Scientists compare notes on puzzling hematological disorder
This is associate editor Gail McBride's report on the first interdisciplinary conference on the myelofibrosis-osteosclerosis syndrome held late last fall in West Berlin under the auspices of Dahlem Konferenzen, a newly organized joint project of the German Research Society and the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany:
Myelofibrosis-osteosclerosis syndrome (MOS) has puzzled physicians for almost a century, partly because it encompasses such a spectrum of symptoms. While the interdisciplinary meeting produced no news of a breakthrough, the 50 or so scientists and physicians left with a better understanding of the hematological disease and with some new research ideas.
Most participants seemed to agree generally with the prevailing theory that MOS is a myeloproliferative process of unknown cause involving the pluripotential hematic stem cell. A bone marrow biopsy is essential for diagnosis.
Cases of the disease are sometimes
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