Spinal meningeal melanocytoma in a 5-year-old child: a case report and review of literature.

Background: Meningeal melanocytoma is considered a rare lesion arising from leptomeningeal melanocytes. Nearly two thirds of meningeal melanocytomas were reported in the intracranial compartment and the remaining one third in the spine. Spinal melanocytomas can be extradural or intradural, with extradural variant being more common, and the majority of cases have been single reports.

Activation of complement at plasma-air or serum-air interface of rabbits.

The possibility of the air-plasma interface giving rise to complement activation is investigated. After incubation of the plasma of a group of rabbits with zymosan and measurement of the degree of autologous polymorphonuclear leukocyte aggregation that follows the injection of a sample of the incubated plasma into a leukocyte suspension, it is found that the rabbits can be divided into two groups, sensitive and insensitive, depending on the degree of leukocytes aggregation. For the sensitive group it is found that both the plasma-air interface and the serum-air interface give rise to significant leukocyte aggregation.

Reduction in complement activation from biomaterials by removal of air nuclei from the surface roughness.

The activation of the rabbit complement system by each of three different synthetic materials is reported. Samples of each type of material were subjected to one of two different priming procedures. One priming procedure was intended to remove the air nuclei from the surface roughness of the materials; the other procedure was just the normal one.

Salivary amylase in cystic fibrosis: a marker of disordered autonomic function.

Total serum amylase was determined in 83 patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) (14 of whom had no steatorrhea), 21 control patients, and 6 patients with Shwachman's syndrome. Patients with CF who had steatorrhea and therefore lacked pancreatic function had the same serum levels pre- and postprandially as the control subjects, whereas patients without steatorrhea and, therefore, with evidence of pancreatic function, had significantly higher levels. The patients with Shwachman's syndrome had significantly lower total serum amylase than the three other patient groups.

Isoelectric focusing of carboxypeptidase N.

Carboxypeptidase N was partially purified on a TEAE-cellulose column and subjected to isoelectric focusing in sucrose gradient columns containing ampholine gradients of pH range 3-10 and 4-8. Activity separated into two major peaks with pI values of pH 3.8 and 4.

Isoelectric focusing of serum in cystic fibrosis: failure to distinguish between homozygote and heterozygote sera.

Thin-layer isoelectric focusing was performed on samples of sera from patients with Cystic Fibrosis, siblings and obligate heterozygotes (parents), and children without cystic fibrosis (controls). The protein band with an isoelectric point of pH 5.48, previously reported to be absent in homozygote cystic fibrosis sera, was found to have a pI of 5.