Immunohistochemistry applied to the study of bone marrow Gaucher's cells: a case report.

Gaucher's disease is frequently associated with immunologic abnormalities, e.g. hypergammaglobulinemia, polyclonal gammopathy and benign monoclonal gammopathy. A patient with Gaucher's disease and a selective accumulation of IgM k in Gaucher's cells without serum monoclonal gammopathies is described. The selective accumulation is detected by immunohistochemistry analysis performed on cryostat bone marrow biopsies.

A new protocol (MiCEP) for the treatment of intermediate or high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the elderly.

Age has proved to be an important prognostic factor in patients with advanced non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and these patients require intensive and extensive therapy. Dose-reduction and therapy attenuation have reduced treatment-related toxicity, but have also decreased therapeutic efficacy. Between January 1990 and December 1992, 41 previously untreated patients, 65 years with stage 2-4 intermediate- or high-grade NHL were treated with a new therapeutic scheme which included Mitoxantrone, Etoposide, Cyclophosphamide and Prednisone (MiCEP). Twenty-eight patients achieved a complete remission, ten patients partial remission (overall response rate of 93%) and two cases were resistant. The overall survival was 66% with a median follow-up of 24 months from diagnosis: three patients relapsed after a median period of 7 months. The relapse-free survival was 92% after a median follow-up of 18 months. Blood and other organ toxicity was acceptable and 12% of patients experienced a grade 4 (WHO) neutropenia. In conclusion, MiCEP was effective in inducing a good remission rate with moderate toxic effects in elderly patients with intermediate- or high-grade NHL and appears to be a useful combination to use in this group of patients.

Current views and some suggestions about mutual influences of eye dipoles as revealed by EOG.

Electro-oculographic response is recorded from a number of normal subjects: one eye becomes adapted to light, while the contralateral one persists in its dark-adapted state. The viewing eye shows the expected light-induced amplification effect. The contralateral eye shows the expected "paradoxical' curve in 12 cases; in addition, a flat curve is found in 4 cases, and a curve running parallel to that recorded from the light-exposed eye is found in 8 cases. In agreement with a previous report, found in the literature, cortical bio-electrical activity (on-going EEG) also shows a light-induced amplification after the onset of an adapting field. This latter finding is once more confirmed by us. This fact, in conjunction with some recent psychophysical findings (Lansford and Baker effect) leads to infer that interocular EOG influences are mediated by other mechanisms, in addition to spread across facial tissues.

Colour discrimination in the frame of illuminating engineering. Effects of C and high-pressure Na sources at different illuminances.

Nowadays, people are encouraged to utilize colour information. In turn, the sources employed for both indoor and outdoor installations show a variegated gamut of spectral distributions. The colour rendering factor refers to the average observer, representative of the normal, young, adult, healthy population. In order to have an idea of the deviations from this ideal case, we have been undertaking a population study. The results up-to-date obtained by the use of the high pressure Na source are now briefly reported.