Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B Heller.
When plate count methods are used for microbial enumeration, if too-numerous-to-count results occur, they are commonly discarded. In this paper, a method for consideration of such results in computation of an average microbial density is developed, and its use is illustrated by example.
A large cardiac rhabdomyoma was discovered before delivery in a neonate, whose outcome was fatal. The baby and her mother had both cutaneous lesions suggestive of tuberous sclerosis, and the mother's sister had died from Von Hippel Lindau disease. The association of a cardiac rhabdomyoma and a tuberous sclerosis in the same patient is not uncommon, but the existence of Von Hippel Lindau disease in a member of the same family seems to be exceptional.
Abnormalities in plasma lipids are a recognized side effect of isotretinoin therapy for nodulocystic acne. We studied 60 patients during 20 weeks of isotretinoin therapy, to measure changes in plasma lipids and lipoproteins, to compare plasma lipid responses in men and women, and to determine whether there are alterations in levels of lipoprotein lipase or hepatic triglyceride lipase that could explain the development of isotretinoin-induced hypertriglyceridemia. Mean triglyceride levels rose in men and women, with maximum mean increases of 46.3 mg per deciliter (P less than 0.0001) and 52.3 mg per deciliter (P less than 0.002), respectively. The maximum level was reached by 4 weeks of therapy in men but not until the 12th week in women. Nine of 53 patients (17 per cent) completing 20 weeks of isotretinoin therapy acquired hypertriglyceridemia, with values of 200 to 600 mg per deciliter. Both men and women had significant increases in mean plasma levels of cholesterol and low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and decreases in mean levels of high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol. There were no significant changes in mean levels of lipoprotein lipase or hepatic triglyceride lipase. Plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels returned to base line by eight weeks after discontinuation of the drug. If sustained over a long period, the change in the ratio of low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol that we observed, from 2.4 to 3.0 (P less than 0.0001), would predict an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Parameters related to the risk of atherogenesis in adults were investigated in kindergarten children living in an industrial city. Height, weight and blood pressure were measured and capillary blood obtained. This study is a field test of methods for the analysis of 11 metabolic variables in capillary serum [glucose (GLUC), uric acid (UA), total, free and esterified cholesterol (TC, C, CE), triacylglycerols (TG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC); beta-, pre-beta- and alpha-lipoproteins (LPs)]. For lipid and LP analysis, new micro- and ultramicroprocedures were used, which have proved to be adequate for large-scale studies outside the clinic, including young children. Among 497 German children, a reference group, an overweight group and a socially underprivileged group were distinguished. In the reference group, several sub-groups with parameters lying in the tails of the concentration distributions were considered separately, thus providing specific metabolic patterns for these groups and, also, for any individual child. The children in the overweight group exhibited significantly reduced TC and beta-LP levels. In socially underprivileged children with anthropometric data within the normal range, a reduction of several blood constituents was seen: GLUC, TG, TC, PC, pre-beta- and alpha-LP; the PC: PE ratio was diminished. The beta: alpha-LP ratio in these children was moderately increased. This effect was more pronounced in growth-retarded children, who also showed negative correlation of TG: alpha-LP.
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To 23 subjects with endogenous depression after a previous unsuccessful treatment with common antidepressive drugs (imipramine-like or MAO inhibitors) dl- or d-phenylalanine was given in dialy oral doses of 50 or 100 mg during 15 days. A complete euthymia was obtained in 17 subjects between one and 13 days of treatment. No important adverse reaction was observed.
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