AIDS after coronary bypass surgery.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G Delpre.
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Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) have been previously reported to have immunoregulatory abnormalities. We tested the effect of in vitro colchicine on PBC patients' suppressor cell function in order to determine whether colchicine can correct their suppressor cell deficiency. PBC patients' mononuclear cells were cultured for 44 h with concanavalin A (Con A) as well as with or without colchicine at a pharmacological concentration (10(-8)M) or at a suprapharmacological concentration (10(-5)M) and then tested for their ability to suppress proliferation of phytohaemagglutinin stimulated healthy volunteers' mononuclear cells. Eleven PBC patients had significantly (P less than 0.001) decreased suppressor cell function (12 +/- 15%, mean +/- s.d.) as compared to 37 healthy volunteers (43 +/- 12%). The suprapharmacological concentration of colchicine did not significantly affect the PBC patients' suppressor cell function (16 +/- 15%). In contrast, in the nine PBC patients tested with the pharmacological concentration of colchicine, their suppressor cell function was increased to 40 +/- 20% which was significantly different than without colchicine (P less than 0.01) or with the suprapharmacological concentration of colchicine (P = 0.02) but not significantly different than healthy volunteers. Thus, in vitro colchicine at a pharmacological concentration corrects PBC patients' deficiency of Con A-induced suppressor cell function raising the possibility that oral colchicine might be clinically useful as an immunomodulating drug in PBC.
In view of the findings that Cimetidine, used in the treatment of gastric ulcers, blocks histamine-type 2 receptors, which are also present on T suppressor lymphocytes, a study was carried out in a 65-year-old male suffering from giant benign gastric ulcer and in parallel for control purposes in a healthy male of the same age. T suppressor cells obtained from peripheral blood of the patient were tested prior to institution of treatment with Cimetidine and 21, 62 and 100 days thereafter using 3 different tests - theophylline sensitivity, monoclonal antibodies OKT4 and OKT8 and as a functional test a local xenogeneic graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR). The number and percentage of T suppressor cells, which were high before treatment, showed a significant decrease after two months of treatment and this was paralleled by a decrease in suppressor activity and reversal of the functional activity of the T cells from negative to normal. Helper cells were normal before and after treatment. At the same time the patient showed a marked clinical improvement, with healing of the ulcer evidenced by endoscopy. It is suggested that Cimetidine may effect healing by influencing immune mechanisms.
In a 77-year-old man with dysphagia, x-rays demonstrated an irregular stenotic process in the lower third of the esophagus, suggesting malignancy. Endoscopy disclosed moderate narrowing of the lumen and several ulcers separated by bulges. Serial biopsies revealed Barrett's mucosa. Cimetidine 1 g/day led to prompt improvement and endoscopically there was a disappearance of the lesions after 3 months of therapy. Reduction of the drug to 400 mg/day 3 months later with supplements of antacids and metoclopramide was followed by reappearance of symptoms and recurrence of a deep ulcer. Raising the dose of cimetidine to 1 g/day again resulted in healing and since then a maintenance dose of 600 mg cimetidine with antacids and metoclopramide has been successful in preventing recurrence. This long-term study in a patient with Barrett's esophagus showed 1) that cimetidine can be effective in treating such patients; 2) the prophylactic value of multitherapy as a maintenance regimen, and 3) the importance of careful follow-up.
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Postoperative phytobezoars (duration from 2 months to 46 years) after surgery for duodenal ulcer disappeared in seven patients, by both x-ray and gastroscopy, on conservative approach aimed at the major role of delayed gastric emptying in phytobezoar formation. During a 3-day period, metoclopramide was given by drip infusion, 40 mg/24 hours, and the patient received only a copious clear diet, with no solid food. In one patient, two courses of treatment were necessary for complete elimination of the phytobezoar. None of the patients had any underlying disease. All but one had good dentition. "Disruption" of the bezoars allowed the discovery upon endoscopy of unusual etiological features such as carcinoma of the stoma and stomal polypoid hypertrophic gastritis (so-called gastritis cystica polyposa ) in one patient, and a retained suture narrowing the stoma in another.
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The macrophage migration inhibition factor (MIF) test toward extracts of choroidal melanoma was repeated four times in a patient with ocular malignant melanoma. In the initial stage, when there was only an ocular finding, the MIF test result was positive. It remained so for a period of two years, even when intrasinusoidal hepatic diffusion developed concomitantly with a nonspecific reactive hepatitis. These histologic findings can be interpreted as evidence of the presence of an immune reaction at a particular moment in the disease process. Several months later, when the patient's condition went into an abrupt decline and showed extensive nodular spread, the results of MIF test were found to have become negative.
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Total body turnover of cholesterol was studied in two patients with abetalipoproteinemia, a 32-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman. The patients received [14C]cholesterol intravenously, and the resulting specific activity-time curves (for 40 and 30 weeks, respectively) were fitted with a three-pool model. Parameters were compared with those from studies of cholesterol turnover in 82 normal and hyperlipidemic subjects. A three-pool model gave the best fit for the abetalipoproteinemic patients, as well as for the 82 previously studied subjects, suggesting general applicability of this model. Cholesterol production rates in the two abetalipoproteinemic subjects (0.82 and 0.89 g/day) were close to values predicted for persons of their body weight. Thus, total body turnover rate of cholesterol was quite normal in abetalipoproteinemia, confirming previous reports. Very low values (9.2 and 8.4 g) were found for M1, the size of the rapidly exchanging compartment pool 1, in the two abetalipoproteinemic subjects. These values were well below the values predicted (from the comparison study population) for normal persons of this size with low plasma cholesterol levels. For one patient, total body exchangeable cholesterol was very low, although not significantly below the predicted values for a person of his size. In the second patient, the observed estimate for total body exchangeable cholesterol was well within the range of values predicted for persons of her size with low to extremely low cholesterol levels.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Eight patients with abetalipoproteinaemia had the typical ocular, systemic, and laboratory findings of this disease. Combined therapy with vitamins A and E was administered, starting as early as the first day of life and as late as 26 years of age. The patients were followed up for 2-6 years. Electroretinography was undertaken in all cases and electrooculography in some. After initiation of vitamin A and E therapy no progression of disturbed visual function could be detected in any patient. These objective tests of retinal function demonstrated that the combined vitamin A and E therapy may be useful in arresting retinal deterioration in abetalipoproteinaemia.
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