Autoantibodies in patients with carcinoma of the breast. Correlation with prognosis.

Sera from a hundred patients with operable carcinoma of the breast and seventy-five age-matched controls were examined for antinuclear, smooth muscle, glomerular and mitochondrial antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence technique. Antinuclear and smooth muscle antibodies were found to be more frequent in cancer patients than in controls. The incidence of autoantibodies at the time the diagnosis was established was higher in patients who developed local recurrences or distant metastases within 2 years than in patients free from recurrence.     

Interaction of spirochetes with the host.

The success of an invading organism must depend on several cytoplasmic, surface-associated and secreted factors. The technical difficulties in handling pathogenic spirochetes like Treponema pallidum and Borrelia burgdorferi have made it difficult to define specific factors involved in entry and long-term survival. The problem of defining virulence factors has been attacked by several strategies: T. pallidum secretes a number of immunogenic low molecular mass proteins. The most predominant are of molecular weight 15.5 and 22 kDa. Preliminary data suggest that antibodies against these proteins induce protective immunity in rabbits experimentally infected with T. pallidum. Many potentially important surface-associated antigens of T. pallidum have now been cloned and characterized. Two of these, TpD and TpE, are lipoproteins which exhibit characteristic size heterogeneity. The apparent molecular weight of TpE from T. pallidum and T. pertenue are different. The clinical symptoms in syphilis and yaws are very different, but sequence analysis of TpE has shown that the TpE proteins are indeed very similar in the two strains. This observation makes it unlikely that heterogeneity of TpE can account for the different clinical symptoms of syphilis and yaws. Sequence data for another newly sequenced surface-associated antigen of T. pallidum (molecular weight 41 kDa) indicate that this protein is involved in glucose transport and chemotaxis/motility. Intracellular factors like the molecular chaperonin GroEL have been documented both in treponemes and borreliae. This stress protein is involved in cellular repair processes and folding/assembly of protein subunits. Indirect evidence suggests that GroEL affects the ability of spirochetes to survive in the stressful environment of the infected host. Several lines of evidence suggest that the Osp proteins of Borrelia are important for host/parasite interaction. Further support for this idea has come from studies of a series of monoclonal antibodies against OspA. A monoclonal antibody against OspA (9B3D) is able to block attachment of B. burgdorferi to a cell monolayer. Borrelia loses infectivity after several passages in vitro. The loss of pathogenicity is associated with loss of specific plasmids and proteins. One of the low-passage-associated proteins (Lap30) has been cloned and sequenced. Lap30 is a lipoprotein encoded by a 38-kb plasmid, not present in high passage B. burgdorferi. Aberrant immunological processes induced by the lipopolysaccharide component of Treponema hyodysenteriae could explain the dramatic intestinal lesions in swine dysenteriae. But analysis by TLC reveals that the LPS of this treponeme is different from classical Salmonella LPS.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Platelet interaction with bacteria. IV. Stimulation of the release reaction.

Release of 14C-serotonin from human platelets prelabeled with 14C-5-hydroxytryptamine was measured during platelet aggregation induced by Staphylococcus aureus. Platelet-bacteria interaction (PBI) was as potent a stimulus of the platelet release reaction as collagen, thrombin, or epinephrine. Inhibitors which blocked platelet aggregation also prevented the release reaction of PBI. Sequential measurements of release, when correlated with nephelometry of aggregation, showed close correlation between the onset of release and the onset of platelet shape change and early aggregation. Ultrastructural studies with polylysine, an agent capable of polymerizing platelet granule contents, revealed that granule components are secreted to the region of the bacteria trapped between platelets in the forming aggregates. Platelet peroxidase activity remained localized within the dense tubular system of the platelets.     

Experience with the Keller bunionectomy.

The Keller resection arthroplasty was first described in 1904. Ninety years later, this operation continues to be useful to orthopaedic surgeons and their patients. This article presents the results of Keller bunionectomies in a private practice setting. Indications, surgical techniques, postoperative management, and results are discussed. The outcome in this series shows the Keller bunionectomy to be a useful operation when properly performed for the right indications.     

Immunization with R mutants of Salmonella minnesota. II. Comparison of the protective effect of immunization with lipid A and the Re mutant.

The protective effect of active immunization with Salmonella minnesota Re bacilli or lipid A was assessed in the granulocytopenic rabbit model. Animals were immunized with Re bacilli, lipid A, or Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a nonspecific immunogen. After colonization with one of three enterobacterial strains (two Escherichia coli, one Enterobacter aerogenes), the immunized rabbits as well as controls given saline injections were made leukopenic with nitrogen mustard and monitored for fever, bacteremia, and death. Survival rates were significantly greater in Re-immunized animals than in saline controls or P. aeruginosa-immunized animals. Immunization with lipid A afforded no protection. In addition, rabbits immunized with Re mutant bacilli developed bacteremia less frequently than the others, indicating that antibody to Re may inhibit invasion of the intestinal mucosa as well as protect after bacteremia has developed.     

Microcirculation of the lymph node with metastases.

Microangiographic and histologic examination of the popliteal lymph node was performed on 49 rabbits 3 to 55 days after V2 tumor implantation into the hind paw. Control animals received subcutaneous tissue extract from normal rabbit donors. During the first 10 days after the tumor implant from an allogeneic animal donor, the draining lymph node exhibited a hypervascular response which after 2 weeks gradually subsided. Subsequently, during the early stages of lymph node metastasis there was still hypervascularity adjacent to the metastatic deposit. In about 4 weeks the metastases became more established and surrounded by layers of plasma cells. The hypervascular changes of the surrounding lymph node subsided by this time. In lymph node metastases the microvasculature could be an indicator of the immunologic activity of the host.     

Infection of the foot with Peptococcus magnus.

Peptococcus magnus was the predominant organism in severe infections of the feet in three diabetic patients. In one patient the organism was found also in blood culture, and in two it was repeatedly recovered from the feet, usually in pure culture.     

Reliability of the WAIS-R with psychiatric inpatients.

WAIS-R subtest and composite scale reliabilities, standard errors of measurement, and standard errors of estimate were determined for a sample of psychiatric inpatients (N = 100). For Digit Span and Digit Symbol, test-retest stability coefficients were obtained; split-half reliability coefficients were calculated for all other subtests. With the exception of Object Assembly (rxx = .38), all subtest and composite scale reliability coefficients were large and acceptable. Based on the standard error of measure, the most reliable WAIS-R subtests were Digit Symbol (.77), Information (1.04), and Picture Completion (1.07). Reliability coefficients for the psychiatric inpatient sample were, in general, comparable to those values reported for the standardization group (Wechsler, 1981). Significant differences were obtained only on the Object Assembly and Vocabulary subtests.     

Alpha-chain disease with localized plasmacytoma of the intestine. Immunoperoxidase study.

An ileocaecal tumour in a patient with alpha-chain disease in remission was studied immunohistochemically by a quantitive immunoperoxidase method. The tumour which was histologically shown to be a plasmacytoma consisted of 68% alpha cells and 15% lambda cells; no kappa cells were found. Away from the tumour the pattern of immunoglobulin-producing cells was normal. It is concluded that the abnormal cell causing alpha-chain disease remains inactive and that the patient developed a plasmacytoma from a different cell clone.     

Identification of Yersinia spp. with the API 20E system.

The ability of the API 20E system to identify 105 clinical isolates of Yersinia spp. was compared with those of conventional biochemical tests at 28 and 37 degrees C. Elimination of the Voges-Proskauer test (recorded as a negative result) increased the percentage of correct identifications for Yersinia spp. from 66 to 93% when the API 20E strips were incubated at 28 degrees C.     

Influenza virus proteins. II. Association with components of the cytoplasm

Cytoplasmic extracts of influenza virus-infected BHK21-F and MDBK cells were separated by equilibrium sedimentation into fractions containing smooth membranes, rough membranes, and free ribosomes and polysomes. Analysis by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that viral polypeptides were associated with all cytoplasmic fractions. Smooth membranes contained large amounts of viral glycoproteins, as well as the nonglycosylated polypeptide (M) thought to be associated with the viral membrane. Rough membranes also contained the uncleaved hemagglutinin glycoprotein (HA), and results of pulse-chase experiments suggest that this polypeptide is synthesized in association with the rough membranes and accumulates in smooth membranes. The nucleoprotein subunit NP was located mainly in the soluble fraction as well as a cell fraction of intermediate density. The nonstructural viral polypeptide NS (～25,000 MW) appeared to be associated specifically with ribo-some-containing fractions.     

Structure of the Mengo virion. V. Distribution of the capsid polypeptides with respect to the surface of the virus particle.

The disposition of the Mengo capsid polypeptides (α, β, γ, and δ) with respect to the external surface of the virion has been investigated by measuring their relative susceptibilities to lactoperoxidase-catalyzed iodination and their reactivities in immunological tests with specific antisera. When intact virions were subjected to iodination for a brief period of time (1 min), radioactive iodine was incorporated predominantly into the a polypeptides and to a lesser extent into β polypeptides. Only with longer incubation times (15 min or more) did label appear in the γ and δ polypeptides; and this coincided with a progressive loosening and ultimate collapse of the viral capsid. Antisera specific for each of the capsid polypeptide species were produced in rabbits using isolated proteins as antigens. Reaction of virions with these antisera in plaque-neutralization and hemagglutination-inhibition tests showed that only the anti-α serum was capable of blocking virus-cell interactions. Complement-fixation and immunodiffusion tests confirmed the observations that the α polypeptides occupy most of the external surface of the virus particle and that the β polypeptides are partially exposed. The γ and δ polypeptides apparently occupy internal locations in the capsid of the Mengo virion.