A new autoantibody was detected by immunoprecipitation in the serum of 21 patients with chronic active hepatitis. The antibody reacted against a soluble cytosolic antigen in liver. The antibody was organ specific but not species specific and was therefore called anti-liver cytosol antibody Type 1 (anti-LC1). In seven of 21 cases, no other autoantibody was found; the remaining 14 cases had anti-liver/kidney microsome antibody Type 1 (anti-LKM1). With indirect immunofluorescence, a distinctive staining pattern was observed with the seven sera with anti-LC1 and without anti-LKM1. The antibody stained the cytoplasm of hepatocytes from four different animal species and spared the cellular layer around the central veins of mouse and rat liver that we have called juxtavenous hepatocytes. The immunofluorescence pattern disappeared after absorption of sera by a liver cytosol fraction. The 14 sera with both antibodies displayed anti-LC1 immunofluorescent pattern after absorption of anti-LKM1 by the liver microsomal fraction. The anti-LC1 was found in the serum only in patients with chronic active hepatitis of unknown cause. Anti-LC1 antibody was not found in sera from 100 patients with chronic active hepatitis associated with anti-actin antibody classic chronic active hepatitis Type 1, 100 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, 157 patients with drug-induced hepatitis and a large number of patients with liver and nonliver diseases. This new antibody was considered a second marker of chronic active hepatitis associated with anti-LKM1 (anti-LKM1 chronic active hepatitis) or autoimmune chronic active hepatitis Type 2.

Antibodies↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Ocular blood flow evaluation in injured and healthy fellow eyes.

PURPOSE: To assess if injured eyes develop ocular blood flow disturbances that may contribute to development of traumatic glaucoma. METHODS: Twenty-five eyes of 25 patients hospitalized from January 1997 to July 1999 for blunt (15) or penetrating (10) eye injury and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) (>23 mm Hg) were controlled at least 24 months after the trauma and underwent visual field examination, pulsatile ocular blood flow (pOBF), and color Doppler imaging (CDI) analysis of ophthalmic artery, central retinal artery, nasal and temporal short posterior ciliary arteries. Uninjured healthy eye was used as control. RESULTS: IOP was significantly higher in injured eyes (15.1+/-3.3 vs 13.0+/-2.7 mmHg; p<0.01), but only 2 eyes (8%) were under medical treatment. pOBF values were significantly lower in injured eyes: 11.25+/-6.56 microL/sec in the trauma eyes and 15.40+/-7.29 in fellow eyes (p=0.002). Resistivity index of all investigated retrobulbar vessels was very significantly higher in injured eyes than in fellow eyes (p<0.0001). There is no significant correlation between IOP and ocular blood flow disturbance. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term follow-up (mean 39+/-12 months) of injured eyes shows, besides a slight but significant increase of IOP, a very significant impairment of ocular blood supply to injured eyes compared to healthy fellow eyes with reduction of pulsatile ocular blood flow and marked increase of resistance to flow in all retrobulbar vessels. These anomalies may be considered an independent risk factor to develop traumatic glaucoma.

Blood Flow Velocity↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Low-dosage mitomycin C as an adjunct to trabeculectomy. A prospective controlled study.

PURPOSE: To assess the advantages and adverse effects of intraoperative low-dose Mitomycin C in filtering glaucoma surgery. METHODS: Sixty eyes of 48 patients undergoing surgery for uncontrolled glaucoma were randomized to two groups: one underwent standard trabeculectomy, the other had trabeculectomy with intraoperative application of 0.1 mg/ml mitomycin C. Follow-up was at least one year. RESULTS: The success rate (IOP < 18 mmHg) was 96.6% in the mitomycin C group and 73.3% in the control group. Mean IOP at one year of successful cases was 11.1 +/- 3.1 mmHg in the mitomycin C group and 16.4 +/- 6.1 mmHg in controls (p < 0.0001). Two patients in the mitomycin C group (6.6%) and six (20%) in the control group needed antiglaucomatous drugs to keep IOP below 18 mmHg. CONCLUSIONS: Mitomycin C is a useful adjunct to glaucoma surgery. Adverse effects at the dosage used are mainly due to hypotony and are preventable with two-layer suture. Low-dose mitomycin C may be useful in standard primary trabeculectomy.

Administration, Topical↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Propofol in the treatment of convulsive status epilepticus: a report of four cases.

Propofol is a new anaesthetic agent commonly used because of its rapid pharmacokinetic. Lately, anecdotal reports suggest its utility in the treatment of convulsive status epilepticus. We describe four cases of convulsive status due to severe encephalopathy of various etiology. They were resistant to diazepam and other drugs and remitted only after treatment with propofol. The infusion, even protracted to 8 days, did not cause any toxic or proconvulsive side-effects. The very short duration of its central depressant action permitted monitoring of the underlying neurological status whenever needed.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of oxygen-ozone therapy on age-related degenerative retinal maculopathy.

The effects of oxygen-ozone therapy on 20 patients affected by age-related degenerative maculopathy have been studied. Visual acuity and eye fluorangiography were the parameters used in order to evaluate the efficacy of the therapy. Medical ozone was administered intravenously according to the technique called "ozonized major autohemoinfusion", the total amount of ozone ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 micrograms per session for a 4 months period. The results have indicated that the majority of patients showed an improvement of their ocular condition, suggesting continuation of this type of investigation on a larger group of people.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Orthotopic liver transplant in pigs: several variations of the surgical technic].

A technique of orthotopic liver transplantation in the pig is presented. The use of a veno-venous cava-portal-jugular shunt during the anhepatic phase helped by a roller pump with moderate systemic heparinization is described. Technical modifications of arterious and biliary anastomosis are described as well. This technique is not only similar to the procedure applied to man, but it also provides a safe and reproducible experimental model. It has produced good results according to a survival rate equal to 95% at 48 hour and 87.5% at one week in the orthotopic liver transplantation in the pig.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied