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Biomedical subjects

A Saad

Publications and source records attributed to A Saad.

68 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1968

Serological studies in cholera. 3. Serum toxin neutralization--rise in titre in response to infection with Vibrio cholerae, and the level in the "normal" population of East Pakistan.

A method has been evaluated for the titration of antibodies to Vibrio cholerae, based on the ability of sera containing such antibodies to neutralize the inflammatory effect of a factor from V. cholerae cultures on the skin of test animals.Ninefold or greater rises in toxin-neutralization titre were found in 73% of 111 bacteriologically confirmed cholera patients in an endemic area of East Pakistan, and in 2.5% of bacteriologically negative patients. This method compares well with the microtechniques developed for the titration of vibrio-agglutinating and vibriocidal antibodies to V. cholerae.The toxin-neutralization method has the advantage that no titre rise is produced in response to vaccination with the whole-cell vaccine in current use in East Pakistan.Relatively high toxin-neutralization titres were noted among children under 15 years of age without vibriocidal or agglutinating antibodies, and without a history of prior infection with V. cholerae.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Multielement determination in rice, wheat, and barley by instrumental neutron activation analysis.

INAA has been used for the determination of Na, Mg, Al, Cl, K, Sc, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Rb, Sr, Mo, and W in grains of rice, wheat, and barley, which were collected from different plant fields in Iraq. Samples and standards were irradiated in the IRT-5000 reactor, at neutron fluxes of 2 x 10(13) cm-2.s-1 and 3.2 x 10(11) cm-2.s-1. Interferences of photopeaks with each other were considered, and reaction interferences were calculated and determined experimentally. Accuracy of our method was assessed by the analysis of IAEA standards Wheat Flour and Bovine liver. A good agreement has been achieved between the present results and recommended values. The precision and detection limit were determined for all elements in all types of grain.

Edible Grain↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Presentation of acute psychosis in an Egyptian sample: a transcultural comparison.

The symptomatological and diagnostic differentiations and outcome of acute psychosis were studied in 50 Egyptian patients using the Schedule of Clinical Assessment of Acute Psychotic States (SCAAPS). The prevailing symptoms were delusions, worry, irritability, mood changes, and disturbed behavior. Sixty-four percent of the patients were symptom-free at 1-year follow-up assessment. Various factors that affect clinical and social outcome were discussed. The problem of diagnostic terms was also studied comparing SCAAPS terms with those of DSM-III-R and ICD-10. The most frequent diagnosis was psychogenic psychosis or brief reactive psychosis corresponding to the previously mentioned first and second systems, respectively. The inclusion of acute and transient polymorphic psychotic disorders with or without stress in ICD-10 will encompass those clinical syndromes in different cultures. A comparative study with a matched Indian sample was also conducted, the results of which are discussed in detail.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Phenomenology of obsessive-compulsive disorder: a transcultural study.

Ninety patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and diagnosed according to International Classification of Diseases (10th edition [ICD-10]) criteria attending the outpatient clinic of the Institute of Psychiatry in Cairo in 1991-1992 were assessed by the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) for symptomatology and severity of symptoms. Sixty-nine percent of the patients were males, and 32% were females. The mean age of the sample was 23.7 years, with a mean duration of OCD of 3.2 years. Twenty percent of patients had a positive family history for OCD. Forty percent of patients presented with a mixture of obsessions and compulsions, whereas 29% presented with obsessions and 31% with compulsions. The most commonly occurring obsessions were religious and contamination obsessions (60%) and somatic obsessions (49%), and the most commonly occurring compulsions were repeating rituals (68%), cleaning and washing compulsions (63%), and checking compulsions (58%). Seventy-one percent of patients were rated severe on the Y-BOCS, and all of them had impaired insight; 9% were insightless. The age of patients was found to correlate positively with the total compulsive score and the total Yale BOCS score, but it correlated negatively with the total obsessive score. One third of patients had a comorbid depressive disorder. Regarding premorbid personality disorders, 14% had obsessive personality disorder, 34% had paranoid, anxious, or emotionally labile personality disorder, and 52% had no premorbid personality disorder. The role of religious upbringing has been evident in the phenomenology of OCD in Egypt, which is similar to the outcomes of studies in Jerusalem and different from results in India and Britain.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Turner syndrome female with a small ring X chromosome lacking the XIST, an unexpectedly mild phenotype and an atypical association with alopecia universalis.

Rearranged X chromosome in Turner syndrome (TS) are generally well tolerated but in cases of ring X chromosomes and of X/autosome translocations the incidence of mental retardation and other congenital abnormalities can be significantly higher. These abnormal phenotypes can be ascribed to failed or partial X inactivation. Here, we report a 10-year-old female who was referred for a cytogenetic analysis because she developed an alopecia universalis. The patient, of normal intelligence, had been found to have traits of TS, especially short stature. A first cytogenetic analysis showed a no mosaic 45,X karyotype. Since, the risk of developing gonadoblastoma in TS patients with mosaicism for a Y derivative chromosome and because association of alopecia universalis and TS is uncommon, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed to search for a second cell population. Our patient was found to have a mosaic 45,X/46,X,+r. FISH analysis using sex chromosome probes permitted us to identify the very small marker as a ring X chromosome, detected in 90% of cells. The ring appeared to be formed almost totally of alphoid sequences with breakpoints in the juxtacentromeric region. The r(X) does not include the XIST locus and may, therefore, not be subject to X-inactivation. Unexpectedly mild phenotype in our patient and its association with alopecia universalis will be discussed.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Echocardiographic evaluation of the five-chamber heart: a rare congenital coronary anomaly.

Coronary artery fistulas are rare congenital anomalies that usually drain into one of the cardiac chambers or veins. The current patient was found to have a distinctly unusual anatomic picture, with a fifth cardiac chamber appearing at the cardiac apex. This proved to be the drainage site for a large coronary artery fistula originating in the left anterior descending coronary artery. The anatomic relations and blood flow patterns were demonstrated with transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Movement characteristics of human spermatozoa collected from different layers of a discontinuous Percoll gradient.

In order to evaluate the functional state of human spermatozoa separated on discontinuous Percoll gradient, sperm provided by 15 healthy volunteers were recovered from different layers (60, 70, 80, 90, 100%) of the gradient, then submitted to a complete analysis of sperm movement characteristics. This one was performed using a computer assisted system (Cellsoft, Cryo Resources, Ltd., NY, USA). In all fractions sperm motility was highly maintained during 24 h and all movement characteristics, with the exception of ALH, were different from that observed in seminal plasma. Curvilinear velocity (VCL), linearity (LIN), and percentage of hyper-activated sperm (HA) increased in relation to the Percoll concentration. Nevertheless there was no dramatic difference, concerning motion parameters, between 100%, 90%, and 80% Percoll fractions, which can thereby be pooled in case of insufficient sperm recovering in 100% fraction. On the contrary there is some doubt about the fertilizing ability of spermatozoa recovered in 70% and 60% Percoll layers, since VCL, LIN, and especially HA are severely decreased.

Cell Separation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Human chorionic gonadotropin immunoreactivity in serum of patients with malignant neoplasms.

The beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) radioimmunoassay was used to determine the presence of HCG immunoreactivity in serum of patients (n = 71) with diagnosis of cancer. Of patients with active neoplasia, 60.5% showed HCG immunoactivity above controls (greater than 5 mIU/ml). An apparent degree of correlation was observed with tumor activity in that a case with widespread metastases due to a colonic carcinoma exhibited the highest HCG levels while, in one patient, the level of HCG decreased progressively according to therapeutic response. A high frequency of immunoactive HCG was found in patients with carcinomas of the cervix, breast, gonad, and digestive system and in patients with melanoma. Trophoblastic cells were not evident in the tumors biopsied. Immunologic similarity of HCG secreted by tumors and that contained in serum of pregnant women, of patients with hydatidiform mole, and of males injected with exogenous HCG was shown by parallel inhibition curves in the radioimmunoassay. The positivity of HCG was predominant in cases of cervix carcinoma.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Molecular analysis and prenatal diagnosis of beta-thalassemia: about our experience in central Tunisia].

Beta-thalassemia, by its high frequency and its heterogeneity, constitutes a real problem of health in Tunisia. Prenatal diagnosis by DNA analysis represents the only reality for couples at risk. The denaturant gradient (urea and formamide) on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis has been performed in our laboratory, using psoralen as chemical clamps. This method is simple, reliable, safe, rapid, without radioactivity and has a reasonable cost (chemical clamps). Even if it needs an informatic modelization in other laboratories, this method seems to be adapted to our economic and work conditions and to the molecular heterogeneity of the Tunisian beta-thalassemia. We present the results of an epidemiological molecular study on 75 patients with beta-thalassemia and the results of ten prenatal diagnosis. The molecular lesions codon 39 (C-T) and IVS1 nt2 (T-G) are the most frequent in our study. This technical approach provides genetic counselling for at risk families by offering prenatal diagnosis (reducing as possible the cost and the delay of the result) after prealable family study and identification of the mutation(s).

Codon↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Acute leukemia in the elderly patient. Forty case reports].

Between 1989 and 1996, 40 cases with acute leukemia (16 males and 24 females) were diagnosed in our institution. Median age was 65 years (range, 56-88 years). Leukocyte count was more than 30.109/l in 42% of cases. According to the French-American-British (FAB) criteria, 11 cases were classified lymphoblastic and 29 myeloblastic. Sixteen patients have received palliative treatment because of there age and there bad performance status. Only 24 patients have received curative treatment. Complete remission was achieved in 12 cases (50%), 5 cases (20%) failed to respond and 7 (30%) died during induction. Relapse was observed in 8 cases. The 2-year survival rate was 10% confirming the worse prognosis of the acute leukemia in elderly.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Diagnostic strategy of beta-thalassemic mutation in a Tunisian family, application in prenatal diagnosis].

At present, the application of combined methods in molecular biology allows us to carry out the prenatal diagnosis in a more rapid and less onerous manner especially when the family presents an index case. In this study, we have analyzed a family with one case of intermediate beta-thalassemia. First, we have used the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Then, we have identified the mutations by the refractory mutation system technique (ARMS PCR) using specific primers for the most frequent mutations in the Tunisian population (codon 39 (C --> T) and IVS-I-2 (T--> G) for beta0 thalassemias and IVS-I-110 (G --> A) for beta+ thalassemias). The analyzed family has shown the IVS-I-110 (G --> A) mutation in the heterozygous state in the mother and the index case. Subsequently, sequencing in the gene revealed a frameshift 8 (-AA) mutation in the father and his daughter. This patient is thus a compound heterozygote Codon 8 (-AA)/IVS-I-110. DGGE and ARMS PCR analysis of foetal DNA extracted from trophoblast culture didn't show any of the two mutations found in the family.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Haematological characteristics, FAB and WHO classification of 153 cases of myeloid acute leukaemia in Tunisia].

A complete blood analysis with a careful morphologic examination of peripheral blood and bone morrow smears completed by cytochemical reaction will help to classify the most acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Actually, the study of other cytogenetis and immunophenotypic markers are now necessary to confirm diagnosis. The World Health Organisation WHO classification (2001) incorporates theses approaches. The purpose of this study is a bio-clinical review according to the WHO recommendations in 153 cases of LAM diagnosed between January 1998 and December 2003. The patients were aged 2 months to 90 years with sex ratio (M/F) of 1,22. The morphologic conclusion was difficult in 12% cases. Presence of dysplasia is noted in 50% of cases with multilineage dysplasia in 42% of cases. Our results showed cloned chromosomal abnormalities in 57% of cases (t(8;21): 12%, t(15;17) : 10%, Inv16: 1,3%, 11q23: 2,6% et complex karyotype: 14,3%). In 69% of cases with multilineage dysplasia, the karyotype was normal. 3 cases of LAM were noted at patients treated for breast cancer with chirurgic chemotherapy and radiotherapy 3, 4 et 5 years after treatment (LAM3 with t(15;17), LAM4 with genetic abnormalities of chromosomes 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 14 et 16 et LAM 6 with genetic abnormalities of chromosomes 4, 7, 12, 14, 19 et 21). In WHO classification, cytology is essential in diagnosis of LAM even if the karytype have an important prognostic value. Research of signs of dysplasia lineage after lineage constitutes an important microscopic work and it is difficult to quantify dysplasia when the lineage is poor.

Acute Disease↗