Melricflash/CW_MedAbstractsAlt huggingface dataset:
The human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor is a target antigen for liver-infiltrating T cells in autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis. Autoantibodies to the human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor have been found in nearly 50% of the sera of patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and in 15% of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. In this study we demonstrate that the human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor is also a target antigen for T cell-mediated immune responses. Peripheral blood lymphocytes of 37% (7 of 19) of patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and 33% (2 of 6) of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis showed a proliferative response to highly purified human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor, whereas no proliferation was found with peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with chronic viral hepatitis (0 of 13) and healthy blood donors (0 of 4). Moreover, we isolated T-cell clones from liver biopsy samples of two patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and two patients with peripheral blood lymphocytes. Between 2.8% and 14.3% of these clones showed a specific proliferative response to purified human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor. The response was restricted to autologous antigen-presenting cells and could be blocked by monoclonal antibodies against human leukocyte antigen-DR molecules. The response of T cells to the human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor did not require the lectinlike activity of the asialoglycoprotein receptor. Thus the human hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor could be identified as a major target antigen of humoral and cellular immune reactions in autoimmune-mediated liver diseases. 

Category: digestive system diseases
Protection from chemotherapy-induced alopecia in a rat model. Alopecia (hair loss) is among the most distressing side effects of cancer chemotherapy. Little progress has been made, however, in its prevention or treatment, partly because of the lack of suitable experimental model. In recent work on the treatment of myelogenous leukemia in the rat, the following observations were made: (i) treatment of 8-day-old rats with cytosine arabinoside consistently produced alopecia, and (ii) ImuVert, a biologic response modifier derived from the bacterium Serratia marcescens, uniformly produced complete protection against the alopecia. In subsequent experiments, both cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin also produced alopecia in this model, and the doxorubicin-induced alopecia was prevented by treatment with ImuVert. The potential relevance of these observations to chemotherapy-induced alopecia in the clinical setting should be examined. 

Category: neoplasms
Histopathology and immunohistochemistry of the caecum in children with the Trichuris dysentery syndrome. Caecal biopsy specimens from Jamaican children with the Trichuris dysentery syndrome (TDS) and age matched Jamaican controls were investigated by immunohistochemistry and by light microscopy. Biopsy specimens from all children (with TDS and controls) showed a mild to moderate increase in inflammatory cells. Except in the vicinity of the worm, where the epithelium was flattened, there was no other epithelial abnormality. Compared with controls, children with TDS had increased IgM lamina propria plasma cells and decreased intraepithelial T cells. There was also an increase in crypt epithelial cell proliferation. Lamina propria T cells (both activated and non-activated) were no more common in children with the Trichuris syndrome than controls. Epithelial cell HLA-DR and VLA-1 expression (which are increased in other colitides) were the same in both groups. Despite the presence of large worm burdens and chronic dysentery, therefore, only minor changes were seen in the caecal mucosa of children with TDS. 

Category: general pathological conditions
Modification of stroke susceptibility by genotype-dependent maternal influences. The influence of the prenatal and postnatal maternal environment on stroke susceptibility was evaluated by reciprocally crossing the spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and the Dahl salt-sensitive (SS/Jr) inbred rat strains to produce reciprocal F1 hybrids that were nurtured, respectively, during prenatal and postnatal life by SHR or SS/Jr mothers. Following placement on a high-salt diet containing 8% NaCl at 35 days of age, F1 rats reared by SHR mothers had shorter survival times and were more likely to die with cerebral hemorrhage than F1s reared by SS/Jrs. Across reciprocal F1 female groups, enhanced susceptibility to stroke was associated with greater elevations of systolic blood pressure, but this association was not seen across reciprocal F1 male groups. There was also an association between blood pressure and stroke within each F1/gender subgroup: Rats eventually suffering strokes developed higher blood pressure after placement on the high-salt diet than rats that did not suffer stroke. Lower day 35 body weights (before exposure to the high-salt diet) were associated with greater likelihood of stroke both across the reciprocal F1 groups, and within three of the four F1/gender subgroups. The differences in stroke susceptibility between the reciprocal F1 groupings may be due to systematic differences in the prenatal and/or postnatal environments of SHR and SS/Jr mothers and may be mediated by variations in the nutritive capacity of the two inbred mothers. 

Category: general pathological conditions
Initial results with slightly modified Kock pouch. My initial experience with 20 patients undergoing Kock pouch continent urinary diversion is reviewed. The procedure has been slightly modified from that described by Kock and Skinner. All patients have been followed for at least four months (median, 33 months). There have been no early complications related to the pouch. The most significant problem, incontinence, has occurred in 2 patients (10%) at three and four months, respectively, after surgery. Only 1 of these patients required temporary use of an external appliance. Leakage was due, in both cases, to a patulous efferent nipple valve. Both were repaired by plication of the nipple, and no new efferent limbs were constructed. In 1 patient (5%) prolapse of the afferent limb associated with reflux and pyelonephritis developed one year post-surgery. Stones have developed in 3 patients (15%). All patients are currently continent and stone-free, and all are pleased with the result. 

Category: neoplasms
Genetic traits related to hypertension and electrolyte metabolism. The genetic and cultural heritability and intercorrelation of traits related to hypertension have been carried out in 98 Utah pedigrees (2,500 person) and 58 sibships with two or more hypertensive persons (131 hypertensive persons). Although none of these traits has been established as a marker for "sodium-sensitive hypertension," many of them are related at least indirectly to both electrolyte metabolism and risk of hypertension. Significant recessive monogenic effects and high total heritability (52-84%) were found for urinary kallikrein, high fat pattern index, intraerythrocytic sodium, Na-Li countertransport, and ouabain binding sites. Familial correlations more strongly attributable to shared environment than to genetic effects were found for Na,K-ATPase pump activity, intraerythrocytic magnesium, plasma digoxin-like factor, plasma renin activity, and plasma sodium concentration. All anthropometric variables tested showed highly significant genetic heritability with low and insignificant shared family environmental effects. Several of the genetically determined cellular cation tests also correlated with other genetic traits including plasma lipids, anthropometric measurements, and other cellular cation tests. Among hypertensive individuals with familial dyslipidemic hypertension, plasma insulin levels correlated with obesity and lipid abnormalities and with several cellular cation flux tests associated with hypertension. 

Category: cardiovascular diseases
Electrotonic influences on action potentials from isolated ventricular cells. This work combines a theoretical study of electrical interactions between two excitable heart cells, using a variable coupling resistance, with experimental studies on isolated rabbit ventricular cells coupled with a variable coupling resistance to a passive resistance and capacitance circuit. The theoretical results show that the response of an isolated cell to an increased frequency of stimulation is strongly altered by the presence of a coupling resistance to another cell. As the coupling resistance gradually is decreased, the stimulated cell becomes able to respond successfully to more rapid stimulation, and then, at levels of coupling resistance that allow conduction between the two cells, the coupled pair of cells exhibits arrhythmic interactions not predicted by the intrinsic properties of either cell. The experimental results show that the isolated rabbit ventricular cell is extremely sensitive to even a very small electrical load, with shortening of the action potential by 50% with electrical coupling to a model cell (of similar input resistance and capacitance to the ventricular cell) as high as 1,000 M omega, even though the action potential amplitude and current threshold are very insensitive to the electrical load. 

Category: general pathological conditions
Amelioration of cholinergic-induced pancreatitis with a selective cholecystokinin receptor antagonist. Acute edematous pancreatitis follows excessive cholinergic stimulation in patients exposed to anticholinesterase-containing insecticides. We describe the role of cholecystokinin and the benefits of cholecystokinin receptor blockade in this form of pancreatitis. A cholinergic mimetic (carbachol) was administered to rats weighing 300 to 350 g and produced a form of edematous pancreatitis that mimics that seen in humans. Animals received carbachol intraperitoneally, either alone (250 micrograms/kg of body weight) or with cholecystokinin-receptor antagonist devazepide (3 mg/kg of body weight) and were killed 4 hours later. Carbachol administration resulted in a 19% increase in pancreatic weight, a fourfold increase in serum amylase levels, and a 14-fold increase in serum lipase levels. Plasma cholecystokinin levels, however, were not altered. Devazepide administered prior to cholinergic hyperstimulation blocked pancreatic weight increase and reduced elevations in serum amylase levels twofold and lipase levels fourfold. Although cholecystokinin levels are not elevated in this model of pancreatitis, blockade of even low, background concentrations of this regulatory peptide is beneficial. 

Category: general pathological conditions
Infectious mononucleosis presenting as bilateral acute dacryocystitis. A case of infectious mononucleosis presenting as bilateral acute dacryocystitis in a 7-year-old girl is reported. Acute dacryocystitis is uncommon in this age group, and an underlying systemic illness should be suspected particularly when it is bilateral. 

Category: general pathological conditions
Dosage of haloperidol for schizophrenia. Eighty-seven newly admitted inpatients with schizophrenia were randomized to receive 10, 30, or 80 mg/d of oral haloperidol. They were treated under double-blind conditions for 6 weeks, less if their acute symptoms remitted sooner. Survival analysis showed no differences among the three treatments. Side effects were minimal in all three treatment groups, and there were no differences in side effects among the groups. These results suggest that dosages higher than 10 mg/d of haloperidol for most patients have no additional beneficial effect in the treatment of acute or exacerbated schizophrenia. 

Category: general pathological conditions
Ulcerative colitis disease activity as subjectively assessed by patient-completed questionnaires following orthotopic liver transplantation for sclerosing cholangitis. To assess whether or not liver transplantation and subsequent immunosuppression with cyclosporine and prednisone affect ulcerative colitis symptomatology, we surveyed by questionnaire all 23 surviving patients with pretransplant colonoscopy-documented ulcerative colitis who were transplanted for primary sclerosing cholangitis between June 1982 and September 1985. At follow-up [89.8 +/- 7.6 weeks (mean +/- SEM], all six patients who had had asymptomatic colonoscopy-documented ulcerative colitis reported continued ulcerative colitis quiescence. Among the 17 patients who had had symptomatic colonoscopy-documented ulcerative colitis at time of liver transplantation, 88.2% reported improvement in overall ulcerative colitis severity (P less than 0.001), with significant improvement in the frequency of bowel movements reported by 100%, in crampy abdominal pain by 87.5%, in bowel urgency by 75%, in the occurrence of pus or mucus in stool by 87.5%, in the incidence of ulcerative colitis flares by 81.8%, and in the number of days unable to function normally due to ulcerative colitis symptoms by 78.6% (all at least P less than 0.01). These data demonstrate that ulcerative colitis symptom severity significantly improves following liver transplantation with immunosuppression with cyclosporine and prednisone. 

Category: digestive system diseases
Spinal cord arteriovenous malformation with an associated lymphatic anomaly. Case report. Spinal cord arteriovenous malformations (AVM's), like other vascular anomalies of the central nervous system, can be associated with similar vascular lesions of the skin and viscera. A 7-year-old girl, who presented with rapidly progressing paraplegia, was found to have a spinal cord AVM, cutaneous angioma, and a chylous malformation of the lymphatic system. She had previously undergone treatment for a posterior thoracic cutaneous angioma. At surgery, upon incision of the paravertebral muscle fascia, viscous pale fluid was encountered emanating from a foramen in the thoracic lamina. The spinal AVM was resected in spite of concern that the abnormality represented spinal osteomyelitis. Postoperatively, there was full return of function in the lower extremities, along with recurrent episodes of chylothorax, which slowly came under control with dietary manipulation. A review of the anatomy of the thoracic duct and nontraumatic causes of chylothorax is presented, and the association of cutaneous and central angiomas is discussed. Finally, the treatment of chylothorax is delineated. 

Category: cardiovascular diseases
Spinal hemangioblastoma, syrinx, and hydrocephalus in a two-year-old child. A two-year-old child presented with an acute inability to bear weight. Radiological investigation revealed a large cervicothoracolumbar syrinx of no known cause. During investigation, acute communicating hydrocephalus developed, which required a shunt. At surgery, a small thoracic spinal cord hemangioblastoma was discovered and excised. Complete recovery with collapse of the syrinx followed. The clinical features of this rare childhood tumor and its associated effects are discussed. 

Category: nervous system diseases
Circumflex artery ventricular fistula and pseudoaneurysm after mitral reoperation. Prosthetic mitral valve reoperation complicated by atrioventricular groove pseudoaneurysm and circumflex ventricular fistula is presented. Ligation of the circumflex artery during mitral valve replacement is implicated after review of a previous cardiac angiogram. 

Category: general pathological conditions
Late deaths after treatment for childhood cancer. An investigation of 749 deaths occurring among 4082 patients surviving at least five years after the diagnosis of childhood cancer in Britain before 1971 has been undertaken. Of the 738 with sufficient information the numbers of deaths attributable to the following causes were: recurrent tumour, 550 (74%), a second primary tumour, 61 (8%), a medical condition related to treatment of the tumour, 49 (7%), an traumatic death unrelated to the tumour or its treatment, 34 (5%), finally, any other cause unrelated to the tumour or its treatment, 44 (6%). Less than 10% of five year survivors of non-Hodgkin lymphomas, neuroblastoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms' tumour, or a soft tissue sarcoma died of recurrent tumour during the next 15 years, while more than 25% of five year survivors of Hodgkin's disease, ependymoma, medulloblastoma, and Ewing's tumour died of recurrent tumour during the corresponding period. Almost 50% of five year survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia died of recurrent disease during the corresponding 15 years, a large proportion of deaths being due to central nervous system relapse in an era before central nervous system prophylaxis was routinely given. Comparison of the mortality observed with that expected from mortality rates in the general population indicated three times the expected number of deaths from non-neoplastic causes. Five times the expected number of deaths from cardiovascular causes were observed, these were predominantly myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accidents. There was no evidence of an excess in the number of suicides observed, but there were three times the expected number of deaths from accidents observed after central nervous system tumours. 

Category: cardiovascular diseases
Maternal outcome after open fetal surgery. A review of the first 17 human cases. A few fetal diseases may benefit from surgical treatment before birth, but hysterotomy and subsequent delivery by cesarean section pose a risk to the otherwise unaffected mother. To assess maternal risk of mortality, morbidity, and reproductive potential after fetal surgery, we reviewed our experience with 17 highly selected women who underwent fetal surgery. Fifteen of these procedures were performed for one of two congenital anomalies: severe bilateral hydronephrosis and congenital diaphragmatic hernia. There were no deaths or serious maternal injuries. In the 14 women who continued pregnancy after hysterotomy, uterine irritability and preterm labor were frequent complications, requiring early confinement in most cases. There has been no detectable effect on future fertility, as indicated by eight subsequent normal pregnancies. We conclude that hysterotomy for fetal surgery can be accomplished without unduly endangering the mother's life or her future reproductive potential. However, morbidity related to premature labor remains a serious problem, and our ability to control uterine contractions after hysterotomy remains the limiting factor in human fetal surgery. 

Category: general pathological conditions
Intestinal cryptosporidiosis: pathophysiologic alterations and specific cellular and humoral immune responses in rnu/+ and rnu/rnu (athymic) rats. In order to develop an experimental model of symptomatic cryptosporidiosis in an immunosuppressed mammal, we investigated the pathophysiology of infection with Cryptosporidium and the humoral and cellular host responses in rnu/rnu (athymic) rats and their heterozygous (rnu/+) littermates by challenging suckling rats with greater than or equal to 2.5 x 10(6) Cryptosporidium oocytes oro-gastrically. Normal and immunodeficient animals were followed for onset and duration of infection (fecal oocysts), physiologic consequences (diarrhea, impaired weight gain, brush-border enzyme activities), and immunologic response (both B- and T-lymphocyte-mediated). Homozygosity for the rnu gene was associated with protracted cryptosporidial infections; shedding for up to 52 days occurred, and delay in weight gain was noted in rnu/rnu-infected compared with rnu/rnu-uninfected rats (p less than 0.05). In contrast, cryptosporidial challenge of rnu/+ rats resulted in self-resolving infections, occasionally with transient diarrhea lasting four days or less occurring 10-15 days after oro-gastric challenge. The latter animals mounted a cell-mediated immune response to Cryptosporidium: three months after challenge, five of five rnu/+ rats demonstrated positive skin test responses to a subcutaneous 3.5 micrograms dose of cryptosporidial antigen. Further, sera from 6 rnu/+ rats taken two to three months after oro-gastric oocyst challenge exhibited specific anticryptosporidial immunoglobulin binding (A405 = 0.96), compared to that of seven uninfected rnu/+ controls (A405 = 0.09, P less than 0.02). Macromolecules of 150, 105, and 88 kD in the Cryptosporidium antigen preparation were bound by serum immunoglobulin from previously infected, recovered rnu/+ rats. Two brush-border enzymes (lactase and alkaline phosphatase) were markedly reduced in the ileum 8-10 days after oro-gastric challenge in rats with diarrhea and oocyst shedding. We find the rnu/rnu (athymic, nude) rat provides a useful model for study of prolonged cryptosporidial infection with impaired weight loss, brush-border enzyme alteration and intermittent diarrhea. These studies further suggest that a T-lymphocyte population is involved in recovery from Cryptosporidium infection and that this recovery is associated with both cellular and humoral immune responses to specific cryptosporidial antigenic macromolecules. This model should open further avenues for the study of the pathogenesis and protective immunity in cryptosporidial infection. 

Category: digestive system diseases
DMPO and reperfusion injury: arrhythmia, heart function, electron spin resonance, and nuclear magnetic resonance studies in isolated working guinea pig hearts. With the use of isolated working guinea pig hearts with normothermic global ischemia, it was shown that 5,5-dimethyl-pirroline-N-oxide (DMPO), an organic spin trap agent designed specifically to form stable adducts with oxygen free radicals in electron spin resonance studies, can dramatically reduce the vulnerability of the heart to reperfusion-induced arrhythmias. Studied in concentrations ranging from 10 to 500 mumol/L, DMPO exerted a dose-dependent protective effect. Thus, after 30 minutes of global ischemia, the incidence of ventricular fibrillation (total) and tachycardia was reduced from control values of 100% and 100% to 100% and 100%, 91% and 100%, 25% (p less than 0.001) and 50% (p less than 0.05), and 25% (p less than 0.001) and 41% (p less than 0.05), respectively, with DMPO concentrations of 10, 30, 100, and 500 mumol/L. Maximum signals of DMPO-OH adduct, with the use of electron spin resonance studies, were observed after 3 minutes of reperfusion in fibrillated hearts but were not detected in nonfibrillated hearts. Results of nuclear magnetic resonance studies of myocardial adenosine triphosphate, creatine phosphate, pH, and inorganic phosphate showed that these parameters were not significantly changed by treatment with DMPO, and consequently myocardial heart function was not improved, although there was a dissociation between myocardial adenosine triphosphate content and left ventricular developed pressure during reperfusion. The data presented here indicate that oxygen free radicals play an important role in the development of reperfusion-induced arrhythmias but trapping these cytotoxic free radicals does not improve the recovery of postischemic heart function and high-energy phosphate contents in isolated working guinea pig hearts. 

Category: general pathological conditions
Tissue-expanded radial forearm free flap in neck burn contracture. Neck contracture after burn injury can result in severe functional as well as aesthetic deformities. Contracture can recur even after wide and complete release and full-thickness skin grafting. Recurrence is partly due to the inherent difficulties in both early postoperative immobilization and the required long-term splinting. When adjacent tissues are also burned, adequate local tissue for reconstruction may not be available; therefore, free-tissue transfer may be necessary. The large surface area that is required after adequate release may be provided by tissue expansion before free-tissue transfer. In the case presented the use of tissue-expanded radial forearm free flap for the reconstruction of a recurrent neck contracture is described. 

Category: general pathological conditions