Correction of amino-acid imbalance in postoperative portosystemic shunts.

We report on 22 cirrhotic patients suffering from portal hypertension and bleeding esophageal varices. Sixteen of them underwent H mesocaval shunt with internal jugular vein graft and 6 spleno-renal shunts. Mortality was 13.

HLA antigens and other genetic markers in the Mapuche Indians of Argentina.

A total of 107 Mapuche Indians living in western Argentina were studied with respect to 16 genetic systems. For HLA, there were a few differences in relation to previous studies; and considering the averages observed in 15 other South American tribes, Mapuche Indians showed low values for A2, A9 and C3, but high ones for A28 and B16. This is the first report of the presence (in low frequencies, 1-6%) of alleles C2, C6 and C7, as well as of DR antigens (most frequent alleles DR4 and DR2) in South American Indians.

Automatic preoperative classification of carcinoma of the colon and rectum.

The Dukes' and TNM systems for staging carcinoma of the colon and rectum are still the best pathologic classifications, but they do not apply to all patients and do not distinguish between patients who will die and patients who will be cured by the same therapeutic procedure. A new approach to this problem should be to establish a biochemical automatic classification, complementary to the morphologic one, which allow us to classify every patient before and after the first and subsequent treatments. By using several nonspecific tumor markers, such as CEA, AAT, AF, AAG, GGT and transferrine, a discriminant analysis was executed among the groups of patients with LD, RD and DD.

Method of assay for 4-aminobutyrate-2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase.

In this paper an analytical colorimetric method is presented where 2,4-dinitrophenyl hydrazine is used to measure small amounts of succinic semialdehyde in the presence of 2-oxoglutarate. This method is applicable to the measurement of 4-aminobutyrate-2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase activity, where succinic semialdehyde formed during the enzymatic reaction has to be measured in the presence of 2-oxoglutarate.

[Celiac disease, histocompatibility antigens and immunologic status].

Researched from immunologic and genetic point of view, 40 patients with Celiac Diseases confirmed and under-treatment. The results were compared with a group of 257 healthy people. The immunologic studies: leucocytes and lymphocytes in blood, the subpopulation of lymphocytes T and B, The immune-reaction studies of immunoglobulin Ig G, Ig M, Ig A and component C III complement didn't show difference between the comparative groups justified perhaps because the group of patients were under-treatment.

[Epidemiological significance, clinico-morphological evaluation and behavior of pathogenetic factors, in asymptomatic chronic carriers of the HBsAg in the La Plata area. Study in voluntary blood donors].

Seric positivity for HBsAg (CIED) investigated on 100.000 volunteer blood donors of La Plata city was 0.239%.

Idiopathic familial chondrocalcinosis due to apatite crystal deposition.

Idiopathic familial chondrocalcinosis was found in five members of a family. The clinical features of the disease were morning stiffness, pain and limitation of motion of the dorsolumbar spine in four of the five members, associated with arthritis of the small joints of the hands in three, shoulder periarthritis in two and costal cartilage pain in one. Radiologically, four of the five patients had multiple intervertebral disk calcifications, mainly located at the nucleus pulposus area.

Hydrolytic enzyme production by Rhizobium.

Cellulase and hemicellulase activity was detected in temperate (infective and noninfective) and tropical strains (infective) of Rhizobium. Hydrolytic enzymes were initially detected by a cup-plate assay. The presence of cellulase and hemicellulase was confirmed by viscometric assay.

Antenatal intestinal perforation and meconium peritonitis associated with the neonatal small left colon syndrome.

Although NSLCS has been considered to have a benign course, we have described an infant who had intrauterine intestinal perforation and meconium peritonitis associated with the NSLCS. Infants of diabetic mothers who are stillborn or who develop abdominal distention shortly after delivery should be suspected of having this complication of NSLCS. This disorder must also be considered in the differential diagnosis of infants who present with meconium peritonitis.

Pectolytic enzymes in Rhizobium.

A sensitive pectin agar plate assay was used to demonstrate low levels of pectolytic enzymes in infective and noninfective strains of Rhizobium. The possible relation of this characteristic to legume infection is discussed.

Metabolic studies with 65Zn. X. Biosynthesis of alkaline phosphatase in cultures of Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Alkaline phosphatase from Pseudomonas fluorescens has been partially purified. Labelled 65ZnCl2 in the culture medium is incorporated in the most purified preparations. The enzyme shows a pH optimum of 7.