Thrombocythemia and thrombosis of the adrenal vessels.

The authors describe a case of primary thrombocythemia and thrombosis of the adrenal vessels which they were able to examine by arteriography of the renal and adrenal arteries, by adrenal CT and at autopsy following the patient's death. The available research data and hypotheses concerning the pathogenesis of thrombosis and hemorrhage in thrombocythemia are reviewed, but the relationship between platelet number and function and the incidence of thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications has not yet been clearly established. Pathogenesis of thrombosis and hemorrhage in suprarenal vessels is not clear and the majority of authors postulate early venous damage.

[Intussusception in children and adults]. / Darminvaginatie bij het kind en de volwassene.

The authors describe several cases of intussusception in children and one in an adult, paying attention to the underlying pathology, also in children. This must be kept in mind at the radiological examination (so called "leading points") and at the operation. Different causes are Meckel's diverticulum, ectopic pancreatic tissue, tumours. Air insufflation (= chinese method) could be safer and in case of perforation it would be less dangerous. Surgery shall be undertaken in late diagnosis, difficult or impossible reductions by enema and signs of perforation or peritonitis.

Treatment of chronic erosive gastritis: a double-blind trial of pirenzepine and cimetidine.

In a double-blind study, 59 patients with chronic erosive gastritis received 50 mg of pirenzepine twice daily and 55 patients received 400 mg of cimetidine twice daily for six weeks. In both groups, days of pain, of heartburn, and of nausea per week were significantly reduced during treatment (P less than 0.01). After six weeks, 64% of the pirenzepine group and 62% of the cimetidine group were free of symptoms and endoscopy revealed healing of lesions in 78% and 80%, respectively. Differences between groups were not significant.

Biochemical characteristics of free and junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum and of transverse tubules in human skeletal muscle.

The microsomal fraction of normal human skeletal muscle was subfractionated by isopycnic sucrose-density centrifugation, using the procedure originally described by Saito et al. for rabbit fast muscle, and specific markers of the junctional face membrane of terminal cisternae (TC) (ryanodine receptor, high-molecular-weight feet proteins and membrane-associated calcium-binding protein calsequestrin), of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca-pump membrane (chicken antibody to rabbit Ca-ATPase), and of transverse tubules (TT) (dihydropiridine receptor, membrane cholesterol), respectively. The results show that isolated TC from human skeletal muscle share extensive morphological characteristics, protein composition, as well as Ca-release properties with rabbit TC, as tested with an inhibitor (Ruthenium red) and an activator (doxorubicin) of SR Ca-release. The Ca-pump membrane of human muscle SR, in distinction to rabbit fast muscle SR, showed a relatively low specific activity of the Ca-ATPase, as expected from the mixed fiber composition of human muscles, but shared the presence of minor protein components, such as a Con A binding protein of about 57 kDa and blue-staining peptides in the 170-120 kDa range of molecular weights. Human muscle TT, as isolated from the same sucrose gradient, demonstrated a high affinity (3H)-dihydropiridine binding activity in the range of previously reported values for purified TT from rabbit skeletal muscle.