A case is described of acquired factor X deficiency in a patient with diffuse amyloidosis and myelomatosis. Rapid transfusion with fresh plasma failed to shorten the Quick single stage prothrombin time. Inhibition of factor X could not be demonstrated in the Patient's plasma in vitro.

BackgroundFeline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is a fatal disease of cats that can be very difficult to definitively diagnose antemortem. Multiplex fluorescent immunocytochemical (MF‐ICC) assays are emerging as useful diagnostic tests in veterinary medicine, particularly for fluid samples.ObjectiveWe aimed to develop and optimize an MF‐ICC assay to detect feline coronavirus within macrophages, with the primary goal of determining the allowable/recommended sample storage conditions for clinical use of this assay.MethodsA feline macrophage cell line was infected with the FIP virus. Following harvest into EDTA tubes (simulating typical clinical collection of effusion), cells were stored at 4℃, 22℃, and 37℃. For each temperature condition, slides for MF‐ICC were made at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 5 days post‐collection. To assess the stability of immunoreactivity following fixation, freshly harvested infected cells were fixed onto slides and maintained at 4℃ for 1, 2, 4, and 12 weeks. All slides were analyzed by MF‐ICC for the presence of mononuclear cells with co‐expression of vimentin and coronaviral antigen.ResultsMF‐ICC confirmed that cells tested positive for coronavirus at 4℃ through 3 days post‐harvest, 22℃ through 48 hours post‐harvest, and 37℃ through 24 hours post‐harvest. The MF‐ICC assay was successfully performed on fixed slides through the 12‐week time point. This assay also demonstrated positive results on a clinical sample of abdominal fluid from a cat later confirmed to have FIP.ConclusionsThe MF‐ICC assay described here offers a potentially specific and relatively stable antemortem diagnostic test for feline infectious peritonitis. Evaluation of this assay in clinical samples is ongoing.

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Summary1. An enzyme Bromelain derived from the stalk of the Hawaiian pineapple has been studied. It is shown to be proteolytic in vitro against casein and fibrin, the effect on fibrin being direct and not due to activation of the fibrinolytic system.2. The enzyme is not inhibited by the antiplasmins present in human serum.3. The enzyme has in vitro antithrombin activity.4. Oral doses of up to 5 mg/Kg body weight of enteric coated capsules of the enzyme failed to produce any detectable proteolytic activity in the plasma of human recipients. A possible explanation for this is offered.