BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL 8 MARCH 1975 553 fetal breathing movements; but further control studies will have to be done to exclude the possibility of the degree of inhalation varying with the type of cigarette.Cigarette smoking in pregnancy is suspected of being detrimental to the fetus. Statistical surveys have shown that the babies are smaller at birth (Butler et al., 1972) and suggested an increase in prematurity and perinatal mortality. It is not easy to relate our observations on the acute effects of smoking two cigarettes to the long-term epidemiological reports. Nevertheless, physiological factors such as hypoxia and hypoglycaemia, which might be expected to have a detrimental effect on the fetus, also reduce the normal incidence of fetal breathing movements in animals and man (Boddy and Dawes, 1975; Boddy et al., 1975). Whether the similar effect of cigarette smoking is to be interpreted in the same way is as yet a matter for conjecture. The size of the transient change observed (see fig.) was less than the normal diurnal variation in the incidence of fetal breathing.We make this report because clinical physiologists and obstetricians in several countries are beginning to use fetal breathing movements as an index of health. These observations are best made some hours after the last cigarette has been smoked to exclude the acute effects of this variable.This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the Medical Research Council. We thank Professors G. S. Dawes and Alec Turnbull for their help, the consulting staff of the department of obstetrics for access to their patients, the nursing staff, and the subjects. who volunteered for the study.

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We report a case of a 2 year-old boy who initially presented with macrocephaly and severe global developmental delay. Imaging revealed a large left temporo-parietal mass that was lobulated, calcified, focally enhancing and partially cystic. A second surgery was required for tumor recurrence approximately one year later, and tissue from that resection proved to be diagnostic for an embryonal tumor with abundant neuropil and true rosettes (ETANTR). Only 12 cases of this rare pediatric embryonal tumor have been previously documented, and as of 2000, the WHO has not recognized ETANTR as a distinct entity (Kleihues P, Cavenee WK (2000) International agency for research on cancer: pathology and genetics of tumors of the nervous system. IARC Press, Lyon). As opposed to prior cases, our patient's tumor exhibited extensive neurocytic elements. Two recently described cases were examined via fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), with one demonstrating isochromosome 17q (i17q) and the second exhibiting polysomies of chromosomes 2, 8, 17 and 22 (Fuller C, Fouladi M, Gajjar A, Dalton J, Sanford RA, Helton KJ (2000) Am J Clin Pathol 126: 277-283). Via FISH analysis, we found normal dosages of chromosomes 2, 8 and 17. Our case expands the histopathologic spectrum of ETANTR, illustrating marked neuronal differentiation towards neurocytes. The lack of common PNET-associated FISH abnormalities in this case adds to the limited cytogenetic genetic data on this rare pediatric embryonal neoplasm.

Seventy, 1-day-old ducklings inoculated intraperitoneally with duck hepatitis B virus and 30 controls have been studied over a 2-year period. Infection with duck hepatitis B virus occurred in all inoculated ducks, although this was not associated with clinical morbidity. Duck hepatitis B virus DNA was first detected in liver on Day 3, in pancreatic acinar cells on Day 4, serum on Day 6, splenic red and white pulp on Day 7 and in the renal glomurulus on Day 14, using a combination of dot, Southern blot and in situ hybridization techniques. Peak levels of circulating virus, as determined by DNA polymerase levels, occurred 1 to 4 weeks postinoculation. Mild degrees of portal inflammation were seen in sections of liver tissue in both infected and control ducks. However, moderately severe inflammatory changes were present in 8 of 22 infected birds compared with 0 of 18 controls (p less than 0.025). Appearance of this inflammatory infiltrate 6 weeks postinoculation coincided with a decrease in levels of duck hepatitis B virus DNA in hepatocytes and within the pancreatic acinar cells. At the same time, duck hepatitis B virus DNA became increasingly localized to the splenic germinal centers, and viral DNA was first detected in pancreatic islet cells. No histological changes accompanied the extra-hepatic tissue infection. The sequence and significance of duck hepatitis B virus infection in liver and extra-hepatic tissues is discussed in relation to the pathogenesis of hepatitis B virus infection in man.