EPIDEMIOLOGY IN ANAESTHESIA: I: ANAESTHETIC PRACTICE OVER 20 YEARS

The practice of anaesthesia and its outcome is compared, bymeans of the Cardiff Anaesthetic Record System, between twoperiods of 6 years, in whiph 53 541 and 108 878 anaestheticswere administered by the staff of one department. The proportionof emergency cases has increased from 10.6% to 18.7%, but themortality m hospital has declined from 1 in 35 anaestheticsto 1 in 46     

Studies on the Use of "Prophylactic" Intrathecal Amethopterin in Childhood Leukemia

Central nervous system infiltration was studied in a group of 47 childrenwith acute leukemia. CNS involvement was found to occur more frequentlyand appear more rapidly in patients who presented with elevated peripheralWBC counts. CNS infiltration not suspected clinically was identified by spinalfluid examination in a significant minority of children at the time of theinitial diagnosis of leukemia, indicating that lumbar puncture should be aroutine part of the initial evaluation of patients with acute leukemia. Intrathecal amethopterin administered "prophylactically" at the time of initialdiagnosis of leukemia did not prevent or decrease the frequency of occurrenceof CNS infiltration. However, it did delay the onset of CNS involvement in patients with elevated WBC counts. Intrathecal amethopterin administered before the onset of CNS infiltration appears to be useful in delaying morbidityresulting from CNS involvement in children who present with elevated peripheral WBC counts.

Submitted on July 21, 1969 Revised on January 27, 1970 Accepted on February 10, 1970     

Electron Microscopy of the Red Cells in Erythropoietic Porphyria

With the aid of electron microscopy two different red cell lines have beenidentified in erythropoietic porphyria. A normal red cell series has been foundin association with hemoglobin containing normoblastic nuclei and ferritinladen reticulocytes. The abnormal line presumably represents the porphyrincontaining cells. A possible explanation to account for the abnormality inheme synthesis has been proposed.

Submitted on February 24, 1964 Accepted on April 17, 1964     

Apoptosis of Hodgkin–Reed–Sternberg cells in classical Hodgkin lymphoma revisited

Benharroch D, Einav I, Feldman A, Levy A, Ariad S, Gopas J. Apoptosis of Hodgkin–Reed–Sternberg cells in classical Hodgkin lymphoma revisited. APMIS 2010; 118: 339–45. We scrutinized the role of apoptosis of the Hodgkin–Reed–Sternberg (HRS) cells in classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) and critically reviewed its features in the light of conflicting evidence. In this study, we found that tumor cells in this neoplasm showed inhibition of apoptosis in 55% of the 217 cHL cases only. It is also suggested that the two factors considered responsible for apoptosis inhibition in HRS cells, nuclear factor‐κB and the latent membrane protein‐1 of the Epstein–Barr virus, do not correlate with apoptosis inhibition, in contrast with the findings in the consensual pathogenetic scheme. The most significant association of HRS cell apoptosis was with p53, the negative expression of which related with a high apoptotic index (p = 0.001). These findings support our contention that the role of apoptosis in the HRS cells of Hodgkin lymphoma has not been completely elucidated and is at variance with that in the consensus.     

Undifferentiated carcinoma of the renal pelvis with osteoclast‐like giant cells: a report of two cases

McCash SI, Unger P, Dillon R, Xiao G‐Q. Undifferentiated carcinoma of the renal pelvis with osteoclast‐like giant cells: a report of two cases. APMIS 2010; 118: 407–12. Undifferentiated carcinoma with osteoclast‐like giant cells arising in the urothelium of the bladder or upper urinary tract is an extremely rare entity. The majority of cases found in the renal pelvis and bladder are associated with either an in situ urothelial malignancy or a conventional high‐grade urothelial carcinoma. These malignancies tend to behave poorly with a grim prognosis and course. We report two additional cases of undifferentiated carcinoma with osteoclast‐like giant cells of the renal pelvis in two patients disease free 42 and 18 months after surgical treatment, respectively.