The genetics of Graves' disease: HLA and disease susceptibility.

To relate genetic variation in Graves' disease (GD) susceptibility to polymorphism at MHC loci, clinical and family studies were undertaken in eastern Hungary. Among 1980 relatives of 534 index patients, 2.9% of siblings, 2.

Identification of subsets of patients with Graves' disease by cluster analysis.

We have applied cluster analysis methods to forty-nine laboratory and clinical characteristics (including 26 HLA-A, B antigens) observed in 196 Graves' disease patients. Three subgroups could be identified: group I (seventy-nine patients) had small goitres, low indices of autoimmunity and a tendency to remission with medical treatment; group IIa (twenty-nine patients) had clinical and laboratory features of 'Hashitoxicosis'; Group IIb (eighty-four patients) had a high incidence of ophthalmopathy, familial aggregation, marked evidence of autoaggression and a tendency to relapsing hyperthyroidism. The prevalence of HLA-B8 was 8.

[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.

[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.