Eosinophilia,elevated immunoglobulin E level and chronic enteritis due to intestinal helminthiasis

Recurrent urticaria, abdominal pain, peripheral eosinophilia, hyperimmunoglobulin E and small bowel abnormalities on roentgenograms prompted evaluation of a 36 year old man for intestinal parasitism. Evidence for helminthiasis as the cause of his symptoms included changing antibody titers to helminth antigens and a dramatic response to therapy. Helminth larvae or eggs were not recovered. Diagnosis of strongyloidiasis, the most likely cause of the illness, is discussed.     

Early auditory information processing in schizophrenia: A preliminary report

Numerous theorists have postulated that incoming environmental information is altered with schizophrenic illness, due to aberrant sensory processing in subcortical systems. Brainstem evoked potential recordings were obtained during passive auditory information processing in groups of chronic schizophrenic patients, affective disordered patients, and normals. These neuroelectric measures of brainstem and midbrain functioning suggest that the three study groups do not statistically differ in terms of latency characteristics. It is noteworthy, however, that a particular subset of chronic schizophrenic patients yielded latency characteristics falling more than one standard deviation from the total population mean under all experimental conditions.     

Uncovering rhythms in serum gastrin.

A definite circadian rhythm in serum gastrin, as measured every 2 hr for 24 hr, exists in the normal fasted dog. This rhythm is abolished by removing acid and pH effects by explanting the innervated antrum onto the abdomen or stimulating by explanting onto the colon. Twofold variations in serum gastrin during a day occur in a cyclic nature and are presumably secondary to variations in intraluminal pH.     

Calcium modulation of cyclic GMP synthesis in rat visual cells

The synthesis of cyclic GMP in dark-adapted rat retinas, retinal homogenates or isolated ROS is stimulated during incubation with medium containing low levels of Ca2+. The guanylate cyclase that is stimulated by low [Ca2+] is localized exclusively in visual cells of the retina because the stimulatory effect of low [Ca2+] is observed in developing retinas only after visual cells begin to differentiate, and it is lost in diseased retinas when the photoreceptor cells degenerate. The accumulation of cyclic GMP during incubation with low [Ca/+] is prevented by illumination; the effect of light stems apparently from the light-enhanced hydrolysis of cyclic GMP. Following light adaptation and transfer of the animals to darkness, retinas become progressively more responsive to low [Ca2+], and a maximal response is restored after about 30 min of dark adaptation in vivo. Incubated retinas accumulate cyclic GMP when exposed to media containing less than about 5 x 10(-9) M [Ca2+], whereas the synthesis of cyclic GMP in retinal homogenates or lysed ROS is stimulated at concentrations of less than 10(-6) M-Ca2+. These findings indicate that calcium acts as an inhibitory effector in the regulation of guanylate cyclase in rod photoreceptor cells, and they suggest that changes in intracellular [Ca2+] may regulate the synthesis of cyclic GMP in dark-adapted visual cells in situ.     

The role of limited resection in carcinoma of the lung

Thirty years ago lobectomy was considered inadequate excision for carcinoma of the lung. In 1982 we are at the same point in comparing lobectomy with lesser resections. Limited pulmonary reserve and second carcinomas, as well as evidence of control by wedge and segmental resection, indicate that the need for lobectomy should be reappraised in carcinomas limited to smaller portions of the lungs.