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Biomedical subjects

C Bertrand

Publications and source records attributed to C Bertrand.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Arachidonic acid metabolites and airway epithelium-dependent relaxant factor.

Exogenous arachidonic acid (10(-8) to 10(-4) M) contracted epithelium-free guinea pig tracheal strips. Intact tracheal strips were contracted slightly by low concentrations of arachidonic acid (10(-8) to 10(-5) M), but higher concentrations relaxed them. In contrast, when tracheal strips were precontracted with histamine or carbachol, exogenous arachidonic acid had no effect on epithelium-free preparations but induced concentration-dependent (10(-8) to 10(-4) M) relaxation of intact tracheal strips. The effects of arachidonic acid both in epithelium-free and epithelium-containing trachea were blocked by either indomethacin (10(-6) M) or aspirin (10(-4) M). Studies on the effects of exogenous arachidonic acid, performed with a "sandwich protocol," demonstrated that the postulated airway epithelium-dependent relaxant factor released by an intact tracheal strip relaxes an adjacent epithelium-free strip in the same organ bath. This relaxation is antagonized by indomethacin suggesting the involvement of a cyclooxygenase product in this phenomenon. Comparison of concentration-response curves for contractile agonists in epithelium-free preparations and in one containing epithelium suggests the mobilization of airway epithelium-dependent relaxant factor by histamine but not by carbachol. The effects of cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase inhibitors indicated that both relaxant and contractile arachidonic acid metabolites are generated by epithelial and nonepithelial cells alike in response to contractile agonists.

4,5-Dihydro-1-(3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-1H-pyraz↗

[Esophagogastroplasty in the treatment of squamous carcinoma of the esophagus (our experience)].

The authors report on their experience with 42 cases of squamous carcinoma of the oesophagus subjected to oesophagectomy and oesophagogastroplasty. The patients' mean age was 55.2 years (range: 41-70) with a 13:1 male/female ratio. A positive history of cigarette smoking and of alcohol consumption was found in 87% and 80% of patients respectively. The sites of the neoplasms were as follows: 24 in the mid 3rd of the oesophagus, 9 in the lower 3rd, 6 in the upper 3rd of the thoracic oesophagus and 3 in the cervical oesophagus. In 39 patients the operation was performed in two stages according to Lewis and in 2 cases it was performed in 3 stages according to McKeown, while one patient was treated with a pull-through operation according to Akiyima. Six patients died during the first 30 days postoperatively as a result of circulatory complications or ARDS. Fistulization of the anastomosis as observed in 5 cases, though this was clinically manifest only in two. Mean survival was 5.9 months, 18.6 months and 10.5 months according to the period considered.

Adult↗

[Esophageal localization of granulosa cell tumor (presentation of a clinical case)].

The authors report on a case of granular cell tumour localized in the lower third of the thoracic oesophagus. The patient, a 49-year-old male, suffering from symptoms of dysphagia over the previous few months, was treated surgically by thoracotomy enucleation of the neoplasm. Despite its slow growth, this rare benign neoplasm, which probably originates in Schwann's sheath, is a candidate for endoscopic or surgical resection.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

[Preoperative evaluation of the patient candidate for surgical intervention on the chest: methods of study and risk factors].

The authors review the main methods designed to evaluate operability and surgical risk in candidates for chest surgery. They also report on their own experience with 135 cases operated on for thoraco-pulmonary diseases requiring surgery; in these cases, postoperative complications were studied in relation to various respiratory parameters evaluated differentially and as a whole prior to surgery. This study enabled the investigators to establish that patients with CV, FEV1, FEF25-75 and Tiffffeneau Index values below 60% of the respective theoretical reference values run a very substantial risk of postoperative complications, with a post-surgical morbidity rate of more than 60% in such patients. Similar risks are run by patients with VR values below 60% or above 120% of predicted values or with Emphysema Index values above 120% of predicted values. The author's experience with fractional bronchospirometry revealed that, in the high-risk patient sample, a predicted postoperative FEV1 value of only 800 ml/sec is a poorly selective limit.

Adolescent↗

[Perverse discourse].

The authors have wanted to study the structure and the characteristics peculiar to the perverse speech, on beauty, enjoyment, claiming to be a knowledge on the other one. We have tried to mark the crucial elements of this speech in the portrait of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) and in Othello (Shakespeare) in which the perverse's activity of staging is particularly explicit and contributes to substitute a reality for another one.

Drama↗

[Functional studies of the esophagus in gastroesophageal reflux: application to anti-reflux surgery].

A functional exploration of the esophagus, an acid reflux test, a manometry and an endoscopic examination were performed on 56 patients in succession, who had undergone a complete fundoplication for gastro-esophageal reflux. These tests were done pre-operatively as well as post-operatively at short term (1 year) and long term (4 years). The functional and endoscopic pre-operative work-up did not enable to isolate a group of patients likely to present a therapeutic failure. 54 patients were seen again at 1 year, with a good clinical result in 50 of them (92 per cent). At 4 years, 39 out of 48 patients (81 per cent) maintained that result. The acid reflux test was abnormal in all cases of clinical recurrence. Two asymptomatic patients had an abnormal test. One presented a clinical recurrence subsequently, the other had a severe esophagitis confirming the recurrence. On manometry, a significant and stable increase of the pressure of the lower esophageal sphincter was noticed after fundoplication (8.1 +/- 1.8 mmHg pre-operatively, 15.5 +/- 1.4 mmHg at 1 year, 14.5 +/- 1.5 mmHg at 4 years). In case of recurrence, the pressures were in an average lower although values within normal limits could not exclude a recurrence. A complete fundoplication is therefore a reliable long term procedure. The functional exploration of the esophagus post-operatively enables to select asymptomatic patients with a high recurrence risk and gives an objective evaluation of the operative results.

Adolescent↗

Long-term comparative effect of cholecystokinin and gastrin on mouse stomach, antrum, intestine, and exocrine pancreas.

Mice were injected three times a day for 12 days with 300 micrograms/kg body weight of gastrin G17 or 37.5 Ivy dog U/kg body weight of CCK or saline. Other mice were also injected four times an hr for 1 hr with 7.5 micrograms/kg of gastrin, nine Ivy dog U/kg of CCK or saline; 1 hr before killing, they were injected with tritiated thymidine to evaluate the labelling indices in peptic, antral, duodenal, jejunal, and ileal mucosae. Four hours after the first injection of the two peptides, the peptic labelling indices increased while those of intestinal mucosa increased 8 hr after these injections. Long-term injections of CCK had a trophic effect on secretory cells of the digestive tract: the number of gastric zymogenic cells, Paneth cells, and the mucous cells of Brünner glands were hypertrophied. The pepsin, amylase, chymotrypsin, and lysozyme activities increased in stomach, exocrine pancreas, and intestine, respectively. Neither parietal cells nor intestinal enterocytes and hydrolase activities were affected. The trophic effect of long-term injections of gastrin is confirmed on parietal cells and exocrine pancreatic parenchyma and is demonstrated in Paneth cells. Confirming cytological results, pancreatic lipase and amylase activities and intestinal lysozyme activity were increased after gastrin. Although CCK and gastrin have a structural analogy, these two peptides did not affect the same cellular types. A specific action of CCK on the main secretory cells of the digestive mucosa is demonstrated.

Amylases↗

Demonstration of the colinearity of human cytomegalovirus genomes and construction of restriction maps of unknown isolates using cloned subgenomic fragments.

In this study, we have established the colinearity of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) genomes using stringent conditions of DNA-DNA filter hybridization of HCMV HindIII fragments and cosmid-cloned AD169 strain HCMV DNA fragments. Large cosmid-cloned fragments of AD169 DNA were used for the preparation of radioactive probes by nick translation. These probes were hybridized to HindIII digests of DNA from three fresh isolates of HCMV and to that of the Davis strain. Using published HindIII restriction maps for the AD169 strain as a reference, the results obtained by hybridization allowed us to construct HindIII restriction maps for the genomes of the three fresh isolates. Confirmation of our methodology was found in the correspondence between the HindIII map we constructed for the Davis strain and that published previously. Furthermore, it is shown that variation in the restriction profiles of the unique regions of the genome are due to the absence or gain of restriction sites, and not to a rearrangement of fragments. This technique allows rapid construction of physical maps of the DNA of any fresh isolate for a given restriction enzyme provided the corresponding restriction map of a strain to be used as reference is available.

Base Sequence↗

Long-term effect of somatostatin 14 on mouse stomach, antrum, intestine and exocrine pancreas.

Mice were injected 3 times a day for 12 days with 8 micrograms/kg of somatostatin 14 which caused a hypoplasia of parietal and goblet cells, a hypotrophy and hypofunctionality of pancreatic acinar cells with a decrease in lipase and chymotrypsin activities, a decrease in the secretory fuction of the Brunner gland and in the number of dark granules of G cells. Neither villous and microvillous areas nor brush border hydrolase activities were affected. The number of peptic cells and Paneth cells increase as the level of pepsin and lysozyme. Mice were injected 4 times per hour with 2 micrograms/kg of somatostatin. 2 h after the first injection of somatostatin and 90 min after a single injection of tritiated thymidine, fundic, antral, jejunal and ileal labelling indexes strongly decrease (maximal effect in ileum). The inhibitory effect of somatostatin on the digestive epithelial cell proliferation compared to its long-term action only directed on specific cell types evokes probable compensatory mechanisms induced to maintain the equilibrium of the digestive epithelia.

Animals↗

[Paraneoplastic erythroderma: apropos of a case].

A 63-year-old male patient had severe exfoliative dermatitis (erythroderma) which led to the discovery of squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx. The possibility of paraneoplastic erythroderma is discussed. Although such an aetiology is rare, 5 cases with a similar paraneoplastic syndrome have been previously reported, which cannot be considered as a merely fortuitous association of exfoliative dermatitis and visceral cancer.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗

[Yag laser photocoagulation and monopolar electrohydrocoagulation: randomized study of the hemostatic effect on experimental hemorrhagic ulcer in dogs].

The purpose of this randomized study was to compare the effects of two methods of hemostasis--photocoagulation using YAG Neodyme laser and liquid monopolar electrocoagulation--on acute experimental bleeding ulcers created in the dog stomach with an ulcer-maker. One hundred and fifty-three lesions were made and randomized into 3 groups; 51 lesions were treated with photocoagulation and complete hemostasis was achieved in all cases. Hemostasis was obtained in 80 p. 100 of 51 ulcers treated with liquid electrocoagulation. Control untreated ulcers remained hemorrhagic after 45 min of observation. The mean external muscle injury on day 7 was 55 p. 100 after photocoagulation and 65 p. 100 after liquid electrocoagulation. On day 14, mean external injury was 60 p. 100 after photocoagulation and 75 p. 100 after liquid electrocoagulation (non-significant difference). On day 7, the mean re-epithelization index, expressed as the percentage of the original ulcer diameter, ranged from 8 to 10 p. 100 in each trial group. On day 14, reepithelization covered 78 p. 100 of control ulcers and 72 p. 100 of photocoagulated ulcers (NS). This percentage falls to 47 p. 100 in ulcers treated with liquid electrocoagulation (p less than 0.01 when compared with ulcers treated with photocoagulation). Photocoagulation seemed to be more efficient in ensuring hemostasis and external muscle injury was correlated with the energy delivered. External muscle injury could not be controlled by liquid electrocoagulation. However the difference in the percentages of mean external muscle injury between the two methods was not significant. Therefore, in man, the risk of perforation is certainly slight and not very different whatever the method of hemostasis considered.

Animals↗

Early diagnosis of peritoneal infection by simultaneous measurement of lactate concentration in peritoneal fluid and blood.

The level of lactate in peritoneal fluid has been suggested to be of great value in the early diagnosis of peritoneal infection [5]. However, this value is affected by multiple systemic factors producing lactic acidosis; these contributed to the high rate of false positive results, obtained in that study. In our study, a better correlation has been found between the peritoneal fluid to blood lactate gradient levels and the presence or absence of peritoneal infection. A threshold gradient level of 2.2 mmol/l in a total of 37 infected and 48 non-infected samples gave the best prediction with a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 96%.

Ascitic Fluid↗

Immunohistochemical localization of intestinal phospholipase A2 in rat paneth cells.

Using the peroxidase-anti-peroxidase (PAP) technique with a specific rabbit anti-swine intestinal-phospholipase-A2 serum, the immunoreactivity of this phospholipase A2 was localized in rat-intestinal Paneth cells. The specific rabbit anti-swine intestinal-phospholipase-A2 serum did not stain the rat-pancreatic acinar cells which were stained by a specific rabbit anti-swine pancreatic-phospholipase-A2 serum. Specific rabbit anti-swine pancreatic-phospholipase-A2 serum did not stain rat-intestinal Paneth cells. Therefore, there is no cross-immunoreactivity between pancreatic and intestinal phospholipases.

Animals↗

[Immunity related to cytomegalovirus after allogenic bone marrow transplantation: role of donor immunity to cytomegalovirus in the incidence of cytomegalovirus infection in recipients].

Cytomegalovirus infections are severe and frequent after BMT. This study included 34 bone marrow transplant recipients (23 aplastic anaemias and 11 leukaemias), their marrow donors and 125 related or non related normal controls. Assays were performed before transplantation and every 30 days between D 0 and D 90, and then every six months. They included detection of CMV induced lymphocyte proliferation in vitro, CMV antibody determinations by complement fixation and reverse haemagglutination, viraemia and/or viruria. Similarly, cellular immunity to mitogens and to other specific antigens was evaluated. During the period of study, 22 patients developed CMV infection. The diagnostic was confirmed by virus isolation from the 12th to the 96th day after the graft. Development of positive CMV proliferation test occurred from the 9th to the 84th day after virus isolation (30 to 120th day after the graft). In one case, the CMV infection was only proved by the lymphocyte proliferation to CMV in vitro and only 60 days later by viruria and 105 days later by detection of CMV antibodies. For the other 12 patients (7 aplasies and 5 leukaemias) and 10 of their bone marrow donors, no CMV infection was proved, before or after transplant, by any of the assays performed. By selecting a donor without previous CMV infection, we hope to reduce the incidence of CM infection in recipients.

Anemia, Aplastic↗

Ventilation by high-frequency oscillation of thorax or at trachea in rats.

The efficiency of ventilation by high-frequency oscillation (HFO) applied to the thorax (external HFO) has been compared with that of HFO applied through a tracheal cannula (internal HFO) in a group of normal rats. Anesthetized, paralyzed, tracheotomized rats were placed in a whole-body plethysmograph. External HFO was achieved by varying the pressure surrounding the animal by means of a piston pump connected to the body plethysmograph; internal HFO was obtained in the same animals by connecting the pump to the tracheal cannula. Arterial CO2 and O2 partial pressures were measured in blood sampled from a carotid artery and were compared for external and internal HFO applied at 20 Hz with matched tidal volumes of 0.8, 1.4, 1.9, and 2.4 ml/kg. With increasing tidal volume, the mean arterial CO2 partial pressure decreased progressively from 68 to 30 Torr and was identical in the two modes of HFO; no difference was noted for the CO2 elimination or for the arterial O2 partial pressure. These results indicate that, in terms of gas exchange, external and internal HFO are equally efficient in normal rats.

Animals↗