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Biomedical subjects

A Brendel

Publications and source records attributed to A Brendel.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

[Recommendations for personal respiratory protection in tuberculosis].

These recommendations of the German Central Committee against Tuberculosis give an overview of the current scientific knowledge on the tuberculosis risk of health service employees and on the risk of infection in individual areas of work. The efficacy of face masks and their benefit in tuberculosis control is discussed. There are no reliable data on the efficacy of face masks in preventing infection with M. tuberculosis, nor can such data be expected in the near future, due to the complex interaction of infection-preventing measures. As rapid case finding, isolation, and immediate, effective treatment of infected patients already greatly diminish the risk of transmission, we consider face masks to be of limited use in reducing this risk. However, they may be beneficial in certain areas of work and in certain situations, particularly in the presence of elevated aerosol concentrations. The benefit of face masks depends largely on their correct application. The choice of a particular type of mask requires knowledge of the current epidemiological situation, and a competent assessment of the risk in the area of work for which it is chosen, taking into account the closeness of contact with potentially infectious tuberculosis patients.

Germany↗
PubMed2002

[The state of tuberculosis in Germany in 2000].

Tuberculosis is one of the leading infectious diseases globally besides HIV/AIDS and malaria. Around 8 million people per year develop active tuberculosis, of whom 2 million eventually die of the disease. Of special importance to Germany is the epidemiologic situation in the former Soviet Union, where new infections are rising steeply. This region is also a hot spot for the development of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. In 2000, the WHO registered already 273 000 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis worldwide. In Germany the tuberculosis situation is stable. 9 064 persons (910 less than 1999) had tuberculosis in the year 2000. 5 271 cases were tuberculosis of the respiratory tract with detection of Mycobacteria tuberculosis. In 2 264 cases registered as tuberculosis of the respiratory tract, Mycobacteria tuberculosis could not be detected. 1 529 persons developed extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The highest incidences were found among the elderly. One third of the tuberculosis patients were born outside Germany. Resistance to antituberculous drugs also increased slowly in Germany. A study of the DZK, although with small numbers, demonstrated an increase of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis from 1.2 % (1996) to 1.7 % (2000), which also influenced the treatment outcome. With rising resistance rates, the treatment success decreased from 77.5 % in fully susceptible to 59.5 % in multidrug-resistant cases.

Antimalarials↗
PubMed2002

Strategies against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

The rise of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), defined as tuberculosis showing resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, is a serious threat to tuberculosis control in some high prevalence countries and may have some impact on low prevalence regions as well. The World Health Organization estimates that 50 million people worldwide are infected with MDR-TB, and that, in the year 2000, 273,000 (3.1%) MDR-TB cases were among the 8.7 million new tuberculosis cases. In 1998, the highest MDR-TB rates among new cases and the highest combined (new and previously treated cases) MDR-TB rates were found in Estonia (14.1 and 18.1%), Henan province in China (10.8 and 15.1%), Latvia (9.0 and 12.0%), and Ivanovo Oblast (9.0 and 12.3%) and Tomsk Oblast (6.5 and 13.7%) in the Russian Federation. The risk factors for MDR-TB are previous treatment or relapse, originating from "hot spot" areas, a history of imprisonment, homelessness and possibly also human immunodeficiency virus. The treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is difficult due to side-effects and a treatment duration of up to 3 yrs, which is expensive and often unsuccessful. Therefore, strategies for the treatment and prevention of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis are urgently required. This requires functioning tuberculosis control programmes (directly observed treatment short course), and, in some high prevalence countries, the introduction of second-line drugs on the basis of appropriate susceptibility testing (directly observed treatment short course-Plus). Only the future will show whether this "ticking time bomb" can be defused.

Antitubercular Agents↗
PubMed1980

Emission and transmission brain tomography.

Comparative emission and transmission brain tomograms were obtained in 209 patients to establish the diagnostic accuracy of a new emission tomographic scanner in detecting space-occupying disease in the brain. Concordant results were obtained in 169 patients (81%). Computed transmission tomography (transmission CT) yielded an overall rate of false-positive results of 0.48% and a false-negative rate of 6%. Emission CT yielded a false-positive rate of 0% and false-negative rates of 2.4% for malignant disease and 10% for vascular disease. The higher rate of false-negative results for vascular disease with emission CT occurs because transmission CT can detect old infarction. The rates of detection of recent vascular disease with emission and trnasmission CT are identical. Thus emission CT is highly sensitive in detecting space-occupying disease in the brain. It represents an ideal screening procedure.

Brain↗
PubMed1980

[Thyroxin binding globulin (TBG) radioimmunoassay. Normal patients results according to age, and sex, and in the cases of dysthyroidisms (author's transl)].

The value of TBG serum concentration for the exploration of thyroid function was studied by radioimmunoassay in 203 patients (133 normals, 62 dysthyroidism, 8 women taking oral contraceptives). The results of the normal patients show important and as of yet unexplained variations of TBG levels, depending on age and sex. In hyperthyroidism, serum TBG was reduced significantly in women and no significantly in men. In hypothyroidism, the levels are significantly high in both sexes. Like the TRH test, the TBG serum concentration determination may be helpful for the diagnosis of a slight hypothyroidism. Moreover, as the serum levels return to normal values with substitutive therapy, TBG assay may be used as a follow-up test during the treatment of hypothyroid patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

[Metyrapone test and plasma hormone estimations (author's transl)].

The usual metyrapone test based on the determination of the urinary steroid levels after ingestion of the product is relatively difficult to use because of its duration. In order to simplify this test, a comparative study was carried out with thirty subjects, 24 of whom were normal, by measuring their plasma hormonal levels by radioimmunoassay for ACTH, cortisol and aldosterone and by radiocompetition after extraction by carbon tetrachloride for the 11-desoxycortisol (S compound). The results show a parallel between the variation of the urinary steroid levels and the variations of plasma hormone levels during the first 24 hours of the test. Therefore, measuring the levels of ACTH, S compound and cortisol in the plasma before the ingestion of metyrapone and 24 hours afterwards seems simpler to carry out and accurate enough to test the integrity of the feed-back system between hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗