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Biomedical subjects

A Spira

Publications and source records attributed to A Spira.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1975

Smoking during pregnancy and placental weight: a multivariate analysis on 3759 cases.

The analysis of a survey of 3759 births shows that the difference in placental weight between smokers and nonsmokers is, if not nil, at least minimal, and that is definitely less than might be expected taking birth weight and other factors into consideration in a multivariate analysis (Tab. II). The distortion between the fetal and placental weights, which are very closely correlated, assigns to smoking a peculiar place among the factors influencing these two weights, a result which may lead to various interpretations.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sexual behavior and smoking: risk factor for urethritis in men.

Two hundred men who had symptoms of urethritis and 207 controls were interviewed. Because 60% of the men were of foreign nationality, the analysis of risk factors for urethritis was undertaken separately for the French and foreign subpopulations. The risk factors for urethritis were different for the French and foreign men. For the French men who had smoked, the risk of infection was 2.9 times greater than that for men who had never smoked (95% confidence interval, 1.2-7.6), after taking type of sexual behavior into account. There is a significant increase in the risk of urethritis when the amount of tobacco consumed daily increases (P less than 0.02). This finding suggests that smoking is an independent risk factor.

Chlamydia trachomatis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Study of sperm morphologic characteristics in a group of 833 fertile men.

For the 13 abnormalities under consideration, the mean percentages were found to be the following: irregular head (15.2), microcephalic (9.8), elongated head (5.9), coiled tail (5.8), bent tail (4.7), thin head (4.6), cytoplasmic remains (3.2), macrocephalic (1.6), short tail (1.1), no tail (0.6), duplicate tail (0.5), duplicate head (0.4), lysis (0.4). In so far as the group studied is representative, the results obtained may be considered as "norms" with the 90th percentiles showing the upper limit of the "normal". The same mean percentages were found by MacLeod and Gold (1951) for the five abnormalities they had identified. The length of abstinence preceding the collection of the ejaculate was found to have no influence on the percentage of abnormal forms.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Secular sperm trends in stallions between 1981 and 1996.

Several reports have suggested that human semen quality has declined throughout the world over the last few decades. Chemicals in the environment acting as endocrine disrupters have been implicated as a possible cause. If this is indeed the case, then similar effects may be observed in animals. We analyzed 1489 ejaculates collected from 390 Breton draught stallions between 1981 and 1996. Semen was collected from all the stallions at a single center, according to standardized semen collection protocols and laboratory methods. Semen volume decreased slightly but significantly and there was an increase in sperm concentration over the study period. However, total sperm production was unchanged. Seminal fluid volume is controlled by accessory sex glands, which are regulated by androgens. Chemicals with antiandrogenic properties have been detected in the environment. By affecting the development or function of accessory sex glands, these chemicals may be at least partly responsible for the observed decrease in semen volume.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a hot plate].

The autopsy of a woman aged 85 years who was found dead sitting in her kitchen bent over the kitchen-table revealed a fatal carbon monoxide poisoning. Subsequent inquiries excluded the chimney flue and above all the gas-fired water heater from being the CO-generator. Operating experiments upon the gas stove including the ultimately used pot and the Hot Plate likewise found showed a CO-content of 100 ppm in the room-air after half an hour, there upon an over-proportional ascent of the CO-concentration. This CO-production was brought about by the considerable deformation of the Hot Plate, which has obviously been used for years. The lack of an adequate warning in the directions for use of such products is remarked critically.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Grippe and pregnancy. Relation of birth weight to placenta weight].

The different results that have been published concerning the problem of the final outcome for patients who have had influenza during pregnancy reported in numerous works might be explained by differences in methodology used by the different authors. A study was carried out in the Haguenau Maternity Hospital (Bas-Rhin) when an epidemic of influenza occurred in 1972-173. The virological diagnosis was made by carrying out separate serological estimations on 1940 pregnant women. It can be shown that the mean birthweight dropped in infants of mothers who had contracted influenza during pregnancy even when corrections were made for sex and the duration of the pregnancy. The drop in weight of the placenta (37.3 g as a mean) was more obvious and can totally explain the drop in fetal weight. It was not possible to demonstrate any increase in the number of congenital malformations that were found in the neonatal period in the infants born to women who had had influenza. These results suggest that there is no direct passage of the influenza virus across the placenta which, however, is itself modified by the infection.

Animals↗