Actin-induced reticuloendothelial phagocytic depression as mediated by its interaction with fibronectin

Circulating fibronectin, also known as opsonic alpha 2 surface binding glycoprotein or cold-insoluble globulin, modulates phagocytosis of tissue debris, fibrin microaggregates, and gelatin-coated colloids by the reticuloendothelial (RE) system. Opsonically active fibronectin has an actin binding site and a demonstrated in vitro affinity for actin. Since actin potentially released into blood and tissue fluids following tissue injury could complex with fibronectin, the present study evaluated the effect of actin on plasma opsonic activity and Kupffer cell phagocytosis. Intravenous injection of actin did not acutely decrease plasma immunoreactive fibronectin levels although fibronectin levels increased at 6, 12, and 24 hr postinjection. However, intravenous actin injection did depress RE phagocytic activity in vivo as measured by decreased blood clearance of test colloid and impaired hepatic uptake of colloid particles as well as retention of the particles in the circulation. In vitro, preincubation of plasma with actin depressed the opsonic activity of plasma with respect to its ability to support phagocytosis, but such treatment of plasma did not alter the detection of fibronectin by immunoassay. Utilizing purified fibronectin with demonstrated opsonic activity, it was also observed that actin interaction with fibronectin would block its biological ability to enhance phagocytosis. This effect appeared to be mediated at the humoral level, since no direct depressant effect of actin on Kupffer cell function was observed. Thus, actin, if released into the blood following injury, may contribute to bioassayable opsonic fibronectin deficiency and phagocytic dysfunction, but this disturbance would remain undetectable by immunoassay of fibronectin levels.

Rh(D) fraction incompatibility causing hemolytic disease of the newborn. Report of two cases in a Chinese family

Two cases of hemolytic disease of new born in a Chinese family are reported. The hemolysis was due to the production in the mother of antibodies against fractions A, C, and D of Rh(D) antigen. The fractions were absent in the mother's red blood cells which are Rh(DB) but present in her babies. Rh(DB) may be detected by the use of two types of anti-D sera, one with and the other without anti-DB activity. For transfusion purpose, all DB patients so tested, would be regarded as Rh(D) negative.

Study On The Pathology Of Metagonimiasis In Experimentally Infected Cat Intestine

To study the basic pathological changes of small intestine in metagonimiasis, light- and electron microscopic studies were made, using a total of 21 cats which were experimentally infected with metacercariae of Metagonimus yokogawai. The metacercariae were obtained from naturally infected sweetfish (Plecoglossus altivelis) by digestion technique. The cats were divided in control, light-infection(10,000 metacercariae infected) and heavy-infection(50,000 metacercariae infected) groups. Cats were killed at the 5th, 10th, 15th day, and 4th, 8th and 10th week after the infection. And the small intestine was prepared for the study. Pathological studies comprised gross examination, worm distribution pattern, light microscopic examination and both transmission and scanning electron microscopic examinations. The results obtained were summarized as follows. 1. Gross morphologic changes were the most marked during the first 2 weeks after infection. The gross abnormalities were severer in the heavily infected animals. The changes were dryness and listlessness of serosal surface due to dehydration, mushy and/or watery intestinal content, effacement of transverse nodes and enlargement of mesenteric lymph folds and Peyer's patches. After 4 weeks of infection, these changes became less marked showing a tendency to return to normal. 2. The sectioned flukes were distributed from duodenum to proximal ileum. However, individual variation was marked in distribution. In the heavy-infection group, the locality of parasitism tended to extend more distally. 3. The locality of M. yokogawai in the intervillous space was mostly in the lower-most portion of intervillous space, where they compressed and eroded epithelial cells probably due to mechanical damage to the structure. Very rarely the worms were found in lumen of Lierberkuehn's crypt, and reaching, in two occasions, into proprial lymphoid tissue. 4. Light-microscopically the lesion was restricted in mucosa: Early mucosal changes were shortening, blunting, fusion, and thickening of the villi, crypt hypertrophy with consequent decrease of villus/crypt ratio, as well as stromal changes of edema, capilliary ectasia and marked inflammatory cell infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells. Goblet cells were markedly reduced in number as with depletion of its cytoplasmic content. In the later stages of infection, mucosa restored its normal configuration in spite of persistent parasitism of the worms. 5. At the infection stage of 5-15 days, there was significant shortening of the microvillous height with varible destruction of glycocalyx in electron microscopic examination. With lapse of infection time, microvilli became to restore the normal pattern. With these morphological changes, it appears that diarrhea in experimental metagonimiasis would be related to the decrease of absorptive surface of the small intestine particularly in the early phase of infection. The significant changes seen in villi and microvilli might be due to massive intrusion or invasion of Metagonimus worms into the crypts, causing direct mechanical and possible host-immune response to the small bowel mucosa.

Cerebral metastasis in bronchial carcinoma

A prospective study of 61 consecutive cases of bronchial carcinoma was done to detect cerebral metastasis and study their clinical presentations. Computerised tomography (CT Scan) was utilised as a screening procedure in 36 cases along with electroencephalography to detect cerebral secondaries. Of the cases studied with CT Scan and autopsy, 55% had brain secondaries. 18% of these cases had silent cerebral secondaries. 30% of the 61 cases studied has signs and symptoms referable to brain secondaries. An interesting clinical presentation was a dysequilibrium which in many of them was an extreme truncal ataxia, confining them helplessly to bed and relieved to some extent by a shunt operation.

Allotype suppression induced in the adoptive transfer system: the variables of the system and an apparent absence of a role for T cells

A study has been made of the variables concerned in allotype suppression of adult spleen cells in the adoptive transfer system. These are; SRBC (antigen) dose; the dose and timing of injection of anti-allotype serum IgG; the number of spleen cells transferred and whether these cells were taken from primed or unprimed donors. Adoptively transferred primed cells are considerably less susceptible to suppression by concomitantly injected anti-allotype serum IgG than are unprimed spleen cells. Injection of anti-allotype serum during the period after adoptive transfer, has shown that primed cells loose their susceptibility sooner (2 days) than the unprimed cells (4 days). Allotype heterozygous CBA spleen cells are less susceptible heterozygous CBA spleen cells are less susceptible to allotype suppression than either allotypically homozygous or heterozygous non-H-2k cells (H-2b,d, or s). Allotype suppression of the TI IgG response to DNP-Ficoll was measured 7 days after adoptive transfer of allotype-homozygous cells from both normal and nude CBA mice (unprimed). The results indicate that T cells do not play a role in the initiation of short-term allotype suppression in the adoptive transfer system.

Allotype suppression of the responsiveness of adoptively transferred adult spleen cells induced by affinity prepared anti-allotype antibody

In an adoptive transfer assay it has been shown that a form of allotype suppression can be induced in adult spleen cells. Use of SPF congenic mice, and either anti-allotype serum freed of IgM rheumatoid factor or affinity prepared antibody, has helped to eliminate the possibility of a role for non-specific factors in allotype suppression. Both memory-cell development and a conventional primary response are more susceptible to suppression than memory expression in a secondary response. Non-specific suppressive effects on isotypes other than that of the target allotype (CH) are present but are much smaller than for specific suppression.

Experiments with banana trunk juice as a neuromuscular blocker

The juice of the banana trunk produces a non-depolarising neuromuscular block. Oxygenation of the extract enhances its potency. Reversals with anticholinesterases are transient. Partial reversals in isolated preparations indicate these could be both specific and non-specific binding which could account for blockade after washing. It could be specifically bound to ACh receptors in an irreversible way since its action appears similar to that of alpha-BuTX.

Genetic influence on serum igd levels

In order to better understand the factors determining serum levels of IgD, total serum IgD and IgE were studied in 23 nonallergic twin pairs, consisting of 16 monozygotic (Mz and 7 same-sex dizygotic (Dz) pairs. Both immunoglobulins were measured by a paper disc solid phase radioimmunoassay, sensitive to 1 microgram/dl of IgD and 1 I.U./ml of IgE. Also studied were 10 paired sera taken at different times from 10 healthy subjects of similar mean age to the twins and 21 randomly paired sera from unrelated subjects. The intrapair variance of both serum IgD and serum IgE levels were significantly less in Mz than in Dz twins (P less than 0.05). Thus, there appears to be a genetic influence over serum IgD levels, probably to a similar degree to that previously shown to exist for serum IgE levels. Heritability was calculated to be 0.759 for IgD and 0.697 for IgE. Also, the intraclass correlation coefficient (rI) for IgD in monozygotic twin pairs was 0.9370 (P less than 0.001) and for IgE was 0.8602 (P less than 0.001). It appears likely that the number of genetic loci controlling serum IgD levels is similar to, or less than, the number controlling serum IgE levels because the random pair/Dz pair variance ratio was lower for IgD than for IgE.

[Population trends in rural and urban areas]

"The rapid industrialization of Korea since 1960 has brought rapid urbanization and recently many rural areas have begun to show depopulation in which particularly the young men and reproductively active women are leaving for the cities. In rural areas, population reduction is accelerated by migration and fertility reduction owing to decrease of young reproductively eligible women. In urban areas the number of migrants exceeded the number of births in 1965, but the number of births gradually exceeded the number of migrants." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

Autologous leukemia-specific T-cell-mediated lymphocytotoxicity in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia

Short-term culture of acute myelogenous leukemia patient's remission lymphocytes with inactivated autologous leukemic blast cells plus allogeneic lymphocytes, generated effector T lymphocytes which were cytotoxic for the specific autologous blast cell in 11 of 14 patients studied. Experiments using Daudi and Molt 4 lymphoblastoid cell lines as third-party helper cell suggest that an HLA D locus incompatability is necessary to provide effective help in this system. Cold target inhibition experiments, crossover studies between pairs of patients, and experiments with allogeneic leukemic blast cells as priming stimulus suggest that the target antigen is only present on the specific autologous blast cell.

Reappraisal of intracutaneous tests in the diagnosis of reaginic allergy

In an attempt to determine the clinical relevance of positive intracutaneous tests when epicutaneous tests are negative, 34 patients with symptoms of perennial rhinitis who had negative epicutaneous but positive intracutaneous tests were evaluated by radioallergosorbent (RAST) test, nasal provocation (NP) tests and leukocyte histamine release (LHR) assay. Nineteen patients with perennial rhinitis who had positive epicutaneous tests and 13 normal healthy volunteers were also studied as positive and negative controls, respectively. None of the 34 patients with negative epicutaneous but positive intracutaneous tests had positive RASTs or LHR assays, but 1 patient had a positive NP test. In contrast, of the 19 patients with positive epicutaneous tests, 12 patients had positive RASTs, 17 had positive LHR assays, and 17 had positive NP tests. In the negative control group of 13 subjects, none had positive RAST, LHR assays, or NP tests, although 3 subjects showed positive intracutaneous tests. These results indicate that when epicutaneous tests are negative in patients with perennial rhinitis, positive intracutaneous tests are not likely to indicate the presence of reaginic allergy.

Respiratory obstruction due to relapsing polychondritis in a Chinese male

A case of relapsing polychondritis in a 30-year-old Chinese male is reported. The patient showed the following features: dyspnoea; hoarseness of voice; cauliflower deformity of the right ear; upper tracheal stenosis; swelling of the lower part of the sternum; pain in the costal cartilages. Airway obstruction as a presenting feature (as in this case) is unusual. The aetiology, clinical features and management of relapsing polychondritis are briefly discussed.

Agreement between radioallergosorbent test and skin test

A total of 4,260 RAST results were compared with the same number of prick and intracutaneous skin test results. Intracutaneous test was done only when the prick test was negative. The mean agreement between positive RAST and positive prick test was 81.3% for five grasses, 45.1% for seven weeds, 42.2% for two trees, 42.6% for two molds, and 45.8% for two environmental antigens. The mean agreement between positive RAST and positive intracutaneous test ranged from 0 to 4.9% for the same antigens.

Lymphocyte response to grass pollen antigens: a correlation with radioallergosorbent test and effect of immunotherapy

The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthetic response of cultured lymphocytes to grass pollen antigens was significantly higher in 66 untreated atopic patients than in 15 non-atopic subjects (p less than 0.05). There was no correlation between the DNA synthetic response and the specific IgE antibody level as measured by radioallergosorbent test in the 81 subjects (r= 0.13; p greater than 0.2). The effect of immunotherapy on proliferative lymphocyte response and specific IgE antibody response to grass pollen antigens was evaluated prospectively in 22 atopic patients. The DNA synthetic response to grass pollen antigens was significantly reduced after immunotherapy (p less than 0.01) but the specific IgE antibody level did not change significantly.