Chronic urticaria and osteoporosis: a longitudinal,community-based cohort study of 11 944 patients

Osteoporosis is a condition in which the bones are thinner and more liable to fracture. It is commoner in women and in people over 50. It cannot be cured so the focus is on prevention, which means identifying and addressing risk factors such as obesity, low vitamin D, chronic inflammation and prolonged steroid medication. Chronic urticaria (hives, CU) is an inflammatory condition, so one might expect it to be linked with osteoporosis, but that has never been investigated. If people with CU are indeed more likely to develop osteoporosis, they could be advised about preventative measures. To study this, doctors from Israel identified 11,944 patients diagnosed with CU in a large medical database covering 4.5 million people. A potential difficulty was that people with CU are more likely to be female, obese and to have been treated with systemic steroids, all of which also increase the risk of osteoporosis. Therefore for each CU patient they studied 5 age- and sex-matched control patients (people of the same age and sex but without CU) and their analyses took into account other known risk factors for osteoporosis. During a 16 year period 8.7% of the patients with CU were diagnosed with osteoporosis compared with 6.8% of the controls. They concluded that CU is a small but significant additional risk factor for osteoporosis. An accompanying editorial cautions against basing conclusions on routine health records which may not have all the information required. Nonetheless, doctors treating chronic urticaria might bear in mind the risk of osteoporosis in their patients, and counsel accordingly.     

Role of immune complexes in thyroid diseases

Institute of Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR, Tashkent. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR Yu. A. Pankov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 113, No. 2, pp. 168–170, February, 1992.     

A magnetic field in the combined treatment of suppurative wounds in diabetes mellitus]

Treatment of purulent wounds was carried out in 72 patients against the background of diabetes mellitus. In 42 of them the complex treatment included using magnetic fields. The application of magnetic fields promoted earlier and more pronounced reduction of the intoxication level, stabilization of the antioxidant system of organism and parameters of immune reactivity. The magnetic fields included in the treatment resulted in accelerated necrolysis, appearance of granulations and epithelialization. The duration of treatment became 6.2 days shorter.     

Treatment of suppurative wounds in patients with diabetes mellitus by magnetic field and laser irradiation]

The efficacy of including a magnetic field, low-intensity laser beam, and their combination in the complex of therapeutic measures was studied in 119 patients with suppurative wounds and diabetes mellitus. With the use of magnetic field or laser beam intoxication diminished, the organism's immunological status was stabilized within a shorter time, the wound process followed a quicker course, and treatment took less time. The magnetic-laser effect has advantages over separate use of these factors.     

Treatment of fissure in ano by the method of laser coagulation

The article analyses the results of treatment of acute and chronic anal fissures with the use of the method of laser photocoagulation in 181 patients, in 87 of them the fissures were combined with other proctological diseases. The essence of the operation is three-fold laser treatment (CO2 laser) of the edges and floor of the fissures. The pathologically changed tissues are evaporated and coagulated in this case with the formation of a coagulation film on the wound surface. Histological examination of bioptic material collected from the zone exposed to the effect of the laser shows complete disappearance of the pathological tissue. The operation is simple and sparing in the treatment of anal tissues, ensures improvement of the immediate results, as well as a decrease of the frequency of a recurrence to 1.4%. The method may be introduced successfully into outpatient surgical practice.     

Lymph node infarction – a rare complication associated with disseminated intra vascular coagulation in a case of dengue fever

Background  

Lymph node infarction is known to occur in association with many non-neoplastic and neoplastic conditions however its occurrence in association with DIC is not reported hitherto in the literature.     

Phenotypic variants of the smooth-muscle cells in an atheromatous plaque of the human aorta

The authors investigated the expression of cytoskeletal proteins and the ultrastructure of cells in normal intima and atheromatous plaque of human aorta. It has been established, using double immunofluorescent method and a set of antibodies that intimal smooth muscle cells /SMC/ of normal aorta express myosin, vimentin, alpha-actin and actin but not desmin. In seven out of 28 atherosclerotic plaques the cells contained desmin and all other SMC cytoskeletal proteins were found. These cells had the ultrastructural features of SMC, i.e. well-developed endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus. Besides, some cells in 13 atherosclerotic plaques proved to be myosin-, alpha-actin- and desmin-negative. The cells were stained with monoclonal antibodies specific to SMC but not with macrophage-specific antibody. Ultrastructurally, the cytoplasm of the cells was filled with rough endoplasmic reticulum and a developed Golgi complex, but a certain portion of the cells retained basal lamina and myofilament bundles. The peculiarities of cytoskeletal protein in expression and ultrastructure of cells in human aortic atherosclerotic plaques may be explained by a phenotypic modulation of vascular SMC.     

The localization of apoprotein E in the normal human aortic wall and in atherosclerosis

The authors studied the distribution of apoprotein E (apoE) in normal and atherosclerotic human aortic wall. Double immunofluorescent technique and a set of mono- and polyclonal antibodies were used in the study. Apo E was found in normal intima of every aorta taken from people over 20 years of age and in vessels of some adolescents. The protein was localized extracellularly and was noted in some portion of macrophages but not in the endothelial and smooth muscle cells of human aorta. The accumulation of apo E increased in lipid strips and was particularly high in acellular zone of the atherosclerotic plaque. This effect may be due to the retention of apo E by changed sulfated glycosaminoglycans of aortic connective tissue. The accumulation of apo E in the vessel wall may have an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.     

Autoradiographic study of DNA synthesis in rats with experimental myocardial infarction

Tritium-labeled thymidine was injected into rats with an experimental myocardial infarct and the number of DNA-synthesizing nuclei was determined in various parts of the heart. Myocardial infarction activated DNA synthesis to some extent in the nuclei of monocytes lying at the periphery of the focus of injury. However, there was no doubt about the extremely low density of labeling in the muscle nucleus. Increasing the dose and giving three injections of thymidine-³H did not increase the number of labeled muscle cell nuclei. Activation of proliferation of the connective tissue cells was observed in all parts of the heart. The number of connective-tissue nuclei synthesizing DNA was increased after 24 h, reached a maximum on the second day, and remained above the control level until the end of the experiment.Central Pathological Anatomical Laboratory, Institute of Human Morphology, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR A. P. Avtsyn.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 83, No. 5, pp. 612–615, May, 1977.