"Natural" antibodies to representative species of Enterobacteriaceae were found to be principally associated with the gamma(1)-macroglobulin prepared from Cohn fraction III-I of pooled human plasma. The amount of antibodies present was estimated by measuring the bactericidal, hemagglutinating, mouse-protective, and opsonophagocytic activities of this fraction. Comparison with the antibody activ...

Bound gamma globulin was demonstrated by the direct immunofluorescent technique in heart tissue from three patients with severe congestive cardiomyopathy. In two of these patients complement (,81C) was also bound to the heart muscle. Heart tissue from one of six patients who died of myocardial infarction showed a trace of bound gamma globulin, but no bound complement. During life, the heart in ...

Preoperative gamma-globulin therapy was recently performed to prevent bleeding complications in a patient with concomitant idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura undergoing cardiac surgery. Here we report the case of a 75-year-old male patient with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, chronic aortic dissection, and funnel chest in whom a left ventricular perforation sustained during catheter ablat...

BACKGROUND There are only rare reports of myasthenia gravis complicating human immunodeficiency virus infection. The role of immunomodulatory therapy is unknown. METHODS Case report and literature review. RESULTS The diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus infection followed that of myasthenia gravis in a 35-year-old man. Clinical and electrophysiological features were diagnostic of gener...

I describe a method of fractionating gamma-glutamyltransferase on cellulose acetate. The tracing is obtained in parallel with that of serum protein, and the gamma-glutamyltransferase bands are characterized by correspondence with the major protein fractions. The overall pattern of the isoenzyme activity in normal sera is one of activity in the alpha1- and alpha2-globulin regions. In hepatic dis...

A series of plasma globulin studies was carried out on 108 patients who were operated on for splenic trauma during the last 3 years. The reasons for splenectomy or spleen salvage were; gunshot wounds in 22 patients (20.3%); stab injuries in 10 patients (9.2%) and blunt abdominal trauma in 76 patients (70.3%). Plasma gamma globulin determinations were made on the 8th postoperative day and at 3 m...

Specific but nonimmunologic reaction between staphylococcal protein A and the Fc portion of gamma globulin provided the basis for ultrastructural studies to determine the localization of protein A, using intact staphylococci and labeled myeloma gamma G-globulin. Protein A appeared to be part of the outermost layer of the staphylococcal cell wall. Strains with protein A demonstrated a coating of...