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Biomedical subjects

D Brohee

Publications and source records attributed to D Brohee.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Lymphocyte subsets in major depressive patients. Influence of anxiety and corticoadrenal overdrive.

We studied 26 inpatients (17 females; mean age +/- SD: 41.2 +/- 14.3 years) who met the DSM III criteria for a major depressive episode and had a mean (+/- SD) Hamilton Depression Score of 19.3 +/- 8.0. All patients were drug free and medically healthy at the time of experimentation. We found a significant correlation between the CD4/CD8 ratio and the Hamilton Anxiety Score (r = 0.57, p less than 0.005). When splitting our sample in dexamethasone suppression test suppressors (DST-S) and nonsuppressors (DST-NS), this relationship appeared only in DST-NS (DST-NS: r = 0.81, p less than 0.005; DST-S: r = 0.20, p = NS). These results are discussed in terms of heterogeneity among major depressive disorders and possible relationships between catecholaminergic activity and the immune system.

Adrenal Cortex Diseases

Changing pattern of CD5+ CD20+ double positive lymphocytes with ageing and cytotoxic chemotherapy.

In this cross-sectional clinical study, it was found that two subtypes of CD5+ B-lymphocytes existed either with CD5-high and CD20-low or CD5-low and CD20-high expression, as determined by dual fluorescence analysis with fluorochrome-labeled monoclonal antibodies on a FACScan flowcytometer. In the normal healthy subjects (n = 20), the CD20 positive cells could be broken down into 3 subsets: CD5(2+) CD20+, 25.4 +/- 3.0% (mean +/- S.E.M.), CD5+ CD20(2+), 18.4 +/- 2.4% and CD5- CD20(2+), 56.2 +/- 2.7%. Similar values were observed in a group of patients (n = 29) suffering from a wide variety of benign or untreated malignant disorders. The CD5(2+) CD20+ subset was typically related to age (Spearman coefficient of correlation rho = 0.77, P less than 0.001 in healthy subjects and rho = 0.46, P = 0.02 in pathological cases). The CD5+ CD20(2+) subpopulation was a salient feature of newborns and little infants (n = 6, 75.4 +/- 2.4%, P less than 0.01). The CD5- CD20(2+) subset was characteristically depressed in patients treated with cytotoxics (n = 21, 41.2 +/- 3.6%, P = 0.001). As far as cytotoxic chemotherapy may represent a model of accelerated ageing, it is worth noting that, in patients treated with cytotoxics, the CD5 CD20 pattern was frequently disturbed in a hyperyoung or hyperaged picture. That age and cytotoxics can affect CD5 expression on CD20+ lymphocytes, suggests some specific B-dysregulation and should be put together with the known emergence of autoantibodies, paraproteinemias and lympho-plasmocytic tumors with age and chemotherapy.

Adult

Leukocyte and lymphocyte subsets after a short pharmacological stress by intravenous epinephrine and hydrocortisone in healthy humans.

Nine healthy volunteers received epinephrine and hydrocortisone intravenously in order to assess the typical acute response to a brief stress, of leukocyte and lymphocyte subsets, acute phase reactants and lymphocyte reactivity to T and B mitogens. At 10 min., all leukocyte subsets were increased, especially mononuclear cells. At 1 hour, moderate lymphopenia and monocytopenia occurred. At 6 hours, neutrophilia and eosinopenia were observed. During the lymphocytic early wave, all the lymphocyte subset counts increased, particularly T-suppressive/cytotoxic and natural killer cells. As a consequence, the percentage of T cells decreased and the CD4/CD8 ratio fell. No changes in acute phase reactants occurred over the 24 hours of the study. All leukocyte and lymphocyte subsets were normalized and mitogen reactivity was unchanged 24 hours after the stress. These typical shifts in leukocyte subsets could probe the adrenocortical and medullary response to an environmental stressor.

Acute-Phase Proteins

[The gold standard and optimalization of diagnostic choice: the pulmonary nodule and transthoracic pulmonary puncture-biopsy].

In this review of the literature, it is emphasized that the published results about the transthoracic pulmonary needle biopsy (TPNB) cannot be readily evaluated due to the inconsistency of the reference tests, the methods and the investigated subjects. Gold-standards for evaluation of lung tumors have been described and are recalled. The limits of the TPNB are pointed out in the diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules and benign lesions. In a bayesian approach, it is shown that the TPNB is only useful in confirming an a-priori diagnosis of cancer.

Bayes Theorem

Hepatic telangiectasia and cirrhosis.

In a woman with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) (Osler-Weber-Rendu disease) who died of fulminant hepatitis B, autopsy revealed cirrhosis of the liver and diffuse hepatic telangiectasia. Her daughter and grandson also suffered from the hepatic involvement of HHT. Sufficient laboratory investigations were available to exclude known causes of cirrhosis. We review the relationship between Osler-Weber-Rendu disease and liver cirrhosis or fibrosis.

Aged

Effect of age, sex and health status on human lymphocyte functions: demonstration of a sex-related defect in suppressor cell function.

The mitogenic response of human lymphocytes and the short-lived suppressor cell function on concanavalin A response were studied as dependent variables in 194 patients using multiple regression analysis, with health status and sex as dummy variables, and age as an explicative one. This study confirms a decrease of the lymphocyte functional response to mitogens with aging. A sex-related defect in suppressor cell function is put forward in females independently of age. An inverse linear relationship is found between the functional response to pokeweed mitogen (T and B mitogen) and suppressor cell function in males but not in females. No such relationship is found with the pure T mitogens (Con A and phytohemagglutinin-A). The present study suggests that a defect in short-lived suppressor cells can play some role in the greater incidence and prevalence of autoimmune diseases in women while the depressed lymphocyte response of old people cannot be explained by modifications of the activity of these suppressor cells.

Adult

Circulating immune complexes in various thyroid diseases.

In a study of 171 patients with various thyroid diseases, circulating immune complexes (CIC), measured by a C1q solid phase radioassay, were detected in 26% of the patients as compared to 8% of the control subjects. CIC were found in 33--55% of the patients with a well defined thyroid autoimmune disorder (Hashimoto's goitre, asymptomatic thyroiditis, spontaneous myxoedema and Graves' disease) and also in the same proportion of patients with diffuse goitre. CIC were correlated to the presence of serum antibodies to microsomal thyroid antigen but not to their titre. No relationship was observed between CIC and the age or sex of the patients and the presence of exophthalmos, or between CIC and the different thyroid function tests or serum anti-thyroglobulin antibodies. CIC were found in untreated patients as well as in those treated with prednisone, methimazole or thyroxine.

Adolescent

[Macroamylasemia].

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Acute Disease