Topical treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma, basal cell carcinoma and solar keratosis with ointment of BCG and cord factor

4 patients with Kaposi’s sarcoma and 1 patient with basal cell carcinoma and solar keratosis were successfully treated with topical application of an ointment containing killed BCG and cord factor.

Enhanced chemotactic and phagocytic activities of leukocytes in psoriasis vulgaris

Leukocytes derived from the peripheral blood of psoriatic patients demonstrated an enhanced chemotactic response compared with leukocytes from healthy subjects. No significant difference was detected between the chemotactic response of leukocytes from patients with minimal or no skin involvement and those from patients with extensive lesions. Psoriatic leukocytes also had a significantly higher capacity to engulf 125I labeled Shigella flexneri than control leukocytes. It is postulated that a decrease in the cyclic AMP/cyclic GMP ratio in psoriatic leukocytes, similar to the imbalance of these 2 cyclic nucleotides found in the lesional epidermis of psoriasis, might be the cause of their enhanced chemotactic and phagocytic activities.

Thallium 201 myocardial imaging in patients with pulmonary hypertension

The appearance of the right ventricular myocardium on thallium 201 myocardial perfusion images was evaluated in patients with chronic pulmonary hypertension and compared to patients without pulmonary hypertension. Four groups of patients were studied: 1) eight normals, 2) five patients with angiographically documented coronary artery disease and normal pulmonary artery pressures, 3) ten patients with moderate to severe pulmonary parenchymal or vascular disease and documented pulmonary hypertension and 4) eight patients with chronic left ventricular dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension discovered during cardiac catheterization. The right ventricular free wall was visualized on the thallium 201 myocardial perfusion image in only one of eight normals (group 1) and in only one of the five patients with coronary artery disease (group 2) and measured 0.5 cm and 0.9 cm in thickness, respectively. In patients with documented pulmonary hypertension the right ventricle was visualized on low contrast thallium 201 myocardial perfusion image in all patients. The apparent right ventricular free wall thickness measured from the ungated thallium 201 myocardial perfusion images was 1.7 +/- 0.3 cm in group 3 and 1.5 +/- 0.2 cm in group 4. Right ventricular hypertrophy was detected by electrocardiography in only five of ten patients in group 3 and only one of eight patients in group 4. Thallium 201 myocardial perfusion imaging appears to be a useful technique for assessing the effects of chronic pulmonary hypertension on the right ventricular myocardium.

The role of carrier in sensitivity to chromium and cobalt

Patients suffering from contact dermatitis caused by chromium sensitivity showed positive reactions to intradermal tests with chromium and cobalt chlorides. Patch tests to cobalt in unaffected and in healed eczematous skin areas gave negative results. A large number of chromium-sensitive patients also showed a positive intradermal test reaction to cobalt bound to human serum albumin and a negative reaction to cobalt bound to rabbit liver glycogen. It has been suggested that these positive reactions to cobalt are secondary sensitivities to cobalt, caused by cobalt-denaturated human serum albumin that is so similar to the denaturated product of chromium cations that the competent cells cannot distinguish between them.

Mobility as a factor in adolescent identity problems

Social mobility has been viewed as creating psychic discomfort for an individual. This study examined the self-images of 40 college students (20 upper-middle-class, 20 socially mobile) by means of a semantic differential designed to measure Erikson's concept of ego-identity. Contrary to expectations, the socially mobile group appeared to have more positive self-images than did the upper-middle-class group. The socially mobile viewed themselves as mote autonomous and more productive than did their upper-middle class counterparts, and this contributed to their view of themselves as competent individuals. In adolescence, social mobility may be related to psychic ease rather than to the postulated psychic discomfort.

Induction of delayed-type sensitivity to Leishmania parasite in a case of leishmaniasis cutanea diffusa with BCG and cord-factor (Trehalose-6-6' dimycolate)

The delayed hypersensitivity against the leishmania parasite was restored to a patient who had suffered from diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL) for 26 years, by the application of an ointment containing heat-killed and lyophilized BCG and cord-factor (trehalose-6-6'-dimycolate) after stripping the affected and adjacent areas with scotch-tape.