HLA, A, B, C, DR, C4, Bf in insulin-dependent diabetics in the Tunisian population

There is no doubt that the autoimmune process in human disease depends on genetic factors. Varying associations were noticed between HLA DR and autoimmune disorders. The frequency of HLA-A-B and DR antigens as well as the Bf and C4 allotypes have been investigated in insulinodependant diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and compared to that of healthy controls in Tunisian population. An increase of A30, DR3, DR4, BfF1, C4AQ0 and C4BQ0 and decrease of B40, DR2, DR5 and DR6 were found in diabetes when compared to the value observation controls. The strongest association was noticed with HLA, DR3 and DR4. The prospective role of DR2 and DR5 antigens were also confirmed. Examination of HLA, Bf and C4 alleles. Two supratypes associated with IDDM have been observed among the Tunisian patients.     

Temperament profiles in physicians, lawyers, managers, industrialists, architects, journalists, and artists: a study in psychiatric outpatients

BACKGROUND: With the possible exception of cyclothymia in artists, there is a paucity of data in the literature on the temperament in different professions. METHODS: For this exploratory study, we sought to generate preliminary data on temperaments among psychiatric outpatients, including physicians (n=41), lawyers (n=30), managers and executives (n=35), industrialists (n=48), architects (n=27), journalists (n=34), and a mixed group of artists (n=48). They were compared with age, sex, social class, and affective disorder matched outpatients outside of these professions, drawn from the same clinical settings to serve as our Comparison Group (CG, n=120). We used an interview version of the Akiskal-Mallya criteria for temperaments. We finally used the DSM-III-R obsessive compulsive personality (OC traits). RESULTS: Compared with the CG, lawyers and physicians had high rates of dysthymic temperament and OC traits. Managers, like lawyers and doctors, had high rates on OC traits but were different in being very low on cyclothymic and twice as hyperthymic than the CG was. Industrialists, who, by definition, were self-made, had even higher rates of hyperthymic traits. Both architects and artists seemed to have benefited from being cyclothymic (3-4 times higher than CG's); interestingly, architects had higher levels of OC traits, and artists were less obsessional than the CG was. Overall, among managers/executives and lawyers, 41% met criteria for affective temperaments, whereas the equivalent rate among the remainder was 77%. LIMITATION: Given that this is a chart review of existing clinical records, it was not possible to be blind to the profession of the patients. A mixed group of artists may have obscured differences among artists from different domains of art (e.g., poets vs. performing artists), and the same can be said of physicians (e.g., internists vs. surgeons). A disclaimer would be appropriate: Ours is not a study on eminence in the different professions but on the temperament and personality profiles that distinguish among them. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the foregoing limitations and overlapping attributes in the different professions, they nonetheless emerged as having distinct temperamental and personality profiles. Dysthymic and obsessional attributes are notable in lawyers and physicians. We confirm the role of cyclothymia in artists and architects. The role of the hyperthymic temperament in managers, self-made industrialists, and journalists, to the best of our knowledge, is being reported for the first time. The role of cyclothymic and hyperthymic temperaments appears to be moderated by obsessional traits across the entire professional realm examined. In particular, artists' creative imagination appears "liberated" by low levels of OC traits, whereas among architects, relatively high levels of OC traits seem to contribute to the execution of their work. More tentatively, judging from the overall levels of affective temperaments in the remaining professions, on average, more of the managers/executives than self-made industrialists could be described as "colder" in temperament, and more of the physicians "warmer" than lawyers are. Journalists, as a group, appeared to possess the broadest representation of affective temperaments. The foregoing conclusions must be regarded as tentative, even hypothetical, in need of verification among professionals without major psychiatric disorders. Nonetheless, temperament profiles among psychiatrically ill professionals in the seven professional realms studies can help predict how they relate to their doctors, family members, colleagues, coworkers, and clients/patients. Such knowledge, in turn, can help the therapeutic process.     

Guilt,fear, submission,and empathy in depression

BACKGROUND: This study compares self-focused motivations (fear of negative evaluation, social comparison, and fear of envy) and other-focused motivations (empathy and interpersonal guilt) in submissive behavior and depression. METHODS: The Beck Depression Inventory, Submissive Behavior Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, Social Comparison Scale, Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire, and Interpersonal Reactivity Inventory were administered to 50 patients hospitalized for depression and 52 students. RESULTS: Depressed patients were significantly higher in survivor guilt, omnipotent responsibility guilt, submissive behavior, fear of negative evaluation, fear of envy, and empathic distress, and lower in social comparison. LIMITATIONS: This research was limited in that it was a correlational study. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that altruistic concern about others may be an important factor in depression and submissive behavior. Evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.     

Force-, power-, and elasticity-velocity relationships in walking,running, and jumping

Summary Ground reaction forces and mechanical power were investigated when the subjects walked normally, while they were racing or running at four speeds, and when they performed the running long jump take-off. In addition, the apparent spring constants of the support leg in eccentric and concentric phases were investigated at the four running speeds, during the running long jump take-off, and in the triple jump. Six club level track and field athletes, four national level long jumpers, and six national level triple jumpers took part in the study. Cinematographic technique and a mathematical model of hopping (Alexander and Vernon 1975) were employed in the analysis. Force and power values were found to vary in the following order (from highest to lowest): long jump take-off, maximal running speed, submaximal running (80, 60, and 40% of maximum speed), racing gait, and normal gait. The data disclosed that the measured parameters had the highest values in the long jump take-off performed by the long jump athletes. Their peak values were: resultant ground reaction force 3270±74 N and mechanical power 160.1±10.5 J×kg^–1×s^–1. For the track and field athletes the values were 2010±80 N and 126.0±12.6 J ×kg^–1×s^–1. The apparent spring constant values of the support leg in the national level jumper group were in eccentric phase 30.54±8.38 N×mm^–1 ×kg^–1 and in concentric phase 0.129±0.012 N×mm^–1×kg^–1. In the track and field athletes the values were 13.97±1.01 N×mm^–1×kg^–1 and 0.093±0.003 N×mm^–1×kg^–1, respectively. In general, the increase in force and mechanical power output was related to the value of the apparent spring constant of the support leg in the eccentric phase. The spring constant in the eccentric phase increased with the velocity of motion in running, the long jump take-off and the triple jump. This suggests that it may be possible to use this parameter as a measure of mechanical performance, as it may reflect the combined elasticity of muscles, tendons, and bones.     

IgA, IgG, IgM, and IgE levels in normal, healthy, non-atopic Israeli children

IgA, IgG, IgM, and IgE levels in healthy, non-atopic, Israeli-born children aged 20 days to 16 years were analyzed and showed similar age-related values and dynamics as those of white populations found in other countries. No significant effect of sex of the individual or ethnic origin of the parents was found on the IgE values at different ages. This may indicate that total IgE levels are strongly influenced by environmental factors. Establishing tolerance limits at 97.5, 95, 75, 25 and 5th percentiles and the geometric mean provides the practitioner with more complete reference values. The use of multivariate control charts with tolerance limits from normal IgA, IgG, IgM, and IgE levels is described and is offered as an additional tool for the diagnosis of an allergic individual.     

Histocompatibility Antigens in Pregnancy,Abortions, Infertility,Preeclampsia, and Trophoblast Neoplasms

ABSTRACT: The genetic makeup of an individual may determine the capacity of the individual to combat successfully cancer and other disease states, eg abnormal pregnancies, abortions, infertility, and preeclampsia. These factors appear to be based upon the individual's immunogenetics, as histocompatibility-restricted T-cell cytotoxicity may be deficient in the observed instances of increased histocompatability between husband and wife found in trophoblast tumor patients and in other instances of abnormal pregnancies.     

Incidence of listeriosis in Barcelona,Spain, in 1990

A population-based register of cases of listeriosis admitted to acute-care hospitals has been established in Barcelona, Spain, in order to estimate the basal incidence of sporadic cases and to facilitate epidemiological surveillance of potential epidemics. Eleven acute-care hospitals reported all cases of listeriosis to a central unit following a standardized protocol. During 1990, 31 patients with listeriosis were identified, 18 of whom were residents of the city, resulting in an annual incidence of 10.95 cases per million inhabitants. Twelve of the 31 cases occurred in the period from July to September 1990, ten of them being community-acquired. The incidence of listeriosis was higher in elderly ( 65 years) and immunosuppressed persons. Forty-two percent of the cases were considered to be nosocomial infections. The overall mortality rate was 51.6 %. The incidence of listeriosis in the present study is one of the highest reported in the literature. A high sensitivity of the reporting system with good case identification techniques, or demographic and environmental characteristics related toListeria monocytogenes infection in our area, might be possible reasons for this geographic variation.C. Balado, Department of Microbiology, Hospital de la Creu Roja; J. Bosch, Department of Microbiology, Hospital de la Maternitat; J.M. Campos, Department of Microbiology, Hospital Sant Joan de Deu, Esplugues de Llobregat; G. Domingo, Intensive Care Unit, Hospital Militar; E. Gimeno, Department of Microbiology, Institut d'Urologia i Andrologia; M. Morta, Department of Microbiology, Laboratori Municipal; L. Viñas, Department of Microbiology, Institut Universitari Dexeus.     

ABO, Rh, MNS, Duffy, Kidd,Yt, Scianna, and Colton blood group systems in indigenous Chinese

The frequencies of selected alleles in the ABO, Rh, MNS, Duffy, Kidd, Yt, Scianna, and Colton blood group systems were determined among four indigenous Chinese ethnic populations: Han, Tajik, She, and Yugu. Genotypes were determined by PCR or PCR with sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP). In the Han population, the frequencies of A1, A2, B, and O1 alleles were 0.189, 0.003, 0.170, and 0.638, respectively, and the O2 allele was not identified. Among D+ Hans, the frequencies of C and c alleles were 0.67 and 0.33 and the frequencies of E and e were 0.22 and 0.78, respectively. Among D- Hans, the frequencies of C and c alleles were 0.23 and 0.77 and the frequencies of E and e were 0.04 and 0.96, respectively. The frequencies of M and N alleles were 0.478 and 0.522 among Hans and 0.655 and 0.345 among Tajiks, respectively. The frequencies of Fya and Fyb alleles were 0.94 and 0.06 among Hans and 0.98 and 0.02 among Shes, respectively. The frequencies of Jka and Jkb alleles were 0.49 and 0.51 among Hans and 0.56 and 0.44 among Shes, respectively. The frequency of the Yta allele was 1.00 among Hans. The frequencies of Yta and Ytb alleles were 0.94 and 0.06 among Tajiks, respectively. The frequency of the Sc1 allele was 1.00 in both Han and Tajik ethnic populations. The frequency of the Coa allele was 1.00 in Han, She, and Tajik ethnic populations.     

Syphilis in composers and musicians—Mozart,Beethoven, Paganini,Schubert, Schumann,Smetana

In the pre-antibiotics era, syphilis was an extremely common disease. The first well-recorded European outbreak of what is now known as syphilis occurred in 1494, when it appeared among French troops besieging Naples. Thereafter, the disease spread all over Europe and, in the 18th and 19th centuries, many artists became victims of syphilis, among them poets, painters, philosophers, and musicians and composers. This review presents biographies of several musicians and composers that probably suffered from syphilis.     

Diethylstilbestrol, genetics, teratogenesis, and tumor spectrum in humans

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is the first example of transplacental carcinogenesis in humans, as evidenced by an excess of clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix in exposed women. We hypothesize that: 1) in utero DES exposure will be responsible for a broader spectrum of cancer with variable age of onset as a function of latency effects in exposed humans of both sexes; 2) teratogenicity of DES will be more far-reaching than currently recognized and will harbor cancer implications in the face of known associations between teratogenesis and carcinogenesis; and 3) genetic heterogeneity will be a critical etiologic discriminant in DES associated cancer. This hypothesis embraces a prodigious body of data at the infrahuman level, as well as extant pharmacogenetic and ecogenetic observations in humans which signify heritable variations in response to environmental carcinogenic exposures. This hypothesis has important implications for drug testing with appropriate preventive strategies. Herein, particular restraints with monitoring through governmental legal channels must be employed. Past experience has clearly indicated negligence in shouldering this responsibility by both the pharmaceutical industry and government regulatory bodies.     

Antigen recognition in Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese, and Caucasians

Allergic Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and Caucasian groups were compared and contrasted according to their skin test reactivity to pollens of grasses and trees. If a subject reacted to grasses, there was a significantly greater risk of reaction to trees (P less than .0005). The risk was profoundly greater in the three non-Caucasian groups (Filipino, Chinese, and Japanese) compared with the Caucasian group (P less than .0005). Reactivity to grass appeared to amplify the risk of reaction to trees. This effect was particularly striking in the non-Caucasian groups. In groups that did not react to grasses, there was no difference between races in reactivity to trees. The non-Caucasian races did not demonstrate significant differences in their reaction to grasses. All three non-Caucasian groups appear to be more sensitive than the matched Caucasians to cedar, cypress, and juniper.