels than the nondialyzed group 321 +/- SEM 38 pg/ml versus 793 +/- 100), and 19 of 60 dialysis patients had vitamin B12 Concentrations less than 200 pg/ml. Folic acid concentration was 5 times greater in dialysis than in nondialysis patients, presumably because the latter received daily supplementation with folic acid. Serum vitamin B12 concentrations fell progressively during the patient's course of dialysis. Neither inadequate dietary intake nor vitamin B12 malabsorption accounted for the differences in the serum vitamin B12 concentrations seen in the two groups. Serum vitamin B12 levels and nerve conduction velocities in 51 dialyzed patients showed a significant correlation. Six dialyzed patients with low serum vitamin B12 levels and slow nerve conduction velocities showed improvement in nerve conduction (+ 14.6 +/- 3.3 m/sec) following the parenteral use of pharmacological doses of vitamin B12. The cause of the low serum vitamin B12 concentration is not clear, nevertheless, alterations in serum vitamin B12 seen in some dialysis patients may be a factor in the persistence of abnormal nerve conduction and may be reversed with large doses of parenteral vitamin B12.


Vitamin B6 nutriture of children with acute celiac disease, celiac disease in remission, and of children with normal duodenal mucosa. Patients with adult celiac disease excrete abnormal amounts of tryptophan metabolites after loading with this amino acid, suggesting vitamin B6 deficienty in these patients, In fact, the excretion of tryptophan metabolites returns to normal after administration of vitamin B6. The vitamin B6 nutriture was measured by means of determination of pyridoxal phosphate and activity of pyridoxalkinase in serum and in duodenal mucosa of 14 children with acute celiac disease and of six children with celiac disease in clinical and biochemical remission. Ten children with normal duodenal mucosa were studied as controls. Children with celiac disease had significantly decreased pyridoxal phosphate in serum and in duodenal mucosa when compared both with children in remission and controls. Activity of pyridoxalkinase, however, was significantly increased in serum and in duodenal mucosa when compared with controls but not when compared with children in remission. These children had the same increase in pyridoxalkinase activity as children with acute celiac disease. These data provide a strong evidence for the occurrence of vitamin B6 deficienty in children with acute celiac disease. The children with celiac disease in remission still had an increased activity of pyridoxalkinase which seems to be a compensating mechanism in consequence of vitamin B6 deficiency prior to the gluten-free diet.


Decreased interferon production by leukocytes in marasmus. Interferon production by leukocytes in culture was investigated in nine severely marasmic infants and 31 well-nourished controls. The production of interferon was induced with Newcastle disease virus and assayed in Vero cells challenged with vesicular stomatitis virus. Marasmic infants produced significantly less interferon than controls. It is suggested that the finding may be the result of a lymphocyte defect induced by malnutrition and could help to explain the increased frequency and severity of viral diseases in this condition.


Potential anti-fertility plants from Chinese medicine. A brief review of the history of development of Chinese pharmacognosy and its application to gynecology and obstetrics is presented. An evaluation system is introduced for short-listing some potentially useful and anti-fertility plants. Twenty such plants are listed in order of priority according to our evaluation system. Brief descriptions of the botany, phytochemistry and reputed biological effects are provided. It is hoped that this article may provide an impetus for the development of new antifertility agents.


Giant lymph-node hyperplasia, plasma-cell type, of the mediastinum, with peripheral neuropathy. A case of mediastinal giant lymph-node hyperplasia, plasma-cell type, is described. The patient had progressive peripheral neuropathy for which no apparent cause was found. Giant lymph-node hyperplasia with associated peripheral neuropathy has not been reported previously.


The use of human foreskin cell cultures for isolation of herpesvirus group in the diagnostic laboratory. Cell cultures originated from human foreskin (HFS) tissues were used for isolation of viruses from diagnostic specimens. The foreskins were collected in Hank's balanced salt solution and then processed on the same day by dispersion in trypsin. A week after the trypsin treatment of the tissues, the first cell cultures were ready to use. Continuous subcultures in vitro of the cells gave rise to a colony of cells that multiplied freely in vitro and supported the growth of viruses from the herpes group. In three cases tested in our laboratory in the last 6 months, viruses from the herpes group were isolated on the HES. The cytopathic changes of the HFS cells were observed 5 to 8 days after infection. They were not detected on two other human-origin cell cultures (WI-38 and HEp2) or on primary monkey kidney cells. The viruses isolated from these three cases were cytomegalovirus (CMV) from urine of a 2-week-old baby, a second CMV from a cutaneous lesion of a renal-transplant patient and herpes simplex virus from the eye swab of a young girl. After a few subcultures on the HFS cells, the three viruses produced CPE on the other susceptible human cells. The preparation of HFS cells is easy, the availability of the tissue is high, and the diagnostic value is unquestionable. It is suggested that this tissue and its cell cultures be used more often in diagnostic and research laboratories.


Hypergastrinemia induced by glucocorticoid and corticotropin treatment in man. To elucidate further the pathogenesis of steroid-induced ulceration, plasma gastrin levels, both basal and after a test meal, were studied in normal volunteers and patients treated with glucocorticoids or corticotropin. In normal subjects the acute intravenous administration of 100 mg prednisolone had no effect on plasma gastrin levels. After oral administration of prednisolone (40 mg daily, for four days) a significant increase of the basal, the reactive, and the over 90-min integrated gastrin release was observed. In this group, the glucocorticoid treatment had a slight, but significant influence on gastric acid and pepsin secretion, while acidity and pepsin output stimulated by pentagastrin was not affected. In patients treated with prednisolone for more than 24 weeks, the oral administration of this hormone failed to alter basal gastrin values but affected significantly secretion after the test meal. In patients with multiple sclerosis, after intramuscular administration of corticotropin (60 IU daily, for 12 days), an increase of the basal, the reactive, and the integrated gastrin release also was found. Glucocorticoid-induced hypergastrinemia provides information on the pathogenesis of steroid-induced ulceration.


Gastric xanthoma.

Gastric xanthoma. Gastric xanthoma (GX) consists of a small yellowish lesion of the gastric mucosa, frequently of multiple occurrence; histologically, there is an accumulation of lipid-laden histiocytes in the lamina propria. Seven cases are reported. One patient also had jejunal localizations. There is no correlation with hypercholesterolemia but in four cases a slight hypertriglyceridemia was found. A control gastroscopy, performed in four cases, revealed no changes in the first patient but a decrease in size in a second and the disappearance of GX in two other patients.


Benign granular cell tumor ("myoblastoma") of the stomach. Two cases of benign granular cell tumor of the stomach which were found incidentally are reported. A review of the literature disclosed 10 case reports and three other cases which were mentioned. Despite the small size of the tumors eight of the 10 cases produced gastrointestinal signs or symptoms. A brief discussion of the histogenesis of the lesion is presented.


Endemic amebiasis in an Arkansas community. Parasitologic, serologic, and epidemiologic studies were done during 1967 in Calion, Arkansas (population 544). Infection with Entamoeba histolytica was found to be endemic but was segregated along racial lines. Twenty-two (9.9%) black compared with only one (0.6%) white had E. histolytica demonstrated in one stool examination; only two blacks had symptoms suggestive of amebiasis. No positive amebiasis indirect hemaggulination titers were found in 135 white residents. In contrast, 41 (17.9%) blacks had positive titers. Age, sex, and geographic location were not associated with stool or seropositivity. Within the black population, clustering of stool and seropositivity occurred. Significantly higher rates of stool and seropositivity were seen in households with crowding and poor sanitation as evidenced by lack of indoor toilet facilities. The presence of contaminated water supplies did not correlate with stool or seropositivity. The probable importance of person-to-person transmission is suggested by the observed clustering of infection within households with crowding and unsanitary conditions. The absence of evidence for transmission by food or water further supports this hypothesis.


The nephrotic syndrome associated with neoplasia: an unusual paraneoplastic syndrome. Report of a case and review of the literature. The nephrotic syndrome complicating malignancy in the absence of renal vein thrombosis, amyloid or neoplastic infiltration of the kidney is an unusual occurrence. A case of diffuse, well differentiated, lymphocytic lymphoma and lipoid nephrosis documented by light microscopy, electron microscopy and immunofluorescent studies is reported. A review of the literature revealed 76 case reports in which the nephrotic syndrome was associated with neoplasia. The most frequently associated neoplasms are Hodgkin's disease, various carcinomas, nonHodgkin's lymphoma and leukemia in descending order. The most frequent renal lesion in patients with the nephrotic syndrome associated with various carcinomas is membranous glomerulonephritis (81 per cent) as opposed to patients with lymphomas or leukemias who have predominantly lipoid nephrosis (60 per cent). The evidence is reviewed suggesting that the lesions in membranous nephropathy are immunologically mediated by tumor or viral antigen-antibody complexes and in lipoid nephrosis perhaps by a defect in t-lymphocyte function.


Hepatocellular carcinoma, transfusion-induced hemochromatosis and congenital hypoplastic anemia (Blackfan-Diamond syndrome). A 25 year old patient with congenital hypoplastic anemia (Black-fan-Diamond syndrome) is described. This patient was hepatitis-antigen negative, had not received androgens and had a hepatoma develop in a transfusional hemochromatotic liver. Since androgens have been associated with hepatocellular carcinoma, the use of androgenic steroids for other than life-threatening symptoms in this disease should be avoided.