Physical training in the aged person.

Physical training is considered as fundamental in the functional activation of aged people. The authors studied the effects of training especially on cardiovascular function and serum lipids. The subjects consisted of 2 large groups subdivided into males (M) and females (F). Group A lived with their families and were relatively active, Group B lived in a home for retired aged people and were physically inactive. AM: N = 25, 65.0 +/- 19.1YO AF: N = 8, 63.1 +/- 6.7YO BM: N = 13, 69.1 +/- 20.8YO BF: N = 17, 67.5 +/- 18.0YO, 63 persons in all. Training heart rates (THR) were calculated using Karvonen's formula from the symptom limited maximal heart rate (HR max, S.L.) on a low grade treadmill test. Subjects received tasked physical training under the surveillance of a physician every hour twice a week for 4 months. Endpoint treadmill speeds were AM46.8 +/- 25.4, AF42.5 +/- 20.5, BM31.7 +/- 19.0, BF24.7 + 18.1 m/min, reflecting capacity for physical work. As expected, HR response to the same load decreased in all groups after 4 months of training. Systolic blood pressure response decreased significantly in the active group but, surprisingly, increased in Group B. Diastolic blood pressure response showed a similar decreasing tendency in both groups. Triglyceride decreased in both groups but the decrease was marked in Group A. HDL-cholesterol increased significantly in all groups. The ratio of pre-ejection period over ejection time decreased in all groups reflecting increased cardiac muscle contractility. Cardiothoracic ratio decreased in Group B but increased in Group A. Basal metabolic rate increased in Group B.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[A case of pleural effusion secondary to breast carcinoma responding to treatment based upon thoracoscopic findings].

Patients with metastatic breast carcinoma often present symptomatic pleural effusions. A 67-years-old woman, who had undergone right radical mastectomy 7 years previously for right breast carcinoma, developed massive right pleural effusion. Thoracoscopy revealed local metastasis in the center of the parietal mediastinal pleura. On biopsy, it was found to be adenocarcinoma which was considered to have invaded the pleura directly from the mediastinum. She was treated with linac X-ray irradiation focused on the pleural metastasis and systemic chemotherapy (CMF), and resulted in a gradual decrease and final disappearance of the pleural effusion.

Myocardial infarction due to metastasis of choriocarcinoma in a 29-year-old woman.

A rare and instructive case of myocardial infarction in a 29-year-old woman was presented. In this case it was clinically suspected that myocardial infarction was due to metastatic choriocarcinoma of the heart. This was confirmed by autopsy. It was emphasized that metastatic choriocarcinoma of the heart could be a cause of myocardial infarction in young women.

Argyrophil cell microneoplasia in the Mastomys' stomach--an observation on early carcinoid formation.

To analyze the early stages of argyrophil cell carcinoid growth, complete serial sections were cut from the glandular portion of the stomachs of 22 Mastomys and submitted to Sevier-Munger's reaction. The 154 grossly invisible foci of argyrophil cell microproliferation thus detected were classified into three stages of microproliferations (I, II, and III), and the last stage was definitely a microcarcinoid. There was a gradual transition in cell proliferation among these three stages; the first stage (microproliferation I), in which the cells were morphologically indistinguishable from those of hyperplastic proliferation by general morphologic criteria, was where the initial change of argyrophil cell carcinoid formation was detectable by a light microscope. Whereas multiple occurrences of microcarcinoids accounted for the multiplicity of well-developed tumors in the stomachs of Mastomys, a well-developed carcinoid in this species was formed by the confluence of several microcarcinoids.