Orientation selectivity in detection of chromatic gratings.

Vertical and horizontal equiluminance gratings (red-green and blue-yellow at 1 or 3 cycles per degree) act independently in contrast-threshold measurements. This suggests that detection of such patterns takes place in color-sensitive neural structures with orientational specificity.

Lung cancer as a second primary.

An unusually high association of other primary cancers (9.7%) was found during the analysis of 403 consecutive cases of carcinoma of the lung diagnosed at DGMC between 1960 and 1975. Incidence by stage included 17.3% for Stage I (75 cases) and 16.9% for Stage II (59 cases). Median survival by stage was not adversely affected by the associated malignancy. Incidence by histologic type was 15.6% for adenocarcinoma (132 cases), 7.7% for epidermoid (130 cases), 1.5% for oat (small cell) (67 cases), 12.5% for large cell (40 cases) and 11.8% for undifferentiated anaplastic type (34 cases). Of 31 cases of Stage I adenocarcinoma, 9 (29%) had second malignancies. Both adenocarcinoma and epidermoid carcinoma exhibited decreasing association of second malignances with increasing stage of lung cancer. The head and neck region was the location of the nonlung malignancy in 22 cases and the GU system in 11 cases. Two cases each of colon carcinoma and basal cell skin carcinoma were found and there was one case each of carcinoma of the pancreas, lymphoma and melanoma. The diagnosis of lung cancer was made first in only 3 instances. The appearance of solitary nodules in patients with known malignancy should receive strong consideration for vigorous diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Future studies should consider carcinogenic stimuli that may be common etiologic factors in both malignancies.

Survival in lung cancer.

Analysis was carried out according to stage and tissue type of 392 consecutive cases of lung cancer diagnosed at David Grant Medical Center between 1960 and 1974. Biphasic survival curves were described with a variable primary phase and a constant (1.1 percent per month) secondary phase. Survival was found to correlate both to histology and stage. The best survival was found in stage I bronchoalveolar carcinoma. Even in the more favorable categories a leveling off of survival was not found. This study strongly suggests that surgical treatment of lung cancer, while beneficial, cannot expect to be considered as a curative procedure in more than 10 percent of cases. Radiotherapy did not prolong survival.

Scintigraphic findings in primary amyloidosis. An analysis of 7 cases.

Images of 7 patients with primary amyloidosis revealed organomegaly with regions of decreased tracer accumulation due to infiltration and replacement of normal tissue by the amyloid complex. These scintigraphic changes in the clinical setting of multisystem disease should suggest amyloidosis as a possible diagnosis.