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Forty cases of upper gastrointestinal bleeding were studied. Twenty-three patients had shock and active bleeding (3 spurting, 12 oozing and 2 a clot with oozing) or stigmata of recent hemorrhage (4 with a clot and 2 with a visible vessel). Nineteen of these were submitted to endoscopic injection. In 4 cases with multiple acute hemorrhagic lesions and shock, and in 17 patients with stigmata of recent bleeding without shock, the technique was not carried out. None of the patients had a rebleed. One patient was submitted to surgery 24 hours after injection for a large acute gastric ulcer in the process of perforating, and died of pulmonary embolism 4 days later. No technique-related complications were observed. We believe endoscopic injection treatment might be the technique of choice in patients with shock and active bleeding or stigmata of recent hemorrhage of the upper gastrointestinal tract.

Four members of a family were affected with lattice dystrophy of the cornea. One of them showed recurrence of the disease in the corneal graft in one eye 9 years after a keratoplasty, and a very advanced stage of the disease in the fellow eye. Therefore a keratoplasty was done in this eye. The corneal button was thoroughly investigated by means of histochemistry, electron microscopy and X-ray electron microanalysis. Two young members of the family showing early signs of the disease were followed up for 2 years. It has been possible to observe the evolution of their lesions. Histopathological examinations revealed the presence of two different types of abnormal deposits under the epithelium and in the stroma. X-ray electron microanalysis of the stromal deposits revealed a substantial increase in sulphur content.

A sensitive and specific immunoenzyme assay (ELISA) for quantitation of total and cross-reactive idiotype-bearing (CRI) anti-ABA antibodies is described. Total anti-ABA antibodies are directly assessed in ABA-BGG coated polyvinyl wells with enzyme-labelled rabbit anti-mouse immunoglobulins. By interpolation on a standard curve absorbance values give the concentration of anti-ABA antibodies with a sensitivity of 30 ng/ml. CRI+ antibodies are quantitated by inhibition of enzyme-labelled monoclonal CRI+ antibody binding to solid-phase coated rabbit anti-CRI immunoglobulins. The concentration of CRI+ antibodies, evaluated by interpolation on a standard inhibition curve, can be measured at the level of 10 ng/ml. This highly sensitive, rapid, specific and reproducible assay is easily used, with minor modifications, to detect specific antibodies in any idiotype system.