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Biomedical subjects

C Bloch

Publications and source records attributed to C Bloch.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

The amino acid sequences of two 13-kDa alpha-amylase inhibitors from the seeds of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.

Two inhibitors (SI alpha 4 and SI alpha 5) of the alpha-amylases from insect and mammalian sources were purified from seeds of Sorghum bicolor by saline extraction, precipitation with ammonium sulphate, affinity chromatography on Red Sepharose, and preparative and analytical reverse-phase HPLC on columns of Vydac C18. The complete primary structures of these two inhibitors were determined by automated degradation of the intact, reduced and S-alkylated proteins and by manual 4-N,N-dimethylaminoazobenzene-4-isothiocyanate/phenyl isothiocyanate microsequencing of peptides derived from them following enzyme digests. The amino acid sequences were as follows: SI alpha 4: TVDVTACAPGLAIPAPPLPTCRTFARPRTCGLGGPYGPVDPSPVLKQ- RCCRELAAVPSRCRCAALGFMMDGVDAPLQDFRGCTREMQRIYAVSRLTRAAECNLPTIPGGGCHLSNS PR; and SI alpha 5: ANWCEPGLVIPLNPLPSCRTYMVRRACGVSIGPVVPLPVLKERCCSELEKLV- PYCRCGALRTALDSMMTGYEMRPTCSWGGLLTFAPTIVCYRECNLRTLHGRPFCYALGAEGTTT. Comparisons of these sequences with one another and with those of other proteins in the US National Biomedical Research Foundation Databank indicated that the two Sorghum proteins had significant similarities (21%-42% identity) with the members of the cereal superfamily of enzyme inhibitors.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

A new family of small (5 kDa) protein inhibitors of insect alpha-amylases from seeds or sorghum (Sorghum bicolar (L) Moench) have sequence homologies with wheat gamma-purothionins.

Three isoinhibitors of locust and cockroach gut alpha-amylases were purified from seeds of sorghum by saline extraction, precipitation with ammonium sulphate, affinity chromatography on Red-Sepharose and preparative RP-HPLC on Vydac C18. The complete primary structures were determined by automatic degradation of the intact reduced and S-alkylated proteins, and by manual DABITC/PITC microsequencing of peptides obtained from enzyme digests. The inhibitors consist of 47 (SI alpha-1) or 48 (SI alpha-2, ST alpha-3) amino acids, and are the smallest plant inhibitors of alpha-amylase currently known. The sequences of the three isoinhibitors exhibit between 38% and 87% identity among themselves and also have homology (32-81%) with the gamma-purothionins recently isolated from wheat endosperm.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Plastic surgery in pseudoxanthoma elasticum: experience in nine patients.

Nine women between the ages of 22 and 56 years underwent cosmetic surgery for correction of the severe cutaneous stigmata of pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE). The outcome was generally favorable, and follow-up for up to 15 years showed only moderate regression of the skin manifestations. No serious intraoperative or postoperative complications occurred, although tissue friability, poor wound healing, and keloid formation were noted in a minority of persons. An unexpected problem of extrusion of calcium particles through the surgical wound occurred in two individuals. This resulted in delayed healing and unsightly scars.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[The state, social class and health].

This paper analyses the health policies implemented in Argentina during the last four decades, relating their application to concomitant development strategies that were underwritten by political projects advancing different 'societal models'. Our hypothesis is that, in Argentina over the last four decades, there have been three major attempts at adjusting the internal needs of capitalist development to the conditions imposed by the world capitalist system. Such strategies, globally termed 'populist', 'developmentalist' and 'authoritarian', imply a modification of the relationships between state and economy (mode of development) and between state and society (mode of hegemony). They also involve peculiar ways of approaching the contradiction between accumulation and distribution, and consequently, different methods for solving social problems and alternative paths to the consolidation of a hegemonic project. Within this context, both the rationale offered by the state for its proposed health and welfare policies, as well as the actual implementation of these policies conforms to the basic principles of each of the models in force. In the populist model, the political project involves a progressive expansion of the participation of the popular sectors, both in the labour and consumption markets and in the political system. Its health plan conforms with this model by recognizing the state's responsibility both to increase its participation in health services and to promote corporativist activities in the sector, in accordance with the global mobilization/incorporation policy controlled by the mass organizations. In the developmentalist model, emphasis falls on the need to privilege accumulation over distribution; investments in infrastructure are treated as a priority as they are considered indispensable to ensure the future generalization of public welfare. The argument is that the impact of medical assistance on labour productivity must go hand in hand with the creation of job opportunities from economic development. Finally, the authoritarian model excludes the promotion of concensus politics in an effort to radically transform the articulations between state and society. The disciplinary function of the market is used to concealing both a serious lack of interest in the population's living conditions and an iron decision to subject the totality of social life to the rationality of a system where social injustice stands as the society's bastion.

Argentina↗
PubMed1989

Sonography in early pregnancy: the significance of subchorionic hemorrhage.

Among 31 pregnant women with first-trimester bleeding, all were found on sonographic study to have subchorionic hemorrhage with a living fetus. Twenty-six went on to normal term pregnancies. Two had premature labor at 31 and 32 weeks. Three had first-trimester missed abortions. No correlation was found between volume of subchorionic bleeding and prognosis. The prognosis of the pregnancy in this group of 31 women with first-trimester bleeding and sonographic evidence of subchorionic hemorrhage and fetal cardiac activity was 80% favorable.

Chorion↗
PubMed1988

Prognosis and long-term results of surgically treated aortic stenosis.

A total of 675 patients (mean age 60 +/- 11 years, range 22-85, 71% males) with calcified pure aortic stenosis (490) or mixed lesions (185) had an aortic prosthesis: 290 Starr-Edwards, 147 Bjork, 18 other mechanical valves, 163 pericardial xenografts, 57 porcine xenografts; 76 patients simultaneously underwent a coronary bypass, 12 a replacement of ascending aorta, and six a mitral valvuloplasty. Preoperatively, 67% were in functional class III or IV (NYHA); 69.5% had a coronary arteriography: significant coronary stenosis was observed in 27% of patients. The operative mortality was 6.8% depending on the functional class at surgery, age (4.9% before 70 years, vs. 12.5% after), and the date of surgery (8.1% before 1983 vs. 3.7% after). The 10- and 15-year actuarial survival rates were 62 +/- 3% and 44 +/- 4%, respectively. No significant differences were observed between patients with pure aortic stenosis and mixed aortic lesions. In patients over 70 years, the survival rates were 71 +/- 5% at five years and 51 +/- 10% at 10 years. Age, functional class, degree of congestive heart failure, and degree of cardiomegaly were the main preoperative predictors of late death. At 10 years, 88% of patients were free from myocardial dysfunction, 87% from thromboembolic events, and 89% from haemorrhages. We conclude that in this type of valvulopathy, short- and long-term surgical results are good despite the fact that most patients are elderly and in an advanced functional class.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Familial resemblance of plasma angiotensin-converting enzyme level: the Nancy Study.

Plasma angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) activity has been measured in a sample of 87 healthy families participating in a study of cardiovascular risk factors. The mean +/- SD levels of plasma ACE were 34.1 +/- 10.7, 30.7 +/- 10.4 and 43.1 +/- 17.2 units/liter in fathers (n = 87), mothers (n = 87) and offspring (n = 169), respectively. Plasma ACE was uncorrelated with age, height, weight, or blood pressure in the parents, but a negative correlation with age was observed in offspring (r = -.32). The age-adjusted familial correlations of plasma ACE were .038, .166, .323 and .303 for spouses, father-offspring, mother-offspring, and siblings, respectively. The results of the genetic analysis suggest that a major gene may affect the interindividual variability of plasma ACE, with different codominant effects in parents and offspring. According to this model, the major gene effect accounts for 4.8, 4.0, and 10.8 units/liter of the overall mean and for 29%, 29% and 75% of the variance of age-adjusted ACE in fathers, mothers, and offspring, respectively. The estimate of the probability of the less frequent allele is .26, and the major gene effect is approximately twice as great in high homozygotes than in heterozygotes and in offspring than in parents. The results of this study demonstrate the occurrence of a familial resemblance of plasma ACE activity in healthy families and suggest that this observation can be explained by the segregation of a major gene.

Alleles↗
PubMed1987

Tissue expansion. Three years' experience at Groote Schuur Hospital.

Tissue expansion for breast reconstruction and for improvement of large unsightly scars, not possible with standard local flaps, is a well-tried, effective method. Fifty-nine tissue expanders have been used in 46 patients at Groote Schuur Hospital since August 1982 for both breast reconstruction and scar revision. Expanders were placed in surgically dissected pockets and filling was performed on an outpatient basis. At a second operation the filled expanders were removed and the definitive operation performed. Complications encountered included deflation, exposure, infection, seroma and skin necrosis. Final results in most patients have been satisfactory. Tissue expansion has a wide application in reconstruction and has potential for even greater use in the future.

Adult↗