Establishment and characterization of a chronic infectious mononucleosislike syndrome in common marmosets

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was inoculated into two species of marmosets. Successful infection was established in the majority of the animals of one species, Callithrix jacchus, as evidenced by the development of high, persistent levels of antibody against virus-specific capsid and early nonstructural proteins. Antibodies also were produced against the major membrane antigen and, in some animals, against EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA) 2 but not against EBNA 1. This is the antibody profile normally noted in individuals with chronic infectious mononucleosis (IM). EBV-induced lymphoproliferation was not seen, and EBV-specific proteins were not detected in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of infected animals. Hence, EBV infection in C. jacchus apparently does not generally include extensive B-cell involvement. However, the marmosets clearly are useful as a model for EBV primary infection and also possibly for chronic IM.     

Terminal coma affects messenger RNA detection in post mortem human temporal cortex.

In situ hybridization histochemistry has been used to study the amount of M1 muscarinic receptor mRNA in temporal cortex from subjects with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, where the duration of terminal coma was known. Total polyadenylated mRNA and glutamate decarboxylase activity were also measured. Both muscarinic receptor mRNA and enzyme activity showed a significant decline with increasing duration of terminal coma, but were not related to diagnosis. Polyadenylated mRNA signal did not show an association with coma. These data indicate the need to consider the nature of the terminal illness in post mortem studies of mRNA as well as for neurochemical research.     

Nitric oxide is not involved in the initiation of insulin secretion from rat islets of Langerhans

Summary The involvement of nitric oxide as an intracellular messenger in the control of insulin secretion from pancreatic Beta cells was studied in rat islets of Langerhans by measuring: (i) nitric oxide generation in response to physiological insulin secretagogues; (ii) the effects of inhibitors of nitric oxide synthesis on insulin secretory responses to physiological secretagogues, and on insulin synthesis; (iii) changes in islet cyclic guanosine monophosphate in response to secretagogues; (iv) the effects of exogenous cyclic guanosine monophosphate and dibutyryl cyclic guanosine monophosphate on insulin secretion from electrically permeabilised islets and from intact islets, respectively. These studies produced no evidence that nitric oxide generation is required for the initiation of insulin secretion by common secretagogues. However, the results of our experiments suggest that the generation of nitric oxide may be involved in long-term, glucose-dependent increases in cyclic guanosine monophosphate content of islet cells, although the physiological relevance of these changes requires further investigation.     

Antenatal Screening for HPA-la by Flow Cytometry

Summary: regnant women who attended antenatal clinics at King George V Hospital, the Birth Centre or were referred by obstetricians from February to July. 1996 were screened for the platelet antigen HPA-la by flow cytometry. Forty out of 2300 (1.7%) were found to be negative for this antigen . Of the 28 women followed throughout their pregnancy, none developed antibody to HPA-la. Platelet counts performed on samples from 17 babies born to 17 of these mothers were all normal. This study proves the simplicity and rapidity of flow cytometry for platelet antigen screening. The results were comparable with the Solid Phase Red Cell Adherence (SPRCA) method and with PCR. The lack of a plentiful supply of specific antibody and the rarity of fetomaternai alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FMAIT) argue against the introduction of routine screening for maternal HPA-la status at the present time.     

The relevance of Chlamydia trachomatis in acute epididymitis in young men

Young men presenting to a General Surgical Unit with acute epididymitis underwent microbiological investigation, including culture for Chlamydia trachomatis. The results were compared with similar investigations in an asymptomatic control population and with patients presenting to the Department of Genito-urinary Medicine with urethral discharge. Chlamydia trachomatis was cultured from 15% of patients with acute epididymitis and a further 15% had serological evidence of exposure to Chlamydia. Nearly 50% of patients attending the Genito-urinary clinic grew Chlamydia from the urethra. The background prevalence of Chlamydia in the control population was low. It is necessary to identify the significant minority of young men with acute epididymitis associated with chlamydial infection, because of the risk of pelvic inflammation and infertility in their female partners. At present this can only be achieved by submitting all young men with acute epididymitis to full microbiological investigation.     

Transplant Tolerance in Non-Human Primates: Progress, Current Challenges and Unmet Needs

Given the significant morbidity associated with current post-transplant immunosuppressive regimens, induction of immune tolerance continues to be an important goal of clinical organ transplantation. While many strategies for inducing tolerance have been successfully applied in murine models, significant barriers are faced when translating these approaches to the clinic. This has necessitated pre-clinical studies in the more closely related model system, the non-human primates (NHP). In this review, we will discuss the four most prominent strategies for inducing transplantation tolerance and highlight their relative success and shortcomings in NHP. These strategies are: (1) T-cell costimulation blockade (2) mixed chimerism induction (3) T-cell depletion and (4) tolerance induction through regulatory T-cells. After discussing the progress that has been made with each of these strategies, we will identify this field's most pressing unmet needs and discuss how we may best overcome the resulting barriers to tolerance induction.     

Abnormal elastic tissue in cartilage-hair hypoplasia

A 29-year-old white woman had short limbs, hyperextendable joints, fine skin and body hair, anergy to common skin test antigens, subnormal lymphocyte response to phytohemagglutinin, and increased numbers of natural killer cells, characteristic of cartilage-hair hypoplasia, an autosomal, recessively inherited disorder found in America mainly among the old-order Amish. Her forearm skin was hyperextendable and numerous verrucae were present on the digits of her hands. A skin biopsy from hyperextendable skin showed ovoid, 10- to 20-micron bodies in the papillary dermis. Ultrastructurally, the bodies were interpreted as abnormal elastic fibers.