The allergen composition of crude extract from sap (latex) of the weeping fig <i>(Ficus benjamina)</i> was investigated by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting. The allergenic components were detected by sera from 11 occupationally exposed plant keepers, of whom 7 were non-atopic, and from 9 non-occupationally exposed atopic patients with a positive radio-allergosorbent test to weeping fig. The allergen-antibody complexes were visualized by rabbit anti-IgE and β-galactosidase-labelled sheep anti-rabbit IgG, using a chromogenic insoluble substrate. A total of 11 allergenic components were identified. Three of them were found to be major allergenic components, identified by more than 50% of the investigated sera. These 3 IgE-binding components had molecular weights of approximately 29,000, 28,000 and 25,000 daltons, respectively. The major allergenic components were denaturated by heat in the temperature range of 60–90 °C.
Pressure support (PS), a new mode of ventilatory assistance, is known to induce respiratory muscle relaxation. It was used to obtain reliable measurements of the compliance of the respiratory system (Crs) in awake subjects. PS was applied, through a mouthpiece, at four successive levels (0, 0.75, 1 and 1.25 kPa) to 30 healthy subjects. At the highest PS level, the subject9s relaxation was obtained as assessed by a decrease in the occlusion pressure from 0.10 +/- 0.06 to 0.05 +/- 0.04 kPa, whereas the minute ventilation increased (from 7.5 +/- 1.5 to 13.8 +/- 3.3 l.min-1), and the end-tidal carbon dioxide tension (PCO2) decreased (from 5.0 +/- 0.4 to 3.2 +/- 0.5 kPa) below its apnoea threshold. In three subjects, respiratory muscle relaxation was confirmed by a fall in diaphragmatic electromyographic activity. Crs was calculated as the ratio of the tidal volume to the corresponding end-inspiratory airway pressure (i.e. PS level) since, at end inspiration, a zero-flow period was obtained. Crs was highly correlated (r = 0.77) to the height (Ht) of the subjects: Crs (l.kPa-1) = 3.56 x Ht (m) -4.86 (+/- 0.23), allowing normal values to be determined. In order to evaluate the applicability of the method to patients, Crs was measured in four patients with scoliosis, and was found to range from 45-82% of the predicted values. It is suggested that this simple method of Crs determination may be used to characterize various chest wall or pulmonary diseases.
Background: Patients with severe forms of chronic periodontitis present with varying degrees of decreased inflammatory reactivity. A previously reported algorithm for chronic periodontitis risk assessment and prognostication is based on the analysis of some 20 risk predictors. One of these predictors is a skin provocation test that assesses the individual patient's reactivity to a lipid A challenge. The aim of this report was to analyze results from validation data for the algorithm with respect to the contribution of results of the skin provocation test as a risk predictor for the progression of chronic periodontitis and to compare these results with the contribution from other predictors, namely smoking, angular bony destruction, furcation involvement, abutment teeth, and endodontic pathology. Methods: Data from a previously reported clinical validation sample were used for the analysis, including the calculation of quality measures and explanatory values using different types of regression analysis and non‐parametric testing. Results: Smoking, endodontic pathology, abutment teeth, angular bony destruction, and furcation involvement presented with individual explanatory values for periodontitis progression between 4% and 13% and highly significant parameter estimates. Explanatory values for the results of the skin provocation test ranged between 2.6% and 5.1% depending on the disease severity group, with a positive predictive value of 82% for the identification of high‐risk patients. Conclusion: The skin provocation test provided a clinically significant contribution to the quality of analysis with the periodontitis risk and prognostication algorithm, in particular in the selection of high‐risk patients for in‐depth individual tooth analysis.
Platelet glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) activity and serum selenium (Se) levels were determined in 20 patients with intrinsic asthma. Nine of the patients had NSAID‐intolerance. The mean value of GSH‐Px activity in the patients was 47.0±7.1 U/10 11 platelets, which is significantly lower than that of 56.4±12 U/10 11 platelets in the controls ( P < 0.01). There was also a tendency towards lowered Se levels in the patients compared with controls. The results are discussed in view of the protective role of GSH‐Px against oxidative stress and the tentative regulatory function of GSH‐Px in arachidonic acid metabolism.
Summary The capacity of the β 2 ‐agonist terbutaline and the longer‐acting β 2 ‐agonist formoterol to suppress the development of late phase skin reactions to anti‐human IgE was evaluated in 17 healthy volunteers. Anti‐IgE injected intradermally per se induced an early weal and flare reaction, followed by a progressively increasing induration, the LCR, with a duration of ≥ 24 hr. The LCR was inhibited by 40% when the weal was infiltrated with formoterol 250 ng 30 min after challenge ( n =9, P < 0.01). The same anti‐LCR effect was achieved by compensating for the shorter duration of action of terbutaline with repeated drug infiltration in 12.5 μg doses of the weal produced by anti‐IgE up to 3½ hr after challenge ( n =8). The data support the hypothesis that β 2 ‐agonists, both short‐and long‐acting, inhibit IgE‐dependent LCRs by preferentially interacting with inflammatory events after the initial mast cell degranulation
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