EDITORIAL SYNOPSIS Basal and maximal (post-histamine) acid outputs were significantly reduced in patients with cirrhosis. A subnormal secretory response to stimulation with peptone was also found. Gastric hyposecretion was not related to the aetiology or severity of the hepatic disease nor to the extent or presence of a portal-collateral circulation. Increased gastric production of ammonia in cirrhosis did not affect acid output significantly, and the reduced response to histamine was not due to increased serum histaminase activity. Since a significant relationship was demonstrated between hypokalaemia and hyposecretion, and since the output of gastric juice appeared more greatly reduced in volume than acid concentrations, the possibility of a relationship between gastric hyposecretion and disorders of water and electrolyte metabolism is considered.

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SUMMARY In three patients with malignant disease and gastric ulceration, the unusual diagnosis of metastasis was suggested by atypical barium meal features and was supported, in two, by gastroscopy and exfoliative cytology. Characteristically, a centrally‐ulcerated nodule with elevated smooth margins gives rise to the “bull's‐eye” sign. This is not specific for melanomatous metastasis as has hitherto been suggested. The excision of an isolated gastric metastasis in one patient was followed by a twelve‐month remission. The autopsy incidence of gastric metastasis in patients with carcinomatosis was found to be 1–5%.

A patient, aged 20, with Turner's syndrome was found to have both coeliac disease and chronic ulcerative colitis. Although a gluten-free diet restored to normal the jejunal biopsy, persisting diarrhoea was found to be due to coexisting left-sided ulcerative colitis. A search of the literature revealed only three detailed reports of chronic inflammatory bowel disease in coeliac patients, one of coeliac disease in Turner's syndrome and three of inflammatory bowel disease in Turner's syndrome. Growth failure with coeliac or inflammatory bowel disease in females, may call for a chromosomal study, even in the absence of webbing of the neck. The reason for three uncommon disorders occurring in this patient remains obscure.