Circulating Immune Complexes and Heat Shock Protein 70 in the Sera of Patients with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to analyze and assess the usefulness of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and circulating immune complexes (CIC) in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) in a tertiary care hospital in a research university (2014-2017).

Materials And Methods: Patients were interviewed about the history of diseases; underwent an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) examination; a hearing test; and were analyzed for the presence of CIC and Hsp70 protein. A simple dot blot method was designed for the purpose of identification of Hsp70 bound to CIC and free Hsp70.

Mediator assays in aspirin-induced asthma.

It had been postulated from earlier studies that platelets of aspirin-sensitive asthmatics reacted to aspirin and other cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors. Similarly, a generalized abnormality had been suggested in the regulation of arachidonic acid oxidative pathways in blood leukocytes of patients with aspirin-induced asthma. Studies of activation in vitro as well as in vivo assessment of polymorphonuclear leukocytes have not been conclusive of metabolic pathways inducing bronchospasm in aspirin-sensitive asthmatic patients.

Nitric oxide is a major mediator in reactive hyperaemia evoked by a brief coronary occlusion in the guinea pig heart.

In the isolated perfused guinea pig heart coronary occlusion lasting 1-5 s is followed by reactive hyperaemia which is inhibited by 91-100% after pretreatment with a NO synthase inhibitor, NG-nitro-L-arginine (100 microM). Neither indomethacin (5 microM) nor 8-phenyltheophylline (10 microM) influences these responses. Therefore, the brief cardiac reactive hyperaemia seems to be predominantly if not entirely mediated by nitric oxide (NO).

Plasma ANP and cyclic GMP after physical exercise in patients with mitral valve disease and in healthy subjects.

Plasma levels of both atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and cyclic GMP are elevated in patients with various heart diseases as compared to healthy subjects. In this study patients with advanced mitral valve disease (Group A) and healthy subjects (Group B) were exposed to symptom-limited upright stepwise physical exercise on a cycle ergometer. Concentrations of ANP and cyclic GMP were measured in plasma at rest (20 min in supine position) or 5 min after physical exercise by specific radioimmunoassays.

Nitric oxide complements prostacyclin in the regulation of endothelial thromboresistance under flow conditions.

Using a novel method of measuring thrombogenesis on the surface of rabbit aorta endothelium superfused with whole blood, it was demonstrated that the thrombogenic properties of endothelium are potentiated by pretreatment with inhibitors of nitric oxide (NO) synthase (NG-monomethyl-L-arginine, MeArg, 100 mcM) or cyclooxygenase (aspirin, ASA, 60 mcM). Since MeArg is less effective than aspirin and moreover does not influence thrombogenesis after previous inhibition of the synthesis of PGI2, it is concluded that the generation of NO by vascular endothelium complements PGI2 in its antithrombotic activity but NO may be ineffective when the generation of PGI2 has been impaired.

Nitric oxide from polymorphonuclear leukocytes modulates red blood cell deformability in vitro.

We confirmed that iloprost is very potent in preserving the deformability of rabbit red blood cells (RBC). Incubation of RBC with a small number (up to 1.2 x 10(6) cells/ml) of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) caused a gradual decline in RBC deformability.

Dietary and other environmental risk factors in acute leukaemias: a case-control study of 119 patients.

Selected dietary risk factors and other environmental factors were studied in 119 adult patients (60 males and 59 females of the Cracow region) with acute leukaemia (91 acute myeloid leukaemia and 28 acute lymphoblastic leukaemia), by a case-control study method and logistic regression modelling of the risk of leukaemia. It was shown that the diet of patients with acute leukaemias before the onset of the disease differed qualitatively and quantitatively from that of healthy subjects of control groups. The risk of acute leukaemia was elevated in the subjects characterized by rare consumption of raw vegetables, frequent drinking of milk, frequent consumption of poultry, and drinking of soft water.

Cysteinyl leukotrienes overproduction and mast cell activation in aspirin-provoked bronchospasm in asthma.

In order to examine the hypothesis that in aspirin-induced asthma (AIA) cyclooxygenase inhibition is associated with enhanced release of leukotrienes (LTs), we measured urinary leukotriene E4 (LTE4) and 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2 (TXB2) (as a measure of cyclooxygenase production) following challenge with oral aspirin or inhaled methacholine, in 10 AIA patients. We also determined serum tryptase and eosinophilic catonic protein (ECP) levels, in order to evaluate mast cell and eosinophil activation. Urinary LTE4 excretion was increased sevenfold 4-6 h after aspirin challenge, while 11-dehydro-TXB2 decreased gradually reaching 50% baseline levels 24 h after challenge (p < 0.

Effect of peritoneal macrophages from intermittent peritoneal dialysis patients on lymphocytes in culture.

To investigate the biological activity of peritoneal macrophages, cells isolated from dialysate of 30 patients with end-stage kidney disease treated by intermittent peritoneal dialysis and from ascites of 6 patients with cardiac insufficiency (relative control group) were added to autologous, phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated lymphocyte cultures. Macrophages of dialyzed patients induced a dose-dependent increase in autologous lymphocyte proliferation, whereas macrophages obtained from control subjects exerted a suppressive effect on those cultures. The enhanced lymphocyte proliferation by macrophages from dialyzed patients was corroborated by the increased metabolic activity of macrophages as evaluated by the increased nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction test and increased functional expression of Fc receptors (FcR).

Circadian rhythm in the pineal organ of the yellow-bellied toad, Bombina variegata (L.), under laboratory conditions.

A circadian morphological rhythm of the pineal organ, as judged by changes in the nuclear volume of the photoreceptor cells, was found in sexually mature male Yellow-bellied toads (Bombina variegata) maintained continuously at 26 degrees C and on a 17L/7D illumination cycle. The greatest nuclear volume occurred at the photophase (16.00 h), and the lowest at the end of the scotophase (4.

Cell proliferation in the germinal layer of the lateral brain ventricles in normal adult mice and under some experimental conditions.

Histological and autoradiographic studies revealed mitotic activity in the subependymal germinal layer in the brains of adult mice. The number of mitoses observed was higher in animals subjected to administration of haematoporphyrin and selenourea.

Methicillin-oxacillin resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (MORSA) in infected burn wounds.

Among 204 strains isolated from infected burn wounds of 188 patients in the years 1987-1989 resistance to methicillin and oxacillin was found in 116 Staphylococcus aureus strains (group A). They accounted for 56.6% of the isolates.

Functional characteristics of peritoneal macrophages of renal failure patients on peritoneal dialysis.

Functional activity of peritoneal macrophages of 50 patients with end-stage renal failure on intermittent peritoneal dialysis (IPD) and of 30 control subjects with normal renal function was determined. Phagocytosis of latex particles by macrophages of dialyzed patients was significantly lower as compared with the controls. Further depression of the phagocytic activity was observed during bacterial peritonitis.

Test of immunopotentialization in colposcopy--a clinical evaluation.

52 infertile women (age range 19-35 years) treated by Gynatren-immunopotentialization (three vaccinations every second week) were divided into two groups according to appearance of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). 30 women had CIN cytologically diagnosed and proved by colposcopy (group II). Colposcopic examinations were performed on the first day of therapy (first vaccination), after two weeks (second vaccination) and after four weeks (the day of the third injection).

The evidence of a null allele in the esterase D in the Polish population.

The existence of the allele EsD degree in mother and her child, expressed phenotypically as EsD 2-0 and EsD 1-0 has been found. The enzymatic activity was reduced to about 50 per cent of the normal values of these phenotypes.

Effect of immunopotentialization on rate of vaginal smear normalization according to appearance of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

Sixty one women (age range 20-35 years) treated by Gynatren-immunopotentialization (three vaccinations every second week) were divided into two groups: group I with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and group II without CIN. Four weeks of therapy resulted in normalization of the vaginal flora and cervical milieu as well as in disappearance of CIN in 54% of cases stated cytologically. These findings confirmed our previous observations.

Rare alleles of phosphoglucomutase (PGM1) in the Polish population.

Phenotypes of the erythrocyte enzymes phosphoglucomutase (PGM1) were determined by horizontal starch gel electrophoresis in south part of Poland. The gene frequencies were calculated: PGM1(1) = 0.73526, PGM2(1) = 0.

Long-term follow-up after relapses in children with Hodgkin's disease.

In the years 1969-1980, 68 children with Hodgkin's disease were subjected to a combined MVPP and radiotherapy. Remissions were obtained in 64 patients, and relapses occurred in 11 children. The treatment of relapse consisted in administration of B-DOPA alone or alternatively with MVPP combined with radiotherapy (in 7 out of 11 patients).

Local application of 60Co in the treatment of leukemic infiltration of the eye.

A 20-year-old woman, who was first diagnosed as having acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at age 5 years and had several episodes of central nervous system leukemia relapse, developed leukemic involvement in the left eye. Following local application of a 60Co scleral plaque, these ocular lesions disappeared and function of the eye was restored.

Is first salvage chemotherapy the last-line chemotherapy in children with Hodgkin's disease? A tentative answer based on long observation of two patients.

In 82 children affected with Hodgkin's disease, in whom a complete remission was obtained, the first relapses occurred in 13 patients, their outcome was a follows: one child died of relapse and in 12 others second complete remissions were achieved. They were durable in 10 children (median, 65.5 months).