Consumption of fatty fish from the Baltic Sea and PCB in whole venous blood, plasma and cord blood from delivering women in the Aland/Turku archipelago

The present study aimed to assess the role of fish consumption for the body burden of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in mothers living in the Aland and Turku archipelago in Finland. The overall objective was to investigate whether there exists an appropriate population for a full-scale prospective study on PCB-related developmental effects in infants. Concentrations of the four major PCBs were determined in whole venous blood and cord blood from 30 delivering mothers, of which 20 subjects consumed fatty fish from the Baltic Sea (2.5-12.5 meals per month) and the remaining 10 mothers did not. The concentrations of CB-118, CB-138, CB-153, and CB-180 in cord blood were generally two- to threefold lower than in whole blood from the mothers, but strong correlations were observed between PCBs in the two matrices (r = .67-.80). Neither the venous blood nor cord blood concentrations of PCBs, however, were correlated with stated fish intake. Moreover, the concentration of CB-153 in plasma was only weakly associated with fish intake, and the level of organic mercury in erythrocytes was not correlated with fish intake at all. The present results of CB-153 concentrations in women's blood are lower than those reported in other recent investigations. A reasonable contributing explanation is the rapid decline during the last decades of PCB in Baltic Sea fish, which has resulted in less impact of fish intake on the body burdens of PCB in relatively young women (median 30 yr in the present study) as compared with older females. The relatively low PCB levels in blood taken together with the low number of yearly deliveries in the archipelago population makes it an inappropriate study base for a prospective study of PCB-related health effects in infants.     

New bioelectrical impedance formula for patients with respiratory insufficiency: comparison to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

Malnutrition in patients with severe respiratory insufficiency can lead to severe complications, justifying the use of objective nutritional assessment techniques, such as bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), which is an easy, noninvasive method of measuring body composition. The purpose of this study was to develop, and validate against dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), a BIA formula to predict fat-free mass (FFM) specific for patients with chronic severe respiratory insufficiency. Seventy-five ambulatory patients (15 females and 60 males) with severe chronic respiratory insufficiency (obstructive and restrictive) aged 63.6+/-19.2 yrs (mean+/-SD), in a stable pulmonary and cardiac condition for > or = 2 months, were measured simultaneously with BIA and DXA. Patients younger than 45 yrs of age and with a body mass index > or = 32 kg x m(-2) were excluded. The best-fitting multiple regression equation to predict FFM = -6.06 +/- (height x 0.283) +/- (weight x 0.207) - (resistance x 0.024) +/- (sex (males=1, females=0) x 4.036), gave a correlation coefficient of r=0.952, slope+/-SEM 0.902+/-0.034, standard error of the estimate 1.670, and p<0.0001. The mean difference for FFM was 0.2+/-2.3 kg (mean+/-SD) and percentage fat mass was -0.7+/-3.8%. These results suggest that the bioelectrical impedance analysis formula specific to patients with severe respiratory insufficiency give a better correlation and smaller mean differences than 12 different bioelectrical impedance analysis formulae described in the medical literature. A prediction equation, validated against dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and based on subjects with similar clinical characteristics, is more applicable to the patients with respiratory insufficiency than a formula developed for healthy subjects.     

Measles virus-induced autoimmune reactions against brain antigen

Recovery from viral infection is a result of very complex interactions between specific and nonspecific immune reactions and the infectious agent. A variety of immune mechanisms are undoubtedly important factors in this event and operate together in overcoming the infectious process. However, despite much available information about these viral defense mechanisms, it has proved remarkably difficult to assign a determinative role in vivo to any single antiviral immunological mechanism in recovery from a single viral disease, particularly since the immune response to the virus itself may frequently contribute to the pathology of the disease. Furthermore, if virus-induced immune responses are also directed against normal host components, this may set the stage for an autoimmune disease. In this context acute measles encephalomyelitis is of interest since in this disease autoimmune reactions against brain antigens have been observed and considered of pathogenetic importance. In this short review, virological and immunological findings of measles virus infections in a rat model in relation to autoimmune reactions will be presented and the mechanisms by which measles virus may alter host reactivity against self-antigens discussed.     

The role of CD8+ CD40L+ T cells in the formation of germinal centers in rheumatoid synovitis

In rheumatoid synovitis, lymphocytes can be arranged in follicular structures resembling secondary lymphoid follicles. To understand the organizing principles of this ectopic lymphoid tissue, the cellular components contributing to synovial follicles were examined. In 9 of 24 synovial tissue biopsies, lymphoid aggregates were found consisting of CD4+ T cells and CD20+ B cells. In four of the nine patients, the follicular centers were occupied by CD23+ CD21+ cellular networks representing follicular dendritic cells involved in germinal center reactions. In five patients, CD23+ cells were absent from the centers of the aggregates, suggesting that fully developed germinal centers are generated in only a subset of patients. To identify factors involved in the regulation of the synovial microarchitecture, cell populations contributing to the follicles were quantified by digital image analysis of immunostained tissue and by flow cytometry of tissue-derived lymphocytes. Proportions of CD4+, CD20+, and CD68+ cell subsets were surprisingly invariant, irrespective of the presence or absence of CD23+ follicular dendritic cells. Instead, tissue biopsies with CD23+ germinal center-like regions could be distinguished from those with CD23- T cell-B cell aggregates by a fourfold increase in the frequency of tissue-infiltrating CD8+ T cells, a fraction of which expressed CD40 ligand (CD40L). The data suggest a previously unsuspected role of CD8+ lymphocytes in modulating germinal center formation and raise the possibility that CD8+ CD40L+ T cells are involved in aggravating pathologic immune responses in rheumatoid synovitis.     

Estimating the costs of hip fracture and potential savings

Shaker mutant rats are characterized by the adult-onset degeneration of cerebellar anterior lobe Purkinje cells and temporally correlated development of ataxia and tremor. Normal E-13 Purkinje cells were transplanted into the anterior cerebellum in adult shaker mutant rats to study donor/host interactions in an animal with adult-onset heredodegeneration. Donor Purkinje cells from extraparenchymal transplant sites migrated radially into the host molecular layer and differentiated. Donor Purkinje cell dendrites expanded to fill the host molecular layer, spinous processes were apparent, and axonal projections into the host gray and white matter were observed. Donor Purkinje cells remaining in the extraparenchymal transplant sites differentiated if they were located relatively close to the host cerebellum. Donor Purkinje cells located intraparenchymally in the host white matter or granule cell layer survived, but were stunted in their development. The orthogonal movement of donor Purkinje cells away from transplant sites in the host cerebellum was spatially restricted. The findings from this study indicate that host cerebellar cortex with adult-onset heredodegeneration of Purkinje cells supports the survival and differentiation of transplanted normal embryonic Purkinje cells.     

The smallest known eukaryotic genomes encode a protein gene: towards an understanding of nucleomorph functions

Cryptomonads are unicellular algae with plastids surrounded by four membranes. Between the two pairs of membranes lies a periplastidal compartment that harbours a DNA-containing organelle, termed the nucleomorph. The nucleomorph is the vestigial nucleus of a phototrophic, eukaryotic endosymbiont. Subcloning of parts of one nucleomorph chromosome revealed a gene coding for an Hsp70 protein. We demonstrate the expression of this nucleomorph protein-coding gene and present a model for protein transport from the host to the endosymbiont compartment.     

Behavioural characteristics and accidents: findings from the Health Survey for England, 1997

This study analysed the relationship between major and minor accidents, and major accidents involving a moving vehicle, and behavioural and emotional factors in children, aged 4-15 years, using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and adjusting for demographic, socio-economic and family type factors. Data from a large representative national sample of about 6000 children were analysed using simple and multiple logistic regression. The analysis shows that the prevalence of SDQ scales, such as hyperactivity and conduct disorder were significantly higher in boys, lower social classes and step- and single-parent families. After adjusting for the demographic, socio-economic and family type factors, children who scored borderline or high for hyperactivity were almost two times more likely to report having major accidents. Children who scored high for hyperactivity and emotional symptoms were one and a half times more likely to report having minor accidents. For major accidents involving moving vehicles, the relationships with the behavioural and emotional factors were generally stronger than for major accidents in general. Hyperactivity, in particular, was significantly associated with the occurrence of major and minor accidents, and major accidents involving moving vehicles. The behavioural risk factors were significantly more common in the lower social classes, families receiving benefits and step- and single-parent families.