In vivo and in vitro binding of C4 molecules on red cells: a correlation of numbers of molecules and agglutination

The fourth component of human complement (C4) is one that is essential to the antibody-mediated classical activation pathway. C4d, present on all normal and most patient red cells (RBCs), may be detected by the human antisera anti-Rodgers (Rg) and -Chido (Ch). A study has been made of the Rg/Ch antigens on normal and patient RBCs in an attempt to understand the mechanism by which C4 is bound to normal RBCs in the absence of RBC antibodies (Abs). Because RBCs from C1q-deficient patients express Rg/Ch, it seems that C1q is not essential for C4 binding. Treatment of normal RBCs with proteolytic enzymes, including trypsin, eliminated positive reactions with anti-Rg/Ch even though the C4d fragment is considered to be resistant to cleavage by trypsin. By correlating agglutination reactions with numbers of bound C4d and C3d molecules, it is evident that both C4d and C3d were affected by trypsin treatment and that anti-Rg/Ch were not capable of agglutinating RBCs with less than 50 molecules of bound C4d. It is concluded that trypsin-sensitive and -insensitive RBC membrane structures may both act as acceptors for C4. RBCs with null phenotypes of the major blood group systems all expressed Rg/Ch antigens, so none of the structures that carry these antigens act preferentially as acceptors for C4.     

Trichinella infection and clinical disease

Trichinellosis is caused by ingestion of insufficiently cooked meat contaminated with infective larvae of <it>Trichinella</it> species. The clinical course is highly variable, ranging from no apparent infection to severe and even fatal disease. We report two illustrative cases of trichinellosis. Returning to Denmark a few days after having eaten roasted pork in the Republic of Serbia, a female patient suffered from severe vomiting, epigastric pain, diarrhoea, and later myalgia, generalized oedema, and prostration. A biopsy showed heavy infestation with <it>Trichinella spiralis</it>, 2000 larvae/g of muscle. Life-threatening cardiopulmonary, renal and central nervous system complications developed. The patient recovered after several months. Her husband, who also ate the pork, did not have clinical symptoms, but an increased eosinophil count and a single larva in a muscle biopsy confirmed infection. The epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of trichinellosis are reviewed.      

Palliative care at home: Stress for nurses in urban and rural New South Wales, Australia

Nurses often experience positive and negative dimensions of caring for dying clients and their families. This project aimed to compare stress experienced by urban and rural community nurses working with palliative-care clients in the home. Participants included five nurses working in rural Australia and seven nurses working in an urban area. Transcribed data from unstructured audio-taped interviews were coded for common and contrasting themes, and a comparison was made of the stress experienced by the two groups of nurses. The major themes were role conflict and definition, family dynamics, time and workload. For both groups of nurses, the impact of family relationships and role conflict within the community impacted significantly to the stress they experienced. Debriefing opportunities for nurses to discuss stress, including educational and support sessions, is an essential component of best practice. Rural nurses had the additional stress of trying to provide a 24 h service over vast distances with a lack of financial resources.     

Autoantibodies against bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein in patients with cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disorder, is characterized by chronic pulmonary infection/inflammation which leads to respiratory failure. The presence of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) has previously been observed in the sera of patients with CF. In view of the known relationship of ANCA with primary vasculitis and of their putative pathogenetic role in these disorders, we studied the presence, specificity and isotype of ANCA and their clinical associations in 66 adult CF patients. None of the 66 CF samples had autoantibodies to the major ANCA antigens, proteinase 3 or myeloperoxidase. However, 60/66 (91%) CF samples contained IgG and 55/66 (83%) IgA, autoantibodies to bactericidal/permeability increasing protein (BPI), a recently characterized ANCA specificity. All the IgA anti-BPI-positive samples were also IgG anti-BPI-positive. The autoantibody specificity was confirmed by inhibition assay and immunoblotting of CF sera against a neutrophil granule preparation. Furthermore, in this cross-sectional study, anti-BPI levels were inversely correlated with the observed reductions in FEV1 and FVC (IgA anti-BPI and FEV1: r = 0.508, <it>p</it> &lt; 0.0001), and both IgG and IgA anti-BPI levels were higher in CF patients with secondary vasculitis (<it>n</it> = 6) than in those without (<it>p</it> &lt; 0.05). ANCA with specificity for BPI were present in the majority of CF sera in this study and autoimmune processes may be associated with the development of pulmonary injury in CF.      

Kidney transplants in mice. An analysis of the immune status of mice bearing long-term, H-2 incompatible transplants

Kidney transplants between strains of mice which are incompatible at either the K or the D end of the H-2 complex usually function for prolonged periods supporting the lives of nephrectomized recipients. This occurs with no recipient treatment. With multiple H-2 and non-H-2 determined incompatibilities, transplants may be rejected but more slowly than skin grafts. In the strain combination studied most extensively in these experiments (B10.D2 to B6AF(1)) in which the incompatibility was confined to the K end of the H-2 region, about 70 percent of recipients survived for many weeks with normal blood urea nitrogen levels. Skin grafts between untreated members of these strains were rejected promptly (mean survival time of 13.5 +/- 1.1 days) as were kidney transplants to recipients of prior skin grafts. Donor strain skin grafts to recipients of kidney transplants after kidney transplantation enjoyed greatly prolonged survival whereas skin grafts from a third party (A.SW) were rejected normally. If kidney tissue was transferred in the form of free grafts without primary vascular union, it was rejected promptly leaving its recipient highly immunized. Cellular and humoral immunity to donor antigens declined over the first few weeks after transplantation, and the spleens of long-term recipients contained no “killer cells.” Recipient lymphoid cells could mount active graft versus host reactions to donor strain antigens on transfer to neonatal mice. Nevertheless, they were distinctly less able to respond specifically by the production of killer cells to donor strain antigens after sensitization in vitro. No evidence that this defect was associated with the presence of suppressor cells was forthcoming from several types of in vivo and in vitro tests.     

Psychopathology in individuals with post-traumatic headaches and other pain types

In this study, the psychological functioning of patients with chronic post-traumatic headache (PTH), chronic combination headache and chronic low back pain without headache, whose time of onset was similar, and a matched group of controls was investigated. The Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R), State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Form Y (STAI-Y), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to assess the degree of psychopathology. A MANOVA test indicated highly significant differences between groups. In general, the pain groups fell along a continuum with PTH subjects demonstrating the highest elevations, back pain subjects demonstrating the next highest elevations, and combination subjects demonstrating fewer elevations. A cluster analysis indicated that findings were best classified into four clusters, but no one pain diagnosis predominated in any cluster. Eighty-nine percent of controls were assigned to clusters 1 or 2, which revealed essentially normal scores on all tests. It is suggested that while chronic pain patients demonstrate more psychopathology than non-pain controls, a variety of coping styles exists within each pain group independent of diagnostic categorization.     

白藜芦醇对动物离体心房收缩力和心率作用的种属差异性比较

目的:观察白藜芦醇对豚鼠、小鼠和家兔离体心肌收缩力和心率的影响。方法:实验于2005-08/2006-12在河北医科大学西校区实验中心完成。①实验分组:离体豚鼠、小鼠和家兔心肌各分为9组:空白对照组、溶剂对照组、递增累积浓度白藜芦醇组(浓度为10-6,3×10-6,10-5,3×10-5,10-4,3×10-4mol/L),白藜芦醇对照组(5×10-5mol/L),ATP敏感性钾通道阻断剂格列苯脲(5×10-5mol/L)预孵育 白藜芦醇组,钙激活钾通道阻断剂四乙胺(10-3mol/L)预孵育 白藜芦醇组,电压依赖性钾通道阻断剂4-氨基吡啶(10-3mol/L)预孵育 白藜芦醇组,内向整流钾通道阻断剂氯化钡(10-4mol/L)预孵育 白藜芦醇组,乙酰胆碱调节钾通道阻断剂阿托品(10-5mol/L)预孵育 白藜芦醇组。②实验方法:不同类型的钾通道阻断剂均预孵育15min后,分别加入白藜芦醇(终浓度为5×10-5mol/L),连续记录30min,与相应动物白藜芦醇对照组相比较。③评估指标:分析不同阻断剂与白藜芦醇联用对心房收缩力下降率及心率抑制率的影响。结果:①白藜芦醇可降低豚鼠和小鼠离体心肌收缩力和心率(P<0.05),并被ATP敏感性钾通道阻断剂格列苯脲和钙激活钾通道阻断剂四乙胺部分阻断。②白藜芦醇可降低家兔离体心肌心率,格列苯脲可阻断白藜芦醇的负性变时作用。③电压依赖性钾通道阻断剂4-氨基吡啶、内向整流钾通道阻断剂氯化钡、乙酰胆碱调节钾通道阻断剂阿托品均不能阻断白藜芦醇对3种不同动物离体心房收缩力和心率的作用(P>0.05)。结论:白藜芦醇可呈剂量依赖性减慢豚鼠、小鼠和家兔的心率,白藜芦醇可减弱豚鼠心肌收缩力,其作用是与开放ATP敏感性钾通道有关,而与电压依赖性钾通道、内向整流钾通道和乙酰胆碱调节钾通道无关。同时,钙激活钾通道也参与了白藜芦醇对豚鼠和小鼠离体心房收缩力和/或心率的抑制作用。白藜芦醇对离体心肌收缩力和心率的作用有种属差异性。