Volume 60 · Issue 04 · 1941

Survey was made in Kunming, Yunnan from October, 1938 to July, 1939. Since it was impossible to undertake field work among the whole population, observation was limited to a strictly limited number of persons who went to hospitals for medical advice. Therefore the following note only gives a general picture of this disease as observed in Kunming.

Amoebic liver abscess is mainly a disease of adult. Its occurrence in infant is a rarity. In reviewing the available literature (1-5), the youngest patient recorded was a child of two years old (2). The case presented here is a patient who contracted amoebic liver abscess at the seventh month of life. The condition was not suspected in such a young subject, so the exact diagnosis was not made until the second operation.

Because of the large number of people being involved in the epidemic prevailing in September 1940 in Shanghai, because of the unknown etiology and mode of transmission, and because of the confusion in the nomenclature of the disease which has been frequently named "Shanghai Fever" that simply indicates our ignorance, that epidemic has aroused considerable medical interest.

Since the epituberculous type of pulmonary tuberculosis was first reported from this hospital in 1930 (1), an attempt has been made to examine cases of extensive pulmonary tuberculous infiltration at frequent intervals particularly with regard to the general state of nutrition, physical findings in the chest and roentgenological changes of the pulmonary lesion. Altogether about twenty cases were encountered. Some of them were impossible to follow on account of change of address. In eight cases there had been a complete resolution of the infiltration in a period of about one and one-half to seven and one-half years. In view of the scarcity of reports of prolonged follow-up studies in the literature, the histories of these eight patients are here-with presented. Those of the two patients with fatal termination and that of one patient with a partially resolved infiltration were appended for the sake of comparison and discussion. The important findings in the eight cases with complete resolution are summarized in Table 1.

This report deals with further observations on subcutaneou nodules of the juxta-articular type in syphilitic individuals. In 1933 we reported on five such cases (1). Since then 26 patients have been studied. It was felt that a statistical analysis of these 31 cases would be of some interest. With this larger experience, points brought out in the earlier report are confirmed while new findings are added.

A recent paper in this Journal (1) described the clinical features of an outbreak of scurvy occurring among flood refugees in Tsinan. The present paper reports the laboratory studies in this same group of 132 patients, 41 in-patients and 91 out-patients. Differences observed between in-patient and out-patient groups frequently reflect the policy employed of admitting to the hospital all the seriously ill patients. The records of urinary ascorbic acid output before and after treatment are described in a later paper.

Traumatic sprain and strain are common injuries giving rise to symptoms which often are most distressing. During the acute stage, as in the case of sprain of the ankle or back, the pain may be so excruciating that even the administration of sedatives along with various methods of immobilization may fail to give relief. Mental anxiety as well as physicaI suffering often is present and the economic loss incurred during and after treatment may be disastrous in wage-earning individuals. Rational treatment, therefore, must aim at prompt relief of pain, early return of function and freedom from residual disability. To secure these ends it must be based on a correct concepLion of the pathological physiology of the injured tissues.

The transfusion of blood from blood banks, or reservoirs of preserved blood, has become increasingly popular within recent years. A review of the recent literature on the preservation of human blood (Yu, 1940) revealed the fact that all efforts were aimed at the preservation of erythrocytes and the prevention of hemolysis. Whether or not the physiological functions of the erythrocytes and leucocytes are sufficiently preserved with the existing methods is still debatable.

Lissauer's type of general paresis is an uncommon affection. Among the sixty-six cases of general paresis admitted to the P.U.M.C. Hospital in the last twenty years, only four belong to Lissauer's type. Equally uncommon is hereditary deforming chondrodysplasia.

Like many other surgical procedures, tracheotomy in infants and young children is not immune from technical pitfalls which lie in wait for the inexperienced and unwary. Yet it is a life-saving procedure, the indications for which, if present, are always urgent. When performed successfully, this operation relieves promptly the imminent threat of suffocation, but to achieve success under such circumstances requires thorough preliminary knoWledge both of the operative procedure and of the methods by which to combat the various technical difficulties which may arise. Generally speaking, the more dyspnoeic and cyanotic the patient, the more rapidly should the operation be done, and the younger the patient the more difficult does the operation become.

Some medical colleges in this country have the salutary practice of assembling the staff and students together on the first Sunday of each academic year for the purpose of dedicating themselves and their work to the lofty services of a nobIe profession. In a world distraught with selfishness and materialism, it behoves the members of the medical profession to be constantly reminded of their responsible tasks and humanitarian mission. It is, therefore, fitting to learn from time to time the message which a non-medical man may have to offer us in order to be able to see ourselves as others see us.