Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C Lemay

Publications and source records attributed to C Lemay.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Maternal serum screening for fetal Down's syndrome, a retrospective study.

A retrospective study of the different biochemical markers used in screening for Down's syndrome was carried out on serum from 18,600 women between their 15th and 18th week of pregnancy. Thirty-two sera were from women with fetal Down's syndrome. The retrospective study of these 32 sera involves: (a) the screening of the maternal serum concentrations of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP); (b) the evaluation of the risk of Down's syndrome when screening maternal serum concentrations of hCG alone, then the combination of the two markers and finally the maternal serum concentrations of unconjugated estriol (uE3). The mean of MOM (multiples of the median) for the pathological sera were calculated for hCG (1.91), for AFP (0.63), for the ratio hCG over AFP (3.02) and for uE3 (0.72). With the use of hCG alone we estimated a 41% detection rate for an amniocentesis rate of 5.3%, whereas when hCG was combined with AFP the detection rate approached 65% for an amniocentesis rate of 5.5% at a risk cut-off of 1:300. The results of the uE3 determination confirm the validity of this marker. The comparison of these results with other retrospective studies shows the incidence of different factors in the detection rate such as the choice of markers, the age group studied, the modes of calculating the risk and the actual cut-off chosen.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Coexistence of hypothyroidism and myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the coexistence of overt hypothyroidism and acute myocardial infarction (MI) in respect of clinical and biological manifestations and outcome. DESIGN: Retrospective study of patients with coincident untreated or uncontrolled hypothyroidism presenting to Notre-Dame Hospital with acute MI. Each patient's MI was matched with two controls for date of admission (within three years) of MI, age, sex, diabetes mellitus and number of previous MIs. SETTING: All patients were admitted to Notre-Dame Hospital, which is a secondary and tertiary care institution. PATIENTS: From 1975 to 1990, 5691 patients were seen at the authors' institution with acute MI, of whom 17 had simultaneously an untreated or uncontrolled hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism was defined as thyroid-stimulating hormone levels greater than 40 mU/L associated with low or normal levels of serum thyroxine. RESULTS: Chest pain was documented in each case. Electrocardiogram location of the MI was inferior in 10 (59%) patients and in 14 (41%) controls, anterior in seven (41%) patients and in 20 (59%) controls. There was a trend towards higher creatine kinase peak levels in patients with hypothyroidism (1409 +/- 1145 U/L versus 943 +/- 788 U/L). The Killip index was similar in the two groups (1.8 +/- 1 versus 1.8 +/- 1), as was the incidence of arrhythmias (seven of 17 versus 11 of 32). There was no significant difference in mortality between the two groups (18% [three of 17] versus 12% [four of 34]). However, the incidence of residual ischemia was greater in patients with hypothyroidism (12 of 17 versus 10 of 34, P < 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: Hypothyroidism is not associated with an unfavourable effect on the clinical course of acute MI. However, patients with hypothyroidism seem to have an increased incidence of residual ischemia.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

[Plasma beta chorionic gonadotropin between 14 and 20 weeks of amenorrhea: a sign of pregnancy-related hypertension].

A defect of placenta maturation has been described in hypertension of pregnancy. Plasma beta chorionic gonadotropins (beta HCG) of placental origin rise at the onset of pregnancy and reach a peak between 9 and 10 weeks of amenorrhoea. As we were making systematic assays between 14 and 20 weeks in a trisomy detection programme, we looked for differences in plasma beta HCG levels between women with pregnancy-induced arterial hypertension and pregnant women with normal blood pressure. We also studied the predictive value of such assays. Pregnancy-induced hypertension was found in 6 women in a population of 89 nulliparas and in 12 women in a population of 163 multiparas. beta HCG levels were significantly higher in women who later developed hypertension among both nulliparas (52,833 +/- 19,538 IU vs 24,499 +/- 16,485 IU) and multiparas (50,558 +/- 23,597 IU vs 20,911 +/- 11,677 IU). In nulliparas, taking 43,000 IU as threshold of pathology we found that the predictive value of beta HCG was higher than that of other tests which had gone through controlled studies (sensitivity 67 percent, specificity 91.6 percent, positive predictive value 36 percent, negative predictive value 97.4 percent, relative risk 5.4). In multiparas, taking 38,000 as threshold and combining this marker with obstetrical history it was possible to predict the occurrence of hypertension more precisely than with other markers which had gone through controlled studies (sensitivity 66.7 percent, specificity 98 percent, positive predictive value 61.4 percent, negative predictive value 97.3 percent, relative risk 8.4).

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Effect of estroprogestative drugs on the secretion of corticoadrenal hormones].

Estro-progestative drugs (EPD) have been used for many years and multiple secondary effects have been reported concerning mainly the glucidic and lipidic metabolisms. Effects of EPD on steroid metabolism have also been described and the authors present a review of the literature on this subject. Particularly it appears that EPD affect: the glucocorticoid metabolism, with augmentation of total cortisol although not in its free-form (augmentation of transcortine), the adrenal androgens metabolism, with diminution of their circulating rates, the aldosterone metabolism with augmentation of its secretion. These biological constatations could help explaining some clinical features occurring with administration of EPD: diminution of hirsutism and/or acne, augmentation of body weight, appearance of hypertension.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMed1981

Use of solid phase biochemistry for potentiometric enzyme immunoassay of oestradiol-17 beta - preliminary report.

The present report gives preliminary results of a new sensitive method for potentiometric determination of oestradiol-17 beta in solution, as an application of the competitive enzyme-linked immunoassay technique. Anti-oestradiol-17 beta antibodies are immobilized on a pig skin gelatin membrane, which is incubated with peroxidase-labelled steroid and oestradiol. After fixation of the membrane onto the sensor of an iodide sensitive electrode, the enzymatic activity was evaluated in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and iodides, the electrode potential being a function of hapten concentration in the solution. The purpose of this preliminary work was to determine the optimized conditions for specificity and sensitivity of the antibody-coated membrane in the presence of peroxidase-labelled oestradiol and oestradiol, and to eliminate possible interferences due to adsorption or ionic fixation of enzyme-labelled steroid. The first tests carried out with oestradiol standard solutions gave satisfactory results at levels ranging from 57 pmol/l to 9.2 nmol/l, suggesting that this new procedure should find application in the determination of oestradiol-17 beta in biological fluids.

Body Fluids↗
PubMedDate not supplied

100% rapid (partial) rescreening for quality assurance.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficiency of two methods for routine quality assurance in gynecologic cytology: random rescreening of 10% of negative gynecologic smears and rapid rescreening of all negative gynecologic smears. STUDY DESIGN: All gynecologic smears considered to be negative or benign and diagnosed between November 1, 1996, and December 31, 1997, were rescreened using the rapid, partial rescreening technique. Results were compared to those of the 10% random rescreening method. RESULTS: Comparing the 10% review of negatives to the rapid rescreening in two comparable periods of three months, the former required review by the supervisor of 160 cases in order to find a true false negative. With rapid rescreening, the supervisor had to review fewer than eight cases to find a true false negative. Also, rapid rescreening found about four times more true false negatives than random 10% review. CONCLUSION: Rapid rescreening of all negative gynecologic smears proved more efficient than 10% random rescreening.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗