Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M A Farrell.
The case is reported of a 51 year old man with primary intracerebral Hodgkin's lymphoma treated by surgical excision, intrathecal chemotherapy and whole-brain irradiation. One year later the patient had no evidence of Hodgkin's lymphoma intracranially or elsewhere. The possible histogenesis of this rare condition is discussed and a brief review of the literature is presented.
The selective monoamine oxidase inhibitors clorgyline and (-)-deprenyl have been used to determine the activities of monoamine oxidase-A and -B towards tryptamine in several human tissues. The results were compared with those obtained with the A-form-selective substrate 5-hydroxytryptamine, the B-form-selective substrate 2-phenethylamine and the common substrate tyramine. Tryptamine was found to be a substrate for both forms of the enzyme in human liver, kidney cortex and medulla and in seven different brain regions. The Km values of the two forms towards this substrate were similar in all the human tissues examined but the maximum velocities differed. Thus the A-form would contribute approximately 50% of the total monoamine oxidase activity towards this substrate in human cerebral cortex, whereas it would contribute about 60% in kidney cortex and medulla and 75% in liver. These results suggest that both forms of monoamine oxidase would contribute to the metabolism of tryptamine in human tissues and are difficult to reconcile with suggestions that tryptamine excretion may provide a simple index of monoamine oxidase-A inhibition.
In an attempt to gather evidence relevant to the question of whether natural killer (NK) cells play a role in resisting the development of primary tumors, we compared natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity in two substrains of C3H mice. Animals of the C3H/OuJ substrain are at high risk for the formation of mammary adenocarcinomas, while C3Heb/FeJ mice have a low incidence of such tumors. Natural cytotoxicity of splenic mononuclear cells was lower in the high-risk substrain, suggesting that a lesion in NK cell activity may be involved in murine mammary tumorigenesis. This difference was observed in animals between 5 and 37 weeks of age. There was no significant difference in the number of splenic large granular lymphocytes between the substrains. A significant difference in the ability of splenic lymphocytes from the two substrains to bind to the target cells was noted. Since the binding capacity of lymphocytes was greater in mice with reduced NK cell activity, the lesion in cytotoxicity may exist at a postbinding step in the lytic sequence. It is felt that the C3H mouse may provide a useful model for studying the role of NK cells in controlling primary tumors.
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The clinical pathological features of fatal arterial dissection confined to the intracranial vessels are described. Three patients with anterior circulation dissections presented with focal ischaemic neurological deficits and pathological examination of involved vessels revealed a dissection plane between internal elastic lamina and media accompanied by intravascular thrombosis. Three of four patients with posterior circulation dissections had clinical pathological features of subarachnoid haemorrhage and at necropsy had transmural dissections. In contrast to previous reports, primary vasculopathies either degenerative or inflammatory were not identified in affected vessels. The pathogenesis of intracranial arterial dissection is discussed and the clinical features are correlated with the pathological abnormalities.
Although oligoclonal banding is a characteristic feature of MS spinal fluid, some patients do not show this abnormality. Four of 18 consecutive patients with autopsy-proven MS had no oligoclonal bands (OB) in CSF during life or at postmortem. Patients with OB had numerous plasma cells in meninges and plaques (confirmed in sections stained for cytoplasmic immunoglobulin). The four patients without bands had few or no identifiable plasma cells. Therefore, lack of OB correlates with both inactivity of plaques and absence of plasma cells in plaques or meninges. This is another form of heterogeneity in MS.
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Eight years after radiation therapy (5000 rads of 60Co) for a pituitary adenoma, a patient developed a sellar fibrosarcoma. The tumor had an aggressive growth pattern: it infiltrated the optic nerve, sphenoidal air sinus, hypothalamus, and both cavernous sinuses, where compression of the left internal carotid artery resulted in a massive hemispheric infarction. Surgery was ineffective in arresting rapid growth of the lesion; death occurring 5 months after onset of symptoms.
A family with Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease had coincidental clinical onset in three members of two generations, a phenomenon suggesting a common source of a transmissible agent. A regular dietary supplement in this family was home-bred rabbit. The clinical picture, although generally similar to that in previous accounts, included the unusual findings of visual loss (one patient) and sensory loss (one patient), and dementia was not apparent until late in the illness in two patients. Pathological examination of a cerebellar cortical biopsy specimen from one patient and postmortem tissue from two patients revealed multicentric amyloid plaques located in cerebral and cerebellar cortex, basal ganglia, and white matter with degeneration of corticospinal, dorsal spinocerebellar, dentatorubral, and geniculocalcarine tracts and dorsal columns. Spongiform change was focal and confined to the superficial cerebral cortical layers.
A case report of agnogenic myeloid metaplasia (AMM) is presented in which a patient had a preliminary 18-month period characterized by leukemoid reactions to repeated infections alternating with normal health, throughout which an acquired Pelger-Huët anomaly persisted. This is the only reported case of the anomaly as a premonitory hematologic marker of AMM. The literature concerning the acquired Pelger-Hut anomaly is reviewed.
We report 2 cases of primary leiomyosarcoma of the epididymis. There is no evidence of tumor recurrence in 1 patient 21 years postoperatively and prophylactic chemotherapy has been started in 1 patient because of a high mitotic rate in the tumor. The 9 cases reported previously are reviewed briefly.
A 34-year-old woman developed acute myelogenous leukaemia in the course of pregnancy and, after delivery of a normal baby, developed multiple bilateral breast masses composed of myelogenous tissue.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
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We have examined 26 human AIDS brains obtained at post mortem for infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), and for dual infection of cells by both viruses. The techniques used were enzyme-linked immunocytochemistry for HCMV and in situ hybridisation using a cDNA probe for HIV. Using these techniques, HCMV infection was detected in 14 brains, HIV infection in 14 brains, and coinfection with HIV and HCMV in 7 brains. Four case of dual HIV/HCMV infection were found where no colocalisation could be detected. In randomly chosen dually infected areas 19.2% of infected cells were coinfected with both viruses. Although cells identified morphologically as macrophages were the most common infected cell type, astrocytes and neurons were both singly and doubly infected with HIV and HCMV. Complete clinical data were available for 4 of the 7 cases with coinfection and each had AIDS dementia complex.