Bilateral Wilm's Tumor: A Case Report and a Survey of Nineteen Cases in Japanese Literature

A eleven month old boy with bilateral Wilms' tumor has been reported. Hemine-phrectomy was performed and the boy lived fifteen months after surgery ultimately dying of metastatic disease. The remaining kidney was free from tumor at autopsy. The nineteen cases of bilateral Wilms' tumor in the Japanese literature were summarized.     

Infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy

Summary Two cases of infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy in female siblings are reported. The clinical features, with a fatal outcome within 7 years and 3 years respectively, were characterized by progressive psycho-motor retardation. The first manifestation of the disease appeared at the age of one and half years and at the age of 4 months, respectively. Light microscopy shows spheroids with a selective distribution in medulla, posterior horn of spinal cord and cerebral cortex, diffuse cerebellar cortical atrophy with sclerosis, sudanophilic fatty deposits and status dysmyelinisatus in the striatum. Electron microscopy shows tubulomembranous structures composed of usually compactly arranged smooth membranes, aggregations of mitochondria in the spheroids, filamentous inclusions simulating Hirano bodies in the spheroid and axon. Spheroids were present in nerve cell perikarya, axons, dendrites, and presynaptic terminals.     

Reassessment of elevated serotonin levels in blood platelets in early infantile autism

Blood platelet serotonin content was measured in 30 children with early infantile autism, as defined by Kanner, 30 age-matched normal subjects, and 45 children with various neurological and psychiatric disorders. Serotonin content in the autistic group was 980±357 ng/mg platelet protein (mean±standard deviation), a value significantly higher than that for normal children, 807±202 ng/mg (p <.025). Autistic children under school age had higher platelet serotonin concentrations than other older autistic individuals. There was little correlation between age and serotonin levels in the normal children. Elevated serotonin was also seen in some of the non-autistic pathological group, who were disturbed and hyperactive. Elevated serotonin levels are not necessarily a specific biochemical finding for autistic children, but seem to be due to their behavioral distinction.     

Effect of sympathectomy on capillaries of the cochlear lateral wall

The right superior cervical ganglia of 11 cats were removed. After intravenous injection of horseradish peroxidase, both sides of the cochleas were infused with 2% glutaraldehyde and the lateral wall of the cochlea was then microdissected. As control group, both sides of the cochleas of 4 cats were extracted while the superior cervical ganglia remained intact. The samples were incubated after a modified Graham-Karnovsky method and observed by light microscopy. The diameters of the capillaries of the stria vascularis and spiral ligaments were measured. In 8 cats (73%), the diameters of the capillaries of the stria vascularis on the side on which sympathectomy was performed were significantly greater than those on the opposite side. There was no statistical difference between the diameters of the capillaries of the spiral ligament on either the sympathectomized side or the intact side, except in 2 cats. In the control group (in which the superior cervical ganglia were left intact), no statistical difference was found as regards the diameters of the stria vascularis capillaries on either the left or right side. In summary, sympathectomy affected only the capillaries of the stria vascularis and not those of the spiral ligament.     

Neonatal Meningitis Due to Enterobacter cloacae

Enterobacter species, in recent years, have been divided into E aerogenes, E hafniae, E liquefaciens, and E cloacae. Early reviews of neonatal meningitis include some cases due to Klebsiella-Aerobacter,¹ and recent reviews^2,3 include Enterobacter which did not divide them into species of Enterobacter. Reported here is a case of neonatal meningitis due to a gram-negative organism, Enterobacter cloacae.