CRYOGLOBULINEMIA AND CUTANEOUS LEUKOCYTOCLASTIC VASCULITIS WITH HEPATITIS C VIRUS INFECTION

Background. Mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) is a systemic disorder, characterized by a typical clinical triad: purpura, weakness, and arthralgias, with visceral complications such as liver and renal involvement. The objective was to study the association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and essential mixed cryoglobulinemia (EMC). Patients and Methods. Markers of HCV infection in 11 patients with cryoglobulinemia were examined and hepatitis C virus (HCV) was detected in eight of them. These patients were included in a clinical and histologic study. Anti-HCV antibodies were determined by a second-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA-2) in sera and cryoprecipitates. Studies on HCV-RNA were performed by a two-stage polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the serum. A control group, consisting of 28 patients with other cutaneous disorders, was studied for HCV infection using ELISA-2 and PCR. Results. All patients had liver dysfunction, arthralgias, and purpura. Three patients had involvement of the peripheral nervous system, two had renal involvement, and one patient had Sjögren's syndrome. Cryocrits ranged from 3% to 20%. Six patients had type III cryoglobulinemia and the remaining two had type II. Markers for hepatitis B virus (HBV) were negative in all serum samples. Anti-HCV antibodies and HCV-RNA were positive in the serum of all the cases with MC. Anti-HCV antibodies were positive in all cases except for one of the cryoprecipitates tested. Four patients received recombinant interferon alfa. In two of them, serum aminotransferases became normal and cryoglobulins disappeared. Conclusions. The results strongly suggest that HCV infection is responsible for the cryoglobulinemia and vasculitis in patients with MC and that treatment with interferon alfa is presently the treatment of choice for such patients.     

Selective delivery of chemotherapeutic agents with a new catheter system

A new catheter system was used in ten patients (16 infusions) for infusion of chemotherapeutic agents to the sites of malignant gliomas. Thirteen infusions to the supraophthalmic region were successful, as were three infusions to the posterior cerebral region. There were no complications after the infusions. A neurologic complication occurred in one patient in whom two successful supraophthalmic infusions were previously carried out. In this patient the guide wire separated during catheter placement into the posterior cerebral artery.     

应用双向电泳技术初步建立人精子头部蛋白质图谱

目的 :利用人类精子蛋白质组分析的双向蛋白电泳 (2 DE)技术建立正常人精子头部蛋白质图谱。　方法 :先用固相pH梯度 SDS电泳技术 (IPG DALT)对全精子和精子头部蛋白质抽提物进行蛋白质分离 ,然后用图像分析软件比较精子头部蛋白质图像与精子蛋白质图像的蛋白质斑点组成差异。其中 ,全精子蛋白质的抽提比较了硫脲 /尿素 /盐酸胍和Kit/盐酸胍两种抽提方法。　结果 :硫脲 /尿素 /盐酸胍法与Kit/盐酸胍法所得的全精子 2 DE图像蛋白质斑点分别为 80 2个和 797个 ,其中相同的有 4 92个 ,将两种方法获得的图像整合而得到的全精子蛋白质图像有1 1 0 7个蛋白质斑点 ;精子头部图像蛋白质斑点有 4 2 8个 ,经匹配 ,全部来源于全精子蛋白质图像。　结论 :综合采用两种蛋白质提取方法初步建立了精子头部蛋白质图谱。     

Written Simulation of Patient-Doctor Encounters. 1. Research Instrument for Registration of the Performance of General Practitioners

A written simulation of patient-doctor encounters is described,involving five patients with vague complaints, an ‘instruction’patient with sinusitis and a ‘test’ patient withacute appendicitis. Nineteen general practitioners were confrontedwith it. The extent to which the simulation distorted realityand the implications of such distortions were considered inan attempt to assess the content validity. The conclusion wasthat the simulation gave a realistic impression of the generalpractitioners' diagnostic and therapeutic approach to patientswith vague complaints. The searching procedures in relationto the complaint and the patient's perception of the complaintwere adequately depicted, and the therapeutic procedures approximatedclosely to reality. There was some distortion in the attentionpaid to psychosocial aspects as these were given more attentionin the simulation than they receive in reality.     

Degradation of Soluble Immunoglobulin Aggregates in Vitro by Monocytes from Normal Subjects and from Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

The capacity of human peripheral monocytes to degrade soluble immunoglobulin (IgG) aggregates (AIgG) was studied in vitro. Under serum-free conditions peripheral monocytes from normal donors were able to degrade soluble AIgG in a linear and time-dependent fashion. Addition of fresh human or fresh guinea-pig serum to the incubation mixtures caused a marked increase in degradation of the amount of soluble AIgG available. The stimulatory effect of fresh serum was complement-mediated, because it was abolished by heat treatment of the serum and was not seen when C4- or C3-deficient sera were tested. Functional inactivation of C3 receptors on the phagocytes by trypsin also abolished the complement-mediated stimulation, suggesting cooperation between Fc and C3 receptor in degradation of soluble AIgG. No significant differences were found between monocytes from normal donors and those from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, as far as degradation is concerned in the presence of complement.     

Bronchial artery embolization in the management of hemoptysis: technical aspects and long-term results

Seventy-five patients with hemoptysis were treated with bronchial artery embolization (BAE). The procedure was performed with Hexabrix (sodium methylglucamine ioxaglate), Mikaelson catheters, and Gelfoam particles. Angiographic evaluation of the bronchial artery anatomy revealed ten different configurations, which are described. The embolization attempt failed in three cases (4%); eight additional patients (10.7%) were excluded from the series because of inadequate data. In the remaining 64 patients, 41 underwent BAE alone and 23 underwent either chemotherapy or surgery in addition to embolization. Immediate control of hemoptysis was achieved in 49 of 64 patients (76.6%). Long-term control of hemoptysis was achieved in 46 of the 56 patients included in the long-term follow-up (82.1%). Eight of the 64 patients were lost to follow-up, which ranged from one to 47 months (mean 24.8 months). Hemoptysis recurred in 12 of 56 patients (severe in 10, mild in 2) (21.4%). Twelve patients died (21.4%), five of them due to hemoptysis (8.9%). None of the patients who died of hemoptysis had responded to initial BAE. It is concluded that BAE is an effective treatment for immediate control of life-threatening hemoptysis, allowing long-term control of bleeding in the majority of patients.