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The immunoglobulin class and IgG subclass distribution of anti-Vi antibodies elicited by vaccination with a single injection of the purified polysaccharide or three injections of the inactivated whole cell typhoid vaccine was examined using an immunoenzymatic assay. The two vaccines induced antibody responses of similar magnitude and the predominant subclass of IgG antibodies was IgG1.

Seventeen cases of Wegener's granulomatosis have been reviewed in search of articular involvement. Articular symptoms were present in 13 cases (76 p. cent), and were inaugural in 9 cases (53 p. cent). Six of these patients experienced arthralgias, which were most often migratory, and were inaugural in 3 cases. Seven patients had arthritides, which were inaugural in 6 cases; they were fixed and additive in 6 of these 7 cases, making up a distal polyarthritis in 3 patients, and an oligoarthritis in the 3 other ones; they were transient and migratory in 1 case. The 3 cases of distal polyarthritis were inaugural and fulfilled the ARA criteria for rheumatoid arthritis; two of them were accompanied by nodules which were quite identical to rheumatoid ones. There was no axial involvement. Joint involvement was not destructive and had a favourable course under disease treatment. Myalgias were present in 3 cases, one of which simulated Horton's disease. Biological manifestations chiefly consisted of marked inflammatory changes. Antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies were present in 11 out of 16 patients in whom they were searched; among 6 of these patients who had active disease, they were present in 5. The antibody level decreased as treatment reduced disease activity and suppressed joint involvement. Joint involvement in Wegener's granulomatosis seems to be the inconstant hallmark of disease activity. It requires no specific treatment.

The major protein component of seeds from jackfruit is the lectin jacalin. Jackfruit crude extracts are known to stimulate human lymphocytes, but the mitogenic properties of purified jacalin have not been studied in detail so far. Study of the proliferative response of cell populations from normal human peripheral blood to purified jacalin showed it to be mitogenic through an interaction with lymphocytes by its lectin-binding site, as shown by inhibition by IgA. Jacalin failed to stimulate B cells to proliferate and to undergo plasma cell maturation. It induced a proliferation of CD4 (and not CD8) lymphocytes, as shown by phenotypic analysis of cells recovered after culture and by studies of the response of isolated T cell subpopulations. The proliferative response to jacalin was autologous monocyte-dependent. The kinetics of jacalin-induced DNA synthesis, expression of CD25 and interleukin-2 secretion was shifted by comparison with that induced by phytohaemagglutinin. The reason for the restricted responsiveness of CD4 T cells is presently unclear; jacalin bound to all blood cells and did not significantly co-cap with CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD38, and jacalin response was neither enhanced nor inhibited by antibodies to these surface antigens.

Autoantibodies to the cytoplasmic components of neutrophil polymorphonuclear granulocytes (ACPA) were searched for by indirect immunofluorescence on ethanol-fixed smears from normal white blood cells in 248 sera from patients with Wegener's granulomatosis, Kawasaki disease and various other vasculitides, connective tissue diseases, nephropathies and infiltrative pulmonary diseases. Apart from a weak positivity in a few Kawasaki disease sera, ACPA were found in Wegener's granulomatosis (and micropolyarteritis) only, with a correlation between ACPA titers and disease activity. These results confirm the value of ACPA in the diagnosis and evaluation of activity of Wegener's granulomatosis.

Motivated by the relatively wide range of values published hitherto, we offer a new, reliable method for determination of manganese in hair from unexposed human subjects. By using a mini-autoclave, we have developed a method that obviates loss of manganese during digestion and, thanks to use of a Teflon receptacle and rigorous methodology, contamination has been minimized. We used Zeeman flameless atomic absorption spectrometry, with the method of standard additions, for quantification. Within-run CVs for concentrations of Mn of 0.26 and 0.28 microgram/g of dry hair were 3.63 and 3.93%; the day-to-day CV for a Mn concentration of 0.29 microgram/g of dry hair was 5.84%. Mean (+/- SD) analytical recovery of Mn added to samples of hair was 104% (+/- 9.2%). The mean concentration of Mn found in the hair of 15 healthy unexposed subjects was 0.26 (+/- 0.05) microgram/g dry weight. This sensitive, reproducible procedure is suitable for use in analysis for traces of Mn in hair.

The proliferative response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated by jacalin was investigated in 157 samples from 104 HIV-infected patients at various clinical stages of disease. Jacalin proliferative response correlated with the absolute numbers and percentages of CD4+ lymphocytes and with the percentages of Leu 8 lymphocytes. It correlated negatively with the percentages of CD8+ and CD38+ lymphocytes. It was depressed during acute HIV infection and at advanced stages. The response in Centers for Disease Control groups II and III was heterogeneous and similar; in both, some patients showed a very low response. Further follow-up of the present patients should indicate whether jacalin responsiveness has a prognostic value.

After obtaining an abscess on the inner thigh of rabbits, the resulting inflammatory area was treated with sodium acexamate and zinc acexamate (0.5 ml s.c. of a 7% w/v solution). All animals received labeled leukocytes (111In, 1 mCi, i.v.). The hyperfixation was measured by comparing the inflammatory areas. In the group treated with zinc acexamate, the regression of inflammation was highly significant (p less than 0.001) in comparison with the other groups. These results emphasize the importance of combining zinc with acexamic acid for healing skin wounds.

In recent years, a new lectin--jacalin--has raised the interest of immunologists because of its original properties with respect to human immunoglobulins and lymphocytes. Its structure and carbohydrate binding specificity are now well documented, and it can be purified easily from jackfruit seeds by ion exchange or affinity chromatography. The binding and precipitating specificities of jacalin with heavy chains of human immunoglobulins allow its use as a diagnostic (IgA subclass typing) and preparative tool (purification of IgA and IgD, removal of IgA from biologic samples and preparations). Other possible applications of jacalin's binding properties also can be envisaged. In addition, the lectin displays a mitogenic activity specific for human CD4 T-lymphocytes; consequently, the proliferative response induced by jacalin appears to represent a new and interesting assay for a functional study of CD4 cells, with obvious applications in primary and acquired, especially AIDS, immune deficiency states.