Acute hepatic injury associated with minocycline.

Minocycline hydrochloride hepatotoxic effect occurred in one patient. Unlike the usual histologic features of tetracycline-induced hepatic injury, fatty metamorphosis was predominantly macrovesicular . The patient recovered when drug therapy was withdrawn. Close observation of liver function variables is recommended in patients treated with high parenteral doses of minocycline, particularly in cases of pregnancy or renal disease.

Cardiac tamponade as first manifestation of colonic cancer.

Metastatic cardiac tamponade was the presenting manifestation of a colonic carcinoma. The patient's condition improved after surgical treatment and shows no sign of recurrence of pericardial effusion after more than eight months of systemic chemotherapy. Metastatic pericardial effusions and their treatment are discussed.

Necropsy study on glomerulonephritis in the elderly.

The necropsy reports and clinical observations of 44 cases of glomerulonephritis occurring in patients over 55 years old were reviewed. Two-thirds of the patients died from a rapidly progressive renal disease with focal necrotizing and fibrosing glomerular lesions; half of these exhibited a granulomatous splenic trabeculitis; an associated vasculitis was found in only a minority of these cases. Another important group consisted of cases of acute diffuse glomerulonephritis which, as a rule, occurred in association with a major infection. There were only four cases of chronic sclerosing glomerulonephritis.

Multiple clonal chromosome aberrations in a case of childhood focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver.

A case of focal nodular hyperplasia is described that was accompanied by intense reactive stromal changes giving rise to a pseudosarcomatous appearance. Cytogenetic study revealed complex karyotypic abnormalities including five partially identifiable clonal aberrations and one marker chromosome. The composite karyotype was interpreted as: 45-46,XY,add(4)(q21-25)[24], add(11)(p14)[24], add (19)(p13)[15], der(20)t(1;20)(q25;p12)[31], add(21) (q22)[13],-22[3], +mar[2][cp31]. In addition, quadriradial or complex figures, telomeric associations tas, unidentified ring chromosomes, chromosome breaks, and markers were seen in some cells. Such cytogenetic findings, although suggestive of malignancy, could most likely be related to a nonneoplastic condition, i.e., the unusual florid reactive changes associated with this focal nodular hyperplasia.

Ontogeny of cholecystokinin receptors in the human striatum.

The distribution of cholecystokinin binding sites was studied by receptor autoradiography in the human striatum at midgestation, birth and adulthood. In the adult, cholecystokinin receptors are inhomogeneously distributed with patches of reduced labeling. In the caudate nucleus but not in the putamen these patches match the striosomal organization as revealed by acetylcholinesterase staining. At midgestation, patches of high density of cholecystokinin receptors are in register with the dopamine D1 receptor-enriched striosomes. At birth, this striosomal organization has already evolved into the adult pattern of higher matrix level in contrast to the striosomal pattern of acetylcholinesterase staining.

Domperidone in the treatment of dyspepsia: a double-blind placebo-controlled study.

Domperidone, at a dosage of 20 mg t.d.s before meals, in a double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled trial reduced the level of the symptoms of dyspepsia by 76% compared to a 16% reduction with placebo. This difference was statistically significant (p less than 0.001). Thirteen of the fourteen patients in the study preferred domperidone to placebo. Four patients in the active treatment period and one in the placebo complained of mild side-effects.

An extraordinary case: suicide with insulin in a grave dug by the victim himself.

The undressed body of a young man was discovered in a pit in a forest. The victim was a 27 year old depressed man, suffering from a severe diabetes. Besides personal objects, three empty insulin vials (400 I.U./vial) and empty ampules of distilled water, injection-needles and a syringe were also found in the pit. The investigation carried out at the scene, the questioning of his family and physicians, and the autopsy clarified this unusual case. In conclusion the hypothesis of "suicide" was maintained: the man administered himself a large dose of insulin; in hypoglycaemic coma he died from a bronchopneumonia in a "grave" dug by himself.

[Inverted urothelial papilloma]. / Les papillomes inversés urothéliaux.

Three cases of inverted urothelial papilloma are reported. In one case this lesion, commonly considered as benign, was associated with a transitional cell carcinoma. In an other case inverted papilloma presented histological features of a malignant tumor. The possibility of common etiologic factors of inverted papilloma and other urothelial tumors, explaining their association, is discussed. Considering these results, patients with inverted papilloma must be carefully followed in the same way as patients with low grade urothelial tumors.

The effect of desferrioxamine on tissue aluminum concentration and bone histology in aluminum-loaded rats with renal failure.

Aluminum (Al) intoxication is a condition that reponds well to treatment with desferrioxamine (DFO) in humans with renal failure. The present study deals with the effect of DFO administration on the Al concentrations of different tissues and on bone histology in rats with renal failure, loaded with Al. After the Al-loading there is an important increase of Al in serum, (1,103 +/- 355 micrograms/l) (mean +/- SD), bone (116 +/- 14 mg/kg), liver 238 +/- 78 mg/kg) and muscle (8.5 +/- 4.1 mg/kg). Urinary Al excretion averages 287 +/- 68 micrograms/d. Serum biochemistry reveals renal failure and hypercalcemia (3.5 +/- 0.3 mmol/l). The rats were subsequently treated by either placebo or 150 mg DFO per week. The placebo-treated rats show a spontaneous decrease of serum Ca and Al and of liver and muscle Al content. The DFO-treated rats had, compared to the placebo-treated animals, an increase of urinary Al excretion and lower Al concentration in bone and brain. Bone histology after Al-loading shows an increase in osteoid measurement when compared with non-Al-loaded animals with renal failure: osteoid volume 25.6 +/- 13.3% versus 5.0 +/- 2.9% and osteoid index 63.6 +/- 22.1% versus 27.3 +/- 15.3% in Al-loaded and non-Al-loaded animals, respectively. In addition, the aluminon stain covered 89.7 +/- 3.8% of the bone trabeculae of Al-loaded rats. Under placebo treatment the osteoid measurements increase, reflecting a worsening of Al-induced bone disease. DFO therapy did not result in a significant change of the different measurements of bone histology, despite the decrease of aluminon staining to 67.7 +/- 13.7%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Anatomy of the orbicularis oris muscle in cleft lip.

The anatomy of the orbicularis oris muscle was studied using histological sections of 18 operative specimens of unilateral cleft lip (14 incomplete and 4 complete). In incomplete clefts the intrinsic part of the orbicularis, located in the vermilion, is simply interrupted without distortion. The extrinsic part, lying higher in the lip, crosses the cleft but is distorted vertically according to the degree of the nasal deformity. In complete clefts the intrinsic bundle ends in the submucosa of the vermilion as in incomplete clefts. The extrinsic bundle is deviated towards the ala nasi on the lateral side. On the medial side, the fibres are rarer and more horizontal. Conclusions are drawn regarding reorientation of the muscle fibres during cheiloplasty.

[Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the larynx]. / Carcinome sarcomatoide du larynx.

In this paper the clinical and pathological aspects of a case of sarcomatoid carcinoma (spindle cell squamous carcinoma) of the larynx are reported. The diagnosis is confirmed by immunohistochemical analysis.

[Dermoid cyst of the tongue]. / Le kyste dermoïde de la langue.

An epidermoid cyst of the tongue with sinus tract is discussed. Its interest comes from the fact that histologic sections show sinus tract wall and epidermoïd cyst wall made with the same major characteristics of skin structures. Both have therefore the same embryologic origin. Adequate treatment is surgical excision.

Vitamin D, desferrioxamine and aluminum-induced bone disease in uremic rats.

The effect of 100 ng 1 alpha-OH vitamin D/week alone and in combination with desferrioxamine (DFO), 150 mg/week, was evaluated in aluminum loaded uremic rats. Vitamin D (Vit D) caused an increase of Al in muscle and a decrease in serum Al. Bone histology showed mineralization defect and an increase in bone mass, due to an increase in unmineralized bone, induced both by Al and Vit D administration. Treatment with DFO enhanced urinary Al excretion and lowered tissue Al, without inducing major changes of static bone histology. It is concluded that in Al-loaded uremic rats Vit D can redistribute body Al and that both Al and Vit D can cause a mineralization defect. A 6-week treatment with DFO lowers tissue Al without changing significantly static bone parameters.

The effect of desferrioxamine on concentration and distribution of aluminum in bone.

Aluminum (Al) loaded rats were injected chronically with either desferrioxamine (DFO) or saline. Six rats of each treatment group were sacrificed before and after one, three, and nine months of treatment for determination of tissue and serum Al, and for histological localization of bone Al. Urinary Al was measured during one week before sacrifice. Al loading caused significant elevations of bone (136.2 +/- 22.0 micrograms/g) and liver (114.4 +/- 41.9 micrograms/g) aluminum. Serum Al in DFO-treated animals was not different from their controls (216.4 +/- 80.5 and 226.9 +/- 42.9 micrograms/liter after one month; 151.0 +/- 20.8 and 138.0 +/- 63.9 micrograms/liter after three months; 72.1 +/- 40.7 and 61.6 +/- 14.2 micrograms/liter after nine months in control and DFO-treated animals respectively). Urinary Al excretion in the DFO-treated group was increased at all times as compared to the control rats. A decrease of muscle Al occurred after one month of DFO treatment, but no significant differences of liver and bone Al could be shown between DFO-treated rats and their controls. Al decreased to a comparable degree in all tissues of both DFO and control rats after nine months of treatment. Histomorphometric examination of the bones showed that after one and three months of treatment, significantly less Al was localized at the calcification front of DFO-treated rats compared to their controls (75.6 +/- 6.9% and 53.4 +/- 20.9% after one month; 52.3 +/- 10.2% and 34.8 +/- 10.6% after three months in control and DFO rats respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Liver disease in patients undergoing hemodialysis and kidney transplantation.

Liver dysfunction was observed in 33% of patients treated by hemodialysis and kidney transplantation. Fifty-eight percent of these cases of hepatitis occurred in patients with past or present HBs antigenemia, and 77% of HBsAg-positive patients showed evidence of LD. However, during the course of a program conducted from 1969 to 1976 and involving 267 patients, the decrease in the prevalence of HBs antigenemia observed during the last two years did not lead to any reduction in LD incidence. In a small number of patients, potentially hepatotoxic drugs could be incriminated, but in our experience azathioprine never appeared to be involved. In a few patients, LD was due to granulomatous disease of the liver, such as tuberculosis and schistosomiasis. Twenty-one (7%) of the 267 patients at risk developed chronic hepatitis, which contributed to death in nine patients. In 12 cases (three deaths), this form of hepatitis occurred in HBsAg-positive patients, and in nine cases (six deaths), in HBsAg-negative patients. In three of these latter individuals, cytomegalovirus could be incriminated. Routine monthly screening for CMV in kidney recipients confirmed the high incidence of this viral infection in such patients. Studies on murine CMV infection have demonstrated that this infection can be enhanced by histoincompatible graft or by cyclophosphamide in a model that is very close to the kidney recipient. As in mice, CMV infection in kidney recipients apparently results from reactivation of a latent infection. It seems to play a major role in the LD observed and could apparently lead to chronic hepatitis and even to cirrhosis of the liver. Finally, the occurrence of LD in HBsAg-, anti-HBs- and antiCMV-negative patients would suggest the responsibility of other viruses for the pathogenesis of liver disease in patients treated by hemodialysis and kidney transplantation. Besides Epstein-Barr virus, other viruses, such as hepatitis C virus, should be thoroughly scrutinized.