Twenty-nine synovial fluids from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 10 synovial fluids from patients with other joint diseases were investigated with regard to the presence of antibodies to denatured human collagen and of collagen-anticollagen immune complexes. 12 of the 29 RA synovial fluids showed anticollagen titres from 1:16 to 1:512 in passive haemagglutination. Only one patient i...

The husbands of 68 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carrier-state wives were tested for the presence of hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) and antigen (HBsAg) to assess possible transmission of HBsAg. Eight (11.8%) of the 68 husbands gave negative results for HBsAg and 22 (32.4%) positive results for HBsAb. Furthermore, eight (26.7%) of 30 husbands with presumed HBsAg transmission from the...

An indirect haemagglutination test (IHA) using antigens purified by monoclonal antibody-affinity chromatography was developed for the diagnosis of human paragonimiasis caused by Paragonimus heterotremus. Sera from patients with paragonimiasis (n = 30) were evaluated, along with sera from other parasitic infections (n = 92), pulmonary tuberculosis (n = 18) and healthy controls (n = 30). The sens...

During each of the four-year periods 1971-1975 and 1975-1979, the annual incidence of hepatitis B infection has been assessed in 56 patients with haemophilia A by measuring plasma HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc levels. Infection rates of 7% and 9.5% per annum respectively were observed for each four-year period despite the screening of individual blood donations for HBsAg by techniques up to the ...

Single cell protein (SCP) intended for animal feed purposes was produced in a pilot plant. The SCP consisted of Methylomonas methanolica, a pseudomonas species which is an obligate methanol user. The SCP was cultured in fermenters and later dewatered and dried in a spray-drier. Seven of eight research workers had febrile reactions 6-12 hours after exposure to SCP dust. All workers had high titr...

Penicillins are B-lactam antibiotics widely used in clinical practice and they induce many allergic reactions, which can be either cellular or humoral. B-lactams are able to interact covalently with serum proteins, forming immunogenic conjugates and their metabolism can provoke a number of different antigenic determinants that have been implicated in the specificity of the immunological respons...

Discs of polyvinyl alcohol cross-linked with glutaraldehyde were synthesized under acid catalysis (H2SO4). Then, the antigen F1 purified from Yersinia pestis was covalently linked to this modified polymer. Afterwards, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established for the diagnosis of plague in rabbit and human. The best conditions for the method were achieved by using 1.3 microgr...

Previous findings, viz. that mice can be successfully immunized against infection with Salmonella dublin with either live or inactivated vaccine, were confirmed. Immunity lasted for at least 12 weeks in mice which had been immunized with inactivated alum-precipitated vaccine. The immunogenicity of inactivated vaccine gradually decreased on storage at 4 degrees C, but this was only detectable if...

Possible involvementofendogenousopioids inhumoral immune responseshas been explored in the experimental animals. Opioid agonists likemorphine and leu-enkephalin significantly enhanced antigen-inducedhistamine release from the peritoneal mast cells of sensitised rats invitro; this was effectively antagonised by naloxone. Naloxone itselfinhibited antigen-induced histamine rele...