Ultrastructural site variations in mouse epidermal organization

Mouse dorsal, ear, tail and foot epidermis are compared according to their tissue architecture and cell kinetics. Cell proliferation is expected in terms of the daily volume of keratin replaced. The stratum corneum may be organized into vertical columns of squames, which may have minimal overlap as in dorsum and ear, or maximal overlap as in tail. Individual areas are adapted to their function both in squame fine structure and rate of cell replacement. The surface keratin loss/replacement rate is at its highest in foot and tail, and lowest in ear and dorsum. Observations on hairless mouse dorsum are also included.     

Activated coagulation time (ACT) of whole blood in normal dogs

The activated coagulation time (ACT) test is technically simple, inexpensive, and commercially available and provides a rapid, accurate assessment of canine whole blood clotting time. The medium ACT for 72 normal dogs ranging in age from 6 monhts to 11 years was 75 seconds, with a range of from less than 60 seconds to 125 seconds and a mean of 77.5 seconds. Significant difference in the ACT due to sex or age of the animals tested was not found.     

Pyogenic arthritis of the sacro-iliac joint. Long-term follow-up

Nine cases of sacro-iliac pyarthrosis are presented. The difficulty in localizing the infection is attributable mostly to failure to appreciate the posteriorly situated physical findings. This, and the difficulty with early roentgenographic demonstration of the lesion, may lead to unnecessary abdominal exploration (as in two of our patients) or to prolonged delay in diagnosis and hence spread of the infection. Awareness of the usual physical findings and prompt use of radioisotope scanning to localize the infection led to earlier diagnosis and avoidance of surgery in three patients seen recently. Antibiotic therapy, with or without surgery, led to cure in all patients, with minimum sequelae.     

Natural occurrence of Fusarium toxins in feedstuff

The mycotoxins diacetoxyscirpenol, deoxynivalenol, and zearalenone, produced by Fusarium roseum, were found naturally occuring in mixed feed samples. In all cases analyzed, deoxynivalenol occurred together with zearalenone. The natural occurrence of zearalenone in sesame seed is reported for the first time. Strains of F. roseum isolated in various parts of the world form feed implicated in animal mycotoxicosis produced monoacetoxyscirpenol, diacetoxyscirpenol, deoxynivalenol, and zearalenone.     

Clival chordoma

Chordomas are uncommon tumors arising from embryonic remnats of the fetal notochord. The spheno-occipital and sacrococcygeal regions account for over 90 per cent of cases, the remaining 10 per cent occurring anywhere along the vertebral axis. A case of chordoma arising from the clivus is presented with a view to discussing management. The ability to obtain reasonable survival times associated with a useful and meaningful quality of life is emphasized. This may be accomplished by repeated, judicious surgical intervention with surprising ease and little morbidity to the patient in spite of its intracranial location.