Animal and plant cytochrome P-450 systems.

Cytochromes P-450 are a family of hemeproteins catalyzing the metabolism of both endogenous and exogenous (xenobiotic) compounds. This review describes the general features of these enzymes and some aspects of comparative studies, mainly in fish, birds, insects and plants.

Ciliated bodies in gynecologic cytopathology: parasite or cellular debris?

Ciliated bodies, similar to the ones described originally by Gaudefroy and Coliche, were discovered in fluid from an ovarian cyst and fluid in the Douglas pouch. These were reproduced experimentally by mucosal scraping of Fallopian tubes. In fact, they were of cellular origin from desquamation of the ciliated apical portion of columnar cells.

[Malignant lymphomas in Burgundy, France (1976--1977): a new approach using computerized pathological diagnoses (author's transl)]. / Les lymphomes malins en Bourgogne (1976--1977). Etude de leur fréquence par la méthode informatique anatomopathologique.

Pathology laboratories in the Burgundy region have recently been equipped with mini-computers using the same software and working method. This report brings together their histological records, stored on magnetic discs, and describes the first results of this regional data base. Malignant lymphomas were chosen as a pilot study and evaluated between January 1976 and December 1977. After a brief presentation of the method, 246 cases of malignant lymphoma are analysed: 95 of Hodgkins disease, 103 of non-Hodgkins malignant lymphoma of the nodes and 48 cases of extranodal non-Hodgkins malignant lymphoma. The distribution of patients in terms of sex and ten year age groups is analysed, together with the various incidence rates for a year in Burgundy and in its four administrative units (Cote-d'Or, Nievre, Saone-et-Loire and Yonne).

An uncommon apudoma: a functional chemodectoma of the larynx. Report of a case and review of the literature.

The authors report a case of laryngeal chemodectoma in a 53-year-old man who died from general dissemination and lymphatic and subcutaneous metastases. This functional neoplasm secreted calcitonin revealed by fluorescence and biochemical tests and perhaps adrenaline-like substances. Its cells looked like the light chief cells of the human carotid body; they contained secretory granules and lysosomal formations. Thirty similar cases had been previously reported. The superior laryngeal glomi and more occasionally the inferior ones were the seat of these tumours which occurred with an equal frequency in both sexes. A hoarseness was often the unique symptom noticed during the several months or years preceding the first examination of this slow growing neoplasm. Nevertheless among the chemodectomas of the head and the neck region those arising in the larynx had the highest incidence of malignant evolution. Five of the patients presented a general dissemination, two had lymphatic metastases and one a local recurrence. The ultra-structural features and sometimes the rarely detected functional activity of these chemodectomas are those of apudomas whose cells might originate from the cephalic portion of the neural crests.

[An incidence study of digestive cancers in a well defined population. Results of two years registration in the departement of Côte d'Or (author's transl)]. / Incidence des cancers digestifs dans une population bien définie. Bilan de deux années d'enregistrement dans le département de la Clote-d'Or.

A systematic registration of mortality and morbidity from digestive cancers was started in January 1976 in the French department of COTE-D'Or (population 455,727). In the course of two years 913 new cases of digestive cancers were recorded. Nearly half of these cancers were colorectal cancers. The survey gives informations on histology, stage of the disease and survival. The morbidity survey allows comparison with the incidence rate of digestive cancers in other countries.

[Pierre Masson. A precursor and re-discoverer (1880-1959)]. / Pierre Masson. Précurseur et rénovateur (1880-1959).

Pierre Masson, born in Dijon in November 1880, intended to be a clinician doctor. After being seriously troubled with bad health and following the advice of his master Eugène Bataillon, a researcher who found out the parthenogenesis of batrachian ova, he turned towards a scientific carrier as a biologist. Appointed Chairman in Strasbourg where he held the chair of pathology as early as the first world war, he left France in 1927 to assume the same functions in Montreal. There, he died in May 1959, after creating one of the most brilliant schools of pathology of the XXth century. Most of Pierre Masson's works are precursory as regards the scientific conceptions of his period. He gave them two predominant orientations: on the one hand, works of pure technical histology, resulting in original processes of fixation, coloration and argentation which are still used today; on the other hand, numerous works of oncologic pathology, which allowed him to individualize new tumors, such as the "spermatocytoma" or the "glomus tumor". An observed endowed with a vast culture in biology, Pierre Masson considers the pathologic fact as a real "natural experience" which reveals unsuspected properties of the tissues or allows to discover normal structures which could not be found out easily without it. In this regard he gave pathology a renewed vitality.

A complete form of testicular feminisation syndrome; a light and electron microscopy study.

A case is described of testicular feminisation syndrome in a 19-yr-old patient with a normal female appearance. A laparotomy with removal of the gonads was performed. The latter looked like testes with intraparenchymal nodules. Light and electron microscopy study of these nodules revealed the presence of immature seminiferous-like tubules and of Leydig cell clusters. The tubules were filled with clear Sertoli cells, few degenerative dark cells and scanty spermatogonia. Thin collagen bundles surrounded the tubules and the foci of Leydig cells without any crystals of Reinke. The immaturity of all these cellular components could be connected with a mutation at a repressive locus which could be responsible for the abnormalities observed in the different steps of androgen action at target cell level.

Incidence of large bowel cancer in Côte-d'Or (Burgundy).

The present study is based on the registry of digestive cancers set up for the French department of Côte-d'Or (455,727 residents). Large bowel cancer represents half of the gastrointestinal tract cancers recorded in the course of 2 years (1976-1977). The crude annual incidence rate was 52.2 per 100,000 for males, 41.7 per 100,000 for females. The age-standardized incidence rate for cancer of the rectum is one of the highest reported. The incidence rates for cancer of the colon are in the intermediate range. Half of the large bowel cancers were rectal cancers, nearly always adenocarcinoma. Coexisting benign polyps were seen in 21% of the cases at the time of diagnosis of carcinoma and were more common in males than in females. 54% of cancers of the colon and 62% of cancers of the rectum underwent curative surgery.

[Multiple paragangliomas of the neck localized in the thyroid region. Papillary thyroid cancer associated with parathyroid adenoma]. / Paragangliomes multiples du cou avec localisation thyroïdienne. Cancer papillaire thyroïdien et adénome parathyroïdien associés.

A 58 years-old woman has had a goiter for many years. She was treated by neck irradiation for "lymphadenopathy" 20 years-ago. She is now operated on for bilateral carotid body paragangliomas and a similar tumor of the thyroid gland near the midline. She also presents a papillary carcinoma of the left thyroid lobe with lymph node metastasis and a chief-cell parathyroid adenoma. The diagnosis of thyroid paraganglioma is discussed. Then the authors raise the hypothesis of radiation-induced papillary carcinoma. They try to set a link between thyroid tumors and parathyroid adenoma.