A. B. De Ulhôa Cintra

Biochemical studies on copper, copper oxidase, magnesium, sulfur, calcium and phosphorus in cancer of the breast

Abstract The authors have determined copper, copper oxidase, magnesium, inorganic sulfur, calcium and inorganic phosphorus contents in the blood serum of 23 women with carcinoma of the breast, as well as copper, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus in the mammary tissues, with normal and cancerous histopathologic diagnosis. The mean values in the blood serum were: copper 228.8 μg/100 ml ± 33.7 instead of the normal value 108.1 μg/100 ml ± 9.7; inorganic sulfur 2.264 mg/100 ml ± 0.243 instead of the normal value 1.222 mg/100 ml ± 0.193; magnesium 2.186 mequiv/l ± 0.179 instead of the normal value 2.087 mequiv/l ± 0.067; copper oxidase, calcium and inorganic phosphorus concentrations fell in the normal range. The mean values in mammary tissues were: copper 761.2 μg/100 g ± 78.3 instead of the normal value 64.9 μg/100 g ± 11.1; phosphorus 50.6 mg/100 g ± 8.7 instead of the normal value 23.5 mg/100 g ± 3.3; magnesium and calcium contents within the normal values. The results suggest that the copper content increases before phosphorus in the cancerous tissue.

ADDISON'S DISEASE ASSOCIATED WITH SOUTH AMERICAN BLASTOMYCOSIS

Excerpt The systemic mycotic diseases as etiologic agents of chronic adrenal insufficiency have been considered in the medical literature. Thus, histoplasmosis,1-5acryptococcosis,2, 6coccidioidomyc...

Electrophoretic patterns of the plasma proteins in diffuse liver necrosis

It is well recognized that changes in electrophoretic patterns of serum or plasma proteins occur in various types of liver diseases.l-l0 To date, however, only a few isolated studies of these proteins have been reported in patients with diffuse hepatic necrosis.s, 9 Systematic attempt has not yet been made to evaluate the results in a large series of proved cases. * We describe in the present paper the electrophoretic pattern of the plasma proteins seen in 10 cases of diffuse liver necrosis in all of which extensive anatomico-pathologic studies of the liver were made. The exact diagnosis of such cases being frequently impossible solely on the bases of the clinical picture and usual tests, we preferred grouping them according to the anatomicopathologic features, considering three criteria: (1) Diffuse or focal, according to the extension of the lesion throughout the liver as a whole. In the present studies we will consider only the diffuse cases. (2) Massive or zonal, according to the extension of the lesion throughout the hepatic lobule.n (3) Fulminant or protracted, according to the approximate duration of the lesions. We based the distinction between fulminant and protracted forms on the absence or presence of regeneration, degree of bile duct proliferation, reticulum collapse, and widening of sinusoids. However, no one of these criteria alone allows a positive judgment concerning the length of the process. In 5 cases (1. A. P., C. C., B. C. M., A. J., and J. A. Q.) the pathologic features were suggestive of a viral etiology, according to the criteria of Lucke and Mallory.13