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In the present study of 241 patients submitted for gallbladder and biliary tract surgery, it is found that choledocholithiasis in cases in Singapore presents with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. It is essential that the less common clinical presentations should be recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present necropsy study shows an oriental pattern of gallstone disease in Singapore, namely, a relatively low overall frequency, an equal involvement of both sexes, a high proportion of pigment stones, and the common occurrence of choledocholithiasis associated with pyogenic cholangitis. There is a close association between opium addiction and cholelithiasis in the adult male Chinese in Singapore, and the long-term abuse of opium may be an important aetiological factor in the pathogenesis of oriental cholelithiasis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on research that examined the growth capacity of the cellular components of young mouse incisors and attempted to determine their migration rate. The author were interested in this examination due the fact that rodent incisors undergo continuous growth. The findings indicated that the average daily eruption rate of the incisor correlated with the migration rate of ameloblasts.

The degradation of intramuscularly injected autogenic and xenogenic red blood cells are studied with electron microscopy and immunoferritin technique. Autogenic red blood cells are phagocytosed and completely degradated by macrophages within the draining lymph node in a relatively short time. Phagocytosis and initial degradation of xenogeneic red blood cells by macrophages in the draining lymph node are similar; however, portions of the degradation products persist in macrophages as characteristic myelinic-like figures. After 4 days, identical figures appear in large numbers in the adjacent lymphocytes within membrane-bound vacuoles. With the conjugated ferritin antibody technique, these myelinic-like figures are shown to contain antigens of the xenogeneic red blood cells. Subsequently, lymphocytes containing the inclusions are found in the peripheral blood, the marginal zone of the spleen, other lymph nodes, and the bone marrow. As in the draining lymph node the number of plasma cells increases in these organs in areas adjacent to lymphocytes with the inclusions. In a parallel study, uncoated polystyrene spheres injected intramuscularly accumulate and remain localized in macrophages of the draining lymph node. When coated with xenogeneic hemoglobin and membranes, these spheres appear in lymphocytes of the draining lymph node and subsequently in lymphocytes of the blood and spleen.

In the present study of 241 patients submitted for gallbladder and biliary tract surgery, it is found that choledocholithiasis in cases in Singapore presents with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. It is essential that the less common clinical presentations should be recognized.

The present necropsy study shows an oriental pattern of gallstone disease in Singapore, namely, a relatively low overall frequency, an equal involvement of both sexes, a high proportion of pigment stones, and the common occurrence of choledocholithiasis associated with pyogenic cholangitis. There is a close association between opium addiction and cholelithiasis in the adult male Chinese in Singapore, and the long-term abuse of opium may be an important aetiological factor in the pathogenesis of oriental cholelithiasis.