A novel antinuclear antibody associated with a lupus-like paraneoplastic syndrome

The association of malignancy with lupus-like syndromes is rare, and the relation between these two processes is uncertain. A 71-year-old woman who presented with serositis, Raynaud phenomenon, and positive results on an antinuclear antibody test was initially thought to have systemic lupus erythematosus but was found to have ovarian adenocarcinoma. A unique sparsely speckled antinuclear antibody pattern was seen. The patient's sera reacted to novel antigens with six bands of 100, 80-78, 48, and 17 kD on Western blots not typical of reactivity for sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.     

Treatment of systemic sclerosis with recombinant interferon-gamma. A phase I/II clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE. A phase I/II trial to examine the safety and efficacy of interferon-gamma (IFN gamma) therapy for patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS. An 18-week open-label study was performed. Eighteen patients with rapidly progressive SSc were enrolled, 14 of whom completed at least 16 weeks of the study. These 14 patients had a mean age of 40 years and had been diagnosed as having SSc an average of 10.1 months prior to study entry. Recombinant IFN gamma was injected intramuscularly 3 times weekly for 18 weeks. Six patients received a 0.1 mg/m2 dose, while 8 patients received a 0.5 mg/m2 dose. Patients who completed the 18-week trial were offered maintenance therapy at a dose of up to 0.5 mg/m2. The effects of IFN gamma on skin involvement were assessed by 2 methods: 1) evaluation of skin thickness, by scoring 15 zones according to a 0 (normal skin) to 3 (hidebound skin) scale; and 2) determination of the total body surface area involved, by using 2-dimensional body diagrams to indicate areas affected, and then having a second, "blinded," assessor calculate the area score with a planimeter. RESULTS. The mean skin thickness score decreased from a baseline of 25.9 to 19.1 (P < 0.03), and the mean area scores declined from 33.1 to 19.6 (P < 0.02) after 18 weeks of IFN gamma treatment. Ten patients had a > 25% decrease in area score. Five patients had a > or = 70% decrease in area score, and 3 of them have not experienced disease recurrence for 6 to 17 months after discontinuation of IFN gamma. Five patients withdrew before the study ended. Three of these patients developed renal crisis, which may reflect the severity of the SSc in the study group, although an adverse effect of IFN gamma in SSc cannot be excluded. CONCLUSION. IFN gamma was associated with a beneficial effect on the skin involvement in most of this series of patients with rapidly progressive SSc. A placebo-controlled study will be necessary to confirm these results.     

Zur Kenntnis der Akuten Infektiösen Myokarditis

Zusammenfassung Es wird über zwei beobachtete Fälle von akuter Myokarditis berichtet, welche im Verlaufe bzw. im Anschlusse an eine akute Infektionskrankheit auftraten, bei denen die elektrokardiographisch festgestellten Störungen des Rhythmus und des Erregungsablaufes für die Stellung der Diagnose von großem Werte waren. In beiden Fällen trat nach einer kurzen Krankheitsdauer völlige Erholung ein.     

Comparative histochemistry of a flatfish fin muscle and of other vertebrate muscles used for ultrastructural studies

Summary Because of the high degree of filament order in the myofibrils of fish skeletal muscles, and the resulting usefulness of such preparations (particularly flatfish fin muscles) in structural studies of muscular contraction, the fibre type composition of plaice fin muscle has been determined by conventional histochemical tests. As controls, and for comparison, fibre type distributions have also been studied in several other vertebrate skeletal muscles which are widely used for ultrastructural and mechanical studies. In view of the importance of single fibres in such studies and because much of the published information on fibre types is rather difficult to collate, we summarize here the fibre compositions of several muscles; comparable enzyme tests have been carried out on cryostat sections of rabbit psoas muscle, frog sartorius and semitendinosus muscles and plaice fin muscles. On this basis all four muscles are composed of more than one fibre type. We confirm that frog sartorius muscle is mainly a random mixture of two fast fibre types and show that there is also a third group of fibres which are small, metabolically rich and dark under acid m-ATPase tests. We confirm that the semitendinosus is composed of three fibre types, in three non-exclusive, concentric regions and that rabbit psoas muscle contains a mixture of at least three fibre types.The principal new findings of this work are that plaice fin muscle can be divided into four regions, some of which are composed of more than one fibre type, on the basis of its histochemical reactions. This division into regions changes seasonally. The system of classification devised by Dubowitz & Brooke (1973) for mammalian muscle, and which can be applied approximately to frog muscle, can also be applied to the fibres of plaice fin muscle provided that the test for lactate dehydrogenase is carried out in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol. These fibres do not easily fit the division into red, white and intermediate types normally used for fish myotomal muscles.Since none of these muscles is homogeneous, their complex nature must be borne in mind if they are to be used satisfactorily in structural and mechanical studies of muscular contraction involving the use of single fibres.     

Use of gelatin/plasma coated flasks for isolating human peripheral blood monocytes

A simple and efficient technique to purify human peripheral blood monocytes is described. This technique is based on the fact that monocytes have high affinity for fibronectin immobilized on a gelatin coated surface. Cell preparations obtained by the method described are more than 90% monocytes. The phenotype of these adherent cells was characterized with monoclonal antibodies.     

Calcium and vitamin D metabolism in children with nephrotic syndrome

Although abnormalities of calcium and vitamin D metabolism are recognized in children with nephrotic syndrome, longitudinal observations are not available in these patients during periods of relapse and remission. We report observations in 58 children (mean age 10.1 years) with nephrotic syndrome and normal glomerular filtration rate. Hypocalcemia, modest hyperparathyroidism, and strikingly low calcidiol levels were identified during episodes of relapse. Most alterations were transient, and normalized on remission. The plasma concentration of calcitriol, the most active metabolite of vitamin D, was found to be normal in both relapse and remission. In the presence of hypocalcemia and hyperparathyroidism, however, normal plasma calcitriol levels in relapse may be inappropriately low and reflect a state of relative deficiency. Concurrent glucocorticoid therapy did not modify the results. A corollary of our observations is that children with relapsing or protracted nephrotic syndrome are at risk of developing metabolic bone disease, even without impairment of glomerular filtration rate.     

差示分光光度法测定制剂中硝苯啶的含量

利用硝苯啶溶液对光不稳定的性质,在波长350nm处测其光照前后的吸收度差值(△A),△A与硝苯啶乙醇溶液浓度在10～60μg/ml范围内呈线性关系。使用本法对硝苯啶片进行了含量测定,并对其类似物进行了干扰试验,排除了组分的干扰。该法的精密度日内为1.3%,日间为1.9%,平均回收率为99.96%。方法简便、快速,不需色谱等分离手段即可达到分析目的,专一性、重复性均较好,是分析硝苯啶制剂的一种新途径。