A HIGH FREQUENCY OF INHERITED DEFICIENCY OF COMPLEMENT COMPONENT C4 IN DARWIN ABORIGINES

Abstract A high frequency of serum complement component C4A deficiency may explain the higher prevalence and greater severity of systemic lupus erythematosus reported in Australian Aborigines. Inherited deficiencies of serum complement components C4A, C4B, and C2 were examined in two Australian Aboriginal populations from Darwin and Alice Springs and compared with the prevalence of complement deficiencies in white Australian blood donors. The frequency of C4A deficiency alleles was 29% in Darwin Aborigines compared with 12% in Alice Springs and 17% in Canberra blood donors. Partial C4B deficiency was also higher in Darwin Aborigines than in the other populations. Inherited deficiency of serum complement component C2 was not observed.     

Treatment of the exposed knee prosthesis

Ten knees with early tissue breakdown after knee arthroplasty resulting in exposed prostheses were treated with different plastic surgical techniques. Six knees were successfully covered: four using a gastrocnemius musculocutaneous flap, one using a fasciocutaneous flap, and one using split-skin grafts. Four knees failed: two using local skin flaps and two using split-skin grafts. A gastrocnemius musculocutaneous flap seems to provide a reliable coverage of the exposed knee joint.     

Shouldice hernia repair: results at a teaching institution

Authors with wide experience report that the Shouldice technique for repair of inguinal hernia is very effective. The technique has not gained widespread acceptance or notoriety. For example, the 13th edition of Textbook of Surgery, edited by Sabiston, devotes only one paragraph to this type of herniorrhaphy. Because of the excellent results reported by the Shouldice Clinic, this technique was adopted at the Augusta Veterans Administration Hospital, a teaching hospital of the Medical College of Georgia. Since 1976, a total of 604 Shouldice repairs have been performed by supervised house staff; 468 patients have been followed for up to 8 years and a recurrence rate of 1.3 per cent is reported. Although the follow-up is brief, the Shouldice hernia repair is widely applicable and good results are not dependent on wide experience alone.     

Oncocytic Schneiderian papilloma in a young adult: a rare diagnosis

The oncocytic Schneiderian papilloma (OSP) is a rare neoplasm of the nose and paranasal sinuses. The majority of the approximately twenty patients reported in the literature with this papilloma have been over the age of fifty at the time of diagnosis. The 33-year-old woman reported here is the youngest patient with this lesion to date. The OSP should be considered in the work-up of all unilateral nasal polypoid lesions. This lesion's propensity for recurrence and its documented association with synchronous malignant disease warrant surgical excision by en bloc resection of the lateral nasal wall, with corresponding careful microscopic evaluation of all excised tissue.     

Contradictory antitumor efficacies produced by the combination of DNA attacking drugs and polyamine antimetabolites

The antitumor effects of two polyamine antimetabolites, alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) and methylglyoxal-bis-guanylhydrazone (MGBG), when combined with cis-diamminedichlroplatinum (CDDP) or mitomycin C (MMC), were studied using human gastric cancer cells xenotransplanted into nude mice. DFMO 1000 mg/kg and MGBG 50 mg/kg were given intraperitoneally for 6 successive days, while CDDP 3 mg/kg or MMC 2 mg/kg was given every second day. Although DFMO and MGBG plus MMC did suppress the tumor growth, the combination with CDDP led to no suppression, and rapid growth occurred after the cessation of therapy. The inhibition of tumoral DNA biosynthesis and a decline in polyamine levels, were also not observed. The polyamine antimetabolites when used with CDDP did not produce the desired antitumor efficacy, even though the platinum concentration in the tumor tissue was high. On the contrary, however, DFMO and MGBG when combined with MMC did suppress tumor growth, inhibited DNA biosynthesis, and tissue polyamine levels were low. These results suggest that though CDDP and MMC belong to a similar category of DNA attacking, bifunctional alkylating agents, the findings of these two drugs are contradictory. Here, the mechanism of action no doubt plays a contributory role.     

The Resource-Based Relative Value Scale. Toward the development of an alternative physician payment system

This article describes the design and methods of a study currently under way to develop a Resource-Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS); an alternative basis for establishing the payment rate for the services and procedures (S/Ps) of physicians in medical and surgical specialties. Physician resource inputs to be measured include (1) S/P time, (2) pre-S/P and post-S/P times, (3) intensity, (4) practice costs, including malpractice premiums, and (5) the cost of specialty training. These five factors will be combined to produce an RBRVS denominated in nonmonetary units. In the initial phase of the study, data on time and intensity will be obtained through a national survey of physicians who perform these S/Ps. In the second, consensus phase of the project, the investigators will convene a panel of representatives of the medical profession, third-party payers, consumers, and other interested parties to examine areas of agreement and disagreement as to how an RBRVS should be used for policy purposes. The final results of this study are expected by the summer of 1988.     

Release of cholecystokinin from rat cerebral cortex in vivo: role of GABA and glutamate receptor systems

Using cortical cups in chloralose-urethanized rats, the in vivo release of cholecystokinin-like immunoreactivity (CCK-LI) from cerebral cortex was examined. Resting levels of cholecystokinin-like immunoreactivity ranged from 20 to 30 pg/20 min sample. The addition of potassium (40 mM) in excess, resulted in a highly significant elevation in the levels of CCK-LI in the cortical superfusate. Deletion of calcium and the substitution of cobalt (10 mM), resulted in a significant reduction in both resting release and the release otherwise evoked by the addition of potassium. Focal electrical stimulation of the cortex (20 Hz), resulted in a significant (1.9 +/- 0.2-fold, n = 8) increase in the levels of CCK-LI. The addition of glutamate (10(-6)-10(-4) M) of kainic acid (10(-8)-10(-6) M), also resulted in significant elevations in the levels of CCK-LI. The co-administration of a putative glutamate receptor antagonist, kynurenic acid (10(-4) M) resulted in a significant reduction in the levels of release otherwise evoked by the addition of glutamate, but not by electrical stimulation. The addition of GABA (10(-5)-10(-3) M) resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in the resting release of CCK-LI, and the release evoked by glutamate. Picrotoxin (10(-6)-10(-4) M), resulted in a highly significant increase in the levels of CCK-LI in the cortical effluent. These results are consistent with a tonic GABAergic inhibition of CCK-releasing neurons. The treatment of the animal with diazepam (30 mg/kg, i.p.) also resulted in a significant reduction in resting release and the release otherwise evoked by focal cortical stimulation.     

Responses to tuberculin in the guinea-pig eye as a model of cell mediated immune responses in the external eye.

The clinical and histological findings in an animal model of ocular cell mediated immune responses are described. These were evoked in sensitised guinea-pigs by dropping tuberculin into the conjunctival sac or injecting it under the palpebral conjunctiva. When tuberculin was dropped into the conjunctival sac, higher doses were required to evoke a strong response than when it was injected subconjunctivally. When high doses of antigen were used for challenge, a mild response was observed in unchallenged contralateral eyes. The cellular response at low doses of tuberculin consisted predominantly of mononuclear cells. At higher doses the cellular infiltrate was more pronounced, and polymorphonuclear cells tended to predominate 24 hours after challenge, while at 48 hours mononuclear cells predominated.     

Effects of emotion on perceptual asymmetry: interactions with personality

Perceptual asymmetry on a series of four specially constructed dichotic word tests was found to change as a function of the emotional quality of the words in the tests (P = 0.05). This was most pronounced in the case of positively valued words which produced an increase in asymmetry consistent with facilitated left-hemisphere function (P less than 0.004). Changes in asymmetry with emotion differed as a function of personality characteristics of the subjects, with repressors and high anxious subjects showing an increase with emotion while true low anxious subjects showed a decrease (P less than 0.02). Personality groups also differed in asymmetry on an emotionally neutral test (P less than 0.04) and in changes in asymmetry over time independent of emotion (P less than 0.001). These data suggest that emotion mediated activation of the left hemisphere may facilitate information processing within that hemisphere. Moreover, they indicate that dichotic listening tests may provide a non-invasive and inexpensive method for assessing emotion mediated changes in brain state that are clinically relevant.     

C-reactive protein levels predict postoperative septic complications

We studied 108 patients undergoing clean-contaminated and dirty surgical procedures to determine whether daily C-reactive protein (CRP) measurements for 14 days postoperatively could predict the occurrence of septic complications prior to clinical diagnosis. Diagnostic criteria for septic complications and positive CRP response were defined in advance of the study. The CRP assays were carried out using an automated laser nephelometer system after the patient's discharge from the hospital. Forty-six septic complications were diagnosed in 40 patients. These complications consisted of wound infection (23), urinary tract infection (11), pneumonia (six), upper respiratory tract infection (three), intra-abdominal abscess (one), and other (two). The CRP testing was found to have a positive predictive value of 69% and a negative predictive value of 78%. We conclude that serial CRP measurements may be a valuable adjunct to surgical care in patients at high risk of postoperative septic complications.