Levantamento sorológico de Mycobacterium avium subesp. paratuberculosis em bovinos leiteiros no estado do Espírito Santo / Serological survey of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in dairy cattle in Espírito Santo state

The occurrence of antibodies to Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) was verified in dairy cattle from Espírito Santo state. A total of 1,450 serum samples were analyzed for antibodies anti-MAP, using ELISA. Dairy cattle, males and females, from four regions of Espírito Santo state were used. One hundred sixty-five (11.4 percent) samples were positive for anti-MAP, 33 (2.3 percent) were considered suspicious, and 1,252 (86.3 percent) were negative. In all regions, seropositive animals were found, indicating that the agent is spread by the State, posing a threat to the local dairy farming and neighboring states, as well as public health, since MAP can be involved with Crohn's disease in humans. This result presents the first serologic anti-MAP survey in dairy cattle of Espírito Santo State.

Central nervous system treatment in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Long-term follow-up of patients diagnosed between 1973 and 1985.

BACKGROUND: Despite advances in the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), optimal therapy of the central nervous system (CNS) remains controversial. METHODS: Between 1973 and 1985, 540 children with ALL (199 standard risk and 341 high risk) were treated on four protocols. RESULTS: The 7-year event-free survival rate (+/- standard error) was 62.1% (+/- 2.1) for the entire group: 71.8% (+/- 3.2) for standard-risk and 56.4% (+/- 2.7) for high-risk patients. Five hundred eighteen of the children entered complete remission and received cranial irradiation with intrathecal methotrexate for CNS treatment; 197 had standard-risk ALL and 321 had high-risk ALL. Thirty-one patients (5 standard risk and 26 high risk) had a CNS relapse with or without concurrent bone marrow relapse as an initial event, the latest of which was observed 49 months after complete remission. The cumulative incidence of CNS relapse was 6.0% (+/- 1.1) for the entire group: 2.5% (+/- 1.1) for standard-risk and 8.2% (+/- 1.5) for high-risk patients (P = 0.01). CNS recurrence of leukemia, whether as an "isolated" site or a "combined" site of relapse, was a major adverse event. Only 4 of 31 patients were alive for 25+, 28+, 54+, and 71+ months after a CNS relapse. The median survival time after CNS relapse was 22 months: 21 months for the 20 patients who had an isolated CNS relapse, and 23 months for the 11 patients who had a CNS relapse concurrent with a recurrence in other sites. CONCLUSIONS: Although attempts to diminish CNS treatment-related morbidity are warranted for standard-risk patients, the authors recommend that intensive CNS treatment be enhanced for the high-risk patients because CNS relapses continue to occur in this population. Furthermore, CNS relapse after cranial irradiation was associated with a very poor prognosis and needs to be treated as intensively as a bone marrow relapse.

The sites of hormone storage in normal and diseased parathyroid glands: a silver impregnation and immunohistochemical study.

The results of Grimelius' silver impregnation method and of two immunohistochemical methods for the demonstration of the sites of storage of parathyroid hormone (PTH) were compared in a series of parathyroid glands from 39 patients affected by either hyperplasia or adenoma and from 10 normal subjects. An indirect immunoperoxidase method using an anti-bovine PTH serum gave unsatisfactory results. In contrast a biotin-streptavidin immunoperoxidase method using an antibody against the 44-68 amino acid sequence of human PTH yielded similar results to those with Grimelius' silver impregnation method. This supports the view that argyrophil granules correspond to the secretory granules of PTH. The degree of silver impregnation, however, varied considerably in duplicate sections, probably because of difficulties in standardization of the Grimelius' method. The biotin-streptavidin method appeared more sensitive and was reproducible. The immunohistochemical demonstration of PTH may prove useful in defining the sites of hormone storage in normal and pathological conditions.

Spirochetes in the spleen of a patient with chronic Lyme disease.

A 54-year-old man had intermittent evening fever, arthralgia, transient erythematous macular eruption on the skin, and splenomegaly of two year's duration. Immunofluorescence tests for Borrelia burgdorferi serum antibodies had positive results, but G-penicillin treatment was ineffective. Splenectomy with lymph node biopsy was performed to rule out lymphoproliferative disorders. Borrelia-like spirochetes were identified histologically in the spleen; this finding was consistent with persistence of B. burgdorferi organisms in inner organs in chronic Lyme disease.

Epithelia of endodermal derivation in teratomas.

This work is concerned with the histological features of endoderma-derived epithelia in a series of 48 benign teratomas. The intestine-type epithelium had the histochemical characteristics of that of the large intestine. It occasionally showed argentaffin cells, Paneth cells and accessory structures, such as a basement membrane, bundles of smooth muscle fibers and lymphoid aggregates including IgA-secreting plasma cells. In a teratoma, there was transitional-type epithelium. The respiratory-type epithelium included the basic cell types of the normotopic. It often rested on a basement membrane, and was occasionally surrounded by seromucous glands, cartilage plaques, muscle fibers and lymphoid aggregates.

Pulmonary toxicity in mice after high-dose methotrexate administration with and without leucovorin rescue.

Interstitial lung lesions were induced in mice by high-dose methotrexate with high frequency. They appeared early after treatment; their onset, evolution and recovery parallelled those of lesions to the hemopoietic tissues and the intestine. The pathogenesis of methotrexate lung toxicity in mice is discussed. Leucovorin rescue was ineffective in preventing the lung lesions induced by high-dose methotrexate.

Microglia in teratomas.

Using an ammoniacal silver nitrate stain, we have demonstrated typical microglial cells in three teratomas. Microglia appeared identical to their counterparts in the mature human brain, both resting and slightly hypertrophic types being present in differentiated nervous tissue, which also comprised astrocytes, neurones and ependyma. The implications of the presence of microglia with ectodermal derivatives in teratomas are discussed.

[Intraoperative cyto-histologic analysis in exocrine carcinoma of the pancreas; relation to choice of therapy]. / Indagine cito-istologica intraoperatoria nel carcinoma esocrino del pancreas; rapporto con la scelta terapeutica.

The Authors analyze the various cyto-histology techniques of investigation during surgical operation in the exocrine cancer of the pancreas, both on the results reported in literature and on their experiences based on a sample of 44 patients. They Authors, at the conclusion, single out the preferential technique in the citology by fine needle biopsy, for its reliability, practicality and lack of any complication.

Heterotopic liver tissue with micronodular cirrhosis. A case report.

At the autopsy of a 64-year-old man, a small ectopic liver lobe without biliary drainage was found in the retroperitoneum. Both the liver and the ectopic lobe showed micronodular cirrhosis. In the latter, biliary hyperplasia and bile plugs were also seen.