Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A De Muynck

Publications and source records attributed to A De Muynck.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Endemic African Kaposi's sarcoma is not associated with immunodeficiency.

Twenty-seven histologically confirmed Kaposi sarcoma (KS) patients resident in the Kivu Lake area of eastern Zaire were examined for immune competence. Only KS cases of the endemic African type have been observed in this high-incidence area. The median duration of the symptoms was 6 years and ranged from 1 to 38 years. Forty-one controls matched for age, sex and tribe and unrelated to the KS patients were selected from the community. Thirteen additional controls were first-degree relatives of the KS patients. No evidence of immune suppression among KS patients was found and there were no significant differences in the immune status between KS patients and controls. Total lymphocytes, B and T cells, and OKT4+ and OKT8+ cells varied within the normal range. Grouping of the KS patients in categories according to duration and disease extent did not reveal significant differences in their immune status. The number of KS patients reacting positively in a skin test to 5 recall antigens and I mitogen was similar to that of controls, except in the case of candidin, to which a higher number of KS patients were negative. The serum levels of immunoglobulins, complement factors and circulating immune complexes were comparable in KS patients and controls. Indicators of inflammatory processes [white blood cells (WBC), complement-reactive protein (CRP)] were positive in 27% of the KS patients. The prevalence and mean titer of antibody against cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and syphilis were similar in KS patients and in controls.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The limits to patient compliance with directly observed therapy for tuberculosis: a socio-medical study in Pakistan.

Complying with the prescriptions of the directly observed therapy (DOT), one of the components of the Global Tuberculosis Programme of the WHO, is problematic for many patients. The factors leading to patient (non-) compliance with DOT are placed in a structural equation model. The study is based on a survey carried out in one general hospital in the Punjab province of Pakistan, amongst all sputum positive pulmonary TB patients (n = 621) who arrived at the TB unit from September 1997 to October 1998. The tested sequence of manifest variables and latent constructs shows that the social stratification perspective has to be extended by the stigmatization perspective. The advantages of universally applying DOT will increase even further when the latter perspective is involved in the analysis of non-compliance. There is a real danger that the patients reached by selective DOT will be stigmatized even more.

Adult↗