A 2-month-old infant presented with vomiting, lethargy and pancytopaenia. She was found to have propionic acidaemia, and the activity of propionyl-CoA carboxylase in cultured fibroblasts was defective (McKusick 23200). Abnormal amounts of glycine, 3-hydroxypropionate, methylcitrate, tiglyglycine, propionylglycine, 2-methylacetoacetate, 2-methyl-3-hydroxybutyrate, 3-oxovalerate and 3-hydroxyvalerate were found in body fluids. It appears that the organic acidaemia leads to an inhibition in the maturation of cells in the bone marrow.

VENTRICULAR tachycardia in infancy and childhood is rare. Review of the English literature for the past 35 years discloses only 25 examples in patients under 15 years of age. Only three of these occurred in the first year of life. This report concerns a case of ventricular tachycardia in an infant with cyanotic congenital heart disease and successful treatment of the problem with procainamide and diphenylhydantoin.

No abstract

Several orally administered beef spleen preparations were evaluated for their effect on platelet and leukocyte counts of rats. In some studies, cow spleen exerted a definite though variable count lowering activity. Further studies yielded less dramatic or negative results. Pooled beef spleen, whole or crudely fractionated, had no demonstrable effect on the blood counts. Other variables, including temperature, feeding methods, seasonal factors, and animal housing did not appear significant. No consistent, predictable effect of beef spleen feedings could be demonstrated under the various conditions tested.