Initial Evaluation of AF78: a Rationally Designed Fluorine-18-Labelled PET Radiotracer Targeting Norepinephrine Transporter

Molecular Imaging and Biology - Taking full advantage of positron emission tomography (PET) technology, fluorine-18-labelled radiotracers targeting norepinephrine transporter (NET) have potential...     

Leukapheresis in rheumatoid arthritis association of clinical improvement with reversal of anergy

In order to study the clinical and immunologic effects of a brief course of leukapheresis, 14 patients with clinically similar rheumatoid arthritis were segregated into 2 subgroups. Group A (7 patients) had subnormal lymphocyte tritiated thymidine incorporation to soluble antigens. After a brief course of leukapheresis, 6 of these 7 patients demonstrated substantial clinical improvement associated with significantly enhanced lymphocyte tritiated thymidine incorporation to soluble antigens. In contrast, none of the 7 patients in group B (normal immune functions) demonstrated similar changes in articular indices or lymphocyte proliferation. Thus, clinical improvement induced in a subset of rheumatoid arthritis patients appears to reflect modulation of function, and not simply immuno-suppression.     

Mortality in lupus nephritis

The principal causes of death of 68 patients with lupus glomerulonephritis were reviewed. Renal failure (40%), vascular events (25%), and infections (16%) were the predominant causes. Diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis was associated with an increased frequency of renal failure. A bimodal pattern of early deaths due to active lupus and sepsis and late deaths from vascular events was found superimposed on a constant rate of death from renal failure.     

Scopolamine-disruption of radial arm maze performance: modification by noradrenergic depletion

Administration of muscarinic cholinergic antagonists impairs performance on a variety of memory tasks. We examined the hypothesis that denervation of norepinephrine input to the forebrain would augment this effect of cholinergic antagonists. Administration of 6-hydroxydopamine into the dorsal noradrenergic bundle did not by itself alter the performance of rats on a radial maze working memory task. In Experiment 1, scopolamine, a muscarinic antagonist, impaired the performance of the NE-depleted animals more than that of animals in an operated control group. This result was again observed in Experiment 2; but here a lesion by order of dose administration interaction provided evidence for recovery from the effects of NE-depletion. In Experiment 3, it was found that NE denervation did not alter the functional status of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons as reflected in in vitro determination of sodium-dependent, high affinity choline uptake in hippocampus and cortex. These results suggest that an age-related decline in brain NE neurons, as well as further deterioration in this system in some cases of Alzheimer's disease, may contribute to the cognitive and memory deficits more typically ascribed to cholinergic dysfunction.