Relaxation responses of the human proximal stomach to distension during fasting and after food.

The responses of the human proximal stomach to distension were studied in 22 healthy volunteers using an intragastric polyethylene bag, inflated progressively in 30-ml steps until the limit of tolerated volume was reached. Three successive inflations were carried out during the fasting state followed by a fourth inflation after ingestion of 250 ml of either a nutrient meal or isosmolar saline. The first inflation showed an initial nonlinear pressure rise (slope of logged pressure vs.

Altered saccharide sequences in two groups of patients with metastatic prostatic carcinoma.

Objective: To investigate the hypothesis that primary prostatic carcinomas with metastases to different sites (lymph nodes or bone) show varying expression of cell surface and cytoplasmic glycoconjugates.

Patients And Methods: A group of 14 patients with primary prostatic carcinoma with lymph node metastases but no bone metastases has previously been shown to have an increased survival time. This group was compared with a control group of 14 patients with lymph node-negative, bone metastasis-positive primary prostatic carcinoma using a panel of biotinylated lectins revealed by the avidin-biotin peroxidase complex method.

Human small intestinal contractions and aboral traction forces during fasting and after feeding.

Small intestinal intraluminal pressure activity and aboral traction forces were explored in 19 healthy volunteers using a combined manometry and traction force detecting assembly sited in the upper small intestine. Each aboral traction event was classified as being associated with either a propagating or a stationary contraction and its force measured. During phase I no contractions or traction events were seen.

Cloning and sequencing the endocarditis immunodominant antigen of Streptococcus sobrinus strain MUCOB 263.

Immunoblotting sera from cases of Streptococcus mutans or S. sobrinus endocarditis against an extract from S. sobrinus strain MUCOB 263 had identified three immunodominant antigenic bands at 190, 200 and 220 kDa.

Identification of antibody epitopes in the CB-11 peptide of bovine type II collagen recognized by sera from arthritis-susceptible and -resistant rhesus monkeys.

Sera from eight rhesus monkeys that had been immunized with native bovine type II collagen were tested for antibodies to cyanogen bromide peptides (CB peptides) of type II collagen by Western blotting. The monkeys produced IgG antibodies to a number of different CB peptides, with five out of eight animals producing antibodies to the CB-11 peptide (four arthritic, one non-arthritic). Antibody epitopes on the CB-11 peptide of bovine type II collagen recognized by these sera were investigated by epitope mapping.

Evaluation of human postprandial antral motor function using ultrasound.

We used high-resolution ultrasound to characterize postprandial antral excursion characteristics in 15 healthy volunteers. Antral circumference was repeatedly measured in the sagittal plane anterior to the abdominal aorta, at 15-min intervals following ingestion of a standard meal. At each recording period, the maximal and minimal antral circumference was noted.

Abnormal intragastric distribution of food during gastric emptying in functional dyspepsia patients.

Although delayed gastric emptying is found in some patients with functional dyspepsia, there seems to be little relation between rate of emptying and symptoms. This study examined the hypothesis that food maldistribution rather than gastric stasis may equate to symptoms in such patients and used scintigraphic techniques to quantify the partition of gastric contents between proximal and distal stomach during gastric emptying. Eleven patients with functional dyspepsia characterised by chronic severe postprandial bloating without organic abnormality, and 12 healthy volunteers, ingested a standard meal labelled with technetium-99M (99mTc).

Distribution of the matrix metalloproteinases stromelysin, gelatinases A and B, and collagenase in Crohn's disease and normal intestine.

Aims: To investigate the role of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the connective tissue changes seen in the intestine in Crohn's disease.

Methods: Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy using specific antibodies to the MMPs (collagenase, gelatinase A and B, and stromelysin) were used to assess the distribution of these enzymes in normal and diseased intestine.

Results: In normal intestine the matrix metalloproteinases were confined to a few isolated inflammatory cells, but in Crohn's disease, the inflammatory infiltrate was associated with increased numbers of polymorphonuclear leucocytes which stained positive for gelatinase B.

Low quantal content of the endplate potential reduces safety factor for neuromuscular transmission in the diaphragm of the newborn rat.

We have used phrenic nerve-hemidiaphragm preparations from rats aged 11-28 days to determine the electrophysiological basis of the three-fold increase in sensitivity of the neonatal neuromuscular junction to non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs. The mean resting membrane potential (RMP) of intact muscle fibres at 19-21 degrees C increased from -67.1 (SEM 0.

Invasive aspergillosis: clusters and sources?

Clusters of invasive infection with Aspergillus fumigatus are known to be associated with building works but studying the epidemiology has been hampered by the lack of a reliable typing system. A combination of three typing systems; silver staining of sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gels, immunoblot fingerprinting, and random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was applied to seven cases on a haematology unit. The results show three of the patients to have indistinguishable isolates, suggesting a common source.

Epitope mapping human heat shock protein 90 with sera from infected patients.

Epitope mapping with sera from a range of infected patients showed that antibodies are commonly produced which cross-react with a number of epitopes on human heat shock protein 90 (HSP 90). Such autoreactive antibodies were particularly frequent in patients suffering from systemic candidiasis (9 patients), invasive aspergillosis (6 patients), ABPA (2 patients), a patient with aspergilloma and one with malaria. The patient with malaria recognized similar epitopes to those with invasive aspergillosis and candidiasis including the highly conserved epitope LKVIRKVIRK and an epitope NNLGTI which was otherwise only recognised by patients with candidiasis.

Antibodies to major histocompatibility complex class II inhibit proliferation, but increase production of soluble CD23 in lymphoblastoid B-cell lines.

Class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins bind and present peptide antigens to T cells. Moreover, their function as signal transduction molecules has recently been emphasized. Here we used Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed B-cell lines (B-LCL) in experiments to investigate the changes induced by binding of specific antibodies to HLA-DR molecules.

Antibody to mycobacterial 65-kD heat shock protein in commercial antisera.

Inhibition ELISA and immunoblotting were used to examine the antigenic cross-reactivity claimed to exist between mycobacterial 65-kD heat shock protein (hsp65) and human lactoferrin. Commercially available anti-lactoferrin antibodies produced using either Freund's complete (FCA) or Freund's incomplete adjuvant were tested for binding to recombinant mycobacterial hsp65. Both antibody preparations showed reactivity with hsp65, this being greater with the antibody produced using FCA.

Autoantibodies in myositis.

Several autoantibodies are found specifically in myositis. Mostly this is myositis in the context of a connective tissue disease with associated features such as Raynaud's phenomenon, arthralgias, pulmonary fibrosis or scleroderma. The patterns of disease amount to overlap syndromes or subsets in which one can often predict the presence of a particular type of autoantibody.

Epitopes on the CB-11 peptide of type II collagen recognized by antibodies from patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Using the technique of epitope scanning, the binding sites of antibodies to the CB-11 peptide of type II collagen, which is known to induce an inflammatory arthritis in animal models, have been investigated. Sera from seven patients have been tested against 272 peptides representing the CB-11 sequence, each patient produced a different profile of antibody binding and a number of epitopes have been identified. The specific nature of this binding has been established by the reduction in binding by absorption with type II collagen.

Application of polymerase chain reaction to fingerprinting Aspergillus fumigatus by random amplification of polymorphic DNA.

A new method for fingerprinting Aspergillus fumigatus by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) by using single primers with arbitrary sequences is described. Five primers were examined with 19 isolates from six patients with aspergilloma as well as with A. fumigatus NCPF 2109.

In vitro fusion of endocytic vesicles is inhibited by cyclin A-cdc2 kinase.

Receptor-mediated endocytosis and recycling are inhibited in mitotic mammalian cells, and previous studies have shown that inhibition of endocytic vesicle fusion in vitro occurs via cyclin B-cdc2 kinase. To test for the ability of cyclin A-cdc2 kinase to inhibit endocytic vesicle fusion, we employed recombinant cyclin A proteins. Addition of cyclin A to interphase extracts activated a histone kinase and markedly reduced the efficiency of endocytic vesicle fusion.

Avoidable complications of arthroscopic surgery.

The incidence of complications from arthroscopic surgery is low. Between 1978 and 1991, 8500 arthroscopies were performed by the two senior authors (J.N.

Antibodies to type II collagen in early rheumatoid arthritis.

Antibodies to native and denatured type II collagen were investigated in a group of 79 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of disease duration less than 12 months (median 8 months; range 3-12 months). Using a solid-phase ELISA to measure these antibodies, the incidence of patients with levels above the upper limit of normal (mean of normal plus 3 SD) was low as compared to previous findings in patients with established disease. The majority of positive sera contained small amounts of IgM antibodies to denatured type II collagen whilst a few had IgG antibodies to native and denatured type II collagen.

Induction of an auto-anti-IgE response in rats. IV. Effects on mast cell degranulation.

Induction of an auto-anti-IgE (auto-aIgE) response in the rat inhibits both total and specific IgE production and alters the distribution of mast cell (MC) subpopulations identified by differential Alcian blue/safranin staining. We have extended these observations by characterizing the auto-aIgE antibodies and determining their effects on MC degranulation in vitro and in vivo. An auto-aIgE response was induced in bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-primed rats by injecting a conjugate of highly purified rat IgE myeloma (IR2) coupled to tuberculin-derived purified protein derivative (PPD).

Differential effect of chronic dopaminergic treatment on dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in the monkey brain in MPTP-induced parkinsonism.

Dopamine D1 and D2 receptors located within the striatum (caudate nucleus and putamen) were studied autoradiographically, using [3H]SCH 23390 and [3H]sulpiride respectively, in (i) seven monkeys rendered parkinsonian by the systemic administration of MPTP, four of which were chronically exposed to anti-parkinsonian drugs (levodopa or apomorphine), (ii) two hemi-parkinsonian monkeys (induced by intra-carotid infusion of MPTP), one of which received chronic exposure to apomorphine, and (iii) three control monkeys which received neither MPTP nor dopaminergic drugs. Anti-parkinsonian drug exposure resulted in a reversal of symptoms and was accompanied by the development of limb dyskinesias. In parkinsonian monkeys not chronically exposed to drugs.

Observations on diagnostic criteria for ankylosing spondylitis.

The Rome and New York criteria for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) have been compared in a clinical sample of patients with this disease and other joint disorders. The best individual clinical discriminator was the first Rome criterion, low back pain and stiffness lasting for three months and, in contrast, the New York criterion of dorsolumbar pain performed poorly. On the other hand, the more stringent New York formulation of lumbar spine limitation in all three planes came out as a better discriminator than its Rome counterpart.