This prospective study compared pre- to post-retirement changes in physical health among male retirees with changes among age peers who continued to work. The 229 retirees and 409 workers aged 55-73 at follow-up were all participants in the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study. Physical health at baseline and follow-up (three to four years apart) was rated on a four-point scale according to the findings of medical examinations. Although physical health declined generally over time, regression analyses showed no significant difference between eventual retirees and continuing workers on health change, after controlling for age and excluding men who retired due to illness or disability. Among retirees alone, pre- to post-retirement health change was also not significantly associated with several circumstances which purportedly make the retirement transition more stressful, such as mandatory retirement or retirement to a reduced standard of living. The results of this study of physical health, which corroborate those of other studies based on self-reported health measures and mortality data, support the conclusion that the event of retirement does not influence the risk of health deterioration.

The Tris-urea-mercaptoethanol (pH 9) soluble fibrous proteins of hair and stratum corneum have been compared in a number of animals. The 2 tissues show different urea (pH 8.3) and SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic patterns and vary in amino acid composition. Cyanogen bromide cleavage was done on human stratum corneum and hair fibrous proteins and found to give different fragments by electrophoresis. Antibodies to stratum corneum protein did not react with hair protein and vice versa. Although the 2 types of fibrous proteins have the same helical structure as shown by x-ray diffraction analysis, their differences in composition may be important for specific interactions with other macromolecules.

No abstract

are not associated with cafe au lait spots or a family history of von Recklinghausen's disease.2 Report of a Case.\p=m-\A40-year-old woman noted a lesion growing on her finger over a period of one year. The lesion had increased in size over the last six months following the application of an antiwart medication.On physical examination, the third digit of the left hand presented a 6 X 8-mm dome-shaped, pedunculated, nontender, soft nodule with a violaceous hue (Fig 1). The patient had no cafe au lait spots, axillary freckling, diffuse pigmentation of skin, scoliosis, or any other evidence of von Recklinghausen's disease. She denied any family history of neurofibromatosis.The lesion was electrosurgically removed at the base, fixed in neutral-buffered formalin, and embedded in paraffin, and 8 /¿m sections were cut and histochemically stained. Deparaffinized tis¬ sue was immunoperoxidase stained by the avidin-biotin method.On low-power histologie examination, an exophytic, triangular growth consisting of a thin epidermis with a compact horn and few adnexa compressed by an underlying cellular, dermal, spindle cell proliferation (Fig 2) was evident. The spindle cells were confined primarily to the reticular dermis, were not encapsulated, and merged with the surrounding stroma. Groups of cells sur¬ rounded by fibrillar collagen bundles were separated by an edematous matrix and did not appear organized in a fascicular or organoid pattern. Occasional mast cells and mononuclear cells were seen scattered throughout the lesion.Using special stains, a slight increase in mucinous material (alcian blue stain), an abundant collagenous matrix (trichrome and reticulum stain), and additional mast cells (Giemsa stain) were demonstrated. Immunoperoxidase for S100 protein (Dako Corp, Santa Barbara, Calif) stained Schwann cells a deep brown and revealed their parallel orientation to the fibrillar collagen (Fig 3). The diagnosis of a cellular variant of neurofibroma was supported by these special stains.