JAMA

SABIN, ALBERT B.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.02880050001001pmid: 20280992

A disease clinically similar to the Japanese B type of epidemic encephalitis was known to occur during the late summer months on Okinawa, predominantly among children.1 However, it was not established that the Japanese B virus was the etiologic agent. On July 8, 1945 several cases of encephalitis were recognized in the native population on Heanza Shima, a small island 2 miles east of Okinawa, by Lieut. L. M. Miller, and on July 10, 1945 Lieut. Comdr. (later Comdr.) Leon Lewis (MC), U.S.N.R., of the Military Government discovered 4 patients with encephalitis in a large civilian hospital on Okinawa.2 By the end of July, with the aid of the complement fixation test developed by Casals and Palacios3 a diagnosis of epidemic encephalitis due to virus infection of the Japanese B type was made in several of these early cases by members of the Naval Medical Research Unit

SULZBERGER, MARION B.; BAER, RUDOLF L.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.02880050013002pmid: 20280993

Basing his opinion on previous studies, in particular those of A. Heffter and collaborators in 1903 and 1908,1 P. Ehrlich2 in 1909 stated his idea that the toxic action of arsenic is due to its attack on sulfhydryl (SH) compounds or "arsenoreceptors." These compounds were recognized as essential to biologic oxidation and reduction processes. Many other investigators have advanced the thesis that metallic compounds and certain other poisons combine with the thiol groups of tissue enzymes or of members of oxidation and reduction systems, such as glutathione and cysteine, and thus inactivate these constituents necessary to life and function. Long before World War II the concept was generally held that "detoxification" of arsenic and of certain other metallic and even nonmetallic compounds may be accomplished by administration of chemicals containing thiol groups. One of the early fundamental studies of this effect was that of C. Voegtlin, H. A.

RATLIFF, RIGDON K.; NESBIT, REED M.; PLUMB, ROBERT T.; BOHNE, WAIT

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.02880050016003pmid: 20280994

Increased arterial blood pressure occurs in patients having a variety of diseases. Some of these diseases can be demonstrated clinically by pyelography, and because of this fact pyelography is included in the routine study of hypertensive patients in the University of Michigan Hospital. Patients with hypertension also have electrocardiographic study, eyeground examination, orthodiagraphic study and study of total renal function. When the excretory urograms are unsatisfactory for diagnosis, cystoscopy with split phenolsulfonphthalein and retrograde pyelogram is done. During the years 1940 to 1945 inclusive, 2,055 hypertensive patients were studied in the urologic clinic (table 1). This figure represents approximately 20 percent of the total number of pyelograms (9,501) that were made during the six year period covered by this study. Over-all, there was an incidence of renal abnormalities of 8.9 per cent. It will be noted that in 1940 and 1941 there was an incidence of 15.1 per cent, as against 5.1 per cent in 1945. This means that the interpretation of the pyelogram in the early part of the

DOWNING, JOHN GODWIN; HANSON, MILLARD C.; LAMB, MARION

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.02880050019004pmid: 20280995

In a search for an effective agent against both grampositive and gram-negative pathogenic bacteria invading the skin, the possible value of a nitrofuran was brought to our attention, namely, that of Furacin Soluble Dressing. NITROFURANS Chemistry.— The furans are chemicals obtained for the most part from oat hulls. Furfural, the fundamental member of the furan series for the synthesis of other derivatives, results from the dehydration of sugars of five carbon atoms, known as pentoses, present in the natural product. The furans are five-membered heterocyclic ring compounds of this type of formula and numbering systems: The stability of furan derivatives varies depending on the substitutes present in these numbered positions.

STEVES, RICHARD J.; LYNCH, FRANCIS W.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.02880050026005pmid: 20280996

In recent years ringworm of the scalp has assumed a position of considerable importance in the United States. It was formerly unnecessary for most physicians to be familiar with the problem because of the rarity of the epidemic form in this country, but recently epidemics have spread the disease widely throughout the nation. Some forms of ringworm of the scalp spread rapidly, are capable of causing epidemics and are resistant to topical therapy. Because of the increasing number of cases of this type the problem has become one of public health, and protection of the community is as important as treatment of the individual. In 1822 Wilkinson1 recorded an epidemic in England. Cases have since been reported throughout the world, but the greatest incidence of the disease has been in France and in England. In 1843 David Gruby2 described the causative organism of epidemic ringworm and named it

FISHBEIN, MORRIS

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.62880050001006pmid: N/A

CHAPTER 13. The Journal Gains 1885 Almost forty years had passed since the American Medical Association had been organized at Philadelphia. In the intervening period the Johns Hopkins University had been founded; bacteria had been grown on artificial mediums; Alexander Graham Bell had introduced the telephone, for which many doctors' wives would curse him roundly in the years that were to come. The gonococcus was discovered by Neisser in 1879, and Pasteur isolated the streptococcus and the staphylococcus in 1880. Every one of these discoveries was to be reflected within a few years in the discussions of the scientific sections of the American Medical Association. Dr. John Shaw Billings had taken a considerable part in the work of the American Medical Association, particularly in its Section on State Medicine (which we today would call public health). In 1880 John Shaw Billings published the first volume of the Index Catalogue, the

BERRY, WILLIAM H.

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.62880050010007pmid: 20280997

Chylothorax is not a common condition. According to Brescia1 it was first described by Bartolet in 1633. Jahsman2 in a review of the literature extending up to 1942 was able to find only 102 cases. He reported 3 additional cases, bringing the total number to 105. The following are the classifications of chylothorax: (1) traumatic; (2) obstructive or nontraumatic: (a) intraductile obstruction due to new growth, filaria or Hodgkin's disease, and (b) extraductile obstruction due to mediastinal tumors, tuberculous glands or aortic aneurysm; (3) associated diseases such as thrombosis of the subclavian vein, and (4) spontaneous. The presence of a chylothorax is obvious when the pleura is perforated, as in the traumatic cases, but is difficult to explain when it is intact, as in the obstructive cases. The flow through the thoracic duct is only 4 mm. per second, and the pressure at its exit into the vein

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.02880050040008pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.02880050041009pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1001/jama.1947.02880050042010pmid: N/A

For years it has been assumed that the caloric needs of man were well understood. This assumption was based on the work of Rubner, Benedict, Lusk, Du Bois and others who with calorimeters diligently gathered the information needed for the calculation of caloric needs of both individuals and groups. In the recent war opportunities developed for studying large groups of men over extended periods. Individual experiments in the past had often been done under circumstances that left doubts as to the rigor with which the given diet was observed. The war, however, created situations in which whole groups became completely dependent on strictly rationed supplies. Studies made under these conditions have corroborated observations previously made by slow, painstaking calorimetric studies on individuals. Kraut and Muller1 have related the caloric intake of workers to their industrial output. Their observations confirm some accepted beliefs about the human body. The body is