Mosapride citrate increased gastric motility and emptying without influencing autonomic nervous activity, suggesting that it may be very useful for elderly patients or patients with autonomic imbalance.

It was concluded that hemodynamics should be carefully monitored during pneumoperitoneum, and that the abdominal wall-lifting approach in laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a method worthy of consideration for elderly patients or those with cardiopulmonary complications.

We adopted an automated method for measuring guanase in donor blood and examined the incidence of posttransfusional non-A, non-B hepatitis when donor blood with high guanase activities was excluded. Sixty-seven (2.4%) of 2,826 units were excluded from use in transfusion because they had guanase activities above 1.71 units per liter. Of 112 recipients, 8 (7%) developed posttransfusional non-A, non-B hepatitis. The incidence of posttransfusional non-A, non-B hepatitis was 17% before adoption of the guanase screening test and 7% after its adoption. Thus, the incidence of posttransfusional non-A, non-B hepatitis was significantly decreased after adoption of this screening test. This study shows that, for prevention of posttransfusional non-A, non-B hepatitis, it is important to screen donor blood for guanase activity and discard blood with high activities.

The value of ERCP in children is demonstrated on 3 cases. By using a usual duodenofiberscope (JF-B2), in 2 cases under general anesthesia and in one case after premedication with 1 ml Buscopan i.m., a similar technique is used as in adults. In congenital choledochal cyst only ERCP allowed the exact judgement of the distal part of the common bile duct and its relation to the pancreatic duct. Therefore, an exact preoperative diagnosis can be established. When duodenofiberscope will be more improved ERCP will also be possible in the newborn infant. Than the differential diagnosis of congenital biliary atresia, other congenital failures in infants causing jaundice and hepatitis in infant will be established endoscopically.

Summary The axon degeneration following cortical ablation of areas 4 and 6 of the cat has been traced in serial sections impregnated by the Nauta‐Gygax method. The results obtained are as follows: 1. The motor cortex projects ipsilaterally to the caudate nucleus, the putamen, the claustrum, the amygdaloid complex, the thalamic nuclei, the subthalamic nucleus, the zona incerta, the field of Forel, the substantia nigra, the red nucleus, the central gray, and to the superior and inferior colliculi. In addition to ipsilateral projections, the motor cortex has a few projections to the contralateral subcortical centers, that is the caudate nucleus, the putamen, the claustrum, the ventral thalamic nucleus, the red nucleus, the central gray and the suparior colliculus. 2. Practically no fibers from the motor cortex reach the motor nuclei of the cranial nerves except for the nucleus ambiguus and the nucleus of the accessory nerve, both of which appear to receive only a very few fibers. On the contrary, the motor cortex projects to some sensory nuclei of the cranial nerves such as the main sensory and spinal nuclei of the trigeminal nerve, the lateral and inferior vestibular nuclei and the nucleus of the solitary tract. 3. The motor cortex sends fibers profusely to the reticular formation and the nuclei pontis, and to a lesser degree to the gracile and cuneate nuclei. 4. The corticospinal tract is composed of the crossed and uncrossed lateral pyramidal tracts, and the crossed and uncrossed ventral pyramidal tracts. The crossed lateral pyramidal tract can be traced as far as the caudal end of the spinal cord, while the uncrossed terminates at the level of the third lumbar segment. The uncrossed anterior pyramidal tract reaches the levels from the third cervical to the second thoracic segment, but the crossed ends at the level of the third cervical segment. 5. The corticospinal tract sends fibers to the dorsal horn, the nucleus dorsalis, the intermediate zone and the lateral horn, but sends scarcely any fibers to the ventral horn and the substantia gelatinosa. 6. The corticobulbar and corticospinal tracts contain more numerous ipsilateral fibers than is generally thought. Moreover, it should be mentioned that very few crossed fibers appear to recross the midline and end in the dorsal column nuclei and the dorsal horn of the operated side. 7. The projection fibers from the motor cortex are generally classified into the pyramidal and the cortical extrapyramidal tracts. However, it is regarded as impossible to distinguish morphologically between these tracts. This work was aided by grants from the Ministry of Education for Scientific Rcsearch, for which the authors wish here to express their deepest thanks.