Richard S Farr

The capacity of antibodies in 102 human sera to bind components of aspergilli was studied. Sera were from patients with pulmonary aspergillosis or a variety of other clinical disorders and from healthy individuals. The antigens employed were anionic mucopolysaccharide components derived from A. fumigatus and A. nidulans and were not precipitated by antibodies in either human or rabbit sera. The antigens were soluble in 10 per cent trichloroacetic add and 50 per cent saturated ammonium ...

Four of six adult rabbits drinking skimmed cow's milk produced antibody against BSA and ALA. Anti-BSA was first detected in some sera 14 days after the initiation of milk feedings and anti-ALA was present when first studied on the thirty-fifth day. Three of the four antisera bound more I*BSA than I*ALA during the entire study. The specificities of the antibodies which bind ALA and BSA in human serum were very similar to the specificities of the respective antibodies in the sera from ...

Investigations were carried out to examine the possible causes of the low incidence and low levels of anti-BSA in human adults as compared to those of normal children. To determine if the reduced amount of BSA in the adult diet was an important factor, childhood levels of dietary BSA in the form of oral supplemental doses were administered to 17 normal human volunteers for 21 days. To learn if the manner in which dietary protein was catabolized by the gastrointestinal tract of the adult ...

Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) acetylates human serum albumin under physiologic conditions in vitro. These investigations were done to determine whether this phenomenon occurs in vivo and to delineate the site(s) of acetylation on the albumin molecule. Albumin was reacted in vitro with aspirin labeled with (14)carbon at the acetyl-1 or the carboxyl carbon. The altered albumin was hydrolyzed with trypsin and peptide mapping performed. Albumin so treated contains a unique peptide, ...

The nasal and respiratory symptoms observed after oral challenge to aspirin (ASA), tartrazine, and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory substances are best described as idiosyncratic reactions. A positive response to oral challenge, defined as a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) from baseline for up to 4 hr, occurred in 44 of 230 patients with ASA, 11 of 277 with tartrazine, 2 of 93 with sodium salicylate, and 2 of 69 with acetaminophen. No one had a positive response ...

The possibility that ingested antigens may play a role in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has not been previously studied. Because this might be of considerable importance, a study was undertaken to examine the occurrence of antibodies to bovine gamma globulin (BGG) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) in SLE sera. In addition, an assay for the detection o f trace amounts o f BGG in human serum was developed. Antibodies to BGG were found in over 60 per cent of SLE sera ...

Five human sera with reaginic activity to a number of allergens were fractionated using anion exchange chromatography. In each serum, fractions which contained detectable IgG and no detectable IgA had capacity to fix to skin and subsequently elicit a P-K reaction. Four of these sera had reaginic activity about equally distributed between fractions containing only IgG and fractions containing mixtures of IgG and IgA. A fifth serum contained reaginic activity to crystalline bovine serum ...

We investigated the possibility that the inflammatory reaction in primary acquired cold urticaria might be associated with the release of platelet-activating factor. Six patients with the disease and five normal controls were subjected to cold-water challenges during which blood samples were obtained for measurement of the release of possible mediators: i.e., histamine, neutrophilic chemotactic activity, and platelet-activating factor-like lipid (PAF-LL). Four of the patients had ...

1.1. Ragweed pollen extract was fractionated with 50 per cent saturated ammonium sulfate (SAS) and the supernatant labeled with I131.2.2. When 0.02 γ N of this heterogenous mixture (I∗RW) was incubated with normal human or rabbit sera, approximately 10 per cent was nonspecifically precipitated with the globulins after the addition of 40 per cent SAS.3.3. After incubation with sera from humans or rabbits immunized with ragweed pollen extract as much as 40 to 60 per cent of the I∗RW was ...

The acquired cold urticaria (ACU) syndromes consists of nonfamilial heterogeneous disorders characterized by urticaria, angioedema, and occasionally symptoms of hypotension after cold exposure. In a study of 50 consecutive patients with ACU syndromes, it was observed that 70% experienced cold-induced systemic reactions, most frequently with aquatic activities. Patients with ACU syndromes were categorized by their response to an experimental cold-stimulation time test (CSTT) i.e., minimum ...

An improved protocol was developed for the use of troleandomycin (TAO) in severe, steroid-requiring subjects with asthma. Compared to previous reports, this protocol uses a lower starting dose of TAO and a rapid steroid taper. Fifteen patients were treated with TAO following the new guidelines. Steroid requirements in the 15 patients dropped by 68% within 2 weeks, and 13 of the 15 patients were able to be maintained on alternate day steroids. In spite of rapid steroid taper, both FEV1 ...

Sera from normal rabbits were shown to have antibodies that bound radiolabeled test antigens derived from many taxonomically unrelated bacteria. Sera from rabbits that had been immunized with sonically treated material of 12 different bacteria, including M. bovis strain BCG, had antibodies that bound not only radiolabeled homologous test antigens but also radiolabeled antigens from many unrelated bacteria. Binding by normal and immunized sera to radiolabeled test antigens was inhibited ...

A solid-phase radioimmunoassay to detect antibodies that react with antigens derived from human melanoma cells is described. A soluble preparation derived from Nonidet P-40 lysates of tissue-cultured melanoma cells was dried on the surfaces of wells of polyvinyl chloride microtiter plates and fixed with 0.02% glutaraldehyde. Antibody preparations were added and incubated for 18 h at 4° C. The wells were washed and bound antibodies were detected using radioactive Staphyloccoccal protein A ...

Studies were undertaken to find a substance or substances for use in primary binding types of tests to detect humoral antibodies in rabbits and monkeys exposed to the tubercle bacillus that would distinguish between strains of mycobacteria. The antigen employed was a component of the 5159 strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that was obtained following sonification, ultracentrifugation, electrophoresis, and elution from a preparative polyacrylamide column. When the antigen was labeled ...