Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C C Mok.
We report the case of a 46-year-old female patient with transverse myelitis complicating mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). She responded well to steroid and immunosuppressive therapy. Unlike in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), transverse myelopathy in association with MCTD is very rarely described. The mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of transverse myelitis in MCTD are briefly discussed.
Nocardia is an important but often overlooked opportunistic infection agent in immunocompromised hosts. Nocardiosis is primarily pulmonary; central nervous system involvement, usually in the form of brain abscess, is less common. Primary nocardial meningitis without associated brain abscess and pulmonary lesion is extremely rare and poses a formidable diagnostic challenge. We report on a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus who presented with a clinical picture of chronic meningitis which failed to respond to empirical antibiotic treatment. She deteriorated and succumbed. Post-mortem examination showed nocardial meningitis without associated brain abscesses. Nocardial meningitis should be considered a differential diagnosis of subacute meningitis in immunocompromised hosts.
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The sequence around the thiol group in lens proteins has been investigated. The proteins were converted into their carboxy[(14)C]methyl derivatives and submitted to partial acid hydrolysis, or digested with proteolytic enzymes. Acid hydrolysis of bovine alpha-crystallin gives N-seryl-(S-carboxymethyl)cysteine, Ser-CMCys (Waley, 1965a), but this dipeptide is not obtained from beta-crystallin or gamma-crystallin. Trypsin and chymotrypsin also give different peptides from the three crystallins. The radioactive peptide from alpha-crystallin and chymotrypsin has the sequence Ser-CMCys-Ser-Leu; another peptide, Asp-Leu-Leu-Phe, was also identified. The radioactive peptides obtained from bovine alpha-crystallin are probably also obtained from human alpha-crystallin, and from bovine and human albuminoid (the insoluble lens protein). alpha-Crystallin has been fractionated by chromatography in urea on DEAE-cellulose. Comparison of the fractions by peptide ;mapping', and immunochemically, shows that they fall into two classes. The fraction eluted first differs from the later fractions, but the later fractions resemble each other The first fraction may represent impurities, or it may be a structurally different sub-unit of alpha-crystallin.
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