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The rediscovery in the mid‐1970s of Ludwik Fleck’s initially neglected monograph, Entstehung und Entwicklung einer Wissenschaftlichen Tatsache, published in 1935 and translated in 1979 as Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact, has resulted in extensive, still ongoing, secondary writings, mainly within the humanities. Fleck has been interpreted as furthering a relativistic conception of science. Nowadays, he is often viewed as an important contributor to contemporary sociology of science and a forerunner to Thomas Kuhn. Fleck’s account of the Wassermann reaction, which forms the basis of his epistemology, has been praised as developed by a scientist well acquainted with the field in question. Because of the scarcity of available material on Fleck, however, the question of his sources has remained an unsolved issue. In the present article, an alternative reading is suggested. By focusing on the scientific content of the monograph, mainly neglected in the modern interpretations of Fleck, and on the so far overlooked sources of his writings traced back to their German origin, a better understanding of Fleck’s account of the Wassermann reaction can be given. The consequences of this alternative reading for the conception of Fleck’s monograph and for the impetus of his mission are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes or isolated I lymphocytes by concanavalin A (Con A) is highly potentiated by the presence of autologous. mitomycin C-treated monocytes. The optimal lyrnphocyte : rnonocyte ratio within a broad dose range is I : I when the incorporation of [14C]thymidine is expressed as total incorporation per culture tube and 1: 10 when expressed per lymphocyte. A five- to ten-fold increase of total DNA synthesis is noted in the presence of 10 .90%, monocytes. The data may help to explain the wide variations in Con A responsiveness of human peripheral lymphocytes which may be partly related to differences in purification which give rise to cell preparations containing varying amounts of monocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purified T-lymphocyte preparations of sarcoidosis patients and healthy controls were obtained by fractionation of cells through immunoglobulin (Ig) anti-Ig-coated columns. The early spontaneous DNA synthesis of unfractionated cells was increased in the patient group whereas the DNA synthesis in response to stimulation by concanavalin A (con A) and PPD was significantly reduced. Depletion of B cells resulted in a markedly reduced incorporation of[14C]thymidine in unstimulated as well as in con A-stimulated cultures. The reduction was of the same magnitude in both groups. Addition of adherent cells to T cell-enriched preparations had a potentiating effect on [14C]thymidine incorporation in response to con A stimulation. The effect was most marked at suboptimal concentrations of con A. B cell-depleted lymphocyte preparations of sarcoidosis patients were completely unresponsive to PPD, whereas the response in the control group was reduced. Addition of adherent cells reverted the response to that obtained in unfractionated cultures of both groups. A changed composition of peripheral T cells of sarcoidosis patients with lack of responding cells seems to be present. The [14C]thymidine incorporation of unfractionated human lymphocytes in response to con A stimulation seems to be dependent not only on T cells but also on the presence of adherent cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune complexes were detected by the platelet aggregation technique in sera of six out of twenty-six patients with sarcoidosis. Five of these patients had acute bilateral hilar lymphoma syndrome, four of them with concomitant erythema nodosum. The size of the immune complexes was 19S or larger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synovial membrane of healthy volunteers was analysed by immunohistochemical staining of biopsies sampled under direct vision at arthroscopy or obtained blindly by needle. Infiltrating Leu-4+ T lymphocytes were found scattered in all biopsies but frequently also perivascularly accumulated. A majority of the synovial lining cells expressed either the OKMI monocyte/macrophage marker or HLA-DR antigens. Some OKM1- HLA-DR+ lining cells also expressed the Leu-3a T 'helper' cell marker. In the sublining tissue non-lymphoid cells with varying morphology including macrophage- and fibrocyte-like cells were found expressing either HLA-DR. or Leu-3a, or both antigens simultaneously, whereas OKMI+ macrophage-like sublining cells were rare. The perivascular T lymphocyte accumulation as well as the phenotypic heterogeneity of infiltrating and residing cells, previously thought indicative of synovitis, were thus also found in the synovial membrane of healthy individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salivary glands obtained at biopsy from patients with Sjögren's syndrome and controls were studied with regard to phenotype of infiltrating and residing cells, by means of a double immunoenzymatic staining technique. The infiltrating lymphocytes, which were sparse or absent in the control group in contrast to their abundant presence in the Sjögren patients HLA-DR+ epithelial cells were found, mainly confined to areas, where the epithelial cells were seen in close proximity to the periphery of dense lymphocytic infiltrates. The data are in accordance with recent findings of HLA-DR expressing residing cells in the target organs of various chronic inflammatory diseases and might indicate the induction of HLA-DR expression in nonlymphocytic cells of target organs in which a cellular infiltration dominated by cells of the T helper phenotype is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lymphocytic infiltration and epithelial HLA-DR expression of lip salivary glands were studied by means of an immunohistoenzymatic staining technique in patients undergoing repeated lip salivary gland biopsies before, and 12, 26, 52 and 104 weeks after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Within 12 weeks of transplantation, lymphocytes, mainly of the anti-Leu3a+ T `helper' phenotype, were seen infiltrating the salivary glands of all the patients, reaching a maximum between 26 and 52 weeks. Epithelial HLA-DR expression, present at the 12th week after BMT, was seen close to the lymphocytic infiltrates in all the specimens. Two years after BMT, lymphocytic infiltrates and epithelial HLA-DR expression were still noted in about half of the specimens but not seen in the remaining ones. No correlations were found between immunohistopathology and earlier or persistent chronic graft-versus-host disease or immunosuppresive treatment. The significance of the findings as well as their resemblance to idiopathic connective tissue diseases, notably Sjögren's syndrome, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In eight of eleven patients with clinical and serological evidence of myasthenia gravis (MG), immunohistological analysis of biopsies from labial salivary glands (LSG) showed focal periductal lymphocytic infiltrates, mainly composed of anti-Leu 3a+ T helper lymphocytes, a finding usually regarded as indicative for Sjögren's syndrome (SS). None of the patients could however, according to functional criteria, he considered as having SS. This study thus indicates that lymphocytic infiltrates in LSG can be seen in MG. which has been thought of as an organ specific autoimmune disease with symptoms and signs confined to striated muscles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]