[Complex focal seizures as a cause of long-term paranoid psychoses in advanced age]. / Komplex-fokale Anfälle als Ursache einer mehrjährigen paranoiden Psychose des höheren Lebensalters.

Many organic diseases of the brain--including intoxications, inflammatory or neoplastic disorders--can cause acute psychosis. Even if the psychotic symptoms last for several years, the possibility of an organic cause should be borne in mind. We report the case of a patient with a paranoid disorder for two years before admission. The EEG showed generalized 1-2 Hz spike and wave complexes. These epileptic activities--and also the paranoid symptoms--ceased completely after administration of an antiepileptic medication.

Transplantation of thymic autoimmune microenvironment to severe combined immunodeficiency mice. A new model of myasthenia gravis.

To study the role of the thymus in the cellular pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG) we transplanted thymus tissue fragments from MG thymuses beneath the kidney capsule of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice. Immunocytochemical studies documented that the human thymus tissues are accepted as long-term grafts in the host SCID mice, with human lymphocytes, thymic stroma, and thymic myoid cells demonstrable in transplanted thymus for at least 15 weeks after transplantation. Human anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies became detectable 1 to 2 weeks after transplantation, and in most chimeras the titers increased over at least 11 weeks to reach levels typically found in severe human MG. Human Ig deposits were detected at skeletal muscle end-plates, demonstrating that the human (auto)antibodies bound to murine acetylcholine receptor. In contrast, transfers of dissociated thymus cells only lead to a transient increase of anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies. Our data prove that myasthenia gravis thymus is able to induce and maintain autoantibody production in immunodeprived host animals, and that this tissue contains all cellular components required for autoantibody production. Transplantation of solid thymus tissue seems to transfer an autoimmune microenvironment, which will allow direct studies of the mechanism of autosensitization inside the thymus.

[Atypical anisakiasis in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome]. / Atypische Anisakiasis bei erworbenem Immundefektsyndrom.

Gastric anisakiasis was an incidental finding on gastroscopy of a 48-year-old man known to have AIDS. At that time the patient had been symptom-free, the test having been performed to check on an ulcerative Candida oesophagitis. The Anisakis larva was extracted through the gastroscope and there has been no recurrence. The history suggested a chronic course. The unusual absence of symptoms suggests that the immunodeficiency had influenced the pathogenesis of the parasitic disease.