Testicular regression in a patient with virilized female phenotype

The 16-year old girl studied here had ambiguous external genitalia, ie, enlarged clitoris, pseudo vagina, and rudiments of Wolffian tubes. Her karyotype was 46,XY and she was H-Y antigen-positive. In spite of absence of gonadal tissue, genital virilization suggests presence of testes during embryogenesis. This patient is compared to 20 others with testicular regression from the literature. Autosomal-recessive inheritance of this condition is proposed.     

Trimellitic anhydride-induced airway syndromes: Clinical and immunologic studies

This report describes a spectrum of respiratory symptoms in workers exposed to trimellitic anhydride (TMA), a biologically reactive chemical used in the plastics industry. Fourteen workers who had worked on a unit which synthesized TMA were evaluated by clinical and immunologic methods. Respiratory syndromes induced by TMA inhalation included asthma and rhinitis of the immediate type, late onset asthma with systemic symptoms, and airway irritation. TMA was shown to couple rapidly to human serum albumin, forming an immunoreactive hapten-protein complex. The workers' immunologic reactivity to this complex could be quantitated and correlated with the three respiratory syndromes. The asthma-rhinitis syndrome was mediated by IgE antibody specific for the TMA hapten. The syndrome of late onset asthma with systemic symptoms was accompanied by elevated levels of TMA-specific IgG antibody. Rheumatoid factor in high titer was found in one worker with IgE-mediated asthma and in two workers with asthma of late onset. Lymphocyte reactivity of TMA-HSA was demonstrated in three workers representative of the three clinical syndromes. Leukocyte histamine release was demonstrated to TMA-HSA in one worker with high levels of IgE antibody specific for TMA-HSA who had severe symptoms of acute rhinitis and asthma.     

Ontogeny of the antibody-forming cell line in mice. III. The generation of mature anti-sheep red blood cell-specific B cells is antigen-dependent.

A role for antigen in the generation of fully mature splenic type B cells has been shown. In adoptive transfer experiments, cells from bone marrow or fetal liver required a longer period to give an anti-sheep red blood cell plaque-forming cell (PFC) response than those from spleen. This delay was not overcome by allowing the cells a 7-day sojourn in the irradiated host before antigen challenge. A two-stage protocol was designed in which the in vivo generation of fully mature cells could be measured by their ability to give PFC in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated cultures in vitro. These experiments showed that a critical factor which influences the final differentiation of bone marrow or fetal liver cells into mature, splenic type B cells is exposure to antigen.     

High- and low-density lipoproteins enhance infection of Trypanosoma cruzi in vitro

Trypanosoma cruzi exhibits a developmentally regulated neuraminidase activity that is inhibited by high-density lipoprotein (HDL). We report here that the infection of culture cells by T. cruzi trypomastigotes is enhanced by HDL in a dose-dependent manner. The enhanced infection is prevented by Vibrio cholerae neuraminidase, an enzyme whose activity is not inhibited by HDL, suggesting that sialic acid is involved in T. cruzi-host interaction. Similar enhancement of infection is also produced by low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which inhibits T. cruzi neuraminidase as well as HDL. Further evidence that the enhancement is due to lipoproteins is provided by the fact that infection of host cells in lipoprotein-deficient medium is less than in normal medium; it can be restored to the higher level by the addition of HDL, LDL or both to the lipoprotein-deficient medium. In view of these results, we propose that HDL and LDL regulate T. cruzi infection in mammalian hosts by inhibiting the parasite neuraminidase activity.     

Tests of memory in narcoleptics

This study attempted to evaluate the validity of self-reports of memory deficits in narcoleptics by comparing the scores of these patients with the scores of matched control subjects on standardized tests of memory function. After completing a short interview designed to elicit qualitative information about memory difficulties, 30 narcoleptic subjects and 30 control subjects completed the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), Rey-Auditory Verbal Learning Test, the Rey Complex Figure Test, Strub and Black's List of Letters, and the Symbol Digits Modalities Test (SDMT). In addition, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) was used to detect variation in performance due to anxiety or fatigue. Continuous polygraphic recordings were obtained during the testing to detect any changes in alertness. Subjects with narcolepsy experienced more difficulty in maintaining attention than control subjects, as evidenced by significantly more perseveration errors (p less than or equal to 0.01) on Strub and Black's List of Letters. Despite differences in their ability to sustain attention, there were no significant differences between narcoleptic and control subjects on measures of concentration (Digit Span from the WMS, and the SDMT). Furthermore, there was no objective evidence of memory impairment when the scores of narcoleptic and control subjects were compared on standardized tests of immediate and delayed recall, as well as on tests of verbal and visual memory.     

Acute respiratory infection by human metapneumovirus in children in southern Brazil.

BACKGROUND: Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) has been described as an etiologic agent of acute respiratory infections (ARI), mainly in pediatric patients. Viral isolation is difficult and has low sensitivity, and consequently RT-PCR assays are currently used for detection. OBJECTIVES: Detect hMPV in ARI in hospitalized children in Southern Brazil; standardize a RT-PCR for routine hMPV diagnosis; validate a positive control for molecular tests; and perform phylogenetics analyses. STUDY DESIGN: Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) from 156 hospitalized children were studied. A conserved region of the nucleoprotein gene was cloned, characterized and used to standardize an RT-PCR assay. Phylogenetic analyses were performed. Clinical data were obtained from medical records. RESULTS: hMPV was detected in 6.4% of the samples. Dyspnea and wheezing were frequently reported symptoms and the most common diagnoses were bronchiolitis, acute respiratory insufficiency or laryngotracheobronchitis. Nucleotide sequence alignment revealed 97.7% identity with genotype A1 of hMPV. The detection limit of hMPV genomes by RT-PCR in clinical samples was 180 copies/microL. CONCLUSION: This is the first report of the detection and genetic characterization of hMPV infections in children with lower ARI in Southern Brazil.