Spine injuries in combat troops--Panama, 1989.

Operation Just Cause was until recently the largest American combat operation since Vietnam, and remains the largest nighttime parachute operation since World War II. All 252 casualties were airlifted to San Antonio, Texas, for medical treatment. Greater than 80% sustained orthopedic injuries. Sixteen patients were admitted for injuries to the back or neck. Three of the four patients with significant fractures or fracture-dislocations were paraplegic. Two of the three patients with gunshot wounds to the back required extensive reconstruction for wound management. In addition to the 252 casualties, there were 23 fatalities, among whom 7 suffered major injuries to the spine. Spine injuries represented the most significant source of long-term morbidity among those soldiers wounded in combat in Panama, and were common among the fatalities. Noteworthy in these cases was the high percentage of severe neurologic injuries in patients with significant fractures (75%), particularly fractures associated with gunshot wounds. Also of interest were the cases of major soft tissue injury associated with high-velocity gunshot wounds (66%) and the extensive soft tissue surgery needed to treat these injuries.

Immune complex glomerulonephritis in experimental kala-azar. II: Detection and characterization of parasite antigens and antibodies eluted from kidneys of Leishmania donovani-infected hamsters.

In a previous report analysing kidney sections by immunofluorescence we showed that hamsters infected with L. donovani develop a glomerulonephritis (GN) associated with deposition of hamster immunoglobulins and parasite antigens in the glomeruli. In this study we characterize these immune components eluted from the kidneys. The eluted immunoglobulins showed specificity for L. donovani antigens and hamster immunoglobulins (rheumatoid factor-like activity). The four isotypes IgG1, IgG2, IgA and IgM were detected. Several L. donovani antigens were detected in the renal eluates by Western blot and immunoprecipitation using 125I-labelled eluates. Proteins with mol. wt of 134, 82, 52, 31, and 26 kD were detected by Western blot and proteins with 134, 110, 93, 89 and 48 kD were detected by immunoprecipitation. With the exception of the 134 kD protein which was recognized by both rabbit anti-promastigote and rabbit anti-amastigote sera all the others were recognized only by the anti-amastigote serum. The 134 kD protein was the only one isolated from the kidneys of infected hamster immunocomplexed with IgG and was the only one detected in a promastigote lysate using IgG from L. donovani-infected hamsters.