Volume 97  ·   Issue 03  ·  1984

Among 121 students at the Tianjin School for the Blind, 82 (67.8%) had congenital eye diseases and 39 (32.2%) had postnatal eye diseases such as keratomalacia and optic atrophy. Most were aged 11 to 20 years. 33 were first or second-born, and 49 were third or later-born. 26 students' mothers had suffered from malnutrition, common cold, or other ailments during pregnancy. In 6 families, the parents were consanguineous. Hereditary eye diseases are now an important challenge in China. Preventive measures are therefore proposed.

Inhibition of orally administered ascorbic acid of 3-methylcholanthrene (MC) induced carcinoma of glandular stomach in male LACA mice is studied. The animals are divided into 3 groups: Group MC consists of 54 mice in whch a knotted thread impregnated with MC was fixed on the mucosal surface of glandular stomach; Group vitamin C (VO) consists of 23 mice, treated in the same way with the addition of oral ascorbic acid in the drinking water; the control group consists of 23 mice in which an ordinary untreated knotted thread was fixed on the glandular stomach. The incidences of adenoma-like hyperplasia and tumor formation in Group VC (50% and 27.8%) were lower than those in Group MC (77.3% and 65.9%). By using acid α-naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE) staining, the number of T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood was calculated. After the animals were exposed to MC, the percentage of ANAE positive lymphocytes in the Group VC decreased less than in Group MC, and recovery was more rapid. It is suggested that ascorbic acid can protect immunocompetence of the animal and therefore hasten recovery, this may be one of the mechanisms of the inhibitory effect of ascorbic acid on MC induced carcinogenesis in mouse glandular stomach.

This paper presents the evidence that α1 antitrypsin variant Etokyo, the most common α1 antitrypsin mutant in the Chinese is not pathogenic. This evidence includes the results of health investigations of families containing carriers of Etokyo, comparison of serum protease inhibitory capacities in affected and unaffected members of six Eitokyo families, and distributions of inhibitory activity in Etokyo heterozygotes. The results support our hypothesis that as a predisposition to diseases such as emphysema, the genetically determined deficiency of α1-antitrypsin is not as important in Chinese as in Caucasian populations.

The diagnosis of middle ear and temporal bone carcinoma continues to be difficult until the advanced stage, but with the development of complete temporal bone resection, patient survival is improved. This paper analyses 22 cases treated by this method from 1961 to 1980. Five patients (3rd stage) are living and well. Of the remaining 17 (4th stage), 6 are still surviving, a survival rate of 35.3%. The indications, contraindications and complications are discussed.

It is now accepted that endotoxin cannot account for all the manifestations of septic shock. Moreover, endotoxic shock in dogs is quite different from septic shock in man. The consensus of opinion is that the clinical condition should be simulated in animals by inducing a s septic state with both septicemia and shock. We successfully produced such a model by injecting CaCl2 together with a mixture of E coli and enterobacter aerogenes into the hind limbs of dogs. Sequential observations on hemodynamics, respiratory function, oxygen delivery, acid-base balance, serum and RNC Na+ and K+ in model animals were done while they were conscious. Septic shock progresses from a high output-low resistance state (compensatory phase) to a low output-high resistance state (decompensatory phase) with a final low output-low resistance state (terminal state). Severe extrapulmonary infection demages the lungs morphologically and functionally, but lungs morphologically and functionally, but the severity of change varies. The relationship between cardiac index, oxygen consumption between cardiac index, oxygen consumption and arteriovenous difference in oxygen varies. Acid-base disturbance is closely related to the extent of lung injury. RBC cannot be considered a sensitive model for detection of cellular damage during sepsis.

We surveyed the menstrual patterns of 131,410 Chinese women over 9 years old in 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. 129,226 (98.34%) had menstruated. Their age at menarche ranged from 9 to 21 years and averaged 15. Menarche occurred one year later on the average in rural than in urban women. The interval between menarche and second menstruation averaged 35 days, and a normal menstrual cycle usually was established within six months. The length of menstrual cycle averaged 31 days and was related to such factors as health status, weather, nutrition, psychiatric factors and physical labor. Menstrual periods ranged from 1 to 10 days and averaged 5 days. On the average, menopause began at age 49.5 in urban women and two years earlier in rural women. The age of menopause differed slightly between regions. The duration of climacteric symptoms after or before menopause averaged 2 years and varied among regions; but about 50% of women had no climacteric symptoms or dysmenorrhea. In general, the menstrual patterns of minority women were similar to those of Han women. However, in Korean women, the age at menarche averaged 16.56 years, and that at menopause averaged 47.46 years. In Tibetan women, the age at menarche averaged 16.84 years and duration of menstrual flow was 3 to 4 days.

Although trench fever is now known to be almost worldwide in distribution, it usually exists unrecognized in louse-infested communities in peace time, and the disease may flare up in epidemic form in wartime. Inasmuch as physicians are generally unfamiliar with trench fever, the literature on the history, geographic distribution, symptomatology, pathology, etiology, immunity, diagnosis, epidemiology, prevention and treatment of the disease is briefly reviewed. Certain obscure phases of trench fever are noted and lines for further studies of the disease suggested. The question is entertained whether R rocha-lima, a rickettsia of hitherto undefined status, may represent a variant of R prowazeki acquired by lice feeding on typhus convalescents living under natural conditions and an intermediate stage in the transformation of R prowazeki in the direction of R quintana.

We performed end-to-side mesocaval shunt for 20 portal hypertensive patients with rebleeding after splenectomy. The bleeding was immediately controlled in 7 treated by emergency mesocaval shunt. There was no operative death, and none of the patients developed encephalopathy. Follow-up from 4 months to 7 years revealed that 3 deaths were due to acute massive hemorrhage, hepatic failure and carcinoma of the stomach respectively. Two patients with rebleeding treated by partial esophagogastrectomy are living and well. The conditions of the other 15 patients are fairly good too. Our experience shows that mesocaval shunt is effective in the treatment of rebleeding in portal hypertensive patients after splenectomy. But to further study the hemodynamic changes and long-term results, more patients and longer period of follow-up are required.