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PHEOCHROMOCYTOMAS are tumors resulting from the abnormal proliferation of pheochromocytes, or mature cells of the endocrine series that arise from the primitive sympathogonia and normally form the endocrine portion of the adrenal medulla. These tumors may occur wherever there is chromaffin tissue but usually are observed in the medulla of the adrenal gland or in other retroperitoneal locations, such as the aortic chromaffin bodies (organ of Zuckerkandl) on the anterior surface of the aorta near its bifurcation. Characteristically they are localized benign tumors, although occasionally they undergo morphologic changes suggestive of malignant transformation.1 Their most interesting characteristic is their ability to produce physiopathologic changes, presumably through their excessive hormonal secretions. Therefore, their clinical manifestations are such that the patient frequently is thought to be suffering from a metabolic disease, and an erroneous diagnosis of thyrotoxicosis or diabetes mellitus is likely to be made.In some patients with pheochromocytoma hypertensive

Mechanical damage and implantation of pumice stones into the gallbladder of patas monkeys seemed to extend the period of excretion of vibrios, principally in animals not vaccinated parenterally with the homologous strain. The administration of live El Tor vibrios, without surgery, also appeared to induce pathological changes in the gallbladders of some unvaccinated animals. The vibriocidal activity titers remained elevated for a longer time in animals that excreted vibrios for an extended period.

In this study, the focus of attention was the biological response of vervet monkeys Cercopithecus aethiopsunder psychological stress to a welldefined protein, bovine serum albumin, with plasma cortisol as an indicator of alterations in the pituitaryadrenocortical system. The term “psychological” was used simply to indicate that the stress aspects of the experimental situation were considered to have their impact upon the animals primarily by way of the sensory systems, rather than through direct physical or physiological trauma. After immunization, 5 animals were subjected to irregular noise, light, and vertical movement, while 5 controls remained undisturbed except for periodic blood collections. The stress group showed delayed antibody formation, and the antibodies rose to a lower level than in the control group. The serum cortisol values were markedly elevated during the initial period of the experiment in the group exposed to stress.

Streptomycin-dependent Escherichia coliserotypes O 111, O 55 and O 26 were used to vaccinate young patas monkeys against these organisms by the oral route. Five administrations of 1010cells in 3-day intervals gave almost full protection to the animals against challenge with 9 to 11 minimal infective doses of homologous virulent organisms for at least 1 month, whether the three serotypes were administered singly or simultaneously.

As a rule, Vibrio cholerae does not enter the intestinal tissues and the blood stream. Cholera is a disease due to the toxins of the causative vibrio which are liberated in the lumen of the gut. The toxins have not yet been completely defined but the most important of them seem to be those of group 2 of Burrows1. These produce a cholera-like syndrome when injected into the upper part of the small intestine of infant rabbits or into the ligated intestinal loop of adult rabbits1,2. The serological responses of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) to crude cholera toxin prepared according to Oza and Dutta3and Burrows et al.2, phenolized cholera vaccine, and V. cholerae lipopolysaccharide have been investigated by our group4,5. It was found that the serum immune globulin G is the most important carrier of the V. cholerae toxicity neutralizing factor(s) in the circulating blood. The purpose of these experiments was to establish the antibody producing capability of mesenteric lymph gland and spleen cells, as well as to investigate the relationship of serum Ig-bound antibodies to the toxin neutralizing capability of Ig in the secretions and excretions of the intestinal tract.

To the Editor.—We read with interest the article entitled "Sudden Death in Adolescents Resulting From the Inhalation of Typewriter Correction Fluid"1 in the March 15,1985, issue of JAMA. Your readers should be made aware that children perverting the use of commercially available consumer products ("sniffing") has become a worldwide problem. A recent issue of the British Medical Journal2 reported 282 deaths in the United Kingdom from abuse of volatile substances during 1971 to 1983. The substances abused were gas fuels (24%), aerosol sprays (17% ), solvents in glue (27%), and other volatile substances such as cleaning agents (31%). In 51% of the cases the authors reported that death was attributed to the direct toxic effects of the substances abused. Therefore, we must disagree with the authors. There is nothing unique about correction fluid deaths when the product's use is perverted.There appears to be a gasoline sniffing epidemic