A case of ulcerative colitis induced by oral ferrous sulfate.

We report a case of ulcerative colitis (UC) in a 15 year old female undergoing treatment for anemia with oral ferrous sulfate. We suggest that the oral ferrous sulfate initiated the typical symptoms of UC in this case. This case is the first clinical report to our knowledge supporting the 'iron-catalysed oxidant-mediated ischemic injury theory' of UC.

Intravenous gamma-globulin therapy in Diamond-Blackfan anemia.

Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) is a rare disorder of erythrocyte production which is believed to have an autoimmune basis in most cases. Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is one type of congenital PRCA. Since PRCA has been reported to respond to intravenous gamma-globulin (IVGG) therapy, we administered IVGG to a 2 year old girl with DBA resistant to corticosteroids and observed slight therapeutic effect.

Increased plasma tumour necrosis factor-alpha concentration in atopic dermatitis.

Plasma tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) was measured in 15 children with atopic dermatitis, 13 children with bronchial asthma, and 11 healthy controls. Plasma TNF-alpha concentration was increased in atopic dermatitis and the magnitude of the increase was correlated with the severity of the dermatitis but TNF-alpha concentration was not increased in bronchial asthma. A significant correlation was found between plasma TNF-alpha and plasma histamine concentrations in atopic dermatitis. The data suggest that the overproduction of TNF-alpha is associated with increased plasma histamine concentration, and might play a part in the pathophysiological mechanism of atopic dermatitis.

Aplastic anemia associated with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Hematologic complications of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) usually involve peripheral destruction of blood cells. We report a case of aplastic anemia associated with SLE observed during the remission phase of SLE 3 months after the beginning of treatment. CD8+ T cells in the patient's bone marrow may have suppressed maturation of hematopoietic progenitor cells, which may have induced the aplastic anemia associated with SLE. Repeated therapy with high-dose methylprednisolone resulted in lasting remission.

[Study on specific IgE antibodies in pediatric allergic patients by CAP system].

The CAP system is a new method to detect specific IgE antibodies and is an advanced method of the traditional paper disc RAST. Our result suggests a significant correlation between scores obtained with the CAP system and those with the traditional RAST. Since specific IgE antibodies against multiple allergens can be measured with the CAP system, we studied 5 food allergen specific IgE antibodies (Fx5) in cases of infantile atopic dermatitis. This study indicates a good correlation between the Fx5 scores and clinical symptoms of these patients. Thus, it is concluded that the CAP system is useful for screening IgE antibodies against multiple food allergens in cases of infantile atopic dermatitis.

Agranulocytosis following infectious mononucleosis.

A girl developed acute agranulocytosis (45/mm3), 37 days after the onset of infectious mononucleosis. The bone marrow showed myeloid hyperplasia with maturation arrest and erythroid hypoplasia. A normal amount of colony forming units of granulocytes and macrophages (CFU-GM) colonies with a relative high number of clusters was observed. Neither anti-neutrophil antibodies nor circulating inhibitors of colony growth were found in serum. Granulocyte and macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) activity in the patient's serum rose at this time. The agranulocytosis lasted 5 days and her clinical state soon improved. These results suggested that agranulocytosis was presumably not due to serum factors, including auto-antibodies and/or suppressive substances, and that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) had some direct or indirect effect on the marrow cells of the myeloid series.