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Biomedical subjects

B Hansen

Publications and source records attributed to B Hansen.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Smoking counseling and preventive medicine. A survey of internists in private practices and a health maintenance organization.

Physicians could help a large number of patients quit smoking by taking time to advise them about quitting, helping them plan a date to quit, giving them self-help materials, following up, and referring some to smoking cessation programs. To determine the attitudes and practices of internists concerning smoking cessation and selected preventive medical practices, we surveyed a random sample of internists in private practice and in a large health maintenance organization (Kaiser-Permanente Medical Group) in the San Francisco Bay area. Overall, internists consider counseling about smoking to be at least as worthwhile as many other practices, such as screening for breast cancer, and more worthwhile than periodic physical examinations. Despite these beliefs, 57% to 65% of internists reported that they spend two minutes or less counseling smokers during new patient visits. Many internists never use recommended strategies for counseling about smoking: 33% to 44% never help patients plan dates to quit, 68% to 75% never make follow-up appointments with patients primarily about smoking, and 27% to 48% never give smokers self-help pamphlets about quitting. Although they believe that counseling about smoking is worthwhile, internists are not doing as much as they could to help their patients quit.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Free condoms in the schools of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Attitudes of ninth grade students and their classroom teachers toward using condoms as a preventive measure against contracting AIDS were studied. Students (N = 438) and their teachers (N = 28) in the council schools of the Municipality of Copenhagen were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. Overall, results demonstrated that the message regarding "safe sex" had been well understood. However, 42% of pupils reported not using a condom during their last sexual intercourse. Many pupils indicated difficulty in using condoms. A continuing need exists for advice to the young. An information campaign, with distribution of free condoms, was well accepted by pupils and teachers. Almost all (94%) pupils indicated they will use condoms more frequently in the future. This campaign differed from other efforts that focused more on general information. The importance of other strategies designed to alter behavior to reduce the risk of contracting AIDS is discussed.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

American physicians' earliest writings about homosexuals, 1880-1900.

The expansion of diagnostic categories in the late nineteenth century to include behaviors not previously interpreted as medical problems raised questions about the validity of defining behaviors as disease and the role of individual responsibility for these behaviors. One instance of this medicalization of behavior was the elaboration of "sexual inversion" as a new disease in American medical writings of the period. In searching for a defining characteristic of diverse cases, clinicians described sexuality as a fundamental aspect of being rather than simply an aspect of behavior, and created an identity for their patients that altered the way they thought about themselves and were viewed by society. Although the medical diagnosis later became a central feature in the social oppression of homosexuals, it offered the possibility of construing behaviors in a new way.

History, 19th Century↗

Internists and nicotine gum.

Nicotine gum may be a useful aid to help patients quit smoking. The effectiveness of the gum and incidence of side effects may depend on using the gum properly. To describe internists' current practices of prescribing nicotine gum and other drugs for smoking cessation, we surveyed randomly selected internists. Most internists prescribe nicotine gum to fewer than 25% of patients who try to quit smoking. Contrary to current recommendations, nearly half of internists would suggest gum to help patients cut down on smoking, and a majority would limit its use to less than three months. There is no evidence that sedatives are useful for smoking cessation, but one fourth of internists had recently prescribed them for that purpose. There is a widespread need for physician education about how to use nicotine gum more effectively.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Effect of low-dose exogenous secretin on pentagastrin- and meal-stimulated gastric acid secretion in humans.

Intravenous infusion of secretin in a dose of 0.05 CU/kg/hr inhibited pentagastrin-stimulated (100 ng/kg/hr) acid secretion by 42% (P less than 0.05) abd meal-stimulated (10% peptone, pH 5.5) acid secretion by 33% (P less than 0.05) in 10 healthy subjects. Median serum gastrin concentration during peptone stimulation was reduced by 24% (P less than 0.05) during secretin infusion. Median plasma secretin concentrations were 6.0 and 5.2 pmol/liter, respectively. Since these secretin concentrations are of the same magnitude as those seen after duodenal acidification, it is concluded that secretin may participate in the physiological inhibition of gastric acid secretion.

Adult↗

SS-B/La antigen purification, and ELISA detection of anti-SS-B/La antibodies in sera from patients with inflammatory connective tissue diseases.

SS-B/La antigen was purified by immunoadsorbent columns with immunoglobulin from a patient with primary Sjögren's syndrome. Monitoring of the purification was facilitated by the fused rocket-immunoelectrophoresis technique. Technical ELISA variables for the detection of serum antibodies against the SS-B/La antigen were evaluated, and a recommended procedure is described. Prospective investigation of anti-SS-B/La antibodies in 103 blood donors and 131 patients with chronic inflammatory connective tissue diseases, including 43 patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome was performed. Anti-SS-B/La antibody concentrations were above normal in 65% of the patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (verified by the strictly objective Copenhagen criteria for keratoconjunctivitis sicca and xerostomia) and 9% of patients with other chronic connective tissue diseases. The predictive value for primary Sjögren's syndrome among patients with increased levels of the anti-SS-B/La antibodies attending a rheumatology clinic was 78%.

Antibodies, Antinuclear↗

Insulin release by glucagon and secretin: studies with secretin-glucagon hybrids.

Secretin and glucagon potentiate glucose-induced insulin release. We have compared the effects of secretin and glucagon with that of four hybrid molecules of the two hormones on insulin release and formation of cyclic AMP (cAMP) in isolated mouse pancreatic islets. All six peptides potentiated the release of insulin at 10 mM D-glucose, and their effects were indistinguishable with respect to the dynamics of release, dose-response relationship, and glucose dependency. However, measurements of cAMP accumulation in the presence of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (10(-4) M) showed that the fold increase compared with glucose alone had the following ranking order: secretin = [Tyr10, Tyr13]-secretin 1.6 less than [Tyr10, Tyr13, Trp25]secretin 1.8 less than glucagon 1.9 less than [Asp3, Glu9, Arg12]glucagon 2.3 = [Asp3, Glu9]glucagon. These results suggest that despite similar potentiating effects of secretin and glucagon on glucose-induced insulin release, their modes of action may be different.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

The hypereosinophilic syndrome. Report of a case with successful medical treatment following cardiac biopsy.

Together with pronounced blood eosinophilia an endomyocardial biopsy is the method of choice in diagnosing and assessing the severity of the systemic disorder hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES). Eosinophilia is not uncommon in several connective tissue diseases which may share clinical manifestations with HES. We report a case of HES, investigated and followed up with cardiac biopsies. A missing right radial artery pulsation gave rise to several differential diagnostic considerations.

Biopsy↗

Recovery of polypeptides after reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

Mass recovery of individual polypeptides may be estimated under various practical conditions. With the purpose of obtaining rapid and reliable standard procedures for recovery measurements, we have compared five individual methods utilizing a silica-based stationary phase [Nucleosil C18 (7 microns)/ammonium sulphate-perchlorate-acetonitrile, pH 3.0] and a resin-based stationary phase (TSK Phenyl 5 PW RP/ammonium phosphate-acetonitrile, pH 7.0). The recoveries of insulin (6 kilodaltons), human growth hormone (22 kilodaltons) and human serum albumin (68 kilodaltons) estimated under five different experimental conditions were found to be concordant. Variations in column load, flow-rate, gradient shape and column dwell time and addition of cyclame did not increase the (reduced) recovery of serum albumin and growth hormone.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗

Testicular cancer risk in boys with maldescended testis: a cohort study.

Testicular maldescent is considered as a predisposing condition for development of testicular malignancy. Male subjects with a history of cryptorchidism have been suggested by some authors to have a 40 to 50 times increased risk of testis cancer. However, the magnitude of this risk is a point of considerable disagreement. Therefore, we studied the records of 506 consecutive patients hospitalized for maldescended testis from January 1949 to December 1960. Testis cancer developed in 6 patients, which when compared to the 1.3 expectant Danish incidence rate, yielded a statistically significant relative risk of 4.7 (95 per cent confidence interval 1.7 to 10.2). Thus, our study confirmed that male subjects with a history of testicular maldescent have an increased risk for testis cancer, although the magnitude of this risk was lower than suggested previously.

Adult↗

Pretreatment with atracurium: the influence on neuromuscular transmission and pulmonary function.

The influence of pretreatment with atracurium on neuromuscular transmission was evaluated in 60 healthy volunteers using train-of-four (TOF) nerve stimulation and measurement of respiratory rate (RR), vital capacity (VC), inspiratory force (IF), and peak expiratory flow (PEF). The subjects were randomly allocated to one of four groups: Group I received atracurium 0.02 mg/kg, Group II 0.03 mg/kg, Group III 0.04 mg/kg, and Group IV atracurium 0.05 mg/kg. TOF ratio decreased significantly in all four groups. There was, however, no difference between the groups after injection. PEF decreased significantly in all four groups, VC decreased in Groups I and IV, and RF increased significantly only in Group IV. Three subjects (5%) had shallow, frequent respiration; however, none needed respiratory support. The majority of the volunteers experienced blurring of vision and heavy eyelids: 82% and 67%, respectively. All subjects were able to sustain head lift for 10 s or more after atracurium. Careful observation of respiration is necessary, especially when using the higher doses of atracurium.

Anesthesia↗

Preparative reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography of iodinated insulin retaining full biological activity.

Insulin monoiodinated in Tyr A14, A19, B16 and B26 can be separated from insulin and diiodoinsulins using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on LiChrosorb RP-18 columns. Monoiodoinsulins with high and low specific activities were isolated from a number of buffer systems without any reduction in binding affinity and biological activity in isolated rat fat cells. The reason for the previously observed reduction in the binding affinity was probably column bleeding, i.e., chemical degradation of the column support.

Adipose Tissue↗