Time of incision in subcutaneous injection of paraffin.
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Adult↗
Biomedical subjects
A Jensen
Publications and source records attributed to A Jensen.
House dust mite allergens on different types of mattresses.
Beds and especially mattresses are important breeding grounds for house dust mites. We investigated whether supposed differences in the microclimate on water, spring and foam mattresses were reflected in the occurrence of house dust mite major allergens (Der fI, Der mI, and Der pI) in mattress dust. Fifty-one mattresses that had been in use for 8-25 months were sampled. Median concentration of total major allergens was 0.5 microgram/g dust (range 0-45) with little difference between the three major allergens and between the three types of mattresses. Occurrence of mattresses with concentrations above and below the proposed risk level (2 micrograms/g) was similar in the mattress groups. However, the allergen concentration was above risk level in 56%, if washable underblankets were not applied, compared with only 21% in the group with such underblankets. In conclusion, mattresses tend to accumulate allergen rather rapidly. Neither heated water mattresses, spring nor foam mattresses seem to be of any advantage for mite allergics, whereas underblankets made of synthetic fibres in a cotton or synthetic cover, commonly used in Denmark, might play a beneficial role in reducing allergen exposure.
Allergens↗
Prevalence of amblyopia in old people without previous screening and treatment. An evaluation of the present prophylactic procedures among children in Denmark.
An epidemiological study of amblyopia was performed among old people without previous screening and treatment. The study revealed a prevalence of 2.9% (strabismic in 2.3%, anisometropic in 0.6%). Present residual amblyopia among Danish school children is about 1% according to literature. The rate of cure of amblyopia by the present Danish system of prophylaxis and treatment is estimated to be 60-70%.
Aged↗
Effects of reducing uterine blood flow on fetal blood flow distribution and oxygen delivery.
We examined the effect of graded reduction in uterine blood flow on distribution of cardiac output and oxygen delivery to fetal organs and venous blood flow patterns in 9 fetal sheep using the radionuclide-labeled microsphere technique. We reduced uterine blood flow in two steps, decreasing fetal oxygen delivery to 70% and 50% of normal, and compared the results with those from a similar study from our laboratory on graded umbilical cord compression. With 50% reduction in fetal oxygen delivery, blood flow and the fraction of the cardiac output distributed to the brain, heart, and adrenal gland increased and that to the lungs, carcass, skin, and scalp decreased. Oxygen delivery to the brain and myocardium was maintained, while that to the adrenal doubled, and that to the brain stem increased transiently. The decrease in oxygen delivery to both carcass and lower body segment correlated linearly with oxygen consumption (P less than 0.001). The proportion of umbilical venous blood passing through the ductus venosus increased from 44.6% to 53% (P less than 0.05). The preferential distribution of ductus venosus blood flow through the foramen ovale to the heart and brain increased, but that to the upper carcass decreased so that ductus venosus-derived blood flow to the upper body did not change. Hence, the oxygen delivered to the brain from the ductus venosus was maintained, and that to the heart increased 54% even though ductus venosus-derived oxygen delivery to the upper body fell 34%. Abdominal inferior vena caval blood flow and its contribution to cardiac output decreased, but the proportion of the abdominal inferior vena caval blood distributed through the foramen ovale also increased from 23.0 to 30.9%. However, the actual amount of inferior vena caval blood passing through the foramen ovale did not change. There was a 70% fall in oxygen delivery to the upper body segment from the inferior vena cava. A greater portion of superior vena caval blood was also shunted through the foramen ovale to the upper body, but the actual amounts of blood and oxygen delivered to the upper body from this source were small. Thus, graded reduction of uterine blood flow causes a redistribution of fetal oxygen delivery and of venous flow patterns, which is clearly different from that observed previously during graded umbilical cord occlusion.
Animals↗
Effects of acute asphyxia on brain energy metabolism in fetal guinea pigs near term.
In a previous study we suggested that--unlike other forms of asphyxia--acute asphyxia caused by arrest of uterine blood flow is accompanied by a fall in oxygen delivery to the fetal brain (Jensen et al., 1987). This may change cerebral energy metabolism by causing an increase in the glycolytic rate. To test this hypothesis we studied the time course of the changes in the levels of high-energy phosphates and glycolytic intermediates in the cerebral cortex of unanaesthetized fetal guinea pigs near term before and after 2 and 4 min of acute asphyxia. During asphyxia there was a progressive fall of adenosine triphosphate, creatine-phosphate, glucose and fructose-1,6-diphosphate concentrations, whereas adenosine diphosphate, adenosine monophosphate and lactate concentrations increased. Pyruvate concentrations did not change. We conclude that fetal cerebral energy metabolism becomes increasingly anaerobic during acute asphyxia caused by arrest of uterine blood flow, because oxygen delivery to the fetal brain falls.
Animals↗
Oxygen availability determines oxygen consumption of fetal skeletal muscle cells in monolayer culture preliminary report.
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Animals↗
Fetal circulatory responses to oxygen lack.
The knowledge on fetal and neonatal circulatory physiology accumulated by basic scientists and clinicians over the years has contributed considerably to the recent decline of perinatal morbidity and mortality. This review will summarize the peculiarities of the fetal circulation, the distribution of organ blood flow during normoxemia, and that during oxygen lack caused by various experimental perturbations. Furthermore, the relation between oxygen delivery and tissue metabolism during oxygen lack as well as evidence to support a new concept will be presented along with the principal cardiovascular mechanisms involved. Finally, blood flow and oxygen delivery to the principal fetal organs will be examined and discussed in relation to organ function. The fetal circulatory response to hypoxemia and asphyxia is a centralization of blood flow in favour of the brain, heart, and adrenals and at the expense of almost all peripheral organs, particularly of the lungs, carcass, skin and scalp. This response is qualitatively similar but quantitatively different under various experimental conditions. However, at the nadir of severe acute asphyxia the circulatory centralization cannot be maintained. Then there is circulatory decentralization, and the fetus will experience severe brain damage if not expire unless immediate resuscitation occurs. Future work in this field will have to concentrate on the important questions, what factors determine this collapse of circulatory compensating mechanisms in the fetus, how does it relate to neuronal damage, and how can the fetal brain be pharmacologically protected against the adverse effects of asphyxia.
Animals↗
Hypoxia reduces oxygen consumption of fetal skeletal muscle cells in monolayer culture.
In a previous study on acute asphyxia in unanesthetized fetal sheep near term we showed that reduced oxygen delivery to peripheral organs reduces total oxygen consumption, suggesting that oxygen itself may be a determinant of oxygen consumption (Jensen, Hohmann & Künzel, 1987). To test this hypothesis we developed an in vitro perfusion model, which enabled us to measure the oxygen consumption of fetal skeletal muscle cells in monolayer culture in a control period (at approximately 145 mmHg) and during various degrees of hypoxia (6-140 mmHg). In 57 experiments on 57 cultures the mean oxygen consumption at a mean 'entry PO2' of 145.3 +/- 10.4 mmHg was 10.3 +/- 9.3 (SD).10(-6) microliters O2 per h per skeletal muscle cell. These measurements were made after an average of 4.2 +/- 2.3 transfers of the cells and at a cell density of 2.0 +/- 1.2.10(5) cells per cm2. In 54 of these experiments hypoxia was induced. There was a close positive correlation between the PO2 of the perfusate entering the Petridish ('entry PO2') and the change of the oxygen consumption of the cells (y = 5.17 - 0.54x + 0.03x2 - 0.00016x3, r = 0.97, p less than 0.0001). When oxygen tension fell, there was a concomitant fall in cellular oxygen consumption. We conclude that oxygen is a determinant of cellular oxygen consumption. Thus, hypoxia may reduce oxygen consumption of skeletal muscle cells, and oxygen may be preserved to maintain oxidative metabolism in central fetal organs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Animals↗
Cerebral energy metabolism in guinea pig fetuses during development.
During development fetal arterial oxygen tension falls, whereas cerebral oxygen consumption rises due to an increase in cerebral metabolism. To compensate for this increase in oxygen consumption, blood flow and therefore oxygen delivery to the cerebrum rises. To determine whether during development oxygen delivery to the cerebrum meets cerebral oxygen consumption, we measured the concentrations of high-energy phosphates and glycolytic intermediates in the cerebral cortex of fetal guinea pigs at different gestational ages. During development there was no change in the concentrations of adenosine triphosphate, creatine phosphate, adenosine monophosphate, and lactate. However, cerebral concentrations of adenosine diphosphate increased and those of glucose decreased. Our results suggest that the increase in fetal cerebral oxygen delivery during development meets cerebral oxygen consumption with increasing gestational age. We speculate that the measured rise in the concentrations of adenosine diphosphate may accelerate glycolysis during development and therefore may cause a rise in both cerebral blood flow to maintain oxygen delivery.
Adenosine Diphosphate↗
Catecholamine concentrations in plasma and organs of the fetal guinea pig during normoxemia, hypoxemia, and asphyxia.
To examine the responses of the sympatho-adrenal system to reduced oxygen supply we studied plasma and tissue concentrations of catecholamines during normoxemia, hypoxemia, and asphyxia in 22 fetal guinea pigs near term. Fetal blood was obtained by cardiopuncture in utero under ketamine/xylazine-anesthesia. Catecholamines were determined in plasma and tissue of 15 organs and 14 brain parts by HPLC-ECD. During normoxemia (SO2 54 +/- 4 (SE) %, pH 7.36 +/- 0.02, n = 5) plasma catecholamine levels were low (norepinephrine 447 +/- 53, epinephrine 42 +/- 12, dopamine 44 +/- 6 pg/ml). During hypoxemia (SO2 27 +/- 3%, pH 7.32 +/- 0.01, n = 6) and asphyxia (SO2 24 +/- 2%, pH 7.23 +/- 0.02, n = 11) tissue catecholamine concentrations changed with changing blood gases and with increasing plasma catecholamines. Norepinephrine concentrations increased in both skin and lung and decreased in liver, pancreas, and scalp; those of epinephrine increased in the heart, lung liver, and scalp and decreased in the adrenal. There were only minor changes in brain catecholamine concentrations except for a 50% reduction in dopamine in the caudate nucleus. Concentrations of dopamine catabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid decreased in many brain parts, suggesting that cerebral catecholamine metabolism was affected by hypoxemia and asphyxia. We conclude that the sympatho-adrenal system of fetal guinea pigs near term is mature and that its stimulation by reduced fetal oxygen supply leads to changes in both plasma and tissue catecholamine concentrations.
Acid-Base Equilibrium↗
Alpha 3, alpha 5, and beta 4: three members of the rat neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-related gene family form a gene cluster.
We have identified two additional members of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR)-related gene family. cDNA clones for one new gene, designated alpha 5, were isolated from rat hippocampus and rat PC12 cell line cDNA libraries. The alpha 5 gene encodes a protein of 48,800 daltons (424 amino acids) which exhibits significant overall amino acid sequence identity with the previously cloned rat nAChR subunits alpha 1 (49%), alpha 2 (55%), alpha 3 (52%), and alpha 4 (49%). Features characteristic of other nAChR alpha-subunits are present such as conserved cysteine residues at positions 127, 141, 191, and 192, and four strongly hydrophobic domains. A second addition to the nAChR-related gene family, designated beta 4, is encoded in overlapping rat genomic clones lambda DD15 and lambda RG518A. The beta 4 gene, encoding a mature protein of 53,300 daltons (475 amino acids), consists of 6 exons and has a transcription unit length of approximately 18 kilobase pairs. The beta 4 gene encoded protein shows considerable amino acid sequence identity with nAChR beta 1 (43%), beta 2 (64%), and beta 3 (44%) subunits. Northern blots showed that, along with alpha 3 and beta 2, transcripts for both the alpha 5 and beta 4 genes are present in the PC12 cell line, while in situ hybridization experiments demonstrated expression of the alpha 5 and beta 4 genes in a small number of nuclei in the central nervous system. Finally, the genes that encode the beta 4, alpha 3, and alpha 5 proteins are transcribed with convergent polarities and form a tightly linked gene cluster spanning approximately 60 kilobase pairs.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
[Familial infection caused by Haemophilus influenzae].
A three-year-old girl developed purulent arthritis and her nine-month-old younger brother meningitis with Haemophilus influenzae type b, after an interval of 43 days. Attention should be drawn to the spread of Haemophilus disease other than meningitis.
Arthritis, Infectious↗
[Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel (1862-1090). On the 80th anniversary of his death. A biography of a famous German gynecologist].
The gynaecologist Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel died 80 years ago, on July 3, 1909, from the sequelae of an occupational accident. His death marked the unexpected end of a splendid career as a physician, whose heritage in terms of humanity and scientific achievements is most impressive, even today. Pfannenstiel was born in Berlin on June 28, 1862. He studied medicine in Berlin (1880-1885) against his father's wishes and was therefore deprived of any financial support. Nevertheless, he completed his studies and his doctorate thesis ("summa cum laude") in 1885. Pfannenstiel was trained by v. Rabenau (Berlin; gynaecology), Pauly (Posen; surgery, internal medicine) and Fritsch (Breslau; gynaecology), and became a lecturer at the University of Breslau in 1890 ("Habilitation"). In 1889 he married Elisabeth Behlendorff, and in 1890 his only son Wilhelm was born. In January 1894 he established a private practice in Breslau until he was awarded a professorship in 1896. In the same year he became director of the Department of Gynaecology at a hospital in Breslau (Krankenhaus der Elisabethinerinnen), where he developed in 1900 his world-famous transverse laparotomy technique (suprasymphysärer Faszienquerschnitt) named after him ("Pfannenstiel-Querschnitt"). From 1891 he was secretary of the German Society for Gynaecology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gynäkologie) and since 1896 he was co-editor of the Archives of Gynaecology (Archiv für Gynäkologie). In 1902 Pfannenstiel was offered the chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Giessen to succeed Chr. A. H. Löhlein, who had died in 1901. He rejected three other chairs at Leyden (Holland), Erlangen and Freiburg which were offered to him in 1904.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Germany↗
Chest X-ray appearances in pneumonia and bronchiolitis. Correlation to virological diagnosis and secretory bacterial findings.
Chest X-ray findings were related to virus diagnosis, age and secretory bacterial findings in 128 infants and children under 7 years of age with clinical pneumonia and bronchiolitis. They belonged to a cohort examined in connection with the introduction of rapid methods for virological diagnosis. Seventy-six children had a virus infection diagnosed by examination of nasopharyngeal secretion and/or by serological methods. Thirty-seven of these children were classified as having pathogenic bacteria of importance in the respiratory tract. Four groups were compared: virus infected children with or without bacteria in the secretion and the corresponding virus negative groups. The X-rays were normal significantly more often in the virus positive/bacteria negative group compared with the other groups. Alveolar pneumonia appearing as lobar or segmental consolidations ("lobar" pneumonia) was observed with equal frequency and without relation to bacterial findings in the virus positive and the virus negative groups. But it was more often observed in the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infected children under 6 months of age compared with the older RSV children. In comparison disperse alveolar infiltrations ("bronchopneumonia") mostly appeared in the virus positive group. Interstitial pneumonia and peribronchitis were often present together in children over 6 months of age. There was no significant difference in the X-ray appearances in the groups with and without bacterial findings in the tracheal secretion except for a higher frequency of normal chest radiographs in the bacteria negative group.
Bacterial Infections↗
Metoclopramide (Primperan) in the treatment of ureterolithiasis. A prospective double-blind study of metoclopramide compared with morphatropin on ureteral colic.
A prospective double-blind study was performed to compare metoclopramide (Primperan) with morphatropin in the treatment of ureteral colic. Twenty-one patients (10 in the morphatropin group and 11 in the metoclopramide group) entered the study and diagnosis was confirmed radiologically. Using the Mann-Whitney rank sum test, no significant difference was found in the pain-relieving effect 10, 20, or 30 min after treatment with either 1 ml morphatropin s.c. or 20 mg metoclopramide i.v. Two patients in the morphatropin group developed nausea and giddiness, respectively, and 1 patient from this group was omitted due to the development of urticaria. No side effects occurred in the metoclopramide group. Thus metoclopramide seems to be an alternative to the traditional treatment of ureteral colic with morphia.
Acute Disease↗
Stress inoculation training for smoke divers and free fall lifeboat passengers.
The effects of 1 h stress inoculation training on subjective experience, performance, and physiological activation were studied in two fear-provoking situations. In the free fall lifeboat situation, the experimental group reported higher acceptance of the free fall lifeboat concept after the training course than the control group. In the smoke diving situation, the experimental group reported less need of success and reported learning self confidence instead of skills more often than the control group and received less help from the instructor during diving. However, the experimental group reported higher anxiety than the control group during training. There were no differences between groups in saliva cortisol values in either of the two experiments. Effects of stress inoculation training are explained in terms of expectancy theory.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Relationship between plasma catecholamine levels and electrocortical state in the mature fetal lamb.
In late pregnancy the electrocortical activity (ECoG) in the ovine fetus starts to cycle between high and low voltage states. During the high voltage states of this activity fetal regional blood flows are decreased, and heart rate and fetal arterial blood pressure are both increased. Jensen et al. (1986) have postulated that these changes may be mediated by changes in autonomic tone. To test this hypothesis we placed catheters in 6 near-term sheep fetuses (gestational age = 128 days) and implanted electrodes to measure electrocortical activity. Five days after the surgery, fetal arterial blood was withdrawn during the first 3-5 min of each high and low voltage ECoG for 5 full cycles in each fetus. Plasma samples were analyzed for epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Dopamine levels were not different in high and low voltage electrocortical state. In the high voltage ECoG state, epinephrine levels were 75 +/- 7 pg/ml and fell to 34 +/- 4 pg/ml during low voltage ECoG (P less than 0.01). During the high voltage state plasma norepinephrine was 623 +/- 85 pg/ml and fell during the low voltage period to 462 +/- 99 pg/ml (P less than 0.01). These data demonstrate that in the near-term sheep fetus plasma catecholamine levels fluctuate with ECoG state.
Animals↗
Mixed bacterial meningitis in an adult caused by Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. A case report.
A case of mixed bacterial meningitis with Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae is reported in a 26-year-old woman without demonstrable predisposing conditions, who recovered after treatment with ampicillin, without sequelae.
Adult↗