A study of digestive absorption in four cases of Down's syndrome. Down's syndrome, malnutrition, malabsorption, and Alzheimer's disease.

Many data suggest that patients with Down's syndrome (DS) suffer from digestive malabsorption. A fecal test of absorption (search for undigested meat fibers following the ingestion of a measured diet) was conducted in 4 patients with DS. The results point to malabsorption in these patients and support the hypothesis of malabsorption in DS.

[Serodiagnosis of schistosomiasis mansoni using an egg extract semi-purified by precipitation with ammonium sulfate].

Fifty one sera from bilharziosis patients and thirty control sera were examined with a Schistosoma mansoni egg antigen purified by precipitation with ammonium sulphate at 50% saturation. Sensitivity and specificity were good and showed a good correlation with results obtained by MSA1 antigen, but antigen tested is far more easier to prepare than MSA1.

[Immunofluorescence test of antibodies directed against antigens of the intestinal epithelium of Schistosoma mansoni. II. In the bilharziasis patient].

Specific IgM antibodies to antigens present in the epithelial cells of the gut of adult S. mansoni were measured in 2 230 persons living in areas of different levels of endemicity. Significant differences were found in the prevalence of IgM antibodies in the infected patients of the compared bilharziasis foci: lower prevalences were found in high endemic foci, involving the possibility of a tolerance phenomenon.

[Evolution of serum gammaglutamyl transpeptidase activity in treated hyperthyroid and hypothyroid patients].

The pattern of gammaglutamyl transpeptidase levels was studied in the sera of 25 subjects with hyperthyroidism and 11 subjects with hypothyroidism, before and after treatment, and in 14 age- and sex-matched control subjects. Gammaglutamyl transpeptidase levels were significantly increased in hyperthyroidism (65 +/- 59 U/l) (p less than 0.01) and significantly decreased under treatment (40 +/- 27 U/l) (p less than 0.

[Detection of antibodies against ovum antigens in Schistosoma mansoni bilharziasis].

Fifty-five sera from bilharziasis patients from West Indies and thirty-five control sera (from normal subjects and patients with hydatidosis and fascioliasis) were examined by ELISA for antibodies reacting with S. mansoni soluble egg antigen MSA1 . MSA1 antigen was prepared according to Pelley and coupled to isothiocyanate substituted plastic discs.