Distribution of metacercariae in freshwater crabs in relation to Paragonimus infection of children in Liberia, West Africa.

An explanation was sought for the high prevalence of paragonimiasis in children in Liberia by examining possible modes of human infection from freshwater crabs. The occurrence, frequency of infection, and distribution of metacercariae of Paragonimus uterobilateralis in the freshwater crab Liberonautes latidactylus were studied. The muscles of the cephalothorax and of the legs were found to be the most frequently and most heavily infected parts of the crab.

The impact of technology on the management of pancreatic pseudocyst. Fifth annual Samuel Jason Mixter Lecture.

The records of 299 patients with 357 admissions for pancreatic pseudocysts seen between 1960 and 1989 were studied; 233 patients underwent operation. The natural history of pancreatic pseudocysts has been clarified by newer technology, such as ultrasonography, computer tomography, amylase isoenzyme measurements, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. All have influenced diagnosis, nonoperative management, and surgical operation.

[Dilated myocarditis and cardiomyopathies. The dysimmune hypothesis].

A causal relationship between myocarditis and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy has long been suspected. Humoral and cellular immune mechanisms are most probably involved in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Human genotype may influence the outcome of lymphocytic myocarditis by means of the major histocompatibility complex.

Dose-rate dependent stochastic effects in radiation cell-survival models.

When cells are subjected to ionizing radiation the specific energy rate (microscopic analog of dose-rate) varies from cell to cell. Within one cell, this rate fluctuates during the course of time; a crossing of a sensitive cellular site by a high energy charged particle produces many ionizations almost simultaneously, but during the interval between events no ionizations occur. In any cell-survival model one can incorporate the effect of such fluctuations without changing the basic biological assumptions.

Patellofemoral problems after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Unlabelled: Between 1982 and 1986, 126 patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction were followed in a prospective manner. One year follow-up statistics were reviewed for the presence of 13 different complications. The most prevalent complications were quadriceps weakness, flexion contracture, and patellofemoral pain.

Detection of an intrinsic marker in hypoxic cells.

An autoradiographic method is presented for detecting, within a cell population, those cells which have been subjected to chronic hypoxia. No radioisotope is administered; rather the photographic emulsion is chemically reduced by intrinsic constituents of the cells. Hypoxic regions in the sandwich system, a multicellular in vitro tumor model, were detected in this manner.

Prothrombin times and clottable fibrinogen determination on an automated coagulation laboratory (ACL-810).

Our laboratory evaluated an Automated Coagulation Laboratory (ACL-810) by Instrumentation Laboratory. Prothrombin times and fibrinogen levels from the ACL-810 were compared to results from a Fibrometer and another automated coagulation instrument - either the Coag-A-Mate (prothrombin times) or the Multistat III centrifugal analyzer (fibrinogen). The performance of different thromboplastins on the ACL-810 was also evaluated.

Comparison of 3H-misonidazole binding between CHO and 9L cells using the sandwich system.

3H-misonidazole binding of 9L cells was compared with that of CHO cells using an in vitro tumor analog, the sandwich system. In sandwiches there is a gradient of microenvironments, with cells adjacent to the necrotic center subjected to low concentrations of oxygen and glucose and to high concentrations of metabolites. Mixed sandwiches, having 9L and CHO cells interspersed, were used along with sandwiches of each individual cell line.

Reducing the hypoxic fraction of a tumour model by growth in low glucose.

The question of whether growth under low glucose conditions leads to a reduced amount of cell hypoxia was investigated using an in vitro tumour analogue, the sandwich system. In this multicellular system, the interplay between diffusion and consumption of oxygen and nutrients results in spatial gradients of these environmental factors. Gradients in the environment lead to biological heterogeneity within the cell population.

Isolation of microcercous cercariae from snails caught in an endemic focus of Paragonimus uterobilateralis in Liberia, West Africa.

Microcercous cercariae have been recovered from the snail Homorus (Striosubulina) striatella RANG. which were collected in a focus of human lung fluke disease in Liberia, West Africa, and are here described. Metacercariae of Paragonimus uterobilateralis were isolated from freshwater crabs (Liberonautes latidactylus) captured at the same location, and at the same time, as the infected snails.

3H-misonidazole labeling and viability of hypoxic cells in the sandwich system, an in vitro tumor analogue.

3H-misonidazole was used as a marker of hypoxic cells in an in vitro tumor analogue, the sandwich system. MISO binding was assessed in situ, using autoradiography. Binding profiles indicate that there are regions of radiobiological hypoxia surrounding the necrotic center in sandwiches of the V79 cell line and in sandwiches of the 9L cell line.

[Prognostic factors in dilated cardiomyopathy].

Thirty-eight patients, 27 men and 11 women, mean age 49 +/- 12 yr, suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy were included in this prospective study of prognostic factors. Twenty-two subjects admitted heavy alcohol consumption (greater than 80 g/d, for at least 10 yr). The survival rates for 2, 5 and 7 yr were 87, 35 and less than 20%, respectively.

[Study of dilated cardiomyopathies using gallium 67 myocardial scintigraphy].

Twenty-seven patients were diagnosed as having dilated cardiomyopathies, based on increases in the cardiothoracic index greater than 0.50, in the diastolic and systolic diameters of the left ventricle, and in the telediastolic volume of the left ventricle, which was indexed by body surface determined by contrast ventriculography. They underwent gallium 67 scintigraphic examination of the myocardium, in order to non-invasively detect the presence of an inflammatory infiltrate.

[Value of endomyocardial biopsy in congestive heart failure in diabetics without coronary disease].

Two cases of congestive heart failure in diabetic females are reported. One patient had moderate hypertension. Echography and angiography revealed a low-output dilated cardiopathy and ruled out the possibility of coronary artery stenosis and thin amyloid deposits were found in one patient.

[Histologic and microscopic study of striated skeletal muscles in primary dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathies].

Striated skeletal muscle from 20 patients with primary cardiomyopathies were examined histologically by light microscopy. The average age of the patients was 51 years (range 34-71 yr). Seventeen of them (16 men, 1 woman) had dilated cardiomyopathy, 9 of which were associated with chronic alcoholism, and 3 men had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Chronic constrictive pericarditis associated with asbestosis.

Observation of chronic constrictive pericarditis associated with pulmonary asbestosis is reported here. Heart catheterization revealed typical patterns of cardiac constriction. The diagnosis of asbestosis was based on pathologic features associated with a long history of asbestos dust exposure without evidence for tuberculosis.

[Identification of prognostic criteria of dilated cardiomyopathies associated with chronic alcoholism. 22 cases].

Between November, 1978 and August, 1983, 22 patients aged from 28 to 65 years with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy diagnosed on the basis of clinical and haemodynamic criteria were investigated. All these patients, who consumed alcohol in excessive amounts, were followed up for 1 to 58 months. The overall mortality rate was 10 p.