[A toxic syndrome and subcutaneous nodules as the only clinical manifestation of systemic sarcoidosis].

Sarcoidosis is a systemic disease with frequent cutaneous manifestations. Among these exists a predominance of the so-called unspecific lesions because of their histopathological features. Within the specific lesions, that is those which showed non-caseous granulomas, subcutaneous nodules are underlined, which have been associated with chronic sarcoidosis with a frequency of 1.

Lipoprotein heterogeneity in end-stage renal disease.

Fifteen patients on chronic maintenance hemodialysis without any additional known cause for dyslipidemia were arbitrarily divided into two groups based on fasting plasma triglyceride levels. The hypertriglyceridemic patients (plasma triglyceride levels above 170 mg/dl, N = 7) also had decreased high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels and decreased post-heparin plasma lipoprotein lipase activity compared to the normotriglyceridemic patients (N = 8). All lipoprotein fractions collected by density gradient ultracentrifugation were triglyceride-enriched in the hypertriglyceridemic patients.

[Polymorphism (RFLP-PstI) of the apoprotein A-I gene in a healthy population. Its relation to high-density lipoproteins].

Background: Some RFLPs for the genes encoding for apoproteins have been associated with dyslipidemia and the predisposition to atherosclerosis. It is of interest to investigate the apo A-I gene in a Mediterranean population, since it is the major protein in HDL.

Methods: We studied the A-I C-III A-IV gene cluster RFLP defined by the endonuclease Pst I in 149 healthy males randomly selected among industrial workers in Tarragona.

Controlled diet in phenylketonuria may cause serum carnitine deficiency.

Serum carnitine levels may be reduced in patients with phenylketonuria (PKU) owing to low carnitine intake, deficient carnitine synthesis and acylcarnitine production from phenylalanine metabolites. In order to investigate the possible carnitine deficiency we determined serum carnitine in its different forms and the precursors and cofactors involved in its synthesis in a group of patients with PKU or hyperphenylalaninaemia. Free, total and acylcarnitine values were significatively reduced only in PKU patients with Phe-restricted diet which had not been supplemented with carnitine.

Pattern of hyperlipoproteinemia in human nephrotic syndrome: influence of renal failure and diabetes mellitus.

Forty-two patients with the nephrotic syndrome were grouped according to the absence or presence of renal failure and/or diabetes mellitus. All patients had a similar degree of hypoalbuminemia and urinary protein losses. A lipid and apoprotein pattern was generated in serum and ultracentrifugally isolated lipoproteins.

Fluconazole-induced toxic epidermal necrolysis in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are prone to severe drug reactions, mainly from sulfonamides. We report the case of a 33-year-old male patient with HIV infection (group IV C-2 of CDC staging system) that developed a toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) affecting more than 70% of the body surface area and severe mucosal involvement after starting fluconazole for a recurrent oral thrush with dysphagia. This is to our knowledge the first reported case of TEN due to fluconazole.

Relationship between hepatic lipid peroxidation and fibrogenesis in carbon tetrachloride-treated rats: effect of zinc administration.

1. Lipid peroxidation and hepatic fibrogenesis were investigated in 25 carbon tetrachloride-treated rats and in 25 control animals. Rats were further divided into two groups to receive either a standard diet or one supplemented with zinc.

Interaction of oxidized low density lipoproteins with both apo B,E and scavenger receptors. A model for its production in vitro.

Oxidation of low density lipoprotein (LDL) has been demonstrated in vivo and directly implicated in the process of foam cell formation. Consequently, a considerable research effort has been devoted to the assessment of the metabolic behaviour of oxidized LDL. We have developed a simple and reproducible model to obtain oxidized LDL consisting of the dialysis of LDL (4 g/l) contained in a cellulose bag against 5 litres of 0.

Serum fructosamine concentration in patients with nephrotic syndrome and with cirrhosis of the liver: the influence of hypoalbuminaemia and hypergammaglobulinaemia.

We have investigated the influence of variation of the concentrations of serum albumin and immunoglobulins on serum fructosamine concentration in 33 patients with nephrotic syndrome, and 18 patients with cirrhosis of the liver. Protein alterations were evident in these patients and they were compared with 109 normal subjects, 43 patients with type II diabetes mellitus and nine diabetic patients with nephrotic syndrome. The mean serum fructosamine concentration in diabetic patients (2.

Genetic diversity of penicillin-resistant Neisseria meningitidis.

The genetic relatedness of 42 penicillin-resistant Neisseria meningitidis isolates obtained during a 2-year period from a single hospital was studied by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis and by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 2 genes. The PBP 2 genes of 7 susceptible strains gave identical RFLP profiles. Sixteen different PBP 2 RFLP profiles were found among the 42 resistant strains, but 4 were found in greater than 1 resistant isolate.

[Familial study for the early diagnosis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus].

Background: Diabetes is more frequently found than expected in families of first grade with children with diabetes type I.

Methods: With the aim of identifying the potential candidates prone to develop diabetes type I, genetic and metabolic analysis was carried out on the members of 11 families with a diabetic type I child. They were distributed into three groups: 11 diabetic patients (IDDM); 22 progenitors and 13 unaffected siblings.

Low density lipoprotein ligand-receptor interactions in normal healthy individuals characterized by their XbaI apolipoprotein B DNA polymorphism.

A DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), observed with the XbaI restriction enzyme digestion of peripheral lymphocyte genomic DNA and a 3.5 kb probe 3' end of the apolipoprotein B gene, was investigated in 228 normal healthy males. Lipoprotein measurements were conducted on fasting plasma and related to the genotype; the X2X2 homozygotes (the X2 allele contains the enzyme cutting site) had significantly higher plasma cholesterol, low density (LDL) cholesterol and LDL apolipoprotein B.

Effectiveness of probucol in reducing plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol oxidation in hypercholesterolemia.

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) interacts with macrophages to induce intracellular cholesterol ester accumulation and foam cell formation. Probucol is a lipid-lowering drug with a well-known antioxidant action. The thiobarbituric acid (TBA)-reacting substances were measured as an index of plasma and LDL lipid peroxidation in a group of hypercholesterolemic patients compared with a normolipidemic control group.

Low density lipoprotein receptor levels and the response to dietary and pharmacological intervention in polygenic hypercholesterolemia.

To assess its hypolipidemic predictive value, maximally induced low density lipoprotein receptor activity was measured in vitro in peripheral blood lymphocytes from 20 polygenic hypercholesterolemic patients prior to their recruitment into a rigorous dietary and pharmacological treatment program. The patients in the diet program demonstrated significant beneficial changes in plasma, LDL and HDL cholesterol concentrations. After 12 weeks, those patients who had not had reductions in LDL cholesterol to within the reference range, had cholestyramine and/or bezafibrate supplements to the diet for a further six weeks.

[The seroprevalence of Listeria infections without clinical sign in a population of pregnant women from the Reus area].

We describe the results of a study of asymptomatic Listeria monocytogenes serum prevalence in a population of pregnant women in the Reus area. The study includes newborn exam and correlation with laboratory data obtained by an indirect immunofluorescence method recently developed. The incidence of anti-Listeria antibody carriers was high (12%) but in no cases spontaneous abortions or fetal malformations were associated to high titers.

Abnormalities of lipoprotein metabolism in patients with the nephrotic syndrome.

Background And Methods: Patients with the nephrotic syndrome characteristically have multiple abnormalities of lipoprotein metabolism, but the cause and exact nature of these abnormalities are uncertain. In this study, we measured serum lipids and apoproteins in 57 patients with the nephrotic syndrome. We also determined the kinetic indexes of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) metabolism in six patients, and again in three of the six after recovery.

Glutathione-S-transferase activity in human superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. Comparison with healthy controls.

Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity and glutathione (GSH) content have been studied in human urinary bladder (UB) specimens obtained from healthy controls (HC) (n = 8) and from patients with superficial transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) (n = 9), either in TCC and in adjacent normal (ANE) tissues of the same patient. The GST activity was significantly higher in TCC in comparison with ANE (ten fold) and with HC (five fold). This activity was also significantly higher in HC than in ANE (two fold).

[Changes in lipoproteins and hormones induced by diet and drugs in patients with polygenic hypercholesterolemia. Predictive value of the determination of low density lipoprotein receptor activity].

To assess its hypolipidemic predictive value, maximally induced low density lipoprotein receptor activity was measured in vitro in peripheral blood lymphocytes from 20 polygenic hypercholesterolemic patients prior to their recruitment into a rigorous dietary and pharmacological treatment program. The subjects in the diet program demonstrated significant beneficial changes in plasma, LDL and HDL cholesterol concentrations. After 12 weeks, those patients who had not had reductions in LDL cholesterol to within the reference range had cholestyramine and/or bezafibrate supplements to the diet for a further 6 weeks.

[Polymorphisms of the Apo B gene in a healthy population and its association with hyperlipidemia].

The apoprotein B gene restriction fragment length polymorphism are studied using the endonuclease XbaI, and the pAB3.5C probe was studied in 128 healthy males aged 20-62 years (39.2 +/- 7.

[Primary prevention of arteriosclerosis: cost-efficiency ratio in the determination of blood cholesterol].

Serum cholesterol, triglyceride, apoprotein Al and B, low-density and hig-density lipoprotein (LDL, HDL) cholesterol levels were quantitated, in two or more consecutive sample collections, in 289 middle aged males to assess the potential for misclassification of dyslipemia, according to the Sociedad Española de Arteriosclerosis and the USA National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines. They were grouped according to serum cholesterol values (less than 5.17 mmol/l, between 5.

Toxicity of lovastatin in rats with experimentally induced nephrotic syndrome.

The effect of lovastatin on the hyperlipidemia induced in rats with experimental nephrotic syndrome was investigated; toxicity and the effects on common blood chemistry parameters were also assessed. Hyperlipoproteinemia in this particular model is associated with an increase in hepatic synthesis of lipoproteins, and treatment with lovastatin could be the most suitable, since the drug inhibits cellular cholesterol synthesis. Lovastatin treatment resulted in a considerable reduction in plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Low density lipoprotein metabolism in rats with puromycin aminonucleoside-induced nephrotic syndrome.

With puromycin aminonucleoside-induced nephrotic syndrome (NS) in rats, twofold elevated levels of lipoproteins were observed. These levels were not related to proteinuria or to plasma albumin levels. Ultrastructural lesions induced in the kidneys by puromycin aminonucleoside were consistent with NS, while there was little or no hepatic involvement.