Intraepithelial Elastic Fibers and Intracytoplasmic Glycogen: Diagnostic Aids in Differentiating Keratoacanthoma from Squamous Cell Carcinoma

A significant statistical difference was found between the incidence of intraepithelial elastic fibers in keratoacanthoma and squamous cell carcinoma arising in actinic keratosis ( P < 0.001). There was no significant difference when keratoacanthoma was compared to adenoid squamous cell carcinoma ( P =0.13) and de novo squamous cell carcinoma ( P =0.73). However, in keratoacanthoma intraepithelial elastic fibers were found in areas of pseudoepitheliomatous hyper-plasia and in the central keratin plug, as well as in areas of infiltrating, peripheral keratinocytes. In adenoid squamous cell carcinoma and de novo squamous cell carcinoma, the intraepithelial elastic fibers were found only in areas of atypical epithelial cells at the margin of the neoplasm. Intracytoplasmic glycogen was found to be statistically more abundant in keratoacanthoma than in squamous cell carcinoma arising in actinic keratosis ( P < 0.001), adenoid squamous cell carcinoma ( P < 0.001), and in de novo squamous cell carcinoma ( P < 0.001).     

POSTOPERATIVE ANTEROGRADE AMNESIA

The problems of defining and estimating pre- and postoperativeamnesia are discussed. The extent of postoperative (anterograde)amnesia in patients receiving pre-operative medication (consistingof atropine, pethidine and pentobarbitone) followed by generalanaesthesia (consisting of thiopentone, halothane and nitrousoxide) was ascertained. Two control groups were employed; onereceived spinal anaesthesia following preoperative medication,and the other received no medication and did not undergo surgery.Various age groups were compared and various memory tests wereemployed. Results indicate that postoperative amnesia is primarilyrelated to the general anaesthetic and not to the pre-operativemedication.     

THE COLONIAL CAREER OF JAMES PATRICK MURRAY

This paper is a biographical sketch of Dr. Murray during the years 1860 to 1873 when he lived in Victoria, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. It records details of his career from his residency at the Melbourne Hospital followed by his exemplary conduct in the Howitt expedition to recover the remains of Burke and Wills. It traces his progress of degradation unhampered by constituted authority and concludes with his magnum opus– the greatest massacre of South Sea Islanders in the annals of the South Sea slave trade. He departed from the colonies still registered to practise medicine and without penalty or probation. This paper concludes with a brief summary of his personal qualities and asserts that it was these qualities, together perhaps with the discordance between the colonies, which allowed this knave to escape the penalty which he appeared amply to deserve.     

PARAPROTEIN PATTERNS IN AUSTRALIA

Seventy-eight patients with serum and/or urinary paraproteins were studied, and their clinical and immunological features are presented. The clinical manifestations that depend on the biological activity of the paraprotein are emphasized. The disorders associated with the presence of the paraprotein included myeloma (47 cases), macroglobulinremia (14 cases), amyloidosis (six cases) and various tumours, for example carcinoma, sarcoma, hepatoma (seven cases). The paraproteins were gamma-G (41 cases), gamma-A (w cases), gamma-M (17 cases), gamma-D (two cases), Bence Jones protein alone (six cases) and diclonal (two cases). In those patients without myeloma or macroglobulinremia, an abnormal or long-standing stimulus to the immune system is found in a proportion of cases, and this may be of pathogenetic significance.     

A New Hypnotic Technique for Treating Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Prospective Open Study

Procedures for estimating hypnotic depth have been used for more than 70 years. This study predicted self-reported hypnotic depth from the phenomenological and behavioral variables of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory-Hypnotic Assessment Procedure (PCI-HAP). Participants were divided into 2 groups; 1 was used to generate regression equations, and the other group was used for cross-validation. Both imagery vividness during hypnosis (imagoic suggestibility) and the PCI pHGS measure of hypnotic depth (hypnoidal state) accounted for most of the variance in self-reported hypnotic depth. The above results, further supported by correlational and 3-D visual analyses, are consistent with other researchers’ observations that ratings of hypnotic depth are a function of: (a) alterations in subjective experience, and (b) the perception of responsiveness to suggestions. The findings are also congruent with J. Holroyd’s hypothesis that suggestibility and altered-state effects interact to produce hypnotic effects.