Seven young patients ranging in age from 8 to 19 years had surgically removed meningeal neoplasms with a peculiar myxoid-chordoid pattern. The tumors were surrounded by massive polyclonal lymphoplasmacellular infiltrates with follicles and germinal centers. The patients preoperatively manifested iron-resistant hypochromic microcytic anemia, and one of them had dysgammaglobulinemia and stunted growth. After the masses were removed, the blood picture of the patients normalized, and the adolescent with retarded somatic development resumed normal growth, but two patients developed local recurrence with identical histology and again became anemic. It appears that the peritumoral lymphoplasmacellular infiltrates, which in these instances may be regarded as reactive rather than primary cell proliferations, nevertheless brought about the type of systemic manifestations known as the Castleman syndrome, characteristically seen in patients with angiofollicular lymphoid hyperplasia (hamartoma) of soft tissues, or Castleman's tumor. In one of our patients the inflammatory infiltrate extended far into the surroundings of the meningioma, resulting in the erroneous initial diagnosis of "encephalitis" from a needle biopsy of the brain near the tumor.

We conclude that the magnitude of the pubertal growth spurt is related to HbA1c levels in both sexes, but it is reduced only in girls. This sexual dimorphism cannot be explained by differences in IGF-I levels and may relate to the bone age advance at the onset of puberty in the girls.

This manuscript reports the application of the selective-withdrawal coating technique to the microencapsulation of insulin-producing pancreatic islets within thin poly(ethylene glycol) coatings. These polymer coatings permit the islets to respond to changes in glucose concentration by producing insulin with a dose-response profile that is substantially similar to that of unencapsulated islets. Furthermore, the hydrogel capsules exclude the large molecules of the immune system. These results suggest that the microencapsulation technique-which combines droplet formation from a flow of two immiscible fluids with polymerization chemistries-has the characteristics required for the transplantation of islets for the treatment of Type I diabetes.

\s=b\We report the case of a 13-year-old boy who was known to have Fanconi's anemia for five years. For treatment of this condition he was given androgens and corticosteroids. Two months before his death, severe varicella developed complicated by pneumonia, jaundice, and prolonged fever; all of which resolved during a five-week hospitalization. Three weeks later he died of Clostridium septicum sepsis caused by necrotizing enterocolitis. At autopsy he was found to have multiple hepatocellular neoplasms. A striking feature of the neoplasms was cholestasis. The liver also showed peliosis hepatis. The association of the use of certain androgenic steroids with hepatic neoplasms histologically resembling hepatocarcinomas, but characterized by lack of metastases and apparent reversibility, suggests the desirability of a new nomenclature for these hepatocellular lesions.

Injection of Lispro insulin with meals produces more physiological insulin patterns, better glucose control, and improved leptin and ghrelin regulation than R+N. More closely mimicking normal insulin, leptin, and ghrelin responses to meals with fast-acting insulin may have implications for body weight regulation in T1DM.