Lysosomal Enzyme Activities in Platelets of Normal Individuals and of Patients with Gaucher’s Disease

Five platelet lysosomal enzyme activities were estimated in 22 normal individuals and in 5 patients with Gaucher’s disease: ß-D-galactosidase, N-Acetyl-ß-D-glucosa-minidase, N-Acetyl-ß-D-galactosaminidase acid-phosphatase, and ß-D-glucuronidase.

In the 5 patients with Gaucher’s disease the specific activities for the first four of these enzymes were significantly higher than in normal individuals. The activity of acid-phosphatase, on the other hand, was lower in G. d. than in normals. The release of the 5 lysosomal enzymes from platelets upon incubation with thrombin was also examined in the same two groups. The only lysosomal enzyme that was not released from normal platelets was acid-phosphatase. In Gaucher’s patients, on the other hand, acid-phosphatase was invariably released from platelets when incubated with thrombin. The release of the other four enzymes from platelets of Gaucher patients was similar to that of normal controls.

The scope and safety of short-stay surgery in the treatment of groin herniae and varicose veins. A report on 705 cases

Between 1948 and 1968 the number of surgical patients treated in England and Wales increased by 38·6 per cent. In 1968, 267, 300 more surgical patients were admitted to hospital than in 1948. During the same period of time the increase in the number of beds was less than 1 per cent.

Faced with a steadily growing demand to treat patients suffering from cancer and other serious diseases it is difficult to find the beds and the operating time to treat patients with hernia and varicosa veins. Even so the operating performed on patients suffering from these two complaints amount to nearly one-third of all the operatons performed annually. There are 231 other operations in general surgery.

As a result the average time patients with ruptures and variocse veins languish on hospital waiting lists is up to 2 years, and ofter for longer than that.

At the present time in England and Wales the average time a patient stays in hospital after a herniorrhaphy or an operation for varicose veins is 10·5 days. This is an expensive waste of beds; 75 per cent of all patients can safely be sent home 48 hours after both these types of operatun. The number of patients who develop an acute postoperative comlication and cannote go home is only 5·4 per cent and the number who need readmission for a delayed complication is less than 1 per cent.

Being discharged home 48 hours after having their hernia reparied or thier varicose veins operated on is popular both with the great majority of patients and also with their relatives. Moreover it is accepted by the general practitioners concerned. Proceeding in this way the time such patients have to wait for their operation is reduced to an average of 3–6 months.

It is important to realize, however, that short-stay surgery will increase the total number of operations performed each year. They are additional operations and, as such, need extra theartre time and extra theatre staff, otherwise they cancnote be done.

The present series of 705 cases could note have been operated on if an additional theartre and staff had not been provided.

Nucleoprotein complexes in simian virus 40-infected cells

When African green monkey kidney cells (BSC-1) were infected with simian virus 40 (SV40) and extracted with 0.25% Triton X-100 after exposure to (3)H-thymidine, the (3)H-SV40 deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was present in a form which had a sedimentation coefficient in sucrose gradients of 44S. The change from the sedimentation coefficient of purified SV40 DNA (21S) was shown to result from the association of the SV40 DNA in the Triton extracts with protein by means of sensitivity to Pronase digestion and labeling with (14)C-amino acids. Short-term labeling experiments with (3)H-thymidine demonstrated that SV40 DNA molecules in the course of replication (25S) were also present as nucleoprotein complexes in Triton-extracted material. Labeled DNA extracted with Triton in the form of nucleoprotein complexes was obtained in amounts which were quantitatively equivalent to the amounts extracted with deoxycholate in parallel experiments. This indicated that the newly synthesized pools of SV40 DNA may not occur as free DNA in the infected cell.