Onchocerciasis: invasion of deep organs by Onchocerca volvulus

Autopsies of two patients with onchocerciasis in the Republic of Za?re are reported. In one patient elephantiasis who died following diethylcarbamazine therapy there were large numbers of microfilariae of Onchocerca volvulus in the kidney, liver, pancreas, and lung. In the second patient, who also had leprosy and hyperinfection strongyloidiasis, we found an encapsulated adult O. volvulus in the wall of the thoracic aorta.     

Renal lymph protein in the rat

Renal lymph and systemic (posterior) lymph were studied in hydropenic rats. As a consequence of the anatomical arrangement of collecting lymphatics near the kidney, mixed renal and systemic lymph tributaries are situated in such a way that sampling pure renal lymph is difficult. Pure renal lymph contains 1.0 +/- 0.1 g/100 ml total protein with an albumin-to-globulin (A/G) ratio of 2.1 +/- 0.1. Mixed renal and extrarenal lymphatic tributaries contain 3.3 +/- 0.2 g/100 ml total protein with an A/G ratio of 1.8 +/- 0.2. Corresponding values in the plasma are 4.9 +/- 0.2 and 1.2 +/- 0.1 g/100 ml, respectively. Previous studies in which the concentration of renal lymph protein was determined as 30-50% of that in plasma were probably in error due to contamination of renal samples by posterior lymph ducts. The amount of systemic and renal lymph mixing is highly variable from one animal to another. Our renal lymph samples in carefully controlled and prepared Munich-Wistar rats contained a total protein uniformly 20% of that in plasma.     

Trichinosis causing extensive ventricular mural endocarditis with superimposed thrombosis. Evidence that severe eosinophilia damages endocardium

Clinical and morphologic observations are described in a 46 year old woman with fatal trichinosis. Attention is called to the occurrence of extensive ventricular endocardial damage with superimposed thrombosis; Evidence is presented to indicate that the most likely cause of the endocardial damage is the associated eosinophilia. The mechanism by which eosinophils damage endocardium, however, remains obscure.     

Molecular heterogeneity of the L-1 metallo-beta-lactamase family from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of the blaS gene encoding the carbapenem-hydrolyzing L-1 beta-lactamase from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia GN12873. Analysis of the DNA and deduced amino acid sequences identified a product of 290 amino acids. Comparisons of the L-1 amino acid sequence with those of other zinc beta-lactamases showed 88.6% identity with the L-1 enzyme from S. maltophilia IID1275 and less than 20% identity with other class B metalloenzymes.