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.     

Grading score system: A method for evaluation of the degree of senescence in Senescence Accelerated Mouse (SAM)

For evaluation of the degree of senescence in SAM-P, accelerated senescence prone mouse, formerly called SAM or prone series or P-series, consisting of SAM-P/1, SAM-P/2, SAM-P/3 and SAM-P/4 corresponding to P-1, P-2, P-3 and P-4 series, respectively, in the previous reports, and in SAM-R, accelerated senescence resistant mouse, formerly called resistant series or R-series, consisting of SAM-R/1, SAM-R/2 and SAM-R/3 corresponding to R-1, R-2 and R-3 series, respectively, in the previous reports, the grading score system was adopted. The items to be examined in this system include 11 categories selected from the clinical signs and gross lesions considered to be associated with the aging process. The degree of the senescence in each category was graded from 0 to 4 according to the detailed criteria devised in our laboratory. After 8 months of age each mouse was examined every 4 months, and some of the mice were examined after 2 months of age.In almost all categories, the grading score and incidence began to increase from 4 or 6 months of age and continued to increase with advancing age in both SAM-P and SAM-R. The increase, however, was more marked in SAM-P than in SAM-R. The slow but steady increase in the SAM-R levelled out at 24 months of age and was comparable to that of 12 months of age in SAM-P. In both SAM-P/1 at 8 months of age and SAM-R/2 at 12 months of age, there was a significant reverse correlation between total score of this grading score system and length of residual life after examination.Systematic and extensive studies using the grading score system showed that if the validity of the system is, based on “irreversibility” and “universality” of the changes in     

Isolation and characterization of bacteriophage T3/T7 hybrids and their use in studies on molecular basis of DNA-packaging specificity

In vitro DNA-packaging systems of bacteriophages T3 and T7 packaged homologous DNA more efficiently than heterologous DNA. Packaging of phage DNA proceeds by way of concatemeric intermediates (H. Fujisawa, J. Miyazaki, and T. Minagawa (1978), Virology 87, 394-400). The conversion of mature homologous and heterologous DNAs to concatemers was efficient in both the T3- and T7-packaging systems. In vitro complementation experiments indicate that the gene 19 product (gp19) specifies which DNA enters the capsid. To identify DNA regions recognized by the packaging systems, T3/T7 hybrids were constructed and physical maps of the hybrid DNAs were determined by restriction enzyme analysis. By comparing restriction maps and in vitro packaging of hybrid DNAs, it is concluded that the sequence responsible for specificity of DNA packaging is confined within 5% of the ends of the T3 and T7 genomes.     

Recombination in adenovirus: DNA sequence analysis of crossover sites in intertypic recombinants

The nucleotide sequence of the adenovirus type 5 genome has been determined for a 620-bp region that spans the C terminus of the pVI gene and the N terminus of the hexon gene, and compared to the adenovirus type 2 DNA sequence: 25 base changes have been identified, most of which do not lead to alterations in the amino acid sequence and regulatory signals in the region. Crossover sites in three intertypic recombinants have been previously located in this region of the genome by fine restriction mapping. A sequence determination for the three recombinants, and the four ts mutants used in generating the ts+ recombinants, was carried out. The crossovers were in each case located in a small region of complete sequence homology (from 45 to 156 nucleotides long) flanked on either side by sequences derived from each parent. These structures are compatible with a reciprocal crossing over model of generalised recombination, where a recombinant joint has resolved in a region of high DNA homology. For the recombinants considered here, this region abutts onto a neighbouring region of much lower sequence homology, and it is possible that the position of the crossover is determined at least in part by the termination of branch migration at a heterologous boundary.     

Theoretical analysis of surface EMG in voluntary isometric contraction

Summary A new stochastic model of the surface EMG is suggested and the spectral density of the surface EMG is studied theoretically and experimentally to confirm the validity of this model.Theoretical results show that while the contraction level is not so high, the shape of the spectral density (distribution) does not change and its amplitude is directly proportional to the motor unit firing frequency and recruitment.To illustrate the theoretical results, experiments were carried out for rectus femoris and biceps brachii. The surface EMG was lead off by bipolar surface electrodes. And the spectral density of the surface EMG was calculated using FFT algorithm.From these experimental results, it was confirmed that our theoretical results were almost valid.     

Murine sarcoma viruses: the helper-independence reported for a Moloney variant is unconfirmed; distinct strains differ in the size of their RNAs.

A variant of Moloney murine sarcoma virus (Mo-MSV) reported to behave like a nondefective sarcoma virus was subjected to biological and biochemical analyses to determine whether its alleged helper-independence could be confirmed. When plated at low multiplicity the virus was shown to readily generate (four out of six) transformed clones which failed to produce virus unless superinfected with helper leukemia virus. The RNA of the parental virus stock was compared electrophoretically to that from clones which produced virus after the initial infection (producer clones) or after superinfection with Mo-murine leukemia virus (MLV) (nonproducer clones). All clones contained a MSV-specific 30 S RNA species. In addition, virus from one producer clone also contained 38 S MLV RNA at a high relative concentration, indicating that the original Mo-MSV stock must have contained such an RNA species. However, the original virus stock as well as virus from another producer clone contained 38 S MLV RNA at a low, uncertain relative concentration. A hypothesis consistent with these and previous data suggests that the Mo-MSV variant investigated here is defective and contains helper leukemia virus at a low concentration. This explains (i) the ready generation of nonproducer clones by infection at low multiplicity, (ii) the difficulty in detecting helper leukemia virus 38 S RNA in the original virus stock, and (iii) the low complexity (approximately 1.9 × 10⁶ daltons) of the MSV-specific 30 S RNA. These results are compatible with the properties reported for a defective MSV genome, but incompatible with those of a nondefective MSV genome. The MSV-specific RNA components of different clonal isolates of Mo-MSV differed from each other in size, ranging between 2.1 and 1.6 × 10⁶. The Harvey sarcoma virus-specific RNA was 1.9 × 10⁶, that of Kirsten sarcoma virus was 2.5 × 10⁶, and the spleen focus forming component of Friend virus was 2.0 × 10⁶. The sarcoma- or transformation-specific RNA components of all transforming viruses tested here were smaller than the 38 S RNA of helper leukemia viruses of 3.1 × 10⁶.     

High incidence of horse serum protein allergy in various autoimmune disorders.

In 186 persons (68 patients suffering from different so-called autoimmune diseases, 30 kidney recipients, 38 control patients from a surgical ward, and 50 healthy volunteers) the immune response to horse IgG was examined. The lowest rate of sensitization was found in kidney transplant recipients (3%) and the highest in autoimmune patients (33%). After excluding 39 patient who had received horse serum treatment prior to the examination, it was found that without previous injection of horse serum, 27% of the patients with autoimmune disease were sensitized to horse IgG. Compared to the other groups (kidney transplant recipients, 4%: surgical controls, 0%; healthy volunteers, 3%), this difference was statistically significant (p is less than 0.01).     

河南省幼师学生心理健康状况调查分析

目的 了解河南省幼师学生的心理健康状况，为提高幼师的心理素质提供依据。方法 对来自河南南阳一师，洛阳一师，郑州幼师3所学校的580名幼师女生进行症状自评量表（SCL-90）测定。数据经t检验，q检验和卡方检验。结果 幼师在校生中有63.81%学生存在心理健康问题。11.43%学生有明显心理障碍，突出表现为强迫，人际敏感，偏执，敌对，抑郁，不同年级学生心理健康状况存在明显差异。结论 提示幼师学生存在不同程度心理健康问题。学校心理卫生和教育工作者必须予以重视，进行干预。