Volume 60 · Issue 05 · 1941

It is well known that the human organism is not able to synthesize vitamin C. Whatever store of the vitamin there is in the body is derived from the food, mainly vegetables and fruits. Poverty and ignorance preclude close attention by the common people to the choice of vegeLables and fruits from the standpoint of vitamin C intake. Further difficulties may arise from the depreciation of the vitamin C content of vegetables through storage, cooking, etc. These circumstances are mainly responsibIe for the widespread subclinical vitamin C deficiency among the population in this city as observed in the winter of 1938-1939 (1). Since the vegetables and fruits consumed throughout the year are of different kinds, and the concentration of vitamin C in certain vegetables and fruits varies with the season and the duration of storage, it is natural to surmise that the vitamin C intake throughout the year will also vary. The purpose of the present communication is to study how the plasma vitamin C varies with the season.

Workers engaged in the treatment of fractures now generally agree that open internal fixation shouId no longer be considered merely as a procedure supplementary to the long established and well recognized closed manipulative or instrumental methods of reduction. For fractures of the patella, the oleocranon prcoess, the femoral neck and both bones of the forearm, as well as for fresh compound fractures and simple fractures with soft tissue interposition, open internalfixation has been accepted as the only sure method of securing union with good alignment and satisfactory function. The success attending open internal fixation in dealing with the above mentioned fractures led a number of workers, notably Sherman, Darrach and Murray, to advocate the treatment of simple fractures of the shaft bones in adult patients in a similar manner. The results secured by these workers during the past ten years have been sufficiently gratifying to appear to justify their radicalism and the continuation of the method (1, 2, 3).

Atrophic rhinitis is a well-recognized condition which has been observed since antiquity yet little is known concerning its etiology, and the results of treatment remain unsatisfactory. With recent advances in endocrinology, certain interesting suggestions as to the application of hormonal therapy to the alleviation of this condition have been made. A good review of our knowledge of the interrelationship of the nose and the genital organs was recently published by Eagle, Baker and Hamblen (1). This nasogenital relationship was first extensively discussed by Mackenzie in 1884. Since then the various phenomena observed in the nose in association with certain physiologic and pathologic conditions in women have been studied more carefulIy.

Since Looss (1896) first described Haplorchis pumilio from Egypt, five additional species have been known for the genus. The latter has a wide geographical distribution, but is apparently limited to tropical and sub-tropical climates.

Cyst of the semilunar cartilage of the knee was first reported by Ebner (1) in 1901 under the title of "a case of ganglion of the meniscus of the knee". Nineteen years later two cases were described by Phemister (2). In 1933, CoIonna (3) reported a case of cyst involving the internal semilunar cartiIage and stated that a review of the literature had disclosed only 10 cases of cyst involving the internal, and about 50 cases of cyst involving the external semilunar cartilage. The number of cases reported in the literature has been growing rapidly since that time and recently Willard and Nicholson (4) collected 230 cases (30 of the internal and 200 of the external semilunar cartilage) The following case is apparently the first instance of this condition to be recorded from China.

Family periodic paralysis is a rare condition and has never been reported in the Chinese literature. However, in a period of 18 years (from 1922 to 1940) we have observed here in the Peiping Union Medical College Hospital 11 such cases, 7 being inpatients and 4 being outpatients.

Despite the high frequency in China of diphtheria infections of the upper respiratory tract, not a single case has yet been reported of cutaneous diphtheria. This fact may well be understood, if one considers the banality of clinical manifestations, which are caused by the bacilli. On the other hand, little importance has been stressed on the disease in the past, on account of its rare occurrence, and further-more, because one seldom observes the typical false membrane-type disease on the skin. Moreover, it should be emphasized that the occurrence of a great many varieties makes it even more difficult to recognize at first glance the true nature of the disease. It is however of paramount importance, especially from an epidemiological point of view, to suspect cutaneousdiphtheria whenever a pustular, eczematous, ulcerative process does not yield to the ordinary treatment, and when these lesions show a preference to certain localization or to the combinations of predilections.

Since the introduction of sulfapyridine for the treatment of pneumonia and other acute infections urinary calculi of acetyl-sulfapyridine have been frequently observed in both experimental animals (1,4,14) and human patients (2,3,6,8,9,10,11,12,15).

Endometriosis is a well established clinical entity and has been frequently reported. The aberrant endometrium has been found in the ovary, uterine muscle, cervix, posterior culdesac, vaginal septum, rectum, bladder wall, fallopian tube, cardinal uterine ligaments, umbilicus, laparotomy scar, inguinal lymph gland, labium majus, small and large intestines, and vermiform appendix (4). In some cases the aberrant endometrium may occur as an isolated area of microscopic size, with no symptoms caused by its presence (9, 12). In others, its distribution in the pelvis may be extensive, giving rise to serious clinical manifestations (9).

Since the favourable report of Dees and Colston upon the use of Sulfanilamide in gonococcal infections, reports of the successful use of this drug have appeared. The results vary from 35% success reported by Potter; to 40% by Johnson & Pepper, and 90% by Crean.

Cholera in Central China is of vital importance as in each of the two summers in 1938 and 1939 we could observe how the epidemic, first manifesting itself in the Yuan River valley of Hunan Province already during the cold season, subsequently spread along both land and water routes of communication to adjacent provinces. This mode of infection, together with the fact that cholera existed in certain centres of the Yuan River basin for a considerable time and practically the whole year round, leading to local outbreaks in winter as well as in summer, makes it highly probable that the disease is endemic in these parts.