Renal Tubular Dysgenesis: A Description of Early Renal Maldevelopment in Siblings.

A family is described in which three siblings, born after pregnancies complicated by oligohydramnios, developed renal abnormalities. In the first infant, of 38 weeks gestation, histologic changes were nearly identical to those found in renal tubular dysgenesis (RTD), a recently identified disorder characterized by the absence of recognizable renal proximal tubules. Additional findings include bilateral renal vein thrombosis and marked calvarial bone hypoplasia. The other two gestations were 20 and 22 weeks long. Renal histology in these cases showed nonspecific abnormalities with focal tubular dilatation, decreased tubule formation, and increased interstitial connective tissue. Clearly recognizable proximal tubules were present, though decreased in number. The latter two gestations described herein are the earliest examined in a family with RTD and the renal abnormalities may represent early changes seen in this disorder

Menaquinone Bosynthesis in Bacillus Subtilis: Isolation of Men Mutants and Evidence for Clustering of Men Genes.

Menaquinone (vitamin K2)-deficient mutants of Bacillus subtilis were selected by simultaneous resistance to two aminoglycoside antibiotics. These men mutants fell into two groups: group I, in which the nutritional requirement was satisfied either by o-succinylbenzoic acid or by 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid; and group II, comprising those capable of growing only when supplemented with 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid. The latter group could be further subdivided into two classes on the basis of syntrophy experiments, fine-structure genetic mapping, and in vitro complementation by cell-free extracts (Meganathan et al., J. Bacteriol., 145:328-332, 1981). These subclasses of group II defined the menB and menE genes, whereas group I appeared to comprise mutations in the menC and menD genes. All of the men mutations tested, whether occurring in menB, menE, or menC,D, could be placed by genetic mapping with bacteriophage PBS1 between bioB and ald on the B. subtilis genome

Exaggerated Venous Mural Hypertrophy in Association with Metastatic Adenocarcinoma Of The Prostate.

A 61-year-old black man presented with metastases to the right groin 5 years after 125iodine treatment for a well differentiated primary prostatic adenocarcinoma. Medium sized veins within and immediately adjacent to the neoplasm showed marked mural thickening due to hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the inner circular and outer longitudinal muscles. There was no histological evidence of radiation effect in the stroma or in the tumor cells. We could find no report in the literature of such changes associated with metastatic carcinoma

Identification of Blastocystis Hominis by Colonic Brush Cytology. A Case Report.

Blastocystis hominis is a unicellular organism the pathogenic potential of which in humans remains unclear. It may be identified during a workup for gastrointestinal symptoms, usually in stool examined for ova and parasites. We describe a case in which B hominis was identified by cytologic examination in a patient with Crohn\u27s disease who underwent colonoscopy and brushing of a transverse colon stricture. The morphologic features of this organism are described and contrasted with those of the uninucleate cyst form of Entamoeba histolytica

Extrauterine Mixed Mesodermal Tumors. An immunohistochemical Study.

Mixed mesodermal tumors are uncommon outside the uterus. Nine extrauterine mixed mesodermal tumors (eight ovarian and one extragenital) were selected for histochemical and immunoperoxidase study. In eight cases, both epithelial and mesenchymal elements were malignant (chondroid in six, rhabdomyoid in four, and osteoid in two). One ovarian tumor was an adenosarcoma. All cases were stained with periodic acid-Schiff with and without diastase and for alpha 1-antitrypsin, myoglobin, keratin, vimentin, muscle-specific actin, and alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, by using the avidin-biotin-immunoperoxidase method. The periodic acid-Schiff-positive, diastase-resistant droplets in several of the tumors showed peripheral alpha 1-antitrypsin positivity. Keratin delineated epithelial areas well in seven cases, and rhabdomyoid differentiation was confirmed with myoglobin in four cases. However, squamous elements in one tumor were falsely positive for myoglobin. We concluded that despite occasional cross-reactivity, carefully interpreted immunoperoxidase stains can be useful in distinguishing epithelial and mesenchymal elements in these tumors