1. Serial measurements of serum potasssium and total-body potassium were made on eighteen patients with megaloblastic anaemia before the start of therapy and during the period of recovery. 2. In those patients who presented with an initial packed cell volume of less than 25%, a mean decrease in serum potassium of 0.4 mmol/1 occurred on average with 2.5 days of the start of therapy. This was f...

Ten patients with severe megaloblastic anaemia were studied to investigate whether the causative metabolic defects might predispose them to lactic or other acidosis. One patient had compensated acidosis with hyperlactataemia before treatment but there were obvious causes other than anaemia. No other patient developed an acidosis. Neither anaemia per se nor the metabolic defects of vitamin B(12)...

Examination in Hospital.-He was febrile and pale with a smooth tongue. No splenic enlargement was detected. There were no significant neurological signs. The haemoglobin level was 33 per cent., red blood count 1,360,000/c.mm., colour index 1-27, average red cell diameter 7 8,t, and white blood count 5,800/c.mm. There was marked anisocytosis, poikilocytosis, scanty platelets, and 1 per cent. ret...

Pseudo-obstruction of the Large Bowel R. Herrera-Llerandi, M.D ................. 347 Nutritional Megaloblastic Anaemia in Immigrants R. P. Britt, M.R.C.PATH., and Christine Harper, B.SC . .......................... 348 English Language Problems H. Joshi, F.R.C.S ......................... 348 Breast-milk Jaundice R. Payne, D.P.M ......................... 348 Induction of Labour C. J. Carr, M.R.C...

A method is described for the microbiological assay of folic acid activity in serum with Lactobacillus casei as test organism and a modified medium in which the organism gives a greater growth response than in media previously detailed. The results of experiments carried out to validate the use of this medium are shown. In 94 control subjects levels of folic acid activity in the serum ranged fr...