Angiotensin-converting enzyme activity in sarcoidosis is regarded both as a diagnostic feature and as an index of disease activity. Increased activity of this enzyme is thought to parallel macrophage and epithelioid cell activity. Beta-2-microglobulin, a low-molecular-weight protein associated with the histocompatibility antigens, is thought to reflect activation of immunocompetent cells, parti...

Here we report what is to our knowledge the first identified Japanese family afflicted by X-linked myopathy with excessive autophagy. The index case is a 52-year-old man with almost 40years of progressive proximal muscle weakness. High urinary β2 microglobulin, normal serum β2 microglobulin, autophagic vacuoles with sarcolemmal features, and a hemizygous c.164-7T>G mutation in the VMA21 gene we...

The results of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biochemical markers were compared with conventional CSF cytology in patients treated for leptomeningeal metastases from extra cranial malignancies. For lumbar CSF, before treatment, no statistically significant difference of the probabilities of being positive was found between CSF cytology and a classification by linear discriminant analysis, based on p...

It has previously been shown that granite workers with heavy exposure to silica had glomerular and proximal tubular dysfunction evidenced by increased urinary excretions of albumin, alpha-1-microglobulin (AMG), and beta-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG). The investigation was replicated in another group of granite workers to further elucidate the exposure effect relation. The urinary excretion of ...

Human class I major histocompatibility complex allele HLA-B27 is associated with a group of human diseases called "spondyloarthropathies." Studies on transgenic rats expressing HLA-B27 and human beta 2-microglobulin have confirmed the role of HLA-B27 in disease pathogenesis. Here we report spontaneous inflammatory arthritis in HLA-B27 transgenic mice lacking beta 2-microglobulin (B27+ beta 2m-/...

This study aimed at assessing renal functions in patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT). Fifty patients and 30 controls were enrolled in this prospective study. Serum levels of electrolytes and albumin were measured by a spectrophotometer. Serum levels of cystatin-C and urinary levels of β2-microglobulin were measured by nephelometric method. Thirty-eight patients were receiving ...

AIM To determine the presence and nature of amyloid in prostatic corpora amylacea using immunohistological studies. METHODS Prostatic tissue from 18 transurethral and two open resection specimens was studied. Paraffin wax embedded tissue sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin and the alkaline Congo red method with and without previous treatment with potassium permanganate. Sections...