A survey of semen donor attitudes.

Semen donors have been required to register with the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority since its formation in 1990. Since then many clinics have reported a shortage of donor semen for donor insemination treatment. Is this because potential donors are worried about the protection of their anonymity? No published studies are available concerning the attitudes to semen donation in the UK. It was against this background that an investigation of the attitudes of potential semen donors was carried out. Four dimensions were investigated: (i) motives, (ii) personal detachment and involvement, (iii) detachment and involvement with respect to recipients, and (iv) detachment and involvement with respect to offspring. A total of 55 potential semen donors completed the attitude questionnaire from semen donation programmes in three in-vitro fertilization units. The questionnaire format was found to be an effective method of data collection for this sensitive area of research, and the major findings were (i) 89% of potential donors required confidentiality and guaranteed anonymity; (ii) 82% did not mind providing non-identifying information to the recipients and offspring; (iii) 69% of potential donors expected financial reward; and (iv) 69% did not welcome counselling.

[3-dimensional ultrasonic mammography. Tissue differentiation and tissue-specific breast imaging]. / Dreidimensionale Ultraschallmammographie. Gewebedifferenzierung und gewebespezifische Darstellung der Mamma.

This paper presents first results concerning the three-dimensional ultrasonic data acquisition, the textural analysis of different classes of tissues and the tissue-specific display of mastopathic regions within the female breast, revealing its benefit for diagnosis.

Hot tub dermatitis: a familial outbreak of Pseudomonas folliculitis.

Pseudomonas folliculitis resulting from the use of spa pools, whirlpools, and hot tubs is a newly described disease that typically develops 8 to 48 hours after exposure in a contaminated facility. The eruption consists of pruritic papules, papulopustules, nodules, and urticarial lesions on the trunk and extremities. A family of three and a neighbor developed Pseudomonas folliculitis after using a home hot tub from which P. aeruginosa was cultured. Skin biopsies showed an acute, suppurative folliculitis and dermal abscess formation. Although the eruption usually resolves spontaneously within 7 to 10 days, proper maintenance of equipment and adequate disinfectant levels are necessary to prevent its recurrence.

Cutaneous malakoplakia.

A case of cutaneous malakoplakia is reported. The patient is a 53-year-old white woman on immunosuppressive therapy 6 years after renal transplantation for end-stage nephrosclerosis. She developed yellow-pink papular lesions in her natal cleft which, on histopathologic examination, showed typical features of malakoplakia, namely, a diffuse dermal infiltrate of histiocytes (von Hansemann cells) which contained calcified Michaelis-Gutmann bodies with a concentric ring appearance. Gram-negative bacteria were also identified in some of the histiocytes. The Michaelis-Gutmann bodies stained positively with the PAS-diastase, mucicarmine, and Grocott stains and thus resembled fungal spores from which they must be differentiated. Electron microscopy showed that the Michaelis-Gutmann bodies developed within phagolysosomes of the histiocytes. Malakoplakia appears to be caused by an acquired defect in the intracellular digestion of phagocytized bacteria.

Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia: a disease that may be confused with malignancy.

Twelve new cases of an unusual, benign vasoproliferative and inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology, angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia (ALHE), are described and contrasted clinically and pathologically with those appearing in the literature. Only recently recognized in the United States, the disease is of singular importance because the vascular component may be confused histologically with angiosarcoma, thereby resulting in unwarranted aggressive therapeutic measures. ALHE characteristically affects adults and presents in the head and neck region as either solitary or multiple cutaneous tumors. The lesions are pruritic, frequently bleed after minor trauma, and may be associated with peripheral eosinophilia and regional lymphadenopathy. On rare occasions, the disease may masquerade as a salivary-gland tumor, cause stenosis of the external auditory canal, or present as an osseous lesion of the skull. Extrafacial tumors are uncommon. Excision is the most frequent form of therapy; however, local irradiation, corticosteroids, electrodessication with curettage, and chemotherapy have also had varying degrees of success.

Guinea-pig keratinocytes and melanocytes in tissue culture: scanning, transmission and high voltage electron microscope observations.

Keratinocytes and melanocytes cultured from guinea-pig epidermis were studied with scanning, transmission and high voltage electron microscopy to characterize the surface and internal morphology. Keratinocytes exhibited contact-inhibition and a range of surface structures consistent with cell-cycle dependent changes. Stereoscopic analysis of high voltage electron micrographs indicated regular oval nuclei with nucleoli at different depths, while thin sections revealed local channels in the nuclei. Secondary cultures differed from primary cultures in the disorder of the microfilaments, in the failure to form desmosomes, and in the failure of melanocytes to persist in culture. The beaded surface of melanocytes was indicative of underlying melanosomes that were seen in high voltage micrographs. Melanocytes were rounded with moderate ruffles or were dendritic with ruffles on the termini. These findings are discussed in relation to the observational techniques and in relation to modes of locomotion of and pigment transfer to epidermal cells.