Plasma cortisol, cortisone and urinary glucocorticoid metabolites in preterm infants.

Objective And Methods: In the fetal circulation, there is a low cortisol:cortisone (F:E) ratio ( approximately 0.3) suggesting high activity of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11betaHSD2). The circulating F:E ratio rises after birth in term infants, but little is known about infants born prematurely.

Adrenal function in preterm infants: ACTH may not be the sole regulator of the fetal zone.

The fetal zone of the adrenal gland is known to persist after preterm birth, but there is uncertainty as to how long adrenal fetal zone steroid production continues and how it is regulated. The purpose of this study was to test two hypotheses. First, that the urinary excretion of 3beta-OH-5-ene steroids persists until term, and then declines, as it does in full-term infants.

Movement disorders in AIDS: Infective, neoplastic and iatrogenic causes.

We present seven cases of movement disorders encountered in patients with AIDS at a national referral centre over a 4 year period. These include cases of chorea athetosis due to cerebral toxoplasmosis, progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy, cerebral infarction due to Herpes zoster infection and hypoglycaemia secondary to pentamidine therapy, wing beating tremor as a result of primary cerebral lymphoma, and two cases of drug induced akinetic rigid syndrome.

Prospective study of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis in thalassaemic patients who developed secondary amenorrhoea.

Objective: We aimed to prospectively evaluate during 10 years the GnRH-gonadotrophin secretory dynamics in a cohort of 15 menstruating girls with beta-thalassaemia major to determine whether they sustained progressive damage to this axis.

Design: Patients were characterized by 12-hour gonadotrophin profiles (by sampling blood at 15-minute intervals) and assessment of gonadotrophin responses to 100 micrograms GnRH bolus (by sampling blood at 20-minute intervals for 1 hour and at 2 hours) sequentially during the follicular and luteal phases of their menstrual cycles, 12-14 months and 5-6 years after the onset of secondary amenorrhoea.

Subjects: We studied 15 post-menarcheal thalassaemic girls and five age-matched control subjects who were the healthy siblings of the patients.

Production and analysis of IgG monoclonal anti-DNA antibodies from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients.

This study compares recently devised methods for producing IgG anti-DNA MoAbs from patients with SLE and analyses the antibodies generated from one patient at different phases of disease. Lymphocytes from SLE patients were transformed with Epstein-Barr virus(EBV) and/or fused with a heteromyeloma cell line, CB-F7. Direct fusion with CB-F7 resulted in the highest proportion of IgG-secreting lines, whereas EBV transformation resulted in a high percentage of IgM-secreting lines.

"Cognitive activity" monitored by non-invasive measurement of cerebral blood flow velocity and its application to the investigation of cerebral dominance.

We have developed a method of non-invasively detecting language lateralisation by measuring the increase in middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity occurring during a word association task, using transcranial Doppler ultrasonography. All exclusively right handed subjects (N = 12) showed a relative increase in left sided flow velocity during the task; mean rise was 4.04% on the left, and -0.

Production of human monoclonal antibodies to myeloperoxidase.

Two mouse-human heterohybridomas secreting human antibodies to myeloperoxidase (MPO) were derived from the peripheral blood of a patient who developed microscopic polyarteritis as the result of long-term treatment with hydralazine. Forty-five immunoglobulin-secreting lines were obtained from the fusion of patient lymphocytes with the CB-F7 heteromyeloma cell line. Of these, two antibodies, one IgG and one IgM, bound to myeloperoxidase in solid phase ELISA and gave a perinuclear staining pattern on ethanol-fixed human neutrophil cytospin preparations.

Multiple-fibre low-power interstitial laser hyperthermia: studies in the normal liver.

Multiple four-fibre low-power interstitial laser hyperthermia was performed in the canine liver to establish the parameters with which large areas of thermal necrosis could be made. Using 1.5 W for 670 s (4020 J in total) and a fibre spacing of 1.

Eicosanoid synthesis in duodenal ulcer disease: decrease in leukotriene C4 by colloidal bismuth subcitrate.

The release of immunoreactive prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and leukotriene C4 (LTC4) from antral and duodenal mucosal biopsy specimens taken from 20 patients with duodenal ulcer disease was measured by radioimmunoassay before and four weeks after treatment with colloidal bismuth subcitrate. Gastroscopic and histological examination showed complete ulcer healing in 15/18 patients and duodenal histology looked normal (n = 15) or improved (n = 3): two patients failed to attend for a second endoscopy. Analysis of the supernatant from incubations of biopsy tissue in vitro showed that unstimulated antral release of PGE2 was significantly more than that from the duodenal mucosa (p less than 0.

Independent analysis of the 16/6 idiotype lupus model. A role for an environmental factor?

The recent description of a lupus-like disease in normal mice after injections of human mAb that bind DNA and carry the common Id 16/6 Id has excited much attention. In an effort to reproduce this model we have performed two experiments using eight human mAb three of which bear the 16/6 Id. Despite using an injection protocol very similar to that of the original authors and waiting for up to 1 yr we were unable to detect any autoantibodies or any evidence of renal disease.

Autoimmunity associated with infection: leprosy, acute rheumatic fever and Lyme disease.

This review examines the links between autoimmunity and three common infectious diseases. These disorders are associated with a variety of clinical and serological autoimmune phenomena. In addition they might conceivably trigger autoimmune diseases themselves.

Liposomal amphotericin B (AmBisome) in the treatment of fungal infections in neutropenic patients.

The use of high-dose chemotherapy and the subsequent prolonged neutropenia in patients with haematological diseases has resulted in an increased incidence of fungal infections. The diagnosis and treatment of these infections in neutropenic patients pose major therapeutic problems. The only drug with proven efficacy in the treatment of deep-seated fungal infections, including invasive aspergillosis, is amphotericin B.

Palliation of proximal malignant biliary obstruction by endoscopic endoprosthesis insertion.

For four years up to December 1987, 190 patients (median age 73 years) with proximal malignant biliary obstruction were treated by endoscopic endoprosthesis insertion. Altogether 101 had cholangiocarcinoma, 21 gall bladder carcinoma, 20 local spread of pancreatic carcinoma, and 48 metastatic malignancy. Fifty eight patients had type I, 54 type II, and 78 type III proximal biliary strictures (Bismuth classification).

Structure of human glutathione S-transferase class Mu genes.

Nucleotide sequencing of a human cosmid clone shows that the exon-intron structures of a glutathione S-transferase multigene family are conserved between man and rat, that the human gene family is clustered and that gene conversion events have occurred within the cluster. In addition, between man and rat, there is a high degree of nucleotide sequence identity not only in exons but also in some introns. These conserved sequences are coincident with homologous sequences subject to gene conversion in both species, and hence the utilization of gene conversion by this gene family has itself been conserved.

Activity and toxicity of carboplatin and iproplatin in relapsed high-grade glioma.

A total of 15 patients with relapsed high-grade glioma were treated with carboplatin (400 mg/m2) or iproplatin (300 mg/m2). All had received previous radiotherapy, and 12 had previously undergone chemotherapy. One of the ten patients treated with carboplatin and one of the five treated with iproplatin achieved a partial remission as determined by repeat computerised tomographic (CT) scan.

Inhibition of intraerythrocytic development of Plasmodium falciparum by proteinase inhibitors.

A group of inactivators of cysteinyl proteinases which function by covalent bond formation have been examined for their ability to inhibit the development of Plasmodium falciparum within red blood cells. The most effective of these caused inactivation of the parasite near 10(-8) M concentration. The range of inhibitory action varied with peptide structure in a manner characteristic of affinity labels for proteinases suggesting that the target of inhibition was an unidentified proteinase, probably of the cysteinyl type, but different from cathepsins B and L.

A method for the identification of Streptococcus mutans in gingival margin plaque by immunofluorescence.

A method was developed to identify Streptococcus mutans in natural dental plaque by indirect immunofluorescence staining, using a high-titred polyclonal antiserum raised against a serotype c strain of S. mutans followed by an FITC conjugate. Specificity was determined by staining 45 representative strains of plaque organisms, which demonstrated minimal cross-reactions.

[3H]yohimbine binding to platelet alpha 2-adrenoceptors in depression.

[3H]Yohimbine binding to platelet alpha 2-adrenoceptors was studied in depressed patients and healthy volunteers. Where possible platelet binding measurement was repeated in depressed patients following treatment. Bmax of [3H]yohimbine binding did not differ significantly between depressed patients and control subjects and did not change with treatment in depressed patients.

Injury to skeletal muscles of mice by forced lengthening during contractions.

Our purpose was to determine the amount of injury to extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and anterior tibial (ATB) muscles of mice from 1 h to 30 days following passive shortening and lengthening, shortening contractions and lengthening contractions. The shortening-lengthening cycle was of 600 ms duration and was repeated every 5 s for 30 min. Contractions were produced during either the shortening or lengthening phase with stimulation at 100 Hz for 300 ms.

Reversible zidovudine-induced pure red-cell aplasia.

The treatment of patients with AIDS and AIDS-related complex (ARC) with zidovudine is limited by major haematological toxicity. In an open study of the use of zidovudine, 10 out of a total of 81 patients developed a severe anaemia within the first 3 months of treatment. In five of these 10 patients the mean cell volume did not increase but remained within the normal range.

Cerebrovascular disease and functional outcome after coronary artery bypass surgery.

A series of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery was studied prospectively to see if angiographic evidence of cerebrovascular disease proved predictive of the incidence of neuropsychological deficit 8 days or 8 weeks after surgery. In 47 patients, intravenous digital subtraction angiography was carried out preoperatively to assess the presence and severity of atheromatous changes in the carotid arteries; 51% had evidence of vessel wall disease and 17% had stenosis of at least one carotid artery in the neck, although only one patient had severe narrowing. Overall, 77% of these 47 patients showed a neuropsychological deficit as defined by a significantly reduced score in at least two of 10 tests administered 8 days after surgery.