[Pulmonary calcification in vitamin D poisoning in an infant]. / Calcificazioni polmonari in corso di intossicazione da vitamina D in un bambino.

We describe the case of a child aged 11 months with vitamin D intoxication and hypercalcemia, who developed acute renal failure and dyspnea. Chest X-rays showed interstitial changes compatible with either pulmonary alveolar proteinosis or pulmonary edema. The hypercalcemia suggested the possibility of metastatic calcifications of the lung. This hypothesis was subsequently confirmed by the progressive disappearance of pulmonary findings as calcemic levels returned to normal values... Our report emphasize the opportunity of studying the respiratory system in each patient with hypercalcemia, whichever the etiology may be.

[Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia]. / Displasia ectodermica ipoidrotica.

The authors report a case of Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (Christ-Siemens-Touraine syndrome). Diagnosed at the age of 2 months.

Plaque dissociation of herpes simplex viruses: biochemical and biological characters of the viral variants.

Polycaryocytogenic (P) and non-polycaryocytogenic, or aggregating (A), stable variants were selected from a herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and from a herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV 2) which had not been deliberately exposed to known mutagenic agents. The P variant of HSV-1 (FP) differed from the A variant (FA) in polypeptides and glycoprotein patterns, but no gross differences were evident between the two variants of HSV-2 (GP and GA). Each P variant proved more 'specific' than each A variant in immune neutralization tests. At high multiplicity, GP produced polycaryocytes but FP did not. Virulence tests in mice showed FP to be much more virulent than FA but GA to be more virulent than GP. Finally, A and P variants of each type could not be differentiated with respect to thermal resistance of virons, capacity to grow at high temperature, and buoyant density of DNA.

Variability in the structural polypeptides of herpes simplex virus 1 strains: potential application in molecular epidemiology.

This paper reports on the variability of structural polypeptides of 53 strains of herpes simplex virus 1 isolated from Italy, Uganda, South Africa, and various locations in the United States. Most strains were passaged a limited number of times at low multiplicity outside the human host; a few strains were characterized by numberous passages at variable multiplicities in cell culture and experimental animals. The acrylamide gel electrophoresis of polypeptides from purified virions revealed seven variable polypeptides. Virion polypeptides (VP) 7, 11, 13, 14, 15.2 and 23 were present in at least two isotypic forms characterized by fast and slow electrophoretic mobilities. VP8 could not be detected in three strains. In addition, VP13, 15.2, and 23 in some strains were either absent or comigrated with other polypeptides. A variety of tests showed that the variability in electrophoretic mobility of polypeptides was reproducible and could not be attributed to artifacts of purification, solubilization, or electrophoresis. Attempts to classify the strains on the basis of electrophoretic mobility of five or all seven variable polypeptides yielded 14 and 19 groups, respectively. The bulk of the strains (41 to 53) fell into six groups. Not all possible permutations of variable polypeptides were observed. Comparison of early and late passages of laboratory strains showed that in the few instances tested the variability could not be attributed to the propagation of the virus outside the human host. Clustering of strains on the basis of country of origin was not observed. Some clustering of isolates on the basis of site of isolation was observed, and the data do suggest that further analyses of isolates for evidence of a correlation between the site of localization on the human body and the structural polypeptides might be useful. Electrophoretic characterization of structural polypeptides has the potential of becoming a powerful tool for epidemiological studies of herpes simplex virus infections.

[Studies of substances with antiviral activity. VI. Activity on Herpes simplex virus of bis-homoanalogs of nucleosides and of hydrazone derivatives of various aromatic substrates]. / Ricerche su sostanze ad attività antivirale. Nota VI - attività su virus dell'herpes simplex di bis-omoanaloghi di nucleosidi e di derivati idrazonici di alcuni substrati aromatici.

Derivatives of different chemical structures, namely hydrazones of aromatic compounds and bis-homoanalogues of pyrimidine and purine nucleosides, have been investigated for inhibiting activity on Herpes simplex virus infection of human HEp-2 cell cultures. Some thiosemicarbazones, nucleoside analogues and guanylhydrazones proved active [compounds (I), (II b), (II c), (III), (IV a), (IV b), (V a), (V b); Fig. 1]. An increase in the number of guanylhydrazone chains linked to a fluorene structure [from 1 to 3: compounds (II a), (II b) and (II c)] increased the "activity index" (i.e., toxic versus active concentrations: Table II). Further in vitro investigations have been carried out on bis-guanylhydrazone of 1-phenyl-2-chloro-3,7-diformylindole (I) and it was found that its activity is of the order of 1 microgram per ml (Fig. 3). The compound completely blocks low multiplicity infections while it only blocks cytopathogenicity, not viral replication, in high multiplicity infections.