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Biomedical subjects

A Bloch

Publications and source records attributed to A Bloch.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Diagnostic value of ascitic fluid cholesterol levels in the prediction of malignancy.

In a prospective study abdominal paracentesis with ascitic fluid aspiration was performed in 54 consecutive patients with ascites of unknown cause. The ascitic fluid was examined cytologically and bacteriologically. The total cholesterol concentration was measured with an enzymatic colorimetric method. Malignant disease was diagnosed in 34 patients. Two of them had both malignant disease and liver cirrhosis and were excluded. Seventeen patients had liver cirrhosis, one had acute pancreatitis, and two had decompensated heart disease. The diagnostic value of an ascitic cholesterol concentration greater than 1.2 mmol/l in terms of predicting malignant disease was 87.5% (95% confidence limits, 71.0-96.5). The predictive value of an ascitic cholesterol concentration less than or equal to 1.2 mmol/l in terms of benign disease was 80.0% (95% confidence limits, 56.3-94.3). It is concluded that ascitic cholesterol measurement is a valuable supplement to cytologic examination in distinguishing between ascites of malignant and benign origin.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

[The use of Doppler in the diagnosis of intracardiac shunts in adults].

Conventional and color Doppler represent a major addition to ultrasound cardiography and the evaluation of intracardiac shunts, in adults as well as children. Above all, it concerns interauricular and interventricular communications and patent ductus arteriosus. The Doppler is superior to ultrasonography in several conditions such as the diagnosis of very small communications, muscular interventricular communications and multiple shunts. It enables to quantify the magnitude of the shunts either by determination of the area of the color flow or, more precisely, by measurement of the ratio pulmonary output/aortic output. In addition, the Doppler presents the advantage of determining the pressures in the right heart.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

[Measurement of pulmonary arterial pressure].

Several Doppler methods may be used to measure pulmonary pressures and diagnose pulmonary hypertension. They are analyses of the pulmonary systolic flow, the pulmonary diastolic flow, the flow of tricuspid insufficiency and the interventricular communication. Although none of these methods is perfect, they however enable to diagnose in almost all cases a pulmonary hypertension. The simplest and most reliable method appears to be the determination of the tricuspid systolic flow (tricuspid insufficiency) which enables to calculate, with the modified Bernouilli's equation, the right ventricular systolic pressure and consequently the pulmonary systolic pressure. Thus the ultrasound Doppler has replaced other non invasive techniques in the evaluation of pulmonary pressures.

Blood Pressure Determination↗
PubMed1987

[Value of echocardiography in the etiological diagnosis of cardiac insufficiency].

The role of echocardiography in determining the etiology of heart failure has been evaluated. The study is based on retrospective analysis of 65 patients with either a history of heart failure or with echocardiographically reduced contractility without heart failure. The cause of the cardiac insufficiency was established or confirmed in 54 of 58 patients. The echocardiogram was normal in 4 patients with effort-induced dyspnea. Lastly, echocardiography revealed 7 cases of reduced contractility in patients with cardiomyopathy or coronary heart disease without subjective symptoms of heart failure.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Inhibition of messenger RNA transcriptional activity in ML-1 human myeloblastic leukemia cell nuclei by antiserum to a c-myb-specific peptide.

Antiserum to a synthetic peptide that defines a hydrophilic region within the putative c-myb translation product was prepared in the rabbit. In lysates from exponentially growing ML-1, human myeloblastic leukemia cells, the antiserum ("anti-myb") reacted with five proteins of Mr 58,000, 75,000, 85,000, 90,000 and 105,000. Of these, only p75 and a trace of p85 were detected, by immunoblotting, in extracts derived from ML-1 cell nuclei. The proteins p58, p75 and p90 were present in readily detectable amounts only in the relatively immature myeloid cell lines ML-1 and HL-60, whereas in the more mature myeloid cell line THP-1 and in the lymphoid line BALL-1 only traces of these proteins were found. p85 and p105 were detected in lysates from all cell lines tested, including myeloid and lymphoid leukemia cells and mouse 3T3 cells. In lysates from ML-1 cells induced to differentiate to monocyte/macrophages or to granulocytes, the concentrations of p58 and p75 decreased in parallel with the cell population moving to maturity; in completely mature populations these two proteins were no longer detectable. In ML-1 cells arrested in G1 by serum depletion, the amount of p58 and p75 and to a smaller extent that of p90 was decreased, whereas the concentration of p85 and p105 remained unchanged. In nuclei from exponentially growing ML-1 cells, the antiserum or its derived immunoglobulin fraction ("anti-myb IgG") inhibited mRNA transcriptional activity by 30%. DNA synthesis was not affected. In contrast, in nuclei from differentiated ML-1 cells, the mRNA transcriptional activity was not significantly inhibited by anti-myb IgG. Similarly, in nuclei from ML-1 cells arrested largely in G1 by serum depletion for 2 days, mRNA transcriptional activity was inhibited by only 11%. Upon supplementation with serum, the mRNA transcriptional activity inhibitable by anti-myb IgG increased in parallel with the increasing rate of cell growth. The difference in total mRNA transcriptional activity observed in nuclei from cells of different growth rate was accounted for by the difference in transcriptional activity inhibitable by anti-myb IgG.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Antibody Specificity↗
PubMed1987

Immediate postoperative jejunostomy feeding. Clinical and metabolic results in a prospective trial.

A prospective clinical trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy of postoperative jejunostomy feedings using high (44 percent) and low (15 percent) branched-chain amino acid elemental diet formulations compared with no jejunostomy feedings in a homogeneous surgical population. Twenty-eight patients undergoing radical cystectomy and ileal diversion were randomized to the high branched-chain amino acid formula (11 patients) or the low branched-chain amino acid formula (9 patients). Eight patients received a 5 percent dextrose in water solution intravenously and served as a control group. Mean caloric intake per day in each group was 1,543 calories, 1,697 calories, and 550 calories, respectively; whereas the mean nitrogen intake of each group was 6.5 +/- 2.1 g/day, 8.2 +/- 2.4 g/day, and 0 g/day, respectively. Mean weight changes were minus 0.7 percent, 0.7 percent, and minus 0.3 percent, respectively. The mean daily nitrogen balance was minus 1.6 +/- 3.5 g/day, minus 1.1 +/- 4.4 g/day, and minus 6.6 +/- 1 g/day (p less than 0.001). Five patients (25 percent) in the jejunostomy groups progressed to an oral diet more rapidly than the control group, but gastrointestinal complications occurred in 11 patients (55 percent). Immediate postoperative jejunostomy feedings resulted in improved nitrogen balance compared with the control group values, but no metabolic advantage was noted by infusing a high branched-chain amino acid formula. Improved return to normal gastrointestinal function was noted in 25 percent of jejunostomy patients, but the gastrointestinal complications noted limited the overall usefulness of this technique.

Abdomen↗
PubMed1987

[Ultrasonic diagnosis of aortic valve lesions in adults].

Based on a review of the literature and on a personal series of 136 cases the reliability of echocardiography and Doppler echocardiography in demonstrating aortic stenosis and regurgitation and its value for the analysis of aortic valve prosthesis is investigated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Mechanism of interaction between antineoplastic agents and natural differentiation factors in the induction of human leukemic cell maturation.

DNA-specific agents have the capacity to induce the maturation of ML-1 human myeloblastic leukemia cells to monocyte/macrophages if adequate concentrations of fetal bovine serum or mitogen-stimulated human leukocyte-conditioned medium (CM) are present in the culture medium. Fetal bovine serum and CM contain specific differentiation-inducing factors that, in conjunction with the drugs, bring about cell maturation. To examine the mechanism by which this interactive effect occurs, ML-1 cells were exposed to actinomycin D or daunomycin in various combinations with CM, using concentrations at which neither the drug nor CM, when applied individually, induced maturation to a significant extent. Pretreatment for 3 days with drug followed by treatment for 3 days with CM caused maturation of 75% of the cells, as determined by the appearance of Fc receptors. Other markers of differentiation, including alpha-napthyl acetate esterase, acid phosphatase, and morphology, also reflected the increase in maturation. The simultaneous application of drug and CM was equally effective in inducing differentiation. Pretreatment of the cells with CM followed by treatment with drug failed to induce maturation, whereas pretreatment with CM followed by a second application of CM caused the expression of Fc receptors in 62% of the cells. In contrast, pretreatment with drug followed by a second application of drug did not induce differentiation significantly. These results indicate that the drug sensitizes the cells to respond to concentrations of CM to which they would otherwise be refractive. The drug-induced sensitization is reversible. At sensitizing drug concentrations, cell viability was preserved but, as measured by radiolabeling for 1 h, total RNA synthesis was decreased by 38% and mRNA synthesis by 87%. At these drug concentrations, the synthesis of mRNA specified by all seven oncogenes examined (myb, myc, abl, fos, N-ras, sis, erb B) was decreased by 15-60%. The administration of CM subsequent to drug caused a further decrease of some mRNA levels (c-myb, c-myc) but increased the level of others (c-fos). The drug-induced lowering of mRNA levels is considered to inhibit the synthesis of proteins specifically required for G1-S transit and maintenance of the proliferation program, amplifying, thereby, the maturation signal emitted by the differentiation factors present in serum and in CM. As a result, expression of the maturation program is initiated.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMed1986

Chronic illness and its impact on academic achievement.

With chronic illness in children becoming increasingly evident, there is a need to tease out primary from secondary effects of the illness on scholastic achievement. Early multidisciplinary diagnosis of chronic illness is critical and requires a community setting with careful long-term individual follow-up and research. This will enable pediatricians and school doctors to be more helpful to the education authorities.

Absenteeism↗