Hepatic Amebiasis, Analysis of 56 Cases

The clinical findings in 56 patients with hepatic amebiasis are reviewed. This illness was most frequent in male black patients, 20–39 years old. The clinical picture is dominated by upper right quadrant abdominal pain, general malaise, pain on percussion of the right hypochondrium and tender hepatomegaly. Jaundice is not rare and appears to have no prognostic significance. The importance of early diagnosis is emphasized.     

Predominant usage of the proximal poly(A) site in alpha mRNAs is not intrinsic to the 3' termini

The maturation of IgM-expressing B cells to IgM-secreting plasma cells is associated with both an increase in mu mRNA and the ratio of secreted to membrane forms of mu mRNA. In contrast, previous studies demonstrated that in vitro the secreted form of alpha mRNA (alpha s mRNA) predominates regardless of the stage of B cell differentiation. The present study demonstrates that alpha s mRNA predominates in both B cells derived from the germinal centers of murine Peyer's patches and in the functional IgA memory population, suggesting that in vitro events accurately represent the generation of a secretory IgA response in vivo. Although the predominant usage of the alpha s poly(A) site is due to RNA processing, it does not depend on either the alpha s poly(A) site, the 3' splice site associated with the exon encoding the membrane exon of IgA (alphaM) or the alphaM poly(A) sites. Analysis of the sequence of the intron between the alpha s terminus and alphaM (alpha s- alphaM intron) demonstrates the existence of several potential regulatory elements. Furthermore, the effects of deletions within the alpha s-alphaM intron on 3' terminus usage demonstrate that the predominant usage of the proximal terminus is not strictly dependent on the length of the intron. Together with previous work, these observations support the idea that choice of 3' terminus for all Ig heavy chain genes is regulated by a similar mechanism, but specific sequences within a heavy chain gene can impinge upon that mechanism.      

Epidemiology of congenital pigmented naevi: I. Incidence rates and relative frequencies

Pigmented naevi (PN) were clinically diagnosed in 1083 newborn infants from a series of 531,831 consecutive livebirths examined in fifty-nine hospitals in South America. Isolated PN (IPN) were seen in 989 (0.2%) non-malformed infants, while PN associated with other congenital anomalies (APN) were observed in ninety-four (1.0%) malformed babies. Incidence rates calculated from the fifty-nine hospitals were very variable due to under-reporting, which might have been as high as 80%. The PN were classified by their location, number, size, texture, and colour. Observed locations were compared with random expected distributions based on the surface proportions of the newborn. IPN were preferentially found on the chest and abdomen, with a low concentration on the head and upper limbs. No examples were observed on soles or palms. IPN were single in 90% of cases. Size was small (1–9 mm) in 29%, medium (10–;40 mm) in 63%, and large (over 40 mm) in 8% of cases. Abnormal texture, (rugose, raised, and/or hairy) was found in 7–11% of IPN. Colour was brown in 68%, black in 21%, and of other colours in 11%. The large IPN tended to be multiple in number and abnormal in texture. Small IPN tended to be black. IPN on the chest and abdomen were more frequently small, non-black, and of normal texture; those found on the back tended to be black and abnormal in texture; black IPN were also frequent on the upper limbs; large IPN frequently affected the lower limbs. The APN did not differ from the IPN in their number, size, texture, or colour. APN were less common than expected on the back and upper limbs. An association was observed between the PN and the following four congenital anomalies: ear deformities, preauricular appendages, angiomas, and other skin anomalies. The differences in distribution of PN in the newborn infant and that in the adult that have been previously published suggest that most of the PN found in the adult are not congenital.