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Biomedical subjects

B Nilsson

Publications and source records attributed to B Nilsson.

At least 433 records · Page 24Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Characteristics of silicon diodes as patient dosemeters in external radiation therapy.

Silicon diodes connected to an integrating instrument that are used to measure the entrance dose on patients undergoing radiation therapy have been investigated with special emphasis on practical clinical aspects. The variation of the diode response for different photon qualities with different field sizes and different irradiation situations including oblique fields, wedges, blocking filters giving different electron contamination have been measured. The diode response for the different situations met in clinical practice when using various electron energies have also been examined. The results from measurements for patients treated with high energy are presented. The study has shown that if the mean value of all measured entrance doses with the diode on a patient differ more than +/- 3% from the presented absorbed dose for 60Co gamma radiation, a correction of the given dose should be made. The corresponding figure for high energy X-rays is +/- 5%.

Calibration↗
PubMed1988

Back pain in middle age; occupational workload and psychologic factors: an epidemiologic survey.

The prevalence of back pain in a sample of 575 fifty-five-year-old residents of Malmö, Sweden, was studied and predisposing factors were analyzed. The point prevalence of back pain was 29%. Individuals with back pain had been less successful in a childhood intelligence test, had a shorter education and worked at physically more strenuous jobs. They were also less satisfied with their working conditions.

Aging↗
PubMed1988

Pretransplant herpesvirus serology and acute graft-versus-host disease.

Logistic regression was used to analyze the influence of pretransplant herpesvirus antibodies, in both patients and donors, on the development of acute graft-versus-host disease in 111 consecutive HLA-identical bone marrow recipients. In bivariate analysis, recipient seropositivity for cytomegalovirus (P = 0.01), donor seropositivity for herpes simplex virus (P = 0.02), and low bone marrow cell dosage (P less than 0.05) were associated with a high incidence of grade II-IV acute GVHD. In multivariate analysis the P values were P less than 0.05 for a positive recipient CMV serology and P = 0.07 for a positive donor HSV serology. Positive serology for 1-2 herpes-viruses among recipients or donors both resulted in a 12% incidence of grade II-IV acute GVHD. Positive serology for 3-4 herpesviruses among patients or donors resulted in an incidence of 32% and 38% of acute GVHD, respectively (P less than 0.05). It is concluded that recipient and donor pretransplant herpesvirus immunity can be used to calculate the risk of moderate-to-severe acute GVHD.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1988

Swedish and Finnish dental practitioners' opinions of their undergraduate education.

Recently qualified dentists from a dental school in Stockholm, Sweden (n = 259) and the dental school in Kuopio, Finland (n = 103) were sent a questionnaire designed to obtain information concerning the perceived relevance of their undergraduate education to the practice of dentistry. The response rate was 71% for Stockholm and 82% for Kuopio. Except for minor differences, probably mainly due to economic resources and traditions in choice of treatment, the graduates in the two countries had comparable views of their basic education. In general, clinical dental subjects were highly valued, while basic science subjects but also subjects in medical and behavioral sciences were given low values. Our results indicate that, although prevention and behavioral sciences are stressed more and more in undergraduate education, the practice of clinical dentistry remains essentially unchanged and restorative dentistry is still very highly valued among recent graduates of these two dental schools.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Children of mentally ill mothers: mortality and utilization of paediatric health services.

A two-year cohort of children of parapartum mentally ill mothers, born in Stockholm during the mid-1970s, was studied with regard to mortality, hospitalization rate and Well Baby Clinic (WBC) care consumption during the pre-school-age period. The findings were compared with those of matched controls. The index children-especially those of addicts and neurotic or temporarily insufficient mothers-had a higher admission rate and had spent more days in hospital than the controls. The index children tended to have a higher mortality rate than the controls. No significant difference was found in the WBC attendance rates of the index children and the controls. Socially disadvantaged families tended, however, to pay more visits to the WBC than those who were better off. Home visits by the WBC nurse were made more frequently to the index families than to the controls. Failure to appear for regular health checks of the child correlated better with social dysfunction than with mental illness per se in the mother. An adverse social environment, including addiction, seemed to be a separate factor of significant importance, apart from mental illness per se in the mothers, for the morbidity of the children.

Child Health Services↗
PubMed1988

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin type II.

The gene for Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin type II (STII) was fused to the genes for protein A from Staphylococcus aureus and beta-galactosidase in two different expression systems. Antibodies raised in rabbits against the protein A-STII fusion protein recognized the beta-galactosidase-STII fusion protein. The latter fusion protein was used as the immobilized antigen in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of STII. The correlation between the results of the ELISA and the intestinal loop test in piglets was 95%, suggesting that the ELISA can be used to reliably detect STII.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Outcome of pregnancy in relation to maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein levels in the second trimester. An evaluation of a screening program and a longitudinal follow-up.

120 women with elevated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in pregnancy week 16-17 were subsequently supervised every 4th week until a few days postpartum. A group of 102 women with normal (n = 78) or low (n = 24) serum AFP concentrations in pregnancy week 16-17 were studied in the same way. In the last week before parturition the AFP serum level declined and the decrease was more pronounced with increasing gestational duration up to pregnancy week 41. The AFP level relationship between the women was stable on average throughout the pregnancies. Smoking was found to be related to elevated maternal serum AFP levels in pregnancy week 16-17. Among mothers younger than 25 years, 72% of those with high or very high AFP serum levels in pregnancy week 16-17 were smokers. Among women with elevated or much elevated maternal serum AFP levels in pregnancy week 16-17, male fetuses predominated. But only those carrying female fetuses gave premature birth to small-for-date children. Further analysis of the data revealed that if such a woman was a multipara, there was a 54% risk of a small-for-date premature female baby. Other data indicate that this risk may be increased by smoking and maternal age. It is recommended that this category of mothers with elevated AFP in pregnancy week 16-17 is continuously supervised during pregnancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Analysis of patients utilizing emergency dental care in two Finnish cities.

The use of emergency dental services was surveyed by interviewing patients seeking treatment during hours of organized emergency service in two large cities in Finland. It was spread rather evenly over all the days of the week. Marked differences were found between the volume of dental emergencies in the two cities. More than 60% of the patients had been in pain for 1 to 3 days and needed immediate help. One-third of the emergency visits were made by 20- to 29-year-olds. No significant differences in use of the services were found between men and women, although a larger proportion of women than men claimed to visit a dentist regularly and to have a dentist of their own. Fourteen per cent had failed to get an appointment with their regular dentist. More than 40% of the patients had used the emergency services previously. These patients, more often than first-time users, visited a dentist irregularly, did not have their own dentist, and were content with the rapid service at the emergency clinic.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for leukemia: factors of importance for long-term survival and relapse.

From 1977 until June 1987, 139 patients with leukemia underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation at Huddinge Hospital. Among recipients of HLA identical bone marrow the survival plateau for 30 patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first remission was 71% from 3 to 7 years. Children (n = 11) had a survival of 100% compared with 52% (n = 19) in adults (p = 0.01). Among patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in first remission (n = 15) the actuarial 5-year survival was 73% compared with 31% for those (n = 25) in second to fourth remissions. The probability of relapse in these two groups was 9% and 45% respectively (p less than 0.05). Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in first chronic phase (n = 27) had a survival plateau from 1 to 6 years of 65%. In Cox's multivariate regression analysis, improved survival was associated with grade 0-I acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (p less than 0.0001), HLA-matched siblings (p less than 0.001), recipient age less than 17 years (p = 0.02), first remission and first chronic phase (p = 0.03), cytomegalovirus (CMV) seronegative recipients (p = 0.04) and absence of symptomatic CMV infection (p = 0.04). A decreased risk of relapse was seen in patients with first remission or first chronic phase (p less than 0.001) and in patients with asymptomatic CMV infection (p = 0.03). In multivariate analysis the p values were 0.002 and 0.09 for these two groups respectively. In these patients acute GVHD was the major obstacle to successful outcome.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Dietary habits in the eighth decade of life.

Of a representative sample of 231 subjects (mean age 74.6 years) 89 women and 94 men were interviewed. The dietary history method was used and the calculated intake compared with Swedish recommendations (RDA-S). Mean intakes of energy and nutrients, except for vitamin D among women, were above the RDA-S. Intake of fat was above the RDA-S, and the proportion of energy intake from fat increased with age. Those who had three cooked meals per day had a higher nutrient density than those who ate one or two such meals. Although the RDA-S were the same for men and women, women had lower mean intakes and a higher proportion of subjects below the RDA-S for calcium, iron and vitamins C and D. More women had intakes of calcium and vitamin D simultaneously below the RDA-S. In most aspects the mean dietary intake was satisfactory according to current standards, but the RDA-S for calcium seems low. Fat intake was too extensive for both sexes and many women stood in risk of undernutrition.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Shoulder pain in middle age. A study of prevalence and relation to occupational work load and psychosocial factors.

Studies on 574 subjects demonstrated the prevalence of shoulder pain and its relationship to occupational work load and psychosocial factors. The prevalence of shoulder pain was 14% (13% men, 15% women). Women had more often myalgias with a tenderness on palpation of the shoulder muscles and rhizopathia-brachialgia type of pain, whereas men had mainly intraarticular pain. Three percent had been on sick leave because of shoulder pain in the year preceding the examination and 5% had a reduced range of shoulder joint motion. The subjects with shoulder pain were less satisfied with their jobs and had been less successful in a childhood intelligence test. No difference could be demonstrated between subjects with or without shoulder pain in estimated overall work load, but women with signs of supraspinatus tendinitis more often had jobs with physical demands.

Educational Status↗
PubMed1987

Isolation and characterization of three different carbohydrate chains from melanoma tissue plasminogen activator.

Electrophoretic analysis of endoglycosidase-treated tissue plasminogen activator obtained from human melanoma cells showed that the heterogeneity observed for the protein in these preparations is caused by an N-glycosidically linked N-acetyllactosamine type of carbohydrate chain which is present in about 50% of the molecules. An oligomannose type and an N-acetyllactosamine type of glycan is present in all molecules. Three glycopeptides were isolated and characterized by 1H-NMR, sugar determination, methylation analysis and amino acid determination. The exact attachment site for each of the three glycans could be deduced from the amino acid compositions of the glycopeptides. Asn-117 carries the oligomannose type of glycan, the structure of which was completely determined. Asn-184 is the site where the presence or absence of a biantennary N-acetyllactosamine type of glycan causes the size heterogeneity. The third N-glycosylation site, Asn-448, was found to carry a triantennary or tetraantennary N-acetyllactosamine type of carbohydrate chain.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1987

The influence of low molecular weight heparin in combination with dihydroergotamine on experimental thrombosis and haemostasis.

The influence of low molecular weight heparin in combination with dihydroergotamine (DHE) on thrombus formation and primary haemostasis was investigated in rabbit models. Conventional heparin in the dose of 60 units anti Xa activity/kg b. w. effectively prevented thrombus formation but the same dose of a low molecular weight fragment only gave a marginal decrease of the frequency of thrombosis. The thrombus weight was, however, significantly reduced. Doubling the dose of the heparin fragment totally abolished thrombus formation as did the combination of 60 units with DHE. With DHE it was also possible to diminish the low molecular weight heparin dose to 30 units with a good prophylactic effect. There was a small but significant increase of haemostatic plug formation time in all treatment groups except the one with low molecular weight heparin fragment 30 units anti Xa activity combined with DHE. Thus, by combining low molecular weight heparin in a low dose with DHE it is possible to prevent thrombus formation without influencing primary haemostasis in rabbits.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Characterization of monoclonal anti-DNA antibodies and visualization of binding to chromosomes and cell nuclei.

Monoclonal antibodies against DNA from two hybridoma cell lines were produced and characterized. One had specificity for single stranded (ss) DNA with some cross-reactivity to RNA, while the other was specific for both single (ss) and double stranded (ds) DNA. The latter ds and ss DNA-binding antibody was used as a model for analysing the distribution of the epitope in chromosomes and cell nuclei. A linear correlation between antibody binding and propidium iodide counterstaining was found on flow cytometric analysis of suspended chromosomes. Immunofluorescence of rat myoblast cells showed a speckled distribution of the antibody in the nucleus with a variability between the cells. Using electron microscopy to visualize antibody binding with gold particles, codistribution with uranyl acetate staining of leucocytes was found. These results suggested that the antibody preferentially binds to condensed chromatin in cells and chromosomes.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Structure and evolution of the repetitive gene encoding streptococcal protein G.

The complete sequence of the structural gene encoding the immunoglobulin G binding protein from Streptococcus G148 has been determined, as well as its 5' and 3' flanking sequences. The sequence reveals an open reading frame encoding a putative preprotein with a relative molecular mass of 63294. N-Terminal sequencing of the mature protein, spontaneously released from streptococcal cells, demonstrates that the signal peptide consists of 33 amino acids. The DNA sequence reveals extensive internal homologies similar to other cell-wall-bound receptors from gram-positive bacteria. Comparisons with a related gene previously isolated from another strain of streptococci revealed large differences in size, due to variations in the number of internal repeats. The structure of the gene suggests an evolution through multiple duplications.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

Increased risk of developing acute leukemia after employment as a painter.

A case-control interview study of 125 adult patients with acute leukemia and 125 controls matched with respect to age (+/- four years), sex, and residence was carried out in central Sweden during the period from September 1980 to May 1983. Their history of organic solvent exposure is described. A significant overrisk of developing acute leukemia was found when comparison between patients and controls revealed a difference in the solvent exposure rate, which was significantly higher in patients than in controls, with an estimated odds ratio (OR) of 4.9, 95% CI (2.2 to 12.1). The most frequently exposed profession, painters, exhibit a relative risk of 13 (2.0 to 554). These results suggest that an etiologic relationship exists between organic solvent exposure and the development of acute leukemia in man.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1987

Formation and removal of DNA cross-links induced by melphalan and nitrogen mustard in relation to drug-induced cytotoxicity in human melanoma cells.

The formation and removal of nitrogen mustard (HN2)- and melphalan-induced DNA cross-links (DNA interstrand and DNA-protein cross-links) in a human melanoma cell line (RPMI 8322), as determined by alkaline elution of DNA, was compared and related to the cytotoxic effect of each drug. HN2 was considerably more cytotoxic than melphalan as determined by inhibition of colony formation. Immediately following exposure to HN2 maximum levels of DNA cross-links were found. Melphalan, in contrast, caused a protracted induction of DNA cross-links with maximum levels obtained 6-12 h following drug exposure. HN2 induced approximately 13 times higher peak levels of DNA cross-links compared to equal concentrations of melphalan. Removal of DNA cross-links following exposure to both drugs followed an exponential time course. The rate of removal of HN2-induced DNA cross-links was, however, 1.5-2.4 times more rapid than that of melphalan-induced cross-links. A strong correlation was obtained between the cytotoxicity of both drugs and the total area under the curve for DNA interstrand cross-links, indicating that both the initial induction of as well as the rate of removal of DNA interstrand cross-links are important for the cytotoxic effects of bifunctional alkylating agents.

Cell Line↗