Chlorinated hydrocarbon and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations were determined in adipose tissue from 34 infants, 14 children in the 2nd year of life, and 2 older children. The highest mean concentration detected during the first 2 years of life was for PCBs (0.67 ppm), followed by DDT (0.57 ppm), HCB (0.23 ppm), and HCH (0.15 ppm). Concentrations of HCB and PCB, which are especially characteristic of highly industrialised countries, were considerably higher in children of German mothers than in those of Turkish mothers. All single investigated values were lower than the mean values for adults in the Federal Republic of Germany, but many were still higher than mean concentrations for adults in other parts of the world. A breakdown into children with high mothers' milk intake and those with low intake showed a highly significant association with the quantity of mothers' milk consumed: the concentration of organohalogens in adipose tissue of children with high intake was significantly higher than in those with low intake. Two tasks urgently demand our attention: the development of further ways to reduce environmental sources of organohalogen contamination and the study of the possible pathogenetic effect of these organohalogens on the health of our children.

The diagnosis of Crohn's disease with extensive involvement of small intestine and colon was first made in a 12 3/4-year-old girl, now 15 1/2 years old. Despite continued treatment with prednisolone and salazosulfapyridine, as well as azathioprine and metronidazole, no lasting remission was obtained. Widespread severe osteoporosis with vertebral fractures made it necessary to discontinue the prednisolone, despite endoscopically and biochemically confirmed signs of activity of the disease. Administration of cyclosporin A in this situation produced phases of improved clinical and biochemical parameters. Regular control of biochemical levels failed to reveal any drug-specific acute side-effects. Because of the increased incidence of malignant lymphoma under cyclosporin A this drug should be held in reserve in the treatment of Crohn's disease, until results from controlled studies have become available.

The function of the exocrine pancreas was examined by the secretin-pancreozymin-test in 3 patients with Wilson's disease. In all cases we found a partial insufficiency. At the time of investigation the patients were 6(7)/12, 11(6)/12 and 21 years old. The youngest one was examined before therapy with D-Penicillamin. We suppose that storage of copper in lysosomes causes a cytotoxic damage of the exocrine part of the pancreas requiring substitution therapy in advanced cases.

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The estimation of the bile acids in the liver and changes in the mucosa of the small intestine after extensive resection of the small bowel are reported. It is shown that through the implantation of an isoperistaltic segment a delay of the intestinal passage was achieved, which resulted in better contact between chyme and intestinal mucosa, as well as in a faster and more prominent hypertrophy of the mucosa of the small intestine. As a consequence of the hypertrophy, the resorption of bile acids in the small intestine was much improved.