Beta-mannosidase deficiency: heterogeneous manifestation in the first female patient and her brother

beta-Mannosidase deficiency was demonstrated in fibroblasts of a girl who showed severe psychomotor retardation, bone deformities and gargoylism and recurrent skin and respiratory infections and who died at 20 years of age from bronchopneumonia. This first demonstration of a female patient confirms the autosomal recessive inheritance of beta-mannosidosis. Further investigation of this gypsy family revealed beta-mannosidosis in an older brother with a milder manifestation of gargoyl facial dysmorphology, mental retardation, hearing impairment and recurrent infections. beta-Mannosidase activity was completely deficient in his cultured skin fibroblasts, leukocytes and plasma. In urine a characteristic disaccharide was present. Heterozygote levels of beta-mannosidase were found in fibroblasts and/or plasma of the parents and one sister.

Studies on the mechanism of benzene toxicity

Using the 59Fe uptake method of Lee et al. it was shown that erythropoiesis in female mice was inhibited following IP administration of benzene, hydroquinone, p-benzoquinone, and muconaldehyde. Toluene protected against the effects of benzene. Coadministration of phenol plus either hydroquinone or catechol resulted in greatly increased toxicity. The combination of metabolites most effective in reducing iron uptake was hydroquinone plus muconaldehyde. We have also shown that treating animals with benzene leads to the formation of adducts of bone marrow DNA as measured by the 32P-postlabeling technique.

Efficacy of gastric emptying: gastric lavage versus emesis induced with ipecac

A prospective study was done to compare the efficacy of gastric emptying achieved by gastric lavage (GL) with that of ipecac-induced emesis (IE) in victims of drug overdose. Thiamine was used as a marker of recovery in gastric samples, as measured by ion exchange/ion pair high-performance liquid chromatography. There were 51 patients in the IE group and 37 in the GL group. GL produced a higher mean per cent recovery of thiamine than did IE (90% +/- 34% compared with 50% +/- 35%). There was a significant difference between the two groups (P less than .001). Recovery of thiamine was more than 70% in 28% of the IE patients, and exceeded 70% in 75% of GL patients. When gastric emptying is desired for management of the adult overdose victim, the use of GL maximizes the chance of recovering unabsorbed liquid drugs from the stomach.