Summary Bartonella henselae has not only been identified as the causative agent of cat scratch disease, but it is also associated with other significant infectious syndromes in the immunocompromized population. We describe two cases of B. henselae associated diseases in liver transplant recipients who both had contact with cats. The first recipient developed localized skin manifestation of bacillary angiomatosis in association with granulomatous hepatitis. He tested positive for Immunoglubulin G (IgG) antibodies against B. henselae. The second patient developed axillary lymphadenopathy, with biopsy showing necrotizing granulomatous inflammation and polymerase chain reaction studies were positive for B. henselae DNA. Her serology for bartonellosis showed a fourfold rise in antibody titers during her hospitalization. Both patients responded to treatment with Azithromycin in combination with Doxycycline. These were the only cases within a series of 467 consecutive liver transplants performed in 402 patients performed during a 4‐year period. Although bartonellosis is a rare infection in liver transplantation recipients, it should always be included in the differential diagnosis of patients presenting with fever, central nervous system (CNS) symptoms, skin lesions, lymphadenopathy, and hepatitis especially if prior contact with cats is reported.

Positive direct immunofluorescence findings have been occasionally reported for human renal amyloidosis. However, no substantial information describing the frequency of immunomicroscopic pattern has been reported. Twenty-seven renal biopsy specimens with proven amyloidosis were studied by direct immunofluorescence using monospecific antisera against IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD, IgE, kappa and lambda light chains, C3, C4 properdin, alpha-2 macroglobulin, albumin, transferrin, and fibrinogen. Ten biopsy specimens were negative. The remaining specimens showed principally a diffuse immunofluorescent staining of the mesangial areas with various of the above fluorescein-labeled antisera except IgE, albumin, and transferrin antisera, which gave a consistently negative reaction. IgD, properdin, or fibrinogen were weakly identified in only one case. Immunoglobulins and C3 were observed in 14 cases. Kappa and/or lambda light chains were found in nine of ten biopsy specimens so tested. Positive immunofluorescent staining of other elements of the nephron was rarely observed. These results suggest that various immunoreactants, in addition to light chains, can be frequently detected in renal amyloidosis and that passive nonselective absorption of plasma proteins does not explain these immunomicroscopic findings.

Linear and nonlinear stability analysis of flow instabilities gas-lift wells with water coning was performed in this paper. A new gas-lift stability criterion, which takes into account water coning, was developed. The criterion was used to analyze flow instability in an offshore gas-lift well. The effect of the water-coning performance on the conditions of the onset of instabilities was investigated. The nonlinear analysis showed that one of the most important instability modes in gas-lift wells is associated with two types of density waves: liquid and water holdup waves. Flow instability in gas-lift wells may result in that the maximum instantaneous liquid flow rate may be several times larger the average liquid flow rate for long periods of time (tens of minutes) in one cycle of oscillation. It was shown that water coning has a strong destabilizing effect on the flow in gas lift wells with a large vertical distance between the injection point and perforations. In some cases heading in such wells cannot be eliminated by increasing the wellhead pressure. One of the most important instability modes in gas-lift wells is associated with two types of density waves: liquid and water holdup waves.

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