COVID-19, chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease and anti-rheumatic treatments

Clinical Rheumatology - Since December 2019, the pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) raises a real public health problem. COVID-19 appeared in Wuhan (Hubei province) in China....     

Cutaneous plasmacytosis associated with lung and anal carcinomas

Cutaneous plasmacytosis is a rare disorder characterized by a benign proliferation of mature plasma cells that appears as multiple dark-brown to purplish skin lesions, often associated with polyclonal hypergammaglobulinaemia. We present the case of a 55-year-old Caucasian man who suffered from a cutaneous plasmacytosis associated with two different carcinomas. Cutaneous plasmacytosis seems to be a reactive process because most cases reported are not associated with any apparent underlying disease. Nevertheless, because few reported cases were associated with malignancies, screening of additional neoplasms would be justified.     

不同病理类型原发性甲状旁腺功能亢进症临床表现的比较分析

目的 分析不同病理类型甲状旁腺功能亢进（PHPT）的临床表现特点。方法 回顾性分析1958-2005年北京协和医院收治经手术病理证实的280例PHPT患者的临床资料。按病理类型分为甲状旁腺腺瘤组208例，甲状旁腺增生组52例及甲状旁腺腺癌组20例。结果 腺癌组中男性高于另外2组（P〈0．05）。增生及腺癌组中骨畸形、骨软化比例较低，增生组骨吸收、病理性骨折比例低于腺瘤组；胃肠道症状、多饮多尿及泌尿系统病变在腺癌组中高于另外2组（P均〈0．05）。血总钙（TCa）、血游离钙离子（ICa）及24h尿Ca在腺癌组显著高于腺瘤组及增生组（P均〈0．01），在腺瘤组与增生组间差异无统计学意义（P〉0．05）。出现高钙危象的比例在腺癌组显著高于另外2组（P〈0．01）。腺癌组病灶重量高于增生组，腺瘤组病灶直径小于增生组（P均〈0．05）。结论 在本组病例中，腺癌组男性比例较高，泌尿系统病变更为多见，出现高钙危象的比例显著增高，术后复发的比例较高。增生组骨骼系统病变相对较轻，其病变甲状旁腺重量低于腺癌与腺瘤组。     

人工生物材料和医疗器具的安全性与可靠性

本文重点论述人工生物材料的可靠性、安全性及其保证措施。     

Bilirubin and the laboratory. Advances in the 1980s, considerations for the 1990s

The limitations of current methods of measuring bilirubin are well established and relate to the broad dynamic range and inability of the technique to determine different but structurally similar bilirubin species. New instrumentation and methodology circumvent these limitations, and clinical studies are beginning to reveal their increased diagnostic usefulness. Nevertheless, in several clinical situations, for example, the prediction of kernicterus, better bilirubin determinations may not eliminate the controversy surrounding appropriate therapeutic interventions.     

Partial purification and osteoinductive activity of swine bone morphogenetic protein.

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) was isolated from the bone matrix of swine and partially purified by means of differential precipitation and molecular sieve chromatography. The molecular weight of BMP estimated by SDS-gel electrophoresis was 19,000 dalton. Bioassay by implanting two milligrams of BMP fraction into thigh muscles of mice resulted in bone formation in 100% of the experimental animals.

     

Arachidonic acid metabolites in CSF in hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy of newborn infants

The aim of this study was to evaluate the cerebral synthesis of eicosanoids in the asphyctic newborn and to investigate the relation between the prostanoid profiles in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the appearance and severity of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE). Levels of 6-keto-PGF _1-α, TXB₂, PGE₂ and PGF_2-α in CSF were measured in 40 full term newborns during the first day of life. Thirty of these newborns had birth asphyxia and were divided into three groups: 10 without HIE, 12 with mild HIE and 8 with moderate-severe HIE. They were compared to a control group of 10 non-hypoxic newborns. Determinations of the metabolites in CSF were performed by RIA and expressed as pg/ml (mean ± SD). The CSF TXB₂ (thromboxane A₂ metabolite) in asphyxiated newborns was always higher than in the control group (28.12 ± 10.6), and related to the severity of HIE ( p = 0:005): without HIE (50.84 ± 16.4; p = 0:02), mild HIE (80.65 ± 12.64; p ± 0:01) and moderate-severe HIE (178.14 ± 20.5; p < 0:01). The CSF 6-keto-PGF _1-α (prostacyclin metabolite) in asphyxiated newborns was always higher than in the control group (80.55 ± 12.56), but indirectly related to the severity of HIE: without HIE (240.95 ± 28.12; p < 0:01), mild HIE (183.65 ± 30.1; p < 0:01) and moderate-severe HIE (140.55 ± 25.12; p < 0:01). In the moderate-severe HIE group, the increase in TXB₂ was higher than the rise in 6-keto-PGF _1-α.