Remuneration of armed Forces medical services.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J C Watts.
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Laboratory procedures used to establish the diagnosis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia were evaluated using an experimental murine model. Touch preparations and suspension smears were prepared from lung tissue know to contain Pneumocystis cysts. These preparations were stained by a variety of methods known to demonstrate either cyst forms or sporozoites and trophozoites. Suspension smears proved to be superior to touch preparations in terms of cyst content and homogeneity of staining. Also, methods that stain cyst forms were superior to those that stain sporozoites and trophozoites for location and identification of organisms. The authors believe that suspension smears prepared from lung tissue and stained with toluidine blue O should be examined initially as a rapid screening method for Pneumocystis cysts. When the results of this initial screen are negative or inconclusive, additional suspension smears stainded by the modified Gomori methenamine silver nitrate method should be examined, pending availability of histologic sections.
The histopathological and immunofluorescent findings in tissues within and surrounding artificially created subcutaneous tissue cavities infected with Neisseria gonorrhoeae for 1 to 30 days were studied in mice and guinea pigs. Findings in the tissue cavities of the animal models were similar to the findings of disseminated gonococcal infection in humans. These similarities included an intense persistent polymorphonuclear leukocytic response with tissue necrosis, hemorrhage into the early lesion, a perivascular leukocytic response in adjacent tissue, difficulty in detecting large numbers of discrete morphologically typical gonococci by the tissue Gram stain and direct fluorescent antibody techniques, a decrease in the number of identifiable gonococci with duration of the infection, and moderate amounts of extracellular and intracellular immunofluorescent gonococcal debris. Studies into the pathogenesis of the animal infections may enhance our understanding of the pathogenic mechanism (s) associated with gonococcal infection in humans.
Pulmonary infection with Pneumocystis carinii was detected in two aged owl monkeys (Aotus trivirgatus) and two young chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). The clinical histories of the owl monkeys were similar and included progressive weight loss, anorexia, failure to thrive, and death. One of the owl monkeys had no concurrent disease, whereas the other had been experimentally inoculated with Treponema pallidum 44 months before death. In both chimpanzees, an underlying myeloproliferative malignant neoplasm was associated with Pneumocystis infection. Pneumocystis organisms were found in alveolar spaces and alveolar lining cells by light and electron microscopy. Pathologic features of these untreated cases and a case in a chimpanzee treated with pentamidine isethionate were similar to those described in humans. To our knowledge, this is the first report of pulmonary pneumocystosis associated with death in nonhuman primates.
In a case of secondary syphilis with gastric involvement, the clinical history and roentgenographic and gastroscopic examiniations initially suggested an infiltrative malignant neoplasm. However, macroscopic and histologic examination of the partial gastrectomy specimen demonstrated an erosive, inflammatory lesion. Subsequently, numerous Treponema pallida were demonstrated in formalin-fixed eroded gastric mucosa by silver impregnation and fluorescent antibody technics. Although the true incidence of syphilitic gastritis is unknown, it may occur commonly during the secondary stage of syphilis and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of diffuse erosive gastritides and infiltrative lesions of the stomach.
Thirty-three of 85 patients undergoing marrow transplantation between 1969 and 1973 developed interstitial pneumonia; 23 died. The clinical syndrome consisted of tachypnea, cough, fever, rales, and hypoxemia; the radiologic findings were variable. The development of interstitial pneumonia was significantly associated with graft-versus-host disease and allogenic grafting; patients with isogenic grafts were relatively spared. The increased attack rate between 1969-71 (20%) and 1972-73 (49%) was not fully explained by improved long-term survival, by an increased proportion of allogenic transplants, or by an increased incidence of graft-versus-host disease. Intranuclear inclusions typical of cytomegalovirus were identified in 9 of 17 autopsy-confirmed cases, and patients whose marrow donors had positive cytomegalovirus antibody titers developed interstitial pneumonia more often than patients whose donor had negative titers. Interstitial pneumonia is an important cause of morbidity and mortality after human marrow transplantation. No effective treatment is presently available.
The syndrome of hereditary thrombocytopenia, deafness, and renal disease was manifest in at least eight members in three generations of a family. They had a lifelong history of bleeding, usually as epistaxis, bilateral sensorineural deafness starting in late childhood or the teenage years, and persistent proteinuria with varying degrees of renal dysfunction. Two members died at a young age, one from central nervous system hemorrhage, the other from chronic renal failure. Splenectomy and steroid therapy have been of transient benefit. There was dominant inheritance of the syndrome. Hematologic studies showed thrombocytopenia, large platelets, and megakaryocytic hyperplasia of the bone marrow. In contrast to a previous report, our studies showed that affected members had normal in-vitro platelet function and normal ultrastructural platelet morphology. At autopsy, histologic changes in the kidney of one affected family member were indistinguishable from those reported in classic hereditary nephritis with nerve deafness (Alport's syndrome).
Emmonsia crescens, a fungus that causes granulomatous pulmonary adiospiromycosis, is an uncommon human pathogen. Histopathologic and ultrastructural evaluation of a new case of human adiospiromycosis from Guatemaia showed pulmonary granulomatosis in respose to the inhaled spores of the fungus. The wall of each spore consisted of three zones. A fenestrated layer was clearly demonstrated within the middle zone. Neither budding nor endosporulation was detected. Our findings support the pathogenetic view that E crescens produces local changes by progressive enlargement of the inhaled spores and surrounding granulomas. Characteristically, the fungus does not propagate or disseminate within the lung
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Two laboratories exchanged and rescreened a large sample of cases with cervicovaginal smears they had consecutively accessioned to examine the reproducibility of gynecologic cytodiagnosis under optimum conditions. At least a "working agreement" (diagnoses within +/- 1 category on a ten-category scale) was achieved in diagnoses of normal, benign reaction and squamous abnormality (from minimal dysplasia though invasive cancer) in 18,859 cases (96.8%), of endometrial abnormality in 21 cases (42%) and of "unsatisfactory" in 99 cases (20.7%). Larger differences occurred in greater than or equal to 30% of cases except in the categories of "normal" and "benign reaction," reaching a maximum of 82% for moderate dysplasia. Reexamining 382 cases decreased disagreement by category to the 20% to 65% range only in the five categories of dysplasia plus carcinoma in situ. Agreement was not predicated on the presence of endocervical cells or squamous metaplasia; the basis for "unsatisfactory" calls was not uniform. Comparison of the laboratories' diagnoses with referee diagnoses or, on 178 cases, with tissue diagnoses also demonstrated differences in diagnostic criteria.