Whole sera and serum fractions from 24 patients with Felty's syndrome, 42 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and 48 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as well as 30 patients with miscellaneous acute and chronic disease states, were studied for their effect on numbers of mouse bone marrow colonies grown on soft agar in the presence of human colony stimulating factor. Significant early retardation of mouse bone marrow colony counts was recorded in 87.5 percent of Felty's sera, 43 percent of SLE sera, and 12.5 percent of sera from patients with uncomplicated RA. Forty percent of 30 other control patients with acute or chronic inflammatory diseases also showed this activity. No diminution was noted with any of 40 normal control sera. Degree of marrow colony retardation could be directly correlated to amounts of test serum added. No single serum fraction isolated by ion exchange chromatography, gel filtration, or electrophoresis was identified as solely responsible for marrow growth retardation; however lipoprotein fractions including chylomicrons, LDL and HDL showed inhibiting activity in various sera.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Women with breast cancer: perception of family functioning and adjustment to illness.

Fifty-seven women with breast cancer completed measures of family adaptability and cohesion, marital adjustment, and psychosocial adjustment to illness. Using a circumplex model of family systems, we examined whether subjects who perceived their families at moderate levels of cohesion and adaptability reported better psychosocial adjustment than subjects from families with extreme levels of cohesion and adaptability. The results indicated that the patients who reported the best adjustment to breast cancer and in their marriages, also reported the highest levels of family cohesion. There was not a significant relationship between adjustment to illness and adaptability. The implications for the treatment of women with breast cancer and for the families of these patients were discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗