Acute hospital admissions from nursing homes: some may be avoidable.

A retrospective survey of acute hospital admissions from nursing homes over a year to a district hospital revealed high overall hospital admission rates and wide variations of admission rates from similar homes. Medical admissions dominated, infections and poorly controlled heart failure being notably common. A significant proportion of admissions may have been avoided by active chronic disease management, together with better information for doctors responding to emergency calls and specialist support programmes facilitating in situ treatment.

Fluctuations in the enzymatic activity of the human endometrium.

Cyclic fluctuations were studied in the activity of oxidoreductases playing a role in the major energy metabolic pathways, lysosomal and non-lysosomal hydrolases and some non-enzymatic cytochemical components demonstrable in different developmental physiological or pathophysiological phases of human endometrium. The total scope of the study involved 170 tissues and cytological specimens. The cytological material included microcurettings, aspirates, brush preparations and tissue prints.

Partial trisomy 3q due to a de novo translocation t(X;3) (p21;q12).

A patient with several cogenital malformations, principally in the face, cardiovascular system and genitalia, was found to have the karyotype 46,X,der(X),t,X;3)(Xqter leads to p21::3q12 leads to 3qter). A comparison of the clinical and cytogenetical findings with smaller cases in the literature led to the conclusion that a partial trisomy 3q is the most likely cause for the symptoms in this patient.

Adenoacanthoma of the endometrium: a separate entity or a histological curiosity?

In a series of 42 patients with endometrial adenoacanthoma and of 53 with adenocarcinoma, age at the time of diagnosis, age at the onset of the menopause, gravidity, pathological staging, and survival were compared to see if there was any significant difference, apart from morphology, between the two tumours. No significant differences could be established, and it was concluded that adenoacanthoma should be regarded as a histological variant of adenocarcinoma and not as a separate entity.

Oesophagostomiasis in man.

A case of oesophagostomiasis in an 8-years-old Africa girl is reported. The patient presented with abdominal pain and weight loss. Examination revealed multiple abdominal masses most of which were resected.