Anticonnective tissue and other antitissue 'antibodies' in the sera of patients with coeliac disease compared with the findings in a mixed hospital population

Serum IgG specificities directed against various components of basement membrane and reticulin have been described, and their incidence in 138 patients with coeliac disease has been compared with that in 110 hospital inpatients, 100 normal blood donors, and 1441 other patients. A wide variety of antitissue specificities were observed but only a few appeared to be of any significance. The 'antireticulin' specificities have been subdivided into different groups according to their distinctive histological staining patterns. Specificity directed primarily against endothelial basement membrane was found most frequently in the sera of patients with hiatus hernia (35%) or coeliac disease (22%). The same specificity was also observed in patients with myasthenia gravis and to a lesser extent in Crohn's disease and in a mixed group of patients with unspecified organic gastrointestinal disease. An epithelial basement membrane reactivity was found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis but only rarely in other conditions. Staining of perivascular connective tissue represented a third type of 'antireticulin' specificity. It was found only rarely, although in coeliac disease this reactivity was found more frequently in combination with other connective tissue specificities.     

Effect of furazolidone in feed on immune response of turkeys vaccinated with live Pasteurella multocida in drinking water

In 2 trials, turkey poults were fed diets containing 0.011% furazolidone: in one trial until 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 days before vaccination with live Pasteurella multocida (CU) in the drinking water; and in a second trial with the furazolidone added to the diet 4 days before the vaccination or 1, 3 or 5 days after. This 0.011% level of medication did not appear to reduce the immune response.     

A boxer dog with chronic hypertrophic gastritis resembling Menetrier's disease in man

Chronic hypertrophic gastritis in a 7-year-old Boxer dog is described. This gastritis resembles Menetrier's disease in man. The dog was emaciated, lethargic, vomiting and had a poor appetite over a 4-month period. There was anaemia, and the blood smear was characterized by hypochromasia, strong anisoplania and striking poikilocytosis. There was a protein loss and at a later stage of the disease, a hypoalbuminaemia. On gastroscopic examination the plicae gastricae were numerous and strongly marked; moreover, they were granulated with numerous small haemorrhages. Radiographically, the stomach had a marked folding, primarily at the greater curvature. The passage of contrast medium from the stomach into the duodenum was strongly retarded. The pathological findings included macroscopical folding caused by local gland cell hyperplasia in the body as well as the pylorus, foveolar hyperplasia and, in the fundus and in the corpus near the greater curvature, folding of the muscularis mucosae and the submucosa. A superficial gastritis was found particularly in the fundus and corpus, whereas the pyloric antrum showed a more diffuse inflammation.     

Diazepam treatment of socially isolated monkeys

Four rhesus monkeys were reared for the first eight months of life in total social isolation. One animal died during this period; the three remaining subjects were treated with diazepam in an isolation chamber, in their home cages, and in a playroom testing situation. Diazepam significantly decreased the self-disturbance behaviors of two subjects, and there was even the appearance of some social behaviors, although they were limited and not of the same quality as in nonisolated subjects. The authors discuss the implications of the data for understanding the significance of the social isolation syndrome in monkeys as a model for human psychoses.     

Endoscopic removal of a dental instrument from the stomach: case report

The records of 628 patients admitted to the Joint Study of Extracranial Arterial Occlusion with transient symptoms of carotid system ischemic disease were examined to determine the accuracy of predicting disease of the extracranial internal carotid artery on the basis of clinical information alone. A patient with a history of episodes of amaurosis fugax is more likely to have a lesion of the internal carotid artery on the same side than if he were having only transient cerebral ischemic attacks. In patients with transient symptoms and a carotid bruit on the appropriate side, the incidence of an angiographically normal carotid artery was 15%. In those patients with transient symptoms and no palpable pulsation in the cervical region on the appropirate side, the incidence of an angiographically normal carotid artery was zero.