Multifocal Polypoid Endometriosis Presenting as Huge Pelvic Masses Causing Deep Vein Thrombosis

We describe a case of multifocal polypoid endometriosis presenting with advanced bulky disease at a variety of pelvic sites. The extent of tumor and clinical features such as vaginal bleeding and pulmonary embolus were suggestive of a malignant process. Histopathology demonstrated glands that were neither crowded nor complex, with intervening fibromatous stroma that contained occasional endometrial stromal cells. These features were consistent with the newly described condition of polypoid endometriosis. Despite the endometrioid appearance of this tumor, there was florid ciliary cell change. An association has been suggested between polypoid endometriosis and prior tamoxifen use, although this patient had no history of prior hormone use.

Spectral characterization of ciliary beating: variations of frequency with time

Ciliary beating frequency in tissue culture from frog palate and isolated lung was optically examined using instrumentation that was adjusted to measure a fraction of the surface area of a single ciliary cell. Consecutive 1-s segments of the analogue signal were fast Fourier transformed (FFT) to obtain a power spectrum. At room temperature, these power spectra changed over time from 1 s to the next. Each spectrum contained several dominant frequencies of similar intensities. Cooling the preparation resulted in a single-peak spectrum that was constant over time. A mathematical model is proposed to simulate these findings. The results and the mathematical model support the hypothesis that ciliary beating frequency fluctuates over short periods of time.

Studies on the biology ofProtopolystoma xenopodis(Monogenoidea): the oncomiracidium and life-cycle

Protopolystoma xenopodis(Price, 1943) Bychowsky, 1957 is a parasite of the African clawed toads, species ofXenopus. Adult worms in the host's urinary bladder produce up to 15 eggs/24 h; these are voided with the urine and hatch after 20–24 days (at 26 °C). The swimming oncomiracidia enter the cloaca of the toad and travel via the urinary ducts to the kidneys. Larval development in the kidneys lasts 8–12 weeks (at 22 °C) and the juvenile parasites then migrate to the urinary bladder where maturity is reached after a further 3–4 weeks,i.e. 3–4 months after invasion. Egg production is continuous and parasite longevity has been found to exceed1½ years. Rarely, the adult worms may undertake a return migration from bladder to kidneys.The morphology of the oncomiracidium is described and compared with available accounts of other polystomatid genera. Consideration of data for the genusPolystomasuggests that the arrangement of the epidermal ciliary cells is relatively constant at the inter-specific level. Comparison ofProtopolystomawithPolystoma,DiplorchisandOculotremareveals that whilst the ciliary cell patterns are clearly related there are important differences in both cell number and disposition at the inter-generic level. Differences are also evident in the distribution of epidermal sensillae inProtopolystomaandPolystoma.Protopolystomais distinguished from all other polystomatids infecting anuran hosts by the presence of two pairs of haptoral hamuli.

Proprioception by the Coxo-Basal Chordotonal Organ, CB, in Legs of the Crab, Carcinus Maenas

1. The chordotonal organ, CB, spanning the coxo-basal joint in walking legs of the crab, not being attached to a muscle tendon like the receptors of the more distal joints, is stretched during extension of the joint (i.e. limb depression) and relaxes during flexion (elevation). 2. Afferent impulses have been recorded extracellularly from whole sensory nerves of CB, and from fibres isolated from it: (a) during passive movement of the coxo-basal joint, with CB in situ in a preparation containing no other joints, and (b) during stretching and releasing of the excised receptor strand. 3. Unidirectional movement fibres and unidirectional position fibres for both directions were recorded. Thus, of the afferents responding primarily during movement, with a constant frequency for steady movement over the whole joint arc, some responded only during extension (or stretch of receptor), others only during flexion (release). Similarly, distinct fibres responded tonically in the extended positions of the joint (stretched), and others in the flexed (relaxed) positions. 4. Fibres intermediate between true movement and true position fibres, and phasic movement--or ‘acceleration’-- fibres, were also observed. 5. Since the scolopidia of CB are isodynal, with only ciliary-type distal processes (Whitear, 1962), the simple hypothesis that the ciliary cell responds solely to relaxation of the receptor strand--and the paraciliary cell to stretch--is now untenable. Alternative hypotheses on the mechanism of activation of crab chordotonal organs, and on the function of CB in the intact animal, are discussed.