Samuel T. Giammona

Effect of Chronic Exposure to Ultrasonic Aerosols on the Lung

Exposure for six hours to aerosols produced by ultrasonic nebulizers has been shown not to affect adversely the lungs of experimental animals. In order to evaluate the effects of long term exposure, 16 puppies were exposed to ultrasonic aerosols of normal saline solution or distilled water for 72 hours. Pathological changes compatible with severe bronchopneumonia were seen in all 8 animals exposed to saline; only 2 puppies exposed to distilled water had obvious pulmonary lesions. No significant alteration in pulmonary surfactant activity or deflation pressure volume curves were demonstrated. We conclude that continuous wetting of the lung with a high output of ultrasonic aerosol may be deleterious when used for prolonged periods. The exact time necessary to produce these lesions with various fluids remains to be determined. It seems reasonable to speculate, however, that the more hypertonic the fluid the more rapidly these lesions will develop.

Annual Review of Medicine: Volume 9.

This is the ninth volume of the Review , and like its predecessors it remains an excellent authoritative survey of medical progress in many diversified fields of medicine. Each of the 28 chapters is edited by distinguished men in their respective fields who attempt to briefly review appropriate publications on the subject covering the interval since the last Review to July, 1957 The wealth of articles analyzed precludes the editors from writing more than a few sentences relating the article to the general topic being reviewed. For example, the section on cancer by Charles Gordon Zubrod, M. D., is covered in 10 pages and quite clearly and concisely covers recent studies of neoplastic diseases. However, in order to bring out the highlights of progress in the entire field of cancer, Dr. Zubrod reviews 220 publications, which necessitates limiting the amount of comment for each article. The editorial evaluations of the progress

Recent Advances in Paediatrics.

The authors who contribute to this book are distinguished scientists from America and Great Britain who propose to review the advances and lack of advances in certain fields essential to the further development of pediatrics. In order to cover subjects in greater detail than was present in the first edition of this volume in 1945, the chapters are reduced to thirteen, covering circulatory changes at birth, hematology of infants, jaundice in the newborn, physical growth, hypothyroidism, spina bifida cystica, hydrocephalus of infancy, the nephrotic syndrome, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, the deaf child, and pyogenic osteitis. Each chapter reviews the recent advance of authors throughout the world with excellent references available in each field. The authors attempt to correlate the diversified findings and assemble them in a manner which clearly differentiates established facts from proposed hypothesis. One who has not been able to keep abreast of current developments in the above-mentioned fields