Antibodies to myeloid precursor cells in autoimmune neutropenia

Antibodies to mature blood neutrophils and to bone marrow myeloid cells have been described in the sera of some patients with apparent autoimmune neutropenia. To further explore the prevalence and specificities of antibodies to myeloid precursor cells, we evaluated sera from 148 patients with suspected autoimmune neutropenia for the presence of antibodies to neutrophils, to cultured myeloid cell lines, and to highly purified bone marrow myeloid progenitor cells. Using an immunofluorescence flow cytometric assay, we identified IgG antibodies in 42 (28%) of these sera that bound specifically to K562 cells, a multilineage cell line originally derived from a patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Twenty-two (15%) of the sera also contained IgG antibodies that bound specifically to the primitive myelomonocytic leukemia cell line KG1a. Twenty-five (17%) of the sera had IgG antibodies to myeloid cell lines in the absence of antibodies to mature neutrophils. There was a trend toward more severe neutropenia in patients with antibodies to K562 cells, without antineutrophil antibodies. In further studies, antibodies from 12 sera bound to mononuclear CD34+ cells that had been purified from normal human bone marrow by an immunomagnetic separation procedure. Moreover, two of these sera suppressed the growth of granulocyte-macrophage colony- forming units (CFU-GM) in methylcellulose cultures. The presence of antibodies to primitive hematopoietic cells in the sera of some patients with suspected immune neutropenia suggests that these antibodies may have a role in the pathogenesis of the neutropenia observed.     

Physical Functionality and Self-Rated Health Status of Adult Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis Presenting in a Primary Care Clinic

Background

Knee osteoarthritis is a chronic medical condition of public health importance in Nigeria which causes disability and impacts daily activities in the sufferers. This study aimed to describe the physical functionality and self-rated health status of adult patients with clinical knee osteoarthritis presenting at the Family Medicine Department, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study of 400 respondents. Knee osteoarthritis was diagnosed clinically using the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology. Morbidities, self-rated health status and physical functionality of the respondents were also assessed.

Results

Knee osteoarthritis was diagnosed in 46(11.5%) respondents. Respondents with knee osteoarthritis significantly rated their health worse than those without knee osteoarthritis (p <0.0001). Experience of pain, stiffness and performance of daily activities were significantly worse among respondents with knee osteoarthritis. Those who had knee osteoarthritis had significantly higher waist (p <0.0001), hip (p <0.0001) and knee circumferences (p <0.0001) respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed increasing age (OR=1.103; 95% CI=1.022 – 1.191), self-rated health worse than six months ago (OR=12.562; 95% CI=1.178–125.243), experience of stiffness after waking up in the morning (OR=12.758; 95% CI=3.572–45.569), stiffness after sitting/lying down/resting (OR=21.517; 95% CI=2.213–209.220) and waist circumference (OR=1.225;95% CI=1.017–1.477) to be the most significantly associated with knee osteoarthritis.

Conclusion

Knee osteoarthritis significantly impairs the health and daily activities of adult patients in Ibadan, Nigeria. Healthcare workers need to screen adult patients routinely at first-contact to detect knee osteoarthritis clinically early and manage appropriately.     

系统性硬化症肺部高分辨率CT表现

目的 提高对系统性硬化症（SSc）肺部高分辨率CT（HRCT）表现的认识。方法 回顾性分析62例SSc肺部HRCT表现，并对其中的12例随访病例进行动态观察。结果 11例肺基本正常，51例均表现为不同程度的肺间质纤维化。HRCT表现：（1）小叶间隔增厚（23例，45．1％）；（2）胸膜下孤形线（8例，15．7％）；（3）磨玻璃密度影（19例，37．3％）；（4）网格样影（13例，25．5％）；（5）囊状影（9例，17．6％）；（6）支气管血管束增粗（6例，11．8％）；（7）蜂窝征（19例，37．3％）；（8）胸膜下小结节（3例，5．9％）。上述征象大多先后出现，并以两肺外围分布为主。12例随访病例中，2例CT征象消失，7例无明显变化，3例进展为蜂窝肺。结论 SSc肺部HRCT主要表现为以两肺外围分布为主的间质性纤维化。磨玻璃密度影及胸膜下孤形线是病变的早期表现，蜂窝肺为其结局。     

Use of new Nordic criteria for classification of SIDS to re-evaluate diagnoses of sudden unexpected infant death in the Nordic countries

To investigate whether changes in diagnostic practice might be the cause of the SIDS epidemic in the Nordic countries in the 1970s and 1980s a cooperative study was initiated in 1990. Common morphologic diagnostic criteria for SIDS were established in 1992 and 127 randomly selected sudden unexpected infant deaths from all Nordic countries from 1970 to 1995 and 205 cases from the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Oslo, Norway (RMI) from 1984 to 1995 were re-evaluated blindly using the new criteria. Neither the increase nor the decline in the SIDS rate since 1989 seemed to be due to changed diagnostic practices. SIDS seemed to have been under-diagnosed before the new criteria came into operation in 1992. There were fewer discrepancies between the original and revised diagnoses in the RMI cases than in the rest of the Norwegian cases, both before and after 1992.     

Are elevated cerebrospinal fluid levels of IL-6 in sudden unexplained deaths,infectious deaths and deaths due to heart/lung disease in infants and children due to hypoxia?

Many SIDS cases probably die after periods of hypoxia and it has been shown that hypoxia may stimulate IL-6 production. The purpose of this paper was to examine if there were any correlations between hypoxanthine in vitreous humour and II-6 in CSF. The concentration of IL-6, IL-1 β and TNF α in cerebrospinal fluid of 50 Sudden Infant Death syndrome (SIDS) cases, 9 borderline SIDS cases, 18 infectious deaths, 8 violent deaths and 22 cases with heart/lung disease were measured by ELISA. The hypoxanthine (Hx) vitreous humour concentrations in the same groups were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The IL-6 levels in cases of infectious death, heart/lung disease and borderline cases were significantly higher than in the SIDS cases ( p < 0:01). The Hx levels were in the same range in cases of SIDS, borderline SIDS and infectious death, and they were significantly higher than the levels in cases of violent death and heart/lung disease ( p < 0:01). There was no correlation between hypoxanthine and IL-6 in any of the groups. In the cases studied IL-6 elevation is probably not induced by hypoxia, but is rather a result of immunological stimulation.     

温阳方治疗慢性心力衰竭的临床研究

目的：探讨温阳方联合西药治疗慢性心力衰竭（ CHF）的临床疗效。方法70例CHF 患者随机分温阳方＋西药治疗组35例（试验组）和西药治疗组35例（对照组）。对照组给予降血压、β受体阻滞剂、利尿剂、强心等药物治疗;试验组在对照组的基础上予以温阳方,2组患者治疗1个月。治疗1个月后评价2组患者神经内分泌指标及左室射血分数（LVEF）。结果治疗1个月后,试验组与对照组血浆去甲肾上腺素（NE）、血管紧张素Ⅱ（AngⅡ）和醛固醇（ALD）均明显降低（P ＜0．05）,左室射血分数（LVEF）均显著升高（P ＜0．05）,但试验组与对照组相比变化更为显著（P ＜0．05）。治疗后试验组总有效率显著高于对照组（P ＜0．05）。结论温阳方联合西药治疗CHF 可显著提高LVEF,改善心力衰竭症状。