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Biomedical subjects

K Penttinen

Publications and source records attributed to K Penttinen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

EPO, red cells, and serum transferrin receptor in continuous and intermittent hypoxia.

PURPOSE: Erythropoietic response in 10 healthy nonsmoking volunteers exposed to normobaric hypoxia continuously or intermittently 12 h daily for 7 d was evaluated in a randomized cross-over study. METHODS: An oxygen content of 15.4% corresponding to an altitude of 2500 m was created by adding nitrogen into room air in a flat. Venous blood samples for hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), reticulocytes, serum erythropoietin (S-EPO), red cell 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG), serum ferritin (S-Ferrit), and serum soluble transferrin receptor (S-TransfR) were drawn at 8:00 a.m. RESULTS: S-EPO was increased from baseline values of 22.9+/-9.6 and 20.5+/-10.1 U x L(-1) to 40.7+/-12.9 (P < 0.05) and 35+/-14.3 U x L(-1) (P < 0.05) after the first night in continuous and intermittent hypoxia, respectively, and remained elevated throughout both exposures. Hb and Hct values did not show any significant changes. Red cell 2,3-DPG rose from baseline a value of 5.0+/-0.8 to 5.9+/-0.7 mmol x L(-1) (P < 0.05) after the first day in continuous hypoxia and from 5.2+/-0.7 mmol x L(-1) to 6.1+/-0.5 mmol x L(-1) on day 3 (P < 0.05) during intermittent hypoxia. The reticulocyte count rose significantly (P < 0.05) after 5 d in both experiments. S-transferrin receptor level rose significantly from 2.2+/-0.4 and 2.1+/-0.5 mg x L(-1) to 2.6+/-0.5 mg x L(-1) and 2.3+/-0.6 mg x L(-1) on day 5 (P < 0.05), to 2.7+/-0.5 mg x L(-1) and 2.5+/-0.6 mg x L(-1) on day 7 (P < 0.05) under continuous and intermittent hypoxia, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that intermittent exposure to moderate normobaric hypoxia 12 h daily for 1 wk induces a similar stimulation of erythropoiesis as continuous exposure.

Adult↗

Rapid effect on endemic measles, mumps, and rubella of nationwide vaccination programme in Finland.

An immunisation programme to eliminate measles, mumps, and rubella from Finland within 10 years was started in November, 1982. A combined live vaccine is being given twice, at the ages of 14-18 months and 6 years, but at the beginning of the project children between these age limits are also being immunised. Because vaccinations are traditionally done by the public health nurses, special attention was paid to their motivation. 2.5 years after the launch of the project, 80.9% of the target children had been vaccinated. The incidence of measles has fallen by 93% and that of mumps by 87% compared with a normal prevaccination year (1982). A similar fall in incidence was seen for rubella, but only in the vaccinated age groups. Although elimination of measles, mumps, and rubella is not likely to be achieved with the present vaccination coverage, a drastic fall in the incidence of all three target diseases has occurred already. Every effort is being made to improve the coverage and thus to achieve the ultimate goal of the project.

Adolescent↗

Vaccination of children during treatment for leukemia.

Forty-one children receiving maintenance treatment for leukemia were vaccinated with inactivated mumps virus, meningococcal polysaccharide groups A and C and polyvalent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines. Antibodies against pneumococcal types 3, 18C, 19F and 23F and against meningococcal groups A and C were measured by radioimmunoassay. Mumps antibodies were determined by complement fixation, hemolysis-in-gel and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The antibody responses tended to be lower than those of healthy age-matched controls. The individual responses were unpredictable; the magnitude of the response correlated neither with the age nor sex of the patient, duration of the chemotherapy nor with the prevaccination antibody concentration. Nevertheless, most patients achieved and even exceeded the geometric mean of the antibody concentrations of the healthy children, considered protective against infection.

Acute Disease↗

Elevated serum immune complex levels in Pogosta disease, an acute alphavirus infection with rash and arthritis.

Circulating immune complexes (CIC) were studied in Pogosta disease, an acute alphavirus infection with fever, rash and arthritis. The disease is caused by a virus antigenically closely related to Sindbis virus. 75 serum specimens from 25 patients with serologically verified infection were obtained from 1-87 days after the onset. Six different CIC detection methods were used and CICs were observed in all patients at least with one test. Tests based on CIC binding onto human platelets followed the natural course of the disease and maximal values were observed between 10-15 days after onset. Slightly elevated levels were observed 2-3 months after onset. The mean conglutinin binding test values were slightly elevated during the whole follow-up period. The severity of arthritis did not directly correlate to CIC levels. C3c and C1q-binding test were positive only in a few cases. Latex and enzyme immunoassay tests for rheumatoid factors gave low positive values in some of the sera. Agarose gel electrophoresis of serum proteins revealed non-specific changes in alpha 1-alpha 2 interzone characteristic of an acute infectious disease. The presence of CIC in the sera of patients with Pogosta disease may indicate body's natural clearange mechanisms of viral antigens. CIC may have a pathogenic role in the prolonged arthritis, even though no direct correlation with CIC levels and severity of arthritis was observed.

Acute Disease↗

Age-specific prevalence of complement-fixing antibodies to sixteen viral antigens: a computer analysis of 58,500 patients covering a period of eight years.

The age-specific prevalence of CF antibodies against 16 viral antigens was determined by using the computerized data registry of the routine diagnostic laboratory of the authors' department. The material consisted of data based on serum specimens from about 58,500 patients. All ages from newborn infants to 90-year-olds were represented. The sera had been collected and tested with a CF screening test over a period of 8 years (1971-1978). Several different antibody prevalence patterns were distinguished in regard to the rapidity and timing of the initial increase of the prevalence, as well as to the mode of later changes in prevalence. For most respiratory viruses a rapid increase of the prevalence was seen through the childhood continuing, for some of them, up to the 30s (influenza A and coronavirus), while rather variable patterns were found in the older age groups. Herpes simplex and cytomegaloviruses showed, interestingly, another type of pattern: a slow increase of prevalence continuing through the whole age range. The frequency of herpes simplex antibodies reached 90% by the age of 80 years. Antibody levels against any antigen in infants less than one-month-old were equal to those in 20- to 40-year-old adults, and the expected rapid decrease of antibodies took place within the first 6 months of life. Possible influences of epidemics and repeated exposures to different viruses (external boosting), and of latent or chronic infections (internal boosting), as well as of technical variations, on the observed prevalence patterns are discussed.

Adenoviruses, Human↗

Immune responses to live attenuated and inactivated mumps virus vaccines in seronegative and seropositive young adult males.

Live attenuated mumps virus vaccine and Formalin-inactivated mumps vaccine were compared for their ability to induce antibody responses and cell-mediated immune responses as measured by a lymphocyte blast transformation test (LBT). The subjects studied were conscripts of the Finnish Defense Forces. In seronegative subjects antibody levels induced by attenuated virus were more variable than those induced by inactivated virus, including one failure with the live vaccine out of a total of nine subjects. IgM antibody class response was seen only in four of nine subjects vaccinated with live virus--in those subjects with the highest post-vaccination antibody levels and strongest LBT responses. Increases of antibody levels in originally seropositive subjects were higher in subjects vaccinated with inactivated virus. Cell-mediated immunity induced by both vaccines was relatively poor when measured by the LBT test. At a time of 6-8 months after vaccination, LBT responses in originally seronegative subjects were not observed.

Adult↗

Antibody responses to mumps virus proteins in natural mumps infection and after vaccination with live and inactivated mumps virus vaccines.

Paired sera from 20 patients with acute mumps infection, 16 from persons vaccinated with live attenuated mumps virus vaccine, and 12 from persons vaccinated with formalin-inactivated virus vaccine were studied for mumps antibodies by single radial hemolysis (SRH), hemagglutination inhibition (HI), and by enzyme immunoassays (EIA) specific for whole virus, envelope glycoprotein, and nucleocapsid antibodies. Mumps patients had diagnostic rises in serum mumps antibodies in 90-100% of the cases depending on the method of assay. Vaccination resulted in seroconversion in 75-88% (live vaccine) and in 92% (inactivated vaccine) of the cases as detected by SRH or EIAs, whereas HI detected seroconversion only in 38% and 58% of the cases, respectively. Immunoprecipitation analyses revealed that all sera from mumps patients and nearly all postvaccination sera had antibodies against the main structural proteins of mumps virus. By immunoblotting, antibodies against denatured hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and fusion protein (F) were detected in 15-25% of mumps patients and persons vaccinated with live vaccine, whereas most postvaccination sera from those vaccinated with inactivated vaccine had HN (92%) and F (83%) protein antibodies, suggesting that antibodies against the denatured form of proteins are formed.

Antibodies, Viral↗

Clinical correlates of circulating immune complexes in patients with recent yersiniosis.

Circulating immune complexes (CICs) and rheumatoid factor were studied in 31 patients with serologically confirmed yersiniosis (12 in a pilot series and 19 in a prospective series). Yersiniosis is an intestinal infection complicated occasionally by extraintestinal symptoms such as aseptic arthritis. Four tests representing three main principles (affinity of human platelets and of C1q for complexed IgG and of conglutinin for C3) were used for the detection of CICs, which were found in all patients. Fifty-five of 62 specimens of serum from the prospective series of 19 patients reacted positively in at least one test. The conglutinin-binding assay and the platelet-125I-labeled staphylococcal protein A test gave positive results most frequently (74% and 84% of the time). Mean levels of CICs were significantly higher in patients with prolonged gastroenteritis than in those with histocompatibility leukocyte antigen B27-positive arthritis. During follow-up, the mean level of CICs (as measured by the platelet-protein A test) decreased significantly in patients with arthritis, while CICs and rheumatoid factor persisted in patients with prolonged gastroenteritis.

Adult↗

Porcine C1q and the solid-phase immunoassay of human immune complexes.

Experiments were undertaken to determine if porcine C1q could replace human C1q in the solid-phase immunoassay of human immune complexes (ICs). Porcine C1q was obtained by a two-cycle precipitation method involving dialysis against chelating agents in low ionic strength buffer. C1q was adsorbed to polystyrene beads and in vivo- or in vitro-formed ICs binding to the solid-phase C1q were detected with 125I-labeled or horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-human gamma antibodies. Unfractionated, heat-aggregated human gamma globulin (delta IgG) could be detected at 20 ng/ml when diluted in buffer only. The detection threshold changed to 40-80 ng delta IgG/ml when the assay was run with buffer containing normal human serum diluted 1: 1000 (the serum dilution used for detecting natural ICs). Analysis of systemic lupus erythematosus sera revealed that 60% contained highly significant levels of ICs (binding greater than or equal to 3 S.D. above the mean of controls). Comparison with platelet aggregation test results revealed a highly significant correlation between the two methods (P less than 0.0001), even though each assay detected ICs in several serum specimens negative in the other test. These results demonstrate that porcine C1q can functionally replace human C1q in the solid-phase immunoassay of human ICs. Since porcine blood is normally a waste product of the meat-processing industry, it is an obvious source of easily isolated C1q for use in such an assay.

Animals↗

Mumps-specific immunoglobulin M and G antibodies in natural mumps infection as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the demonstration of mumps immunoglobulin G (IgG ELISA) and immunoglobulin M antibodies (IgM ELISA) in serum was compared with complement fixation (CF), hemagglutination inhibition (HI), and hemolysis-in-gel (HIG) tests. The antibody levels measured by IgG ELISA had a high positive correlation with the CF and HIG tests, whereas only a moderate correlation was found between IgG ELISA and HI. Similar patterns of antibody response were observed with IgG ELISA, CF, and HIG: the antibody tires increased rapidly after the onset of symptoms and reached the maximal values in about three weeks. The HI antibodies developed more slowly during the first week of disease, after which the titres increased rapidly up to the fourth week. IgM antibodies measured by ELISA developed soon after onset of symptoms; most patients had IgM antibodies from the second day, and the highest titres were reached within the first week. The antibody response in mumps parotitis did not differ from that in mumps meningitis/encephalitis, while relatively higher antibody titres were found in patients with orchitis/epididymitis. The diagnostic efficiencies of the methods were compared with serum specimens from 33 patients who had a serologically verified mumps infection by at least one of the five methods used (rising antibody titres in paired sera or detectable IgM): IgM ELISA detected all 33 cases, IgG ELISA 29, HIG 28, HI 23, and CF 13. In 27 cases, IgM antibodies were already present in the acute phase serum specimens. It was concluded that mumps IgM ELISA is a more rapid and sensitive means for the serological diagnosis of mumps infection than the conventional tests.

Antibodies, Viral↗

Local production of mumps IgG and IgM antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid of meningitis patients.

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and M (IgM) antibodies against mumps virus were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens of patients with mumps meningitis. The CSF IgG antibodies correlated well with the respective antibody titers in serum. On the contrary, in only about half of the patients a moderate correlation was found between the CSF and serum IgM antibody titers, while the other patients did not have detectable mumps IgM antibodies in CSF irrespective of intermediate to high titers in serum. Two different immunologic mechanisms may be involved in these two groups which, however, did not show any clinical differences. The lack of IgM antibodies in the CSF of many patients diminished the value of CSF in the laboratory diagnosis of mumps meningitis compared to use of serum specimens. Intrathecal synthesis of mumps IgG antibodies was demonstrated in 83% of the patients, and of IgM antibodies in at least 67% of those patients with detectable IgM antibodies in CSF. The ratio between mumps IgG and IgM antibodies was higher in CSF than in serum, suggesting that the synthesis of IgG antibodies in central nervous system was more efficient than that of IgM antibodies.

Antibodies, Viral↗