This study contains data obtained from a cytogenetic investigation of six patients with acute and chronic leukaemia. The karyotypes of bone marrow or blood cells of these patients showed a partial or complete trisomy for the long arm of chromosome 1. Three observations revealed a pronounced resistance of cell clones with 1q+ towards cytostatic therapy, and a comparatively short life span of patients after detection of 1q+. The importance of these changes for the role of some chromosomes and chromosome loci in leukaemogenesis is discussed.

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Aim-To evaluate the interphase ribosomal RNA cistron activity of cardiomyocytes in cases with ischaemic heart disease complicated by heart failure. Methods-Nucleoli were investigated in postmortem myocardium samples from 31 cases with ischaemic heart disease (mean (SEM), 57.4 (6.5) years) with or without severe heart failure (18 and 13, respectively) and from eight healthy people who died in accidents (mean (SEM) 25.3 (4.0) years). Myocardium obtained within one hour after death was frozen in liquid nitrogen. Silver staining for nucleolar organiser regions (AgNOR) was performed with a standard procedure and the mean score obtained. On the basis of these data, the average number of AgNORs per nucleus was determined. The Student's t test was used to compare groups. Results-Compared with controls, the mean numbers of AgNORs per nucleus in cardiomyocytes from ischaemic heart disease patients not complicated with severe heart failure were higher (8.0 v 9.9; p < 0.05), but cases with severe heart failure had a progressive decrease in cardiomyocyte AgNORs. A diVerence in AgNOR numbers between cases with diVerent ischaemic heart disease courses was found when cases with the same New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional stage III of heart failure were studied. Conclusions-The significant decrease of AgNORs in cardiomyocytes from cases with severe ischaemic heart disease complicated by heart failure seems to be connected with cardiomyocyte adaptation (a variant of hibernation) to a diminished circulation that, hypothetically, may affect the level of ribosomal RNA synthesis.

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have demonstrated a significant difference in the mean numbers of silver stained nucleolar organiser regions (AgNORs) per neoplastic cell among different histological types. According to these findings the lymphoid predominant (LP) type is characterised by lower AgNOR scores than the other types (P < 0.05). The highest AgNOR numbers were found in the lymphocyte depleted type followed by the nodular sclerosing (NS) and mixed cellularity (MC) types. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the morphological characteristics of lymph node cells from Hodgkin's disease patients by measuring AgNORs in tissue sections and lymph node imprints. Sixty six lymph node touch imprints and 20 lymph node biopsy specimens were studied. Imprints were dried at room temperature, fixed in methanol/acetic acid (3:1), rinsed thoroughly with distilled water, and air dried repeatedly. These were put into 2N formic acid for 10 minutes to reduce the egress of silver from the nucleoli, and, to facilitate the measurement of nucleoli and AgNORs, rinsed again and impregnated with silver nitrate. Patients and methodsThe biopsy specimens were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin and embedded in paraffin wax. Sections (5 gm) were taken to