Assays for antigen-stimulated lymphocyte-derived migration enhancement and inhibition factors from patients with thyroid diseases and their relatives

Cell-mediated immunity to thyroid antigens was studied by means of an assay for antigen-stimulated leukocyte migration inhibition factor (LIF) in 5 groups of subjects: patients with Graves' disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, their relatives and normal controls. We also sought evidence for the possibility that the hypothesized migration enhancement factor (MEF) might be produced by lymphocytes from patients with autoimmune disorders. We found little evidence of LIF production and none of MEF production by the leukocytes of patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases upon exposure to thyroid antigens. Similarly, either no or only minimal amounts of LIF were demonstrated in culture supernatants of leukocytes of their immediate relatives.

Production of guinea pig reaginic antibody against the house dust mite extract, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, without adjuvant

Guinea pigs of Hartley strain were sensitized with an extract of the house dust mite, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. Positive immediate skin reactions were obtained in more than half of the animals 6 weeks after repeated intradermal injection. Adjuvants of A1(OH)3 gel or Bordetella pertussis vaccine did not significantly enhance the production of reaginic antibody. Prausnitz-Küstner type skin test titers were even higher in guinea pigs sensitized with the mite extract without adjuvant. Circadian rhythm and difference in injection sites were not noted when assessed by skin tests on sensitized guinea pigs. Passive hemagglutination test detected serum antibodies and some animals showed respiratory distress on the challenge with the aerosolized extract. This system would be an another useful laboratory model of acute respiratory allergy of the most important inhalant allergen, the house dust mite.

Clinicopathological study of fatal myocardial sarcoidosis

Presented here was an outline of fatal myocardial sarcoidosis in Japan based on 42 autopsy cases. The incidence, clinical features, pathological findings (particularly the distribution of sarcoid lesions in various organs, and gross as well as histological patterns have been reviewed. The ratio of fatal myocardial sarcoidosis to the total number of sarcoidosis deaths is higher than that of other countries and it appears characteristic of Japanese sarcoidosis that the disease occurs here predominantly after the fourth decade in females. Only 12% of myocardial sarcoidosis cases are diagnosed exactly. Conduction disturbances and dysrhythmias due to myocardial damage are its most common manifestations. The modes of presentation or cardiac death are sudden death, 16 cases (41%); congestive heart failure, 9 cases (23.1%); Adams-Stokes syndrome, except sudden death, 7 cases (17.9%); death due to dysrhythmia, 6 cases (15.4%); and 2 pacemaker deaths among the application of pacemakers, 7 cases. As for the ECG findings, A-V block and bundle-branch block was observed in most cases and ectopic beats were also frequently observed. The difficulty in exact diagnosis of myocardial sarcoidosis appears to be due to the frequency of lack of manifestation of systemic sarcoidosis as well as insidious cardiac involvement. The gross findings on myocardial lesions showed 3 patterns and each of the localized patterns corresponded to the histological extension. The conglomerate-band-like pattern corresponded to expansive invasion, the dendrite pattern to interstitial extension. The histological findings on the myocardial lesions were classified into four types: 1) exudative type, 2) granuloma type, 3) combined type of granuloma and fibrosis, 4) fibrotic type. Two extreme cases showed the exudative and fibrotic type, respectively, and were discussed.

[Particle size determination by radioisotope x-ray absorptiometry with sedimentation method]

The possibility of radioisotope X-ray absorptiometry to determine the particle size of powder in conjunction with sedimentation was investigated. The experimental accuracy was primarily determined by Cow and X-ray intensity. where Co'=weight concentration of the particle in the suspension w'=(micron/rho)l/(mu/rho)s-rhol/rhos rho; density micron/rho; mass absorption coefficient, suffix l and s indicate dispersion and particle, respectively. The radiosiotopes, Fe-55, Pu-238 and Cd-109 have high w-values over the wide range of the atomic number. However, a source of high micron value such as Fe-55 is not suitable because the optimal X-ray transmission length, Lopt is decided by the expression, micronlLopt approximately 2/(1+C'ow') by using Cd-109 AgKX-ray source, the weight size distribution of particles from the heavy elements such as PbO2 to light elements such as Al2O3 or flyash was determined.