Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0851184 (thinning)
 11,252 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We report the histologic and ultrastructural findings on two sisters with familial visceral myopathy who presented with acquired megacolon that necessitated subtotal colectomy. Both patients were mentally retarded and had repeated episodes of constipation and fecal impaction. Each presented near the age of 30 with massive dilatation of the colon and without clinical evidence of small intestinal involvement. Histologic abnormalities primarily involved smooth muscle and included marked nuclear enlargement and irregularity, interstitial fibrosis, and cytoplasmic vacuolation. These changes were most severe in the muscularis propria, but similar abnormalities were found in the muscularis mucosae and blood vessels. In the most advanced stages, collagen had completely replaced the muscularis propria, with extreme thinning of the intestinal wall. Abnormalities were noted in all segments of the colon and the appendix, but there was little correlation between severity of involvement and the segment examined. This study not only confirms the variable nature of morphologic changes in familial visceral myopathy, but also provides evidence of more extensive involvement of intestinal smooth muscle than has been previously reported.
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PMID:Familial visceral myopathy. Evidence of diffuse involvement of intestinal smooth muscle. 367 82

Two year old Cebus sp monkeys were infected with the Argentine strain of T. cruzi by the conjuctival route employing metacyclic forms of the parasite, obtained from dejecta of T. infectans. Both animals developed parasitemia detected by xenodiagnosis, without any overt acute disease, and with serological conversion. After 9-10 months of infection, both animals developed significant ECG abnormalities. One animal died spontaneously and the other was sacrificed. At necropsy, both animals presented significant megacolon. Severe thinning of the intestinal wall was observed without inflammatory lesions and with preservation of the parasympathetic plexus. Histologic studies revealed fibrotic lesions in the myocardium. In this organ, lymphocytic infiltrates were found in infrequent and small foci, but no pseudocytic forms containing parasities were observed. These observations suggest that the Cebus monkey may be a useful experimental model for some major aspects of chronic Chagas disease in man.
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PMID:Experimental Chagas disease in a South American primate (Cebus sp). 2216 99