SummaryThe natural history of neuroblastoma and factors affecting survival for this disease were studied in an unselected group of children notified to cancer registries in Britain during 1962-7. The three-year survival rate based on 487 cases was 23%; many of the cases were followed up for more than five years, and this made it possible to calculate long-term survival and recurrence rates. There were only five deaths among 110 cases followed for more than three years, 64 of the survivors having been followed for more than five years. Factors affecting the prognosis included age at diagnosis, site, histological grade at diagnosis, and the sex of the child. The interrelationship between these factors together with their effect on prognosis were analysed, and in particular we attempted to elucidate factors which might explain our observation that girls have a significantly better survival rate than boys. Direct histological evidence and also the analyses of survival and recurrence rates seem to support the suggestion that the likelihood of maturation for this tumour is greater for girls than for boys.

until the end of 1973, 98 children (57% of all eligible children) were included in the trial. Of the 313 children, 288 (92%) had a nephrectomy, 248 (79%) received a course of radiotherapy, and 267 (85%) were given at least four days' chemotherapy. The three-year survival rate was 58%; the rate among children in the trial (77%) was significantly better than that among children who were eligible for the trial but not included (58%). Children who had nephrectomies at specialised children's and teaching hospitals had a higher survival rate than those treated elsewhere.All children with nephroblastoma should be treated according to well-defined protocols which take into account the age of the child and the stage of the tumour and include a full course of maintenance chemotherapy.

Male albion rats ranging in age from 15-30 days were injected with either scopolamine hydorbromide or saline, prior to training and retention testing on a black-white passive avoidance (PA) task. Pretraining administration of a 1.0-mg/kg dose of scopolamine significantly increased the median number of trails to criterion for 18-, 21-, and 30-day-old rat pups when compared with their saline controls. Fifteen-day-olds showed drug-related PA deficits when a 2.0-mg/kg dose was given. Retention data reflect characteristic age-dependent memory loss over the 1-week acquistionretention period with no apparent state-dependent effects. The data suggest the presence of cholinergic inhibitory mediation of PA responding in preweanling and postweanling pups.

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Male Sprague-Dawley rats (180 g) and 28-day-old Single Comb White Leghorn Cockerels (300 g) were orally dosed with deoxynivalenol (DON) at 2.5 mg kg-1 body weight. In the first experiment, whole brains were collected at 2, 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours after the toxin treatment and analyzed for brain biogenic monoamines by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Although several interesting trends were observed, DON did not influence whole brain concentrations of monoamine neurotransmitters or their metabolites in either species, at any time. In a second experiment, brains were collected 24 hours postdosing, dissected into 5 brain regions (pons and medulla oblongata, cerebellum, hypothalamus, hippocampus and cerebral cortex), and analyzed. DON treatment resulted in significantly elevated concentrations of serotonin (HT) and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (HIAA) in all brain regions of the rat. However, this was not seen in poultry, where DON treatment resulted in a decrease in norepinephrine (NE) in the hypothalamus and hippocampus, and a decrease in dopamine (DA) in the pons and medulla oblongata region. These results suggest that DON influences brain biogenic amine metabolism, and that there may be intraspecies differences in the central effects of this mycotoxin.