A preliminary study into the dental health status of multiple sclerosis patients

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of unknown etiology involving the central nervous system. Since MS affects the whole body, orofacial aspects of the disease must be expected, particularly since loss of muscular coordination may result in a diminished ability to maintain oral hygiene. This preliminary study examined the dental health status of 22 volunteer MS patients. A questionnaire collected data regarding medical and dental histories and socieo-demographic information. Extra- and intra-oral examinations were carried out on all subjects to determine the particular dental treatment needs of this special group. The DMFT and CPITN scores for this group did not indicate that MS patients were more susceptible to dental caries or periodontal disease. However, the prevalence of trigeminal neuralgia and symptoms of TMJ dysfunction in the group studied indicated that these conditions may be manifest in MS patients and warrant further investigations.     

Evidence for phenoloxidase activity inHolothuria tubulosa (Echinodermata) brown bodies and cells

encapsulating structures occurred inHolothuria tubulosa. Histologically, they were formed by nodules entrapping foreign material. By an internodular mass, two or more nodules were assembled in an encapsulating body that was brown-pigmented. This pigment could be melanin, since an enzyme (i.e., phenoloxidase) responsible for its synthesis was proven. The enzyme exerted oxidase activity against dopa, dopamine and norepinephrine but not against tyrosine. The components of the sea-cucumber phenoloxidase-activating system were present in the circulating cells, which could therefore be responsible for melanin deposition during processes of foreign-body encapsulation.     

Cytomegalovirus Isolation from a Chimpanzee with Acute Demyelinating Disease After Inoculation of Multiple Sclerosis Brain Cells

A strain of cytomegalovirus (CMV) was isolated during the third subcultivation of explants from the left frontal lobe of a chimpanzee that developed paralysis more than 3 years after intracerebral inoculation at birth with brain cell cultures derived from a patient with multiple sclerosis. Another strain of CMV was also isolated from a lymph node culture taken from the same chimp. The isolates, designated MZM-13 and MZM-14, produced a cytopathic effect characteristic for CMV when inoculated into brain, ganglion, or fibroblast cultures of human or simian origin. Infected cells contained characteristic Cowdry A intranuclear as well as intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies, and 100-nm spherical herpes-like virus particles were detected by electron microscopy in the nucleus and cytoplasm of infected cells. Virus was further identified as CMV with convalescent human anti-CMV serum. Complement-fixing antibody to CMV was present at a titer of 1:32 when the acutely ill chimpanzee was sacrificed. No antibody was detected at birth or at 1 or 2 years of age. A newborn chimpanzee inoculated intracerebrally with MZM-13 developed clinically asymptomatic lesions in the central nervous system characterized by acute and chronic inflammation and degeneration of myelin in cranial and spinal nerve roots. Restriction endonuclease analysis of viral deoxyribonucleic acid isolated from these two viruses indicated that MZM-13 and MZM-14 are identical and are closely related to chimpanzee CMV. No similarity in restriction endonuclease fragment patterns was found between MZM virus and the Towne and Clegg strains of human CMV.     

The involvement of interdigitating (antigen-presenting) cells in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Macrophage like cells expressing high concentrations of HLA-DR antigen have been identified in situ within the synovium of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The characteristics of these cells have been determined using immunohistological analysis and combined cytochemical techniques. It was found that the majority (greater than 80%) of these cells were interspersed within the perivascular lymphocytic infiltrates occurring in the synovium. These cells did not stain with antisera against surface immunoglobulin or any Mc Abs to T lymphocyte markers. Further combined staining demonstrated that the HLA-DR + ve cells did stain with an anti-monocyte monoclonal (FMC-17), but could not be stained with a Mc Ab against C3b receptors. The interfacing of cytochemical reactions for acid phosphatase (ACP) and adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) with immunofluorescence staining for HLA-DR demonstrated that these cells were ACP - ve ATPase + ve. This analysis led to the conclusion that the HLA-DR + ve cells found in abundance in the rheumatoid synovium expressed identical characteristics to the interdigitating cells of the normal lymph node paracortex. The possible significance of the presence of large numbers of such antigen presenting cells in the rheumatoid synovium is discussed.     

Comparative virulence of blood and stool isolates of Shigella sonnei.

Shigellemia is rare in developed countries and might result from the emergence of unusually virulent strains. We compared systemic invasiveness markers of isolates from the blood of 3 temporally clustered patients with Shigella sonnei bacteremia in Boston with those of 11 unrelated contemporaneous strains from stools of people in New England. We found no difference between the two groups in O-chain length by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, mouse 50% lethal dose, in vivo response to iron, and susceptibility to serum, which varied from moderately susceptible to ultrasusceptible. Mean intraperitoneal 50% lethal doses of smooth form I colonies for mice were equally low (10(5.8) CFU) in both groups, and the 50% lethal doses were lowered equally further in the two groups by predosing with iron to levels useful in mouse model sepsis studies. S. sonnei bacteremia may reflect compromised host defenses, not bacterial virulence.