Accumulations of hypertrophic, intensely glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive (GFAP(+)) astroglia, which also express immunoreactive nestin and vimentin, are prominent features of multiple sclerosis lesions. The issues of the cellular origin of hypertrophic GFAP(+)/vimentin(+)/nestin(+) "reactive" astroglia and also the plasticities and lineage relationships among three macroglial progenito...

BACKGROUND Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) has been reported to reduce disease activity in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. We assessed the effect of IVIg treatment in patients after the first neurological event suggestive of demyelinative disease and evaluated the occurrence of a second attack and dissemination in time demonstrated by brain magnetic resonance imaging wit...

BACKGROUND Central nervous system (CNS) involvement has been observed in 14-80% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an appropriate method for evaluating CNS involvement in these patients. Clinical manifestations and MRI findings of CNS lupus should be differentiated from other mimicking diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). OBJECTIVES T...

1. In the presence of a source of complement, the gamma 2 globulin fraction of rabbit EAE serum results in complete demyelination of myelinated cultures of rat cerebellum. Exposure of the serum to homologous or heterologous brain specifically removes the myelinotoxic activity whereas exposure to non-nervous tissue does not. Polylysine has no effect upon the cultures or upon the demyelinative po...

The extent of axonal dysfunction in a group of patients with diabetes mellitus has been investigated using recently introduced quantitative techniques of electromyography. In 40 diabetic patients, estimates of motor unit numbers in the extensor digitorum brevis muscles and measurements of the parameters of electrically evoked motor unit potentials therein are presented, along with significant c...

Abrupt osmotic changes during rapid correction of chronic hyponatremia result in demyelinative brain lesions, but the sequence of events linking rapid osmotic changes to myelin loss is not yet understood. Here, in a rat model of osmotic demyelination syndrome, we found that massive astrocyte death occurred after rapid correction of hyponatremia, delineating the regions of future myelin loss. As...

Acute pancreatitis is not only life-threatening in itself, but can also present a wide variety of complications that increase its morbidity. Particularly challenging are the extrapancreatic manifestations of the disease, which are rarely seen. Subcutaneous nodular fat necrosis (Weber-Christian syndrome), ascites, pleural effusions, nephrosis, fat emboli, venous thromboses and fat necrosis of bo...

Background: A high percentage of the patients referred to dermatologic clinics are either suffer from self inflicted disorders or from misinterpretation about their own health and organ integrity and or may suffer from different skin sensations including itching, pain, and burning; all of which may develop as a result of their underlying psychopathologies. Objective: Identification of underlyin...