Mucosal immunity to Pseudomonas aeruginosa alginate in cystic fibrosis.

Patients with cystic fibrosis commonly acquire chronic pulmonary infection with alginate-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The infection remains localized at the mucosal surfaces of the airways. Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays immunoglobulin concentrations and titers of specific antibodies to purified P. aeruginosa alginate and to P. aeruginosa sonicated antigens were measured in tears, saliva, sputum and serum. CF patients had significantly higher concentrations of IgG, IgA and SIgA in serum and saliva than controls. They also had significantly higher levels of specific antibodies to alginate and sonicated antigen in secretions and serum. Local production of IgA, IgG and IgM antibodies to P. aeruginosa was demonstrated. Only a minor proportion of specific IgA antibodies were present as secretory IgA in tears, saliva and sputum. The ratio of alginate-specific SIgA to specific monomeric IgA in sputum was significantly lower than the similar ratio in saliva, whereas the same ratio for specific P. aeruginosa sonicate antigens was found in saliva and sputum.     

REM sleep behavior disorder and vocal cord paralysis in Machado-Joseph disease.

We evaluated the occurrence of REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) and vocal cord abductor paralysis (VCAP) in a group of 9 Machado-Joseph disease (MJD) patients. RBD was diagnosed by clinical history plus audiovisual polysomnography in 4 men and 1 woman (55%). While dreaming, 4 fell out of the bed and the other injured his arms. Laryngoscopy detected bilateral VCAP in 1 patient with stridor who required emergency tracheotomy, and partial vocal cord abductor restriction in 2. RBD and VCAP are two potentially injurious conditions that should be considered part of the clinical spectrum of MJD.     

Correlation between Cyclin A Gene Expression in Adult Patients with Acute Leukemia and Drug Resistance

Adultacuteleukemia (AL)isoneofthemostcommonmalignanttumorsofhematology .Withtherecentprogressinchemotherapyandsupportivether apy ,theremissionandsurvivalrateinALhavebeenmarkedlyimproved .However ,drugresistanceandrelapsearestillimportantfactorsaffectinglongsur vivalofthese patients .Theabnormalregulationofcellcycleisanotherfactorthatcannotbeignoredex ceptformultipledrugresistance (MDR) .WedetectcyclinA ,multidrugresistantgene (mdrl) ,topoiso meraseⅡα(TopⅡα)andbcl 2inadultpatientswithA…     

The Troms? study: physical fitness, self reported physical activity, and their relationship to other coronary risk factors.

STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to investigate the associations between physical fitness, leisure physical activity, and coronary risk factors. DESIGN--This was a cross sectional study of a random sample of men and women, following a population survey. SETTING--The municipality of Troms?, Norway in 1986-1987. PARTICIPANTS--All men born 1925-1966 and all women born 1930-1966 were invited to the survey; 21,826 subjects attended (81% of the eligible population): of these, 297 men and 312 women, randomly selected, attended the present study (attendance rates 94% in men and 89% in women). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS--Fitness was tested by bicycle ergometry. Physical activity was reported on a questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was performed with fitness and leisure activity as dependent variables, and coronary risk factors as independent variables. Fitness and leisure activity were positively related (p less than 0.05). Prominent findings for fitness were negative associations with age and smoking (p less than 0.05), and positive associations with body mass index in both sexes (p less than 0.01). HDL cholesterol and systolic blood pressure were significant predictors of fitness in men (p less than 0.01). Smoking emerged as a strong negative predictor for leisure activity in women (p less than 0.01), and a negative relation between leisure activity and total cholesterol was found in men (p less than 0.01). CONCLUSIONS--The study indicates that coronary risk factors are more closely linked to physical fitness than to leisure physical activity.     

Determination of antigen-dependent activity of human lung cancer transfer factor by H3-leucine leucine leukocyte adherence inhibition assay]

This report is to demonstrate the antigen-dependent activity of human lung cancer transfer factor (Sp-TF). Sp-TFM was prepared from spleen of mice immunized with the human lung cancer cell line A549. [3H]-leu leukocyte adherence inhibition assay ([3H]-leu-LAI) was modified to identify activity of Sp-TFM. Leukocytes obtained from non-immunized mice were divided into eight groups as follows: 1. Control without TF or antigen; 2. Sp-TFM and antigen of cell line A549 (A549 Ag); 3. Sp-TFM alone; 4. Sp-TFM and ascitic tumor cell H22 antigen of mice (H22Ag); 5. Sp-TFM and antigen of human gastric cancer cell (HGCCAg); 6. Sp-TFM and antigen of human normal lung tissue (NLTAg); 7. Nor special TF of mice (N-TFM) and A549Ag; 8. A549Ag alone. When normal leukocytes were incubated with Sp-TFM and A549 antigen, the leukocytes adherence inhibition index (LAII) was significantly higher than those of the other groups. The different LAII of Sp-TFM to A549Ag and other experimental groups were highly significant (P less than 0.001). The results demonstrated that Sp-TFM could transfer specific cell mediated immunity to non-immune leukocytes. The TF prepared from spleen of goat immunized with antigen from lung cancer of patients (Sp-TFG) showed antigen specific activity as well as Sp-TFM.     

Mother's education and perinatal problems in Finland.

This study using nationwide data expands a previous study from one area in Finland. The purpose was to study how perinatal problems (mortality, short gestation, low birthweight and low Apgar scores) vary by mother's social class, which is measured by level of education. Outcomes of all births in the 1987 Medical Birth Register were linked to the 1988 National Education Register with gives the estimated number of years of completed education. In unadjusted analyses, the lowest educational groups (less than 9 years) had the worst results for outcomes other than neonatal mortality. Results in the two highest educational groups (greater than or equal to 13 and 12 years of education) were similar and if anything, better in the second highest group. Excluding twins and adjusting for confounding variables (age, parity, county, urbanization of residence) by logistic regression analysis did not alter the results much. Adjustment for possible mechanisms correlated with social class (marital status, smoking, time of first antenatal visit) decreased the higher occurrence of low birthweight infants in the low educational groups. Reported previous miscarriages were more common in the higher educational groups. Based on the available background characteristics one would expect to have found the usual social gradient in perinatal problems to have persisted between the two highest educational groups. Further studies on factors causing the plateau in the gradient between these groups might be useful.     

Ultrastructural features of synovial sarcomas and their prognosis]

25 synovial sarcomas in patients with various duration of life were studied electron-microscopically. Quantitative correlation between dark and clear tumour cells is the most informative prognostic index in patients operated on because of these sarcomas: the more numerous are dark cells in the tumour, the worse is the prognosis. The appearance of intermediate filaments in the cytoplasm of epithelioid tumour cells and the presence of secretory material in the intercellular spaces are the sign of a less favourable prognosis.     

阴茎海绵体折叠术治疗单纯阴茎下弯

对１９例先天性单纯阴茎下弯采用阴茎海绵体折叠术矫治，即在弯曲的凸面白膜折叠缝合以拉直阴茎，为减少并发症，同时加以改进措施。所有病例随访１０～７１个月，手术效果满意