Carbohydrate metabolites in the blood and CSF of patients with neuromuscular disorders.

The concentrations of glucose, pyruvate and lactate were determined in the blood and lumbar CSF of 63 patients with neuromuscular disorders and 40 controls. The glucose/lactate and lactate/pyruvate ratios were also calculated, in addition to the cytoplasmic NADH/NAD+ (nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide-H/nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide) ratio in the brain. Remarkable deviations from control values were found not only in blood but also in the CSF of patients with different neuromuscular diseases, particularly in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and peroneal muscular atrophy, indicative of disturbance of the carbohydrate metabolism in the central nervous system.

A rapid centrifugation method for the isolation of polymorphonuclear leucocytes from human blood.

A rapid one-step gradient centrifugation method to prepare PMN leucocytes has been worked out by which a 98--99% pure, washed granulocyte suspension of 98% viability can be obtained in 30--40 minutes. The cells prepared by this method displayed higher NBT reduction upon ingesting the same soluble DNA-anti DNA complexes than those prepared by the dextran sedimentation method.

[The effect of alcohol and alcohol withdrawal therapy on the concentration of carbohydrate products of metabolism and electrolytes (Na, K, Mg, Cl) in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid--changes in the oxidation-reduction in the brain].

Both ethanol and ethanol-disulfiram reaction result in a lactacidosis of CSF. The Disulfiram produces hyperglycorhachia, the ethanol causes a shift of the oxidation-reduction processes in the direction to reduction. The Apomorphine has no side effects.

Serum histamine level in exercise-induced bronchospasm.

The changes in serum histamine levels were studied in 12 asthmatic patients: 6 patients gave positive responses and 6 gave negative responses to physical exercise. The serum histamine was determined fluorometrically, and the specific airway conductance was used as the spirometric criteria. The serum histamine levels were elevated in the patients who gave positive responses to exercise.

Measurement of lymphocyte activation by a chromatin topo-optical reaction. Mechanism and specificity of the test.

A rapid inexpensive method is presented for detecting peripheral blood lymphocyte chromatin activation by the neutral red "topo-optical" reaction, which causes strong and easily measurable birefringence in the lymphocyte nuclei. This reaction can be enhanced by fixing the cells with 150 mM/l NaCl in 70% ethanol and/or by treating the unfixed cellular suspensions with 0.2 M/l HCl to remove histones.

Experimental syphilis and serological examination for treponematosis in hares.

Of 202 captive hares studied, many of which had lesions on their external genital organs or testicular atrophy or both, 27% had positive serological tests for syphilis although dark-field examination of extracts of atrophic testes was negative. A total of 12 hares that were nonreactive for the serological test for syphilis was inoculated with Treponema pallidum, 9 intratesticularly and 3 intradermally. Six of the animals inoculated intratesticularly exhibited orchitis after 7 days with an associated accumulation of treponemes.

Measurement of lymphocyte activation by a chromatin topooptical reaction. II. Application for detecting drug allergy. A clinical and experimental study.

Lymphocyte chromatin activation was measured in 18 clinical cases of suspected or proven drug allergy as well as in 4 other persons with neither history nor signs of hypersensitivity. The different drugs were tested in the reaction in such dilution that the final concentrations ranged between 50 and 10.000 nanomoles.

[Electrolytes in the CSF of hydrocephalic patients (author's transl)].

The concentrations of Na+, K+, Cl-, Ca++, and Mg++ were measured in the CSF and serum of controls and in those of patients with hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus was proved with pneumoencephalography. The amounts of Na+, K+, Ca++, and Mg++ were significantly higher in the CSF of patients with hydrocephalus than in the CSF of controls.

A new method for obtaining viable cells from dermal infiltrates. A study on 2,4 dinitrochlorobenzene induced contact dermatitis.

Experimental contact dermatitis has been induced in 2,4 dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) sensitized guinea pigs. The developing dermal infiltrate was excised and the infiltrating cells were obtained by mechanical extraction alone as well as by the combination with collagenase and elastase treatment. The most viable cells appeared in the elastase and mechanically extracted samples and the least in those subjected to mechanical treatment alone.

Isolation of pathogenic treponemes from hare.

A presumably new species of pathogenic treponemes was isolated from a lesion on the male organs of hare (Lepus sp.) and the scrotum of a rabbit (Oryctolagus sp.) was infected with this treponeme.

Indication and clinical evaluation of radical and semiradical neck dissection on the basis of 271 operations.

Between the period of 1956 and 1973, 271 radical and semiradical neck dissections were performed. The 'en bloc' method was used in 75 patients with cancer of the larynx and in 47 thyroid cancer patients. Analysis of the patient material revealed the operative mortality of 1.

[Effect of bilateral and unilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on the composition of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). A possibility to calculate the intracellular redox changes of the brain in humans (author's transl)].

The changes in the composition of CSF and venous blood under the effect of bilateral and unilateral ECT were studied. The intracellular redox changes during the therapy were calculated on the basis of experimental data. Of the patients, 27 were treated with bilateral, another 27 with unilateral ECT.

Examination of the immunocompetent cell composition of contact dermatitis. Methods for liberating infiltrative dermal cells and measuring antigen-dependent chromatin birefringence in them.

Infiltrating cells from the dermis can be literated without serious damage to the cell surface by cautious enzymatic treatment in a cell extractor. A new rapid method has been worked out measuring lymphocyte stimulation by detecting changes in the chromatin's birefringence. The chromatin's anisotropy depended upon antigen concentration, incubation time at 37 degrees and was unsignificantly influenced by the samples' cellularity, between 4 x 10(5) and 4 x 10(7) cells per ml.

Genetics of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

A genetic family study was undertaken by photofluorography of the first, second, and third degree relatives of 116 index patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). The index patients were ascertained in the course of an epidemiological screening. The pattern of familial clusters and the recurrence risk related to the number of affected relatives and to the severity of the disorder in the index patients support the theory of polygenic inheritance, a multifactorial-threshold aetiological model.

Immune-complex phagocytosis by human polymorphonuclear granulocytes.

A new two-step centrifugation technique is described for the rapid preparation of viable pure polymorphonuclear granulocytes from 9.5 ml of venous blood. The phagocytosis of these cells was stimulated by soluble DNA-anti-DNA complexes, produced in vitro by incubating high mol.