JAMA

MASTER, A. M.; MARKS, H. H.; DACK, SIMON

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.02840160001001pmid: N/A

In a previous communication we1 intimated that the incidence of hypertension in the general population over 40 and 50 was higher than was generally appreciated. This has been confirmed in preliminary reports2 on the incidence of hypertension in workers over 40 and in general hospital patients. In this report we now summarize the blood pressure readings in nearly 15,000 men and women over the age of 40. The problem of hypertension is a fundamental one. Together with coronary sclerosis it is the most common form of heart disease and probably is the largest single cause of death. This is doubly so if only those over 40 are considered. Furthermore, hypertension is important in respect to the role it plays in other diseases, e. g. arteriosclerosis of the cerebral, renal and coronary vessels. The incidence of hypertension in persons over 40 has become increasingly important because there are now

CASTLEMAN, BENJAMIN; SMITHWICK, REGINALD H.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.02840160006002pmid: N/A

The gross and microscopic appearance of the kidneys of hypertensive patients dying of renal failure or any other complication such as coronary disease, heart failure or cerebral hemorrhage has been fairly well established from postmortem studies. The almost constant finding of renal arteriolar disease in these cases has led many people to believe that increased peripheral resistance to blood flow offered by generalized arteriolar disease, especially of the kidneys, is the cause of hypertension. Moritz and Oldt's1 comparative study of the arterioles of 100 hypertensive and 100 nonhypertensive persons showing that 97 per cent of the hypertensive and 12 per cent of the nonhypertensive persons had renal vascular disease seemed confirmatory evidence of this premise. The other school of thought is that the arteriolar disease is secondary to the hypertension, the cause of which is still unknown. The presence of severe arteriolar damage at the end stage of the disease,

RHOADS, C. P.; ABELS, JULES C.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.02840160011003pmid: N/A

A rational basis for the treatment of cancer is to deprive the neoplastic tissue of the components required for its growth. This basis presumes that neoplastic cells either contain certain constituents lacked by their normal analogues or that the requirement for those constituents by the cancer tissue is greater than that of normal tissue. Recently, several types of carcinoma were reported to contain abnormally high concentrations of biotin.1 About the same time it was noted that the addition of biotin to diets which prevented in rats the development of hepatomas induced by the feeding of butter yellow broke down the protection those diets otherwise afforded.2 These observations do not necessarily imply that biotin is required for the induction or growth of neoplastic tissue. They do suggest the possibility however that, if biotin should be withheld from patients bearing cancer, the growth of the neoplasm might be decreased to

PARDO-CASTELLO, V.; TIANT, FRANCISCO R.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.02840160014004pmid: N/A

Leprosy affects the skin, the peripheral nervous system and the mucous membrane of the nose by preference, but other tissues and organs are also affected, often early in the disease, such as the testicles, the mammary glands, the lymphatic glands, the larynx and the eyes. Late manifestations of the liver, spleen and other internal organs may occur. Lesions of the muscles, bones, skin, hair, nails and mucous membranes may not be directly due to the presence of Mycobacterium leprae but to trophic disturbances caused by nerve involvement. The preference of leprosy for the skin and peripheral nerves led to the classic conception of "cutaneous," "neural" and "mixed" types of leprosy. However, it is evident that the great majority of patients with leprosy present symptoms and signs of cutaneous, neural and visceral involvement and therefore most cases of leprosy would fall under the heading of "mixed leprosy." On the other hand,

TAYLOR, HENRY K.; McGOVERN, TERESA

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.02840160020005pmid: N/A

This report summarizes the examination of 100 persons by the Robb-Steinberg method.1 The patient material comprises the groups included in the accompanying table. Many of the patients suffered from other ailments, such as hemiplegia due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, nephritis and the like. However, this report is limited to the angiocardiographic study of the heart and major blood vessels. TECHNIC The angiocardiographic technic described by Robb and Steinberg was employed throughout the course of this study. Circulation time tests were determined by injection of solutions of ether, macasol,2 dehydrocholic acid, sodium cyanide and saccharin. The results of these studies enabled us to calculate approximately the time at which the radiopaque substance would arrive at various locations. A 70 per cent solution of diodrast (30 to 50 cc.) was injected intravenously and films were taken at predetermined intervals. Two such injections were found necessary for satisfactory visualization.

CHÁVEZ, IGNACIO; SEPÚLVEDA, B.; ORTEGA, A.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.02840160026006pmid: N/A

One of the organs that suffers most in heart failure is undoubtedly the liver. Its enlargement is the general rule in right congestive heart failure as well as in total ventricular failure. But if it is easy to appreciate the anatomic alterations—enlargement, tenderness, hardness and the like—the functional attack often passes unnoticed or at least is clinically underestimated. It is only in the advanced stages when subicterus, or rarely icterus, appears or when digestive disturbances become important that the physician directs his attention toward the liver and admits the existence of hepatic insufficiency. Nevertheless, at much earlier stages of congestion laboratory procedures already show the functional attack of the gland. It is conceivable that this hepatic involvement should be practically inevitable in heart failure, even in its early stages, as a result of a combination of factors: first, the engorgement of the organ with its consequent effects on the nutrition

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.02840160033008pmid: N/A

Bauman, Louis; Gage, Hermaline

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.62840160001007pmid: N/A

Low serum proteins are encountered in a number of conditions including diseases of the liver, kidney, stomach and intestine and during protracted convalescence from operations on the alimentary canal, e. g. after abdominal perineal resections of the rectum and in extensive and prolonged infections of burns. The ingestion of solid food by many of these patients is inadvisable or unacceptable, and the intravenous injection of proteins or amino acids over a prolonged period may not be entirely practicable or economical. Therefore it seemed desirable to prepare a beverage that is rich in biologically important proteins. For this purpose we used a base of milk or evaporated milk to which egg white and powdered milk (Dryco) was added. The method of preparation is simple. It consists in mixing milk powder gradually with frozen egg white, which has been beaten until foamy (but not dry) with an egg beater and then adding

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.02840160034009pmid: N/A

As part of a long range program of study of the relation of diet to virus infections, Foster and her co-workers1 of the University of Pennsylvania studied the relative susceptibility to poliomyelitis of mice maintained at different levels of vitamin Bi (thiamine) intake. At the luxury level mice were given diets containing 100 micrograms of thiamine per hundred grams of food, which more than covered their full nutritional requirements (thiamine excretion not determined). Other groups of mice were maintained on a diet containing as little as 10 micrograms of thiamine per hundred grams. This usually led to signs of deficiency within fifteen days, with death of 40 per cent of the mice within thirty days. Still other groups were given thiamine at the minimum maintenance level, after partial depletion at the 10 microgram level, their thiamine intake being increased to 30 micrograms per hundred grams. The majority of

doi: 10.1001/jama.1943.02840160035011pmid: N/A

Evans and Bishop1 in 1923 concluded that certain natural foods, notably wheat germ and many plant leaves, contain a factor essential for normal reproduction in the rat. This substance, later called vitamin E, was shown to be essential for the successful completion of intrauterine growth as well as for the maintenance of testicular function in the male. The female mouse, like the rat, shows typical resorption of the fetuses when restricted to vitamin E deficient rations, whereas in the male mouse degenerative changes in the germinal tissues of the testes have not been demonstrated.2 Again eggs from hens on a diet poor in vitamin E show early embryonic mortality and low hatchability. Vitamin E has been isolated, characterized chemically and synthesized; while the name alpha tocopherol has been given to an alcohol obtained from wheat germ oil, several other compounds possess similar biologic activity. Other functions have been