[Serum lysosomal hydrolases in various forms of scleroderma]. / Hydrolases lysosomiques sériques au cours des différentes formes de sclérodermie.

The activities of several lysosomal hydrolases (beta-galactosidase, beta-hexosaminidase, alpha-mannosidase, beta-glucuronidase and acid phosphatase) were determined in serum and blood lymphocytes from patients affected with scleroderma. Statistical comparisons between means of patient and control groups (Student's t test) showed a significant difference in serum beta-galactosidase and acid phosphatase between patients and controls (serum beta-galactosidase: 36.5 +/- 22 nmol/h/ml in the scleroderma group versus 24 +/- 13 nmol/h/ml in the control group; serum acid phosphatase 853 +/- 345 nmol/h/ml in the scleroderma group versus 634 +/- 295 nmol/h/ml in the control group). These differences were significant (p less than 0.01). Both enzyme activities were also significantly increased in the group with systemic scleroderma, but the difference was less in the group with localized scleroderma (this is discussed in terms of statistics and pathophysiology). The other enzyme activities determined were not significantly modified. The validity of these results is discussed, together with their diagnostic value and with the pathophysiological hypotheses put forward to explain the high levels found.

Biological appraisal of liver status in adenocarcinomas.

A prospective study of the ability of laboratory tests to detect or to exclude hepatic metastases was performed. Seventy-four patients who underwent liver biopsies were divided into 3 groups: 1) 33 patients with secondary liver involvement from adenocarcinoma; 2) 21 subjects suffering from a non-malignant hepatic disease, and 3) 20 cancerous patients free of overt hepatic metastases. They were investigated with 7 laboratory tests. No single test had a positive predictive value higher than 75%. This percentage was increased to 84% by combining the results of both CEA and rapidly migrating liver alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme ALP 1. More important was the fact that when those parameters were both normal, the negative predictive value was 93%, thus tending to exclude a liver metastatic involvement with an acceptable confidence limit.

[Food consumption of children eating lunch in school restaurants]. / Consommation alimentaire des enfants au cours du repas de midi pris en restaurants scolaires.

In order to study the dietary intakes of children having lunch at school, 150 children were observed: 60 aged 5-6 years, 60 aged 9-10 years and 30, aged 5-13 years, attending 5 different schools (4 in town, 1 in the country). The estimation of spontaneous ingesta was made according to the weighing method. Energizing rations, the percentages of caloric intakes, the amounts of total, animal and vegetal lipids, of total carbohydrates and pure carbohydrates, of total, animal and vegetal proteins were estimated for each meal and each child. The analysis of these ingesta suggests that the dietary habits of children at school is a major factor of nutritional lack of balance, much more important than that related with the quality of the proposed food.

[Gamma-glutamyl-transferase and alcohol (author's transl)]. / Gamma-glutamyl transférase et alcool.

In most human, chronic alcohol intake induces an intense increase of serum Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase (GGT) ; this increase can be used to detect excessive alcohol drinkers, to evaluate daily consumption and to monitor therapy. The exact mechanism of increased serum GGT cannot yet be explained either by human or experimental animal biology : liver induction and/or decreased stability of the membranes of the hepatocytes.

HLA-a, B typing in Basque and other Pyrenean populations.

Fourteen HLA-A and 18 HLA-B antigens were studied in three samples of Pyrenean populations: 198 unrelated individuals of a "Pays Basque" group; 212 non-Basque individuals from a valley in Bearn, l'Ouzom; and 73 non-Basque individuals from the neighboring valley of Bareges. The results in the Basque and the non-Basque people from l'Ouzom were comparable: the gene frequencies of HLA-A29, Aw19.2, B17 were increased and the haplotypes HLA-Aw19.2, B18; A29, B12; A2, B5; A1, B17 were found frequently with a striking linkage disequilibrium; HLA-B18 had an increased gene frequency in all these Pyrenean populations, while Bw35 was frequent in l'Ouzom and Bareges, but not among the Basques. The characteristics of Bareges were very different: the gene frequencies of HLA-A2, A11, B7 were increased while the frequency of HLA-B5 was low; the most characteristic haplotypes were HLA-A2, B12; A2, B18; A11, Bw35; A11, B27. It is interesting to note discrepancies between ethnic and HLA classification of the Basques and the non-Basque population of l'Ouzom. The HLA characteristics are quite different in the Hareges sample, more closely resembling those of Northern Europe.

[Contribution to the definition of reference values in the hare: hematology -- blood biochemistry (author's transl)]. / Contribution à la définition de valeurs de référence chez le lièvre: hématologie -- biochimie sanguine.

The following hematological and biochemical reference values were determined in 150 hares: hematocrit, blood count and leucocytic formula, Na, K, Cl, P, Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn, glucose, urea, creatinine, uric acid, cholesterol, bilirubin, triglycerides, proteins and fractions, PAL, PAC, TGO, TGP, amylase, GGT, LDH. Once the effects of sex and age have been established, the references defined here will be used as a base for interpreting disturbances linked either to pathology or nutrition.