No abstract

Occult cancer is fairly common in patients with idiopathic DVT, but the routine use of extensive diagnostic studies for its detection remains to be validated by further prospective studies.

Serum sex hormone levels were measured preoperatively in 57 morbidly obese patients (19 men and 38 premenopausal women) and 12 months after vertical banded gastroplasty. In the male group, there was a significant decrease in estradiol and an increase in follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), total testosterone and sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). Among female patients, a significant decrease in estradiol, total and free testosterone and an increase in FSH and SHBG was found. Irregular menses present preoperatively in 5 women were corrected after successful weight loss. In conclusion, altered sex hormonal levels and gynecologic abnormalities associated with morbid obesity are corrected with adequate weight loss following vertical banded gastroplasty.

(1974). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 49, 927. Congenital hypoplasia of depressor anguli oris muscle: a genetically determined condition? The frequency of hypoplasia of the depressor anguli oris muscle was 37 cases among 4 530 consecutive births (8 -2 %). Diagnosis was based on clinical and electromyographic studies. Severe congenital anomalies were detected in 3 of the 37 cases, while another 3 newborns had minor congenital defects. In 17 of the 37 cases there were first-or second-degree relatives with lower lip asymmetry. A minimum of 13 out of the 74 parents of the probands were affected. The high incidence of affection among first-degree relatives of the probands is strong evidence of hereditary factors playing a role in the aetiology of this anomaly.

Microdysgenesis is a microscopic cortical malformation reported to occur with varying incidence in surgical lobectomies from patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). It may act as a substrate for the seizures. Four patients are reported with TLE, hippocampal sclerosis and cortical microdysgenesis which was also characterized by the presence of abnormal myelinated fibres running tangentially in the superficial cortical laminae and closely associated with abnormal clusters of neurones. Similar abnormal cortical fibres have been described in other malformations of cortical development including polymicrogyria and focal cortical dysplasia and it is therefore likely that these fibres represent part of the microdysgenetic malformation not hitherto reported. The possibility is discussed that they may also be of functional significance in terms of influencing local seizure propagation and the secondary cortical neuronal loss observed, predominantly affecting layer II. Studies of calbindin interneuronal populations showed preservation of these cells in the microdysgenetic cortex, when compared with non-malformed temporal lobes, despite an overall reduction in cortical neuronal density. In addition, prominent numbers of neurogliaform calbindin-positive nerve cells were observed in the microdysgenesis cases and the nature of these cells is speculated upon.