[Analysis of immune response to Japanese encephalitis virus infection in mice: effect of cyclosporin A on the production of HI antibody and interferon].

To study the protective factors against Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus infection, the effects of cyclosporin A (CsA) on the mortality, hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) antibody response and interferon (IFN) production induced by JE virus were investigated in mice. CsA was given to each mouse orally 50 mg/kg/day. CsA had a tendency to enhance HI antibody production from 14th day and significantly enhanced on 21st and 28th days after inoculation with inactivated JE virus vaccine. Similarly CsA also enhanced HI antibody production up to at least 50th day after live JE virus inoculation. CsA-treated mice showed a significantly lower mortality rate (7/52, 13.5%) than non-CsA-treated (control) mice (17/51, 33.3%) (p < 0.05). CsA did not affect the serum IFN levels, which reached their peak values at 12 hours and fell to almost basal levels by 24 hours after the inoculation of inactivated JE virus vaccine. These results suggest that an adequate antibody response is one of the major protective factors in JE virus-infected mice, even if it is limited in the early stage of the primary JE virus infection.

[Study on the growth of the nose].

The purpose of this study was to determine the amount and direction of nasal growth, before or during orthodontic treatment. However, the growth of the nose as a separate entity in relation to classification of cranio-facial type has not been investigated by the lateral roentgenographic cephalogram until recently. In this study, I used 2782 traces of lateral roentgenographic cephalograms to study the growth of the Japanese nose. The traces were derived from a cross-sectional study of 1,233 growth of the Japanese nose. The traces were derived from a cross-sectional study of 1,233 males and 1,549 females over 5 years and 6 months old who had not undergone the orthodontic treatment yet. Various nasal parameters were measured to study the growth of 6 linear, 2 angular nasal parameters and 1 sectional area of the external nose. The early growth in females and late growth in males were the presence of an adolescent growth spurt and the height of the maxillary prognathic type on the nasal bone and the nasal tip were longer than that of the maxillary retrognathic type. Therefore, in orthodontic treatment, the growth of the cranio-facial type should be taken into consideration before the use of orthognathic force or orthognathic surgery.

A case of Class II malocclusion associated with a deeply impacted maxillary central incisor.

The patient was a 9-year-old girl with a skeletal Class II malocclusion characterized by maxillary protrusion, excessive overjet and deep overbite. The patient's maxillary left central incisor was deeply impacted. During the first stage, a lingual arch was employed after surgical exposure. During the secondary stage, all four first premolar teeth were extracted and then edgewise mechanotherapy was performed. The total treatment time was 6 years. The malocclusion was treated satisfactorily and resulted in correction of the esthetic and functional flaws after 1 year out of retention.

Mandibular first premolar teeth extraction in skeletal Class III malocclusion.

The patient was a 12-year-old girl with a skeletal class III malocclusion characterized by mandibular protrusion, a high mandibular plane angle, severe negative overjet and deep overbite. The patient's mandibular first premolar teeth were extracted following the standards of edgewise mechanotherapy. The total active treatment time was 19 months, however, retention was needed until the patient was 19 years old. The malocclusion has been treated satisfactorily resulting in correction of the functional and esthetic flaws without orthognatic surgery.

[Quantitation of intact form of complement protein B and its fragment Ba in human serum by radioimmunoassay].

A sensitive solid-phase radioimmunoassay for intact complement protein B and its smaller fragment Ba is described which quantitates human B and Ba to 30 ng/ml. The assay was proved to be useful to evaluate the activation of the alternative pathway of the complement system by measuring intact B and Ba in normal human sera activated with zymosan. In sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the level of intact B was decreased and that of Ba was increased in the active phase, and the level of Ba was increased though intact B which was within normal limits in the inactive phase. The present result suggests that the activation of the alternative pathway is occurring both in the active and inactive phase in SLE, and the measurement of intact B and Ba concentration in pathological sera would be useful to evaluate the activation of the alternative complement pathway.

Liver abnormalities and liver membrane autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus.

The hepatic involvement of 57 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) was studied with special reference to liver membrane autoantibody (LMA). Liver abnormalities were found predominantly in patients with active SLE (27/48 (56%) in active SLE v 3/20 (15%) in inactive SLE). They were, however, rather mild or moderate and tended to disappear as the disease activity of SLE decreased. In this respect the liver abnormalities observed in this study differed from those in patients with lupoid hepatitis. The incidence of LMA in active SLE (8/11 (73%] was significantly greater than that in inactive SLE (4/12 (33%)). The mean LMA index value in active SLE was 8.3, which was also greater than the 2.9 in inactive SLE. Furthermore, in active SLE the mean LMA titre was significantly higher in patients with liver abnormalities than in those without. These results suggest that LMA may be associated with the activity of SLE and may be one of the factors which cause transient liver abnormalities.