Clinical and immunological study of 7 patients with minocycline-induced autoimmune phenomena

PURPOSE: Prolonged treatment with minocycline for acne vulgaris has been associated with the development of arthralgia, arthritis, and other autoimmune phenomena. We characterized the clinical, laboratory, and immunological profiles of seven patients with this syndrome. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Clinically the patients were studied with special emphasis on prior minocycline treatment, presenting symptoms, physical findings, course, and outcome. Laboratory tests included fluorescent antinuclear and antineutrophil cytoplasmic (ANCA) antibodies, as well as antibodies to myeloperoxidase, bactericidal permeability increasing protein, elastase, cathepsin G, lactoferrin, cardiolipin, and histone. RESULTS: All 7 patients presented with polyarthritis or arthralgia, morning stiffness, and fever after 6 to 36 months of minocycline treatment. The skin was involved in five patients (three with livedo reticularis and two with subcutaneous nodules). Two patients had chronic active hepatitis. Increased titers of perinuclear ANCA (p-ANCA) were detected in all seven patients; five patients had fluorescent antinuclear antibodies, two had antihistone autoantibodies and one had anticardiolipin antibodies. Antigenic characterization of p-ANCA disclosed antibodies to bactericidal permeability increasing protein in one patient, to elastase in three patients, and to cathepsin G in five patients. Symptoms resolved in five patients upon discontinuation of minocycline; the other two patients were treated with corticosteroids and also achieved remissions. CONCLUSION: Minocycline-induced autoimmune syndrome is characterized by reversible polyarthralgia or arthritis, morning stiffness, fever, frequent skin involvement, occasional chronic active hepatitis, and increased titers of p-ANCA with various minor p-ANCA-related antigens.     

Laser annealing effects on the electrical characteristics of SOS transistors

Successful incorporation of laser annealing techniques into standard processing methods requires that the electrical characteristics of the devices not be degraded. In this work, a range of energy densities from pulsed u.v. and visible lasers which can be utilized in silicon on sapphire (SOS) technology to improve device performance without introducing any deleterious side effects is determined experimentally. Silicon islands were photolithographically defined and chemically etched (KOH) on standard SOS wafers which were subsequently exposed to pulsed (25 nsec) ruby ($\text{λ = 6943}\text{A}\text{?}$) and excimer ($\text{λ = 2490}\text{A}\text{?}$) laser radiation. Comparative studies of the effect of front and back side (through the sapphire) irradiation of the silicon on device performance were conducted. Using standard processing techniques, MOS transistors were fabricated after laser irradiation and electrically characterized. It was found that under certain conditions utilization of lasers in SOS processing, can result in an increase in the interface state density at both the top 〈100〉 Si-SiO₂ interface and the bottom Al₂O₃-Si interface. However, a set of conditions exists, in which it is possible to apply laser annealing to standard SOS processing so as to increase MOS/SOS transistor channel mobility by over 30% without causing any degradation of the device electrical characteristics.     

Some practical aspects connected with the presence of calcium in soybean oils

Presence of calcium in crude and degummed soybean oils prevents complete elimination of phosphatides by hydration and enhances the formation of heavy precipitates. They block industrial centrifuges at the later stages of the refining processes. Industrially extracted degummed soybean oils contain appreciable amounts of calcium (ca. 100 ppm) and its source was traced to the processed soybeans. Various pre-extraction treatments of the soybeans in industry augment the calcium content in the oils, since crude Soxhlet-extracted soybean oils contained only 15 ppm calcium. Additions at the alkali-refining stages of EDTA or of polyphosphate, to stabilize aqueous suspensions which also contain calcium salts, are suggested as a partial remedy to the frequent blocking of the centrifuges.     

Absorption and distribution of orally administered jojoba wax in mice

The liquid wax obtained from the seeds of the arid-land shrub jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) is finding increasing use in skin treatment preparations. The fate of this wax upon reaching the digestive tract was studied.¹⁴C-Labeled wax was administered intragastrically to mice, and the distribution of the label in the body was determined as a function of time. Most of the wax was excreted, but a small amount was absorbed, as was indicated by the distribution of label in the internal organs and the epididymal fat. The label was incorporated into the body lipids and was found to diminish with time.Lipids 17: 169–171. 1982.     

External sorting on flash storage: reducing cell wearing and increasing efficiency by avoiding intermediate writes

This paper studies the problem of how to conduct external sorting on flash drives while avoiding intermediate writes to the disk. The focus is on sort in portable electronic devices, where relations are only larger than the main memory by a small factor, and on sort as part of distributed processes where relations are frequently partially sorted. In such cases, sort algorithms that refrain from writing intermediate results to the disk have three advantages over algorithms that perform intermediate writes. First, on devices in which read operations are much faster than writes, such methods are efficient and frequently outperform Merge Sort. Secondly, they reduce flash cell degradation caused by writes. Thirdly, they can be used in cases where there is not enough disk space for the intermediate results. Novel sort algorithms that avoid intermediate writes to the disk are presented. An experimental evaluation, on different flash storage devices, shows that in many cases the new algorithms can extend the lifespan of the devices by avoiding unnecessary writes to the disk, while maintaining efficiency, in comparison with Merge Sort.     

On the Effective Deployment of Functional Formal Verification

We examine IBM's exploitation of formal verification using RuleBase—a formal verification tool developed by the IBM Haifa Research Laboratory. The goal of the paper is methodological. We identify an integrated methodology for the deployment of formal verification which involves three complementary modes: architectural verification, block-level verification, and design exploration.     

The geriatric gravida: multifetal pregnancy reduction, donor eggs, and aggressive infertility treatments

OBJECTIVE: Recent technologic advances and societal acceptance have dramatically increased the use of donor eggs for infertile couples who require assisted reproductive technologies. Now many "older" couples can access assisted reproductive technologies to achieve pregnancies. We sought to evaluate the changing pattern of patients referred for multifetal pregnancy reduction as a result of donor eggs and age factors in aggressive infertility treatment. STUDY DESIGN: Patients undergoing multifetal pregnancy reduction from 1986 to 1996 were included and categorized by year groupings, age, and the use of donor eggs. RESULTS: A total of 523 patients were referred for and underwent multifetal pregnancy reduction. Before 1994, only 4 of 226 (1.8%) had received donor eggs, whereas in 1994 to 1996, 29 of 297 (9.8%) had received donor eggs (chi 2 = 12.6, p < 0.001). Eight of 9 patients aged > or = 45 years undergoing multifetal pregnancy reduction received donor eggs. There were no patients aged > or = 45 years before 1994 but 9 in 1994 to 1996. Four of 9 patients aged > or = 45 years with multifetal pregnancies chose reduction to singleton gestation. The proportions of patients aged > or = 40 years have increased from 0% to 11% in the last 8 years. CONCLUSIONS: The availability of donor eggs has dramatically increased the use of assisted reproductive technologies and subsequent use of multifetal pregnancy reduction in older patients. Older patients are more inclined to want reduction to singleton gestation; they cite parental demands, financial issues, and their ability to parent in their 60s and 70s as reasons for reduction to singleton gestation.     

Synthetic mimic of selective transport through the nuclear pore complex

The nuclear pore complex is a large protein channel present universally in eukaryotic cells. It generates an essential macromolecular separation between the nucleus and cytoplasm. The transport mechanism relies on recognition of molecular cargos by receptor proteins, and on specific interaction between the receptors and the pores. We present a chemical mimic of this "receptor-mediated" transport using modified nanoporous membrane filters, polyisopropylacrylamide as the carrier molecule, or receptor, and single-stranded DNA as the cargo. We show that a complex of ssDNA and polyisopropylacrylamide diffuses faster through the modified pores than does the bare ssDNA, in spite of the larger size of the complex. The mobile polymer thus acts as a soluble receptor to usher a macromolecular cargo specifically through the pores.     

Mutation of alpha B-crystallin: effects on chaperone-like activity

A recent paper by Plater et al. [20], showed that the mutation of a single phenylalanine residue F27R in mouse alpha B completely abolished the chaperone-like property of alpha-crystallin when assayed with insulin at 25 degrees C or with gamma-crystallin at 66 degrees C. We have produced the same mutation as well as some additional mutations in human alpha B-crystallin. Our data suggest that the F27R mutation effected the thermal stability of alpha B-crystallin making it unstable at temperatures > or = 60 degrees C. In agreement with the published work, at these temperatures the F27R human recombinant alpha B-crystallin does not protect the target protein from aggregation. When assayed with insulin or alpha-lactalbumin at 25 or 37 degrees C, however, there were no differences in the protective abilities between the native alpha B-crystallin or the F27R mutated human alpha B-crystallin. Several other multiple mutations involving proline residues were also produced. These mutations did not effect the chaperone-like properties of human alpha B-crystallin, but some of them did effect the native molecular weight size as judged by gel filtration chromatography.