Stevens - johnson syndrome in chronic myeloid leukemia.

A case of Stevens - Johnson syndrome in a 48-year old woman not responding to conventional corticosteroid therapy which on subsequent investigations was found to be having chronic myeloid leukaemia. Patient improved with concomitant administration of busulphan therapy. Stevens - Johnson syndrome presentation in chronic myeloid leukaemia is rare.

Immunoglobulin subclass distribution and diagnostic value of Leishmania donovani antigen-specific immunoglobulin G3 in Indian kala-azar patients.

Visceral leishmaniasis, or kala-azar, a fatal tropical disease, remains problematic, as early diagnosis is difficult and treatment often results in drug resistance and relapse. We have developed a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), using leishmanial membrane antigenic extracts (LAg) to detect specific antibody responses in 25 untreated Indian visceral leishmaniasis patients. To investigate the pathogenetic significance of isotype markers in kala-azar, relative levels of specific immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgM, IgA, IgE, and IgG subclasses were analyzed under clinically established diseased conditions. Since LAg showed higher sensitivity for specific IgG than lysate, the immunoglobulin isotype responses were evaluated, with LAg as antigen. Compared to 60 controls, which included patients with malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, and typhoid and healthy subjects, visceral leishmaniasis patients showed significantly higher IgG (100% sensitivity, 85% specificity), IgM (48% sensitivity, 100% specificity), and IgE (44% sensitivity, 98.3% specificity) responses. Low levels of IgA in visceral leishmaniasis patients contrasted with a 13-fold-higher reactivity in sera from patients with leprosy. Among IgG subclasses, IgG1, -3, and -4 responses were significantly higher in visceral leishmaniasis patients than in the controls. IgG2 response, however, was significantly higher (twofold) in leprosy than even visceral leishmaniasis patients. The rank orders for sensitivity (IgG = IgG1 = IgG3 = IgG4 > IgG2 > IgM > IgE > IgA) and specificity (IgM = IgG3 > IgE > IgG4 > IgG2 > IgG > IgG1 > IgA) for LAg-specific antibody responses suggest the potentiality of IgG3 as a diagnostic marker for visceral leishmaniasis.

Is PGL-1 also present in Leishmania donovani promastigotes?

A soluble antigen complex (SAC) derived from the ruptured promastigotes of Leishmania donovani parasites (LD-SAC) was used for complement fixation test (CFT) in leprosy Cases of tuberculoid and borderline tuberculoid leprosy, post-kala azar dermal leishmaniasis (TT, BT, PKDL) and control sera gave negative CFT. Smear-positive cases of borderline (BB, BL) and lepromatous (LL) leprosy and drug-resisting cases of pulmonary tuberculosis gave positive CFT; smear-negative cases of LL leprosy sera also gave positive CFT. Sera of smear-negative inactive LL patients contained only PGL-1 and PDIM antigens for a long time after they become inactive. Therefore, the positive CFT in inactive LL makes us suspect whether PGL-1 is present in LD promastigotes.

"Immunoperoxidase" an essential modality of immunohistochemistry.

The immunoperoxide (IP) technique can be used for the detection of immune deposits in various tissue pathologies. This article focusses on the standardization of the reagents anti IgG, anti IgA and anti C3C which are used to target these immune deposits. Lymph node tissue was used as substrate for standardization of anti IgG and anti IgM. For anti IgA, intestine was used while for anti C3C kidney tissue rapidly proliferating glomerulo nephritis - RPGN was utilized. Sensitivity of the technique was found to be high. Also the results on paraffin section were excellent and could be interpreted using simple light microscope. It is concluded that once standardization is achieved, IP can be used as an essential modality in the detection of immune deposits in a wide variety of immunologically mediated dermatologic disorders.

Cutaneous horn overlying psoriasis.

A 32-year old man presented with erythematous papulosquamous lesions on the body with multiple horns of varying size and shape on scalp.

Scleredema-some Unusual Features.

Two cases of adult scletedema have been reported. The unusual electrocardiographic features and association with pulmonary tuberculosis in these cases of scleredema are described. The salient features have been highlighted and relevant literature has been reviewed.

Antileprotic action of an extract from "Anantamul' (Hemidesmus Indicus R. Br.).

Evaluation of antileprotic activity of indigenous drugs has of late become important. With this idea "Anantamul' an indigenous drug was for the first time tested on mice infected with M. leprae. The results are interesting and encouraging. There seems to be a definite evidence in support of the drug causing a delay in multiplication of organisms in the mouse foot-pads.

Quantitative evaluation of the progress of intracellular infection in vitro: incorporation of 3H-thymidine into deoxyribonucleic acid by Mycobacterium leprae in cultivated blood monocytes.

Growth of intracellular parasites such as Mycobacterium leprae in macrophages derived from human peripheral blood monocytes can be assessed by selective incorporation of [methyl-(3)H]thymidine into deoxyribonucleic acid of the bacterial cells. The radioactive precursor is not taken up by the host cells, and evidence has been presented for its incorporation into bacteria. The procedure is sensitive, reproducible, and highly quantitative.