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Bone mineral content (BMC) assays are widely used in clinical practice. The most common techniques in vivo are computed axial tomography (CT) and single photon ray densitometry (SPA). The two techniques were compared in studies of macerated bone (16 macerated radii of both sexes). The BMC was measured first by SPA that provides information on both the trabecular and the cortical bone tissue. CT densitometry was then performed on the cortical bone in the same sites at the SPA. Bone sections were then taken and the area of the depth of the cortical bone calculated on their radiographic images using a semiautomatic image analyser. The results show that data obtained by SPA correlate better with the CT data (r1 = 0.861) than with the figures for the area of the thickness of the cortical bone (r2 = 0.786). This suggests that the BMC of the radius as measured by SPA may depend more on the density than the thickness of the cortical bone.

The angles involved in the physiological movements of the humero-ulnar joint have been studied by a semiautomatic image analyzer on 50 dried humeri and 50 dried ulnae and on 50 radiographs of normal elbow joints (22 male and 28 female). The angle (A) formed by the diaphyseal axis and the lower humeral epiphysis equals 34 degrees +/- 3.97 (media + s.d.) in dried bones; 35 degrees +/- 6.05 (male) and 35.5 degrees +/- 4.7 (female) in the radiographic images. The angle (B) formed by the trochlear notch axis and the horizontal plane equals 22.5 degrees +/- 5.31 in the dried bones; 28 degrees +/- 5.57 (male) and 25.5 degrees +/- 6.98 (female) in the radiographic images. According to these data the flexor-extension movement of the elbow joint is possible when the humeral angle (A) is less than 45 degrees even if this angle (A) is required to be more than the ulnar one (B).

The abdominal C. T. of 128 patients (45 women and 83 men) aged more than 25, without any history of renal disease, have been analyzed by an evaluation computer. By the measure of the areas of kidney in each C. T. scan, the volume of the whole organ has been calculated. In men the volume resulted to be cm3 167 +/- 84,6 (M. +/- S.D.) for the right kidney and cm3 170 +/- 58 for the left one. In women it was cm3 142 +/- 54,9 for the right kidney and cm3 156 +/- 54,5 for the left one. The volumes of the organs collected into 3 classes according to their dimension, have been compared to the 3 somatic types of the subjects (Mega, Medium, Micro) obtained following the Brian & coll. method. Using a test for a monotonic trend for two ordered variables, no significant association has been demonstrated between the volume of the kidney and the human somatic type.

12 male Sprague-Dawley rats were given chlorimipramine through gastric sound at a daily dose of 150 mg/Kg body weight for two weeks. From the rats, killed at the end of the treatment, were collected lung fragments, some of which were examined by electron microscopy and others by light microscopy, following particular fixation and colouring procedures. The light microscopy revealed that many alveoli contained numerous cells, large and clear, the cytoplasma of which contained vacuoles of different dimensions, for which these cells appeared from " foam cells". Besides, they reacted positively to the method of Baker and were intensely coloured in dark grey, after fixation with osmium tetroxide-natrium iodide. The ultrastructural examination evidentiated two main types of cells: the first comprised large, round cells, classifiable as alveolar macrophages while the second type comprised cells that were classifiable as type II alveolar cells, in which, apart from important mitochondrial modifications, numerous vacuoles of different sizes were detectable. The AA. consider the alterations of the type II alveolar cells as a characteristic morphological aspect of phospholipidosis from chlorimipramine.