The occurrence of lipomas within the central nervous system is sufficiently uncommon that most cases have stimulated considerable attention. These lesions have been encountered both in the spinal canal and within the cranium. Ehni and Love1 have reviewed the literature on intraspinal lesions and present a detailed discussion of the problem. They include data on 29 cases of intradural and 20 cases of extradural lipomas. Lipomas of the brain are somewhat more numerous, and about 110 cases have been reported. These have occurred in the following areas, in this order of frequency: the corpus callosum, the ventral aspect of the diencephalic structures, the choroid plexus of the lateral ventricles, and the dorsal aspect of the midbrain. Except for the lesions in the corpus callosum, these tumors are ordinarily of little importance and were frequently encountered incidentally at autopsy. In the corpus callosum, however, lipomas were frequently sizable and were often associated with defects in the development of the corpus callosum. A good review of the subject of lipomas of the corpus callosum was contrib¬ uted in 1946 by List and associates.2 They recorded data on 30 cases from the literature, including 2 of their own. Our purpose is to compile information on additional cases re¬ ported since then and to report in detail a case with several unusual features recently

The histologic distribution of alpha-1-antitrypsin in frozen sections prepared from four specimens of human lung was determined by the indirect fluorescent antibody technic. Three of the specimens were obtained directly from surgical procedures and were peripheral tissue excised with tumors. The tumors were a mixed-cell "scar cancer" (Case 1), a bronchiolar carcinoma (Case 2), and a benign hemartoma (Case 3). The fourth specimen (Case 4) was obtained at autopsy following death by myocardial infarction. Specific fluorescence for alpha-1-antitrypsin was observed lining the terminal airways and alveoli throughout the sections from Cases 1 and 4. In specimens from Cases 2 and 3, a few focal areas of specific fluorescence were observed. The results of this study suggest that alpha-1-antitrypsin may be distributed in lung in variable concentration in association with pulmonary surfactant.

AManchester SUMMARY A patient with spontaneous periodic hypothermia who had both a lipoma and agenesis of the corpus callosum is described. Spontaneous periodic hypothermia associated with corpus callosum abnormalities is a distinct entity and although the mechanism underlying the hypothermic episodes is unexplained, the term "diencephalic autonomic epilepsy" does not seem appropriate. Profuse sweating for several days had been noted during one of them.When two years old he had sustained a fractured skull in a road traffic accident. His physical development was normal but he was mentally slow and had attended a special school. He had worked in a furniture factory for nearly 20 years, eventually being forced to retire by ill health. For at least 6 years he had major seizures treated with Phenytoin 100 mg twice daily. On examination he was thin with a normal male distribution of body hair. He was alert and orientated but below average intelligence (WAIS IQ= 75). He had mild dysarthria with exaggerated reflexes in the left arm and bilateral extensor plantar responses. After three weeks in hospital, during which he was well and ambulant with an oral temperature between 35 0°C and 36 5°C, blood pressure 120/80 mmHg and pulse rate 60 per minute, he suddenly developed profuse sweating accompanied by cutaneous vasodilatation which affected the whole body surface. He complained of feeling hot and after 2 hours continuous sweating his oral temperature was 31 0°C. Any rise in body temperature provoked further attacks of sweating lasting 30 minutes to several hours and with each attack the rectal temperature fell, often as low as 29 5°C (fig 1). Two days after the onset of sweating the patient became lethargic and withdrawn. His dysarthria increased, he had marked truncal ataxia and flapping tremor of the outstretched hands. After 4 days he was unresponsive and incontinent. Systolic blood pressure varied between 75-100 mmHg with marked bradycardia, sometimes as slow as 40 per minute. The ECG showed typical J-waves. Five days later his body temperature returned abruptly to his normal level. His physical and mental state recovered after two days. Seven days later he had a similar sudden episode of sweating and hypothermia which lasted 8 days. His hospital course was marked by alternating periods of relative normality and sweating with hypothermia. Shivering was never seen. Several major and left sided focal motor attacks occurred during