A rapid embedding procedure for the study of platelet interactions with extracellular matrices in a flowing system. Effect of aspirin on platelet activity.

The cultured endothelial cell (EC) is currently used as a model for the study of the interaction of platelets with the vascular wall. Described is a method for rapid quantitative and qualitative evaluation of platelet interactions with extracellular matrices (ECM) produced by human cultured ECs growing on plastic coverslips. Morphometric calculations can be performed on the same perfused coverslips.

Increased neutrophil receptors for and response to the proinflammatory bacterial peptide formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine in Crohn's disease.

Neutrophils have an important role in mediating tissue injury in inflammatory bowel disease. The proinflammatory peptide formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP), which is produced by intestinal bacteria, is a potent chemotactic factor for human neutrophils and has been used experimentally to induce acute colitis in animal models. Its action involves specific receptors on the surface of the neutrophil.

Enhanced neutrophil chemiluminescence in familial Mediterranean fever.

Familial Mediterranean Fever is a disorder of unknown cause characterized by recurrent, self-limited paroxysms of serosal inflammation. Although the neutrophil is the predominant cell involved, no cellular abnormalities are known. Chemiluminescence was studied in neutrophils from 20 asymptomatic patients with this disease and 21 healthy controls to evaluate the oxidative response to formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (f-met-leu-phe).

Neuroendocrine modulation of the immune system. Possible implications for inflammatory bowel disease.

Evidence for neuroendocrine regulation of the immune system is reviewed. This includes human clinical studies of the influence of psychological stress on immune function, direct experimentation in animals, including classical Pavlovian conditioning of the immune response, modulation of immune function in vitro by chemical messengers such as neuropeptides, the finding of receptors for neuropeptides on immunocytes, and the demonstration that lymphoid tissue is directly innervated. Secretory products of the immune system, which include interleukins and neuropeptides, may also influence the neuroendocrine system.

Segmental necrotising enterocolitis: pathological and clinical features of 22 cases in Bangladesh.

To describe the pathology and clinical features of segmental necrotising enterocolitis (SNE) in children and adults, 22 diarrhoeal patients (median age two years, range two months to 50 years) in Bangladesh with this lesion detected at autopsy were examined and compared with two groups of diarrhoeal control patients. Gross pathology consisted of purplish or black mucosal or transmural discoloration with erosions or ulcerations in segments of the jejunum or ileum of 18 cases and of the colon alone in four cases. Two patients had intestinal perforations.

Adult polycystic renal disease presenting in infancy: a report emphasizing the bilateral involvement.

We describe a girl with adult polycystic renal disease that presented as a unilateral abdominal mass on an excretory urogram. The child had a 4-generation family history of this disorder. Clinical course had been unremarkable until she was 12 years old and died of a ruptured intracranial aneurysm.

Comparative efficacies of ceftriaxone, moxalactam, and ampicillin in experimental Salmonella typhimurium infection.

The activities of ceftriaxone, moxalactam, and ampicillin against Salmonella typhimurium LT-2 were compared in culture media at pH 5, 6, 7 and 8 and in mice inoculated intraperitoneally. The minimal inhibitory concentrations for strain LT-2 in Mueller-Hinton broth were 0.03 microgram of ceftriaxone per ml, 0.

Penicillin susceptibility testing of gonococci by disc diffusion.

This study investigated the use of various beta-lactam discs in the detection of penicillin sensitive, intermediate resistant and resistant strains (minimal inhibitory concentrations of penicillin G of less than 0.06, 0.06 to 0.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains isolated in Hong Kong: in vitro susceptibility to 13 antibiotics.

Fifty-five Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains isolated in Hong Kong over a period of 6 months were tested for their in vitro susceptibility to 13 antimicrobial agents by the agar dilution method. Six strains were beta-lactamase producing. In addition, five beta-lactamase strains from Singapore were tested.

An analysis of the anatomical basis for the mechanical response to motor nerve stimulation of the rat vas deferens.

1. An anatomical basis was sought for the biphasic motor nerve response of the rat vas deferens. The motor nerve pathway to the tissue was stimulated at different points between the vertebral outflow and the intramural fibres, in the pithed rat and in isolated tissues, to examine the possibility of two anatomically separate groups of neurones.

Further evidence for adrenergic transmission in the human vas deferens.

1. Isolated portions of human vas deferens responded to field stimulation of the intramural nerve fibres or to exogenously applied noradrenaline with rhythmical contractions of both longitudinal and circular muscle layers. 2.