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Biomedical subjects

A Arbeter

Publications and source records attributed to A Arbeter.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Safety and cellular and humoral immune responses of a booster dose of varicella vaccine 6 years after primary immunization.

Four hundred nineteen children and adolescents immunized with live varicella vaccine 4-6 years earlier were enrolled in a study to evaluate the safety and immune response to a booster dose containing approximately 3300 pfu of virus. Of the subjects, 99% (414/419) maintained antibody to varicella zoster virus (VZV) with a geometric mean titer of 25.7 and mean stimulation index (SI) for VZV-specific lymphoproliferation response of 40.3 +/- 5.3 (SE). Some 7-10 days after the booster immunization, seropositivity rates increased to 100% (302/302), and GMT was 143.6 (anamnestic response). At 6 weeks after the booster inoculation, a subset of subjects had 100% seropositivity (74/74) with a GMT of 218.8 and an SI of 58.6. After 3 months, seropositivity was 100% (358/358), GMT was 119.0, and SI was 61.4.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

HCMV envelope antigens induce both humoral and cellular immunity in guinea pigs.

Antibody and cellular immunity were measured in guinea pigs immunized with whole virion, with nucleocapsids of human cytomegalovirus or with solubilized antigens containing virus envelope proteins. All the three types of immunogens induced the production of humoral antibody as well as cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific cellular immunity. In immunization experiments envelope antigen was as effective as immunization with whole virion.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Serum levels of IgA1 and IgA2 in children and in patients with IgA deficiency.

Serum levels of IgA1 and IgA2 were measured by solid phase radioimmunoassay in samples from 110 children between 3 months and 10 years of age. Both IgA1 and IgA2 were detectable in all samples, and both IgA1 and IgA2 increased with increasing age. The percent of total serum IgA that was IgA2 did not change with age and was the same in samples from children (15.05 +/- 10.2%) as in samples from adults (15.86 +/- 7.98%). The proportion of serum IgA that was IgA2 was much less variable within sibships than within the group at large (P less than 0.005). In the 16 patients with IgA deficiency, the proportion of serum IgA that was IgA1 or IgA2 was highly variable. IgA2 constituted more than 50% of the IgA in 5 patients and less than 7% of the IgA in an additional 5 patients. These findings suggest that regulation of serum concentrations of IgA1 and IgA2 is complex and influenced by genetic factors and probably other unidentified factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Life-threatening complications of varicella.

We reviewed the records of 96 children hospitalized with varicella from July 1, 1975 to June 30, 1980. Eighty-one were immunologically normal and 15 were immunocompromised on the basis of neoplasia, immunosuppressive therapy, or genetic disease. These children experienced 106 complications including viral dissemination-encephalitis (44), bacterial infection (25), Reye's syndrome (17), unusual cutaneous lesions (eight), drug overdose (five), diabetic ketoacidosis (two), neonatal infection (two), dehydration (two), and exacerbation of preexisting nephrosis (one). The length of hospitalization varied from one to 38 days with a median of five days. There were ten varicella pneumonia (one), of neonatal varicella (one), and of a ruptured mycotic aneurysm secondary to septicemia (one). This review demonstrates (1) a substantial occurrence of life-threatening complications of varicella in childhood, and (2) a need for prospective epidemiologic data on the incidence of complications to determine the scope and extent of varicella vaccination.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Epstein-Barr virus-related serology in marrow transplant recipients.

Serial sera from 50 marrow transplant recipients were examined for their spectra and titers of antibodies to EBV-specific antigens. Immediately before or after transplant, blood products passively transferred antibodies to EB viral capsid antigen (VCA) and EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA). In most recipients, passively-transferred antibodies were replaced by endogenous antibodies regardless of whether donor or recipient had EBV antibodies before transplantation. Commencement or resumption of endogenous EBV antibody production was not associated with signs of infectious mononucleosis or heterophil antibody responses. Antibodies to VCA rose to abnormally high titers, followed successively by antibody to early antigens (EA), and disproportionately low levels of anti-EBNA. Unusually high anti-VCA and anti-EA levels persisted when tests of immune function returned to normal. Antibodies to other herpes group viruses showed no consistent changes. We conclude that (1) EBV does not cause significant clinical problems in marrow transplant recipients; (2) persistent EBV infection can become established or reestablished in the presence of antibodies to EBV; (3) marrow transplant recipients show the same exaggerated immune response to EBV as other immunodeficient patients; and (4) the pattern of EBV-specific antibodies may be a more sensitive measure of defective cell-mediated immunity than most conventional tests of immune function.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Antibody responses to influenza immunization of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Antibody responses of two doses of a bivalent influenza vaccine containing A/Victoria/75 (A/Vic/75) and A/New Jersey/76 (A/NJ/76) viral antigens were studied in 22 children receiving maintenance chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), 16 children no longer receiving therapy for ALL, and 50 sibling controls. Before immunization, the three groups showed no difference in titer of antibody to either antigen. After the first immunization, children off therapy showed significantly higher titers to A/NJ/76 than did either sibling controls of children receiving therapy (P less than 0.01). After the second immunization, children off therapy showed significantly higher antibody titers to both antigens than did children receiving therapy or controls (P less than 0.01 for both A/NJ/76 and A/Vic/75). Antibody titers of children receiving therapy were not significantly different from those of controls. A year later, there were no significant differences in antibody titers among the groups. Thus, children with ALL who are receiving chemotherapy respond normally to two doses of influenza vaccine, whereas children off therapy manifest abnormally high titers of antibody to both influenza virus antigens.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1978

Longitudinal study of Epstein-Barr virus antibody titers and excretion in pediatric patients with Hodgkin's disease.

Nineteen pediatric patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) who had experienced primary Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) before, or in one case after, diagnosis, were studied longitudinally for changes in the titers and spectra of EBV-related antibodies, excretion of EBV into the oropharynx, the number of EBV-carrying lymphoid cells in the peripheral blood, and clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of reactivation of the latent virus. The incidence and geometric mean titers of IgG antibodies to viral capsid antigen (VCA) in the HD patients at the time of diagnosis and in the controls were similar. The anti-VCA titers of the patients rose above control levels during and after therapy and remained elevated for up to 7 years of observation. At no time were heterophil or VCA-specific IgM antibodies detected. Antibodies to EBV-induced early antigens were more common in patients (ultimately 80%) than in controls (9%). In contrast, antibody levels to EBV-associated nuclear antigen were disproportionally low in the patients. Excretion of EBV was noted at increased frequency in the patients but the number of circulating, EBV-carrying lymphoid cells was the same as in controls. No discrete clinical syndrome was associated with rising antibody titers or viral excretion. While these results are best explained by a presumed reactivation of the persistent EBV infection by immunosuppressive effects of HD or its therapy, they have not provided direct evidence for this suggestion.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Simultaneous bilateral central catheters: a safe technique.

Optimal central catheter care includes restriction usage for blood sampling and blood product administration on enhance continued sterility, but our experience with 25 children receiving bone marrow transplants after cytoreduction challenges this concept. Prior to transplantation, bilateral percutaneous subclavian vein silastic catheters were inserted without incident, one utilized for continuous nutritional support in caloric quantity to assure body weight maintenance, and the contralateral catheter utilized for daily venous sampling plus administration of medications including blood products. Patients subsequently entered a protective environment and bi-weekly surveillance cultures were monitored. Nutritional therapy was given for 876 days through 53 catheters. One patient developed culture-proven sepsis, an organism first cultured from the skin. The patient complication rate of 4% and the per diem rate of 0.11% in this immunocompromised population compares favorably to the 10.5 and 0.32% incidence we previously reported for 200 children with unilateral catheters. These data demonstrate that bilateral central catheters can be safely utilized in children for nutrition and sampling.

Adolescent↗