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Biomedical subjects

B Hansen

Publications and source records attributed to B Hansen.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Relationship between ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin, sparfloxacin and moxifloxacin (BAY 12-8039) MICs and mutations in grlA, grlB, gyrA and gyrB in 116 unrelated clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus.

The in-vitro activities of five fluoroquinolones were tested against 70 ciprofloxacin-resistant and 46 ciprofloxacin-susceptible unrelated isolates of Staphylococcus aureus. All 116 S. aureus isolates were studied for the presence of mutations in the grl and gyr loci. The order of efficacy of the fluoroquinolones tested, from least to most active, was: ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin, sparfloxacin and moxifloxacin (BAY 12-8039), in response to all characterized mutations in grlA, grlB, gyrA and gyrB. Moxifloxacin was active against most S. aureus isolates tested (MIC90 = 1 mg/L for ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates) and was less influenced by known mutations.

Anti-Infective Agents↗
PubMed1998

Sleep in rheumatoid arthritis: a comparison with healthy subjects and studies of sleep/wake interactions.

Sleep complaints are frequent in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and sleep disturbances may contribute to pain and other daytime complaints. The aims of the current study were to compare ambulatory sleep recordings from consecutively selected patients with RA to those obtained in healthy controls, and to study the relationships between sleep structure and clinical symptoms. Sleep recordings were obtained from 41 out-patients with RA and 19 matched controls. All had clinical examinations and completed different questionnaires. Recordings were scored traditionally and, moreover, the electroencephalography (EEG) was subjected to frequency analysis. For the study of sleep-wake interactions in the patients, a graphical chain model was used. The patients had many sleep-related complaints. An increase in the number of periodic movements of the legs (PML) during sleep was seen in comparison with controls, but otherwise only minor differences were observed in classical sleep stages. Data from frequency analysis showed an increase in alpha (8-12 Hz)-EEG activity in sleep stages non-rapid eye movement (NREM) 2-4 in most sleep cycles. The statistical model demonstrated a complex but independent correlation between morning stiffness, pain and joint tenderness on the one hand, and awakenings, stage NREM2, slow-wave sleep and stage REM on the other, probably reflecting a relationship between sleep patterns and pain in RA. In conclusion, only the increase in PML and alpha-EEG activity distinguished the sleep in RA patients from that of healthy controls. However, the demonstrated interaction between daytime complaints and sleep patterns may increase the understanding and treatment of the disease. In future research, graphical chain models may improve our understanding of complex relationships between multiple variables.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Characterization of grlA, grlB, gyrA, and gyrB mutations in 116 unrelated isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and effects of mutations on ciprofloxacin MIC.

One hundred sixteen unrelated clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus (70 ciprofloxacin resistant and 46 ciprofloxacin susceptible) from eight countries were studied for the presence of mutations in the grlA, grlB, gyrA, and gyrB gene loci. Two mutations within grlA (located at codons 80 and 84) and two mutations within gyrA (located at codons 84 and 88) were clearly associated with ciprofloxacin resistance, although other mutations detected within the four genes studied may also contribute to decreased susceptibility.

Anti-Infective Agents↗
PubMed1997

[Enuresis nocturna--parents' and therepists' attitudes].

In a questionnaire study concerning voiding habits among seven year-old children starting school the prevalence of enuresis nocturna was 13.4% among girls and 22.2% among boys. For 5.4% of girls and 8.2% of boys the symptom occurred at least once a week. Half of the children had secondary enuresis. Forty-six percent had consulted their doctor about the problem and 44% had received some kind of treatment. Ten percent had tried an alarm bell and 33% had tried desmopressin.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances (EUSES). Principles and structure.

In the European Union, Directive 92/32/EC and EC Council Regulation (EC) 793/93 require the risk assessment of new and existing substances, respectively. Principles for this risk assessment have been laid down, supported by a detailed package of Technical Guidance Documents. Against this background the European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances (EUSES) has been developed. This software can be used to carry out tiered risk assessments of increasing complexity on the basis of increasing data requirements. The exposure assessment, effects assessment and risk characterisation are carried out for environmental populations as well as for human beings, including workers, consumers and man exposed through the environment. EUSES is the result of a co-ordinated effort of EU Member States, the European Commission and the European Chemical Industry.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Effect of patient-selected intensive insulin therapy on quality of life.

The purpose of the study was to assess quality of life in patients with IDDM in relation to the type of insulin therapy. Two patient cohorts were studied. In cohort A, 77 patients deliberately intensified their traditional insulin injection therapy from up to two daily injections with syringe to multiple daily injections with insulin-pen; in cohort B, 55 patients changed from intensive therapy with pen to insulin pump-treatment (CSII). The therapeutic regimens were changed during a 5-day in-patient treatment and teaching course. The DCCT questionnaire was applied before and up to 6 months after changing of therapy. Treatment satisfaction increased after intensification of insulin therapy in both groups, mainly due to greater flexibility with leisure-time activities, and with the diet. Pump-users reported reduced problems with hypoglycemia (P < 0.02). HbA1c indicating acceptable metabolic control already before the study, remained unchanged. Therapy-associated inconvenience, mainly in association with lifestyle, improved in IDDM patients deliberately intensifying their insulin therapy by pens or pumps (CSII). Pump-treatment, rather than pen-therapy, conferred particular protection from hypoglycaemia.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Through a glass darkly: using behavior to assess pain.

Behavior assessment is crucial to the process of evaluation of pain and discomfort in veterinary patients. Behavioral responses to pain and other stressors are a function of the interaction between the individual and its environment, and are influenced by many factors including species, breed, age, sex, source of pain, and coexisting disease. Behavioral changes associated with acute postoperative pain typically peak within 24 hours and wane progressively thereafter. The intensity and duration of postoperative pain correlate with the location and extent of tissue injury, but there is much inter-patient variation of each characteristic. Published methods of systematic evaluation of pain in animals include objective measures of physiologic responses to experimental pain, subjective or semi-objective assessment of postoperative behavior, and quantitative measures of postoperative behavior and physiology. The techniques of quantitative measures of behavior are similar to pain-rating instruments developed for use in young children. Although objective assessment tools are difficult to develop and time consuming to apply, their methodological rigor and objectivity allow evaluation of behavior with minimal observer bias. Until objective assessment tools become widely used clinically, the best approach is to actively seek out evidence of pain in our patients, assuming its presence whenever there is tissue injury or inflammation.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Urinary tract infection, day wetting and other voiding symptoms in seven- to eight-year-old Danish children.

In this cross-sectional epidemiological questionnaire survey of 7-8-y-old Danish school entrants with focus on voiding habits, 29% were found to have symptoms that could suggest that bladder control was not fully developed. The frequency of day wetting, urgency, emptying difficulties, nocturnal enuresis, nocturia and encopresis, and the median frequency of voidings are presented. Furthermore, the relationship between urinary tract infections, day wetting, encopresis and voiding habits is investigated. There was an association between previous urinary tract infection in girls and current voiding symptoms, suggesting bladder dysfunction as a predisposing factor to infections. In particular, focus should be placed on girls with squatting on urge and/or emptying difficulties.

Child↗
PubMed1997

The image and advocacy of public health in American caricature and cartoons from 1860 to 1900.

The decades just before and after the founding of the American Public Health Association in 1872 saw an efflorescence of political cartooning and caricature in national-circulation weeklies. Part of the political and social critique that cartoonists and their editors provided the public focused on needs or opportunities for preventing illness and accidents. This paper presents a small selection of editorial cartoons that agitated in support of public health activities over 4 decades. The goals are to illustrate several concerns that rose to national prominence in that era, to examine the kinds of imagery that newspapers and magazine editors offered their readers, and to observe how frequently the public was encouraged to see politicians and commercial interests as responsible for preventable health problems. This discussion focuses exclusively on propagandistic images, leaving aside the reportorial depictions of events in the news and the neutral illustrations of methods and machines in scientific and technical publications.

Caricatures as Topic↗
PubMed1997

European Union research strategies on vaccines.

Vaccination presents one of the most cost-effective approaches to the majority of infectious diseases showing strong reductions in public health costs. Vaccination led to the eradication of smallpox, and we are moving now close to eradicating polio. Vaccines might also serve as therapeutic agents against diseases such as herpes and novel molecular biology techniques could provide possibilities for the development of new vaccines against cancer. However, despite the tremendous progress in preventing infectious diseases by vaccination, these diseases still account for 17 million of the 50 million deaths in the world each year. In economic terms, European private and public institutions led the world in introducing vaccines and currently provide over 65% of the vaccine volume supplied to developing countries. Aware of its increasing responsibilities in promoting research and public health and of the challenges posed by the reorganization of the world market, the European Commission has launched a series of initiatives in vaccine research and development to encourage cooperation between European industry, public institutions and academia and to support common research projects to the benefit of every Member State and the Community as a whole.

European Union↗
PubMed1997

DNA ploidy analysis in breast carcinoma. Comparison of unfixed and fixed tissue analyzed by image and flow cytometry.

OBJECTIVE: To form a methodologic basis for DNA analysis of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive carcinoma (IC) of the breast, including very small lesions, by comparison of flow cytometric (FCM) and image cytometric (ICM) methods for DNA quantitation. STUDY DESIGN: The material consisted of 41 DCIS lesions and 26 ICs. FCM DNA analysis of unfixed, frozen samples were compared to (1) FCM of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue; (2) ICM of imprints; and (3) ICM of paraffin-embedded tissue sections. RESULTS: FCM of unfixed tissue showed higher DNA measurement precision and a higher number of DNA nondiploid clones as compared to the other three methods. For the classification of DNA diploid/nondiploid cases, high concordance rates were found between the methods. Discordant cases were predominantly DNA neardiploid by FCM of unfixed tissue but DNA diploid by the other methods. The reproducibility of the DNA index (DI) was best in the interval 1.2 < DI < or = 2.2; it was 74% for FCM of fixed tissue and 79% for ICM of imprints. Clones with DI > 3 were found almost exclusively by ICM of imprints. For ICM of tissue sections, DI could not be reliably estimated. By ICM, contrary to FCM, a combined DNA diploid and nondiploid pattern was found frequently. CONCLUSION: Each of the methods has its own advantages and limitations. If possible, FCM should be combined with ICM. FCM of unfixed tissue is superior to the other methods with respect to precise DI estimation. Alternatively, FCM of fixed tissue and ICM of imprints may both give a reliable estimate of DI. ICM of tissue sections can discriminate DNA diploid from nondiploid clones, except for neardiploid subpopulations, and permits the analysis of very small lesions.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1996

Induction of immunosuppression by microemulsion cyclosporine in liver transplantation.

Twenty-five liver transplant patients were administered liquid microemulsion cyclosporine (Neoral, 5 mg/kg b.i.d.) via a nasogastric tube until they could take oral medication. The first dose was given within 6 hr after surgery. Adequate trough levels of cyclosporine were obtained from the first postoperative day. The total exposure to the drug was low on the first postoperative day, but a significantly improved pharmacokinetic profile with a high maximal concentration and a low time to maximal concentration was found from the second postoperative day. The absorption from Neoral increased during the first week. After 1 week, a low within-patient variation coefficient for dose-adjusted cyclosporine trough levels was found (17%). The between-patient variation coefficient was low during the whole postoperative period (31%). We conclude that in liver transplant patients adequate immunosuppressant blood levels of cyclosporine can be obtained in the immediate postoperative period using Neoral without the need to go to the intravenous form of the drug.

Antilymphocyte Serum↗
PubMed1996

Development and standardization of solid phase assays for the detection of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA). A report on the second phase of an international cooperative study on the standardization of ANCA assays.

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are diagnostic markers for systemic vasculitis. They are classically detected by an indirect immunofluorescence test using normal donor neutrophils as substrate. This assay lacks antigenic specificity and is not quantitative. The 'EC/BCR Project for ANCA Assay Standardization' is an international collaboration study with the aim to develop and standardize solid phase assays for ANCA detection. In this part of the study the isolation and characterization of proteinase-3 and myeloperoxidase, the two main target molecules for ANCA, and the development and standardization of ELISAs with these antigens are described. Six laboratories successfully isolated purified proteinase-3 preparations that could be used. Three of these preparations, together with one myeloperoxidase preparation, were subsequently used for ANCA testing by ELISA. The ELISA technique was standardized in two rounds of testing in the 14 participating laboratories. The coefficient of variation of these new assays decreased from values of approx. 50% in the first round to approx. 20% in the second round. We conclude that purified proteinase-3 and myeloperoxidase can be used in standardized ELISAs for ANCA detection. Whether such procedures offer advantages over the IIF test will be determined in a prospective clinical study.

Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic↗
PubMed1996

[Clinical consequences of intranasal insulin therapy in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus].

Metabolic control, hypoglycaemia frequency and nasal mucosal physiology were evaluated in 31 insulin-dependent diabetics treated with intranasal insulin at mealtimes for one month and with subcutaneous fast-acting insulin for another month in a randomized crossover trial. During both periods the patients were treated with intermediate-acting insulin at bedtime. Six of the patients were withdrawn from the study during intranasal insulin therapy due to metabolic dysregulation. Insulin concentrations increased more rapidly and decreased more quickly during intranasal as compared with subcutaneous insulin administration. Metabolic control, assessed by haemoglobin A1c concentrations, deteriorated after intranasal as compared with subcutaneous insulin therapy. The bioavailability of intranasally applied insulin was low, since intranasal insulin doses were approximately 20 times higher than subcutaneous doses. The frequency of hypoglycemia was similar during intranasal and subcutaneous insulin therapy, and nasal mucosal physiology was unaffected after intranasal insulin. We conclude that due to low bioavailability and to a high rate of therapeutic failure, intranasal insulin treatment is not a realistic alternative to subcutaneous insulin injections at the present time.

Administration, Intranasal↗
PubMed1996

Testosterone secretion during early pregnancy in mares.

We have characterized the testosterone secretion pattern during the first 80 d of pregnancy in mares and determined the sources that contribute to circulating testosterone levels during this period. Ten untreated, pregnant mares (Group 1), 10 altrenogest-treated, pregnant mares (Group 2), and 10 altrenogest-treated, pregnant mares in which the CL was eliminated by administration of PGF-2alpha on Day 16 (Group 3) were used in this study. Complete luteolysis occurred following PGF-2alpha administration in all mares in Group 3. Six of the 10 mares in Group 3 did not have an active CL until after Day 60 of pregnancy (Group 3a) and were included in the analysis. The remaining four mares developed a new CL on Days 32, 40, 43 and 49 of pregnancy and were excluded from analysis. Mares without a functional CL (Group 3a) had significantly lower testosterone concentrations than mares with a functional CL (Groups 1 and 2), during the period before equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) secretion. At the onset of eCG secretion, testosterone concentrations increased rapidly but the rate of increase decreased with time in mares with a functional CL (Groups 1 and 2). In mares without a functional CL (Group 3a), testosterone concentrations did not increase at the onset of eCG secretion but increased at a gradually increasing rate after Day 50. The lower testosterone concentration in mares without a functional CL before eCG secretion suggests that the CL contributes significantly to the circulating testosterone concentration during the period before eCG secretion. The close time relationship between the onset of eCG secretion and the increase in testosterone secretion in mares with a functional CL and the lack of a testosterone increase in pregnant mares without a functional CL suggest that the increase in testosterone secretion after Day 35 of pregnancy is the result of eCG-stimulated, luteal testosterone synthesis.

Journal Article↗