Obturator hernia

Four cases of strangulated obturator hernia are presented with a brief review of the literature up to 1980. All four patients were emaciated women over 50 years old and in all instances the hernia was on the left side. None of the cases was diagnosed preoperatively and all had Howship-Romberg's sign absent. A diagnosis of strangulated obturator hernia should always be considered in any elderly, thin female with clinical features of intestinal obstruction and without any history of previous abdominal operations. Three of the patients died due to delayed presentation, delayed operative interference and rupture of the gangrenous loop leading to septicaemia.     

Neonatal modification of endocrine functions and mammary carcinogenesis in the rat.

Effects of neonatal androgenization or neonatal ovariectomy in female rats on endocrine functions and mammary tumourigenesis are examined. Pituitary gonadotrophin contents (both LH and FSH) are significantly lower in neonatally androgenized rats (TT) and significantly increased in neonatally ovariectomized rats (NO) when compared with controls of the same age. Plasma and pituitary prolactin levels are higher in TT rats than in the control rats of the same age, but the difference is not significant. Mammary tumours developing in TT rats after DMBA treatment are predominantly fibroadenomata, and lactogenesis in TT rats occurs almost entirely in those receiving DMBA treatment. Neonatal ovariectomy in female rats protects against subsequent induction of mammary cnacer by DMBA. The relationship between neonatal modification of endocrine functions and mammary tumourigenesis is discussed.     

The relationship between neuropsychological and late component evoked potential measures in chronic alcoholics

The relationships between event-related potential (ERP) measures and neuropsychological measures were investigated in a group of 39 male alcoholics and 22 age-matched male controls. Late component ERP measures such as N1, Nd, and P3 components and neuropsychological measures of perceptual-motor function, semantic and figural memory and verbal abstracting functions were included in a correlational analysis. No significant correlations between N1 amplitude or latency and neuropsychological tests were obtained. However, visual Nd amplitude correlated significantly with perceptual-motor tests and figural memory scores in the alcoholics. Significant correlations were found in alcoholics for visual P3 amplitude at PZ and delayed figural memory scores and two of the perceptual-motor tests. No significant correlations were obtained among the controls. These data indicate that significant relationships exist between some neuropsychological and ERP measures but that these relationships are restricted to measures of perceptual-motor functioning and to delayed figural memory.     

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the middle ear and mastoid

A rare case of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the middle ear and mastoid with facial paralysis is presented with brief review of literature. Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the middle ear and mastoid is very rare. It is highly malignant tumour found in the paediatric age group. Soderserg (1933) reported the first case of embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma of the middle ear. Stobbe and Drageon (1959) described 15 cases of tumour occuring in the head and neck, out of which two were in the middle ear and the mastoid process. Deutsch and Felder (1974) reviewed the world literature up to 1973 and could collect only 22 cases including 5 of their own. According to Maurer et al (1977) rhabdomyosarcoma originating in the head and neck comprise 36% of all cases of rhabdomyosarcoma. A rare case of Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma of the middle ear and mastoid with facial paralysis is being reported with a brief review of literature.     

Immunological studies of human placentae: complement components in pre-eclamptic chorionic villi.

Forty human placentae were studied by immunofluorescence for the presence of complement (C) components C1q, C4, C3d, C6 and C9 with the use of characterized antisera. The tissues were grouped as control placentae from 20 normal pregnancies and 20 from cases of pre-eclampsia (PE): the PE samples were sub-grouped as being obtained from patients with mild or severe PE. All of the C components studied were found in the same distribution for test and control samples, but statistical analysis of each pattern of distribution revealed that the deposition of C1q, C3d and C9 were increased in PE as compared to normal tissues. This impression was strengthened by the finding that the deposition of these C components was further increased when chorionic villus immunopathology was compared between mild and severe PE. These data indicate that immunological mechanisms are operating in PE chorionic villi, and they suggest that, among other mechanisms, immune processes may be operative in the pathophysiology of this clinical disease, and that more studies along these lines are in order to rule either in or out this possibility.