Algorithm for prediction of reconvalescent salmonellosis carriage

Of total of 181 patients with Salmonella infection were examined by clinical and laboratory methods. As many as 124 indices characterizing biological properties of Salmonellae, a large intestine microbiocenosis status, systemic and local immunity, were investigated as well. Among these indices, the most revealing signs were defined to prognosticate the reconvalescent carrier state. Conclusion was made on the prevalence of immune mechanisms in the development of reconvalescent salmonella carriage and on the important role of the ability of a causative agent to inactivate the factors of host innate immunity in this process. Diagnostic prognosis algorithm for Salmonella bacterial carriage was worked out. Clinical testing confirmed its effectiveness.     

Correlation between mixed lymphocyte cultures and anti-Epstein Barr virus (EBV) antibodies in Hodgkin's disease and non Hodgkin lymphoma patients

Cellular and humoral immunity was examined in Hodgkin's disease and non Hodgkin lymphoma (33) patients and compared with a normal group. Mixed lymphocyte cultures (MLC) were used as parameter for cell mediated immunity and anti-Epstein Barr virus (EBV) antibodies for specific humoral immunity. High stimulation indices coincided with low anti-VCA and anti-EBNA titers in the control group (r = -0.343). This negative correlation was not found in non Hodgkin lymphomas and was substantially lower (r = -0.142) in Hodgkin's disease. The alterations in immunoregulatory mechanisms in these patients are discussed.     

联合疗法对慢性乙型肝炎患者红细胞免疫功能的影响

目的观察拉米夫定与氧化苦参碱单用及联合治疗对慢性乙型肝炎(CHB)患者红细胞免疫功能的影响.方法 77例CHB患者随机分成拉米夫定组、氧化苦参碱组和两者联合治疗组,分别对其红细胞膜CD35、CD44s分子定量、红细胞天然免疫粘附功能(CR1分子粘附活性)、红细胞CR1分子密度相关基因型进行测定.结果各组CHB患者红细胞粘附肿瘤细胞能力治疗后较治疗前明显上升(P＜0.05);3组药物对CHB患者红细胞CR1和CD44s分子数量有明显提高作用(P＜0.01),联合组最显著;77例CHB患者治疗前后CR1分子密度相关基因多态性表达型别比率无变化,但CR1分子数量发生明显变化(P＜0.05).结论联合疗法可明显提高CHB患者红细胞免疫功能.     

Changes of cell mediated immunity in malignant ovarian tumor patients after operation

OBJECTIVES: The authors discuss upon the changes in the two cell types involved in cell mediated immunity (Killer and Natural Killer) as a result of operation in malignant ovarian tumor atients. METHODS: They study the preoperative and postoperative cell mediated immunity of 28 malignant cystadenocarcinoma cases (FIGO stage I/a-III/c). To determine the maximum K and NK cell activity they used the kinetic model of cytotoxicity enzyme. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: They conclude that operation of malignant ovarian tumors had no significant influence on K and NK cell activity. They hypothesize that unchanged cell mediated immunity seems to be independent of malignant tumors, especially in these conditions. We need further information about this change of cell mediated immunity.     

Cellular immunity in experimental infections caused by Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium scrofulaceum

The cell-mediated immunity was assessed in guinea pigs with experimental infection induced by Mycobacterium avium and M. scrofulaceum. It is established that the cell immunity indices in vitro correlate with the spread and gravity of the pathological process as well as with the tension of the immunological reactivity of the organism.     

Antibiotic therapy of acute dysentery in children with immunologic deficiency conditions

One hundred children with acute Sonnei and flexneri dysentery were followed up with respect to the infection process and main immunity indices. In 32 children the immunity indices were physiological (group 1) and in 68 children secondary immune deficiency was observed (group 2). The children were treated with aminoglycoside antibiotics and prodigiozan and it was stated that the time of recovery in the children with immune deficiency was longer by 5.2 days as compared to that in the children without immune deficiency. In the children with immune deficiency the combined use of one of the aminoglycosides, prodigiozan and lysozyme, led to a reduction of the host immunological reactivity and recovery within the same periods as those recorded for children with the physiological immunity status. It is recommended to use the antibiotic combination with prodigiozan and lysozyme in the treatment of all the forms of dysentery in children with secondary immune deficiency.     

Immunity in sportsmen

Generalization and analysis of literature data on the state of nonspecific defense and immunity in sportsmen has demonstrated that moderate physical and psycho-emotional loads promote stimulation and normalization of nonspecific defense and immunity; intensive subextreme and extreme loads of modern sport, exceeding functional possibilities of the organism, cause inhibition of a number of indices of nonspecific defense, T- and B- systems of immunity. The necessity of using immunological methods in hygienic norm-setting of training loads has been pointed out.     

Personality and innate immune defenses in a wild bird: Evidence for the pace-of-life hypothesis

We tested the two main evolutionary hypotheses for an association between immunity and personality. The risk-of-parasitism hypothesis predicts that more proactive (bold, exploratory, risk-taking) individuals have more vigorous immune defenses because of increased risk of parasite exposure. In contrast, the pace-of-life hypothesis argues that proactive behavioral styles are associated with shorter lifespans and reduced investment in immune function. Mechanistically, associations between immunity and personality can arise because personality differences are often associated with differences in condition and stress responsiveness, both of which are intricately linked with immunity. Here we investigate the association between personality (measured as proactive exploration of a novel environment) and three indices of innate immune function (the non-specific first line of defense against parasites) in wild superb fairy-wrens Malurus cyaneus. We also quantified body condition, hemoparasites (none detected), chronic stress (heterophil:lymphocyte ratio) and circulating corticosterone levels at the end of the behavioral test (CORT, in a subset of birds). We found that fast explorers had lower titers of natural antibodies. This result is consistent with the pace-of-life hypothesis, and with the previously documented higher mortality of fast explorers in this species. There was no interactive effect of exploration score and duration in captivity on immune indices. This suggests that personality-related differences in stress responsiveness did not underlie differences in immunity, even though behavioral style did modulate the effect of captivity on CORT. Taken together these results suggest reduced constitutive investment in innate immune function in more proactive individuals.     

Seasonal redistribution of immune function in a migrant shorebird: annual-cycle effects override adjustments to thermal regime

Throughout the annual cycle, demands on competing physiological systems change, and animals must allocate resources to maximize fitness. Immune function is one such system and is important for survival. Yet detailed empirical data tracking immune function over the entire annual cycle are lacking for most wild animals. We measured constitutive immune indices once a month for a year on captive red knots (Calidris canutus). We also examined temperature as an environmental contributor to immune variation by manipulating ambient temperature to vary energy expenditure. To identify relationships among immune indices, we performed principal-component analysis. We found significant repeatability in immune indices over the annual cycle and covariation of immune indices within and among individuals. This covariation suggests immune strategies as individual traits among individuals and the use of different immune strategies during different annual-cycle stages within individuals. Over the annual cycle, both higher-cost phagocyte-based immunity and lower-cost lymphocyte-based immunity were high during mass change, but there was a clear shift toward lower-cost lymphocyte-based immunity during peak molt. Experimental manipulation of temperature had little effect on annual variation in immune function. This suggests that other environmental factors, such as food availability and disease, should also be examined in the future.     

Age-related Features of Circadian Dynamics of Velocity of Reaction to Visual Stimuli in 8- to 14-Year-Old Boys

Studying individual circadian psychophysiological rhythms in children and adolescents, the authors showed that different rhythmological indices, such as fluctuation amplitude, mean level, and rhythm phase, change with age in different manners. Changes in one or more of these indices reflect a complex stagewise process of the formation of functions in human ontogeny. Additionally, a mismatch between individual and social (school load) rhythms may result in desynchronosis.     

Influence of physical loading on the content of intestinal microflora endotoxin in blood plasma and immunity indices to endotoxin

The content of endotoxin of Gram-negative bacteria and humoral and granulocytic immunity indices to endotoxin in sportsmen and untrained persons before and after undergoing physical load were studied. The study revealed that prior to physical load the content of intestinal microflora endotoxin in the blood stream of volunteer students increased and the humoral immunity indices to endotoxin decreased. Judging by the content of cortisol in the blood, the state of stress increased after a physical load. In the groups with good adaptation a decreased endotoxin content in the blood stream was noted, especially 24 hours after load. On the contrary, in the groups with dysadaptation the content of endotoxin in blood plasma increased after a load and was accompanied by a decrease in antibody titers and in the reserve of leukocytes capable of binding endotoxin.     

Certain aspects of clinically mild, non-tropical chyluria

Chyluria despite pseudo- banality may pose several diagnostic and therapeutical problems. Its etiopathogenesis is unclear, too. Prolonged loss of the lymph observed in patients with chyluria due to inherited anomalies of lymphatic system may lead to serious deficits and homeostasis disorders. Basing on these thesis, the authors present two patients with chyluria due to inherited anomaly of extraperitoneal lymphatic system and review available literature. Particular role in the clinical follow-up of these patients plays their immunologic status. The authors did note deficiency of cell-mediated immunity measured with skin tests and lymphocyte T blastic transformation test, and increasing IgG deficit, and particularly annoying IgA deficit in the patient with long-lasting, massive chyluria.     

Immunological precursors of influenza epidemics]

The authors studied the immuno-epidemiological manifestations of ciculation and variability of the influenza virus during the periods preceding the officiallly recorded rise of the incidence of this disease. The following epidemic precursors were revealed: a) an increase of the number of persons who fell sick with subclinical form of the disease, accompanied by a rise in the population of the antibody level to the type of influenza virus whose latest variant later caused an epidemic morbidity elevation; b) a progressive predominance of the causative agent of the developing epidemic in the etiology of influenza; c) a growth of the collective immunity indices from the "minimal" to the "critical" levels; d) an increase of the sero-conversion multiplicity and of the antibody level in those who sustained the disease during the epidemic development. These precursors could be revealed at the period of from 1 1/2 to 6 months before the beginning of the morbidity growth caused by viruses of endogenous or of exogenous origin.     

Incorporating parasite systematics in comparative analyses of variation in spleen mass and testes sizes of rodents

Parasite diversity is hypothesized to act on host life-history traits through investment in immunity. In order to incorporate the diversity of the parasite community that an individual host or a host species may face, two indices can be used: Taxonomic Species Richness and Taxonomic Entropy, where the taxonomic information is incorporated with the taxonomic weight. We tested whether these indices correlate with several morphological traits potentially implicated in immune defence and in reproduction, using data on gastrointestinal helminths and their rodent hosts sampled in Southeast Asia. We found no relationship between parasite diversity indices and either spleen mass or testes size at the intraspecific level, i.e. at the level of individuals. At the interspecific level, we found no relationship between the parasite diversity indices and testes size. However, we found that female spleen mass is significantly influenced by the specific species richness of parasites, whereas male spleen mass is influenced by individual mean parasite diversity indices. We concluded that female spleen mass may have evolved in response to gastrointestinal helminth pressure acting at species levels, while in males, the individual spleen mass could be constrained by other factors, such as the blood storage function of the spleen.     

Serum vibriolytic activity as an index of antibacterial immunity in cholera

As a result of study of the vibriolytic activity of the serum during the immunity formation in the vaccinated animals in comparison with the specific antibodies titres and nonspecific immunity factors (complement and lysozyme) there was revealed a dependence of the reaction on the vaccine dose and the immunization method; there was also found a relationship between the vibriolytic activity and the serological indices in the sera of volunteers. On the basis of study a conclusion was drawn that the vibriolytic activity of the serum could serve as an index of antibacterial immunity in cholera.     

Do immunological,endocrine and metabolic traits fall on a single Pace‐of‐Life axis? Covariation and constraints among physiological systems

Variation in demographic and physiological attributes of life history is thought to fall on one single axis, a phenomenon termed the Pace-of-Life. A slow Pace-of-Life is characterized by low annual reproduction, long life span and low metabolic rate, a fast Pace-of-Life by the opposite characteristics. The existence of a single axis has been attributed to constraints among physiological mechanisms that are thought to restrict evolutionary potential. In that case, physiological traits should covary in the same fashion at the levels of individual organisms and species. We examined covariation at the levels of individual and subspecies in three physiological systems (metabolic, endocrine and immune) using four stonechat subspecies with distinct life-history strategies in a common-garden set-up. We measured basal metabolic rate, corticosterone as endocrine measure and six measures of constitutive immunity. Metabolic rate covaried with two indices of immunity at the individual level, and with corticosterone concentrations and one index of immunity at the subspecies level, but not with other measures. The different patterns of covariation among individuals and among subspecies demonstrate that links among physiological traits are loose and suggest that these traits can evolve independent of each other.     

Effect of hypoxic hypoxia on immune reactivity and some factors of nonspecific resistance of humans and animal organisms]

Evidences available in home and foreign literature concerning the effect of normobaric hypoxia, adaptation to mountain climate conditions and trainings in barochamber on cellular and humoral indices of immunity have been critically considered. The data on the influence of permanent residence under mountain conditions on the level of sickness rate of population, bioenergy indices, and activity of the opiate brain system have been studied as well. The analyzed data indicate that it is expedient to use normobaric hypoxia for effects on the state of immunic organism system.     

Serotypes of Candida albicans isolated from HIV positive patients.

Twenty-one HIV-positive patients in different stages of the disease were studied to evaluate candidosis in the oral cavity. All patients in clinical category C were infected with Candida. The most frequently observed clinical forms were pseudomembranous and hypertrophic, in contrast to reports by other authors. Candida albicans was the species isolated in these HIV-positive patients. Alterations of cell-mediated immunity were reflected in the negativity of intradermal test. The predominant serotype of C. albicans in these patients was A, in agreement with what has been found in non-immunosuppressed patients in Venezuela. There was no correlation between the serotype of C. albicans and the clinical forms of candidosis. Based in our results and those of other authors, no conclusions can be drawn concerning a particular serotype as an indicator of immunosuppression.     

Disruption of the mechanisms of natural immunity in the initial stage of adjuvant disease in rats and guinea pigs

Similar changes in the nonspecific immunity indices were noted in experiments on rats and guinea pigs with adjuvant disease: depression of blood serum bactericidal activity and increase of the lysozyme and complement level, as well as inhibition of the phagocytic activity of leukocytes and production of normal antibodies to O- and Vi-antigens of typhoid bacilli in rats. Changes in disturbances of natural immunity factors in adjuvant disease correlated with the severity of the process in both animal species.     

Application of Beaufils' diagnostic indices to maize data published in the literature irrespective of age and conditions

Recently Beaufils published a monograph entitled Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) in which he presented complete details of his experimental approach and calibration technique for making fertilizer and other practice recommendations for crops. The relevant literature on maize published by various workers throughout the world is studied in an attempt to show the general validity of this particular system. The data of various workers have been recalculated in terms of DRIS indices from which it can be shown that these indices introduce a distinct refinement in foliar diagnosis. This refinement consists in being able to diagnose intensities of plant requirements in terms of yield responses for any particular nutrient at any stage of plant growth. In all cases DRIS indices have been superior to those criteria used by the various authors in diagnosing nutrient requirements and uptake in maize. re]19750922