The nucleus basalis of Meynert, senile plaques, and intellectual impairment in schizophrenia.

The large, hyperchromic, cholinergic neurons of the nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM) and the presence of senile plaques were quantified in postmortem brain tissue from 10 intellectually impaired schizophrenic patients, seven intellectually intact schizophrenic patients, seven control subjects, and three patients with Alzheimer's disease. The two groups of schizophrenic patients did not show any significant differences when compared with the control group in nbM cell density or in plaque frequency. The Alzheimer's disease patients showed the expected decrease in nbM neuronal density and increase in plaques compared with the controls.

Phenothiazines and breast cancer.

This study, based in a psychiatric hospital, reviews the incidence of breast cancer in 93 patients who had received phenothiazines prior to developing breast cancer compared with a control group of 28 patients who did not receive phenothiazines. The results indicate no significant difference in the incidence of breast cancer between those patients receiving phenothiazines and those that did not. The retrospective study covered a period of 21 years.

Reliability of cytologic typing of lung cancer.

In a prospective study of 111 cases of lung cancer, cytopathologic diagnoses were compared with histologic diagnoses. In 77.5 per cent of the cases, histopathologic diagnoses were in concurrence with cytopathologic diagnoses.