Search results for "humor"
showing 10 items of 220 documents
Antibodies to vascular endothelial cells in chronic rejection of renal allografts.
2000
Humoral immunity and retrobulbar fibroblasts in endocrine ophthalmopathy
1992
The exact role of retrobulbar fibroblasts in the immunopathogenesis of endocrine ophthalmopathy still remains to be elucidated. To evaluate the in vitro influence of humoral immunity on retrobulbar fibroblasts, the effects of immunoglobulin G as well as of the sera of 50 euthyroid patients with endocrine ophthalmopathy and 30 controls on both porcine and human (patients' and controls') retrobulbar fibroblasts were measured by means of several assays: a colorimetric test involving a heterocyclic chemical, a tetrazolium bromide, was applied to quantify the activity of mitochondrial dehydrogenases; the incorporation of 3H-thymidine was determined as a sensitive parameter for cell proliferation…
Emotional eating and food intake after sadness and joy
2013
Do people with a high score on a scale for eating in response to negative emotions also show high food intake in response to positive emotions?. We studied these effects in 60 female students that were preselected on the basis of extreme high or low scores on an emotional eating questionnaire. Using a between subject design we experimentally tested the difference in food intake following a mood induction designed to induce joy or sadness (the joy vs. sad mood condition). The high and low emotional eaters did not differ in their food intake, but emotional eating significantly moderated the relationship between mood condition and food intake. Whereas low emotional eaters ate similar amounts a…
Induction of antitoxin responses in Clostridium-difficile-infected patients compared to healthy blood donors
2016
According to the literature Clostridium difficile antitoxins are present in up to 66% of humans. In a survey of ∼400 plasma samples from healthy blood donors we found that less than 6% were positive for anti-TcdA or anti-TcdB antitoxins. Using the same standard immunoassay protocol, we looked for IgG and IgA antitoxins in the blood and stool samples from 25 patients with C. difficile infection (CDI). Some patients with CDI had no antitoxin detected at all, while others had high levels of specific IgG- and IgA-antitoxins against both TcdA and TcdB in blood and IgA-anti-TcdA and -anti-TcdB antibodies in stool. Systemic responses to TcdB and mucosal responses to TcdA predominated. Among patien…
Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern elicited by the comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine in nursing home residents.
2022
Immunosenescence may impact the functionality and breadth of vaccine-elicited humoral immune responses. The ability of sera to neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S) from Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon variants of concern (VOCs) relative to the ancestral Wuhan-Hu-1 strain was compared in Comirnaty COVID-19-vaccinated elderly nursing home residents, either SARS-CoV-2 naïve (n = 22) or experienced (n = 8), or SARS-CoV-2 naïve younger individuals (n = 18) and non-vaccinated individuals who recovered from severe COVID-19 (n = 19). In all groups, except that including SARS-CoV-2-experienced nursing home residents, some participants lacked NtAb against one or more VOCs, mainly the Beta vari…
Frontal hypoactivation and alterations in the reward-system during humor processing in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders
2018
Humor is a ubiquitous human ability with important implications for both social and emotional functioning. Patients with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, experience difficulties in the comprehension and appreciation of humor. However, the specific neural mechanisms underlying these deficits are unknown. In the current study, we sought to elucidate the neural correlates of humor processing in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) was used in thirty-one patients with SSD and a control group, performing a humor processing paradigm. Both regional brain activation and parametric modulation of brain responses via subje…
IgM and IgG antibodies to hepatitis C virus in patients with mixed cryoglobulinaemia
1993
SUMMARY To assess the relationship between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and essential mixed cryoglobulinaemia (EMC), sera from 23 patients with EMC were tested for IgG and IgM antibodies to HCV antigens and for HCV RNA. Quantitative HCV antibody studies were performed on scrum and purified cryoglobulin fractions. HCV antibodies of both IgG and IgM class were found in 22 (96%) patients. Ten of these were also HCV-RNA positives. Higher litres of anti-HCV IgM were present in the 11 patients with evidence of liver damage. Anti-HCV IgG antibodies were shown to be concentrated in the IgG fraction of cryoglobulins in all eight patients studied. These results strongly suggest a role for HCV in…
Antibody Response to Meningococcal Polysaccharides A and C in Patients with Complement Defects
1993
Patients with defects of terminal complement components are particularly exposed to the risk of developing neisserial infections and seem to respond poorly to meningococcal capsular polysaccharide (PS) C via natural immunization. The sole meningococcal PSC is. on the other hand, an excellent immunogen in normal people. Considering the great importance of vaccine prophylaxis for the prevention of meningococcal infections in patients with complement defects, it is crucial to study the antibody response to the sole meningococcal PS in these patients. We therefore analysed the levels of anti-PSA and PSC antibodies in the members of four families including patients with homozygous and heterozygo…
Early neutralizing and glycoprotein B (gB)-specific antibody responses to human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in immunocompetent individuals with distinct c…
2000
Abstract Background: Antibodies with functional anti-Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) activity are likely to be involved in preventing virus dissemination and thus may contribute to minimize the clinical manifestations of infection. Objectives: To investigate the role of humoral immunity in modulating the clinical expression of primary Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection in immunocompetent persons. Study design: Neutralizing (NA) and glycoprotein B (gB)-specific antibodies were quantitated in acute-phase and late-convalescence phase sera from 19 individuals who developed either HCMV mononucleosis (12) or oligosymptomatic hepatitis (seven). Results: The levels of NA in sera drawn early after …