Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Brand

Publications and source records attributed to A Brand.

At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources

Severe leukocytoclastic vasculitis of the skin in a patient with essential mixed cryoglobulinemia treated with high-dose gamma-globulin intravenously.

We describe a patient with long-standing severe leukocytoclastic vasculitis of the skin and essential mixed cryoglobulinemia type II, who showed a limited reaction to immunosuppressive drugs, plasmapheresis, and colchicine. Therapy with high-dose gamma-globulin intravenously (IV) for five days resulted in disappearance of vasculitis lesions within three weeks. After gamma-globulin IV treatment there was a decrease in cryoglobulin, circulating immune complexes, and IgM, paraprotein, and a rise in complement levels. No serious side effects were noted during or after gamma-globulin IV treatment. The patient has been in remission for 16 months.

Acute Disease↗

T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia with an unusual phenotype CD4+ CD8+.

A patient with T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL) is described. The outcome was poor, with death 8 months after diagnosis, despite several therapeutic interventions. The cells carried both CD4 and CD8 epitopes, but other thymocytic markers were absent. The spleen showed infiltration of CD4+ CD8+ prolymphocytes in the red pulp and in T-cell-dependent areas of the white pulp. Immunologic function studies revealed proliferation after stimulation with mitogens and even several antigens. However, in the mixed lymphocyte culture the T-PLL cells did not proliferate. Cytotoxic T-cells could not be induced. In T-non-T recombination experiments neither helper nor suppressor cell function was found for pokeweed mitogen-dependent plasmablast generation of normal B-cells. Cytogenetically, many abnormalities were found. Among them, 14q+; absence of chromosomes 8, 11, and 22; and the presence of large marker chromosomes and fragments.

Aged↗

Perioperative blood transfusion and cancer prognosis. Different effects of blood transfusion on prognosis of colon and breast cancer patients.

A detailed retrospective analysis was undertaken of the effect of perioperative blood transfusion on long-term survival of 113 patients with Dukes' Stages A, B and C1 cancer of the colon and 383 patients with invasive cancer of the breast who were treated in our institution between 1973 and 1978 and followed for 5 to 10 years. In the patients with colon cancer, a significant adverse effect of transfusion on long-term survival was seen. In this group there was a cumulative 5-year overall survival of 48% for the transfused and 74% for the nontransfused patients (P = 0.007, log-rank test). Perioperative blood transfusion was associated with a relative risk of 3.42 for all deaths (P = 0.005) and 4.25 for death due to cancer (P = 0.03), after adjustment for other important variables such as age, sex, stage, location of tumor, surgical procedure, and preoperative hemoglobin level. In contrast, in our study group of patients with breast cancers, who all underwent a modified radical mastectomy, no effect of blood transfusion on long-term survival was seen. Multivariate analysis adjusting for size of tumor, number of positive regional lymph nodes, menopausal status, estrogen receptor status and the addition or absence of chemotherapy, did not show any increased risk in all deaths or death due to cancer associated with blood transfusion. Although no definite explanation is available, our data show that there seems to be a difference in the relationship between perioperative blood transfusion and survival for colon and breast cancer patients.

Aged↗

Clinical significance of antibodies against peripheral nerve tissue in inflammatory polyneuropathy.

With the use of a mixed hemagglutination test (MHT), circulating antibodies against human peripheral nerve tissue (PNT) were found in 22 of 38 patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) or chronic relapsing demyelinating inflammatory polyneuropathy (CR-DIP). The antibodies were found in only 1 of 34 patients with polyneuropathy of other origin, and in 3 of 32 patients without polyneuropathy. The presence of antibodies was related to response to intravenous gamma globulin treatment in CR-DIP patients. Antibodies against PNT may be pathogenic.

Antigen-Antibody Complex↗

Cell-mediated lysis of human hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Several techniques are available for the serological analysis of antigenic determinants on human hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC). However, techniques for the recognition of cellularly defined antigens on such progenitor cells have not yet been described. We therefore developed an in vitro cellular cytotoxicity assay, with bone marrow cells as target cells. In this assay specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) lines are used as effectors for cell-mediated cytolysis of bone marrow mononuclear cells that express the antigens for which the CTLs were primed in a mixed lymphocyte culture. As a model we used CTL lines against HLA-A2 or -B7 determinants. By using effector-target ratios varying from 1:2 to 4:1, 4 hr of incubation of these CTL lines with bone marrow mononuclear cells from HLA-A2 or -B7 positive donors resulted in a specific dose-dependent growth inhibition up to 100% of myeloid (CFU-GM), erythroid (BFU-E), and multipotential (CFU-GEMM) HPC. In contrast no inhibition of HPC was observed using mononuclear bone marrow cells from HLA-A2 or -B7 negative individuals as target cells. Experiments in which cell-cell contact was prevented showed that the antigen-specific lysis of HPC was dependent on intimate cell-cell contact between effector-CTLs and bone marrow target cells. Our results show that this cell-mediated cytotoxicity assay can be used as a sensitive and specific tool for the study of cellularly defined antigens on human hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Antigens, Surface↗

[Automation: specter or aspiration for the large-animal practitioner?].

Automatic data processing in veterinary practices is rapidly progressing. Automation of the administration of practices was an important factor in starting these developments, and electronic processing of health and production data within the framework of a herd health and production service programme is enjoying considerable current interest. Information networks will be set up by agricultural branch organizations, the national and regional centres, the Stichting V-Data and commercial organizations. These will make the supply of information to and communication among animal owners, practitioners, advisers and other disciplines operational on a large scale. The data banks developed from information networks may be utilized, among other things, in epidemiological investigations and in taking well-founded decisions regarding management. The rapid advance of the technology of information in the animal production section will considerably affect the management of veterinary practices. The practitioner will have to be able to interpret his computer data and translate them into advice and measures to be adopted by animal owners. Epidemiological training will have to be an essential part of the activities of the veterinarian to enable him to interpret interactions of conditions and management on the one hand and the health status and state of production on the other. Establishing a merely clinical diagnosis in which interaction of host and pathogenic agent is central, will no longer suffice. Rather, an epidemiological diagnosis is required, in which the environment and its many vectors are also included. Apart from the variety of new possibilities to which entry is gained, the central co-ordinating position which can be occupied in the animal production section, will be considerably strengthened.

Animal Husbandry↗

Pancytopenia caused by iron-dextran.

Pancytopenia after intramuscular iron-dextran treatment occurred in an infant with Down's syndrome. Haematological abnormalities recurred on subsequent challenge. Positive migration inhibiting factor and mast cell degranulation tests support an allergic pathogenesis for the pancytopenia. These side effects have not been reported previously.

Down Syndrome↗

The progressive nature of subaortic stenosis in congenital heart disease.

Data derived from serial hemodynamic and angiocardiographic investigations on pediatric patients not subjected to intervening intracardiac operations support the view that subaortic stenosis in congenital heart disease tends to be a progressive disorder. Our data are obtained from two groups of patients. The first comprised 22 patients with discrete subaortic stenosis in relative isolation. The second was made up of 19 patients with the fibrous or fibromuscular forms of discrete subaortic stenosis associated with a perimembranous ventricular septal defect. The results from both groups support our initial contention. The progressive character of subaortic stenosis in these two situations illustrates the dynamic nature of congenital heart disease, and the tendency of a changing form and function.

Angiocardiography↗

Swine dysentery in a sow herd. I. Clinical manifestation and elimination of the disease with a combination of lincomycin and spectinomycin.

An acute outbreak of swine dysentery (Doyle) on a farrowing farm is described. Besides clinical signs of enteritis a general loss of condition was seen throughout the herd. This resulted in a decreased fertility and breeding performance among sows and an increase in piglet mortality. Several dehydrated sows aborted. The outbreak was stopped by oral treatment with lincomycin/spectinomycin 1:1. In the course of the treatment all animals and buildings were washed and disinfected. The use of pharmacotherapeutics in treating swine dysentery is discussed with emphasis on the involuntary induction of carriers.

Animals↗

Recovery of hematopoiesis after blood-group-incompatible bone marrow transplantation with red-blood-cell-depleted grafts.

Severe hemolytic transfusion reactions may complicate major blood-group-incompatible bone marrow transplantations (BMT). Probably the most appropriate way to avoid this complication is removal of the incompatible red blood cells (RBC) from the bone marrow graft. In this report we describe a method to eliminate incompatible RBCs that is based on repeated dilution of the graft with donor-and-recipient--compatible third-party erythrocytes. Four patients with ABO incompatibility and one patient with Rh-C incompatibility were transplanted using this technique. After the procedure 86 +/- 8% (mean +/- SD) of the nucleated cells, 95 +/- 14% of CFU-GM, 88 +/- 14% of BFU-e, and 103 +/- 30% of CFU-e were recovered, but only +/- 1% of the incompatible RBCs was left in the transfusate (1-3 ml). No signs of hemolysis were observed. All patients engrafted promptly. The patients with low titers of antibody had normal reticulocyte recoveries. Maturation of erythropoiesis was suppressed only when high titers of antibody were present. However, despite high antibody titers, erythroid progenitor cells (CFU-GEMM, BFU-e, and CFU-e) could be cultured from the bone marrow of the recipient after BMT. Thus, anti-A and anti-Rh-C antibodies give little, if any, inhibition of stem-cell proliferation. The method described to remove incompatible RBCs appears to be simple, safe, and--in most cases--sufficient.

Blood Group Antigens↗

Cytomegalovirus immunity in allogeneic marrow grafting.

IgM and IgG class antibodies to cytomegalovirus (CMV) late antigen were studied in 58 bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients and their donors using a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and with standard virological and histomorphological techniques. Patients who were CMV-seropositive before BMT had a significantly higher risk for active CMV infection after BMT than seronegative ones (23 of 29 vs. 3 of 26 patients; P less than 1 X 10(-6)). Transplantation of marrow from CMV-seropositive donors was associated with a higher incidence of active CMV infection after BMT than transplantation of marrow from seronegative donors (17 of 28 vs. 9 of 27 patients). Such transplantations also had a significantly higher incidence of grades II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (23 of 29 vs. 11 of 27 patients; P = 0.007). Following BMT, the evolution of the IgG class CMV antibody response was influenced by the serological status of the marrow donor. First, a fall in IgG class CMV antibody titers during the first month after BMT was seen less often after transplantation of marrow from seropositive donors than after transplantation of marrow from seronegative donors. Second, recipients of marrow from CMV-seropositive donors who developed active CMV infection had an earlier IgG antibody response than those with seronegative marrow donors. These results suggest that the transfer of memory B and T cells occurs with the graft. Failure to mount a sustained IgM or IgG antibody response upon active CMV infection was associated with a fatal outcome.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗