Faculty Bibliography

Two cases of an acute myopathy without muscle pain, tenderness, or swelling are described in alcoholic patients. Both were associated with severe hypokalemia and were largely reversible with potassium repletion. Hypokalemia may be the cause of some cases of acute myopathy in alcoholism, particularly those in which muscle cramps are absent

A consanguineous family is described in which autonomic dysfunction developed in the father during adult life while the son had familial dysautonomia at birth. The father's condition is felt to be secondary to olivopontocerebellar atrophy. The concurrence in this family of an adult and a childhood form of dysautonomia may be an expression of the same genetic defect at different stages of development