Superoxide production during refeeding in patients with anorexia nervosa.

The effect of undernutrition and refeeding on superoxide production by polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) was studied in 11 girls suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN) and 17 age-matched, normal, healthy, control subjects. Superoxide anion production by PMNs from undernourished AN patients was comparable to normal, while a significant decrease in this function was observed during the initial period of refeeding. After a more extended period of refeeding, superoxide production by PMNs from AN patients increased and gradually returned toward normal values.

Family studies in common variable immunodeficiency.

The occurrence of cancer, immunodeficiency, and diseases with possible autoimmune aetiology were studied in 355 blood relatives of 12 patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). The family members were identified through the patients and interviewed after completing a questionnaire, their diseases were medically confirmed by local general practitioners. In two families consanguineous marriages were identified with the coefficients of inbreeding of 0.

Effect of moderate semi-starvation on plasma lipids.

The effect of a daily intake of 200 kcal for 6 days on blood lipid levels of normal and obese subjects was examined. Subjects exhibited a decrease in body weight of 5.9 percent.

Common variable immunodeficiency and malignancy: a report of two cases and possible explanation for the association.

Two patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) and malignant tumours are reported. The first patient developed myelogenous leukaemia soon after the myelodysplastic syndrome has been diagnosed. The undifferentiated gastric lymphoma found in the second patient suggests that an increased risk of gastrointestinal malignancies in CVID could partly be due to lymphomas.

Increased breakage of chromosome 1 in lymphocytes of patients with testicular cancer after bleomycin treatment in vitro.

Chromosome damage in vitro after bleomycin treatment during the late S and G2 phases of the cell cycle was studied in the peripheral lymphocytes of 19 untreated patients with primary testicular tumours and 22 age-matched healthy men with no excess of cancer incidence in the families. The occurrence of spontaneous chromosome aberrations was not shown to be different in the studied groups. However, in the lymphocytes treated with bleomycin, cancer patients exhibited higher numbers of break events per cell (1.

Increased bleomycin-induced chromosome damage in lymphocytes of patients with common variable immunodeficiency indicates an involvement of chromosomal instability in their cancer predisposition.

To study mutagen-induced chromosome instability in cancer disposition, late S and G2 lymphocytes of 15 patients with common variable immunodeficiency and 14 healthy controls were exposed to bleomycin in vitro. The groups did not differ in the frequency of spontaneous chromosome aberrations. In bleomycin-treated samples we found higher numbers of break events per cell and increased frequency of cells with aberrations compared to the control group.