Mild Degenerative Changes Research Articles

Mixed glioma and rhabdomyosarcoma in brain of a wild deer.

Tumors of the central nervous system occur in the horse, cow, pig, cat, dog, chicken and laboratory rats and mice, but there are few reports of these tumors in other mammals [2, 8, 91. We found an unusual brain tumor in a wild deer and suggest a new concept for the pathogenesis of tumors that arise in the nervous system and contain muscle. A young adult female white-tailed wild deer was found wandering in a wooded area of Tennessee. She was weak and dazed and died 24 hours later. The deer was necropsied at the Tennessee Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. Tissues were fixed in 10 percent buffered neutral formalin, embedded in paraffin, sectioned at 6 micrometers, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and phosphotungstic acid-hematoxylin (PTAH). Formalin-fixed tissues were processed for electron microscopic study. Lesions were confined to the central nervous system. The frontal lobes of the brain contained a gelatinous mass 3.8 centimeters at its greatest diameter. The tumor was in the midline in the region of the frontal lobes (fig. 1). The upper part of the mass was sharply demarcated, but the neoplasm infiltrated part of the brain below, leaving a rim of uninvolved brain inferiorly. The fixed brain weighed 170 grams and was otherwise normal. The histologic pattern of the tumor correlated with the gross appearance. There were some zones of abrupt demarcation between neoplasm and affected brain, and other regions in which the tumor merged gradually with surrounding normal brain. Mild degenerative changes of neurons and a slight increase in astrocytes were noted in the adjacent compressed brain. At the border of the tumor in the regions abruptly demarcated from normal brain or within 2 to 3 millimeters of normal brain in gradually merging zones, the tumor had a regular population of cells with a delicate neurofibrillary background and small, round nuclei with a stippled pattern of chromatin. In many foci near the borders, these small nuclei were perivascular (fig. 2) and were more densely packed than elsewhere. Proliferation of vascular endothelial cells and focal zones of necrosis occasionally were seen. The more central parts of the tumor also contained small, undifferentiated cells

EFFECT OF THORIUM NITRATE IN MALE ALBINO RATS

Repeated dermal application of thorium nitrate in different concentrations in-duced mild histopathological changes in the skin and testes of experimental rats. Liver and kidney, however, did not show any pathological damage. The mild degenerative changes observed are attributed to the poor absorption of thorium nitrate through intact skin.

Nonunion of the carpal navicular. Modes of treatment.

The indications and methods of treatment for nonunion of the carpal navicular remain varied and controversial. Ninety-eight patients were seen because of symptoms due to a persistent nonunion. Of these, only 27 were sufficiently disabled to require reconstructive surgery: 13 with nonunion of waist fractures and mild radiocarpal degenerative changes underwent bone grafting and radial styloidectomy (ten had good results); seven with nonunion of the proximal third fractures and minimal degenerative changes were treated by bone grafting or excision of the fragment (depending on vascular status) and radial styloidectomy (four had good results, one poor); three with stable fibrous unions but having symptoms due to generative changes were successfully relieved by radial styloidectomy, and four patients required wrist fusion because of severe degenerative changes and pain.

Acute toxicity of rubratoxin B in dogs

The effect of ip administered rubratoxin B on dogs of both sexes and mixed breeding was determined by serum tests, by observation of clinical signs and survival times and by evaluation of gross and microscopic lesions. Glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase, lactic dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase activities and survival time varied in relation to duration of exposure and total dose of mycotoxin administered. Results of the plasma enzyme tests were useful in estimating hepatic cell necrosis. Clinical signs included anorexia followed by dehydration, somnolence, diarrhea and jaundice. Gross pathologic changes frequently observed were subserosal and submucosal hemorrhages in some of the organs of the thoracic and peritoneal cavities, and mottled livers. The severity of the lesions was dependent on the amount of toxin administered. The lesions in animals injected with a nonlethal dose (0.5 mg/kg) of the toxin included bile stasis and early degenerative changes of hepatic cells without renal damage. The changes in the liver and kidneys from a dog injected with a lethal dose (3.0 mg/kg) consisted of extensive hepatic necrosis and mild degenerative changes in renal tubular epithelium. There was no evidence of fatty change within hepatocytes. No lesions were observed in dogs receiving multiple sublethal doses of rubratoxin B.

The Composition of the Organic Component of Human Articular Cartilage

The collagen, mucopolysaccharides, sulphur, non-protein nitrogen, and non-collagenous protein content were determined in the articular cartilage of joints of the lower extremity its sixty patients. The results were analyzed with relation to the ages of the patients, the sites from which the cartilage was taken, and the extent of focal degenerative joint disease. For the entire group of patients, whose ages ranged from ten to ninety years, the average values were as follows: collagen, 56.4 per cent; mucopolysaccharides, 20.3 per cent; and non-collagenous protein, 22.8 per cent. A wide range of values for all components was found in all groups regardless of age, diagnosis, or origin of cartilage. For example, both the highest (81 per cent) and the lowest (43 per cent) values for collagen were found in the group with severe degenerative joint disease. Marked, although less extreme, variations were found in specimens from normal articular cartilage and in those with mild degenerative changes. Such wide variations made satistically valid comparisons virtually impossible. In general, it may be stated that there is no significant variation in the values for organic matrix components between normal articular cartilage and the cartilage surrounding the lesions of degenerative joint disease. There were no significant variations related to the articular surface (hip, knee, ankle, or tarsus) from which the cartilage was obtained. The only significant variations were related to the age of the patient. Significant variations in histochemical staining reactions were observed only in the areas of actual cartilage fibrillation and erosion. These findings tend to confirm the currently popular belief that degenerative joint disease is a focal process, probably related to mechanical stresses, and not to a generalized matrix deficiency in the joint surface involved, although differences may occur it the type of mucopolysaccharides in joints undergoing degenerative changes.

THE EFFECTS OF GASTRIC FREEZING ON VITAMIN B12 ABSORPTION, ACID SECRETION, TISSUE MORPHOLOGY, AND SERUM ENZYMES.

In controlled studies to determine the effect of gastric freezing in patients, the following was found: 1. Microscopically the gastric mucosa showed mild degenerative changes with minimal reactive inflammation and foveolar hyperplasia. No necrosis was seen. 2. Serum amylase, glutamic oxalacetic transaminase, and leucine aminopeptidase did not rise. This suggested that no appreciable injury to the liver or pancreas occurred. 3. Vitamin B12 absorption did not decrease. The apparent increase in absorption that occurred was probably experimental artifact. 4. Studies of gastric acid secretion using the maximum histamine and maximum insulin responses (maximum 30-min. output) suggested that injury to the mucosal nerve supply played a role in the reduction of acid secretion that follows gastric freezing.

STUDIES OF SHOCK PRODUCED BY MUSCLE TRAUMA: II. PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN VARIOUS TISSUES

The following pathological changes were found in the viscera of dogs that died as a result of muscle trauma: (a) Lungs—congestion and patchy consolidation that was not constant or extensive. (b) The mucosa of the upper gastrointestinal tract and descending colon—congestion, haemorrhage, and at times small areas of erosion. (c) Liver—congestion of the sinusoids in dogs that died soon after trauma; in those dying later than three hours after trauma, degeneration of cord cells in the region of the central vein. Animals surviving longer than 18 hr. showed little or no cellular degeneration. (d) Kidneys—congestion of capillary tufts and other small vessels was seen in those dogs dying soonest. Sections from dogs that died three hours or more after trauma showed various degrees of degenerative changes in the tubules. (e) Adrenal cortex—congestion was apparent in animals dying within an hour of trauma. In later deaths, infiltration of leucocytes and degeneration of cells were notable features. Gross haemorrhages were present in dogs that died after five hours. Severe cortical changes were found in two dogs that bled to death accidentally at 8 and [Formula: see text]. after trauma despite a well maintained blood pressure up to the time of death; mild renal degenerative changes were present in both; a liver section obtained from one of these dogs appeared practically normal. (f) Pancreas—little congestion was seen in dogs that died within five hours after trauma but was more evident in dogs that died later and, in this respect, paralleled the gross changes in the adrenal glands.The findings are discussed and it is concluded that absorption of toxic substances from the damaged muscles contributed, along with the secondary effects of oligaemia, to the tissue changes observed.