Melvin H. Becker

Effect of Pulsed Low-Power Ultrasound on Growing Tissues

Pulsed ultrasound at 2.25 MHz was delivered by a transducer having an average power output of 1.5 mW to a transplantable mouse lymphosarcoma for 5 min. The transplantability of the tumor was reduced.

Antegonial notching of the mandible: an often overlooked mandibular deformity in congenital and acquired disorders.

Mandibular antegonial notching is a concavity of the undersurface of the body just anterior to the angular process (gonion) seen in congenital and acquired disorders. The notch tends to be longer in the congenital than in the acquired state, and the ascending ramus is at a more obtuse angle to the body.

Orthopaedic defects in familial dysautonomia. A review of sixty-five cases.

Familial dysautonomia is a rare autosomal disorder of the central nervous system characterized by many abnormalities, several of which are important to the orthopaedic surgeon. Sixty-five patients, thirty-seven girls and twenty-eight boys, with this disease were evaluated orthopaedically either by direct contact, questionnaire, or examination of records. The patients ranged in age from nine months to twenty-nine years. The orthopaedic features specifically studied were scoliosis (thirty-nine patients), fractures (nineteen patients), and osteochondritis, in varying sites, in six patients.

Treatment of familial dysautonomia with bethanecol (Urecholine)

The effects of Urecholine have been investigated in six children with familial dysautonomia. There was an increase in eye moisture, a reduction in gastric distension and vomiting, improvement in esophageal motility, and better bladder control. Urecholine may prove an effective therapeutic agent for selected patients with familial dysautonomia.

Dyssegmental dwarfism: A histologic study of osseous and nonosseous cartilage

Dyssegmental dwarfism is probably an autosomal recessive, lethal, generalized chondrodysplasia; it is characterized by anisospondyly , shortening of long bones, and narrow chest. Maturation of chondrocytes at the epiphyseal plates is disturbed. The pathologic features of osseous and nonosseous cartilage in a stillborn female infant with dyssegmental dwarfism are described. The cartilage matrix of tubular bones, vertebrae, ilia , ribs, nose, larynx, and trachea showed acellular areas with accumulation of acid mucopolysaccharides and no increase in collagen fibers. The findings, although not pathognomonic, suggest that this type of dwarfism may be a generalized connective tissue disorder. The abnormal synthesis, structure, or secretion of the components of the cartilaginous matrix may lead to accumulation of acellular material in both skeletal and respiratory tract cartilage.

A New Approach to Testing the Effect of Ultrasound on Tissue Growth and Differentiation

Pulsed ultrasound from a Picker Ultrasonoscopy Model 102, with a frequency of 500 Hz and an energy of 2.2 MHz was applied to the amputated left forelimbs of 24 adult newts. Exposure time was 5 min in half of the animals and 10 min in the remainder. The right forelimbs of these newts were also amputated at the same time, at the same anatomical level, and by the same operator of the left forelimbs, but were not exposed to sonication. Regeneration of both forelimbs was compared and found to be generally slower in the ultrasonicated limb. In 75% there was a definite retardation of growth. The results suggest that the the growth of rapidly proliferating embryonic tissue (newt regenerates are formed from embryonic cells in the stump) is inhibited by ultrasonication.

Ureteroappendiceal fistula in child

Abstract This is a report of a four and a half-year-old child under treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in whom a fistula between the ureter and the appendix spontaneously developed.

Case report 161

Submitted for publication May, 1980 Address reprint requests to: Michael Klein, M.D., Department of Pathology, New York University Medical Center, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA Fig. 1A and B. An anteroposterior roentgenogram of both lower extremities and a lateral film of the left lower extremity show several areas of osteolysis with considerable sclerosis affecting the middle third of the tibial shaft, most prominently in its anterior cortical aspect. Slight but definite anterior bowing of the tibia is noted. A small osteolytic focus is observed on the posteromedial aspect of the fibula, adjacent to the tibial lesion

Ultrasonographic Evaluation of Intraperitoneal CSF Pseudocyst

3 patients with intraperitoneal cerebrospinal fluid pseudocyst occurring as a complication of ventriculoperitoneal shunt procedure are reported. Early utilization of sonography helped establish the di

Osseous Bridges between the Transverse Processes of the Lumbar Spine

Three cases of osseous bridging of lumbar transverse processes are presented with twenty-four other cases reviewed from the available literature. The varying patterns of these bridges are described, and a clinical picture is presented. Pathologically, the condition is one of myositis ossificans with a pseudarthrosis between the spans of the bridge. In the opinion of the authors, most, if not all, of the cases are traumatic in origin.