Reading with a limited lexicon in the right hemisphere of a callosotomy patient.

The generality of the observation that there is a lexicon present in the right hemisphere of callosotomy patients has been the subject of some dispute. In the series operated on at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, only two patients have been shown to have a right hemisphere lexicon. This paper reports the existence of a visual and an auditory lexicon in a new patient D.R. and discusses its significance in understanding the role of the right hemisphere in normal and dysfunctional language.     

A study of some enzymes and isoenzymes of carbohydrate metabolism in human endometrium during the menstrual cycle

The levels of seven enzymes were measured in endometrium from 208 women all of whom had regular cycles with normal menstrual losses. The activity of all the enzymes increased during the secretory phase and the increases were reflected in some instances by the appearance of additional isoenzymes on starch gel electrophoresis patterns.     

Blastomycosis. A case report

Blastomycosis was once thought to be restricted to North America; it has rarely been found in the RSA. The first case reported in the RSA was associated with a diffuse pulmonary infiltrate and cavitation; the patient responded to amphotericin B.     

Impact of blood transfusion and burn injury on microbial translocation and bacterial survival

The role of the immune system in microbial translocation must be clarified. In these studies, the effect of blood transfusion-related immunosuppression on translocation was investigated in a burn animal model previously known to increase the gut's permeability to 14C-radiolabeled Escherichia coli. In a first experiment, Balb/c mice underwent transfusion (T) with 0.2 mL per mouse of allogeneic C3H/HeJ mouse blood 5 days prior to undergoing 30-percent burn injury (B) and simultaneous gavage (G) with 10(9) E. coli bacteria labeled with 14C. An additional six groups of Balb/c mice underwent different combinations of T, B, and G procedures (TG, BG, TB, T, B, G). Survival rate was recorded for all groups on Day 10. This experiment suggested that B and T, to a lesser extent, were the factors affecting survival, although the combination of T, B, and G clearly showed a synergistic effect on mortality. In a second experiment, 18 Balb/c mice belonging to TBG, BG, TG, and G groups were sacrificed 1, 4, and 24 hours after burn or gavage. The residual radioactivity and the percentage of viable bacteria were computed for mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen, liver, lungs, blood, and peritoneal fluid. Statistical analysis of the radionuclide counts recognized B as the only variable able to enhance the magnitude of 14C E. coli translocation. The percentage of viable bacteria showed that T and, more moderately, B were the factors leading to the failure of bacterial clearance in the tissues.