The 12 patients less than 35 years of age treated for squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity at the American Oncologic Hospital between 1954-1979 are examined. Group A (eight patients) had involvement of the tongue; Group B (4 patients) had carcinoma of other oral sites. Mean "T" stage for Group A and Group B was 1 and 1.5, respectively. Treatment was surgical in the majority of cases. Seventy-one percent of Group A and 25% of Group B developed metastatic disease to the neck. The 2-year survival rate was 57% (A) and 75% (B)--75% combined. The collective results of this and other studies suggest lower control rates than those reported for older patients with similar initial presentations. The implications of this observation are discussed in relation to the management of the younger patient with squamous carcinoma of the oral cavity.

Epidermoid cancer of the pancreas is a rare variety of this malignancy. A case is presented. It has a characteristic angiographic appearance. Though in the past it has had a prognosis similar to the more common adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, a chemotherapeutic agent effective against epidermoid tumors at other sites has been effective in a case reported in the recent cancer treatment literature.

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Six patients underwent CT-guided percutaneous pharyngeal or laryngeal biopsies. A retromandibular approach was used in five of these patients. Accurate cytologic information was obtained in all six cases, and no complications were encountered. This technique can be helpful in certain clinical settings.

Paired fed and fasted rats were subjected to the standard shock procedure consisting of a combination of tail bleeding and heart puncture with an intervening recovery period of 90 minutes. Mortality rates in the two groups were similar but the survival times were shortened in the fasted group. Following tail bleeding all animals mobilized glucose into the blood stream and developed severe hyperglycemia. In those individuals in either group which ultimately died, the blood sugar levels were further reduced following heart puncture; the rates of glucose loss were inversely proportional to survival time; the results were terminal hypoglycemias and near exhaustion of liver glycogen. In contrast, the survivors in either group, examined 4 hours after heart puncture, were found to be hyperglycemic and engaged in glycogen neogenesis. It is concluded that the ultimate death or survival of an animal in hemorrhagic shock is independent of its initial glucose reserves, but seems somehow to be related to its ability to maintain itself in a hyperglycemic state.

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Some studies were made of the influence of dietary molybdenum on intestinal alkaline phosphatase activity. It was observed that after one week on the experimental regimen 5 rats receiving 1200 p.p.m. molybdenum had significantly less (P< 0.01) intestinal phosphatase activity than 5 controls. Control and toxic values were 16.58 t 1.64 and 4.46 t 0.73 pM phosphate released/30'/mg protein respectively. Because of this rapid and pronounced effect, the influence of sodium molybdate on the intestinal phosphatase assay system was tried. Molybdate concentrations up to M had no influence on a semi-purified preparation of intestinal phosphatase. At 31 molybdate, a 20% inhibition of activity was observed. This is in agreement with experiments on liver preparations( 10) and suggests that the decrease in activity observed in toxicity is probably a reflection of altered synthesis of the enzyme rather than a direct influence of the mineral on the enzyme assay system.Summary. 1. High levels of dietary molybdenum did not alter ability of rat to acetylate p-aminobenzoic acid or to conjugate benzoic acid with glycine. 2. A depression of food intake and growth was evident within 24 hours after addition of 0.12% molybdenum to the 'diet. 3. Liver alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly increased in mulybdenum-toxic rats whereas the activities of the kidney and intestinal alkaline phosphatases were significantly reduced.