Acute isolated tuberculous appendicitis

Non-pulmonary tuberculosis is found with different frequencies in different countries of the world. It is said to constitute about 4% of all tuberculosis cases in Poland, about 25% in England and Wales and about 17% in the USA. It seems that these differences are the result of differences in rates of diagnosis and registration of new tuberculosis cases. This in turn is influenced by public health funding in the individual countries. In this work, we present a case of acute, isolated, tuberculous inflammation of the appendix. We call attention to the fact that pre-operative diagnosis is practically impossible. Clinical symptoms do not point to inflammatory changes. Only surgical evaluation, and especially the result of histopathological examination make it to possible to establish the final diagnosis to initiation of anti-tuberculous treatment.

[Neurological picture and selected diagnostic indices of vitamin b12 malabsorption syndrome]

Funicular myelosis is considered to be the main neurological syndrome in vitamin B12 deficiency. However, many authors tend to think that sensory neuropathy is the most common neurological manifestation of vitamin B12 deficiency. The aim of this paper was to assess neurological condition of patients with vitamin B12 malabsorption. The absorption of vitamin B-12 was assessed by Schilling's test. Patients with abnormal results of this test underwent neurological and medical examinations as well as series of accessory investigations. 16 cases of deficient vitamin B12 absorption accompanied by neurological symptoms were presented. The results of the investigation showed that the most common clinical manifestation of vitamin B12 deficiency was sensory neuropathy. In over 93% of described cases pathologic changes in gastric mucous membrane were found.

Structural studies of the lipopolysaccharide from Salmonella typhimurium 902 (ColIb drd2)

Salmonella typhimurium infected with the plasmid ColIb drd2 gave rise to changes in the composition of the bacterial lipopolysaccharide. Bacteria carrying the wild-type ColIb, the revertant of drd2 to the wild type, or the noncolicinogenic strain resulting from the elimination of ColIb drd2, showed no changes in the sugar composition of the lipopolysaccharide. The structure of the O-specific side chains of the lipopolysaccharide produced by S. typhimurium 902, infected with derepressed ColIb mutants has been investigated. As a result of these studies, it is proposed that the O-specific side chains are composed of chemical repeating units with the following structure: (formula: see text).