Eyewitness accuracy and gender.

43 people gave written descriptions of a 3-min. video they had viewed of an ambiguous, staged scene. Accuracy scores were determined based on the number of correct items listed minus the number of wrong items listed. The finding of higher scores for the 19 women than for the 24 men is consistent with previous research on gender and memory.

[The nephrotic syndrome and pheochromocytoma. A report of a rare clinical case]. / Sindrome nefrosica e feocromocitoma. Descrizione di un raro caso clinico.

In clinical practice, the coincidence of nephrotic syndrome with pheochromocytoma is very rare. The case is described of a 23-year-old woman who in June 1988 presented with recurrent hypertensive crises, severe asthenia, abundant sweats, orthostatic hypertension and massive proteinuria. Diagnostic tests performed (abdominal ultrasound and CT, urinalysis, renal function tests, plasma levels of metanephrine and normetanephrine, as well as urinary VMA determination) revealed the presence of a pheochromocytoma of the left adrenal gland combined with nephrotic syndrome. Surgical removal of the left adrenal led to immediate normalization of blood pressure and absence of urinary abnormalities. The authors therefore suggest either an immunological pathogenesis or one due to glomerular hyperfiltration.

The lack of correlation between the positivity of anti-platelet antibodies and the presence of thrombocytopenia in course of HIV infection.

The presence of anti-platelet autoantibodies has been reported in many cases of HIV infection, but there is no accordance about their pathogenic role in the onset of thrombocytopenia in the patients studied. In the present study surface anti-platelet antibodies (PAIgG) and serum anti-platelet antibodies (sPAIgG) were assayed in a group of 135 HIV-infected patients (109 men, 26 women), in different clinical stages by using an immunofluorescence test (PSIFT). In order to investigate the possible correlation of the positivity of these autoantibodies and the onset of thrombocytopenia, some of these patients were controlled in a follow-up study, with two successful controls: 10 months (II control: 89 patients) and 20 months (III control: 59 patients) after the first time. In the I control PAIgG were positive in 68 subjects (50.4%) and sPAIgG in 34 (25.2%); both PAIgG and sPAIgG were present in 23 patients (17%). 56 patients did not present anti-plt antibodies (41.5%). No significantly different distribution of these autoantibodies in each stage of disease was observed. The mean value of platelet count resulted in the normal range both in the anti-plt antibody positive and in the anti-plt antibody negative patients, but the value found in the anti-plt antibody positive patients was significantly lower than the one found in the anti-plt antibody negative group (p < 0.01). This difference was more marked between the group with PAIgG and anti-plt antibody negative patients than between the group with sPAIgG and the anti-plt antibody negative patients (p < 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Elevated dietary protein intake impairs the renal hemodynamic response to hyperaminoacidemia in patients with primary glomerular diseases.

We have evaluated the renal hemodynamic response to a mixed amino acid infusion in 7 control subjects and in 8 patients with primary glomerulonephritis (GN). In order to evaluate the role of dietary protein intake in this response, GN patients were maintained for 3 weeks on two separate dietary regimens providing 130 +/- 5 g of protein/day (study 1) and 60 +/- 3 g of protein/day (study 2), respectively. Normal subjects were studied while consuming a free diet. In GN patients, following the reduction in dietary protein intake basal RPF and GFR decreased from 589 +/- 109 to 422 +/- 81 ml/1.73 m2/min (p less than 0.01, vs. study 1) and from 75 +/- 7 to 70 +/- 8 ml/1.73 m2/min (p = NS). Filtration fraction rose from 0.14 +/- 0.02 to 0.19 +/- 0.03 (p less than 0.05). In study 1, during amino acid infusion GFR and RPF did not change significantly from baseline (75 +/- 7 vs. 66 +/- 8 ml/1.73 m2/min at 180 min and 589 +/- 109 vs. 567 +/- 102 ml/1.73 m2/min, respectively). These results are at variance with data obtained in normal controls in whom both GFR and RPF rose significantly following hyperaminoacidemia. In contrast, when dietary protein intake was reduced, a normal renal hemodynamic response to amino acid infusion was restored (GFR went from 70 +/- 8 to 90 +/- 18 ml/1.73 m2/min and RPF from 422 +/- 81 to 517 +/- 90 ml/1.73 m2/min, both p less than 0.05 vs. basal), both absolute and percentage increases were similar to what was observed in controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[The lupus band test in the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus: its decisive usefulness in cases negative for anti-ds-DNA and anti-SM]. / Il lupus band test nella diagnosi del lupus eritematoso sistemico: sua decisiva utilità nei casi anti ds-DNA ed anti-Sm negativi.

The aim of this study was to evaluate an immunofluorescence skin test, the lupus band test (LBT), in comparison to other criteria as classified by the American Rheumatic Association for the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Twenty patients with SLE and another 24 with different connective tissue diseases (rheumatoid arthritis 16, dermatomyositis 3, necrotizing vasculitis 5) were studied. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) appeared very sensitive (100%) in the diagnosis of LES, though with a low specificity (63%). LBT was however both sensitive (80%) and specific (100%). Others ARA laboratory criteria (anti-dsDNA, anti-Sm, VDRL and hematological disorders) were also less sensitive and/or less specific than LBT. Most interestingly, LBT was positive in 7 SLE cases in which both dsDNA and Sm antibodies were negative. Thus, LBT appears a useful test in the diagnosis of SLE. In addition, it may be of critical value in certain subsets of patients in which the present ARA criteria may not suffice for diagnosis.