Age-related differences in IgA nephropathy

To clarify age-related differences in the characteristics of IgA nephropathy, we investigated 117 patients of all ages. The number of patients in the second decade of age was larger than that in the other age decades. There was no difference in sex in all age brackets. About one half of the patients under ten years of age presented as acute nephritis, but their prognosis was favorable. Patients over 10 years, most of whom were detected by chance, tended to have a greater degree of proteinuria, a lesser degree of creatinine clearance, a higher frequency of hypertension, and a higher level of serum cholesterol with age. Although the intensity of mesangial cell proliferation was not changed, the grade of glomerulosclerosis, interstitial change, and arteriosclerosis increased and the prognosis became poor as age advanced. Treatment with corticosteroids and antiplatelet agents was less effective in adults, especially in the older age brackets than in children because the frequency of histologically chronic lesions increased. In these cases, lipid-lowering agents and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors may be helpful in preventing the progression.     

Visualization of the photodegradation of a therapeutic drug by chemometric-assisted fluorescence spectroscopy

The fluorescence spectral fingerprint, also known as the excitation-emission matrix (EEM), is used to assess and visualize therapeutic drug photodegradation in combination with chemometrics. Examination of EEM-parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) data showed that an individual component was easily separated from a mixture of photogenerated products of a heterocyclic pharmacophore, in this case, phenothiazine drugs (PTZs). Detailed investigations of both structure–EEM relationships and kinetics revealed that the components extracted from EEM–PARAFAC could be quantitatively attributed to such photogenerated products as phenothiazine sulfoxide and carbazole derivatives. EEM in combination with principal component analysis (PCA) could be used as a mapping tool to visualize information of the photodegradation process of PTZs. We also assessed the photostability of various types of PTZs containing side chains by using validated EEM–PARAFAC methodology.

Drug quality and assurance changes with time under the influence of a variety of environmental factors, such as light, temperature, and moisture.     

Gingival recessions caused by Herpes Simplex Virus in a patient with COVID‐19 infection

Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV‐1) is a very common infection often localized in the mucocutaneous junction of the lip. Rarely, it could be detected also in periodontal tissues, associated with an elevated risk of periodontal disease progression and gingival recessions. Recently, HSV‐1 and numerous co‐infections have been reported in literature associated with the Coronavirus and subsequent COVID‐19 disease. This report illustrates a case of HSV‐1 in a patient with Covid‐19 infection, showing the presence of ulcers and vesicles on the gingival margin of maxillary teeth associated with soreness and pain. The histology highlighted the presence of intraepithelial cell ballooning, confirming the diagnosis of HSV‐1 infection.     

ENHANCEMENT OF THE OPSONIZING AND AGGLUTINATING POWERS OF ANTIPNEUMOCOCCUS SERUM BY SPECIFIC PRECIPITATING SERUM

1. No demonstrable antiopsonins are formed in rabbits following the intravenous injection of monovalent pneumococcus horse sera, Types I, II, and III. 2. The serum of rabbits injected with immune pneumococcus horse serum, Type I, II, or III, or with normal horse serum, when mixed in the proportion of 1:4 with Type I or Type II pneumococcus horse serum, can greatly augment, in vitro, the opsonization and agglutination of Type I and Type II pneumococci by the homologous immune horse sera. No similar effect is obtained with Type III serum and pneumococci. 3. The increase in opsonization and agglutination is dependent upon (a) specific sensitization of the pneumococci by the homologous immune serum and (b) the presence of the precipitating serum. In the absence of sensitization, as when a heterologous or normal horse serum is employed, opsonization and agglutination do not occur, even though a precipitating mixture is provided. The substitution of normal rabbit serum for the precipitating rabbit serum gives opsonization and agglutination in dilutions slightly higher than are effected with salt solution only, due possibly to the more favorable medium created for the leucocytes by the addition of 25 per cent of whole rabbit serum. 4. Different methods of combining the immune horse serum, precipitating rabbit serum, and pneumococci yield very similar results, preliminary sensitization of the bacteria before precipitation, or precipitation in the rabbit-horse serum mixture before the addition of the pneumococci for sensitization causing little if any difference in result from that obtained when immune horse serum, precipitating rabbit serum, and pneumococci are all mixed and incubated together. 5. This increased opsonization in the test-tube does not seem to be paralleled by increased protective power, or at any rate such protection is not readily demonstrated.     

The effects of atrial fibrillation on functional recovery in post-stroke patients

Purpose : This study evaluates the negative effects of atrial fibrillation (AF) on after stroke recovery and its relationship with age and other concomitant diseases. Method : One hundred and ninety-nine consecutive inpatients, after their first stroke, were enrolled and entered a rehabilitation program lasting 60 days. The mean interval since the stroke was 19 days. The disability, both at admission and at discharge, was assessed by Functional Independence Measure (FIM). Atrial fibrillation was diagnosed at admission on the basis of electrocardiographic recordings. Gender, age, blood pressure and blood sugar level were also taken into account. Results : Stroke patients suffering from AF, when compared to those lacking AF, have higher disability at admission as well as at discharge and had a lesser gain in functional recovery. No statistical difference of the AF occurrence was found between male and female patients. The negative correlation between age and functional gain was found only in AF patients. There was also a significant association between AF and hypertension, but not between AF and diabetes. At the beginning and at the end of the study, the median FIM scores of all the patients with AF were quite similar irrespective of manifesting hypertension, diabetes or neither of these two. Conclusions : The presence of AF has a negative prognostic value on post stroke outcome, particularly in the elderly patients. The pattern of recovery of stroke subjects having AF is not influenced by concomitant diseases like hypertension or diabetes.