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Biomedical subjects

A Albert

Publications and source records attributed to A Albert.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Cerebrospinal fluid IgG and IgM indexes as indicators of active neurosyphilis.

Serological and non-serological tests were performed in matched samples of cerebrospinal fluid and serum from 236 syphilitic patients. An increased IgG or IgM index, or both, was found about 70 times more often in symptomatic neurosyphilis than in latent syphilis without involvement of the central nervous system. An increased Ig index, together with a cell count greater than 5/microL, was only found in symptomatic neurosyphilis. Although the numbers of data are small, we conclude that the IgG and IgM indexes are valuable tests in the diagnosis of syphilitic involvement of the central nervous system.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

1-Year controlled randomised trial of prevention of early postmenopausal bone loss by intranasal calcitonin.

79 women who had been menopausal for less than 36 months and who had not received any form of treatment to prevent bone loss were randomly assigned to a 12-month regimen of calcium 500 mg/day or calcium 500 mg plus intranasal salmon calcitonin 50 IU/day for 5 days per week. After 12 months of treatment bone mineral density had decreased in the calcium-only group by a mean of 3.16 (SEM 0.6)% (p less than 0.01) but had increased in the calcium plus calcitonin group by 1.38 (0.8)% (NS). The difference in response between the two treatment groups was also highly significant (p less than 0.01), as was the difference between values for hydroxyprolinuria/creatininuria (p less than 0.01). Endogenous calcitonin levels rose significantly in the calcium group but remained unchanged in calcitonin-treated patients. Treatment by calcitonin and calcium was not followed by increased secretion of parathyroid hormone. The findings suggest that intranasal calcitonin can counteract early postmenopausal bone loss.

Administration, Intranasal↗
PubMed1987

Effect of lectin-binding to fibrinogen D and E domains on coagulation and fibrinolysis.

The effect on fibrinogen coagulation and fibrinolysis of the mannose-specific lectins concanavalin A, its acetyl derivative and Lens culinaris agglutinin was studied. Concanavalin A and acetyl-concanavalin A, which bind to the four carbohydrate chains of fibrinogen, and L. culinaris agglutinin, which only binds to the carbohydrate present in fibrinogen D domains, has the same effect on the coagulation rate: an inhibition at low lectin concentrations and an increase at high concentrations. On the other hand, L. culinaris agglutinin does not alter fibrin crosslinking while acetyl-concanavalin A produces a slight inhibition of both gamma-gamma and alpha-polymer formation. However, this effect is very small when compared with the clear inhibitory effect produced by concanavalin A. Concanavalin A and acetyl-concanavalin A have an inhibitory effect on the rate of fibrin clot lysis proportional to the lectin concentration. Nearly 100% inhibition was obtained when two lectin-binding sites were occupied by either concanavalin A or acetyl-concanavalin A. However, L. culinaris agglutinin has a clearly weaker effect and more than 50% inhibition was not observed. The comparative study of the effect of the three lectins on fibrinolysis as well as on the formation of fibrinogen aggregates suggests that the inhibitory effect of concanavalin A and acetyl-concanavalin A is primarily due to their binding to the carbohydrate chains of fibrinogen E domain.

Blood Coagulation↗
PubMed1987

Hemodynamic profile of patients with acute myocardial infarction at risk of infarct expansion.

To identify patients at risk of cardiac expansion during hospital stay for a first acute myocardial infarction (AMI), 41 patients underwent right-sided cardiac catheterization soon after admission and serial 2-dimensional echocardiography on days 1, 3 or 4 and between days 7 and 10. Infarct expansion was recognized by echocardiography in 11 patients (27%), most often on the second recording (day 3 or 4). Age, sex, time from onset of pain to catheterization, peak levels of creatine kinase and creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme, heart rate, mean pulmonary artery wedge pressure and left ventricular stroke work index were similar in the 2 groups. Patients in whom infarct expansion developed had a higher incidence of previous systemic hypertension (73% vs 27%, p less than 0.01) and anterior AMI (91% vs 30%, p less than 0.001) and a higher mortality rate at 1 year (73 vs 7%, p less than 0.001) than those who did not. They also had higher systolic (139 +/- 24 vs 126 +/- 18 mm Hg, p less than 0.05) and diastolic (91 +/- 14 vs 75 +/- 13 mm Hg, p less than 0.001) arterial pressures, lower stroke volume index (31 +/- 10 vs 40 +/- 10 ml/m2, p less than 0.01) and much higher systemic vascular resistance (SVR) values (1,713 +/- 380 vs 1,253 +/- 264 dynes s cm-5, p less than 0.0001). In the subgroups of patients with anterior AMI, differences were significant for diastolic arterial pressure, stroke volume index, SVR and mortality.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Comparative study of high bio-availability glaphenine and paracetamol in cervical and lumbar arthrosis.

Seventy-eight patients, 40 suffering from cervical arthrosis and 38 from lumbar arthrosis, received for a period of two weeks paracetamol or a new preparation of glaphenine, in a double blind study. The two drugs were found to have the same efficiency on the subjective parameters but high bioavailability glaphenine seems to have an effectiveness in the range of articulatory movements, which is not found with paracetamol. The side effects were quite equivalent.

Acetaminophen↗
PubMed1987

Interobserver agreement in assessment of motor response and brain stem reflexes.

In 1982, we developed a new coma scale, the Glasgow-Liège scale, which combines the quantified analysis of five brain stem reflexes with the Glasgow methodology. The present study was undertaken to determine to what extent agreement exists among different raters assessing brain stem reflexes (Parameter R) and to compare the results with those observed from motor responses (Parameter M). We show the good agreement achieved by different examiners in the evaluation of brain stem reflexes. Brain stem reflexes offer a slightly higher agreement (kappa = 0.69) than that of the study of motor response (kappa = 0.65). Within Parameters M and R, we observed less agreement in the evaluation of flexion responses and in the interpretation of oculocephalic reactions. The reliability of the evaluation of M and R parameters justifies the use of the Glasgow-Liège scale as a means for evaluating disturbances of consciousness.

Blinking↗
PubMed1987

"Extrapolated" creatine kinase-BB isoenzyme activity in assessment of initial brain damage after severe head injury.

The severity of initial brain damage is an important risk factor in determining the prognosis of head trauma. It can be assessed by assigning neurological scores or by determining the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) activity of the isoenzyme creatine kinase-BB (CK-BB). In 10 severely head-injured patients serial CSF samples were obtained during the first 24 hours after trauma, and exponential decay of CK-BB activity with an average half-life of 4.5 hours was demonstrated. This finding led the authors to propose an "extrapolated" CK-BB activity, which theoretically occurs immediately after injury and is calculated from a single CK-BB recording, as a new index for assessing the degree of initial brain damage. In 50 patients with severe head injury, the prognostic ability of "observed" and "extrapolated" CK-BB activity was compared with two clinical scoring systems that evaluate severity of head trauma (the Glasgow and the Glasgow-Liège Coma Scales). "Extrapolated" CK-BB activity proved to be the best prognostic factor. With a CK-BB cutoff point of 330 U/liter, a true-positive rate of 79% and a true-negative rate of 73% were obtained. These results suggest the usefulness of measuring CK-BB activity in CSF as soon as possible after hospital admission for head injury.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

[Reference values of serum transferrin in newborn infants, children and adults].

The authors have studied the evolution of serum transferrin concentration in relation with age (newborn child, infant, adult). The mean concentration of serum transferrin is the lowest for neonates (2.15 g/l). At 10 months, it increases to reach a value of about 3.10 g/l then reduces at 24 (3.0 g/l) and 48 months (2.8 g/l). By the 4 to 18 years subjects, serum transferrin is approaching that of 10 months children (3.15 g/l). At last it doesn't support any modification during all the adult life. The diversity of the obtained results dependent of the used technique and/or of the laboratory, justifies that each one defines his own reference values.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Assessment of the biological effectiveness of nasal synthetic salmon calcitonin (SSCT) by comparison with intramuscular (i.m.) or placebo injection in normal subjects.

For patients who require treatment over a period of some years, intranasal administration of synthetic salmon calcitonin (SSCT) obviates the discomfort associated with administration by injection. Moreover, this mode of administration is not associated with the side effects normally encountered when calcitonin is injected intramuscularly or subcutaneously. The aim of this study was to assess, in normal subjects, the biological activity of nasal SSCT by comparing the fluctuations of parameters reflecting calcium-phosphorus metabolism after nasal instillation, injection of SSCT and injection of placebo, respectively. In nine healthy subjects, this instillation of 200 IU of SSCT into the nasal cavity caused a fall in serum calcium, a fall in serum phosphorus and a transient rise in parathyroid hormone levels similar to that observed after the intramuscular (i.m.) injection of 80 IU of SSCT. SSCT whether administered by the nasal route or by injection, does not inhibit endogenous calcitonin secretion. There were no changes in serum beta-endorphin, magnesium or erythrocyte magnesium levels after administration of calcitonin by the intranasal route or by injection.

Administration, Intranasal↗
PubMed1987

[Cervico-arthrotic myelopathies. Treatment and prognosis].

The authors present 50 cases of cervical spondylotic myelopathy treated by anterior or posterior approach. To assess the severity of the pre- and postoperative neurological symptoms, they define an original ten-point classification scale taking into account gait and urinary disturbance, ability to manipulate objects and pain. With C2-C7 laminectomy, 60% of the patients are improved, essentially for walk. A few cases only (14%) are upgraded for upper limbs function. The authors conclude that this surgical treatment should be applied only when there is a multi-level narrowed canal and predominant lower limbs deficits. The efficacy of the anterior approach depends on complete removal of osteophytes. In cases with complete osteophytectomy, this surgical treatment can improve both the upper and lower limbs function and 77.8% good results are obtained. In a few cases it may be necessary to use both approach successively. Discriminant analysis applied to 12 factors shows that pre-operative scores of upper and lower limbs and sagittal diameter of spinal canal are the most important factors for neurological prognosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Predicting recovery from head injury.

Outcome prediction after severe head injury remains an important issue. We investigated this problem by recording seven risk factors in 40 patients with severe head injury. By applying multivariate statistical analysis to the patients' data we selected the factors of prognostic significance: degree of initial neurological damage, severely raised intracranial pressure, and age. We compared clinical and biochemical parameters for evaluating the severity of brain lesion and proposed various simple prognostic indices allowing for correct prediction in more than 85% of patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Plasma prokallikrein and kininogens in burned patients.

Using specific immunological (1) and enzymatic (2) methods, we have measured prokallikrein, total, high, and low molecular weight kininogens in 36 severely burned patients. At admission to the intensive care unit, all constituents were significantly decreased when compared to previously defined reference intervals. The values remained low during the three first days after burn. The changes affecting total and low molecular weight kininogens were significantly correlated (p less than 0.05) with the severity of the burn area. Prokallikrein and kininogens levels were also closely related to the concentrations of C3c and C4 complement factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Study of hypotonic polyuria after trans-sphenoidal pituitary adenomectomy.

We have studied the postoperative diuresis patterns in 116 patients following the removal of a pituitary adenoma using the trans-sphenoidal approach. We observed a normal diuresis (ND) in 55 patients and a hypotonic polyuria (HP) in 61 patients, consisting of water elimination (WE = 45 cases) and transient diabetes insipidus (DI = 16 cases). We investigated the problem of predicting these patterns from eight pre-operative factors by applying stepwise logistic discriminant analysis. We demonstrated that DI was significantly associated with a posterior localization of the adenoma in the pituitary gland and that WE was more frequently observed in cases of suprasellar expansion, in young patients, and in prolactin secreting tumors. Finally, we discuss the pathogenic role of these factors in the occurrence of HP, taking into account inhibition of vasopressin secretion and possible fluid overload.

Adenoma↗