The cholinergic nervous system and immediate hypersensitivity: I. Eccrine sweat responses in allergic patients

The cholinergically innervated human eccrine sweat gland is a readily available organ permitting the assessment in allergic patients of cholinergic reactivity with few or no adrenergic influences. The sweat responses of four matched groups (male allergic, female allergic, male control, and female control) to intradermal Mecholyl from 0.1 μg to 100 μg was compared; the 45 male and 45 female allergic patients demonstrated statistically significant increases in sweat responses to essentially all concentrations of Mecholyl examined. No difference in the sweat responses of patients with allergic rhinitis alone as compared with patients with both allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma was noted. Five patients with intrinsic asthma most closely resembled the allergic groups in their responses and 8 patients with vasomotor rhinitis sweated at or below the control groups. The increased sensitivity of allergic patients to cholinergic stimulation as measured by eccrine sweat responses suggests that this hyperresponsiveness may be one of the underlying defects in allergic disease.     

Age-related progression of tau pathology in brains of baboons

Recently, cytoskeletal changes associated with abnormally phosphorylated tau protein were demonstrated in neurons and glial cells of two aged baboons (Papio). The present study examines the effects of age on the development of tau pathology in baboons. Brains of 50 baboons ranging in age from 1 to 30 years were categorized into four age groups: Group I: 1–10 years [n = 9], group II: 11–20 years [n = 13], group III: 21–25 years [n = 17], group IV: 26–30 years [n = 11]). Whole hemisphere sections (100 μm) were examined using phosphorylation-dependent anti-tau antibodies. Cytoskeletal changes were completely absent in animals of group I. In group II four animals (31%) exhibited cytoskeletal changes which were rated as mild or moderate. In group III abnormal tau was found in 12 brains (71%) ranging in severity from mild to severe. Finally, in group IV 10 out of 11 animals (91%) exhibited some degree of tau pathology which was rated as severe in 4 animals (36%). A statistically significant relationship was found between advancing age and progression of tau pathology in baboons. In conclusion, the present findings underline the value of the baboon as a potential nonhuman primate model for age-related tau pathology afflicting the human brain.     

仙荷降脂液对实验性家兔血脂和血流变的影响

目的观察仙荷降脂液对饲料所致高脂血症家兔血脂及血液流变性的影响。方法健康家兔随机分为对照组 (A组 ) ,高脂血症对照组 (B组 )和高脂血症治疗组 (C组 )。A组给予普通饲料 ,B组和C组均给予高脂饲料喂养 ,C组高脂喂养3周后每天加喂仙荷降脂液 ,于实验第0、21、42d分别测定血脂、血液流变学指标。结果C组用药后血清总胆固醇 (TC)、甘油三脂 (TG)、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇(HDL -C)均显著低于B组 (P<0.01) ;全血粘度 (10s-1)、血浆粘度、红细胞刚性指数 (REI)、血小板粘附率均明显降低(P<0.01 ,和P<0.05)。结论仙荷降脂液能降低高脂血症家兔血清TC、TG、HDL -C和改善血液流变性。     

XLPRA: A canine retinal degeneration inherited as an X-linked trait

Breeding studies are reported of a previously undescribed hereditary retinal degeneration identified in the Siberian Husky breed of dog. This disorder clinically resembles the previously reported autosomal recessive canine hereditary retinal degenerations collectively termed progressive retinal atrophy (PRA). However, the pedigree of the propositus, a male Siberian Husky, exhibited an X-linked pattern of transmission. This dog was outcrossed to three phenotypically normal female laboratory Beagles and two of their F1 daughters were bred to a phenotypically normal male Beagle, producing affected males in the F2 generation. Subsequent inbreedings produced further affected males and affected females as well. X-linked transmission was established by exclusion of alternative modes of inheritance and, consequently, the disease has been termed X-linked progressive retinal atrophy (XLPRA). This is the first reported X-linked retinal degeneration in an animal. Because of the many similarities of PRA in dogs to retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in humans, this new disease may not only represent the first animal model of X-linked RP (XLRP) but may well be a true homolog of one of the XLRP loci (RP2, RP3, RP6). It is the first retinal degeneration in dogs that can be assigned to an identified canine chromosome, and the first for which linkage mapping offers a realistic approach to proceed by positional cloning towards identifying the responsible gene locus. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

A human B cell differentiation antigen selectively expressed on mature B cells identified by a monoclonal antibody (HB-2)

A monoclonal IgM antibody (HB-2), produced against a membrane antigen on the Raji, B cell line, reacted by indirect immunofluorescence with 2 to 40% of lymphoblasts from the B cell lines, Raji, Daudi, SN-1036, and SB but not with other types of cell lines, including pre-B, myeloid, melanoma, or T cells. HB-2 antibody reacted with 10 ± 3% of normal blood mononuclear cells, and was unreactive with monocytes, granulocytes, platelets, or erythrocytes. Two-color immunofluorescence revealed that HB-2 antigen expression was confined to cells bearing surface Ig. An interesting finding was the fact that 25% of plasmablasts induced by pokeweed mitogen also expressed the HB-2 antigen. However, pre-B and plasma cells from normal bone marrow did not express the HB-2 antigen either on their membrane surface or in their cytoplasm. Analysis of 85 leukemias revealed that the HB-2 antigen was expressed on acute and chronic B cell leukemias and Burkitt's lymphomas, but not on malignacies of pre-B, T, myelocytic, or plasma cells. The results suggest that expression of the HB-2 antigen is confined to mature B cells.     

Description of Heart-Rate Variability Data in Accordance With a Physiological Model for the Genesis of Heartbeats

A survey is presented of techniques which transform heart-rate variability data into a signal that is both visually informative and accessible for analysis. The Instantaneous Heart-Rate (IHR) signal is introduced, i.e. the signal having the value of the heart rate (inverse interbeat interval) during the interval concerned. The IHR signal differs from the standard Delayed Heart-Rate (DHR) signal, which is always one beat late. The relationship is discussed between the different representation methods and the Integral Pulse Frequency Modulation (IPFM) model, the latter being a physiologically plausible model for the transformation of a continuous input signal (e.g., nervous influence on the cardiac pacemaker) into a series of events (heartbeats). It is shown that when the IHR signal is used as input of the IPFM model, the event series from which the signal was derived appears at the output. Hence, if the IPFM model is accepted as a model of the pacemaker, the IHR signal may be considered as an approximation of the neural (sympathetic and parasympathetic) influence on the pacemaker. In addition we show that the appearance of the IHR signal is less affected by trigger errors or extrasystoles than the standard DHR signal. It is concluded that the most attractive time-domain representation of physiological event series consists of the IHR signal, because this signal, being conceptually and computationally simple, is consistent with the IPFM model.     

Trichosporon beigelii endocarditis as a complication of peritoneovenous shunt

Trichosporon is a common cause of superficial mycotic infection but has rarely been associated with endocarditis. The case of a patient who had a peritoneovenous shunt for chronic intractable ascites due to Laennec liver cirrhosis is described. The shunt was revised on several occasions, and the last procedure was complicated by a draining skin sinus wound. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of Trichosporon endocarditis complicating a peritoneovenous shunt.     

A histopathologic study of gastric and small intestinal graft-versus-host disease following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

Twenty-two stomach and 14 small intestinal biopsy specimens from 24 allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipients were reviewed to evaluate the histopathologic changes of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in these organs. Associations between these results and clinical symptoms and other biopsy results were sought. In both organs, single epithelial cell necrosis was found to correlate with GVHD. Gastric GVHD was diagnosed in eight patients and small intestinal GVHD in four. Gastric GVHD was characterized by nausea, vomiting, and upper abdominal pain without diarrhea (the latter being present in only two patients), while all four of the patients with small intestinal GVHD had upper gastrointestinal symptoms and diarrhea. These symptoms correlated with concurrent rectal biopsy findings; pathologic alterations were seen in only one of six specimens from patients with gastric GVHD but in three of four with small intestinal GVHD. These findings suggest that stomach biopsy may be necessary to diagnose GVHD in patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms but no diarrhea and normal rectal biopsy specimens. Diagnostic problems may arise in the early posttransplantation period, when the effects of cytoreductive therapy may simulate GVHD, and in patients with gastrointestinal cytomegalovirus infection, which may also produce changes identical to those of GVHD.     

The nonstructural proteins of Sindbis virus as studied with an antibody specific for the C terminus of the nonstructural readthrough polyprotein

A dodecapeptide containing the sequence of the C terminus of the nonstructural polyprotein of Sindbis virus has been synthesized and used to immunize rabbits. The antisera obtained precipitated polypeptides from cells infected with the HR strains of Sindbis or with temperature-sensitive mutants ts11 or ts18. Four different polypeptides, having apparent molecular weights of approximately 250,000, 220,000, 155,000, and 72,000, were immunoprecipitated by the antipeptide antiserum. The largest of these polypeptides is sufficiently large to represent a polyprotein translated from the entire nonstructural region of the genome. These data suggest that nsP4 of molecular weight 72,000 is produced by translation of the entire nonstructural region of the genome, which requires readthrough of an opal termination codon immediately upstream of nsP4, followed by post-translational cleavage of this polyprotein. The amounts of nsP4 and its precursors found in infected cells are small relative to the amounts of other nonstructural proteins present, as would be expected if readthrough of a termination codon is required. In addition, the relative amounts of nsP4 and of its precursors differ in HR-infected or ts mutant-infected cells and differ with temperature of infection, suggesting that temperature of infection or ts lesions affect translation and processing of the precursor polyprotein.     

Aspirin Tolerance Induced in Aspirin-Sensitive Asthmatics

Twenty-nine patients with asthma and aspirin-sensitivity were studied in an attempt to induce tolerance to aspirin (ASA). Starting with the smallest ASA doses eliciting bronchial obstruction (threshold doses) we doubled the doses on subsequent days and finally achieved good tolerance of 600 mg ASA per day in 27 patients. It was more difficult to achieve tolerance in patients with low ASA-thresholds than in patients with high ones. Daily ASA administration led to prolongation of the refractory state but when the intervals between consecutive doses were increased, aspirin hypersensitivity recurred. The pause sufficient for a recurrence of sensitivity to ASA was measured in 16 patients and ranged from 24 h to 9 days. Twelve patients challenged with indomethacin after ASA-desensitisation showed good drug tolerance.