Four cases of absent pulmonary valve in combination with ventricular septal defect are reported. In this syndrome hypo- and dysplasia of the pulmonary valve is constantly associated with a big ventricular septal defect, formation of a huge pulmonary artery aneurysm and absence of the ductus arteriosus. Presence or absence of a right ventricular outflow tract obstruction is the criteria for classification into two forms. Absence of the pulmonary valve, right ventricular outflow tract obstruction and a malalignment-type ventricular septal defect produced by a conotruncal malseptation process represent the primary complex of malformations. Consecutive intrauterine cardiac failure is most probably prevented by prenatal closure of the ductus arteriosus. Pulmonary artery aneurysm and also dilatation of the right ventricular outflow tract as well as a whole lot of other coexisting deformities can be explained by a cascade of hemodynamical sequelae started by this ductus closure in utero. An embryological scheme explaining the genesis of this syndrome is derived from a morphological analysis of the constituting incoherent-appearing anatomical features.

This paper reports on the specificity of the Lugol's iodine staining technique for the detection of vaginal epithelial cells on penile swabs. Air-dried swabs taken from the glans of the penis of 153 hospital patients and from 50 healthy volunteers, whose last sexual intercourse had taken place at least 5 days previously, were stained with Lugol's solution. Glycogenated cells were found in more than 50% of the cases studied, even in healthy volunteers without urethritis. In almost all of these cases the smear contained at least a few polygonal nucleated epithelial cells showing an unequivocal positive Lugol reaction. These cells cannot be distinguished from superficial or intermediate vaginal cells, by cytomorphology or staining. Urinary tract infections had no influence on the glycogen content of male squamous epithelial cells. On the basis of these results the Lugol's method can no longer be assumed to prove the presence of vaginal cells in penile swabs.

Diatoms in the bone marrow (femur) of 16 nondrowned bodies were detected by a modern method of ultrafiltration. The rate of diatoms were found to be in the same range as in cases of drowning. The results deny the proof of diatoms even in bone marrow to be useful any longer for the diagnosis of death from drowning.

This study presents findings from a series of investigations on the presence of glycogenated epithelium in the male urinary tract and on the penile surface in order to assess the forensic value of the Lugol's method for the identification of vaginal cells. Direct smears obtained from the urethral opening, glans penis, and penile shaft, along with post-mortem samples of the fossa navicularis, and histological sections of the penis were examined. The presence of polygonal, glycogenated, Lugol-positive epithelium cells in the male urinary tract was found to be common. Our results suggest that these cells originate from the fossa navicularis. Because of the possibility of exfoliation of glycogenated male cells and transfer to the penile surface a Lugol-positive reaction in epithelial cells on penile swabs can no longer be assumed to prove the presence of vaginal cells.