Interleukin-6 May Contribute to Mortality in Parkinson's Disease Patients: A 4-Year Prospective Study.

Objectives. The association between abnormal serum immunomarkers and mortality in 53 consecutive Parkinson's disease patients was studied. Materials and Methods.

Anti-Gal IgM, IgA and IgG natural antibodies in childhood.

The target for the most abundant xenoreactive natural antibodies in humans is the α-Gal epitope. Anti-Gal could provide natural immune defense against pathogens that express the α-Gal epitope. Anti-Gal natural antibodies are usually studied in adult individuals.

[Natural antibodies against α(1,3) galactosyl epitope in the serum of cancer patients].

Background: Natural antibodies against saccharide antigens are found in the human serum; most of them are directed against α-galactosyl epitope (Galα1-3Galβ1-4GlcNAc-R). Experimental and initial clinical studies show the potential for use of anti-galactosyl antibodies in the immunotherapy of cancer patients with glycolipids containing the α-galactosyl epitope. This therapeutic approach is based on the presence of these antibodies in the serum of cancer patients.

Antibody forming cells and plasmablasts in peripheral blood in CVID patients after vaccination.

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), the most frequent primary antibody disorder, is characterized by hypogammaglobulinaemia and impaired antibody production. Poor vaccination response is essential for the diagnosis of CVID. Their under laying defects remain to be elucidated.

[A simple method for the detection of CD154 (CD40L) on peripheral blood lymphocytes].

Objective: CD154 (also called CD40L) is a transmembrane glycoprotein predominantly expressed on the surface membrane of activated CD4+ T cells. Its receptor CD40 is present on all B cells, but also on other cells. The interaction CD154-CD40 is necessary for the optimal development of the adaptive immune response and also has consequences for the modulation of the inflammatory response.

Change in referral diagnoses and diagnostic delay in hypogammaglobulinaemic patients during 28 years in a single referral centre.

Background: The classical clinical manifestation of untreated immunoglobulin deficiency comprises predominantly recurrent and complicated respiratory tract infections. Before the 1980s, little was known about the clinical manifestation of immunodeficiency in the general medical population, and also the availability of serum immunoglobulin laboratory determination was not sufficient, leading to a significant diagnostic delay.

Methods: We have analysed the diagnostic delay and referral diagnoses in patients in whom any form of primary hypogammaglobulinaemia had been diagnosed at our department, which was established in 1981.

5-Amino-1-methyl-1H-benzimidazole.

The structure of the title compound, C(8)H(9)N(3), a potential anti-tumour drug, was determined in order to give more insight into its structure-function relationships. The benzimidazole core of the mol-ecule was found to be exactly planar, while the substituents are displaced slightly from the mol-ecular plane [C-C-N-C and C-C-C-N torsion angles of 0.8 (3) and 179.

[Ilya Ilich Metchnikov and Paul Ehrlich: 1908 Nobel Prize winners for their research on immunity].

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1908 was awarded to Ilya I. Mechnikov and Paul Ehrlich for recognition of their work on immunity. Mechnikov have discovered phagocytes and phagocytosis as the basis of natural cellular immunity.

Serum inflammatory biomarkers in Parkinson's disease.

Numerous recent findings indicate the involvement of a neuroinflammatory reaction in the neurodegeneration in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). We examined 29 consecutive patients with PD, ages 54-84 years, most of whom were moderately impaired (median UPDRS 19; Hoehn-Yahr 3; MMSE 28). A series of serum biomarkers were investigated, and their levels were correlated with the degree of the motor and cognitive impairment.

[Early feeding in infancy and atopic dermatitis - a prospective observational study].

Background: Recommendations for primary prevention of allergic diseases in high-risk children include hypoallergenic infant formulas (HA) if breastfeeding is insufficient. The primary objective of our study was to investigate the atopic dermatitis (AD) preventive effect of breastfeeding and HA-nutrition in the first 2 years of life and to follow the increase in weight.

Patients And Methods: Altogether 174 newborns with a hereditary risk for atopy were enrolled in the study, 121 children were investigated at the age of 2 months, 111 at the age of 4 and 106 at the age of 6 months.

1-Methyl-6-nitro-1H-benzimidazole.

The title compound, C(8)H(7)N(3)O(2), a potential anti-tumour drug and an anti-oxidant agent, was studied in order to give more insight into structure-function relationships. The 1-methyl-benzimidazole unit of the mol-ecule was found to be exactly planar and the nitro group is inclined at an angle of 10.4 (2)° to the plane of the heterocycle.

Lack of dehydroepiandrosterone in type I and II hereditary angioedema and role of danazol in steroid hormone conversion.

Background: Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is successfully treated with danazol, a therapeutic steroid compound. To investigate hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis in patients with HAE with and without danazol.

Methods: We included 16 patients with type I HAE, nine patients with type II HAE, and 16 healthy subjects.

T and B lymphocyte subpopulations and activation/differentiation markers in patients with selective IgA deficiency.

Selective deficiency of immunoglobulin A (IgAD) and common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) are genetically closely related diseases, both of unknown pathogenesis. A plethora of abnormalities in lymphocyte subpopulations and expression of activation markers were repeatedly documented in CVID patients, while almost no data are available about lymphocyte subpopulations in IgAD patients. We determined basic lymphocyte subpopulations and those subpopulations that were reported to be abnormal in CVID patients (CD25, human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DR CD45RA, CD45RO, CD27, CD28 and CD29 on both CD4(+) and CD8(+) cells, CD57 and CD38 on CD8(+) cells, CD21, CD27, IgM, IgD on B lymphocytes) in 85 patients with IgAD, 47 patients with CVID and in 65 healthy controls.

Age dependency and mutual relations in T and B lymphocyte abnormalities in common variable immunodeficiency patients.

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is primary hypogammaglobulinaemia with an unknown aetiopathogenesis. Although various abnormalities of T and B cells have been described, their pathogenetic roles are unclear. We determined T and B lymphocyte subsets known to be abnormal in CVID in order to disclose possible relations between numerical abnormalities in those cells.

[Autoantibodies in relatives of IgA-deficient patients].

Selective IgA deficiency is frequently associated with autoimmune phenomena. We addressed the question, whether autoantibodies are more frequent in relatives of IgA deficient persons. Fifteen first-degree relatives of patients with a familial form of IgA deficiency and 129 first-degree relatives of patients with a sporadic form of IgA deficiency were evaluated.

2-(phenylaminomethylidene)cyclohexane-1,3-dione.

In the title compound, C(13)H(13)NO(2), there is polarization of pi-electron density from the amine N atom to the acceptor carbonyl groups: as a result, the molecule exists predominantly in an azomethino-1,3-diketone tautomeric form. There is crystallographic evidence that the phenyl ring, although roughly coplanar with the rest of the molecule, is deconjugated with the adjacent pi system of the molecule. The cyclohexane ring adopts an unsymmetrical half-chair conformation and converts between two inversion-related conformers.

3-Butyl-1-(5-nitrobenzo[c][1,2]thiazol-3-yl)-3-phenyltriazene.

The molecule of the title compound, C(17)H(17)N(5)O(2)S, consists of three pi systems, viz. two aromatic rings and the triazene moiety, which are mutually deconjugated although coplanar. The n-butyl chain is roughly perpendicular to the molecular plane, with the terminal methylene and methyl groups disordered between two equally populated positions.

[Cow milk-specific humoral and cellular immune response in infants with high risk of atopy under feeding a whey hydrolysate infant formula].

Background: Hypoallergenic infant formulas (HAF) were developed for atopy prevention in infants with high risk of atopy if these cannot be breastfed. HAF mount an antigen-specific immune response in infants. The aim of the study was to analyse the immune response in infants fed with a new infant formula based on a whey hydrolysate (HAF) and to compare it with that of exclusively breastfed controls.

A concurrent occurrence of cutis laxa, Dandy-Walker syndrome and immunodeficiency in a girl.

Unlabelled: We report on a 17-y-old girl with inherited cutis laxa, immunodeficiency and Dandy-Walker syndrome. Immunodeficiency manifested itself by decreased and fluctuating levels of IgG, IgA and IgM and intermittent leucopenia causing increased susceptibility to respiratory tract infections. Dandy-Walker syndrome (agenesis of the cerebellar vermis with a large posterior fossa cyst communicating with an enlarged 4th ventricle) was shown on a CT scan but with the exception of macrocrania, no typical signs or symptoms were observed at the age of 17.

Early manifestation and recognition of C2 complement deficiency in the form of pyogenic infection in infancy.

Objective: Although frequently asymptomatic, C2 complement component deficiency may lead to severe pyogenic infections or lupus-like illness. In the present report, we describe infectious manifestations in infancy and childhood in our C2-deficient patients.

Method: A retrospective study of clinical manifestation in three patients was carried out.

1-Methyl-1H-imidazo[4,5-f]quinolin-6-ium chloride monohydrate.

The title compound, C(11)H(10)N(3)(+) x Cl(-) x H(2)O, belongs to the N1-methyl-substituted imidazo[4,5-f]quinoline family, in which the heterocyclic ring is protonated at the pyridine rather than at the imidazole N atom. The molecule as a whole is almost exactly planar. The molecular structure has been compared with that of the 2-amino analogue described in the literature, and it was found that the extra amino group of the latter is involved in conjugation with the adjacent double bond, i.

Dimethyl 2-[[2-(methoxycarbonyl)-1-(methoxycarbonylmethyl)pyrrol-4-yl]methylene]propanedioate.

The title compound, C(15)H(17)NO(8), is a pyrrole-ethene derivative with potential biological activity. Although a large part of the molecule is planar, there is no structural evidence for any conjugation push-pull effect across the ethylenic bond, which is usually observed for substituted ethylenes; pi-electron delocalization appears to be restricted to the 2-(methoxycarbonyl)pyrrole moiety.

4-(4-Methoxyphenylamino)-3-phenylazo-3-penten-2-one.

The title compound, C18H19N3O2, was obtained by an azo-coupling reaction with enaminones and is composed of a planar azoenamine skeleton which forms a six-membered ring through a symmetrical intramolecular hydrogen bond. The compound was found to exist as an equilibrium mixture of major hydrazoimino and minor azoenamine tautomers. Quantification of the relative contribution of the tautomeric forms is obscured by the existence of the hydrogen bond.