A case of trichotillomania (author''s transl)

Five episodes of transient monocular blindness during a six-month period occurred in a 42-year-old black man who had sickle cell trait. Other than the hemoglobin abnormality no cause for the transient monocular blindness was determined.     

A propos a case of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (author''s transl)

This is a case of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma with a rare clinical evolution. A first metastasis causes paraplegia; a second causes obstructive jaundice; a third subcutaneous metastasis is resected; the primitive tumor is discovered accidentally in the right calf, 8 weeks after the beginning of the disease. The literature is reviewed. Diagnosis of the alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma is often difficult because of confusion with a lymphoma, another type of sarcoma, a melanoma or even an epithelial tumor. The surgeon who removes a superficial node, obviously malignant, in a young subject, should think of this type of tumor. A multidisciplinary treatment associating radical resection, radio- and chemotherapy improves the very poor prognosis of this sarcoma.     

Eccrine-nevus (author''s transl)

The eccrine nevus is an exceptional entity, formed by well-differentiated adnexa which can be classified as hamartoma or organoid nevus. It is characterized by a high degree of structural maturation. The authors report a case of eccrine nevus observed in a 32-year-old woman and compare clinical and histological features of the lesion with literature data.     

The clinical olfactogram (author''s transl)

Sera from patients with acute hepatitis, cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis, as well as sera from healthy carriers and controls were examined for HBS antigen, DNA polymerase activity and for antibodies to HBS, HBC and DNA polymerase. The data presented suggest that in acute hepatitis the DNA polymerase test enabled us to diagnose at least 20% more cases of hepatitis B than with the RIA but that the DNA polymerase test is of little value for the screening of blood donors since all the healthy carriers gave negative results. As concerns the antibodies to DNA polymerase they appeared in at least 50% of the patients with acute hepatitis, they were transient and only detectable at the early beginning of the disease. These antibodies were also found to be different from the anti-HBS and anti-HBC antibodies.     

Micrometastasis of the uvea: a rare cause of uveal effusion (author''s transl)

A clinicopathological report is given on a case of spontaneous chorioideal detachment in a patient with metastatic carcinoma. Histological there was infiltration of the ciliary body and peripheral choroid and a large uveal effusion. Pain would seem to be a pathognomic sign of metastatic tumor in choroideal detachment caused by metastatic tumor.     

Sacro-iliac osteochondritis (author''s transl)

Sacro-iliac osteochondritis is difficult to recognize, it is rather frequently a case of diagnosis by elimination, which can be only confirmed by the course. Its prognosis is excellent. The predominance of lesions on the iliac edge reflects the affinity of this epiphysitis for the accessory iliac ossification point.     

Vesicorenal reflux (author''s transl)

Antireflux procedures show high efficiency and relatively few technical complications. A tabulated comparison between the intravesical procedure (Politano-Leadbetter) and the extravesical procedure (Lich-Grégoir) reveals an overall success rate of 80%. To simplify the nomenclature, the term primary refluxing ureter is suggested for cases with a freely draining IVP and primary obstructive ureter for a dye collumnating dilated ureter. The indication for antirefluxplasty is divided into urgent cases and those with secondary priority, with immunologic tests providing helpful criteria.     

Boston corset (author''s transl)

Nine cases of bilateral femoral shaft fractures were seen in a series of 126 patients treated from 1973--1977. Patients were multitrauma cases from automobile accidents. Treatment by traction followed by cast-bracing resulted in a high percentage of unsatisfactory results, lengthy recoveries, and the necessity of secondary surgical procedures to improve the results.     

Kleinschmidt''s syndrome (author''s transl)

This is a case-report about a 4 year old boy with "cherry red" epiglottis, purulent meningitis and pleuropneumonia. Purulent meningitis and pleuropneumonia are not complications of treatment of "cherry red" epiglottis but an entity caused by Hemophilus influenzae-infection and is called Kleinschmidt's syndrome (Hemophilus influenzae type B-infection-syndrome). This severe illness is successfully treated if recognized early enough. At present, chloramphenicol is the therapy of choice. Intubation or tracheotomy are important but supportive measures.     

Seckel syndrom (author''s transl)

The radiophysical properties of the material "Masonit" are examined by experimental methods. Indications are given as to atomic composition, density, effective atomic number, concentration of electrons, and linear attenuation coefficient. A comparison with water shows that "Masonit" is a suitable phantom material especially for the purposes of radiotherapy.     

Bull''s-eye disease (author''s transl)

Thiamine deficiency was produced in young rats by feeding a thiamine deficient diet. At a time when neurological symptoms were severe, and cardiac and renal transketolase activities were decreased, the animals were sacrificed. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase activities, and flux through the pentose phosphate pathway were similar in pair-fed control and thiamine deficient rats. These data suggest that altered pentose phosphate pathway activity is not a vital feature of murine thiamine deficiency.     

A case of Dercum''s syndrome with hysteria-like convulsions (author''s transl)

Inadequate clinical knowledge has a profound effect on the organization and administration of a state mental hospital. The official goal of active treatment is displaced by the operative goal of custody and there is a reliance upon hierarchy rather than expertise as the source of authority.     

Hallucinantion and illusion (author''s transl)

The value of an anaesthetic attachment during the first two postgraduate years is considered under three major headings, the value to the recent graduate, the value to the specialty, and the value to the community. The anaesthetic attachment offers all recent graduates an opportunity to perfect practical skills which should from part of the armamentarium of all doctors, and for some there is the option to acquire the ability to administer a safe anaesthetic. Exposure to the specialty at this time is important for recruitment to the specialist ranks.     

The legal basis of organ transplantation (author''s transl)

Report on the legal basis of organ transplantation in Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland. Reference is made to the legal uncertainty in the Federal Republic of Western Germany. The Federation probably has no legislative competence for an adequate transplantation law. Amendments of the xi 168 StGB suggested by individual Federal States are discussed. The synopsis of the existing legal rules in the above mentioned countries suggests the proposal of general legal principles which should guarantee 1. the best medical care in transplantation medicine especially in renal explantates 2. a legal protection for the physician 3. a protection for personal rights of the donor. The author feels that the rights of those persons who provide for the corpses should be superceded by these considerations.     

Congenital arteriovenous shunts (author''s transl)

In 95 women taking reduced-level-oral contraceptives and in 24 same-aged women controls, the measure of erythrocyte and serum folate led to the following conclusions: 1) Folate levels in women consuming the pill were generally found to be of the same range as those of controls. 2) No significant difference could be shown between results for different kinds of contraceptives.     

Angiography in coxarthrosis (author''s transl)

The preparation of 125I-labelled tracer for digoxin radioimmunoassay (125I monoiodinated 3-succinyl digoxigenin-1-tyrosine) is described, and its performance in radioimmunoassay of plasma samples is compared with that obtained with tritiated digoxin. The accuracy levels were assessed through the evaluation of different potential sources of systematic errors, such as interference from digoxin-related molecules and plasma proteins and methodological artefacts possibly associated with the immunocomplex instability, and through a series of checks including the recovery and parallelism tests and the correspondence of results obtained with the two tracers. The slope and the repeatability with time of the calibration curves and the spread of replicate estimates were taken into consideration to assess the assay precision. An essential equivalence in terms of reliability of measurement was proved for the two methodological variants, so that practical aspects and economic factors remain the main criteria to evaluate the relative merits: from this point of view, the advantages of using 125I-labelled tracer, as an alternative to tritiated digoxin, are discussed.     

Otitis externa trichophytica (author''s transl)

A comparison of the plasma levels of tetracycline obtained whilst taking standard therapeutic doses of Tetrabid-Organon was made in twelve healthy volunteers. Two standard production batches were used in the study which was conducted under double-blind conditions. Sampling 12 hours and 8 hours after dosing showed no significant differences in plasma levels, with each batch. Even at these lowest levels satisfactory concentrations were rapidly obtained following initial administration, and were maintained when the drug was given at 12-hourly intervals. No side-effects of the drug were noted.