Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Prost

Publications and source records attributed to A Prost.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

[Clavicle osteolysis in MacDuffie's syndrome].

MacDuffie's syndrome emerges from systemic vasculitis as including recurrent urticaria-like skin lesions, episodic angio-oedemas, articular manifestations and abdominal pains, with a tendency to affect women. Renal involvement may burden the prognosis. Hypocomplementemia is usual by deficiency of the classical pathway. Corticosteroid therapy is habitual. The case reported, fitting to this nosological entity offers two new features: in the first place, the osteolysis of the distal part of the clavicle whereas the joints are not affected by destroying lesions; then the non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was effective within a period of one year without complication.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

[Bone angiomatoses in children. Apropos of 3 personal cases].

Three observations of skeletal angiomatosis are reported: one diffuse and two focal forms (Gorham's disease). The analysis of these cases and a review of the literature enhance the clinical and radiological presentation of this uncommon disease. The authors point out the interest of indirect lymphoscintigraphy and dwell on the gravity of its course, in spite of therapeutic attempts.

Angiomatosis↗
PubMed1985

Suramin in the treatment of onchocerciasis: the efficacy of low doses on the parasite in an area with vector control.

In a village hyperendemic for onchocerciasis in Burkina Faso, where the vector had been controlled by the Onchocerciasis Control Programme since 1976, 65 patients were treated with doses of 37 to 71 mg/kg suramin in 1979. The viability and fertility of the adult parasites were studied in 217 nodules excised from 42 patients one month to four years after treatment using the collagenase technique. Most of the worms had survived the treatment. Male worms were more susceptible to suramin than female worms. The development of intrauterine stages initially continued, but was completely suppressed after several months. The female worms remained sterile in those patients who had received more than 60 mg/kg suramin. In other ones 11 and 13% of the female worms showed new embryonic stages in the uteri during two follow-up examinations in the second year. In a final examination in 1983 the reproduction had declined again. However, the reproductivity of the superannuated worms had considerably decreased in the untreated patients as well. All patients had shown a very high microfilardermia in 1979. After treatment the microfilarial densities dropped to levels near zero depending on the dose of suramin administered, but in none of the patients was the reduction complete during the first year of the treatment. Microfilariae gradually reappeared in the second year in several patients who had received less than 60 mg/kg suramin. In the final follow-up in 1983 most of the treated patients had become negative in skin counts, although they still harboured viable worms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Desensitization by histamine of H2 receptor-mediated adenylate cyclase activation in the human gastric cancer cell line HGT-1.

Short-term treatment of cultured HGT-1 cells with histamine produced a time-dependent (half-life: 20 min) and homologous desensitization of histamine H2 receptor activity mediating cAMP generation in HGT-1 cells and gastric acid secretion in normal gastric mucosa. Histamine treatment resulted in loss of response of the adenylate cyclase to histamine in purified plasma membranes, but had no effect on basal, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)- or NaF-stimulated enzyme activities. We propose that the desensitization of gastric histamine H2 receptor by histamine evidenced in cellular or subcellular preparations from HGT-1 cells could be involved in the physiological regulation and pharmacological control of gastric cell function in man.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗
PubMed1984

[Multiple hyperostosis with unilateral sacroiliitis. A new spondyloarthropathy].

Six patients (4 male and 2 female) presenting with an original, predominantly osseous disease are reported. The disease is characterized by a chronic inflammatory process affecting the thorax, the spine, the femur in 1 case and in all patients only one of the sacro-iliac joints. The condition had begun 11 to 28 years previously and had been active for 6 to 24 years. One case started with regressive polyarthritis. There was no visceral involvement. Radiograms showed bone condensation with hyperostosis, sometimes hypertrophic, unrelated to any articular space. Depending on each patient, the lesions involved the clavicles, the sternum, the posterior arch of the ribs, the vertebrae, the inferior femoral metaphysis. The only joints involved were the sacro-iliac and anubrio-sternal joints. The areas affected showed high radioisotope uptake. There was discrete biochemical inflammatory syndrome. Three of the 6 patients belonged to the HLA group B 27. The multiple biopsies performed showed no specific lesions. The disease proceeds by successive attacks lasting several months and responding poorly to anti-inflammatory drugs. One patient developed Crohn's disease, another, retroperitoneal fibrosis. In some respects, this condition is remindful of sterno-clavicular hyperostosis and of the osteo-arthropathy in palmoplantar pustulosis or acne conglobata. It seems to constitute a new variety of spondylo-arthropathy intermediate between the above-mentioned diseases and genuine ankylosing spondylitis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Activation of the cAMP-generating system by vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) in the human laryngeal malignant cell line HEp-2.

In the presence of 3-isobutyl-l-methylxanthine, VIP produced a dose-related (3 X 10(-9)-10(-7) M) increase (8-fold) in cAMP production in isolated HEp-2 cells incubated at 15 degrees C in KRP buffer. Among the peptides structurally related to VIP, including secretin (10(-7) M), pancreatic glucagon (10(-6) M), PHI, somatostatin-14 (10(-6) M), hpGRF (10(-8)-4 X 10(-6) M), GIP (2 X 10(-7) M), only PHI (3 X 10(-7) M and above) is able to activate the cAMP-generating system in HEp-2 cells, but at 10(2) times lower potency. Under the same conditions, histamine (10(-3) M) was also ineffective, while PGE2 (10(-7)-10(-4) M) increased (4-fold) basal cAMP levels in HEp-2 cells. The VIP effect is related to the interaction of the peptide on VIP recognition sites (125I-VIP-binding capacity), coupled to the membrane-bound adenylate cyclase. The results indicate that the transformed laryngeal cell line HEp-2 possesses a receptor-cAMP system preferentially activated by VIP (relative potencies: VIP greater than PHI much greater than other peptides of the secretin family), and suggest that this neuropeptide could modulate biological functions in normal laryngeal epithelia in man.

1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine↗
PubMed1984

The economics of blindness prevention in Upper Volta under the Onchocerciasis Control Program.

This paper proposes a new approach to the economics of blindness prevention under the Onchocerciasis Control Program in Upper Volta. It differs from previous economic analyses of onchocerciasis control in three important respects. First, it uses empirical data as the basis of an estimate of the epidemiological effectiveness of the intervention. Second, it focuses on the prevention of permanent disability and premature death due to onchocercal blindness as the major health improvement attributable to onchocerciasis control. Third, it emphasizes cost-effectiveness rather than cost-benefit analysis. This limitation is imposed by the difficulty of undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the benefits of onchocerciasis control. In particular, the extent to which control of partial visual impairment and infection without ocular involvement would increase the effective supply of labor, and also the extent to which control would increase the effective supply of land by inducing new settlement in the river valleys, have not been clearly established. The cost-effectiveness approach is limited because it foregoes the opportunity provided by cost-benefit analysis to compare the relative desirability of investing in onchocerciasis control with alternative investments in other sectors. However, it does permit useful judgments to be made about the relative efficiency of allocating scarce resources to onchocerciasis control compared to other possible investments within the health sector. For this purpose, an illustrative comparison is made with estimates of the cost-effectiveness of measles immunization.

Blindness↗
PubMed1984

Cost-effectiveness of blindness prevention by the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in Upper Volta.

The article presents a cost-effectiveness analysis of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in Upper Volta. The analysis uses a new approach to the measurement of health project effectiveness, by considering the number of healthy years of life added by the prevention of permanent disability and premature death attributable to onchocercal blindness. The approach emphasizes the central role of social value judgements in allocating health resources-in particular the relative weights assigned to preventing disability and postponing death, present and future health benefits, and health gains among productive and non-productive individuals. The quantitative results yield the following cost-effectiveness estimates for blindness prevention through onchocerciasis control: US$20 per year of healthy life and per productive year of healthy life added, and US$150 per discounted year of healthy life and per discounted productive year of healthy life added. As an illustrative example, a comparison is made with estimates of the cost-effectiveness of measles immunization.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Variations in the prevalence and intensity of microfilarial infections by age, sex, place and time in the area of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme.

Epidemiological data gathered by the Onchocerciasis Control Programme from 66 villages in West Africa have been analysed. All of these villages were surveyed twice and 10 a third time. The first surveys were conducted around the time when control activities started and provide baseline data against which to assess the effectiveness of control. The second and third surveys were conducted two to five years later. 18,778 persons were registered in the first surveys and 15,783 (84.1%) were examined for microfilariae. The prevalence of microfilarial infection was higher among males, increased rapidly with age in both sexes until about 25 years and levelled off at about 90% in males and 85% in females. The age-sex adjusted prevalence rates in different villages varied from 5% to 93% but were above 60% in three quarters of the villages. After two to five years of control there was an over-all fall in the prevalence of infection of about 4 to 5% a year. Among children born since control started, only seven of 1871 examined were found to be infected with microfilariae compared to an expected number of 79, had there been no change in prevalence rates.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Relationships between mortality, visual acuity and microfilarial load in the area of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme.

The relationships between onchocercal infection, visual acuity and mortality have been examined using epidemiological data gathered by the Onchocerciasis Control Programme from 66 villages in West Africa. All of these villages were surveyed at least twice. 18,778 persons were registered at the first surveys which were conducted around the time when control activities started. The second surveys were conducted two to five years later. 14,961 persons (79.7%) were alive and registered again, 786 (4.2%) had died, 2776 (14.8%) had moved and 255 (1.4%) could not be traced. The prevalence of blindness and of visual damage other than blindness both increased markedly with age, and the degree of visual damage was strongly associated with level of microfilarial infection. Among adults, the prevalence of blindness was higher for males than for females at all ages. The prevalence and intensity of microfilarial infection were also higher among males but this was not sufficient to explain their excess blindness. Logistic regression analysis showed that males were 1.5 times more likely to be blind than females of the same age and same level of microfilarial infection. The presence of visual damage at the first survey considerably increased the risk of mortality between the first and second surveys for both males and females. Mortality rates were three to four times higher among the blind and about 1.5 times higher among those with visual damage other than blindness compared with those with no visual damage. There was some evidence, for males but not for females, that mortality was also directly related to microfilarial load.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Response to tetanus immunization in onchocerciasis patients.

Fifty-five people were examined for tetanus antitoxin level two months after immunization with a single 0.5 ml dose of concentrated tetanus toxoid vaccine; only 7.1% of patients infected with onchocerciasis became immunized, whereas 44.5% were immunized in the control group. These results are consistent with previous observations of a reduced level of both cell-mediated and humoral immunity in patients heavily infected with parasitic diseases, especially onchocerciasis. This study raises doubts about the efficacy of immunization in young adult age groups and re-emphasizes the need for immunization in infancy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Decreased microfilarial load and its effect on the calculation of prevalence and the rate of false negatives in the detection of onchocerciasis.

It has been shown in the epidemiological evaluation of onchocerciasis that the method of taking two or more snips per person contains information about the probabilities of false negatives which can be extracted and used to improve the prevalence estimates. Using the method of maximum likelihood, one can obtain expressions for estimating the prevalence, adjusted for the false negatives, and for estimating the proportion of false negatives. The variances of all estimates are also available, making confidence interval estimation possible.

Humans↗
PubMed1982

Histochemical enzyme variation in Onchocerca volvulus microfilariae from rain-forest and Sudan-savanna areas of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa.

Histochemical staining methods for acid phosphatase were used to study the differences among microfilariae of various West African strains of Onchocerca volvulus in both forest and Sudan-savanna onchocerciasis zones. The results have shown statistically significant differences in the staining patterns of microfilarial populations in the two zones. In the rain-forest areas, where onchocerciasis is transmitted by Simulium yahense, S. sanctipauli, S. soubrense and S. squamosum, there were no significant differences of microfilarial staining patterns in patients, by age and sex, between the three Simulium-Onchocerca complexes studied. There was a close relationship between the "strain differences", as revealed morphoenzymatically, and the clinical picture of the disease in both the forest and the Sudan-savanna zones. The present findings are in favour of the hypothesis that there are intrinsic differences in the strains of the parasite occurring in the two areas. The application of the histochemical means of parasite characterization appears to be a useful tool in differentiating strains of O. volvulus and could contribute towards a better understanding of the epidemiology of human onchocerciasis in different bioclimatic zones where the disease is endemic.

Adolescent↗