Rehabilitation of executive deficits in closed head injury and anterior communicating artery aneurysm patients.

This paper reports a study that was aimed to rehabilitate executive functions in closed head injury (CHI) and anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysm patients. The groups tested comprised 10 CHI patients, 9 ACoA aneurysm patients and 19 controls. We employed a dual-task paradigm that is known to tap the ability to co-ordinate two actions. The treatment consisted of five experimental sessions, in which the dual-task paradigm was used. In the CHI study, the dual-task cost was measured before the treatment (assessment), immediately after the treatment (retest), and 3 months after the treatment (follow-up). In the ACoA aneurysm study, the dual-task cost was also assessed 12 months after the treatment. A significant reduction of the dual-task cost from assessment to retest was found. This reduction remained stable in the follow-up sessions. The results are discussed with reference to the absence of spontaneous recovery of this specific executive function and to the possibility that the beneficial effect of the treatment generalises to other executive functions and/or daily living activities.

Frequency of B cells in normal mice which recognize self proteins.

The mechanism whereby the immune system avoids self-aggression is one of the central issues of Immunology. The discovery of natural autoantibodies, mainly of IgM isotype, and of idiotypic interactions between antibodies indicates that elements of the immune system interact with self constituents and with themselves. Results of studies with soluble antibodies have indicated that the pool of circulating IgM represents the end result of a highly selective process of B cell activation and differentiation by self proteins resulting in the formation of a network. The objective of the present work was to determine the frequency of self-reacting B cells in normal mice. We were able to detect B cells that recognize self proteins present in extracts of different organs in normal adult, 2-3-month old, BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice with an ELISA spot assay. About 1% of total IgM-secreting cells among small, LPS-stimulated spleen cells reacted with organ extracts, whereas among large spleen cells the frequency was 5- to 10-fold lower. Immunization induced an increase in the frequency of IgM-secreting cells. The present results provide cellular evidence for the results of studies done at the serological level. The physiological role of these self-recognizing cells, as well as their participation in autoimmune processes, remain to be established.

Frequency of B cells in normal mice which recognize self proteins

The mechanism whereby the immune system avoids self-aggression is one of the central issues of Immunology. The discovery of natural autoantibodies, mainly of IgM isotype, and of idiotypic interactions between antibodies indicates that elements of the immune system interact with self constituents and with themselves. Results of studies with soluble antibodies have indicated that the pool of circulating IgM represents the end result of a highly selective process of B cell activation and differentiation by self proteins resulting in the formation of a network. The objective of the present work was to determine the frequency of self-reacting B cells in normal mice. We were able to detect B cells that recognize self proteins present in extracts of different organs in normal adult, 2-3-month old, BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice with an ELISA spot assay. About 1 per cent of total IgM-secreting cells among small, LPS-stimulated spleen cells reacted with organ extracts, whereas among large spleen cells the frequency was 5- to 10- fold lower. Immunization induced an increase in the frequency of IgM-secreting cells. The present results provide cellular evidence for the results of studies done at the serological level. The physiological role of these self-recognizing cells, as well as their participation in autoimmune processes, remain to be established.

[Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae bacteremia in a child with acute leukemia]. / Bacteriemie cu Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae la un copil cu leucemie acuta.

The systemic infections caused by E. rhusiopathiae and reported in literature are very rare, majority evolving with endocarditis. The authors present a child with acute leukemia, to whom the blood culture during a high temperature episode allows to isolate this bacterium, without valvular lesions. The case is interesting because of the arisen bacteriological diagnosis problems and because of the pathogenic aspects of the infection. An animal source contact being absent, we took in account the intestinal carriage which, under the profound depression of the defence (the underlaying disease and the cytostatic therapy) could result in a persistent bacteremia. The treatment with cefazolin allows the infection to be cured.

[Pyogenic infections with different locations caused by Streptococcus anginosus alone or in association with anaerobic bacteria]. / Infectii piogene cu localizari diferite cauzate de Streptoccus anginosus, singur sau în asociatie cu bacterii anaerobe.

Isolation and identification of S. anginosus from pathologic products are possible to be realised in informed clinical laboratory, allowing so a better knowledge of these infections' incidences and on adequate treatment. The authors' report 11 cases of pyogenic infection caused by S. anginosus. Five out of these 11 cases evaluated as mixed infections, S. anginosus being associated with anaerobic bacteria. 10 children hospitalised in surgery Department of Children Hospital had infections with different localisations; necrotizing fasciitis, preknee cap abscess, generalised peritonitis, abscess postappendectomy, pleurisy and acute mediastinitis, knee arthritis, acute osteomyelitis of mandible and an infection of the fracture's focus in upper 1/3 of the thigh bone. For all these patients the favoring factor was represented by a traumatic or surgical lesion of the skin or diverse mucosa; oral, oesophageal, intestinal, allowing the access of the normal flora of these covers to normally sterile sites. The eleventh case was an adult with a lung abscess and pleurisy, as a complication of an aspiration pneumonia. The treatment of S. anginosus infections consisted especially in penicillin or ampicillin, associated with metronidazol when anaerobic bacteria were present.

[Preliminary considerations in a semiquantitative microbiological study in catheter-related infection]. / Consideratii preliminare privind investigatia microbiologica semicantitativa în infectia legata de cateter.

In the interval September 1993-April 1994, 38 catheters from children admitted to the Children's Hospital of Iasi were examined microscopically and by semiquantitative culture, in the children with sepsis and/or positive catheters hemocultures being performed concurrently. Twenty eight of these catheters proved to be sterile, the other 10 being positive to coagulase-negative staphylococci, gram-negative bacilli from Klebsiella-Enterobacter group, Candida species, the number of colonies/plate varying generally in concordance with the microscopic positive score. Of the 6 cases with > 50 colonies/plate, 3 progressed to septicemia, their hemocultures being positive to the same bacterial species demonstrating an identical sensitivity spectrum to antibiotics (2 cases with Enterobacter cloacae, 1 case with Klebsiella oxytoca). These results correlated with a bacterioscopic score > +1, in a case, which concomitantly presented local phenomena of phlebitis, a PNC score +3 being recorded. To conclude with, the results of microscopic examinations and semiquantitative culture can differentiate the contaminated catheters from those at bacteremic risk. For defining the cutoff level of the significant number of colonies/plate, more positive samples are needed.