Amebiasis is a common parasitic infectious disease in developing countries. In developed countries, it is occasionally encountered in travelers to the tropics and in homosexual males. During the past eight years, we detected four cases of amebic colitis among 5,193 subjects who underwent colonoscopy because of positive fecal occult blood test results in a mass screening. All four cases did not have any abdominal symptoms. Ulcerative lesions were observed only in the cecum and ascending colon; another portion of the colon and rectum appeared normal. We may encounter amebic colitis during colonoscopic examination even in subjects who are asymptomatic.

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A 36-year-old Japanese woman complained of right hypochondralgia followed by ascites. Paracentesis showed a turbid, straw-colored sterile exudate. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the abdomen revealed a left periuteric mass and ascites. The mass and ascites spontaneously regressed within a month with no specific treatment. Later, after the patient had been discharged from hospital, immunofluorescence antibody titers for Chlamydia trachomatis were successfully determined using stored ascitic fluid and serum. Though the number of cases of Chlamydia trachomatis peritonitis has increased, few cases with ascites have been reported, and spontaneous regression of the ascites is also rare. (Internal Medicine 31: 835-839, 1992)

Background-During medical checkups of two unrelated female outpatients during their annual health examination and one male inpatient suVering from cardiac failure the glycated haemoglobin (HbA 1C ) concentrations measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were low, in spite of normal fasting plasma glucose concentrations. However, HbA 1C concentrations measured by latex immunoagglutination and fructosamine concentrations were within the normal range. Method-Investigations were performed to elucidate the reasons for these discrepancies. Results-Abnormal haemoglobins, HbTakamatsu and Hb G-Szuhu, were found. The HPLC chromatogram showed an additional peak near HbA 1a+b , which resulted in falsely low HbA 1C concentrations. Isoelectric focusing analysis of the patients' haemoglobin disclosed abnormal haemoglobins, which migrated faster than normal HbA 1 in the two female patients and slower in the male patient. The cDNA sequence and amino acid analyses of the haemoglobin -chains and -chains indicated the presence of the haemoglobin variant 120 Lys→Gln in the two female patients and 80 Asn→Lys in the male patient; that is, Hb Takamatsu and Hb G-Szuhu. Conclusions-These cases show how these silent haemoglobin variants can result in falsely low HbA 1C concentration readings when using HPLC. (J Clin Pathol 2000;53:854-857)

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