The visual ecology of a deep-sea fish, the escolar Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (Smith, 1843).

Escolar (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, family Gempylidae) are large and darkly coloured deep-sea predatory fish found in the cold depths (more than 200 m) during the day and in warm surface waters at night. They have large eyes and an overall low density of retinal ganglion cells that endow them with a very high optical sensitivity. Escolar have banked retinae comprising six to eight layers of rods to increase the optical path length for maximal absorption of the incoming light.

Severe reactions after the intake of soy drink in birch pollen-allergic children sensitized to Gly m 4.

Aim: To study the connection between reaction to soy milk and IgE sensitization to Gly m 4.

Methods: Four subjects who experienced unforeseen and severe symptoms after the ingestion of soymilk were studied.

Results: All children were birch pollen allergic, had high IgE responses to the PR-10 proteins from birch and soybean, Bet v 1 and Gly m 4.

[APS I--a severe autoimmune disease with endocrine and non-endocrine symptoms].

Autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type I (APS I) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a combination of autoimmune manifestations affecting endocrine and non-endocrine organs. APS I usually presents in childhood. The three most common manifestations are chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, hypoparathyroidism and Addison's disease.

Prevalence and clinical associations of 10 defined autoantibodies in autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type I.

The prevalence of autoantibodies against nine intracellular enzyme autoantigens, namely 21-hydroxylase, side-chain cleavage enzyme (SCC), 17 alpha-hydroxylase, glutamic acid decarboxylase 65, aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase, tyrosine phosphatase-like protein IA-2, tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), tyrosine hydroxylase, cytochrome P450 1A2, and against the extracellular calcium-sensing receptor, was assessed in 90 patients with autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type I. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed for the presence of autoantibodies as independent predictors for different disease manifestations. Reactivities against 21-hydroxylase and SCC were associated with Addison's disease with odds ratios (ORs) of 7.

Identification of AHNAK as a novel autoantigen in systemic lupus erythematosus.

To identify candidate autoantigens associated with arthritis, a rat chondrocyte cDNA library was immunoscreened with serum from a patient with rheumatoid arthritis. One isolated cDNA encoded part of AHNAK, a 700-kDa phosphoprotein with DNA binding properties, that appears to be involved in several signal transduction pathways. Immunoreactivity against an in vitro translated human AHNAK fragment was detected in 4.