Dietary fibers such as psyllium and guar gum have been shown to delay the gastric emptying of liquids and solids, presumably due to an increase in meal viscosity. For liquid test meals containing fats, delayed gastric emptying is associated with a reversal of the usual antral-to-duodenal contractile gradient. The present studies were performed to determine whether the gastric emptying of increasingly viscous psyllium and guar gum meals was associated with antroduodenal motility changes. Dogs were surgically fitted with mid-duodenal cannulas for the measurement of gastric emptying. Strain-gauge force transducers were used to monitor antral and duodenal contractile responses to the test meals. Low-viscosity fiber meals emptied from the stomach rapidly (E 1/2 approximately 10 min) compared with the high-viscosity meals (E 1/2 approximately 40 min). None of the test meals stimulated antral or duodenal motility despite differences in gastric emptying time. Other motor parameters such as the time of reappearance and the duration of the burst interval were also unchanged. We conclude a) as test meals' fiber content and viscosity increase, gastric emptying is slowed; and b) viscosity-related delays in gastric emptying are not due to an effect on postprandial antroduodenal motility.

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Infiltration of various organs, notably the lung, has been recognized as an allergic manifestation since Loeffler (1932) One of the most complete and recently recorded cases is that of a male patient aged 55, described by Ruzic, Dorsey, Huber and Armstrong (I952). This patient suffered from a pyrexial illness associated with asthma. He complained of lower abdominal tenderness and his blood picture revealed eosinophilia. A barium meal examination revealed a filling defect of the lesser curvature of the stomach. Chest X-rays showed apical thickening suggestive of tubercle but Koch's bacilli were never found. At operation the stomach wall was found thickened from cardia to pylorus. No other organs were involved. Inspection of the interior of the stomach revealed no lesion of the mucosa. Histologically the biopsy specimen showed a chronic inflammatory process around the vascular channels in the submucosa, muscularis and serosa. The inflammatory reaction was most marked in the serosal zone and consisted of perivascular infiltration of lymphocytes, macrophages, giant cells and a fairly large number of eosinophils.We have had the opportunity of investigating two such cases by laparotomy, biopsy, blood examination and skin sensitivity tests. One of these is of special interest in that four abdominal explorations were carried out over a period of as many years. On each occasion the area of involvement differed and on the final exploration the condition was found to be completely quiescent. Case Reports Case i. Mrs. J.R. The patient, a strongly built active farmer's wife, first attended hospital in 1940 when she was 38 years of age. She complained of intermittent attacks of abdominal pain

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