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The authors report a single case of primary soft tissue CD30+ non anaplastic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The clinical, histological and immunohistochemical features of this peculiar lymphoma type are discussed. Within extranodal lymphomas, a primary soft tissue involvement is rare and the literature lacks exhaustive data on the clinical behaviour of these malignancies. In our case, the prognosis appeared more closely related to the clinical stage of the disease than to histology.

A 4-year-old boy with recurrent infections and his clinically healthy father showed a severe, isolated defect in bactericidal activity of peripheral neutrophil leukocytes (the mother and the only sister were normal). Lymph nodes, spleen and liver of the child presented a massive infiltration by macrophages. Such infiltration and the segmentary albinism of the hair resemble traits of the Chediak-Higashi syndrome, but some of the most relevant traits of this syndrome are absent, since all other neutrophil functions were normal in our patient.

A case of large cell lymphoma presenting with hemophagocytic syndrome is reported. The clinicopathological findings suggested a diagnosis of malignant histiocytosis, but on the basis of immunohistological studies Ki-l lymphoma was diagnosed. Neoplastic cells expressed activation antigens such as HLA-DR, IL 2R, T10 and Ki-l, and showed high proliferative activity, but were devoid of T and B cell markers. The high percentage of reactive macrophages found in the bone marrow and lymph node probably reflected the release of lymphokines by the tumor population. The patient was treated with aggressive chemotherapy and is in complete remission at 8 months from diagnosis.

Adriamycin cardiotoxicity was morphologically evaluated in mice treated iv ten times at three dose levels which were equal to fixed fractions of the LD50. Good correlation between the degenerative heart lesions, scored according to a nonparametric scoring system, and the doses was found and allowed calculation of a median cumulative cardiotoxic dose of 36.4 mg/kg of body weight (121.5 mg/m2). The method is suitable for quantitative screening of the potential cardiotoxicity of new anthracycline analogs under standardized conditions.

Summary Up to 12 days the cultures were composed in prevalence of bi- and multinucleated Gaucher's cells, intermixed with cells of lymphomonocytic type. At 22 days Gaucher's cells were less numerous and at 35 days of culture most cells were fibroblast-like. Histochemical staining for acid phosphatase activity revealed variation in the appearance of the cytoplasmic distribution of the enzyme, which was granular or diffuse in positive cells, with intermediate stages. Typical Gaucher's cells negative for enzyme activity were also seen. The results indicated that in vivo environmental conditions are essential for formation of Gaucher's cells and support the hypothesis of cerebroside accumulation by phagocytic activity. They further indicated that the increased serum level of acid phosphatase is due to ‘ spillage’ from tissue deposits and therefore has no primary significance in the pathogenesis of the disease.