Protein nutrition, faecal flora and iron metabolism: the role of milk-based formulae

This paper explores the role of milk-based formulae in achieving four aspects of nutritional health in infants and toddlers: in the suckling, to mimic the amino acid metabolism and the faecal flora of a breast-fed baby; in the weanling, to achieve adequate protein intakes in later infancy and beyond and to achieve satisfactory haemoglobin concentrations in the early toddler years. Milk-based formulae have two roles in infant nutrition: as so-called breast milk substitutes and as a safety net during the weaning period; the latter role may be the more important.     

PAROXYSMAL TACHYCARDIA IN INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD I. Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia

A 1 to 30 year follow-up study of 54 infants and children with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia is presented. In 28 cases the first attack occurred in infancy, and in 18 of these already in the first months of life. Nine patients had organic heart disease. The WPW syndrome was diagnosed in 30 cases. When first seen, most of the infants presented signs of incipient or manifest congestive heart failure, which was very unusual in the children, most of whom had only minor symptoms. Four children had experienced brief syncopes during attacks. Digitalis was effective against congestive heart failure and, when continued, may have prevented failure during subsequent attacks. Whether digitalis and other anti-arrhythmic agents facilitated conversion to sinus rhythm could not be established in this study. Vagal stimulation was only rarely effective. Preventive treatment with digitalis or other antiarrhythmic drugs seemed to have little if any effect on the frequency of recurrent attacks. Out of 23 infants who were followed for at least 5 years, 17 had been free from attacks during the last 3 years and 13 of these had had their last attack before the age of 6 months. Out of 23 children followed for 5 years or more, only 3 had been free from recurrences during the last 3 years. Patients with the WPW-syndrome had a somewhat higher incidence of recurrent attacks.     

Activity of Antitumor Drugs Against African Trypanosomes

Of 49 compounds known to have antitumor properties, 6 were found to have significant activity against Trypanosoma rhodesiense infections in mice. Activity against the African trypanosomes has not been reported previously for any of these six compounds. In order of decreasing activity these compounds were: (i) imidazole-4-carboxamide, 5-(3,3-dimethyl-1,1-triazene), (ii) inosine diglycolaldehyde, (iii) cis-diamminedichloro-platinum, (iv) streptozotocin, (v) coralyne sulfate, and (vi) 5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine. The percentage of "hits" (12.2%) from these known antitumor agents was approximately twice as great as when other means are employed for the selection of compounds for this test system.     

Association of non-HLA genes with type 1 diabetes autoimmunity

Approximately 50% of the genetic risk for type 1 diabetes is attributable to the HLA region. We evaluated associations between candidate genes outside the HLA region-INS, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen (CTLA)-4, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-4R, and IL-13 and islet autoimmunity among children participating in the Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY). Children with persistent islet autoantibody positivity (n = 102, 38 of whom have already developed diabetes) and control subjects (n = 198) were genotyped for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the candidate genes. The INS-23Hph1 polymorphism was significantly associated with both type 1 diabetes (OR = 0.30; 95% CI 0.13-0.69) and persistent islet autoimmunity but in the latter, only in children with the HLA-DR3/4 genotype (0.40; 0.18-0.89). CTLA-4 promoter SNP was significantly associated with type 1 diabetes (3.52; 1.22-10.17) but not with persistent islet autoimmunity. Several SNPs in the IL-4 regulatory pathway appeared to have a predisposing effect for type 1 diabetes. Associations were found between both IL-4R haplotypes and IL-4-IL-13 haplotypes and persistent islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes. This study confirms the association between the INS and CTLA-4 loci and type 1 diabetes. Genes involved in the IL-4 regulatory pathway (IL-4, IL-4R, IL-13) may confer susceptibility or protection to type 1 diabetes depending on individual SNPs or specific haplotypes.     

Induction of antimyelin and antioligodendrocyte antibodies by vaccinia virus An experimental study in the mouse

The appearance of serum antibodies binding to specific brain antigens was monitored in mice inoculated intracerebrally with a dermotropic or a neurotropic strain of vaccinia virus. Antibodies were measured with a binding assay using [¹²⁵I]protein A. Inoculation with the neurotropic strain caused an induction of serum antibodies binding to the myelin membrane, the myelin basic protein and oligodendrocytes while no induction of binding antibodies to neurons was observed. The dermotropic strain failed to elicit the formation of binding antibodies to brain antigens.     

Rituximab stabilizes multifocal motor neuropathy increasingly less responsive to IVIg

The authors report a patient with anti-GM(1) antibody-negative multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) who was increasingly less responsive to IV immunoglobulins (IVIgs). Five yearly courses of the monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody rituximab were well tolerated and extended the interval of IVIg administration from 7 to 12 days (corresponding to 42% reduction of IVIg) during this period. Rituximab may be a benefit for patients with MMN.