Another aspect of contrived disease: "dermatitis simulata".

Three cases in which innocuous substances were applied to the skin to simulate skin disease are presented herein. We have coined the term "dermatitis simulata" for this previously unrecognized form of contrived disease.

A double-blind study of superficial radiotherapy in chronic palmar eczema.

The effect of superficial radiotherapy as an adjunct to topical therapy in recalcitrant chronic symmetrical palmar eczema was assessed in fifteen patients by randomly allocating active treatment to one palm while the other, which received simulated therapy, served as a control. There was a significantly better response to active treatment at 1 month but this difference was no longer apparent at 3 and 6 months.

Lichen sclerosus et atrophicus. A common and distinctive cause of phimosis in boys.

Lichen sclerosus et atrophicus, a disease said to be rare in boys, was found in 14 of 100 prepubertal boys undergoing elective circumcision for disease of the foreskin. The clinical features of the disease, in particular the acquired scarring phimosis of the tip of the prepuce, were distinctive. Extragenital involvement was not found.

Organic acids in urine of patients with congenital lactic acidoses: an aid to differential diagnosis.

The differential diagnosis of patients with apparent congenital lactic acidoses poses one of the most intractable problems in the study of patients with disorders of organic acid metabolism. An outline of the factors leading to a lactic acidosis, particularly in infants and young children, together with a brief review of the known causes of congenital lactic acidosis, are presented. Quantitative examination of the organic acids excreted by patients with proven enzyme deficiencies causing congenital lactic acidosis has demonstrated the characteristic patterns that are associated with specific disorders of this kind.

On the invention of conductimetric titration.

In contrast to the earlier statement of one of the authors according to which conductimetric titration was invented by Küster and Grüters in 1903, it is shown that Ostwald made use of this analytical method as early as the nineties of the past century. Prior to Ostwald's work, however, papers appeared in which conductimetric curves were shown, with statements about their different characteristics in the case of reaction between weak and strong acids and bases. The first of these seems to be due to Kohlrausch [together with one of his co-workers, Kreichgauer (1885)].

MSH peptides are present in mammalian skin.

Immunoreactive alpha-MSH was found in human skin and the skin of numerous other mammals. After hypophysectomy the concentration of alpha-MSH in rat skin showed little change suggesting that the pituitary is not the source of this MSH. In human skin the highest concentration was found in the epidermis and HPLC revealed four peaks of immunoreactive alpha-MSH.

Metabolic response to carnitine in methylmalonic aciduria. An effective strategy for elimination of propionyl groups.

Patients with methylmalonic aciduria have an excessive intramitochondrial accumulation of acylcoenzyme A compounds that may reduce the availability of free coenzyme A (CoA) for normal metabolic requirements, producing profound metabolic disturbances. Giving carnitine to a patient with methylmalonic aciduria produced an increase in hippurate excretion (an index of intramitochondrial adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and CoA availability), a large increase in short chain urinary acylcarnitines, and a reduction in excretion of methylmalonate and methylcitrate. These acylcarnitines were shown by fast atom bombardment and B/E linked scan mass spectrometry to be propionylcarnitine and acetylcarnitine.

The effect of diphenylhydantoin on metabolic and growth hormone changes during and after exercise.

Metabolic and human growth hormone responses to exercise were investigated in six normal healthy subjects on two occasions with and without an oral dose of diphenylhydantoin (500 mg). Serum diphenylhydantoin concentrations were similar in all subjects and were just below the accepted therapeutic range for epileptic patients. There was no significant difference in blood lactate, pyruvate or glucose concentrations with diphenylhydantoin.

Physical work capacity and lung function in competitive swimmers.

Competitive swimmers require a high aerobic capacity to support the sustained performance of severe exercise. Maximal oxygen uptake values and blood lactate concentrations were measured in ten male and fifteen female swimmers from the Scottish National and Youth Squads 1981-82. Lung function tests were also performed to determine pulmonary efficiency.