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Gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) secondary to peptic ulcer disease requiring therapeutic intervention remains a common problem. The incidence of Helicobacter pylori infection in this cohort has not been well defined. Pneumatic dilatation (PD) has been proposed as first-line therapy before surgical intervention. If H pylori infection in patients with GOO is infrequent, PD may not offer permanent control without the need for longterm antacid therapy.The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence of H pylori infection and surgical outcomes in patients undergoing resection for GOO. The records of all patients having resection (vagotomy and antrectomy) for benign disease from 1993 to 1998 for GOO at the University of Tennessee affiliated hospitals were reviewed retrospectively. Smoking history, NSAID use, weight loss, previous ulcer treatment, previous treatment for H pylori, and previous attempts at PD were among the factors examined. H pylori infection was documented by Steiner stain from either preoperative biopsy or, in most patients, final surgical specimens. Surgical complications and patient satisfaction were ascertained from inpatient records, postoperative clinical notes, and, where possible, followup telephone surveys.Twenty-four patients underwent surgical resection during the study period. There were 16 men and 8 women, with a mean age of 61 years (range 40 to 87 years). Weight loss was documented in 58% and averaged 27 lb. Five of 24 patients had previous attempts at PD, 3 of whom were H pylori negative. All five had further weight loss after these failed attempts. Of the 24 patients reviewed, only 8 (33%) were H pylori positive. There were no procedure-related deaths. Longterm clinical followup was possible in 16 of 24 patients, and all but one demonstrated dramatic clinical improvement by Visick score.We conclude the following: 1) In this cohort, H pylori infection was present in a minority; 2) previous attempts at PD were unsuccessful, which may be related to the H pylori-negative status of the patients; 3) mortality related to the operation was zero; and 4) patient satisfaction was positive by the Visick scale. Patients with H pylori-negative GOO resulting from peptic ulcer disease should be strongly considered for an early, definitive, acid-reducing surgical procedure.

Trans effects at the sn-glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase locus (Gpdh) of Drosophila melanogaster give rise to an increase in GPDH activity and mRNA from the wild-type allele in heterozygotes with some low-activity alleles. Either the low-activity alleles that induce the effect have a defective P-element inserted between the promoter and a downstream intronic enhancer element or the promoter region is deleted. The trans effect is pairing dependent, characteristic of transvection at some other loci. The defective P-elements that mediate transvection are located between the promoter and at least up to 6 bp downstream of the transcription start site. Transvection at Gpdh appears similar to the "enhancer action in trans" mode at the yellow locus.

THREE methods are available for the genetic analysis of continuous variables in human populations. One is the biometrical approach1 which, in addition to partitioning the phenotypic variance into genetic and environmental components, has been used to reveal sex linkage2 and provide estimates of the number of effective factors3. Second, genetic markers can be studied for evidence of pleiotropic effects4, and third, linkages between polygenic factors and segregating genetic markers can be sought5,6. It is not always possible to distinguish between linkage and pleiotropy, so the second and third methods need similar data and thus go together.

SummaryAn account is given of the patterns of pre-marital, marital, and post-marital movement and age of marriage according to social class among the present inhabitants of a group of Oxfordshire villages.

Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was stained in liver tissue in 71% of 496 cases of cirrhosis with and without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Chinese coming to necropsy in Hong Kong from 1963-1976. Male cases numbered 417; HBsAg was positive in 83% of those in which HCC was combined with cirrhosis and in 62% of those with cirrhosis alone. Of 39 additional male cases of HCC without cirrhosis, 38% were HBsAg+. Similar proportions were recorded in the famale cases. This progression suggests a cumulative carcinogenic effect of persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) fully expressed in the presence of cirrhosis. The approximate risk factors for males in Hong Kong who are HBsAg+ at the time of death, compared with HBsAg- males, are 6:1 for HCC alone, 16:1 for cirrhosis alone and 50:1 for HCC combined with cirrhosis. The frequency of HBsAg+ tests is much higher in Hong Kong than in the United Kingdom, and cirrhosis is calculated to be 2.8 times and HCC 11 times commoner. The high incidence of HCC in Hong Kong is not attributable solely to the high incidence of cirrhosis, but can be related to the high incidence of cirrhosis accompanied by persistent HBV.

Serum AFP levels were measured by radio-immunoassay in rats at various periods after ligation and section of the common bile duct and after sham-ligation. Transient elevations of serum AFP reaching statistically significant levels occurred at 3 to 10 days, 17 days and 28 days after ligation of the common bile duct but not in sham-operated rats. The peak elevations of serum AFP followed waves of mitosis in both the ductular cells and the hepatocytes as measured by autoradiography. Proliferation of hepatocytes, however, remained minor when compared to ductular cell multiplication. Ultra-structural and histochemical studies of the liver clearly distinguished ductular (oval) cells from hepatocytes and provided no evidence of transition from ductular cells to hepatocytes. Our findings suggest that ductular cell proliferation in the rat induced by ligation of the common bile duct may produce elevations in the serum AFP.

Selection in both constant and fluctuating temperature environments for a constant bristle number in Drosophila melanogaster resulted in the maintenance of that number and in a decrease of both genetic and environmental variance. Although mean bristle number in the control lines increased over the early-generations there was a significant net decrease. Phenotypic variance decreased significantly, especially in later generations. In both control lines and in the line selected at 20–29° C. there was a significant decrease in asymmetry of bristle number. There was also a decrease in environmental variance in these three lines. Transplant experiments showed that when the lines were cultured in alien environments phenotypic variance tended to increase in the fluctuating and decrease in the constant temperature environment. However at generation 39, the phenotypic variance of lines selected in the fluctuating environment increased when samples of the lines were cultured in the constant temperature environment. The results indicate that stabilising selection can be effective in both fluctuating and constant temperature environments.

SummaryA study has been made in a group of rural Oxfordshire villages of levels of similarity between husbands and wives for IQ, personality and some anthropometric characteristics. Significant levels of assortative marriage have been found in both verbal and performance IQ, personality ‘inconsistency’, stature, weight and some other bodily dimensions. Their nature has been analysed by time of marriage, birthplace and social class, all of which appear to have marked effects. On the other hand, length of courtship and distance apart of the partners' residences at marriage seem to be more or less inconsequential.

Forty-six Chinese patients with primary gastrointestinal lymphoma were analyzed. The most common presentations were with abdominal pain, bleeding or a palpable mass. Only one case resembled the pattern of the so-called "Mediterranean lymphoma." The most common primary sites were the stomach and the ileum. One case of colonic lymphoma was associated with schistosomiasis but was probably not etiologically related. The pattern of primary gastrointestinal lymphoma in Chinese corresponds in general to the pattern observed in western countries.

Two populations of Drosophila melanogaster were exposed to disruptive selection for sternopleural bristle number. There was 25 per cent, gene flow between the halves of the populations selected for high bristle number and the halves selected for low bristle number. In one population the migrant males were selected in the same direction as the flies in the recipient half (D+) and in the other population the migrants were selected in the opposite direction to the flies in the recipient half (D−). Both populations rapidly showed divergence between their halves and for the first three generations the divergences were very similar. The D+ population eventually attained a greater divergence than the D− population. The D− population maintained a cryptic sex-linked polymorphism. The results are compared to those of Millicent and Thoday (1961) and discussed in relation to the effects of selective migration and disruptive selection. It is concluded that divergence under sufficiently intense disruptive selection is possible even when the migration is much less favourable to divergence than it would be under random mating.

An analysis was made of birth incidence rates of anencephaly, spina bifida, hydrocephalus, and Down9s syndrome in Rochester, Minnesota, from 1935 through 1971. No unusual monthly or seasonal cycle or pattern was found for neural-tube defects, but the rates were higher among females. There was a male predominance for Down9s syndrome. The incidence rates of spina bifida and hydrocephalus increased significantly in 1944, corresponding to the occurrence of a rubeola epidemic; if there is an association, one might expect rubeola vaccination to influence future incidence rates of these anomalies. There was no apparent time relationship of the incidence rates of neural-tube defects to reports of potato blight in this area.