American journal of diseases of children

BRONSTEIN, I. P.; LUHAN, JOSEPH A.; MAVRELIS, WILLIAM B.

1942 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080003001

Precocity of sexual development, while constituting a relatively small problem in clinical practice, is nevertheless intriguing from the viewpoint of its etiology and pathogenesis. One of us1 has emphasized that, while it is usually recognized that hypergenitalism may result from hypergonadism, hyperplasia or tumorous formation of the adrenal cortex and may be associated with pineal tumors in boys, it is little realized that lesions in the brain without involvement of the pineal gland, and particularly without involvement of the hypothalamus, may produce sexual precocity. Although the mechanism for this remains conjectural, the appreciation that precocious sexuality may be associated with hypothalamic lesions without gross changes in the known endocrine glands and without recognizable evidence of intracranial disease is important. We studied the case of a 22 month old girl exhibiting precocious sexuality, in whom necropsy revealed what was interpreted as an ectopia of brain tissue between the infundibulum and

BROWN, WILLIS E.

1942 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080013002

The discovery of the organism responsible for gonorrheal infection in the genitalia by Neisser in 1879 established for the first time a sound basis for the investigation of genital infections. Soon thereafter it became recognized that some of the genital discharges in prepubertal girls were likewise gonorrheal in origin. This condition in young girls remained a distressing problem for the patients and their mothers, the physicians and the school authorities. Treatment of the condition through the next half-century was entirely symptomatic and empiric and produced little effect. Many therapeutic measures were tried and discarded, but it still required several months to several years to effect a cure in these unfortunate young girls. After the isolation of estrogens by Allen and Doisy,1 the effect of such agents on the genital organs of experimental animals and human subjects was intensively studied. In 1917 Stockard and Papanicolaou2 reported the estrus cycle

ROBINOW, M.

1942 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080021003

The appearance of ossification centers roughly follows a standard time schedule. But irregularities in the time and order of appearance of centers are common enough to make assessment of "skeletal age" by the Todd1 or Flory2 atlases in many cases difficult if not impossible. It was felt that these variations could be better understood if one could demonstrate that there are groups of ossification centers and that it is these groups which show more or less independence in their times of appearance. For instance, if one center of a certain group were retarded, all other centers of that group should also tend to be retarded. Do such groups exist? This can best be answered statistically. A "group" implies mutual relations among variables. It was therefore decided to intercorrelate the ages at which the ossification centers appear. A group of apparently normal, healthy white children is being observed at

ROTHMAN, PHILLIP E.; WIDENER, DEAN C.; DAVISON, WILBURT C.

1942 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080029004

There is an optimal hydrogen ion concentration for the activity of each enzyme, and there are also upper and lower limits of reaction above or below which the enzyme is inactive or is destroyed.1 Enzymes of different origins, even though they act on the same substrate, vary in the hydrogen ion concentration at which they exert their greatest activity.2 In addition to the origin of the enzyme, the optimal reaction is affected by the type of buffer solution,3 the nature of the substrate,4 Chart 1.—Activity of duodenal amylase at ph 4.9 to 8.5. One-tenth cubic centimeter of duodenal contents, diluted 1: 4 with saline solution, was added to 10 cc. of 6 per cent starch suspension buffered with twentieth-molar phosphate solution, and the amylase activity was determined viscometrically at 34 C.8 5 6 7 8 9 Chart 2.—Activity of duodenal amylase at ph

GOLDMAN, LEON

1942 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080033005

In spite of the widespread use of various types of specific prophylactic measures for poison ivy dermatitis, the true value of such treatment still must be proved.1 The problem is especially important for children, because of the frequency of this form of dermatitis among them and the ease of extensive secondary infection when the dermatitis occurs. This report is concerned only with the analysis of the value of the oleoresin extract of poison ivy as a specific prophylactic agent when given by mouth. Chemical prophylactic materials for local use on the skin, such as soap coverings and oxidizing compounds,2 have not been found to be effective for appreciable lengths of time.3 Methods have been suggested for hyposensitizing the skin by local applications of diluted poison ivy antigen, but little work has been done on this subject.4 Of course, the oldest form of specific prophylaxis was the

HIRSCHBERG, NELL

1942 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080040006

The isolation of dysentery bacilli from the stools of children with clinical dysentery or diarrhea has been investigated from several viewpoints. Some authors have been concerned with the elaboration of new methods or mediums, and others, with the separation of the etiologic agents into groups and subgroups. Almost all investigators have noted that the organisms are extremely difficult to isolate in a large percentage of cases, that they die in the stools shortly after passage and that many patients who have clinical dysentery, with mucus and blood in the stools, never have positive cultures. Blacklock and Guthrie1 noted, for example, that it became harder to isolate the dysentery bacilli after the acute stages of the disease had passed, but they had been able to obtain a few positive cultures from the intestinal scrapings taken at autopsy. Carter2 noted that positive cultures were obtained from 50 per cent of

NETER, ERWIN

1942 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080047007

Paratyphoid infections of man in general and those caused by Salmonella group C in particular have not received the attention they deserve. This is due in part to the fact that the identification of Salmonella strains is rather complicated, particularly since the genus is comprised of a large number of species of different antigenic patterns. Furthermore, infections with members of the paratyphoid group cause a variety of different clinical pictures. While it is generally recognized that typhoid-like fever and gastroenteritis may be caused by members of the genus Salmonella, it is sometimes overlooked that these organisms may cause other syndromes, such as septicemia, peritonitis, cholecystitis, appendicitis, osteomyelitis and meningitis. In the following communication I should like to report some bacteriologic and immunologic observations in a case of Salmonella cholerae suis bacteremia complicating scarlet fever. REPORT OF A CASE E. L.,1 a white boy 6½ years old, with a history

THORNHILL, PATTI SILLS; THORNHILL, EDWIN HALE

1942 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080054008

Boeck's sarcoid is a chronic relatively benign disorder of unknown cause with particular predilection for the lymph nodes, lungs, skin and bones; less frequently, there is involvement of the liver, spleen, kidneys, eyes, brain or meninges. It was first described by Boeck1 in 1899 as an entity in which the cutaneous lesions simulated sarcomas and leukemic conditions of the skin. In 1914 Shaumann2 reported that the condition might involve any organ of the body, with or without cutaneous lesions. The disease affects young adults of either sex. Most of the patients reported on have been of the white race, except for the series reported by Longcope and Pierson3 and Harrell,4 in which Negroes predominated. It is rare in children and in them has involved primarily the skin, lymph nodes, lungs and bones. Roos5 described a case of Boeck's sarcoid in a girl, 4 years of

FOUTS, PAUL J.; GARBER, ELIZABETH

1942 American Journal of Diseases of Children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080064009

Macrocytic hyperchromic anemia in infancy is infrequently observed. Faber1 and Bachman2 have reviewed 19 previously reported cases. Langmead and Doniach3 recorded an additional case. Macrocytic hyperchromic anemia in infancy usually is observed in previously healthy infants after an infection of the upper respiratory tract followed by a period of vomiting or diarrhea or both. The patients are noticeably malnourished and fail to gain weight in spite of changes in formulas and addition of various vitamins to the diet. Free hydrochloric acid is nearly always present in the gastric contents, although frequently decreased in amount. Administration of crude liver extract by mouth or injection has frequently been followed by reticulocytosis, rapid rise in the number of red blood cells and gain in weight. Anemia does not recur after it has once been relieved. Because of the comparative rarity of this type of anemia, the case of a child

LEVINE, S. Z.; GORDON, H. H.

1942 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1942.02010080068010

The newly born infant must make a number of physiologic adjustments in transit from a parasitic intrauterine to an independent extrauterine existence. The infant who is born at term is usually able to make these adjustments successfully, and in consequence his chances of survival are good. On the other hand, the physiologic immaturity of the prematurely born infant renders his organism less well equipped to cope with the external hazards encountered at birth, with the result that his capacity for satisfactory adaptation is low and his neonatal mortality correspondingly high. It is estimated that of the 2,000,000 full term babies born each year in the United States 95 or 96 of every 100 reach their first birthday, whereas not more than 65 or 70 of every 100 of the 100,000 premature babies born annually survive their first year. The importance of prematurity as a cause of death in the newborn