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Lysozyme has been demonstrated in the elastic fibers of normal human arteries and veins by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique. Preliminary trypsinization of paraffin sections is necessary to unmask the immunoreactive lysozyme.

A patient is described with myeloma without paraproteinaemia or Bence Jones proteinuria in whom the tumour cells have been shown to contain monoclonal immunoglobulin. The use of immunoelectrophoresis and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis has established, apparently for the first time, that the immunoglobulin components are present in the form of intact molecules and free light chains.

Congo Red is an acid-base indicator dye. In free solution the colour and absorption characteristics of Congo Red depend not only on the pH but are also governed by the nature of the solvent environment. In tissue sections stained by Congo Red, alteration of the pH and the use of non-aqueous solvents can effect differential colouring of the tissue components. Stained sections of unmodified and chemically substituted celluloses show that differential red or blue coloration reflects the acidic or basic character of the substrate. In stained tissue sections, secondary protein structure and porosity of the substrate may also influence their colour. The effect of non-aqueous solvents is probably to modify the ionization state of the dye- substrate complex, thus altering the colour of the Congo Red. Such solvents may also change the aggregation or solvation states of the dye, with consequent modification in the colour of tissue components.

Phagocytosis of starch granules in ascitic fluid was sought in guinea-pigs 1 to 10 days after i.p. injection of a suspension of starch powder. Starch phagocytosis occurred in 75.9% of control animals with free peritoneal fluid. It probably represents a nonspecific reaction to the particulate nature of starch granules. Guinea-pigs sensitized to starch by nuchal inoculation of an emulsion of Freund's adjuvant and starch showed no increase in frequency or intensity of ascitic starch phagocytosis beyond that seen in control animals. Since only sensitized animals develop granulomatous peritonitis, ascitic starch phagocytosis is thus not indicative of granulomatous hypersensitivity peritonitis. This experimental model suggests that examination of ascitic fluid is not a reliable clinical investigation to establish a diagnosis of human granulomatous starch peritonitis.

Wedge-shaped lymphoid depletion and sinus distention is described in the pole of an intramammary lymph node. The origin of the lesion appears to be traumatic venous thrombosis. Topographically the lesion differs from spontaneous venous infarction of lymph nodes, and resembles segmented infarction due to small arterial lesions. The usually localised trauma of fine-needle aspiration appears to account for its distinctive microanatomical distribution.

Fibrocystic disease of the breast in middle-aged women characteristically shows focal epithelial lesions of a very varied nature. The functional immunohistochemical changes in such lesions have been little studied. Focal Pregnancy-like Change in the breast has a striking morphological similarity to the secretory breast lobules in pregnancy and in lactation. We show that the epithelial cells in all the lesions of Focal Pregnancy-like Change studied simultaneously express secretory component, Ig A and J chain in their cytoplasm. Additionally these epithelial cells, unlike those in resting breast lobules, contain lysozyme and lactoferrin. All these phenotypic immunohistochemical changes in Focal Pregnancy-like Change resemble the breast lobules of late pregnancy and lactation. Possibly, the very focality of Focal Pregnancy-like Change reflects a peculiar and local sensitivity of 'resting' breast lobules to unidentified hormonal stimulation.

An analysis is presented of the distribution of cases of leukemia and allied disorders occurring in 151 administrative districts from England, Wales, and Scotland during 1984. The age-adjusted rates for certain conditions present an unusual pattern highlighting excessively high and low rates in parts of the country, some of which share contiguous boundaries. In particular, high rates for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are found in rural Yorkshire districts, whereas leukemias and primary polycythemias are much more common in the Midland districts.

Guinea-pigs immunized by nuchal inoculation of starch glove powder emulsified with Freund's complete adjuvant showed increased thickening of the ear erythema and monoculear inflammation after local injection of 0.1 mg starch compared with similarly treated control animals inoculated with saline and Freund's complete adjuvant. The responses in the ear of the immunized animals were most pronounceed 3-4 weeks after immunization and 24-72 h after local challenge. It is suggested that the inflammatory response in the immunized guinea-pig has 2 components: reaction to a primary irritant in the glove powder and delayed hypersensitivity to an unidentified component of the glove powder.

Indirect immunofluorescence with a purified antiserum to human foetal elastin has identified newly synthesized elastin on the membranes of neoplastic epithelial cells in human mammary carcinoma.

Injection of the arterial tree supplying human inguinal (superficial) and mesenteric (deep) lymph nodes was performed using a barium sulphate suspension. Radiography and histological examination showed two distinct types of arterial supply to lymph nodes. The superficial inguinal nodes are generally supplied by a single artery which penetrates the hilum and then radiates outwards to the lymph node pulp. The deep mesenteric lymph nodes, in contrast, are invariably supplied by several separate arteries which penetrate the nodal capsule, enter the trabeculae and run centripetally. These differences reflect the microanatomical differences in structure between deep and superficial lymph nodes. The two types of blood supply may be responsible for the different patterns of ischaemia found in deep and superficial lymph nodes. The findings re-emphasise the heterogeneous character of lymph nodes in man.

Nine cases of superficial gastric carcinoma have been detected with upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in Bristol in the past two years. This contrasted with only six cases found from postoperative gastrectomy specimens examined in the previous eight years. It is often difficult to distinguish a superficial carcinoma from a benign ulcer, and endoscopic diagnosis is effective only if multiple biopsy specimens are taken. Endoscopy should also be repeated and multiple specimens taken until the lesion has healed; even malignant ulcers may heal, and any healed area that is depressed with interrupted mucosal folds should be suspected of malignancy. The endoscopic and histological appearances, the age of the patients, and the clinical behaviour of the disease resembled descriptions of the disease, principally from Japan. Superficial gastric carcinoma is probably under-diagnosed in Britain.

The experiment will search for the K and L X-rays from pp (pd) atoms with a gas target developed from that used to find K-p X-rays. It is planned to use 105 p/sec, during the initial phase of LEAR at any momentum in the range 600–200 MeV/c.

The distribution of fibronectin and laminin was examined by immunohistochemistry in 11 adenoid cystic breast carcinomas, six adenoid cystic carcinomas of mouth and salivary gland, and six cribriform ductal breast carcinomas. Both proteins were present lining cystic lumina and around tumour islands in all the adenoid cystic breast carcinomas and in five of six salivary gland tumours. Abundant laminin and fibronectin were dispersed among adenoid cystic tumour cells arranged in sheets. One adenoid cystic carcinoma from buccal mucosa showed a transition from a cribriform tumour positive for both fibronectin and laminin to a cribriform tumour negative for fibronectin and laminin to undifferentiated carcinoma. Fibronectin and laminin seemed to disappear simultaneously from tumour cell surfaces. Another adenoid cystic carcinoma from buccal mucosa was negative for fibronectin and laminin from the time of initial biopsy. This was the only tumour that gave rise to disseminated metastases, resulting in the death of the patient within two years of surgery. In cribriform invasive ductal breast carcinomas the linings of cystic lumina were always negative for fibronectin and laminin. Varying quantities were present at the tumour boundaries. We suggest that staining for fibronectin and laminin may be a valuable aid to the diagnosis of adenoid cystic carcinomas and that the absence of these proteins may have important prognostic implications.

Intradermal skin tests were performed on 6 patients with histologically proved granulomatous starch peritonitis and on 15 control subjects. All patients with starch peritonitis developed an erythematous reaction at least 5 mm wide between 3 and 8 days after inoculation. Such a skin reaction was not seen at that time in any of the control subjects. The microscopic changes seen in the positive reactions were dense mononuclear perivascular exudates with organized giant cell or epithelioid cell granulomas in 4 patients and loose histiocytic aggregations in a fifth patient. This evidence of cutaneous delayed hypersensitivity suggests that an immunological response underlies granulomatous starch peritonitis and that intradermal skin tests are of value in its diagnosis.

The first two cases of alpha chain disease from Central Africa are reported from Nigeria. Both patients show the classical features of the disease with diffuse involvement of the small bowel and malabsorption. The patients were lost to follow-up but died soon after diagnosis.

Immunohistological localisation of elastin was achieved by means of the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method after preliminary trypsinisation of sections from 48 benign breast biopsies. The procedure allows retrospective examination of routinely formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded breast tissue. In general the immunolocalisation of elastin showed a close microanatomical correlation with the fibres demonstrable in sections from the same blocks by standard elastic-fibre stains. Discrepancies between elastic-fibre stains and elastin immunoreactivity appear to relate to the enhanced avidity of the antibody for immature elastin. In this way sites of recent synthesis of elastin were demonstrated in the inner zone of the periductal elastica, sclerosing adenosis, and in the internal elastic lamina of breast arteries which displayed reduplication of the internal elastic lamina or intimal proliferation.

Sixteen patients with practolol peritonitis are described. Dense peritoneal thickening and adhesions caused small bowel stasis and obstruction with characteristic radiology and histology. The disease was best treated by surgery though complications were frequent and three of 16 patients died. Ocular and skin involvement were common. Fifty four asymptomatic patients who had taken a beta adrenoceptor blocking drug for more than 12 months were studied. Seven were found to have radiological abnormalities of the small bowel. These changes were associated with propranolol, oxprenolol and practolol therapy. It is not known whether they are related to practolol peritonitis.

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SUMMARYThis paper describes an investigation into the successful preservation at room temperature of the bacteriophage H1 ofCorynebacterium ulceransU 103 which was extremely labile when in suspension at 4° C.Cooling at a rate of 1° C./min. showed that the survival decreased logarithmically at temperatures between – 14 and – 45° C. Survival of broth suspensions of the corynebacteriophage were found to increase proportionally with an increase in the rate of cooling though there was a marked drop in survival at rates of approximately 900° C./min. The addition of peptone solutions was found to increase the survival over the range studied, whereas the addition of sucrose solutions had only a slight effect.By avoiding freezing damage by cooling at rates of 450° C./min. in (a) 20% peptone solution, (b) 20% peptone and 10% sucrose, and (c) 20% peptone, 10% sucrose and 2% sodium glutamate, a study was made of the drying stage of the freeze-drying process. On drying at controlled temperatures it was found that there was no damage on rewarming to temperatures below – 21° C. after cooling to – 196° C., but that the survival immediately after drying in the absence of glutamate, showed a logarithmic relationship with the temperature of drying, lower temperatures giving better survival.On storage for a period of 3 months at room temperaturein vacuoand darkness, there was no appreciable loss in survival in the mixtures though suspensions in peptone alone showed a slight decrease. At higher temperatures this decrease in survival could be differentiated into two types of damage, each of which could be influenced by the presence of sucrose or glutamate.We are grateful to Professor H. R. Carne for providing the initial sample of bacteriophage H 1 ofCorynebacterium ulceransU 103, and to Professor R. I. N. Greaves for his interest and encouragement during the course of this investigation.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYTICAL STUDY IS DESCRIBED OF THE CRITICAL STRESS DISTRIBUTIONS DEVELOPED IN SPLITTING TESTS ON CONCRETE SPECIMENS OF VARIOUS SHAPES. ASSUMING LINEAR ELASTIC BEHAVIOR, THE SPLITTING STRESSES FOR THE FOUR FOLLOWING CASES ARE INVESTIGATED FOR CONCENTRATED LINE LOADING: (1) CYLINDER SPECIMENS; (2) CUBE SPECIMENS; (3) BEAM SPECIMENS; AND (4) CUBE SPECIMENS TESTED DIAGONALLY. IT IS DEMONSTRATED THAT SPECIMENS (1), (2) AND (3) HAVE SIMILAR DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF TENSILE STRESS. IN PARTICULAR, THE CUBE SPLITTING TEST FORMS A SUITABLE PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVE TO THE STANDARD CYLINDER SPLITTING TEST TO ASSESS THE TENSILE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE. THE STUDY OF SPECIMEN (2) IS EXTENDED TO INCLUDE THE EFFECTS OF DISTRIBUTED LOADS ON THE STRESS PATTERNS. /AUTHOR/