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• Systemic histiocytosis was found in a patient who presented with chronic, nodular, and ulcerative skin lesions. The patient's hospital course was complicated by persistent fever, thrombocytopenia, severe neutropenia, and coagulation abnormalities. Treatment consisted only of splenectomy and supportive care. Postoperatively, the patient's skin lesions and the fever, pancytopenia, and coagulopathy resolved. Marked proliferation of histologically benign macrophages was observed in dermal, splenic, hepatic, and lymphoid tissues; leukophagocytosis and erythrophagocytosis were clearly demonstrated. This illness is most consistent with cytophagic histiocytic panniculitis, a newly described syndrome.(Arch Dermatol 1985;121:910-913)

Convenient syntheses of 6β-tritiated Δ7-cholestenol and 3α-tritiated Δ7-cholestene-3β,5α-diol are described. It was shown that the conversion of 6β-tritiated Δ7-cholestenol into cholesterol is accompanied by the complete retention of label. It was unambiguously established that the overall reaction leading to the introduction of the double bond in the 5,6-position in cholesterol occurs via a cis-elimination involving the 5α- and 6α-hydrogen atoms and that during this process the 6β-hydrogen atom remains completely undisturbed. Metabolic studies with 3α-tritiated Δ7-cholestene-3β,5α-diol revealed that under anaerobic conditions the compound is not converted into cholesterol. This observation, coupled with the previous work of Slaytor & Bloch (1965), is interpreted to exclude a hydroxylation–dehydration mechanism for the origin of the 5,6-double bond in cholesterol. It was also shown that under aerobic conditions 3α-tritiated Δ7-cholestene-3β,5α-diol is efficiently converted into cholesterol and that this conversion occurs through the intermediacy of 7-dehydrocholesterol. Cumulative experimental evidence presented in this paper and elsewhere is used to suggest that the 5,6-double bond in cholesterol originates through an oxygen-dependent dehydrogenation process and a hypothetical mechanism for this and related reactions is outlined.

Successful scientific investigation has thrived with the motto "divide and conquer." Only by dividing and subdividing major problems into manageable parts has it been possible to obtain definitive data which, when interpreted, could be resynthesized to answer the original question. Overwhelming testimony provided by the history of science has affirmed this fundamental technique, but at the same time there has arisen a criticism broadly recognized as a limitation of general discovery which is apparantly the product of the classic strategy. We need only recall the trenchant analysis of Slawkenbergius' treatise on noses to sense the caricature of specialization in the public mind. The basic issue, then, is not whether specialization has been or will continue to be necessary to the advance of scientific knowledge but, rather, whether there is some feature implicit in the system which has been detrimental to the greater good. SPECIALIZATION LEADS TO GENERALIZATION Whitehead has stated,

• Complications with thrombolytic therapy have be shown to occur no more frequently than with conventio[ill] anticoagulant therapy. Hemorrhagic complications and al[ill] gic skin reactions are the most frequently encountered [ill] verse effects. The vast majority of the associated bleed[ill] complications have been related to invasive procedure [ill] monitoring techniques. The administration of systemic st[ill] tokinase was complicated In one case by development progressive abdominal pain and hypotension necessitating emergency exploratory laparotomy. A ruptured subcaps[ill] hematoma of the left lobe of the liver was found and succe[ill] fully repaired. This case of visceral hemorrhage complica[ill] streptokinase therapy was not related to previous abdomi[ill] trauma or invasive procedure.(Arch Intern Med 1984;144:2084-2085)