Association of Sj?gren's syndrome with HLA-B8

HLA antigens were examined by microdroplet lymphocyte cytotoxicity in 31 patients with Sj?grens syndrome. Fifty percent of 22 Causcasian patients (7 of 17 females and 4 of 5 males) had HLA-B8, as compared to 21% of 1205 controls (P=0.002). The presence of HLA-B8 was not correlated with parotid salivary flow, keratoconjunctivitis sicca, or focus score. Because of its association with a number of autoimmune diseases, including Sj?gren's syndrome, it is suggested that HLA-B8 is genetically liked to an immune response gene(s) that predisposes the individual to autoimmune phenomena. The expression of autoimmunity may be determined by infectious or environmental factors.     

Alterations of the Frank orthogonal scalar leads induced by anaphylactic shock in the rabbit

The anaphylactic shock of the rabbit is characterized by an acute right ventricular overload, accompanied by severe alterations of cardiac electrogenesis. During shock, the mean QRS vector, as measured from the algebraic sum of the Q, R, and S deflections on the three leads, shifts to the right, inferiorly and anteriorly. An injury current quickly appears. The TQ vector points away from the right ventricle. A progressive depolarization on the right ventricular wall is displayed by suction electrodes and the suppression of right ventricular hypertension by a cross circulation produces an almost immediate disappearance of the injury current. The geneses of these electrical alterations are briefly discussed. The possibility of an anaphylactic reaction at the level of the coronary arterial wall, previously mentioned in the literature, seems unlikely. The role of the haemodynamic changes and of the increased right ventricular blood pool is thought to be predominant.     

Sulfated glycolipids in ciliary body epithelium

The sulfated material which locates in the basal membrane of ciliary body epithelium when immature rat eyes are incubated with Na235SO4 was studied. On the basis of its chromatographic behavior compared with standard preparations, we conclude that the material consists of sulfatides.     

Qualitative and quantitative comparison of pollen calendars for plain and mountain areas

A comparison of the quantity and the quality of pollen content in the atmosphere of two regions, one of the plains bordering the Mediterranean sea (altitude 40 m), the other of the mountains of the Pyrenees (altitude 1550 m), was made during the climatological year 1974-1975. The method which was used intercepts the pollen flux of the atmosphere with a vertical filtering unit, which is exposed facing the direction of wind on the filtering door of the weather-vane and collects much larger quantities of pollen than the other techniques of collection. The atmospheric currents displace from one region to another numerous spores and pollens, the trajectories of which are directly influenced by the general circulation of the atmosphere. The density of these fluxes can be very large, reaching 2500 grains/m3 of air at M.T.P.R. in the last week of January; the taxons collected are very numerous (more than 700). The atmospheric transfer of pollen modifies largely the pollen content of the atmosphere of different flowering domains. These interferences manifest themselves in the simplest cases by the presence of two peaks of concentration, the principal corresponding to the local efflorescence, the second to the pollen transferred from other regions. The pollen concentrations in the mountains are one-third of those in the plains. Pollination in the mountains is several weeks late in comparison to the plain during the first semester, whereas during the second semester, it is the plains that show a certain delay. These findings show why some allergic patients who go to the mountains during summer are affected twice by pollination.     

Nanosecond-pulse fluorimetry of wheat-germ agglutinin (lectin)

Nanosecond-pulse fluorimetry of wheat germ agglutinin is analyzed as a function of both excitation and emission wavelengths. When excited at 280 nm, wheat germ agglutinin fluorescence exhibited three lifetimes: one corresponding to the tyrosine residues as a whole and two others corresponding to the tryptophyl emission. The tyrosine contribution to the emission spectrum deduced from this method was in good agreement with that reported previously in steady-state fluorescence experiments [Privat, J.P. and Monsigny, M. (1975) Eur. J. Biochem. 60, 555-567]. The fluorescence decay of each tryptophan residue was not a single exponential function when wheat germ agglutinin was excited at 295 nm. This could be related to the microenvironment of the indole chromophores in the protein. The comparison of the quantum yield and of average lifetime showed that some tryptophan residues were completely quenched. Energy transfer from tyrosines to tryptophan residues previously detected in steady-state fluorescence was also revealed by fluorescence decay measurements. Comparison of both methods showed that an important part of transfers occurred with a very fast rate equal to or greater than 10(10) s-1. Both lifetimes and the ratio of the short and the long-lived component were found dependent on tri-N-acetylchitotriose binding.     

Triglyceride lipases in acute hepatitis

Two triglyceride lipases in postheparin plasma, the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and the hepatic triglyceride lipase (H-TGL) were separated by heparin-sepharose affinity chromatography and studied in controls and patients during the course of acute hepatitis. All three patients had increased content of triglycerides in the low density lipoproteins, and two of them had hypertriglyceridemia. Low activities of both lipases were found in the acute stage of the disease in all three patients. Concomitantly one of the patients had absolute low lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity, and in the two other patients a relative LCAT deficiency was present. The increased content of triglycerides in LDL that may be found in liver disease, may not only be due to low H-TGL and LPL, but also LCAT deficiency.     

Acute penetrating tracheal trauma

Four hundred seventy blood access procedures performed on 170 dialysis patients during the period 1962-1975 have been analyzed according to survival of access with respect to age, sex and cause of failure. Subcutaneous forms of blood access have a significantly longer life and are more free of complications than external shunts. Although the mode of access can now be tailored to the individual patient, the arterio-venous fistula remains the least expensive and simplest surgical procedure. It should therefore remain as the first choice of access for most patients.     

Occlusion pressures in men rebreathing CO2 under methoxyflurane anesthesia

The effect of general anesthesia on control of breathing was studied by CO2 rebreathing and occlusion pressure measurements in six normal human subjects under methoxyflurane anesthesia. CO2 was found to increase the amplitude of the occlusion pressure wave without changing its shape, so that CO2 responses in terms of the occlusion pressure developed 100 ms after the onset of inspiration (Po/0.1) gave results equivalent to the responses in terms of Po/1.o or any other parameter of the pressure wave. Methoxyflurane depressed the ventilatory response to CO2 but not the occlusion pressure response, implying that the most important action of the anesthetic was to increase the effective elastance of the respiratory system rather than to depress the respiratory centers. The elastance was further increased by CO2, and this mechanical change had the effect of shifting the "apneic threshold" extrapolated from the ventilatory response curve to a lower PAco2. Frequency of breathing, inspiratory and expiratory times were not altered by CO2 in anesthetized subjects.