Roscoe C. Young

FAMILIAL SARCOIDOSIS WITH MULTIPLE OCCURRENCES IN ELEVEN FAMILIES: A POSSIBLE MECHANISM OF INHERITANCE

Among 80 Black patients with sarcoidosis, 11 families were identified as containing multiple cases. Monogenic modes of inheritance were reasonably excluded by informal inspection of pedigree patterns and by poor fit of corrected ratios within sibships to the expected ratio for all sibships at risk. The observed familial distribution conforms in several respects to properties that are descriptive of multigenic traits. Additionally, heritability based only on female probands was estimated to be between 60% and 70%. A larger sample size should permit analysis of additional multigenic properties.

The tuberculin test in pregnancy

Abstract Of 2,357 Negro females tested for tuberculosis during the prenatal period, 9.6 per cent of them had positive reactions (a figure substantially less than that quoted for the general population of the District of Columbia). Except for two known inactive cases of reinfection type tuberculosis, no new pulmonary lesions of this type were found on subsequent x-ray. These results compare favorably with earlier investigations. In a limited study, variation in the amount of tuberculin reaction in women in the pregnant and nonpregnant states appeared to parallel the fluctuations found in nonpregnant individuals. Tuberculin testing of pregnant women is still a valid and most feasible method of case finding and should be continued as long as the incidence of positive reactors indicates a significant reservoir of preinfection. Our findings over a 6 year span suggest a decrease in the the number of pregnant women who were at some time infected by tuberculosis.

Verofylline, a methylxanthine bronchodilator, in asthma

Verofylline, a long‐acting polysubstituted methylxanthine bronchodilator, was taken orally by eight adult patients with asthma in a double‐blind, crossover tolerance study. Peak expiratory flow, forced vital capacity, and its subdivisions were measured weekly 2,4, and 6 hr after oral dosing with drug or placebo. Peak drug activity developed between 4 and 6 hr after dosing. Subject tolerance was good at the doses used. Dose‐response curves for mean forced expiratory volume in one second, peak expiratory flow rate, and forced expiratory flow at the end of 4 hr were greater after 0.05 mg/kg verofylline than after placebo or higher doses of verofylline. Mean percent change in forced vital capacity remained increased as long as 6 hr after 0.15 mg/kg active drug. Verofylline was not very effective as a bronchodilator at the doses used.