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Biomedical subjects

A Blau

Publications and source records attributed to A Blau.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Detection of CMV-DNA in cells from peritoneal fluid of IPD/CAPD patients by polymerase chain reaction.

Documented viral peritonitis in peritoneal dialysis patients is rare, although up to 20% of all cases are culture negative (non-fungal, non-bacterial). CMV-infected peritoneal cells may serve as a reservoir for reinfection and/or reactivation of CMV after renal transplantation. CMV-Polymerase Chain Reaction (CMV-PCR) amplification analysis identified CMV-DNA in cells from the peritoneal dialysate of 8 patients (3 culture negative peritonitis from a total of 5 examined) and 5 asymptomatics) out of 17 potential kidney transplant recipients (6 on IPD 16.6 +/- 6 months, range 10-29 months; 11 on CAPD 28.1 +/- 25 months, range 2-81 months). Serum titers (10/17 patients analyzed) of anti-CMV IgG antibodies ranged from < 1:20 to 1:320 (no correlation with CMV-DNA) while anti-CMV IgM antibodies were undetectable. Detection of CMV specific sequences in peritoneal cells in peritoneal dialysis patients by the PCR assay is sensitive (amplification of a 133 bp immediate early CMV gene sequence allows detection of 10 CMV infected cells in a background of 10(5) uninfected peritoneal cells), rapid (1 day visual, 3 days with confirmation by Southern hybridization), specific (no amplification of human embryo and kidney cell DNA, or HSV, EBV, or VZV infected cells) and is non-invasive in IPD/CAPD patients since no additional invasive technique is required.

Cytomegalovirus↗
PubMed1992

Effect of nisoldipine on ambulatory blood pressure under 24-hour noninvasive monitoring.

The antihypertensive effect of nisoldipine on ambulatory blood pressure was investigated using continuous noninvasive monitoring in 12 patients with moderate essential hypertension. Treatment with nisoldipine 5 mg twice a day for 2 weeks resulted in a decrease in the average of each patient's mean arterial pressure for the whole day from 110.3 +/- 6.8 to 103.2 +/- 8.8 mm Hg (P = 0.0007). This decrease in mean arterial pressure was due to a decrease in both systolic and diastolic pressures. The reduction in blood pressure was most marked at the time of the originally high blood pressure readings. Comparisons of consecutive means of 2-hourly mean arterial pressure readings showed a statistically significant effect from 6:00 AM to midnight. Blood pressures between midnight and 6:00 AM were similarly low, before and during nisoldipine therapy. There was no change in heart rate. Untoward symptoms were reported with similar frequency, and of similar severity, both before and during therapy. Nisoldipine 5 mg twice a day is an effective antihypertensive agent, reducing moderately elevated blood pressure in ambulatory, working patients with essential hypertension. At the dosage used, it had no demonstrable effect on heart rate and minimal, if any, side effects.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Dementia. Age-dependent incidence, prevalence, and mortality in the old old.

Age has been reported as a strong risk factor for dementia. Supporting data have been derived mainly from prevalence studies, which had varied criteria and sample compositions that precluded direct comparisons, especially among those aged 85 years and older. Data regarding rates of dementia are presented based on 85 incident cases in the Bronx (NY) Aging Study, a prospective study of 488 initially nondemented, old old persons (mean age on entry, 79 years). Overall, the incidence rate over 8 years of follow-up for all-cause dementia was 3.4 per 100 per year (43% Alzheimer's disease, 30% mixed Alzheimer's and vascular, and 27% other). Incidence rose significantly, irrespective of gender, as subjects were followed up through three age intervals--ages 75 to 79 years (1.3/100 per year), 80 to 84 years (3.5), and 85 years and older (6.0). The comparable age-associated prevalence rates of dementia were 3.7%, 12.2%, and 23.9%, respectively, with an overall period prevalence of 22.8%. Additionally, there was a threefold greater mortality associated with dementia. In conclusion, despite the shortened life expectancy of demented persons, dementia is a highly prevalent condition among those aged 85 years and older. Public policy attention is warranted, since this group is the fastest growing population subgroup.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Optimal a posteriori time domain filter for average evoked potentials.

Evoked potentials measured with scalp electrodes are often described as a deterministic process corrupted by unrelated noise. The common procedure to determine the signal is to average N repetitive measurements. By obtaining additional information from the N measurements, signal detection can be improved. An algorithm that estimates the signal autocorrelation from N given measurements is proposed. The estimator is consistent and unbiased, and its variance tends to 0 as o(N). Two filters that are applied to the average response are introduced. Both depend on the estimation of the signal and the noise autocorrelations. One filter is based on the assumption that the average response is a stationary process. The second filter coefficients are obtained by minimizing the mean squared error (MSE) of an optimal filter of a nonstationary process applied on a single sweep. When a small number of sweeps are averaged, the stationary assumption is adequate, and the MSE of the stationary optimal filter is two to five times less than the MSE of the average response. When a large number of measurements are considered, the error in estimating the autocorrelations decreases. In this case, applying the optimal filter for a nonstationary process leads to a significant improvement in the signal estimation.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1990

Calcium channel blocker nisoldipine in chronic renal failure.

Patients with a stable progression of chronic renal failure with a creatinine clearance of 15-45 mL/min were randomly assigned to two groups of antihypertensive therapy: 1--nisoldipine as the only antihypertensive agent and 2--antihypertensive drugs without calcium channel blockers and a placebo tablet instead of nisoldipine. The patients were already on a low-protein diet and some form of antihypertensive therapy but without calcium channel blockers. There were 18 patients in the placebo group and 20 patients in the nisoldipine group. The follow-up period averaged 23.7 +/- 10.6 (SD) months in the placebo group and 23 +/- 11.3 months in the nisoldipine group. The slopes of the reciprocal of serum creatinine were calculated for the period prior to and following our intervention. The number of patients whose slopes improved following intervention was 6/18 in the placebo group and 15/20 in the nisoldipine group (p less than .02). The patients whose slopes improved had a significant fall in systolic and diastolic BP, as well as in the MAP. Those whose slopes did not improve had a significant decrease in systolic BP, but no change in diastolic BP and no significant difference in the MAP. When all 38 patients are analyzed together, regardless of their grouping, the correlation between the difference percent in the slope, and the difference percent in the MAP, was significant. Furthermore, punch biopsies of the skin showed a markedly different calcium content in the two groups, which was significantly less in the nisoldipine-treated patients as compared with the patients not receiving calcium blockers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Antihypertensive Agents↗
PubMed1990

Energy restriction or salt restriction in the treatment of overweight hypertension. Which one? A point of view.

Body weight reduction in the overweight hypertensive patient was found to reduce blood pressure, irrespective of the daily urinary sodium excretion. Significant blood pressure reductions were achieved while the urine sodium excretion was between 165-185 mEq/day. Salt restriction resulting in a significant decrease of the 24-hour urine sodium from 192-110 mEq/24-hours did not change the blood pressure. Some of the studies indicating a reduction in blood pressure, did not take into account the changes in body weight, while on sodium restriction. Thus sodium restriction in the treatment of hypertension has not been uniformly found to reduce the blood pressure. Although there is much evidence in favour of the involvement of sodium in the regulation of blood pressure, there is no convincing evidence that dietary sodium restriction can be of use as a therapeutic modality in the treatment of hypertension in the overweight hypertensive patient.

Blood Pressure↗
PubMed1989

Neuropsychological characteristics of subjects with and without neocortical Alz-50 immunoreactivity.

We performed quantitative histopathology and Alz-50 staining on 8 non-demented and 16 demented subjects who had received yearly neuropsychological evaluations as part of prospective studies of dementia. Of the 8 non-demented subjects, four had begun to show signs of cognitive decline on serial neuropsychological testing. These subjects showed marked decline on the Fuld Object Memory Evaluation, a test of recent memory. Scores on IQ tests and the Blessed test of orientation, memory, and concentration showed fluctuations but not consistent declines. These old-old, retired subjects were called "cognitively impaired" but not demented because they did not show decline in activities of daily living or social interactions. Five of the non-demented subjects had numerous cortical senile plaques and met standard pathological criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD), but only one of the five was Alz-50 positive. That subject had shown the most consistent decline on neuropsychological scores. Ten of 11 clinically demented subjects with pathological evidence of AD were Alz-50 positive. All five clinically demented subjects with non-Alzheimer dementias on pathological examination were Alz-50 negative. Alz-50 may stain plaques found in AD, but not stain plaques which accompany aging. The cognitive impairment found in the Alz-50 negative subjects may be age-associated and not indicate early AD.

Aging↗
PubMed1988

Cross-cultural and multi-ethnic dementia evaluation by mental status and memory testing.

Two studies investigated aspects of cross-cultural dementia evaluation. The first explored consequences of using different mental status tests; the second compared mental status and memory assessments for normal individuals aged 70-79 and 80-89 in Japan and in America. In a dementia screening clinic, scores from the Hasegawa mental status test could be converted to the Blessed scale without influencing patient classification (impaired vs. unimpaired). Younger subjects were slightly superior to older subjects in mental status in both comparison groups. Both Japanese groups performed better on the memory test than even the younger American group.

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Organ-specific and dosage-dependent expression of a leaf/stem specific gene from potato after tagging and transfer into potato and tobacco plants.

ST-LS1, a single copy gene from potato displaying a leaf/stem specific gene expression, was tagged by an exon modification and introduced into both potato and tobacco cells using Agrobacterium vectors. After regeneration of whole plants, the expression of the tagged gene was analyzed with respect to its organ specificity and compared to the expression of the corresponding resident gene. The expression of the transferred gene in transgenic plants closely followed the expression of the resident gene. No marked influence of the plant species serving as host was observed. The level of expression of the introduced gene varied by a factor of at least 100 in independent transformants when normalized to the expression of the resident gene. Southern analysis performed on the transformed plants indicated a correlation between copy number of the introduced gene and its expression level. The activity of the tagged gene as well as of the resident gene was significantly inhibited by treatment of the transgenic plants with the herbicide norfluorazon, indicating that this gene activity is dependent on the presence of functional chloroplasts in the leaves.

DNA, Recombinant↗
PubMed1986

A variant of the "DIDMOAD" syndrome (diabetes insipidus, diabetes mellitus, optic atrophy and deafness).

A 29-year-old female with diabetes insipidus, deafness, a visual disorder and an abnormal glucose tolerance test, who gave birth to a healthy baby is described. Her male sibling is probably also similarly affected. These patients may represent previously unreported variants of the "DIDMOAD" (Diabetes Insipidus, Diabetes Mellitus, Optic Atrophy and Deafness) syndrome. This is the first reported case of childbirth in an affected patient.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Hemodynamic effects of nifedipine in hypertension in the presence of elevated angiotensin-II and beta-adrenergic blockade.

The hemodynamic effects of the slow release form of a calcium channel blocker, nifedipine retard, in essential hypertension patients after angiotensin II (AII) infusion were studied using nuclear ventriculography. Sublingual nifedipine lowered blood pressure that had been acutely raised by an infusion of AII to its baseline level. When used for 4 weeks, nifedipine retard maintained its blood-pressure-lowering effects without a change in heart rate, both when used alone and when used in addition to beta-adrenergic blockers. In the patients with untreated essential hypertension, nifedipine counteracted the lowering effect of AII on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), which was 67.5 +/- 8.9% at recumbency, 61.2 +/- 6.6% (+/- SD) during AII infusion, and 72.1 +/- 7.5% 30 minutes after sublingual nifedipine. These acute effects seem to result from a marked reduction in total peripheral resistance (TPR) and are accompanied by a rise in cardiac index (CI). The TPR, in dynes/sec/cm-5, was 1376.9 +/- 275.8 at recumbency, 2000.7 +/- 358 during AII infusion, and 1228.6 +/- 289 30 minutes after sublingual nifedipine. The corresponding figures for CI in liters/M2 BSA, were 4.02 +/- 0.77, 3.03 +/- 0.64, and 4.32 +/- 0.79. In patients receiving beta-blocker therapy (propranolol or atenolol) with inadequate control of blood pressure, similar results were obtained in LVEF (69.7 +/- 8.87% at recumbency, 63.7 +/- 11.9% during AII infusion, and 72.2 +/- 6.05% 30 minutes after sublingual nifedipine). The initial TPR was much higher than that of untreated essential hypertensive patients. Nevertheless, the increase obtained during AII infusion was counteracted by sublingual nifedipine. CI was decreased by AII.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1978

Strokes and head injury.

This is a report of a series of patients who suffered major cerebral hemorrhage or infarction complicating industrial head injuries. The variable importance of trauma and of pre-existing vascular disease is exemplified. Accuracy of assessment of such complex problems is facilitated by modern applied neuroscientific techniques.

Accidents, Occupational↗