[Radiological findings in patients with perennial allergic rhinitis]. / Hallazgos radiológicos en pacientes con rinitis alérgica perenne.

BACKGROUND: Rhinitis is clinically defined by obstruction, sneezing, pruritus and rhinorrhea. MATERIAL AND METHOD: There were studied 69 consecutive patients, from clinical immunology and allergy service of Hospital de Especialidades del Centro Medico Nacional Siglo XXI. RESULTS: 53 of them were women and 16 were men, all of them with ages between 15 and 55 years. They all had perennial allergic rhinitis, 50.7% of them had atopy, 47.8%, asthma as an added disease, 27.5%, nasal polyposis and 44.9%, sinusitis, in maxillary sinus 59.9%, in ethmoid 36.2% in 7.2% frontal. With septal deviation 33.3%, in 7.2% septal deviation with spur, obstruction of the osteomeatal complex in 4.3%, turbinate hypertrophy in 53.5%, polyps in 27.5% and bullous conchae in 7.2%. The diagnosis was performed by axial computerized tomography of paranasal sinuses. The chi square determined the association between structural alterations and the presence of sinusitis, with p = 0.001, with close relation between allergic rhinitis and sinusitis. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis and appropriate treatment proved to be very important in handling this disease.

Calmodulin binding proteins in the membrane vesicles released during the acrosome reaction and in the perinuclear material in isolated acrosome reacted sperm heads.

Calmodulin has been suggested as the Ca(2+)-mediator in diverse cellular functions via its interaction with a number of proteins in a calcium-dependent manner. Its participation in the acrosome reaction has been suggested based on its localization in the acrosome region, on the effects produced by calmodulin antagonists, and by the changes in calmodulin compartmentation observed to occur throughout guinea pig acrosome reaction. To define the role of calmodulin in the membrane fusion events that occur during the acrosome reaction, the identification of calmodulin-binding proteins, by the overlay technique with biotinylated or unmodified calmodulin, was made in the following sperm fractions: in the membrane vesicles released during the acrosome reaction, in the remaining perinuclear material of acrosome reacted sperm heads and in a total membrane fraction from intact spermatozoa. The membrane vesicles released after the acrosome reaction showed four major calmodulin-binding proteins, M(r)s 66, 95, 97 and 110 kDa. The perinuclear material showed a 31-34, 43 and 97 kDa calmodulin-binding polypeptides. The membrane fraction from intact sperm showed eleven calmodulin-binding proteins, M(r)s between 14-110 kDa. Most of the binding proteins detected by this method corresponded to the class of calcium-independent calmodulin-binding proteins but proteins which only interacted with calmodulin in a calcium-inhibited mode were also observed. No calcium-dependent calmodulin-binding proteins were detected in any of the fractions studied. A possible role of these binding proteins in calmodulin compartmentation is discussed. The potential role of these binding proteins in membrane fusion and in membrane receptor localization in the postacrosomal region remain to be defined.

Incidence, epidemiology and control of bovine virus diarrhoea virus in South America.

Outbreaks of diarrhoea associated with mucosal erosions of the mouth, tongue and digestive tract, clinically diagnosed as bovine virus diarrhoea-mucosal disease (BVD-MD), have been reported in Argentina and Brazil since the 1960's. However, primary isolation of the virus of BVD-MD is fairly recent, occurring in 1974 for Brazil, 1984 for Argentina, 1985 for Chile and 1981 for Colombia. In Argentina both cytopathogenic and non-cytopathogenic BVD virus strains have been identified. Elsewhere in South America this differentiation does not seem to have been carried out. Serological surveys have confirmed the existence of BVD virus infection in six countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay), with an incidence rate ranging between 37 and 77% of cattle in the areas surveyed. Diarrhoea in calves between 3 and 18 months of age, often associated with mucosal erosions, has been the most commonly observed syndrome. In some cases an upper respiratory tract involvement was described. In one epizootic, in the Sabana de Bogota plateau of Colombia, reproductive failure associated with abortions or birth of weak calves was the main clinical syndrome.