Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C Masson.
Electro-oculographic recordings in a patient with an oculomotor disorder due to hemorrhage of the vermis showed macrosaccadic oscillations. Data from reported cases suggest the specific significance of this type of disorder for acute cerebellar lesions.
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A retrospective study of 223 patients (111 men, 112 women, mean age 40.6 years) with the Landry-Guillain-Barre syndrome investigated vital or functional prognostic factors. Patients were first seen between 1963 and 1981, when 192 were noted to have cranial nerve disorders. Assisted ventilation was required in 152 cases, and 23 patients died, including 5 from cardiocirculatory dysautonomy. Plasma exchange was not used. Patients were divided into 3 groups as a function of the degree of maximum paralysis: group 1 (n = 63) patients had incomplete quadriplegia without assisted ventilation, group 2 (n = 93) incomplete quadriplegia with assisted ventilation, group 3 (n = 62) quadriplegia with or without assisted ventilation. Vital prognosis was related to the severity of neurologic disorders. Frequency of intercurrent complications, dysautonomic disorders and mortality increased with maximal severity of motor deficit. The 3 groups did not differ as a function of previous history, mode of onset of polyradiculoneuritis, duration of extension phase of paralysis, or CSF protein content at the first examination during the extension phase of the paralyses. It is therefore impossible at an early stage of the disease to predict future motor deficit. The cumulative percentage of patients who recovered a normal muscular force in limbs and cranial territories was 48 p. 100 after one year and 60 p. 100 after two years (actuarial values). The functional prognosis depends upon the degree of motor deficit at maximum paralysis and duration of the plateau phase. Probability of full muscular strength recovery was lower in group 3 and in those patients with a plateau phase duration longer than 2 weeks. Independently of groups, motility recovery rate was markedly higher in patients with a plateau phase duration of less than one week. Motility recuperation was independent of age, sex, duration of extension phase, CSF protein levels during the acute phase, and presence of autonomic nervous system disorders.
Stenotic lesions of the cervical arteries due to atherosclerosis or irradiation may provoke the development of a Moya-Moya type collateral network. Rupture of a vessel participating in this collateral circulation may be the cause of a hemorrhagic accident. The hemorrhage may be subarachnoid, intracerebral or more usually intraventricular. Intraventricular hemorrhage occurred in a patient who had developed a Moya-Moya type collateral circulation secondary to atherosclerotic stenosis of a carotid artery. The hemorrhagic incident occurred during carotid endarterectomy, suggesting a predisposing role for hemodynamic modifications resulting from the operation.
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Human intrinsic factor was purified 1430-fold from gastric juice with a yield of 75% using two steps: labile ligand affinity chromatography and high-performance ion-exchange chromatography. Intrinsic factor precipitated in the presence of specific autoantibodies and 15% sodium sulfate, had an estimated Mr of 59 000 in 5% SDS electrophoresis and could bind to the specific ileal receptor in vitro. Its carbohydrate composition could be related to N-lactosaminic and O-glycosidic chains. High-performance ion-exchange chromatography was a mild, rapid and efficient procedure to separate completely intrinsic factor from haptocorrin (another glycoprotein of gastric juice which binds cobalamin) and from other contaminating proteins.
Mannose-binding sites were detected at the ultrastructural level in nuclei of lizard granulosa cells in situ by means of mannosylated ferritin. When ultrathin sections of material embedded in glycol methacrylate were incubated with mannosylated ferritin, a strong labelling was observed over nucleoli, chromatin and the external leaflet of the nuclear envelope, but no labelling was detected in the perinuclear space except for nuclear pores. This labelling was clearly inhibited when sections were incubated in a solution containing both mannosylated ferritin and a sugar-related neoglycoprotein (mannosylated serum albumin). These ultrastructural data supporting the existence of nuclear lectin-like components in reptilian cells are in agreement with our previous findings about such components in nuclei isolated from mammalian cells. Owing to the unique organization of the granular component of the nucleoli in specialized granulosa cells, we are able to show that some of the mannose-binding sites are associated with ribosomal precursors.
Nucleolar organizer region (NOR) silver staining was applied to sections of fixed material. A positive reaction on cryo-ultrathin sections was found as well as on semithin and ultrathin Lowicryl sections. Repeatable staining that was easy to control was obtained by a one-step procedure after aldehyde-Carnoy fixation. Fixation of the material by formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde alone in cacodylate buffer also maintained reaction selectivity when ammonium chloride was used after fixation. Enzymatic digestion by pronase, RNase A, DNase I, or micrococcal nuclease was applied to ultrathin Lowicryl sections. Pronase digestion removed the silver-stained proteins, whereas digestion by the nucleases did not. A routine procedure is proposed for easy NOR silver staining of sections that preserves a good tissue ultrastructure and is also compatible with cytochemical and immunological investigations.
CT showed a rapid and almost total regression of the lesions of a primary cerebral lymphoma during corticoid therapy. Such results assists the evaluation of changes provoked by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, since corticoids are often combined with these treatments.
Anticoagulant treatment after cerebral infarcts is still debated due to the imperfectly evaluated risk of hemorrhagic transformation. In the case reported here the hemorrhage developed during anticoagulant treatment instituted 18 days after the onset of the infarct. The role of previously administered aspirin is discussed.
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A fraction of in vitro heated serum (44 degrees C, 15 minutes) obtained by gel filtration chromatography and high performance size exclusion chromatography was found to induce an hyperglycemia when injected to Wistar rats. This fraction corresponded to a molecular weight range of 2,000-11,000. We speculate that this fraction contained a polypeptide responsible of hyperglycemia and induced by hyperthermia.
Nuclear glycoconjugates were detected in situ by two lectins--Concanavalin A and Wheat germ agglutinin--on tissue sections embedded in the hydrophilic resin glycol methacrylate. These lectins were conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate for fluorescence microscopy, and labelled with ferritin for electron microscopy. The ovarian follicle of the lizard Lacerta vivipara was chosen for this study, because it enables four types of nuclei, with different ultrastructures and physiology to be observed on the same section. In this material, all the nucleoli were found to contain a high concentration of receptors for both lectins. The distribution of the receptors located in the chromatin and nucleoli was observed to vary within the same type of nucleus, depending on the lectin used. Some of our results suggest that increased labelling by Wheat germ agglutinin might depend on increased production of ribosomal precursors.
Over a period of 23 years, 3 members of a family of 5 presented with 7 parathyroid adenomas (4 in the first case, 2 in the second case, 1 in the third case). Excision of each adenoma, with systematic pre-operative assessment of the remaining parathyroid tissue, led to complete clinical and laboratory cure of each episode. The delay in the appearance of recurrence was between 3 and 9 years. After reviewing the literature, the authors stress the importance, in any case of hyperparathyroidism, of routinely investigating the serum calcium levels in members of the patient's family, especially if the patient is young and if he has had several episodes or multiglandular involvement in one episode. The authors discuss the literature concerning recurrent familial hyperparathyroidism with endocrine polyadenomatosis and the "hypercalcaemia-hypocalciuria" syndrome.
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The close similarities existing between experimental allergic neuritis and the Guillain-Barré syndrome constitute the main argument in favour of the immune nature of the syndrome. The studies devoted to the identification of antigenic determinants of myelin in the peripheral nervous system are reviewed. Whether the immune mechanisms involved are humoral or cellular remains under discussion, and the data in favour of one or the other in both the experimental and the clinical disease are presented. It must be noted that while the Guillain-Barré syndrome most probably results from an immune reaction, the antigen against which it is directed has not yet been determined. Contrary to the commonly held view, the Guillain-Barré syndrome may leave sequelae which are unpredictable, save for the fact that the plateau phase is significantly longer in such cases. Therapeutically, the ineffectiveness of corticosteroid treatment has been established; controlled study aimed at assessing the value of plasmapheresis are under way.
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