ADULT-ONSET STILL'S DISEASE IN INDIA

Adult onset Still's disease was provisionally diagnosed in 31patients from northern India over a period of five years, in27 of whom the diagnosis was subsequently felt to have beenconfirmed. This report describes the clinical characteristicsof these patients along with the different therapeutic measuresused and their response. Adult onset Still's disease shouldbe considered in the differential diagnosis of ‘pyrexiaof unknown origin’. KEY WORDS: Still's disease, Pyrexia of unknown origin     

Antagonism of mivacurium block with edrophonium from various degrees of spontaneous recovery

Seventy adult patients received mivacurium 0.15 mg kg^–1during anaesthesia with thiopentone, nitrous oxide and 0.5%halothane. Neuromuscular block was monitored using mechanomyographyand train-of-four stimulation. Edrophonium 0.75 mg kg^–1was administered 5 or 10 min after mivacurium, or when the firstresponse in the TOF (T1) had recovered to 5, 10, 25 or 50% ofcontrol in groups of 10 patients each. A control group was allowedto recover spontaneously. The mean time taken from administrationof mivacurium to attaining a TOF ratio of 0.7 was between 19.3and 24.9 min in the groups given edrophonium, regardless ofthe time of administration, compared with 26.7 min in the spontaneousrecovery group. The differences, however, were not significantamong the groups showing little advantage in antagonizing mivacuriumblock.     

Coexisting Hereditary Methaemoglobinaemia and Heterozygous β-Tialassaemia

ABSTRACT. Cyanosis was noted within a few weeks after birth in two sisters. On investigation the cause of cyanosis was found to be congenital methaemoglobinaemia due to NADH diaphorase deficiency. Heterozygous β-thaiassaemia was present as an additional incidental finding in one of the sisters, but did not contribute to the symptoms, thus showing that the two diseases, when coexistent, do not pose additional haematological problems. However, it is possible that the β-thalassaemia counteracts the tendency to compensatory erythrocytosis induced by methaemoglobinaemia     

Gastric ulceration and the concentration of salicylate in plasma in rats after administration of 14C-labelled aspirin and its synthetic triglyceride, 1,3-dipalmitoyl-2(2′-acetoxy-[14C]carboxylbenzoyl) glycerol

Triglycerides containing aspirin in place of one or more fatty acid residues of the molecule have been synthesized. Metabolism of the compound with the labelled (¹⁴C) drug residue introduced specifically into the 2-position of the triglyceride is reported. Plasma salicylate concentrations with this synthetic glyceride were determined and compared with those obtained with commercially available aspirin labelled with the ¹⁴C-isotope. Both compounds gave a therapeutic concentration of salicylate in the plasma after ingestion. The 1,3-di-fatty acyl-2-aspirin glyceride was absorbed through the intestine as 2-aspirin monoglyceride, some 20% of which was transported through the thoracic-duct chyle and about 30% through the portal system. Whereas pronounced ulceration of the rat stomach occurred with free aspirin, the above fatty acyl glyceride of aspirin produced no ulceration.     

Postgastrectomy Bezoars

Sixteen cases of postgastrectomy bezoars were diagnosed and treated in the period of five years. Various mechanisms of their information, symptomatology and therapy are discussed. We believe postgastrectomy bezoars are relatively frequent but often missed entities. Considering the relative frequency of this entity and ease of therapy, this condition should not be missed if one is aware of its existence.     

Altered erythrocyte membrane phosphorylation in psoriasis

Immunofluorescence staining of exposed skin from patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) with antibodies to serum amyloid P component (SAP) and to fibronectin produced striking fluorescence of abnormal vascular structures in the upper dermis. An appearance of linear fluorescence along the dermo-epidermal junction with anti-SAP was the result of confluent staining of papillary oxytalan fibres. Amyloid P component (AP) was localized in ultrastructural immunoperoxidase studies to the peripheral (abluminal) regions of thickened dermal vessel walls, the site of maximum concentration of an amorphous matrix containing microfibrillar structures; antibodies to SAP did not bind to leaflets of the reduplicated vascular basal lamina. The characteristic thickening and reduplication of blood vessel walls seen with the electron microscope in EPP therefore involves increased local deposition of both AP and fibronectin.     

Age Related Development of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme in Testes and Epididymis of Rat

Altersabhängige Entwicklung von Angiotensin-Converting-Enzym (ACE) in den Hoden und Nebenhoden der Ratte
ACE wurde in den Hoden und in verschiedenen Bereichen des Nebenhodens der Ratte unterschiedlichen Alters untersucht. Die ACE-Aktivität erreichte ihren Gipfel, wenn die Tubuli seminiferi die Spermatozoenproduktion des Erwachsenenstadiums aufwiesen; sie pendelte sich auf dieser Höhe danach ein. Die Spitzenkonzentration im Nebenhoden wurde später beobachtet als im Hoden. Der Konzentrationsgrad im Nebenhoden war proportional zum Grad der Spermatozoenreifung und zur Fertilität; die höchste ACE-Aktivität im Nebenhoden fand sich im Kopfbereich.