ABSTRACT
In order to evaluate the role of human parvovirus B19 in the etiopathogenesis of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), synovial fluid and blood specimens were collected at 1-month intervals from 20 patients with early synovitis (ES) and 31 with RA. Blood specimens were also collected from 25 patients with SLE, 25 with osteoarthritis (OA) as the diseased control group, and 50 healthy blood donors (HBD) as the healthy control group. Detection of B19 IgM and B19 IgG were performed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay from serum specimens, and B19 DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction from synovial fluid samples. B19 IgM, B19 IgG, and B19 DNA were found in the three patients of the ES group. Subsequently, two of them were diagnosed with RA and one with SLE. B19 DNA was also detected in the synovial fluid of eight patients in the RA group. Of them, all were positive for B19 IgG and half were positive for B19 IgM. B19 IgM was not detected in either of the control groups. To define the role of B19 in the etiopathogenesis and prognosis of undiagnosed arthritis and other chronic inflammatory diseases such as RA and SLE, we need broader serial and prospective studies based on clinical and laboratory collaboration. In conjunction with case reports, these studies would also serve to detect other possible factors in the etiopathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Viral/blood , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/virology , Parvoviridae Infections/complications , Parvovirus B19, Human/isolation & purification , Synovitis/virology , Adult , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/blood , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/pathology , DNA, Viral/analysis , Female , Humans , Immunoglobulin M/blood , Immunoglobulins/blood , Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/blood , Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/pathology , Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/virology , Male , Middle Aged , Osteoarthritis/blood , Osteoarthritis/pathology , Osteoarthritis/virology , Parvoviridae Infections/blood , Parvoviridae Infections/pathology , Parvovirus B19, Human/genetics , Parvovirus B19, Human/immunology , Synovial Fluid/chemistry , Synovial Fluid/cytology , Synovial Fluid/virology , Synovitis/blood , Synovitis/pathologyABSTRACT
Hepatic (portal-systemic) encephalopathy is a complex neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by disturbances in consciousness and behaviour, personality changes, fluctuating neurologic signs, asterixis or "flapping tremor" and distinctive electroencephalographic changes (11). We report a case of hepatic-encephalopathy accompanied by transient cortical blindness.
Subject(s)
Blindness, Cortical/etiology , Hepatic Encephalopathy/complications , Adult , Basal Ganglia/pathology , Blindness, Cortical/diagnosis , Follow-Up Studies , Geniculate Bodies/pathology , Hepatic Encephalopathy/diagnosis , Hepatitis B/complications , Hepatitis B/diagnosis , Humans , Liver Function Tests , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , Subthalamic Nucleus/pathology , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
Following the destruction of two trains in the Urals 2000 km east of Moscow, as a consequence of the conflagration caused by an explosion from a leaking natural gas pipeline, 3000 people were injured;* most of them (2200) died* immediately and the others (about 800) were badly burned. At the request of the Soviet Union Government a medical military delegation was sent to give assistance to the injured people. This report describes the treatment given by the delegation to 40 patients with burns of between 40 and 90 per cent TBSA during a period of 10 days. An insight into a Soviet Union Trauma Center is given and the good treatment given by the Soviet colleagues is emphasized.
