Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E W Benbow.
The necropsy findings in an elderly woman, who had been treated with methyldopa and who had died during treatment for accidental hypothermia, showed acute periductal inflammation of obviously similar duration in an entopic pancreas in the wall of the jejunum and in the ectopic pancreas. This supports the hypothesis that attempted drug detoxification by pancreatic tissue can cause pancreatitis.
Using biotinylated Arachis hypogaea agglutinin (AHA) or peanut lectin (PNA) and an avidin-peroxidase procedure, the various stages of spermatid development were visualised with great clarity; a light haematoxylin counterstain permitted the easy recognition of spermatogenic cells in the same section. This method is particularly useful in the interpretation of poorly fixed material and may be helpful in studies of cyclical maturation of spermatozoa, irrespective of whether the material is obtained at biopsy or necropsy.
Lymphocytes appear as a diffuse infiltrate within the epicardium in the second trimester of intrauterine life, and can be found there throughout adult life. Aggregates are found in some individuals, and are strongly associated with the presence of old myocardial infarction.
The Chiari network is an embryologic remnant that is said to be present in only 1.5-3% of adults. It is rarely of clinical importance but may, very infrequently, be the site of thrombosis. The authors describe a patient in whom a massive right atrial thrombus formed on a Chiari network, leading to intermittent tricuspid obstruction. The thrombus had formed after the use of a Hickman catheter for the administration of cytotoxic chemotherapy. They can find no previously recorded examples of sufficient thrombus forming on a Chiari network to threaten life by obstructing the flow of blood through the heart.
Yellow or brown granules of chromolipid, often called Hamazaki-Wesenberg bodies, have previously been described in the sinuses of lymph nodes. They have been seen in normal nodes and nodes showing non-specific reactive changes; particular interest has been shown in a suggested association with sarcoidosis. We describe two patients, both with primary biliary cirrhosis, in whom the accumulation of large numbers of such bodies in the sinuses of lymph nodes of the porta hepatis led to a prominent lymphadenopathy.
A case of disseminated zygomycosis is described, in which myocardial infarction rather than coincident coronary or heart disease was seen at necropsy. As zygomycosis is an opportunistic fungal infection, which tends to invade blood vessels, thereby causing thrombosis and infarction, it is surprising that cardiac disease is unusual and that premortem evidence of such disease has only rarely been reported.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Zygomycosis is not often diagnosed in the United Kingdom, and so the possible importance of the findings in a patient with disseminated zygomycosis who had been treated with chemotherapy for erythroleukaemia was not appreciated until histological examination of specimens obtained at necropsy provided a presumptive diagnosis. No attempt had therefore been made to identify the organism by culture, and lectin binding methods were used to try to compensate for this. The characteristics of the hyphae on staining with lectins were similar to those previously shown in Rhizopus oryzae and were unlike those of a wide range of other hyphal fungi. Although definite speciation of the fungus was not achieved, these findings confirm that this was a case of zygomycosis and would seem to represent the first such reported confirmation in the absence of culture.
This report is concerned with a cell surface protease which may be important for cell migration. We investigated the molecular recognition of this protease on pancreatic carcinoma cells by proteins (a) extractable from the cells of normal pancreas, and (b) present in normal serum. We then compared these data with results obtained from studies on lung carcinoma cells.