Albumin to creatinine ratios in early morning samples of urine from healthy persons and patients without clinical proteinuria.

Urinary excretion of albumin was determined in 133 clinically healthy subjects and 236 patients suffering from diabetes mellitus (150 cases), collagen diseases (45 cases), or arterial hypertension (41 cases) in whom there was no clinical or laboratory evidence of renal involvement. Urine albumin was measured by an improved single-radial-immunodiffusion technique and results were expressed as urine albumin to creatinine concentration ratio (mg/g). The geometric mean values in the patients were about 2 to 2.

Particularities of rheumatoid arthritis in aged people.

Forty patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) selected according to the ARA criteria, in whom the onset of disease had appeared after the age of 65 years, were studied comparatively with a control group of 40 RA patients in whom the disease had occurred before this age. Every patient was subjected to a complex clinical and biologic investigation. The characteristics of the two groups are presented.

[Ultrastructural modifications in the hypophyseal-adrenocortical system in rabbits during experimentally induced parodontosis (author's transl)].

During parodontosis induced experimentally by irritation of dental pulp with carbolic acid in rabbits, the participation in the pathological process of adenohypophyseal ACTH-producing cells and of adrenocortical fasciculata cells was studied. Ultrastructural alterations suggesting stimulation of ACTH and glycocorticoid synthesis were observed. The data obtained prove that via afferent pathways to the central nervous system, irritation of the dental pulp induces morphofunctional alterations in the hypothalamo-adenohypophyseal neurosecretory system, by means of functional perturbation of the cerebral cortex leads to hypothalamus (CRF) leads to adenohypophysis (ACTH) leads to adrenal cortex (glucocorticoids)axis.

Diagnostic value of serum and urinary lysozyme estimation in malignant hemopathies.

Serum and urinary lysozyme were assessed in 138 patients with malignant hemopathies, of whom 71 with acute leukemias. Serum lysozyme values were found increased in acute myelocytic or monocytic leukemias and normal in lymphocytic leukemias and lymphomas. Serum lysozyme estimation is of value in the diagnosis of acute leukemias which cannot be differentiated by morphologic, cytochemical and cytoenzymatic methods.

Immunochemical assays for an early diagnosis of endemic nephropathy.

Comparative studies aiming at the detection of certain tubular protein elements by means of Ouchterlony's immunodiffusion, in parallel with lysozyme and guanase assays, were carried out in the unconcentrated urines of 746 subjects, of whom 655 apparently healthy inhabitants (mostly children) from a region with endemic nephropathy (EN) and from Bucharest, as well as 91 adults with EN or various other diseases with renal involvement. The presence of light chains, of lysozymuria exceeding 2 microgram/ml, of beta2 microglobulin and of guanase in the urines of children and adults from the endemic area was significantly more frequent than in the control groups. These immunochemical changes are hence considered as valuable criteria for the detection of EN prior to the uremic stage.

Argentometric titration of procaine hydrochloride with zero current bipotentiometric indication using pretreated silver electrodes.

A new procedure for the quantitative estimation of procaine hydrochloride is given based on the argentometric titration of its hydrochloride content, and using a zero current bipotentiometric indication. For this purpose two differently prepared silver electrodes are used. Quantitative data concerning precision are also given.

[The india ink phagocytosis by monocytes and granulocytes during acute and chronic consumption coagulopathy].

During generalized intravascular coagulation (GIC) the polimerisation products of fibrinogen are phagocytized by the reticulo-endothelial system of the liver and spleen. Thus an inhibition of the clearance of RES could be detected in a progressed stage of the shock and GIC; this can also be represented by a decrease of India ink storage. In the present work the authors investigate the behavior of monocytes and granulocytes in the peripheral blood in GIC.