Respiratory tract fluids: analysis of content and contemporary use in understanding lung diseases.

Respiratory tract fluid, produced from an enormous area spanning the mucosa of the nose to the alveolar surface, is a complex mixture of serum transudate and locally secreted proteins and glycomucoproteins and of inflammatory and immune effector cells intermingled. Its analysis is important in understanding the pathogenesis of respiratory diseases and remains essential for the clinical diagnosis of most lung disorders. Many basic facts about the formation and composition of this fluid remain unknown, and little information exists about absorptive mechanisms along the airways.

[Surgically-treated small size non-small cell bronchopulmonary cancers without adenopathies (T1NO). 5-year survival and site of recurrences].

From October, 1976 to February, 1982, 48 patients with T1N0 non-small cell bronchopulmonary carcinoma were operated upon at the Laennec Hospital, Paris. Their characteristics were: mean age 57 years (range: 43-80 years); sex ratio 23; type of surgery: 35 lobectomies, 11 pneumonectomies, 2 bilobectomies; histology: 30 epidermoid carcinomas, 15 adenocarcinomas, 3 bronchoalveolar carcinomas. On 1st January, 1983, 10 patients had relapsed after a mean complete remission period of 20 months (range: 2-29 months); 5 only had a local relapse.

[Combined treatment of small cell bronchopulmonary cancer. Results of a retrospective study of 59 patients].

Fifty-nine patients with small cell bronchial tumours (36 localized, 17 diffuse, in the absence of marrow biopsy) were treated by a protocol combining chemotherapy and radiotherapy between October 1978 and October 1982. The chemotherapy consisted of three courses of Adriamycin (60 mg/m2 on day 1), Methotrexate (40 mg/m2 on day 2), Cyclophosphamide (800 mg/m2 on day 3), CCNU (60 mg/m2 on day 4). Six patients died during the first month of treatment and can not be evaluated; 53 patients completed the initial course of chemotherapy.

Ultrastructural changes in bronchoalveolar lavage cells in sarcoidosis and comparison with the tissue granuloma.

The authors undertook this study to determine whether there were any morphologic changes in bronchoalveolar lavage lymphocytes and macrophages in sarcoidosis and, in particular, to determine whether changes described previously in the mononuclear phagocytes of sarcoid granulomas were also evident in such cells obtained by lavage. Lavage cells from 28 sarcoidosis patients were studied by transmission electron microscopy and compared with lavage cells from 17 control subjects and with lung tissue granulomas from 5 sarcoidosis patients. Interactions between mononuclear phagocytes, especially subplasmalemmal linear densities, and between these cells and lymphocytes were observed in both the tissue granulomas and lavage specimens from sarcoidosis patients.

Serum activity of angiotensin converting enzyme and pulmonary radiography as prognostic criteria in sarcoidosis.

To compare the prognostic value of the serum concentration of angiotensin converting enzyme (SACE) to that of pulmonary radiography, patients with mediastino-pulmonary sarcoidosis were followed over two years and then retrospectively placed in one of 2 groups, designated "cured" (CS) or "not cured" (NCS) on the basis of clinical and biologic criteria. The two groups were then compared with respect to the initial pulmonary radiologic image, and the initial SACE concentration. The initial SACE concentration (CS: 45.

[Effects of a controlled Staphylococcus aureus infection on the renewal of endoalveolar cells].

We have studied, in rats, the influence of the intratracheal injection of 30 X 10(6) Staphylococcus aureus upon the differential count and renewal of the cell populations extracted by pulmonary lavage. In vivo labelling of alveolar macrophages was performed by intratracheal injection of 125I iododeoxyuridine, and the evolution of the labelled population was quantitatively followed up after scheduled sacrifice. Dividing cells were also identified at all times in the lavage population, after incorporation of (3H)-thymidine in vitro and autoradiography.

[Defense mechanisms of the respiratory system].

The air we breathe contains certain gases and particles, some of which may be a threat to man. The respiratory tract is their first target because it comes into direct contact with them, and to protect the body itself it mobilizes defense mechanisms of high complexity. To understand these it is necessary to analyze the toxic modalities of these air contaminants: composition, deposition and transit through the respiratory tract.

[Test of human basophil degranulation. The interpretation and analysis of variability factors in the absence of antigen].

The human basophil degranulation test (TDBH) is performed using a concentrated cell suspension enriched for polymorphonuclear basophils. This preparation is placed in wells on a glass slide with an allergen solution of decreasing concentration. After incubation the cells are fixed in the wells and stained with toluidine blue.

[Prevalence and electrocardiographic forms of the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome].

In a routine electrocardiographic study of 133929 subjects aged from 20 to 73, 136 cases of the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome were detected, 6 with intermittent pre-excitation. In this study, the prevelance of WPW was about 1 in a 1000, the highest incidence being in the 20-40 year age group with an equal sex ratio. The ECG analysis of the 136 cases consisted in determining the orientation of the delta wave in the precordial leads to establish the right or left ventricular origin of the pre-excitation, calculating the direction of the delta wave vector in the frontal plane to find out the anterior, lateral or posterior origin of the pre-excitation and analyse the position of the QRS axis to assess the appearances of the latest ventricular activity.

Broncho-alveolar lavage in sarcoidosis. Correlation between alveolar lymphocytosis and clinical data.

Bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) were performed in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis and in normal subjects. In both smoking and nonsmoking sarcoid patients, the proportion and number of lymphocytes were significantly increased compared to corresponding controls (p less than 0.001 in each cases).

Elevation of the bronchoalveolar concentration of angiotensin I converting enzyme in sarcoidosis.

The concentration of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and that of albumin (AIb) were assayed in the serum (SACE, SAlb) and in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (LACE, LAlb). Three groups of patients were studied: 14 healthy volunteers (Group I), 45 patients with active sarcoidosis (Group II), and 7 patients with sarcoidosis in remission (Group III). The SACE in Group II (4,466 +/- 2,202 U/100 ml, mean +/- SD) was higher (p less than 0.

[Erythrocyte sedimentation rate in a population of 47,205 adults. Variation with age].

The authors studied the mean ESR and its variations between the ages of 20 and 89 by groups of 5 years in a population considered to be healthy of 20.743 women and 26.462 men.

Current management of fungal enteritis.

Fungal infections of the gastrointestinal tract have risen to higher levels of prevalence in the past decade. Major factors accounting for this increase are social changes, such as the increased ease and frequency of travel, which exposes the individual to environmental conditions that may result in fungal infection; increasing use of antibiotic and hormonal medications by otherwise healthy persons; and improved therapy for other diseases, such as polychemotherapy of cancer with its immunosuppressive effects. Both noninvasive and invasive fungal disease of the intestinal tract in otherwise healthy individuals can be successfully treated.

Chest radiological features of pulmonary histiocytosis X: a report based on 50 adult cases.

This study describes the chest radiographs of 50 adult patients with histologically verified histiocytosis X, proposes a radiological classification, and examines the role of radiology in assessing the prognosis of the disease. Radiologically the lesions predominate in the middle and lower lung fields, usually sparing the costophrenic angles, and are typically micronodular, reticular, or cystic. These features are especially suggestive of histiocytosis X if lung volume is normal or increased, there is an associated pneumothorax, they occur in a young male and there are no other intrathoracic changes (pleural or mediastinal).