Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Pedersen.
Rapid demonstration of mycobacteria in slaughter pigs is important for medical, epidemiological and economic reasons. The Bactec radiometric system detected more mycobacteria in less time than conventional culture on solid medium.
Peripheral T-lymphocyte subsets: T-helper (OKT4) and T-suppressor (OKT8) cells were studied quantitatively in 20 patients with recurrent aphthous ulceration (RAU) in ulcerative, as well as inactive, stages of the disease. The figures were compared with T-lymphocyte subsets from matched control donors with no history of RAU. The ratio of T-helper: T-suppressor cells was significantly lower in both stages in the patients compared with controls due to a significantly increased number of T-suppressor cells in RAU patients. The number of T-helper cells in the patients did not differ significantly in either stage compared with controls. The study support the hypothesis of recurrent aphthous ulceration being a disorder of immunodeficiency.
The present study was undertaken in order to test the hypothesis that psychological stress is a provoking factor in attacks of recurrent aphthous ulceration (RAU). The population consisted of 22 patients (17 women, 5 men; mean age 39 yr, variation 17-69) with minor RAU. Psychologic stress was evaluated by means of the social readjustment rating scale (SRRS) and a visual analog scale (VAS). In each subject evaluation took place twice: once in the presence of new ulcer(s) and once in the absence of subjective and objective symptoms of RAU. At both stages, the SRRS scores were obtained on the basis of the preceding 2 wk and, VAS scores on the basis of the preceding week. The results showed no statistically significant differences in neither SRRS nor VAS scores between the two stages. Thus, no association between psychologic life stress and recurrences of RAU could be demonstrated, and it is concluded that more standardized circumstances are needed if any such association should be demonstrated.
Chronic oral candidiasis is generally not considered a premalignant condition. We report on two patients with carcinoma in situ and carcinoma in the soft palate, probably preceded by long lasting chronic Candida infection. The first patient was a 56-year-old woman who suffered from disturbances in the calcium and potassium metabolism and high blood pressure due to a previous goiter operation during which the parathyroids had been removed. She also suffered from bronchitis and had been smoking 12 cigarettes a day for many decades. For several years she had had more or less constant symptoms from airway infections. Increasing symptoms from the throat had developed 2 years before referral and, in this period, she had been in constant antifungal therapy with no effect on the symptoms. Objectively, the entire soft palate, uvula and the palatoglossal arches were fiery red with whitish plaques which were not removable (Fig. 1). A biopsy revealed severe dysplasia and focal carcinoma in situ Subsequently, the lesion in the soft palate was partly removed by laser surgery followed by radiation therapy over a period of 2 month. One year later there was no signs of recurrence (Fig. 4). The second patient, a 53-year-old healthy woman, was referred because of difficulties in eating due to pain in the throat which had existed for 2 years. Without any effect on the symptoms, she had had antifungal therapy for 4 weeks. The patient had been smoking 15 cigarettes a day for many years. Objectively, an area with whitish plaques and nodules on an erythematous background was found (Fig. 5).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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A 51-year-old female farmer was diagnosed as having sarcoidosis. During 4 years of observation, slow radiological progression was observed. Cough then developed, necessitating treatment with corticosteroids. After 28 months of continuous treatment with prednisolone in low doses (5-7.5 mg daily), she suffered fever episodes, recurrent haemoptyses, general malaise and loss of weight. A chest roentgenogram showed a left upper lobe infiltrate, which progressed and finally cavitated, and rib destruction. Despite efforts, including a thoracotomy, 22 months passed before a diagnosis could be made. Blood and sputum cultures and cultures from the destroyed rib showed growth of Rhodococcus equi, a common soil organism which can cause infections in foals and other animals. Treatment with rifampicin and erythromycin was successful. R. equi has been reported to cause infection in patients with neoplastic disease and/or immunosuppression, but the disease might be more common than is suggested by the sparse case reports in the literature, owing to lack of familiarity with the organism, which will tend to be overlooked as a contaminant.
Over the 17-year period 1969-1985, 2,721 reports of 3,521 suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were submitted to the Danish Committee on ADRs. The results are presented together with the consumption of each drug during the same period. The total sale of NSAIDs showed a four-fold increase during the 17 years, the average corresponding to a permanent intake by 2.2% of the population. The number of reported ADRs per defined daily dose (DDD) sold was markedly lower for "older" drugs like the butazones, indomethacin, ibuprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen, and fenoprofen than for the drugs marketed during the last decade. These differences could not be accounted for by the well-known biases attached to spontaneous ADR reporting. Of 67 fatal reactions, 25 were due to bleeding or perforation of a gastric ulcer, mostly during treatment with indomethacin and naproxen, and in elderly people, and 27 were caused by bone marrow depression or leukaemia, begun mostly during treatment with butazones, but some with indomethacin and naproxen as well. It is pointed out that all reports on fatal bone marrow depression associated with butazones were submitted before 1976 and that the fact that none have been received since that time could be a result of better understanding of the proper dosage of the drug.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-induced colony formation in semisolid agar medium by human peripheral blood T lymphocytes showed an increasing cloning efficiency with decreasing numbers of cultured cells. Ninety percent of CD4+ cells (inducer/helper phenotype) and 20% of CD8+ cells (cytotoxic/suppressor phenotype) formed colonies when cultured at 10-200 cells/ml culture in the presence of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and a source of interleukin-2 (IL-2). Probably all T-colony-forming cells, but none of the subsequent colony cells, expressed the Leu-8 antigen. The cloning efficiencies of FACS-sorted cells expressing the natural killer antigenic phenotypes Leu-7+ and CD16+ were found to be less than 1%. The costimulatory effect of red blood cells for colony formation was specific for SRBC and not observed in the presence of red cells obtained from seven other species including man. All T-lymphocyte colonies obtained from unseparated peripheral blood mononuclear cells expressed the CD25 antigen (IL-2 receptor) and colonies were always composed of either CD4+ or CD8+ cells. None of the colony cells expressed the Leu-8 or the CD16 antigens. By their specific morphology in agar culture the majority of colonies composed of CD4+ cells were easily recognized, but but approximately one-third of the CD4+ colonies could not be distinguished from colonies composed of CD8+ cells. On expansion of individual colonies in liquid subculture in the presence of interleukin-2, approximately 15% of the colonies developed natural killer (NK)-like cytotoxic activity, being capable of direct killing of K562 tumor cells. It is concluded that the present method for growing human T colonies exhibits the same cloning efficiency as the most efficient liquid culture systems. Individual T colonies are composed exclusively of T inducer/helper or T cytotoxic/suppressor cells, they are never of mixed phenotype, and they do not contain cells of natural killer phenotype. Regulatory mechanisms influencing colony formation are operating between and within the various subsets of T lymphocytes.
Right and left ventricular ejection fractions (RVEF and LVEF) were measured by radionuclide angiography in 423 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). All investigations were performed at hospital discharge. Of 304 patients with first AMI, 26% had normal ejection fractions, 10% had a decrease in RVEF only, 46% a decrease in LVEF only, and 18% decrease in both RVEF and LVEF. Death from cardiac causes occurred in 52 patients in a one-year follow-up period. A reduced RVEF at hospital discharge had little, if any, relation to one-year mortality. In contrast, there was an inverse curvilinear relationship between LVEF and one-year cardiac mortality.
Sixty patients were divided into two groups (A and B) of 30 patients each to investigate the effect of using suxamethonium in endotracheal anaesthesia on the incidence of postoperative sore throat. The patients were anaesthetized with thiopentone, fentanyl, droperidol, N2O and pancuronium. Before endotracheal intubation with a Mallinckrodt lo-pro-tube, patients in Group A were given pancuronium, whereas patients in Group B were given suxamethonium. There was no difference in the incidence or severity of sore throat 20-30 h postoperatively between the two groups (P = 0.5). The type 2 error (beta) was low (the risk of overlooking a "true" difference in incidence of 0.20 was calculated to be 0.04). These results contradict those of a recent study, which demonstrated an increased incidence of postoperative sore throat following the use of suxamethonium in mask anaesthesia.
This report is a retrospective evaluation of 211 patients (75% women, 25% men) treated for TMJ clicking and/or TMJ incoordination at the University Hospital, Copenhagen, in 1971-77. In both sexes, the age group 20-30 yr dominated and the main part of the population belonged to the social middle class. The reasons for seeking treatment were mainly TMJ sounds, pain and impaired mandibular mobility. Neither subjective complaints nor objective signs of dysfunction were associated with dental/occlusal status or with the presence of malocclusions. The patients had been treated with reversible modalities (65%), occlusal adjustment (8%) and counseling alone (27%). Of the actively treated patients, 43% had experienced relief within 1 month and at the end of treatment 72% had reduced or no symptoms. It was not possible to demonstrate any association between the duration of symptoms before treatment and the duration of treatment/number of consultations.
This report is a long-term evaluation of 211 patients (158 women, 53 men) with TMJ clicking and/or TMJ incoordination, treated at the University Hospital of Copenhagen, Denmark, in the years 1971-77. Information on present symptoms and the effect of the initial treatment was obtained from questionnaires. Standard treatment procedures had been used in 153 patients while 58 patients had had counseling only. In the actively treated group, 59% were still doing well, 30% had unchanged symptoms and 5% experienced aggravated symptoms. In the counseled group, 40% were free of symptoms, 50% had unchanged symptoms and 7% aggravated symptoms. A highly significant association was found between the absence or presence of symptoms at the end of treatment according to patient records and the evaluation of the initial effect of treatment 8-15 yr later, which indicates that reliable results can be expected from a long-term evaluation of TMJ dysfunction patients. In the sample as a whole, the frequency of TMJ sounds was unchanged compared to the time of treatment (64% vs 66%). A significantly higher frequency was, however, found in the untreated group, indicating that treatment might have a positive effect on TMJ sounds. The frequency of recurrent headache had increased considerably over the years (6% vs 34%), 32% still experienced pain/tenderness on mandibular movement, 24% suffered from impaired mandibular mobility and 82% were aware of bruxism/clenching of teeth. Furthermore, we found a significant association between headache before treatment and headache, awareness of bruxism and clenching of teeth at the time of evaluation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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The diagnostic and prognostic implications of transient isolated negative T waves were studied in 127 patients in whom acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was suspected. Eight-four patients with no AMI and no electrocardiographic changes served as the control group. The 2 groups were well matched. Twenty-nine patients (23%) with isolated negative T wave had a significant increase in serum creatine kinase (CK)-MB levels and fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for AMI. The increase in serum CK-MB levels did not predict a higher risk of hospital mortality, but during follow-up (median 31 months), a serum CK-MB level above 30 U/liter identified patients with a significantly increased risk of dying (p less than 0.05). Both the number of affected electrocardiographic leads and the sum of negative T-wave amplitudes were significantly related to the follow-up mortality rate (p less than 0.01). The comparison between control subjects and patients with negative T waves during follow-up showed more events among the patients: AMI (17% vs 8%, p less than 0.02); death (24% vs 12%, p less than 0.01); and AMI or death (31% vs 19%, p less than 0.01). Thus, only 25% of patients with aggravated chest pain and isolated negative T waves have AMI. However, the long-term prognosis for the entire group of patients with isolated negative T waves is poor, and any therapeutic intervention should be initiated immediately.
An ascites subline (AA) of the murine sarcoma MC1M grows in vivo in the peritoneal cavity but dies in vitro when cultured on glass or collagen. The viability of AA cells in vitro is not influenced in cocultures with fibroblast cell line L929, and is diminished in cocultures supplemented with macrophage culture supernatant or in cocultures with non-adherent peritoneal cells. However, AA cells proliferate in vitro on glass or collagen when cocultured with syngeneic, semisyngeneic, and allogeneic peritoneal macrophages. This was demonstrated by tritiated thymidine incorporation assay, by AA cell number counting, and by measuring AA cell protein content. Proliferation also occurs when AA cells are separated from the macrophage monolayer by millipore filters.
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A stereophotographic method for volumetric determination of the extraoral swelling after mandibular third molar removal is developed. The method error was 1.0 cm3. Compared to the size of the maximal swelling after removal of impacted wisdom teeth, this error is considerable. The technique can, however, be improved and furthermore applied to measurements of volume changes in other cranio-facial areas, as well as in other parts of the body.
The purpose of the present double-blind study was to investigate the preventive effect of 4 mg dexamethasone (1 ml Decadronphosphate) on swelling, trismus and pain after removal of impacted mandibular third molars. The population comprised 30 healthy individuals (17 female, 13 male) who needed removal of 2 identical, impacted mandibular third molars. Each patient served as his own control as the teeth were removed in 2 sittings with either steroid or placebo injected into the masseter muscle just before starting the operation. Control visits took place 48 h and 7 days after the operations. The results showed that steroid administration led to about 50% reduction of postoperative swelling and trismus and to about 30% reduction of postoperative pain. No general or local complaints/complications occurred due to the steroid injection. It is concluded that prophylactic steroid treatment is effective in reducing postoperative complaints and that the administration is safe in the absence of contraindications for such administration. Prophylactic steroid treatment is therefore recommended in third molar surgery when pronounced postoperative reaction can be expected.