JAMA

MARTIN, JAMES M.; MARTIN, CHARLES L.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.02760080001001pmid: N/A

Roentgen rays have been used in the treatment of malignant tumors for thirty-four years, but the general acceptance of technics delivering efficient dosages has been a very slow process. Pusey1 reported cases of proved carcinoma of the lip treated successfully with many times an erythema dose twenty-seven years ago, but most dermatologists are still unwilling to use such effective therapy through fear of injury to normal tissues. Experienced radiologists discovered long ago that the actual cure of carcinoma requires the administration of from 5 to 10 erythema doses of x-rays, and even more in some instances. However, the first well presented proof of this fact was brought forward by Martin and Quimby2 in 1930, when they showed that the actual cure of adult squamous cell carcinoma requires from 7 to 10 erythema doses. When considered in retrospect it now seems odd that the German so-called massive dose or

PFAHLER, GEORGE E.; VASTINE, JACOB H.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.02760080005002pmid: N/A

So far as we have been able to find, pneumocystography was first used in the diagnosis of tumors of the bladder by one of us (Pfahler) in 1908, and this method was discussed by him at various roentgenology meetings from time to time. A formal presentation was made together with a lantern slide demonstration of a number of tumors of the bladder before the Philadelphia Roentgen Society on May 8, 1919.1 However, Braasch says: "Air was used in the bladder for the demonstration of a diverticulum by Kellar in 1904" (reference not given). This method of study of tumors of the bladder we believe should be used as a routine because of the valuable primary and supplementary information that is obtained. We believe that pneumocystography cannot replace cystoscopy, but in the management of a serious condition such as tumors in the bladder, nothing that would be helpful should be

MACKIE, THOMAS T.; POUND, ROBERT E.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.02760080009003pmid: N/A

Deficiency disease may result from a defective dietary or from abnormal physiology of the gastro-intestinal tract. Defective absorption constitutes one of the outstanding features of sprue and in certain cases has been shown to condition the development of the deficiency factors of the disease.1 This occurs without extensive pathologic changes in the structure of the small intestine apart from atrophy that is not disproportionate to the general wasting of the body and the viscera.2 We have observed advanced deficiency disease in several severe cases of ulcerative colitis. This suggested the possibility of a similar mechanism and led to the detailed clinical and radiologic investigation of a large group of cases of chronic ulcerative colitis. Evidence of deficiency states was found in 63 per cent of seventy-five cases studied. These conditions have presented the characteristics of partial deprivation of certain vitamins, of protein, and of important inorganic elements. The

ALLEN, EDGAR V.; CAMP, JOHN D.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.02760080014004pmid: N/A

The chief function of arteries is the transportation of blood. As far as the arteries are concerned, this function is dependent entirely on the size of and the presence or absence of obstruction of the lumens. The adequacy respectively of the entire arterial circulation of an extremity, and of its component parts, requires. separate consideration. The situation is analogous to that which exists in the heart; the myocardium may function normally, even if the valves are functionally insufficient. In the extremities the arterial circulation as a whole may be adequate, even when some of its component parts are badly diseased. There are many methods for determining the sufficiency of the entire arterial circulation to extremities, such as studies of the response of the temperature of the skin to artificially induced fever, spinal anesthesia, and block of peripheral nerves, analysis of symptoms, effect of posture on the color of the skin

SEVRINGHAUS, ELMER L.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.02760080020005pmid: N/A

Therapeutic use of ovarian preparations for relief of the symptoms accompanying the menopause has met with varying and unpredictable success until within the last few years. The production of estrogenic preparations in biologically assayed form was the occasion for substantial improvement in clinical management of these patients. In 1929 the first American report of dependable treatment of the menopause with such material was published.1 Corroborative reports have appeared by Bowman and Bender2 in the field of psychiatry, by Hamblen3 in gynecology and by Werner and Collier4 in internal medicine. Experience with several standardized ovarian preparations is now so widespread among clinicians that there can no longer be the doubt of the efficacy of treatment expressed by King5 in 1928. The usefulness of the estrogenic substance has been shown to extend not only to the commoner types of climacteric symptoms but also to the not infrequent

BIERRING, WALTER L.; BONE, H. C.; LOCKHART, M. L.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.02760080024006pmid: N/A

Our purpose in this report is to record the use of a new device for photographing heart sounds. The electrostethograph,1 designed by M. L. Lockhart, appears to have certain advantages over other types of apparatus used for this purpose. A brief presentation of the historical background in the development of this field of investigation may be of interest. According to Hirschfelder,2 the first method for recording heart sounds was introduced by Donders in 1856 and was revised by Martius in 1888. It consisted of beating the time of the sounds on a receiving tambour and recording the movements of the lever. Hürthle in 1893, Einthoven and Geluk in 1894 and Holowinski in 1896 were the first to employ methods in which the sounds were received by means of a microphone.3 Hürthle received the sounds by a stethoscope connected with a resonance apparatus, which magnified the amplitude of

ARGY, WILLIAM P.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.02760080027007pmid: N/A

Sullivan and Hess,1 using the Sullivan2 cystine reaction, demonstrated that the cystine content of the fingernails in arthritis is, on the average, below normal and in many cases exceedingly low. This lowered cystine content of the fingernails was concluded to be an index of a toxic factor. Fischer3 and Westergren4 stated that the sedimentation reaction of the blood varies directly with the degree of intensity of the arthritic process. Therefore an effort was made to compare the results of these two reactions in twenty-two unselected cases of this disease. The cystine content of the fingernails was determined, in each instance, by Sullivan2 and the results are expressed in the percentage of cystine in the total amount of nail clippings examined. The Cutlerr5 method was adopted for the estimation of the sedimentation reaction. The results of this procedure are expressed in millimeter readings, made at the end of one hour, as it has been proved by Fischer3 that additional readings offer no greater value.

Gaines, Lewis M.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.92760080001008pmid: N/A

On Oct. 23, 1931, there came to my office for the first time a man, aged 48, whose chief complaints were shortness of breath and a feeling of abdominal distention. The patient was white, was married and his occupation was assistant manager of an office building. The patient's story was that about six weeks previously, while getting out some old blue prints, which were covered with dust, he inhaled a good deal of the dust and began to have paroxysms of severe coughing, which had continued more or less constantly. After enduring these coughing attacks for about a month he consulted a physician, who prescribed various forms of treatment but with little success. About October 13, while under treatment for the cough, he suddenly developed dyspnea and a feeling of abdominal distention, particularly above the umbilicus. He found it difficult to breathe when lying down or when standing perfectly erect

Abt, Arthur F.; Epstein, I. M.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.92760080003008apmid: N/A

Not only is the isolation of a vitamin in crystalline form a matter of theoretical importance but such a discovery also has possibilities in practical clinical application. In 1928 Szent-Györgi1 isolated a chemical which he thought was hexuronic acid and which he believed to be identical with vitamin C. Well controlled experiments on laboratory animals with this substance demonstrated that it protected against scurvy and cured this disease when experimentally produced. Zilva2 in 1932 and Waugh and King3 in the same year published the results of such work. In 1933 the name of the isolated acid was changed to ascorbic acid, as its chemical formula became better known and it was found not to be a hexuronic acid. More recently the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association has designated cevitamic acid as the approved nonproprietary name for this substance.4 Merck and Company, who have supplied us with

RIDDLE, OSCAR

doi: 10.1001/jama.1935.92760080005009pmid: N/A

Note. —These articles and those in the previous two numbers of The Journal are part of a series published under the auspices of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry. Other articles will appear in succeeding issues of The Journal.—Ed. In 1928-1929 Stricker and Grüter demonstrated that a factor essential to lactogenesis is associated with the anterior pituitary. They did not identify or find other associations of the lactogenic principle ; but crude saline and alkaline extracts were shown to initiate milk secretion in suitable rabbits, bitches, sows and cows—some of which were previously castrated. Their results were soon confirmed and further extended to rats, guineapigs and goats by Corner, Evans and Simpson, Nelson and Pfiffner, Turner and Gardner, Asdell and others. Also in these confirmatory studies—and in those of Riddle and Braucher on the crop-gland response—simple extracts