Altered placebo and drug labeling changes the outcome of episodic migraine attacks.

Information provided to patients is thought to influence placebo and drug effects. In a prospective, within-subjects, repeated-measures study of 66 subjects with episodic migraine, we investigated how variations in medication labeling modified placebo and drug effects. An initial attack with no treatment served as a control.

Cell cycle-dependent expression of CD4 antigen in a monocytoid cell line.

The CD4 molecule has several biological functions, physiologically as a receptor for major histocompatibility complex class II molecules on antigen-presenting cells, and pathologically as a receptor for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by its binding to the HIV envelope glycoprotein gp 120. The frequency of CD4+ cells has been shown to correlate positively with both susceptibility and cytopathogenic effect by HIV. To determine if CD4 expression varied during the cell cycle, a CD4-expressing monocytoid cell line, U 937 clone 16, was synchronized with regard to cell growth.

Chronic progressive myelopathy associated with HTLV-I: oligoclonal IgG and anti-HTLV-I IgG antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid and serum.

Among 22 patients with human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated chronic progressive myelopathy, agarose isoelectric focusing (AIF) revealed oligoclonal IgG bands in 21: in 3 in CSF only; in 11 in CSF and to some extent in serum; and in 7, identical patterns in CSF and serum. By immunoblot after AIF of CSF and serum, we observed bands of anti-HTLV-I IgG antibodies in 19 patients: in 5 in CSF only; in 9 in CSF and partly in serum; and in 5, identical in CSF and serum. Oligoclonal anti-HTLV-I IgG antibody bands could only partly be traced to oligoclonal IgG bands.

Retrovirus in multiple sclerosis.

Presence of cytopathic effect and enzyme reverse transcriptase in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells is described in 2 of 15 patients with multiple sclerosis and none of healthy controls. These findings might indicate: the presence of a new human retrovirus in these individuals, despite the low detection rate, and the shortcomings inherent in methodology used for detection of known human retroviruses in the study of new groups of diseases, such as those with possible autoimmune background.

Bone marrow cells in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Bone marrow cells from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) were studied regarding proliferative capacity with and without mitogenic stimulation, immunohistochemical characterization of cellular phenotypes with monoclonal antibodies and morphology and compared to bone marrow cells from healthy individuals undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery. MS patients' bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNC) showed higher spontaneous proliferation both in comparison with BM-MNC from controls and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBL) from MS patients. Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) response was higher in MS BM-MNC than BM-MNC from controls.