[Meconial disease in a newborn]. / Mekonialnaia bolezn' novorozhdennogo.

A case of meconial disease not associated with mucoviscidosis registered in 0.08% of perinatal autopsies is described in a premature girl who died 46 hours after her birth. Productive exudative meconial peritonitis that had developed due to intestinal wall perforation caused by meconium plug pressure was detected on the section. Microscopically, there were abundant squamous epithelial scales in the fibrinous exudate and commissures, whereas in the submucosal layer of the intestinal wall there were productive aseptic meconial granulomas whose components are squamous epithelial scales in addition to cellular elements. Searches for granulomas are made concurrently with examination of great quantities of histologic sections, but their detection is valuable for differential diagnosis of newborn ulcerous enterocolitis.

[Mesothelioma of the atrioventricular node and sudden death]. / Mezotelioma atrioventrickuliarnogo uzla i vnezapnaia smert'.

An incomplete atrioventricular block of grade III was detected by electrocardiography in a 3.5-year-old boy one week before his sudden death. On autopsy, cardiomegaly involving a 47% increase in heart weight and a moderate adaptational endocardial fibroelastosis were noted, as was a nodular tumor sized 6 X 3 X 1.5 mm at the atrioventricular node. The tumor was concluded to be a microcystic mesothelioma that had been destructive to the node and had begun infiltrating the cardiac muscle.

[Globoid cell leukodystrophy (Krabbe's disease)]. / Globoidnokletochnaia leikodistrofiia Krabbe.

One case of Krabbe's disease was found for 25 years among 40500 newborns; this concerned a girl who died from the aspiration pneumonia at the age of 8.5 months. A number of typical one- and multinuclear globoid cells were observed in white matter of the large hemispheres and brain stem. Brain was atrophied by 27%. Thrombosis of some brain vessels was noted microscopically in the zone affected, this being attributed to the cytomegalovirus angiotoxic effect. The presence of polynuclear leukocytes in the nervus trigeminus branches is considered to be an equivalent of the brain globoid cells that phagocytize the products of the myelin destruction in the peripheral nerves.

[Diffuse nephroblastomatosis and carcinoid tumor of the pancreas in a newborn infant]. / Diffuznyi nefroblastomatoz i kartsinoid podzheludochnoi zhelezy u novorozhdennogo.

An observation of primary multiple tumours in a newborn girl who died at the age of 3 1/2 days is described. Diffuse nephroblastomatosis of right kidney and carcinoid tumour of the pancreas (nesidioblastosis) were found at the necropsy. Mother has had a respiratory infection at the 18th and 25th weeks of the pregnancy, this being considered as a possible factor in the genesis of tumours. According to the author, diffuse nephroblastomatosis is observed in 0.2% of neonatal necropsies.

[Embolisms in punctures and catheterization of the subclavian veins in young children]. / Embolii pri punktsiiakh i kateterizatsii podkliuchichnykh ven u detei rannego vozrasta.

Observations of thrombic and tissue (skin, muscle) embolism of small branches of the pulmonary artery in two infants of 2 1/2 months suffering from acute respiratory viral diseases and a child of 3 1/2 years who died of scarlet fever are presented. Complications of this kind due to insufficient observations of the rules of puncture and catheterization of central veins, particularly in young infants, are not infrequent. In some cases, they may aggravate the course of the main disease.