Search

Two patients with acute methanol intoxication are reported, one with acute renal failure. Both were declared brain-dead and kidneys were harvested at 80 and 130 hr after hospital admission. All four kidneys were transplanted and subsequently functioned well. In both donors who had received ethanol treatment, thrombocytopenia was present. The reluctance to use kidneys from such donors and from donors with acute renal failure before harvesting is discussed. Waiting lists for renal transplantation are growing and there is a world-wide shortage of cadaver organs. We were recently surprised to find reluctance to consider two local patients dying from methanol intoxication as suitable organ donors, and we report the outcome of four kidneys transplanted from these donors. We were unable to find any similar cases reported in the English literature.

Primary lymphoma of the ovary is an extremely rare cause of ovarian mass. Few cases have been recorded in English literature, and controversy still exists as to the existence of such an entity. We present a case whose diagnosis can be supported by rigorous diagnostic criteria--a long follow-up after surgery with only one course of adjunctive polychemotherapy. This case, together with a review of the literature, will enrich our knowledge on the issue and on the treatment of these patients.

A 23 year old woman developed a hemorrhagic diathesis, acute renal failure, progressive coma with proteinuria and hypertension in the postpartum period. Light and electron microscopic studies of the renal biopsy specimen disclosed glomerular changes suggestive of pre-eclampsia. Striking intr

Testicular degeneration was observed in genetically selected sucrose-fed diabetic rats. The changes consisted of atrophy of the seminiferous tubules, thickening of the tubular basement membrane, marked reduction of the spermatogenesis and Leydig cell hyperplasia. None of these changes was observed in age-matched starch-fed siblings.

Alpha-foetoprotein was detected by double immunodiffusion in the serum and urine of rats with nephrotoxic serum nephritis. The livers of these animals were essentially normal but immunohistologically AFP was demonstrated in hepatocytes. Furthermore, fixation of AFP was also found in the glomeruli of these nephritic animals.

In the Cohen diabetic rat (genetically-selected sucrose-fed) ovariectomy resulted in a significantly decreased incidence of nephropathy, while estradiol treatment to the ovariectomized animal increased the rate of nephropathy to the levels occurring in the uncastrated untreated diabetic female. In the male diabetic animal orchidectomy caused a slight decrease in the rate of nephropathy whereas estradiol treatment to the orchidectomized animal resulted in a slight increase in the rate. No difference was found between the ovariectomized and the uncastrated diabetic female as to the spontaneous blood glucose, plasma insulin, serum cholesterol or TG levels, but a significant difference was found in their plasma estradiol levels.

Rats killed 24 hours after a single injection of 30–100 mg/kg Isoproterenol (N-iso-propyl noradrenaline), show focal myocardial necrosis. Animals previously immunized against homologous (rat) heart homogenate showed a marked increase in severity and extent of the lesions. Immunization against rabbit heart caused a lesser degree of enhancement; rat kidney, rabbit serum and kidney and saline—adjuvant emulsion as antigens, gave results similar to the controls.

Acute sialoadenitis, ascribed to local formation of immune complexes, develops in sensitized rats after a single intraductal challenge with the sensitizing antigen. Multiple intraductal challenges induce a state of non-reactivity of the organ characterized by a lack of inflammatory reaction to the sensitizing antigen. This non-reactivity is antigen-specific, since introduction of ovalbumin, after multiple intraductal instillations of bovine serum albumin (BSA), elicits an inflammatory response in animals immunized with the two antigens. At the same time, instillation of BSA into the contralateral gland, which has not been challenged, causes acute adenitis. Anti-BSA antibodies are detected in the serum and parotid saliva at the time of refractoriness of the gland. The phenomenon is a transient one since the faculty of the salivary gland to respond by an inflammatory reaction recovers after a challenge-free period. These experiments bring to light a new phenomenon, the possible mechanisms of which are discussed.

Diffuse intercapillary glomerulosclerosis and exudative glomerulosclerosis were produced in rats fed high-sucrose diet for periods of nine to eighteen months. These lesions were observed by light and electron miscroscopy. Impairment of glucose tolerance was observed in the sucrose-fed animals and marked proteinuria developed in the course of long-term sucrose feeding. Such lesions did not develop in a control group of age-matched fed high-starch diets.