1,721,110 research outputs found
Association of serum polyclonal anti-GM1 IgM and anti-neurofilament antibodies with CSF oligoclonal bands in a young with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
No full textINTRODUCTION:
The significance of the association of motor neuron syndromes with anti-GM1 antibodies remains unclear. We report the immunological study of a juvenile case of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Serum anti-Gm1 and anti-neurofilament antibodies were assayed by ELISA and western blotting and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) isoelectrofocusing was performed. Immunocytochemical studies were carried out with the patient's serum and CSF on human brain and spinal cord sections.
RESULTS:
Serum polyclonal IgM anti-GM1, anti-neurofilament antibodies and CSF oligoclonal bands were detected. Furthermore, an in vitro production of anti-GM1 IgM was demonstrated. Immunocytochemical studies showed cytoplasm motor neuron immunostaining, due to both IgG and IgM, that substantially decreased after immunoabsorption of the serum with bovine neurofilament proteins but not with GM1-containing liposomes. No immunostaining was obtained with CSF. Immunosuppressive treatment with cyclophosphamide and two cycles of plasma exchanges lowered anti-GM1 antibody levels, but did not determine any clinical improvement.
CONCLUSION:
To our knowledge, this is the first report of ALS, associated with circulating levels and in vitro production of polyclonal IgM anti-GM1, anti-neurofilament antibodies and CSF oligoclonal bands. These findings suggest the occurrence in our patients of an autoimmune process that could be involved in the pathogenesis of ALS
Economic Backwardness in Political Perspective: Empirical Results for Developing Countries
No full textFreedom and the Pursuit of Happiness: An Economic and Political Perspective
No full textThis book is about the relationship between different concepts of freedom and happiness. The book's authors distinguish three concepts for which an empirical measure exists: opportunity to choose (negative freedom), capability to choose (positive freedom), and autonomy to choose (autonomy freedom). They also provide a comprehensive account of the relationship between freedom and well-being by comparing channels through which freedoms affect quality of life. The book also explores whether the different conceptions of freedom complement or replace each other in the determination of the level of well-being. In so doing, the authors make freedoms a tool for policy making and are able to say which conception is the most effective for well-being, as circumstances change. The results have implications for a justification of a free society: maximizing freedoms is good for its favorable consequences upon individual well-being, a fundamental value for the judgment of human advantage
Qualitative deficits of cognitive performance in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis correlate with T1 and T2 lesion burden on MRI
No full textSerum and CSF anti-GM1 antibodies in patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy
No full textHigh titers of antibodies directed against gangliosides, especially GM1, are found in the serum of patients with a variety of polyneuropathies, including those of the inflammatory type. We assayed anti-GM1 IgG and IgM levels in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 23 patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and 10 with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) to investigate whether this immune response may also be localized within the intrathecal compartment and correlate with clinical parameters such as time interval since disease onset, disability score, preceding infectious episodes, and GM1 therapy. When compared to the control group, anti-GM1 IgG was increased in the serum of 39% of GBS and 10% of CIDP patients, whereas anti-GM1 IgM was elevated in 17% of GBS and none of the CIDP patients. In both patient groups, however, anti-GM1 antibody levels were more frequently elevated in CSF than paired sera: they belonged to the IgG class in 48% of GBS and 50% of CIDP patients, and to the IgM class in 48% of GBS and 55% of CIDP patients. In the GBS group, anti-GM1 IgM serum levels inversely correlated with time elapsed between sample collection and onset of disease (P < 0.05), whereas serum anti-GM1 IgG levels positively correlated with the loss of functional ability (P < 0.005). Increased anti-GM1 antibodies in GBS serum were not associated with clinical or serological evidence of infectious antecedents nor with previous GM1 treatment
IL-6 detection in multiple sclerosis brain
No full textBy using a double-label immunohistochemistry technique, we demonstrated the presence of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in acute and chronic active plaques from the brain of six patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). IL-6 was mainly associated with astrocytes and rarely with macrophages or mononuclear infiltrating cells. The pattern of distribution for IL-6 immunoreactivity was similar to that of HLA-DR expression, but the two molecules almost never colocalized on the same cell. Our data indicate that in MS central nervous system IL-6 is predominantly located within resident glial cells which are concentrated at the sites of ongoing demyelination and immune activation. Although IL-6 exhibits several proinflammatory activities, indirect evidence suggests that the cytokine may also play an immunomodulatory role in inflammatory demyelinating disorders
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Algeri, crocevia per la diplomazia internazionale del FRELIMO nella guerra di liberazione in Mozambico
No full textDurante la guerra di indipendenza in Mozambico (1962–1975) dal regime coloniale portoghese, la leadership che assunse le redini del FRELIMO preval-se su altre componenti del nazionalismo mozambicano sia sul terreno di battaglia che nell’ambito della diplomazia internazionale. Il FRELIMO fu in grado di trovare il sostegno di una serie di governi africani in competizione tra di loro per influenzare gli esiti dei processi di decolonizzazione ancora in corso e mostrò una particolare abilità diplomatica nel contesto interna-zionale stringendo importanti alleanze trasversali ai meccanismi della guer-ra fredda. In questo percorso, l’Algeria neo–indipendente giocò un ruolo importante nell’addestrare i guerriglieri mozambicani, nell’accogliere una sede di rappresentanza del FRELIMO che agiva da centrale della sua diploma-zia internazionale durante gli anni ’60, e nel mettere in comunicazione il FRELIMO stesso con i movimenti di liberazione di altre colonie con cui strinse importanti alleanze in vista dell’indipendenza del paese
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