IDDM: an islet or an immune disease?

Diabetologia - Insulin-dependent diabetes develops as a cosequence of the selective destruction of insulin-producing cells by an autoimmune reaction. However, the precise series of events which...     

IDDM: an islet or an immune disease?

Insulin-dependent diabetes develops as a cosequence of the selective destruction of insulin-producing cells by an autoimmune reaction. However, the precise series of events which trigger anti-islet autoreactive T cells is still being investigated. Major issues will need to be raised before a comprehensive view of the anti-islet autoimmune reaction can be delineated. These include defining the primary site of activation of autoreactive lymphocytes and exploring hypotheses to explain the chronicity of the diabetes process. These issues all relate with the more general dilemma of the actual role of the islets of Langerhans in breaking self tolerance to beta-cell antigens. By studying non-obese diabetic mice deprived of beta cells following a single injection of a high dose of alloxan at 3 weeks of age, we recently obtained evidence that the activation of autoreactive T cells requires the presence of target islet cells in order to develop.     

The prediction in boys and girls of the weight/height index and various skinfold measurements in adults: a two-decade follow-up study

Prediction of adiposity in adults from anthropometric measurements (arm and trunk skinfolds, weight/height) made during childhood and adolescence was assessed in a two-decade follow-up study. Weight/height showed the best correlation between childhood and adulthood values in both sexes. The child-adult correlations for skinfolds were better in males than in females and their value varied according to body site. In males, trunk skinfolds showed slightly better correlations than arm sites, and the weakest correlations were observed for the biceps. In females arm skinfolds, especially the biceps, showed a better predictive value than trunk skinfolds for which the child-adult correlation was almost nil. Trunk skinfolds, which are more often associated with metabolic complications of obesity than limb skinfolds, are predictable from childhood measurements in males and not in females. The prediction of adiposity development in different body sites may help identify children most susceptible to various pathologies in later life.     

Système de calcul du degré de maturation squelettique chez l'enfant et l'adolescent

Sommaire Cet appareil permet d'effecteur le calcul du degré de maturation squellettique chez l'enfant et l'adolescent à partir d'une radiographie osseuse du poignet et de la main gauche. Ce dispositif trouve généralement ses applications en endocrinologie infantile, en orthodontie, en chirurgie orthopédique et en rééducation orthodromique. Un micro-ordinateur est en liaison avec une imprimante qui permet la cotation de 22 os, des 29 de la main, et l'impression des résultats (age osseux, age chronologique, age statural, sous-totaux de coation).

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With this device, the degree of skeletal maturity can be calculated in children and adolescents from a bone radiography of the left wrist and hand. This system is useful in child endocrinology, orthodontics, orthopaedic, surgery and orthodromic re-education. The quotation of 22 bones out of the 29 in the hand can be fed into a microcomputer through a typewriter. Several results can be obtained: bone age, chronological age, statural age and quotation subtotals.

     

Peripherin: an islet antigen that is cross-reactive with nonobese diabetic mouse class II gene products.

The nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse, in which major histocompatibility complex genes may be involved in the susceptibility to diabetes, has been developed as a model of autoimmune diabetes. The NOD mouse expresses I-A-encoded class II major histocompatibility complex antigens, which differ from those of other mouse haplotypes by the presence of a serine at position 57 of the A beta chain. Identifying islet autoantigens may help elucidate the role of class II antigens in the activation of autoreactive T cells and, thus, in the development of diabetes. We have detected autoantibodies directed against a 58-kDa islet cell antigen in NOD mice but not in other strains, including lupus-prone mice. Apart from insulin-secreting cells, the 58-kDa antigen was only found to be expressed by neuroblastoma cells and was identified as peripherin, an intermediate filament protein previously characterized in well-defined neuronal populations. This autoantigen cross-reacted with I-Anod class II antigens, suggesting that it may contribute to defective self-tolerance of islet beta cells in the NOD mouse.