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Biomedical subjects

A Brito

Publications and source records attributed to A Brito.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

In vivo measurement of hepatic iodine concentration using fluorescent excitation analysis.

Hepatic iodine concentration was measured in the live dog by external use of fluorescent excitation analysis. The number of characteristic photons produced by interaction of exciting radiation from an americium-241 source with iodine within the tissue is proportional to the tissue iodine concentrations. A correction is made for absorption of radiation by the abdominal wall and other tissues lying between the volume of liver being assayed and the detector collimator. The technique is applicable to the in vivo measurement of iodine concentrations from 0.5 to 40 mg/g. Accuracy of the technique is approximately +/- 10%, which is within the range of variation in iodine concentration at various sites within the liver. Radiation dose is low, and radiolabeled tracer compounds need not be used.

Animals↗

Recirculation of iopanoic acid after conjugation in the liver.

The purpose of the investigation was to determine if an enterohepatic recirculation occurred for the metabolite of iopanoic acid. The major metabolite of iopanoic acid (Telepaque) in dog bile is the glucuronide conjugate. The identification and quantitation of glucuronide conjugate was accomplished by elemental analysis, paper chromatography, thin layer chromatography, fluorescent excitation analysis, and high pressure liquid chromatography. The stability of iopanoic acid glucuronide in refrigerated dog bile was confirmed. Known amounts of the glucuronide conjugate were instilled into the duodenum of 8 awake adult dogs, and bile collected for 8 hours. Between 19% and 53% (average 31%) of the administered dose was recovered in bile, thereby documenting the presence of an enterohepatic recirculation of conjugated iopanoic acid. The slow rise and plateau of the excretion curve suggests that either the compound is absorbed slowly, or that absorption depends upon deconjugation in the gut. The implications are discussed.

Animals↗

Noninvasive quantitation of liver iron in dogs with hemochromatosis using dual-energy CT scanning.

The concentration of iron deposited in the livers of two dogs with experimentally induced iron overload was determined by use of dual energy computerized tomographic (CT) scanning. A phantom was constructed, containing known amounts of iron-dextran solutions. CT scans of the phantoms, at 80 and 120 kVp, corrected for the response of water, showed a linear relationship between known iron concentrations and difference in CT number at the two scanning energies, with a change of 24 H units per 1000 mg% iron. Using the graph of this linear relationship, the amount of iron in dog liver was predicted, compared with the amount of iron measured from biopsy specimens, and analyzed by neutron activation analysis. A close correlation existed between predicted liver iron and measured iron concentration (r = 0.99). Dual-energy CT scanning appears to provide an accurate, noninvasive method of quantitating liver iron.

Animals↗

[Human papillomavirus associated with uterine cervix lesions].

It was studied the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) among 228 women with lesions of uterine cervix attending the Ofir Loiola Institute, in Belem, Para, from March 1992 to May 1996. Histopathological examination was performed with all cervical biopsy samples obtained from these patients. In addition, specimens were analysed by both polimerase chain reaction and dot-blot hybridization to detect HPV DNA. The patients were assigned to three groups, according to the diagnosis made by histopathology, as follows: A, including 155 women suffering from invasive epidermoid carcinoma or adenocarcinoma; B, 54 patients having either cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade II or III; and C, involving 19 women with chronic cervicitis. The prevalence rates of HPV in groups A, B and C were 70.3%, 63% and 36.8% respectively. HPV 16 accounted for 60.4% and 54.5% of types identified in groups A and B, respectively. Altogether HPV types 16, 18 and 33 were detected in 71.4% of positive patients belonging to group C.

Biopsy↗

[Pemphigus vulgaris. Apropos of a clinical case].

A case report of Pemphigus Vulgaris will be presented. We shall be looking at its clinical, cytological and immunological aspects. Pemphigus Vulgaris is a rare disease that has, nevertheless, a very common oral expression (90-100% cases). It has the worst prognosis of all the blistering diseases, with a mortality rate of 90% without treatment that dropped to 30 to 40% with corticosteroids.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

NMR imaging of acute experimental cerebral ischemia: time course and pharmacologic manipulations.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging was used to evaluate the intracerebral changes over time in gerbils after unilateral carotid artery ligation. Each animal was imaged during one of three stated periods 3-28 hr after surgery and again after administration of dexamethasone, morphine, or naloxone, agents reported to affect the clinical outcome of ischemic cerebral lesions. Asymptomatic animals exhibited no differences between the occluded and control hemispheres in relative signal intensity or in T1 or T2 relaxation times, but symptomatic animals demonstrated significant differences in these parameters between hemispheres. The ischemic lesion was detected at the earliest imaging time, 3 hr after surgery. A linear increase was observed in the relative interhemispheric signal intensity in three of four intensity images and in T1 and T2 relaxation times over the 24 hr experiment. No effect was noted on any image parameter as a result of pharmacologic manipulations. The results suggest that NMR may be of significant diagnostic importance for acute cerebral ischemia and infarction in man.

Animals↗