Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) isolated from peripheral blood and synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and from peripheral blood of volunteers were stimulated with 12-phorbol-13-myristate acetate (PMA). No significant differences in luminol-amplified chemiluminescence were found between different patients and control groups. However, two distinct patterns of native chemiluminescence were observed. Type I showed no, or only a small, increase in native chemiluminescence with integral counts over 30 min less than 3 x 10(5) cpm, and the majority of samples from volunteers were of this type. Type II was characterized by a burst of native chemiluminescence starting 8 to 15 min after cell stimulation. It was found in most PMN samples from patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Integral counts over 30 min were always higher than 10(6) cpm and as high as 10(8) cpm in some cases. A strong inhibition of the Type II native chemiluminescence was caused by desferal, catalase, thiourea, and glutathione. However, the luminol-amplified chemiluminescence remained unchanged or was only slightly decreased under the same experimental conditions. Sodium azide strongly inhibited both kinds of luminescence. Hydroxyl radicals, formed in a Fenton reaction, may be important intermediates in the Type II native chemiluminescence.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Immunologic status in infants and children following surgery.

The investigation of cellular and humoral immunologic parameters (T and B lymphocytes and immunoglobulins) with respect to postoperative infection in children revealed changes in the T lymphocytes in particular. Preoperative complications (ileus, shock, infection), anesthesia and surgery lead to transient immunosuppression. The duration of this T cell suppression is age-dependent; suppression is longest in newborns (up to three weeks on the average) and shortest in older children (one week on the average). IgA and IgG concentrations show only slight abnormal changes; IgM concentrations, however, increase significantly during the postoperative period in all age groups. Prophylactic and therapeutic measures for the prevention of postoperative infections can be considered on the basis of immunologic changes related to surgery.

Age Factors↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Huber's basic symptoms: another approach to negative psychopathology in schizophrenia.

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Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Jaspers' sense of presence in the light of Huber's basic symptoms and DSM-III.

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Delusions↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Habituation of the auditory evoked field component N100m in male patients with schizophrenia.

The auditory evoked field (AEF) component N100m represents the most prominent and stable peak of the AEF, and its alterations in patients with schizophrenia are an extensive topic of neuropsychiatric research. In our current study, the degree of N100m habituation was investigated in 20 male schizophrenics and 19 healthy male controls. Participants were stimulated monaurally with 270 trials of 1000 Hz tones separated by an interstimulus interval between 800-1800 ms. The trial sample of the bilaterally recorded AEF was separated into three consecutive blocks of 90 trials and these blocks were compared with each other. The mean global field power (MGFP) of the N100m decreased on average 9.1% from the first to the third trial block, while the N100m latency was increasing. The analyses of the influence of habituation revealed a systematic change of dipole location in inferior-superior direction, mainly in the left hemisphere. This habituation effect was found to be the same for both groups. The groups also did not differ in the N100m latency increase and MGFP decrease, except for one parameter. The right-hemispheric MGFP decrease from the first to second block was found to be more pronounced in patients compared to controls. However, this difference was related to medication with clozapine. Overall, the habituation behaviour of the N100m seems to be undisturbed in schizophrenic patients.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Influence of gender and hemispheric lateralization on heat pain perception in major depression.

Increased incidence of clinical pain complaints from patients with major depression, as well as increased experimental pain thresholds have been reported. The basis of this phenomenon remains unclear, as well as its relation to medication, clinical recovery, gender and lateralization of hemispheric function. We aimed to further elucidate heat pain perception in depression applying a testing battery including assessment (on both arms) of warmth perception, heat pain perception and heat pain tolerance, and the jaw opening reflex (duration of ES2 component) as a putative indicator of descending pain inhibition. The battery was applied to 20 patients and 20 age- and sex-matched controls. Patients were assessed: on admission (acutely depressed, off-medication), few days after admission (depressed, on medication), and after clinical recovery (mostly on medication), and controls at corresponding intervals. Significant elevated heat pain thresholds were found off and on medication in the acute stage (mainly in women) and after recovery on the right arm only. Elevated heat pain tolerance (on the right arm only) was seen in medicated patients in the acute and recovered stage. Significant prolongation of ES2 duration was only found in acutely depressed patients off medication. While confirming hypalgesia to heat pain in major depression, our findings demonstrate a close relation to gender and strong influence of lateralization after recovery. Altered pain processing at brain stem level might only partially be responsible for the observed finding.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Pentosidine and N(epsilon)-(carboxymethyl)-lysine in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.

Increasing evidence suggests an interaction of oxidative stress and the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGE) in the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease. We studied levels of pentosidine and N(epsilon)-(carboxymethyl)-lysine (CML) in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 15 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), 20 patients with vascular dementia (VD), and 31 control subjects (14 matched for age, and 17 younger patients). AGE protein concentrations in CSF did not differ within controls when divided into two subgroups by age. We found significantly elevated levels of CML in CSF of AD patients and of pentosidine in CSF of patients suffering from vascular dementia when compared to controls. The concentrations of pentosidine and CML in serum apparently did not relate directly to CSF values, suggesting influence of extra-cerebral factors in serum samples. It is concluded that AGE proteins are differentially affected in these types of dementia, depending on the specific neuropathology. Furthermore, measurements of AGE products in vivo should rely on CSF rather than blood samples.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cerebral changes and cerebrospinal fluid beta-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease: a study with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging.

Pathological and biochemical studies indicate that beta-amyloid (betaA4) deposition is a hallmark in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neuroimaging studies demonstrate that the respective cerebral changes primarily strike the temporal lobe and the amygdala-hippocampus complex and may be reliably assessed using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Therefore one may expect that reduced betaA4-levels are significantly correlated with measures of the temporal lobe rather than global cerebral atrophy in AD patients. To test this hypothesis in a clinical study, cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of total betaA4 and its major C-terminal variations betaA4 1-40 and betaA4 1-42 were compared with cerebral changes as assessed by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Significantly (P< 0.05) reduced betaA4 1-40 and betaA4 1-42 levels were found in the AD patients (17 female; six male; AD/NINCDS-ADRDA-criteria) in comparison to the patients with major depression (seven female; two male; DSM-III-R). Within the AD group, betaA4 and betaA4 1-42 levels were significantly correlated with the volume of the temporal lobes (r= 0.46 and r= 0.48, respectively) but none of the other volumetric measures. These findings indicate that changes in cerebral betaA4 levels contribute to temporal lobe atrophy in AD and support the possibility that betaA4 is central to the etiology of AD.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of hibernation or cryopreservation on the survival and integration of striatal grafts placed in the ibotenate-lesioned rat caudate-putamen.

Tissue storage prior to intracerebral transplantation would represent a major advantage when conducting clinical transplantation trials in that the procurement of the embryonic donor tissue and the timing of neurosurgery could be planned more efficiently. In the present study, the effects of storing rat embryonic striatal tissue at either +4 degrees C or below freezing temperature prior to grafting to the adult striatum, were assessed with regard to transplant survival, morphology and integration. Eleven days following a unilateral injection of ibotenic acid into the head of the caudate-putamen, a control group of rats received grafts of striatal primordium prepared immediately after dissection from rat embryos (embryonic day 16). A second group of rat embryonic striatal tissue was stored at 4 degrees C (hibernation) for 5 days and then transplanted. A third group of the striatal donor tissue was cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen for 5 days before implantation surgery. Six to seven weeks following transplantation surgery, the grafts were analysed in brain sections processed for acetylcholinesterase histochemistry, DARPP-32 (dopamine and cyclic AMP regulated phosphoprotein with a molecular weight of 32 kDa) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunocytochemistry. The mean total graft volume and the relative size of the AChE-positive regions were not significantly different between the three groups. Striatal-specific graft regions, positively stained for AChE and DARPP-32, generally exhibited TH immunoreactivity, suggesting that they had received dopaminergic afferents from the host brain. We conclude that embryonic rat striatal tissue can be cryopreserved or hibernated over 5 days without significant impairment in the yield of striatal neurons following intrastriatal implantation and without markedly affecting transplant morphology.

Acetylcholinesterase↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Partial nephrectomy in well-responding stage I Wilms' tumors: report of three cases.

We report on 3 of 21 stage I Wilms' tumor patients with tumor volumes of 190, 890, and 1300 mL, respectively, who responded dramatically to preoperative chemotherapy according to the Austrian/Hungarian Wilms' Tumor Study 89 by tumor volume reductions to 20%, 23%, and 13%, respectively. Radical resection of the tumors with renal preservation was achieved in all patients. Postoperative studies did not show any functional deficit in the preserved kidney. The patients have been in complete remission for 26, 33, and 60 months, respectively. Our preliminary results indicate that tumor resection should be feasible in patients with good responding stage I Wilms' tumors.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Combined treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) by high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and bispecific antibodies: a pilot study.

UNLABELLED: This pilot study analyzed the efficacy and toxicity of high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT), autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) and subsequent immunotherapy with T-cell reinfusion and trifunctional antibodies (trAbs) in chemotherapy-sensitive patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: After leukapheresis and cryopreservation of T-cells, patients received 2 cycles of induction chemotherapy ET (epirubicin/paclitaxel) and 1 cycle of El (epirubicin/ifosfamide), followed by G-CSF and stem-cell harvest. After a final cycle of ET, responders (CR/PR) underwent HDCT (thiotepa 600 mg/m2/melphalan 140-180 mg/m2) and ASCT. Once reconstitution was achieved, T-cells were reinfused, followed by application of trifunctional antibodies with specificities anti-EpCAM X anti-CD3 and anti-Her2/neu X anti-CD3. RESULTS: Thirty-three patients were recruited into the study and 19, who had responded to initial chemotherapy, underwent HDCT and ASCT (4 CR, 15 PR, OR = 57.6%; 95% CI: 40-75%). Two early deaths were observed (1 toxic, 1 early progression). T-cell reinfusion and trAbs were given to 17 patients. TrAbs treatment resulted in intermittent fever, chills and elevated liver enzymes, which were seen in all patients. The median overall survival was 27.7 months (range: 5.9-82.6+). Patients who received 3 trAbs doses showed a trend towards an improved overall survival (47.2 vs. 22.4 months, p = 0.08 log rank). CONCLUSION: This pilot study has shown the feasibility of combining HDCT with immunotherapy in MBC. Further investigation of this approach is indicated.

Adult↗