whee? whEROT TG oT) wag eS WATEECRapacedase Sy BERL,pe Cah ymcabasenSotho Beep a “eee ead ei 7 28210 U.S. ARMED FORCES MEDICAL JOURNAL abnormalities, and bone deformities was negligible. The inciden, was 0.3 percent or less of the total number of inhabitants x-rayed. The general physical examinations disclosed that the most pr alent diseases were skin diseases, diseases of the eye, and respirato diseases, Leprosy was also of major importance. Other diseases: wide prevalence were degenerative joint disease, neoplastic diseas rickets and vitamin deficiencies, anemia, and inflammatory diseaseg? of the ear. Case Reports Localization of Spinal Cord Injury in a Deep Sea Diver ACKNOWLEDGMENT: This report was made possible by many persons within: the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Department of the Navy, who contributeg ' to the initiation, development, and accomplishment of the health survey itself: and, more specifically, by the personnel of the medical statistics division who so painstakingly processed the data. The author is especially indebted to Dr. W. V. Charter, director of the division, for sponsorship of the study; to Mr. Louis P. Hellman, deputy director, for his guidance and invaluable suggestions: and to Mrs, Helen Rod for the manuscript preparation. The profes.’ | LIFUTENANT WALTER L. TAYLOR, JR., MC, USN LIEUTENANT GEORGE W. SANTOS, MC, USNR CAPTAIN ALBERT R. BEHNKE, MC, USN sional advice relating to the medical aspects of the data that was so generously. provided by personnel of the preventive medicine division is gratefully. acknowledged. 1, 2. 3. THIS CASE REPORTillustrates the occurrence and persistence of a specific localized lesion of the spinal cord following inadequate decompression of a diver. The fact that delayed recompression appears to have REFERENCES : . been of some benefit is noteworthy. HANDBOOK ON THE TRUST TERRITORY OF THE Paciric IsLanps. Navy Depart- 3 Behnke’ has estimated that up to 5 percent of decompression inment, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C., 1948. . juries in deep-sea diving and about 2 percent in caisson workers give HANDBOOK ON THE TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PaciFic ISLANDS. Navy Depart- rise to symptomsreferable to the presence of intravascular or extrament, Gffice of the Chief of Naval Operations, June 1950. vascular nascent gas bubbles. The most common type of injury is BirTHS BY AGE OF MOTHER, RACE, AND BirTH ORDER, UNITED States 19. Federal Security Agency, U.S. Public Health Service, National Office of Vital Y§ the peripheral cramplike pain knownas bends. Occasionally, the Statistics, 15 Oct. 1951, p. 145. nervous system is involved: this serious type of injury has received ———q careful evaluation in an excellent monograph by Haymaker and Johnson? PROGRESS IN DIABETES Diabetes continues to maintain an unchallenged position in the study of clinical conditions chiefly because it represents all aspects of medicine. CASE REPORT ; The number of diabetic patients increases On 24 March 1957, a 29-year-old commercial diver made two dives to depths each year, not because it is as such on the increase, but rather of about 1385 feet. because the thousands of undiscovered cases are now being dis- decompression. covered. ... The future of diabetes is brighter now than ever Was an &-minute stop ata depth of 10 feet. the prevention of diabetes are all important steps toward the goal we are all striving for, namely, make the two million known for persistent numbness on the right side of his body and muscular weakness of the left side. In addition, he felt a slight stiffness and tenderness at the base of cases a valued part of everyday living because they are quite like their nondiabetic neighbor—I. W. Witxens: The Future of Diabetes. The Journal of the Indiana State Medical Association, October 1958. FO Each dive was about 20 minutes long, with an interval between dives of about 1 hour. Immediately after coming to the surface following the second dive, the patient experienced dizziness, nausea. diabetic patients and the one and one-half million undiscovered 1222 The ascent from thefirst dive was rapid, with no stage The ascent from the second dive was controlled and there in the past. Research may bring about fewer complications, oral management and even eventual cure, but our present knowledge, when applied, makes the future more hopeful. Early diagnosis, better management. control of disabling conditions and efforts in WOREeietgnmalememee (RET.) &neralized aching, weakness of the left arm and leg, and numbness of the right side. He went to bed, and after a sound sleep awoke free of symptoms except =: ‘@ VOLUME 10, No. 10 : his neck, There were no bladder symptoms. The patient was first examined 2 days after the injury. Physical findings Were not remarkable except for the neurologic examination. There was localized —_—_—— From U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, San Francisco, Calif. 1223