Retinal vein occlusion and the prevalence of lipoprotein abnormalities.

Ninety-nine patients with retinal vein occlusion (40 with central, 59 with branch vein occlusion) were investigated for the prevalence of associated diseases for comparison with an age-matched control group. There was a significantly increased prevalence of hyperlipidaemia (p less than 0.001) and hypercholesterolaemia (p less than 0.

Co-trimoxazole alone for prevention of bacterial infection in patients with acute leukaemia.

43 patients undergoing treatment for acute leukaemia were randomised to receive either co-trimoxazole alone or co-trimoxazole with framycetin and colistin as antibacterial prophylaxis during periods of neutropenia. There were no significant differences between the two treatment groups in the time before the onset of the first fever, the number of episodes of fever or of septicaemia per patient, the number of neutropenic days during which patients remained afebrile or did not require systemic antibiotics, or the number of resistant organisms acquired. Co-trimoxazole alone is cheaper and easier to take than co-trimoxazole with framycetin and colistin, and it is therefore preferable to the three-drug combination for the prophylaxis of bacterial infection.

Studies of a variant very-low-density lipoprotein with an acquired deficiency of apolipoprotein C-II.

1. A variant very-low-density lipoprotein was associated with severe hypertriglyceridaemia. Urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the tetramethylurea-soluble apolipoproteins of these very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) showed that the apolipoprotein C-II content was less than 10% of that in VLDL from hypertriglyceridaemic (3-120 mmol/l) controls.

Reduced T-colony forming capacity in B-chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.--II. Correlation with clinical stage and findings in B-prolymphocytic leukaemia.

The T-colony forming capacity of T-lymphocytes from 33 cases of B-chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) and five of B-prolymphocytic leukaemia (B-PLL) was studied. An absent or reduced (less than 50) colony growth was observed in 21 of the 33 B-CLL and in four of the five B-PLL studied. Seven of the nine stage 0 patients (77.

Histological study of the bone marrow in chronic granulocytic leukaemia in blast transformation. II. Bone marrow fibre content before and after autografting.

A serial study of the extent of bone marrow (BM) fibrosis was carried out in 14 patients with chronic granulocytic leukaemia (CGL) in blast transformation (BT) who received intensive treatment followed by autografts to restore marrow haemopoiesis. Some degree of marrow fibrosis (MF) was identified in 13 of the 14 patients when blast transformation was diagnosed. A transient increase in the amount of marrow fibrosis was observed in most cases immediately following intensive chemoradiotherapy or chemotherapy alone but this had regressed by 4-6 weeks when chronic phase haemopoiesis was established in the marrow.

High-fibre and low-fat diets in diabetes mellitus.

1. Eight insulin-dependent and eight insulin-independent diabetic patients and twenty-eight non-diabetic essential hypertensive patients were given a high-fibre, high-unrefined carbohydrate and low-fat diet for 3 months duration. 2.

Splenic irradiation in B-prolymphocytic leukaemia.

Twelve patients with B-cell prolymphocytic leukaemia (PLL) were treated with splenic irradiation at a weekly dose of 100 cGy to a maximum total dose of 1000 cGy. There was no morbidity associated with this treatment. SEven patients responded.

Megakaryoblastic leukemia presenting as acute myelofibrosis -- a study of four cases with the platelet-peroxidase reaction.

Acute myelofibrosis (AM) or malignant myelosclerosis is a myeloprofilerative syndrome in which bone marrow fibrosis is associated with a proliferation of immature myeloid cells. In four patients with typical AM, investigated by the platelet-peroxidase reaction at ultrastructural level, the blast cells were found to be megakaryoblasts. One patient, treated with the drug combination DAT, achieved a complete remission of 5 mo duration.

Platelet function in diabetes mellitus in relationship to complications, glycosylated haemoglobin and serum lipoproteins.

Mean levels of beta-thromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 were highly significantly elevated in diabetes compared to controls (72.6 v. 36.

Histological study of the bone marrow in chronic granulocytic leukaemia in blast transformation. I. Serial observations before and after autografting.

Sixteen patients with chronic granulocytic leukaemia (CGL) in blast cell transformation (BT) were studied by means of serial bone marrow trephine biopsies (BMB). The BMB were performed during the following stages of the disease: 1 at diagnosis of BT, 2 following ablative therapy and 3 during haematological recovery following autografting. In 10 of the 16 patients, BT was recognized by the presence of a distinctive infiltration with blast cells with a single large hyperchromatic nucleolus.

Simultaneous or spontaneous occurrence of lympho- and myeloproliferative disorders: a report of four cases.

We describe four patients with mixed lympho- and myeloproliferative disorders. One patient had hairy cell leukaemia and acute myelomonocytic leukaemia, another lymphocytic lymphoma in leukaemic phase and chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia and the third patient had chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and polycythaemia rubra vera; none of these patients had received any prior therapy, and in two the diagnosis of the two malignancies was simultaneous. The fourth patient developed acute monocytic leukaemia 4 years after the diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia after only 2 weeks of therapy with chlorambucil.

Increase in T gamma lymphocytes in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. II. Correlation with clinical stage and findings in B-prolymphocytic leukaemia.

The proportion of T gamma and T mu lymphocytes was studied in 40 cases of B-chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) and six of B-prolymphocytic leukaemia (B-PLL). The significant increase in T gamma cells, previously reported in two small B-CLL series, was confirmed and shown to be directly correlated with the clinical stages of the disease (P less than 0.01 to less than 0.

The morphological classification of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: concordance among observers and clinical correlations.

The degree of concordance in the morphological classification of ALL was assessed by the FAB group after two successive reviews of 200 and 100 slides respectively. As a result, a simple scoring system for types L1 and L2 is proposed based on the following four features: (1) nuclear cytoplasmic ratio, (2) presence, prominence and frequency of nucleoli, (3) regularity of nuclear membrane outline, and (4) cell size. By this method, the overall concordance by seven observers (agreement of 7:0 or 6:1 only) increased from 63% to 84%.

Buffy coat autografts for patients with chronic granulocytic leukaemia in transformation.

We have treated 20 patients with chronic granulocytic leukaemia (CGL) in transformation with cytotoxic drugs or with cytotoxic drugs and whole-body irradiation followed by transfusion of autologous blood cells collected at diagnosis and stored in liquid nitrogen. The mean number of nucleated cells autografted was 25.1 X 10(8)/kg (range: 12.

An abnormal triglyceride-rich lipoprotein carrying excess apolipoprotein C-II.

The polypeptide composition of a variant lipoprotein (d less than 1.006) carrying a relative excess of apolipoprotein C-II has been characterised by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focussing. The apo-C peptides of the variant lipoprotein contained 45.

Histiocytic medullary reticulosis complicating chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: malignant or reactive?

We describe 4 patients with a haemophagocytic syndrome resembling histiocytic medullary reticulosis (HMR) complicating chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) of 9 months to 8 years duration. Surface marker studies in 2 cases showed that the CLL lymphocytes were of B-cell type in one and of T-cell type in the other. 2 of the patients had histiological evidence of co-existing immunoblastic sarcoma at the time of diagnosis of the HMR-like syndrome and all 4 patients died within 3 weeks of this diagnosis.

Retinal vascular abnormalities in the hyperlipidaemias.

Previous studies have suggested an association between hyperlipidaemia and retinal venous and arterial occlusion. To investigate this association further, the retinal arterial vasculature was studied by fluorescein angiography in forty hyperlipidaemic subjects, and clinical examination and biochemical investigations, including lipid profile, were performed in 99 patients with retinal vein occlusion and forty patients without retinal vein occlusion as a comparison group. Retinal arterial abnormalities were found on fluorescein angiography in eight patients with combined hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia (type IV and V hyperlipidaemia).