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Biomedical subjects

A Norberg

Publications and source records attributed to A Norberg.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

Antitubulin activity of vinblastine and vincristine. Clinical implications of the radial segmentation test.

The antitubulin activity of vinblastine and vincristine was compared by means of the radial segmentation test. Vinblastine was found to have antitubulin activity at least 6 times higher than that of vincristine. It is concluded that, if the differential indications for vinblastine or vincristine are balanced, it may be decisive for clinical treatment that more antitubulin activity can be administered as vinblastine than as vincristine.

Cell Nucleus↗

Ethical problems in feeding patients with advanced dementia.

Aged patients with dementia if not stricken by an acute disease sooner or later approach a terminal phase that is distinguished by a failure of spoon feeding. This condition induces great anxiety in the workers who care for these patients. The interaction between patient and care-worker during spoon-feeding failure is described by the psychological model of double-binding. Two serious consequences of double-binding are the distancing of the care-workers from the patient and scapegoating among the care-workers. It is essential that the pressure of double-bindings in the wards should be reduced.

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Ethical conflicts in long-term care of the aged: nutritional problems and the patient-care worker relationship.

The patient-care worker relationship was analysed by observation and unstructured group discussion in four long-stay somatogeriatric wards at Saint Lars Hospital. Investigation centred on patients entering the terminal phase who could no longer be spoon-fed. The relationship was complicated and reciprocal, and failure by the care worker to interpret her role and the dying patient's behaviour correctly led to emotional conflict and double-binding, with resultant anxiety for both herself and the patient. Infusions and tube-feeding prescribed in such cases were given not for the patient's benefit but to relieve anxiety in care workers and relatives. Permitting the patient a natural, painless death from water deficiency may be preferable to prolonging pain and discomfort by intervening with infusion and tube-feeding.

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Randomized double-blind study of prophylactic methenamine hippurate treatment of patients with indwelling catheters.

Catheterized patients with heavy bacteriuria and short catheter life received a short-course of antimicrobial therapy and then were allocated at random to double-blind treatment for 5 months with methenamine hippurate (MH), 1 g three times daily, or placebo 1 g 3 times daily. MH treatment reduced the number of catheter blockages and instances of spontaneous removal of the catheter, and doubled catheter life (p less than 0.001). It is suggested that the doubled catheter life was due to the reduced bacteriuria and lowering of urinary pH.

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The glutaraldehyde-fixed cytocentrifuge-prepared urine sediment in the evaluation of urinary tract infection. The significance of pyuria.

During antibiotic-treated urinary tract infection in non-catheterized geriatric inpatients, bacteriuria disappeared within 1-2 days. Pyuria, on the other hand, disappeared within 4-7 days. After withdrawal of antibiotic therapy, bacteriuria reappeared quicker than pyuria. It is suggested that the time lag between bacteriuria and pyuria is due to the fact that bacteriuria reflects bacterial invasion into the urinary tract, whereas pyuria reflects the inflammatory response of the urinary tract.

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Urinary pH and the indwelling catheter.

The pH of the urine within a blocked indwelling catheter was significantly higher than the pH of the first urine portion from the new catheter. This observation suggests that the urinary pH was changed in an alkaline direction within the indwelling catheter, probably due to the production of ammonia induced by urease from Proteus strains. This pH gradient could only be demonstrated under conditions where the circadian pH variations of the urine within the individual could be neglected.

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The computer leucocyte. Analysis of the random movement of leucocytes in a visual field by means of computer simulation.

In vital preparations moving polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs) disappear from the visual field. The present study provides evidence by means of geometrical analysis and computer simulation, that this disappearance is due to a heterogeneous distribution of the PMNs at the beginning of observation. The path of random-moving computer leucocytes is more tortuous than the path of comparable vital PMNs without obvious attractant, i.e. vital PMNs supposed to be random-moving. This finding is in agreement with the Allan-Wilkinson observation of 'persistent random walk' of vital cells.

Cell Movement↗

Effect of short-term high-dose treatment with methenamine hippurate on urinary infection in geriatric patients with an indwelling catheter. IV. Clinical evaluation.

An evaluation has been made of the clinical and laboratory effects of short-term (34 days), high-dose (2g x 3 daily) treatment with methenamine hippurate (MH) of 14 geriatric patients with an indwelling catheter and clinical features of urinary tract infection. During MH treatment the number of catheter changes was halved, each catheter remaining in situ for an average of 12.0 days as compared to 6.2 days in the pre-treatment control period and 5.2 days in the post-treatment control period; the difference is significant (p = 0.008; Friedman two-way analysis of variance). Urine pH was reduced (pH 7.0--6.5--7.0; p = 0.01) and the standard bicarbonate in blood was slightly elevated (24.1--25.7--25.0 mmol/l; p= 0.008) during the MH treatment period, when compared to pre- and post-treatment control periods. It is suggested that MH treatment reduced the complications associated with indwelling catheters due to reduction in urine pH, bacteriuria, and pyuria. Blockage of catheters is thought to be due to intraluminal salt precipitations with trapping of clumps, and is primarily not correlated with urine viscosity.

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The effect of short-term high-dose treatment with methenamine hippurate of urinary infection in geriatric patients with indwelling catheters. I. The preparation and morphology of a quantified urine sediment.

A quantified sediment of the urine from patients with indwelling catheters was prepared by fixation of 0.1 ml urine in 0.9 ml 2% glutaraldehyde immediately after sampling. Slide preparations were then made from 0.2 ml of the glutaraldehyde suspensions by means of a cytocentrifuge. Bacteria and epithelial cells were properly contrasted by the May-Grünwald-Giemsa stain but haematoxylin-eosin and the Papanicolaou stain were superior as regards leukocyte morphology. It is suggested that glutaraldehyde-cytocentrifuge preparations of the urine cytology may be useful in the evaluation of urinary infection and in the evaluation of the therapy of urinary infection.

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The effect of short-term high-dose treatment with methenamine hippurate of urinary infection in geriatric patients with indwelling catheters. II. Evaluation by means of a quantified urine sediment.

The urine sediment of 12 geriatric patients with indwelling catheters was quantified by the glutaraldehyde-cytocentrifuge method prior to, during and after a clinical trial of methenamine hippurate (MH), 2 g x 3 daily given for 34 days as the sole therapeutic agent for the urinary tract infection. The median leukocyte concentration in the urine of these patients was 100 cells/microliter (Q1 - Q3 50-350), i.e. tenfold higher than the upper normal limits reported in healthy probands. The median bacteriuria in the control period was 12 x 10(5) bacteria/ml urine, interquartile range 10-60 x 10(5) bacteria/ml and extreme individual values 300-500 x 10(5) bacteria/ml. Hematuria, defined as greater than or equal to 24 erythrocytes/microliter urine, was not prominent and could not be correlated with MH treatment, nor with catheter changes. The reported observations suggest that short-term high-dose treatment with MH as sole therapeutic agent reduced pyruria and bacteriuria in the group of patients studied.

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Locomotion and phagocytosis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) in infected urine. Reversal of PMN polarity.

The appearance of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), fixed during locomotion and phagocytosis in deposits of infected urine, is described. By comparison with previous observations on vital PMNs, it is inferred that the anterior lamellipodium is the direction-choosing and prey-catching cell organelle. During phagocytosis the lamellipodium may assume such proportions that a reversal of cell polarity is produced, i.e., the lamellipodium forms the handle of a hand-mirror cell.

Cell Movement↗