Characterization of the anti-neural antibodies in the Sera of leprosy patients

Sera from 43 leprosy patients were tested for antibodies that bound to normal human nerve. Thirty-eight percent showed positive staining as demonstrated by indirect immunofluorescence. Only 1 out of 30 control sera tested displayed similar staining. Western blots of myelin and neural intermediate filament (IF) proteins were tested with patient sera. Two of the anti-neural antibody (ANeAb)-positive leprosy sera bound to the P0 protein of PNS myelin. All 17 ANeAb-positive leprosy sera displayed 2 or more bands in the molecular weight range of Mr 45 000-55 000, when tested against IF proteins. One explanation for these findings is that leprosy patients produce antibodies to intermediate filament (IF) proteins released subsequent to the bacterial invasion of the peripheral nerves. The importance of these autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of leprosy is discussed.     

Laparoscopic hysterectomy

Summary Thirty-three patients were selected for laparoscopic hysterectomy and operated on in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine of Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital. Surgical techniques included blunt dissection with scissors and bipolar coagulation to achieve hemostasis. A case was considered successful when all the uterine vessels were treated by laparoscopy. Twenty-four cases were completed laparoscopically (72.7%). None of these patients had postoperative bleeding; 22 had an uneventful postoperative recovery. Nine procedures were converted to laparotomy (27.3%), five because of a difficult or unsatisfactory hemostasis. We conclude that in selected cases, a total hysterectomy can be performed safely by experienced laparoscopists. Further technological progress is necessary to make this procedure more acceptable. Its value as compared to the others will have to be demonstrated.     

Behavioral conditioning of endotoxin-induced plasma iron alterations

The cascade of physiologic mechanisms in response to infection, the acute-phase response, is recognized as playing a major role in host defence. One such response is the hypoferremia that is consistently reported to occur during bacterial infection. This study aimed to determine whether the alterations in plasma iron were conditionable using the conditioned taste aversion (CTA) paradigm. The regime involved the pairing of a novel-tasting saccharin solution with bacterial endotoxin. Seven days after the initial pairing of these stimuli (the test day), the saccharin solution was represented. Animals exposed to this condition displayed a significant reduction in the level of plasma iron. Animals treated with an intraperitoneal dose of 400 μg/Kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) displayed lower conditioned iron levels than rats infused with 100 μg/Kg LPS; however, this difference was not significant. These results showed that in addition to other acute-phase responses (fever and anorexia), plasma iron alterations are able to be manipulated through behavioral manipulations.     

Cytochemical characteristics of neurons in the trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus of hatchling chicks

The goal of the present study was to identify cytochemical markers characteristic of muscle afferents in hatchling chicks. To this end, we stained neurons in the trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus with a variety of markers that label subsets of neurons in avian dorsal root ganglia. We found that trigeminal mesencephalic neurons are surprisingly heterogeneous in their cytochemical make-up, expressing, to varying degrees, substance P, cholecystokinin, carbonic anhydrase, calbindin D-28k, parvalbumin, and S-100β. Calbindin D28k and S-100β appeared to be expressed equally in medial and lateral divisions of the trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus. In contrast, substance P- and cholecystokinin-immunoreactive neurons were more abundant in the medial division, whereas carbonic anhydrase activity and parvalbumin immunoreactivity were stronger in the lateral division. We were unable to detect met-enkephalin, neuropeptide Y, calcitonin gene-related peptide, vasoactive intestinal peptide, somatostatin, γ-aminobutyric acid, or tyrosine hydroxylase in the trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus. Moreover, these neurons did not appear to bind the lectin Dolichos biflorus agglutinin. The heterogeneity of expression of markers among trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus neurons, especially between neurons in the medial and lateral divisions, suggests that these neurons are functionally diverse.     

International round robin tests on the measurement of carbon in diesel exhaust particulates

Object: Diesel soot has been recognized as probably carcinogenic to humans. Elemental carbon (also called black carbon) in soot is considered at the moment as the most significant surrogate to be measured for assessing the exposure to this pollutant. Its analysis is done by combustion in an oven and determination of the CO₂ formed, after elimination of the organic fraction of the soot by heating and/or by solvent extraction. The analysis allows determination of both fractions of the soot: “elemental carbon” (EC) and organic carbon␣(OC). The sum of EC and OC is called TC (total carbon). Method: An informal European coordination group organized two round robin tests on filter samples collected from diluted diesel emissions. The first round (RRT1) was performed on 13 different samples analyzed by ten laboratories. The range of loading was 2.5 to 150 μg/cm² of EC. No evaluation of the precision within laboratories could be made since each laboratory gave only one result per sample. Therefore a second round (RRT2) was organized with two samples and a blank filter sent in several portions to 11 laboratories. It should be stressed that each laboratory used its own method and that no standardization was planned at this stage. Results: Results of RRT1 showed that the coefficient of variation between laboratories decreased with higher loading and was around 10% to 15% for EC above about 20 μg/cm². Dispersion of the results varied and it appeared that the way OC is removed from the soot is probably the most important factor of influence. The correlation between the laboratories was good as a whole but some systematic differences could be detected. Besides the different techniques to remove the organic carbon, the pretreatment of the filter by HCl (either as a vapor or as a solution) to remove the inorganic carbonates (potential interference sources), is probably also a significant factor of influence in the dispersion of the results between laboratories. It is not yet clear from these results whether the “environmental” laboratories give different results from the “occupational” laboratories, but it is clear that their objectives differ since for the “environmentalists”, EC is not a specific marker of diesel immissions, in contrast to the “occupationalists”. Conclusion: It can be concluded that, although significant differences exist between laboratories they can be attributed mainly to the narrow distribution of the results within a single laboratory, and that the overall agreement of the results for EC and TC is fairly good. These results obtained with pure diesel engine emissions, should be complemented by field samples, but they have already achieved relevant findings in the performance of the procedures used to assess exposure to diesel soot. Received: 30 December 1996 / Accepted: 21 February 1997     

Cluster headache: phospholipid metabolism in polymorphonuclear cells

Our group has previously reported significant changes in the incorporation of precursors into glycerophospholipids, particularly phosphatidylserine, in polymorphonuclear cells obtained from the peripheral blood of cluster headache patients, when compared with controls. The potential of these results led to further work using both the previous methodology and a modified isolation technique to obtain polymorphonuclear cells in as pure a state as possible. Neither the new results obtained using the original technique, nor the results with high purity polymorphonuclear cells from controls and cluster headache patients, confirm the marked changes in precursor uptake into glycerophospholipids originally reported.