Swiss medical weekly
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Swiss medical weekly · Oct 1978
[Increase of unsaturated transcobalamine II in autoimmune diseases; effect of immunosuppressive therapy (proceedings)].
Transcobalamin II (TC II) is a serum protein responsible for transporting vitamin B12 to the cells. A previous observation of a child with congenital TC II deficiency and agammaglobulinemia suggested that this protein plays an important role in the immune response. ⋯ Changes in TC II levels correlated better with the clinical course of AID than complement, antinuclear antibody or native DNA binding capacity. This suggests that TC II could be a valuable parameter in following up activity of AID.
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1. It is becoming increasingly clear that besides traditional immunosuppressive agents, an array of miscellaneous influences and conditions, as well as drugs used for other purposes, can affect the immune system. The potential pathogenetic role of immunity in an ever growing number of diseases, including infections, cancer, and autoimmune processes, confers on the concept of concomitant immunosuppression or immunotoxicology its due place in the discipline of immunopharmacology. 2. ⋯ Its release from T-suppressor cells is triggered for example by microorganisms. Moreover, dietetic and metabolic factors, such as free fatty acids, and nervous impulses affect prostaglandin formation. If thus constitutes a link between the nervous system and, on the other hand, immunity and possibly cancer.
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1. Voluntary hyperventilation during rest and in the recumbent position induces a fall in H+ concentration, PCO2 and PO2 in mixed venous blood and in the blood of the coronary sinus. 2. ⋯ Blood pressure and pulse rate varied only slightly in these experiments. 3. Chest pain and angina pectoris due to hyperventilation are the result of impaired myocardial O2 supply, a finding which is valid for subjects with and without coronary heart disease.