Immunohistochemical characterization of immune cell composition and cytokine receptor expression in human coronary atherectomy tissue.

Background: Prior histologic studies have examined smooth muscle cell, macrophage and thrombus constituents of atherosclerotic coronary atherectomy specimens. Lymphocytes and mononuclear leukocytes are also detectable in atherosclerotic surgical pathology specimens utilizing immunocytochemical techniques.

Methods: In order to quantify the histological contribution of cytokine receptor-expressing immunocompetent cells to human coronary artery stenoses, 30 directional atherectomy catheter biopsy specimens (wet weight < or = 10 mg) from 16 patients were snap frozen (-70 degrees C) for quantitative immunocytochemical studies.

Epstein-Barr virus DNA is abundant and monoclonal in the Reed-Sternberg cells of Hodgkin's disease: association with mixed cellularity subtype and Hispanic American ethnicity.

One hundred twenty-five cases of Hodgkin's disease from the United States (79), Mexico City (31), and Costa Rica (15) were analyzed for the presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) by in situ hybridization to EBER1 transcripts. EBV was more frequently detected in the Reed-Sternberg (RS) cells of mixed cellularity Hodgkin's disease (37 of 48 [77%]) compared with the nodular sclerosis subtype (19 of 71 [27%], P < .001).

Phase I trial of a 90-minute infusion of the fusion toxin DAB486IL-2 in hematological cancers.

DAB486IL-2, a recombinant fusion toxin in which the native receptor binding domain of diphtheria toxin has been replaced with interleukin-2 (IL-2), has displayed significant activity in patients with chemotherapy refractory hematological cancers. To further investigate the safety and antitumor effect of this agent, we conducted a single arm, dose escalation study of a 90-min infusion of DAB486IL-2 daily for 5 days. Patients with cancers of a histology previously reported to express the p55 component of the IL-2 receptor and who could not receive potentially more effective therapy were eligible for enrollment.

Occult metastatic mesothelioma--diagnosis by fine-needle aspiration. A case report.

Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of an enlarged right axillary lymph node was performed on a 33-year-old woman with Ebstein's cardiac anomaly. Microscopic examination of the cytologic material revealed large discohesive cells with abundant pale cytoplasm, "ruffled" cytoplasmic borders, and prominent central nucleoli. Immunocytochemical analysis of the aspirate confirmed the mesothelial origin of these cells and prompted the diagnosis of metastatic mesothelioma.

T-cell lymphoma and the virus-associated hemophagocytic syndrome.

A 20-month-old girl had a disorder that by both clinical and histologic criteria resembled the virus-associated hemophagocytic syndrome in the setting of Epstein-Barr virus infection. Subsequent investigation revealed histologic evidence of disseminated T-cell lymphoma. DNA hybridization studies displayed a monoclonal T-cell receptor beta chain rearrangement, in the absence of clonal immunoglobulin gene rearrangement, and a single band in the analysis for the fused termini of the Epstein-Barr virus genome.

Isolation and characterisation of a chicken gelatinase (type IV collagenase).

The proform of chick gelatinase (type IV collagenase) was isolated and purified to a high specific activity of 12,071 U/mg from cultured embryonic skin fibroblasts stimulated with cytochalasin-B. The enzyme was activated in the presence of 4-aminophenylmercuric acetate with a fall in molecular weight from 66,000-58,000 on non-reducing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and was active over the pH range of 6.0-8.

Membrane-permeable luciferin esters for assay of firefly luciferase in live intact cells.

Five esters of luciferin were synthesized and compared with native luciferin as substrates for firefly luciferase expressed in live intact mammalian cells. The esters themselves were not substrates for purified luciferase, but four were substrates for a purified esterase and all appeared to be hydrolysed to luciferin within mammalian cells. At a substrate concentration of 0.

A role for hyaluronan in joint development.

Hyaluronan, a common connective tissue component, influences cell adhesion, migration and cytodifferentiation in vitro, and because of these properties has been postulated to have a role in morphogenesis. Its role in the development of cartilage-associated structures, such as joints, has yet to be defined. Using a biotinylated hyaluronan-binding region-link protein complex, free hyaluronan binding sites have been localised in the joint region concomitant with the first signs of cavitation (Stage 37), whereafter it is localised in the joint space and is maintained here as this enlarges.

A colourimetric, microplate assay for the leucotoxin of Pasteurella haemolytica.

Culture supernates of Pasteurella haemolytica, which contain leucotoxin, inhibited the reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) by bovine and ovine but not rabbit leucocytes in response to phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). Culture supernates of P. multocida, which contain no leucotoxin, had no inhibitory effect on the response of leucocytes from any species.

A plasmid which can be transferred between Escherichia coli and Pasteurella haemolytica by electroporation and conjugation.

Three broad-host-range plasmids (pRK290, pSa4 and pKT230) and one native Pasteurella haemolytica plasmid (pPH33) were used in transformation experiments with P. haemolytica strains T179 (serotype A1), Y216 (serotype A2) and its capsular-deficient variant Y216/NS1. No transformants were detected with either heat-shock or freeze-thaw techniques.

2-Oxoglutarate: oxidation and role as a potential precursor of cytosolic acetyl-CoA for the synthesis of acetylcholine in rat brain synaptosomes.

The possibility that 2-oxoglutarate may supply acetyl units for the cytosolic synthesis of acetylcholine in rat brain synaptosomes was investigated. The contribution of [14C]2-oxoglutarate to the synaptosomal synthesis of [14C]acetylcholine was found to be negligible despite evidence for its uptake and oxidation. The activity of the enzymes NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase (EC 1.

Interaction of Bordetella pertussis virulence components with neutrophils: effect on chemiluminescence induced by a chemotactic peptide and by intact bacteria.

The effect of secreted virulence components of Bordetella pertussis on chemiluminescence (CL) of rabbit peritoneal neutrophils was determined with the chemotactic peptide N'-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine (fMLP) or intact B. pertussis as the stimulus. Pertussis toxin (PT) inhibited the response to fMLP in a dose-dependent manner, although only after the neutrophils had been exposed to the toxin for greater than 15 min.

A sensitive chemiluminescence assay for pertussis toxin and for evaluation of cell-free pertussis toxoids.

Pertussis toxin (PT) inhibited luminol-enhanced chemiluminescence induced in rabbit peritoneal neutrophils by N'-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine (fMLP) at doses as low as 0.8 ng.ml-1, even in the presence of a 10-fold higher concentration of filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA).

MZ15, a monoclonal antibody recognizing keratan sulphate, stains chick tendon.

Biochemical, morphometric and electron histochemical methods have failed to demonstrate the presence in tendon of keratan sulphate, a common component of connective tissue proteoglycans. Using a monoclonal antibody specific for keratan sulphate, a positive localization of this molecule was made in the gastrocnemius tendon of stage 44 chicken embryos both at the light and electron microscopical levels.

The spatial and temporal pattern of collagens I and II and keratan sulphate in the developing chick metatarsophalangeal joint.

Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors are known to be involved in the morphogenesis of diarthrodial joints. The use of specific antibodies to collagens I and II and keratan-sulphate-containing proteoglycans (KSPG) has enabled the distributions of these macromolecules to be followed during the development of the third metatarsophalangeal joint in the chicken embryo. Our study shows that cartilage differentiation occurs as a continuous rod, which is then subsequently divided into separate elements.

Environmental temperature and the percutaneous absorption of a cholinesterase inhibitor, VX.

S-(2-diisoproplaminoethyl) 0-ethyl methylphosphonothioate (VX), an anticholinesterase liquid of low volatility, was applied to the skin of 139 men at environmental temperatures of -18 degrees, 2 degrees, 18 degrees, or 46 degrees C. The skin was decontaminated after 3 hr and the men spent the next 21 hr at about 27 degrees C. The amount of VX penetrating the skin was estimated from the inhibition of red blood cell cholinesterase.

Effects of respiratory equipment on endurance in hard work.

Men ran to a voluntary end point under the following conditions listed in increasing order to resistance, expressed as inspiratory/expiratory in mmH2O at a flow of 4 l-s-1: 1) bare-headed 0/0; 2) face mask 0/0; 3) face mask -6/14; 4) mouthpiece and valves -25/29; 5) face mask -96/62; and 6) face mask -148/60. Average endurance was 545, 490, 434, 392, 343, and 338 s, respectively. Despite the diverse features of the equipment in conditions 2-6, there seemed to be a rather smooth relation between resistance and endurance.