[A case of hereditary spherocytosis--role of complement system in hemolysis (author's transl)].

A female patient, 27 years old, with the chief complaint of anemia and jaundice, was diagnosed as hereditary spherocytosis with a complication of cholelithiasis and was examined before and after the operation of cholecystectomy and splenectomy. The surgery was followed by an increase in red cells, decrease in reticulocytes and normalization of serum bilirubin level. Both prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time were normal before and after the surgery.

Sleep-wakefulness rhythms in mice after suprachiasmatic nucleus lesions.

The experiment was performed in order to investigate whether the suprachiasmatic nucleus is a potent circadian pacemaker also in mice. Cortical EEG activity and neck muscle EMG were continuously recorded in 19 albino mice under 12 h light-12 h dark cycles. Computer analysis revealed that after bilateral suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) lesions, the diurnal rhythm in slow wave sleep (SWS) and paradoxical sleep (PS) stages was completely eliminated although ultradian rhythms with 2-4 h periodicity persisted.

[Simulation of K-contracture curve in smooth muscle (author's transl)].

40 mM K-induced isometric contracture of guinea pig taenia coli in the presence of 30 microM dantrolene showed a rapidly rising peak followed by a plateau and then a low sustained tonic contraction. The plateau was delayed by low Ca so that two phasic contractions, fast and slow, were separated from each other. In K-contracture after 15 sec contact with normal Ca following low Ca condition, the fast phasic contraction but not the slow one regained its tension depressed by preceding low Ca, while the slow phasic contraction recovered from its delay.

Potassium contracture of smooth muscle in the presence of dextran.

The apparent diffusion coefficient of Ca ions in the extracellular space of guinea pig taenia coli was estimated from model experiments to be 3.2 x 10(-6) cm2 sec -1, while the relationship between Ca concentration in the medium and tonic tension in 40 mM K-contracture was measured in the same muscle both in the presence and absence of dextran 10. On the basis of these experiments and certain assumptions, the time course of tension decline by Ca withdrawal during K-contracture was calculated.

HLA and mycobacterial infection: increased frequency of B8 in Japanese leprosy.

A total of 60 leprosy patients, 28 of lepromatous and 32 of tuberculoid form, and 70 active tuberculosis patients was compared with a control of 184 for 34 HLA specificities. The most interesting finding was an increased frequency (10.0%) for HLA-B8 (corrected P = 0.