Effect of indomethacin on phytohemagglutinin-stimualted peripheral blood lymphocytes in thyroid autoimmune diseases

Suppressor lymphocyte function was evaluated in control subjects and in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease, utilizing an assay in which indomethacin was added to lymphocyte cultures to inhibit prostaglandin-producing suppressor cells. This assay is based on the observation that the addition of indomethacin, a potent prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor, to phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes should cause an increase in the incorporation of iododeoxyuridine in control subjects and a smaller increase in diseases with reduced prostaglandin-producing suppressor cells. The addition of indomethacin, 1 microgram/ml, stimulated iododeoxyuridine incorporation in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated cultures in control subjects to an index value of 1.43 (i.e., the increment in iododeoxyuridine incorporation with both indomethacin and phytohemagglutinin was 43% greater than the incorporation with phytohemagglutinin alone). The stimulation index was significantly lower in patients with Graves' disease who were toxic and untreated (1.18 +/- 0.25, mean +/- SD; P less than 0.003). Patients who were toxic while receiving antithyroid drugs or after radioiodine therapy or patients euthyroid after treatment had a mean stimulation index in the normal range, although the spread of data was very large in these groups. Responses in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis were also quite variable. The average response was 1.74 +/- 0.72, with 40% of the patients showing a high stimulation index. This study supports our previous investigations in which we used different assay systems for measuring suppressor-cell function in patients with thyroid autoimmune diseases and indicates that a defect in suppressor lymphocyte function is measureable by another technique. The abnormality persists in some cases after metabolic control has been achieved, but usually returns toward normal over months or years

Rapid Control of Thyrotoxicosis with Combined 131I, Anthithyroid Drugs and KI Therapy

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Mechanism design for eliciting probabilistic estimates from multiple suppliers with unknown costs and limited precision

This paper reports on the design of a novel two-stage mechanism, based on strictly proper scoring rules, that allows a centre to acquire a costly probabilistic estimate of some unknown parameter, by eliciting and fusing estimates from multiple suppliers. Each of these suppliers is capable of producing a probabilistic estimate of any precision, up to a privately known maximum, and by fusing several low precision estimates together the centre is able to obtain a single estimate with a specified minimum precision. Specifically, in the mechanisms first stage M from N agents are pre-selected by eliciting their privately known costs. In the second stage, these M agents are sequentially approached in a random order and their private maximum precision is elicited. A payment rule, based on a strictly proper scoring rule, then incentivises them to make and truthfully report an estimate of this maximum precision, which the centre fuses with others until it achieves its specified precision. We formally prove that the mechanism is incentive compatible regarding the costs, maximum precisions and estimates, and that it is individually rational. We present empirical results showing that our mechanism describes a family of possible ways to perform the pre-selection in the first stage, and formally prove that there is one that dominates all others. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg