Plasma triglyceride (TG) levels were determined before and after a test meal of 2 g neutral fat per kg b.w. in 32 children with different malabsorption syndromes, 8 children with transient growth retardation without demonstrable disease and in 29 controls. The increase of plasma TG 120 min after the test meal was found to discriminate between children with malabsorption syndromes and controls during the studied age period, 1 month-3 years. In this respect it was superior to faecal fat determination. Children with transient growth retardation who later spontaneously regained satisfactory growth, although along a lower SD score than the initial one, showed a TG increase after the test meal comparable to that of the controls.
Primary and metastatic brain tumours may result in an altered exposure of normal cellular components to the immune system inducing an immune response measurable in autoantibodies. One potential immunogenic molecule is sulphatide, the major acidic glycolipid in myelin. Thirty-eight sera from 31 patients with primary and metastatic brain tumours have, therefore, been analyzed for the presence of antisulphatide antibodies by an ELISA performed on thin layer chromatography plates. Twenty-eight of the thirty-eight sera (74%) showed a positive antibody titre to sulphatide. The antibody titres were significantly higher (p < 0.01) in sera from patients with primary brain tumours than in sera from those with metastases. The study lends support to the possibility that antisulphatide antibodies could contribute to tissue damage and this might facilitate the invasive growth in primary brain tumours by demyelination. However, the pathogenic significance of these autoantibodies remains to be further elucidated.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.