Lean beef: impetus for lipid modifications.

Health-conscious consumers want lean beef. The beef industry has responded by physically removing much of the adipose tissue from retail products and by initiating attempts to produce--genetically and environmentally--cattle with more muscle, less external fat, and less seam fat, without sacrificing the quality dependent on the amount of marbling present. Offering lean beef that is closely or completely trimmed of external fat has improved retail beef sales. Impetus for modification of the lipid composition of bovine muscle and adipose tissue, including marbling, has resulted from the following: (a) diet/health concerns of consumers and demands for leaner beef, (b) research clarifying effects of dietary fatty acids and cholesterol on serum cholesterol levels, (c) dietary guidelines and recommendations from health organizations, and (d) dietary recommendations by physicians and dietitians to reduce beef consumption. Analysis of cholesterol content of marbling dissected from the rib (longissimus dorsi) muscle revealed that marbling contributes little to total cholesterol content. Cholesterol content of marbling was 117 mg/100 gm intramuscular adipose tissue (equivalent to about a 2 mg cholesterol contribution to a 100-gm serving of uncooked meat). The difference in fatty acid composition of lean meat and of adipose tissue is primarily in the percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which is higher in lean meat. The most prevalent fatty acids in adipose tissue including marbling were: palmitic acid (24.1%), stearic acid (13.5%), and oleic acid (37.7%).

Sequelae of gangrene of the ileum in childhood.

An 81-year-old woman, who, at the age of 5 1/2 years, had undergone a series of operations for gangrene of the ileum, presented in 1983 with acquired megacolon and chronic malabsorption caused by the persistence of a jejunosigmoid fistula for 76 years. Follow-up in this case thus spans 76 years.

Cimetidine and acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding: a double-blind controlled trial.

Patients presenting with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding from a variety of lesions were admitted to a prospective double-blind controlled trial to determine if cimetidine reduces the severity of bleeding and/or the incidence of rebleeding. During the first 48 hours, the patients received intravenous cimetidine (200 mg four-hourly) or placebo, and for the following ten days, oral cimetidine (1 g/24 hr) or placebo. Eight-eight patients entered the trial of whom 45 (51%) were in the cimetidine-treated group. Six of the seven patients requiring surgery for life-threatening bleeding and four of the six patients who rebled were in the cimetidine-treated group. This study failed to demonstrate any advantage of using cimetidine routinely in the treatment of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding.