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The incidence of faecal stasis and of diverticular disease has been studied in a group of 399 patients with ulcerative colitis. Sixty-one patients had faecal stasis and 23 patients had diverticular disease. Pathological studies demonstrated an increase in the thickness of the inner spiral muscle in colitis patients with faecal stasis. The thickening was not as great as that seen in diverticular disease. Preliminary studies on the motility patterns in patients with faecal stasis show a higher mean activity in the pelvic colon than in normals but not as great as that seen in diverticular disease. Pressure studies in patients with faecal stasis have shown hypotonia in the proximal colon associated with dilatation.The possible significance of these results is discussed. It is suggested that ulcerative colitis may initiate a motility disturbance which leads to muscle thickening similar to that in diverticular disease. Diverticula associated with ulcerative colitis are usually not involved in the mucosal inflammatory process.

In a retrospective study of 399 patients with ulcerative colitis, 27 patients had colitic arthritis, 17 had ankylosing spondylitis, and 20 had clubbing of the fingers. Colitic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis were not related to severity, extent of involvement, or duration of colitis. A significant association between colitic arthropathy and other complications of ulcerative colitis, such as pseudopolyposis, perianal disease, eye lesions, skin eruptions, aphthous ulceration, and liver disease has been demonstrated. The outcome of the first referred attack of colitis in the presence of colitic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis remained uninfluenced. Clubbing of fingers was related to severity, extent of involvement, and length of the history of colitis. A significant association between clubbing of the fingers and carcinoma of the colon, pseudopolyposis, toxic dilatation, and arthropathy has been shown. The frequency of surgical intervention in patients with clubbing was higher but the overall mortality was not significantly different from the patients without clubbing.

Technicon's newly developed platelet AutoCounter utilizes an electro-optical system which detects and counts particles by sensing the scattering of light which occurs when blood cells flow through the illuminated sensing chamber of a micro-optical system. The system utilizes whole blood collected into EDTA. Blood samples, which can be handled at the rate of 40 per hour, are diluted with 2M urea which in addition causes lysis of the erythrocytes. The haemolysate thus obtained is delivered to the particle counter after a two-minute reaction time, the cell count finally being displayed on a continuous chart recorder. An evaluation of this machine has been carried out in the Department of Haematology, the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, on hospital specimens from patients suffering from a wide variety of diseases. The results of this evaluation are presented. Reproducibility studies indicate a coefficient of variation of 4% at any platelet level. The percentage drift per sample ranges from +0.4 to -0.4% of the total count. Carry-over and departures from linearity are statistically significant; however, the magnitude of these deviations is not sufficient to cause concern in routine use. Acceptable agreement is noted between machine counts and the counts obtained by technicians using phase-contrast microscopy with the exception of two anomalous individuals. Discrepant counts were noted in patients with elevation of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and also in patients with disturbance of immunoglobulins. A modification to the sampling probe which eliminates the former problem is described. The AutoCounter described in this paper provides a fast, reliable, and accurate service laboratory platelet counting system.