A placebo-controlled trial of ketotifen (HC 20-511, Sandoz) in allergen induced asthma and comparison with disodium cromoglycate

Ketotifen failed to protect against cat fur allergen induced asthma in a double blind placebo-controlled trial in ten asthmatic children. Disodium cromoglycate gave effective protection against the immediate and the late asthmatic reactions but there were no significant differences between the effects of ketotifen and a placebo.     

脑电图在慢性脑供血不足患者中的应用

目的:探讨脑电图对慢性脑供血不足的诊疗价值。方法:对65例慢性脑供血不足的患者作脑电图检查。结果:脑电图正常者6例(9.24%),轻度异常11例(16.92%),中度异常42例(64.61%),高度异常6例(9.24%),脑电图总异常率90.76%,脑电图主要改变是慢波增多。结论:脑电图对慢性脑供血不足的诊疗有一定帮助。     

A COMPARISON OF NSP-RETICULONS WITH CONVENTIONAL NEUROENDOCRINE MARKERS IN IMMUNOPHENOTYPING OF LUNG CANCERS

Neuroendocrine-specific protein (NSP)-reticulons are endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein complexes, which have been identified as markers for neuroendocrine differentiation. In this study, the expression of two members of the family of NSP-reticulons, NSP-A and NSP-C, have been investigated in different types of lung cancer and compared with the expression patterns of five conventional neuroendocrine markers, the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), synaptophysin, chromogranin A, Leu-7, and neurofilament proteins. NSP-A and NSP-C antibodies were reactive with most carcinoid tumour and small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) cases, while atypical carcinoid tumours showed a variable expression. In the total group of neuroendocrine tumours, a high concordance of expression was found between NSP-A and NSP-C, while their expression correlated well with NCAM and synaptophysin positivity. Chromogranin A, Leu-7, and neurofilament proteins were shown to be expressed to a limited extent in these neuroendocrine tumours. In a selected group of non-SCLCs known to exhibit neuroendocrine features, NSP-A expression was detected at much higher frequency than NSP-C. In virtually all NSP-A positive cases, this expression was associated with one or more of the other neuroendocine markers. NSP-A expression showed a stronger correlation with conventional neuroendocrine markers than NCAM. In detecting neuroendocrine differentiation in non-SCLC, NSP-A is more sensitive than synaptophysin, chromogranin A, Leu-7, and neurofilament proteins. It is concluded that NSP-reticulons are valuable markers in the diagnosis of neuroendocrine differentiation in non-SCLC and should be used in conjunction with NCAM. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel HLA‐B*14 allele – B*14:53 – genetics and serology

HLA‐B*14:53 was found in a UK European normal blood donor prior to registration on the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry. It differs from B*14:13 by one base (103G>T) in exon 2 resulting in a substitution of alanine (A) in B*14:13 to serine (S) in B*14:53. Unique among current HLA‐B*14 alleles, B*14:53 and B*14:13 share a motif of 59 bases between positions 361 and 419 in exon 3. This motif is present in numerous HLA‐B alleles the commonest overall being B*08:01, suggesting that both B*14:53 and B*14:13 arose from intralocus gene conversion events with B*08:01. Thus, B*14:53 probably arose from B*14:01:01 (which has TCC at codon 11 (S), while B*14:13 arose from B*14:02:01:01 which has GCC at codon 11 (A). Additionally, the two likely B*14:53‐bearing and B*14:13‐bearing haplotypes are typical of B*14:01:01‐bearing and B*14:02:01:01‐bearing haplotypes, respectively. Serological testing, using 49 antisera with HLA‐B64, or B64, B65 reactivity, showed that the B*14:53 specificity did not react as a B64 (B*14:01) specificity and may appear as a short/weak HLA‐B14. This implies that residues additional to S at position 11 are involved in HLA‐B64 serological identity; for example, the motif 11S 97W 116F is possessed by B*14:01 and many other B*14 products (and B*39:79 plus some HLA‐C products) but not B65 (B*14:02) or the B*14:53 specificity. B*14:53 was found in a random HLA sequence‐based typed population of 32 530 normal subjects indicating a low precision allele frequency of 0.000015 in subjects resident in Wales.     

一种新型人工机械心瓣——双叶翼型瓣的开发研究

本文着重从仿生医学和血流动力学研究方面,论述了由成都科技大学及华西医科大学共同研制开发并已投入临床试用的一种新型人工机械心瓣——双叶翼型瓣。 该瓣具有两个叶片,这些叶片具有基于有铰薄翼理论设计的翼型瓣叶形状。该瓣是中心流道型,具有良好的功能仿生性及血流动力学性能。特别是,它的翼型形状,具有独特的早期关闭性能。该瓣使用了具有良好生物相容性的热解碳及类金刚石膜材料,耐久性及可靠性好,对人体没有危害。 综合分析以及实验和临床初步结果均显示出该瓣具有良好的应用前景。     

SEROLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION OF A NEW HLA-B7 VARIANT ANTIGEN –HLA-B7QUI

A new HLA-B antigen, HLA-B7Qui that appears to be a variant of HLA-B7 has been identified. This antigen, which is HLA-Bw6 associated, reacts with approximately two-thirds of cytotoxic antisera stimulated by HLA-B7 or B27 that lack a B27 or B7 component, respectively. All anti-B7+27 antisera (stimulated by either B7 or B27) react with B7Qui as do most B22-stimulated sera possessing a B7 component. However, sera stimulated by B60, with or without a B7 component, fail to react with B7Qui. Family studies show the B7Qui allele to be unique to the haplotype –HLA-A32 CW6 B7Qui Bf*S C4A*6 C4B*1 DR11 DQ7 (GL02). Six Caucasoid subjects on the panel of 6861 HLA-typed potential bone marrow donors have this antigen (phenotype frequency, 0.08745%; gene frequency, 0.04473%). Work undertaken during the 11th International Histocompatibility Workshop (Reekers et al., 1992) showed that B7Qui has the same isoelectric point as HLA-B702 and HLA-B703 (Bpot) and that B7Qui is distinct from the HLA-B7 variants B703, B7SL, BDT, B7x40, BRI, and B41v.     

A new ontology (structured hierarchy) of human developmental anatomy for the first 7 weeks (Carnegie stages 1–20)

This paper describes a new ontology of human developmental anatomy covering the first 49 days [Carnegie stages (CS)1–20], primarily structured around the parts of organ systems and their development. The ontology includes more than 2000 anatomical entities (AEs) that range from the whole embryo, through organ systems and organ parts down to simple or leaf tissues (groups of cells with the same morphological phenotype), as well as features such as cavities. Each AE has assigned to it a set of facts of the form <AE><relationship><parent>, with the relationships including starts_at and ends_at (CSs), part_of (there can be several parents) and is_a (this gives the type of tissue, from an organ system down to one of ~ 80 simple tissues predominantly composed of a single cell kind, which is also specified). Leaf tissues also have a develops_from link to its parent tissue. The ontology includes ~14 000 such facts, which are mainly from the literature and an earlier ontology of human developmental anatomy (EHDAA, now withdrawn). The relationships enable these facts to be integrated into a single, complex hierarchy (or mathematical graph) that was made and can be viewed in the OBO‐Edit browser ( oboedit.org ). Each AE has an EHDAA2 ID that may be useful in an informatics context, while the ontology as a whole can be used for organizing databases of human development. It is also a knowledge resource: a user can trace the lineage of any tissue back to the egg, study the changes in cell phenotype that occur as a tissue develops, and use the structure to add further (e.g. molecular) information. The ontology may be downloaded from www.obofoundry.org . Queries and corrections should be sent to j.bard@ed.ac.uk .     

A NEW FAST VARIANT (BF*F08) OF THE BF POLYMORPHISM

A new variant in the BF polymorphism was found in one individual from an isolate (Dogons) of Mali. It might correspond to the expression of a new allele BF*F08 with haemolytic activity.