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Biomedical subjects

C Müller

Publications and source records attributed to C Müller.

At least 577 records · Page 32Linked to original sources

[Development of a rational monitoring strategy for workers exposed to tetrachloroethylene].

A 5 year follow-up of 130 workers exposed to tetrachlorethylene (dry cleaning) was performed, including measuring of exposure conditions (personal dosimetry, exposure tests) and clinical investigations. No signs of hepatoxicity of tetrachlorethylene could be detected, but slight derangements of nerval functions may develop in long-term exposed workers. Nerve motor and sensory conduction velocity shows a tendency to diminution. Recommendations are derived for biological monitoring and health surveillance of workers exposed to tetrachlorethylene.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗

[Thrombosis due to venous catheters--evaluation using CT].

Venous catheters for therapy and parenteral nutrition can cause thrombosis. A diagnostic elucidation and the evaluation of the extent of the thrombosis is indispensible for therapy decision. Besides phlebography, CT is a means for this. The results of CT-investigations of three patients with severe thrombosis caused by permanent venous catheters are shown. In all cases we were able to achieve the correct diagnosis and a reliable evaluation of the extent of the thrombosis. Small amounts of contrast medium are required and the investigation is tolerated even by seriously ill patients. CT therefore is an alternative to phlebography for the diagnostics and evaluation of the extent of thrombosis of the large veins.

Adult↗

[CT-guided percutaneous puncture and drainage of pericardial effusion].

Pericardial fluid can impair cardiac function. If medication is ineffective, puncture and drainage of the fluid is necessary. Three cases of CT-guided puncture and drainage of pericardial fluid are reported. The described technique is quick, of little risk and effective. It is superior to the conventional puncture of the pericardium from the subxiphoidal direction.

Drainage↗

Use of hepatocytes in adhesion and suspension cultures for liver support bioreactors.

Hepatocyte cultivation in bioreactors for hybrid liver support systems is possible under two conditions: attached to a substrate like membranes or microcarriers or in suspension culture. To compare the ammonia metabolism of hepatocytes cultivated under these two conditions, cultures of primary seeded rat hepatocytes were cultivated either attached to collagen coated tissue culture plastic or as a suspension culture. During the time course of culture, the ability of hepatocytes to reduce the ammonia content of the medium decreased in both adhesion and suspension cultures, though to different extents. In suspension cultures, ammonia content was reduced from 350 microM to about 100 microM (day 4) and to about 180 microM (day 6). No significant reduction was seen on day 8 of culture. In contrast, hepatocytes attached to collagen coated dishes remained viable and functional for at least 8 days after plating, reducing ammonia content from 350 microM to 70 microM (day 4), 90 microM (day 6) and 180 microM (day 8). The period of useful metabolism of hepatocytes in bioreactors for hybrid liver support systems appears to depend on the culture conditions.

Ammonia↗

[Pharmacokinetics of tetrachloroethylene in steady stage conditions].

Pharmacokinetic behaviour of tetrachloroethylene (clearance, pool, elimination kinetics, metabolic capacity) was studied by intravenous and inhalative long term administration. Concentrations of tetrachloroethylene in blood can be calculated from the concentration in the external air, as to be predicted for a substance, practically not metabolizable and eliminated totally by exhalation. The advantages of steady state techniques and their applicability to problems of industrial pharmacology are discussed.

Administration, Inhalation↗

[August Forel and Dumeng Bezzola--an exchange of letters].

The correspondence between August Forel (1848-1931) and Dumeng Bezzola (1868-1936), a forgotten Swiss psychiatrist, shows the deep ambivalence of Forel in regard of Freudian theories. Forel expresses clearly his screpticism not only concerning psychoanalysis in itself but also in regard of the Burghölzli School, i.e. Eugen Bleuler and Carl Gustav Jung. Forel and Bezzola were both involved in the vigorous fight against alcoholism.

Alcoholism↗

[Trommsdorff and his relations to dentistry].

In the mirror of the publication "Kallopistria oder die Kunst der Toilette für die elegante Welt" (1805) the scarcely noticed relations to dentistry in the total work of the Erfurter university professor and dispensing chemist J. B. Trommsdorff (1770-1837) are represented. Thw new details og the correlation pharmacy-dentistry at the beginning 19th century are presented.

Germany↗

[Return to work following myocardial infarct].

The aim of this retrospective study involving 471 patients was to investigate the percentage of patients who returned to work after acute myocardial infarction. In the group of 350 patients who did not undergo subsequent aortocoronary bypass operation 70% returned to work, whereby half of these patients started work again within 6 months after infarction. A significantly higher number of patients who were enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation programme returned to work as compared with patients not participating in such a programme (72% vs. 59%, respectively; p less than 0.04). There was, however, no difference between these 2 groups with respect to either the time point of resumption of work after myocardial infarction or the duration of employment between infarction and eventual retirement. Of the 121 patients who underwent an aortocoronary bypass operation, only 38% returned to work (p less than 0.001 vs. patients without bypass surgery).

Coronary Artery Bypass↗

[Results of cyclosporin A therapy in the early phase of type I diabetes mellitus].

A number of findings concerning the pathogenesis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus have shown that an autoimmune process is responsible for the destruction of the beta-cell mass, and that a major part of this process has already occurred during the prediabetic phase of the disease. Various immunosuppressive intervention trials have, thus, recently been performed. Remission rates of between 30% and 50% in the Canadian cyclosporin A (CyA) pilot study prompted two placebo-controlled double-blind studies applying this medication. In the French CyA trial 122 patients were followed up for 9 months. 37% of those on high-dose CyA (whole blood levels greater than 300 ng/ml) achieved total remission, compared with 16.7% of those on low-dose CyA (blood level less than 300 ng/ml) and 5% of the placebo group. The Canadian-European trial included 188 patients, of whom 42 were treated in the Viennese centre. Diabetes had been diagnosed in these 42 patients not more than 6 weeks previously, and the duration of their symptoms did not exceed 14 weeks. Whole blood CyA levels ranged from 400 to 800 ng/ml. In relation to short duration of symptoms and early commencement of treatment up to 10 times higher total remission rates were found in the CyA group as compared with the placebo group. In both studies similar side effects were seen. Apart from the cosmetic side effects (hypertrichosis, gingival hyperplasia) a decrease of 20% in creatinine clearance and an increase of 20% in plasma creatinine level seemed to be of clinical importance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Autoimmune Diseases↗

[The function of lytic effector cells in schizophrenic patients].

The present study aimed at elucidating lytic effector cell function in 32 schizophrenic patients and comparing the results with data obtained in 27 normal probands. Natural killer cell (NK) activity and antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) were tested. Schizophrenics did not differ from normal controls in either test system. Within the schizophrenic group, higher NK activity was detected in patients with neuroleptic monotherapy (p less than 0.05). Patients given a combination of neuroleptics, antidepressants and/or lithium did not differ from drug-free patients in either test system. There was no influence of psychopathological variables on lytic effector cell function.

Adult↗

Human leukocyte antigen-DP in leukemia.

Human leukocyte antigen-DP (HLA-DP) typing was performed on patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML, n = 44), acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia (ANLL, n = 34), or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, n = 41). Frequencies of DPw alleles in CML and ANLL patients were not significantly different from 254 controls, except that in ANNL DPw1 was absent. This was most likely due to the concurrent absence of DR3 with which DPw1 is in linkage. In contrast, in ALL, frequencies of DPw2 and DPw5 were significantly increased (corrected P less than 0.05, relative risk (RR) = 2.19 and corrected P less than 0.01, RR = 6.92, respectively). This was not due to linkage with DR. The frequency of DPw1 also tended to be reduced, but this was not caused by a similar decrease of DR3 in ALL. These results, therefore, demonstrate both positive and negative associations between major histocompatibility complex (MHC) gene products which are in only very weak linkage with the rest of HLA, and acute lymphocytic, but neither acute nor chronic myelogenous, leukemias. The HLA-DP region could thus contain long sought-after genes influencing susceptibility and resistance to leukemogenesis.

Alleles↗

Long-term influence of adjuvant therapy on natural killer cell activity in breast cancer.

Unstimulated IFN- and IL2-stimulated (NK) cell activities were investigated in patients with breast cancer who had received either local radiotherapy alone or adjuvant chemotherapeutic treatment with CMF combined with radiotherapy 12 to 18 months previously. When tested against the primarily NK-sensitive K562 cell line, patients who had received adjuvant chemotherapeutic treatment with CMF were shown to have a significantly decreased unstimulated and IFN-stimulated NK cell activity, as compared to both patients after radiotherapy only (P less than 0.002) and P less than 0.005, respectively) and healthy control persons (P less than 0.05). The former group of patients also had a significantly decreased IFN-stimulated NK cell activity, when tested against the primarily NK-insensitive Chang hepatoma cell line, as compared to patients after radiotherapy only (P less than 0.005) and healthy controls (P less than 0.05). Moreover, patients after radiotherapy only proved to have a significantly increased unstimulated (P less than 0.01) and IFN-stimulated NK cell activity (K562: P less than 0.05; Chang hepatoma cell line: P less than 0.05), as compared to healthy control individuals. In contrast, no difference in IL2-stimulated NK cell activity was detected. The investigation for the expression of CD3 and/or Leu 19 antigens as phenotypic markers of cells with non-MHC restricted cytotoxicity showed a significantly lower percentage of cells with the CD3+ phenotype in patients with breast cancer, irrespective of the chosen post-operative treatment, as compared to healthy controls (P less than 0.01). Finally, patients with breast cancer who had received radiotherapy only had a significant trend towards an increased percentage of CD3+/Leu 19+ PMNC, as compared to both patients after CMF treatment (P less than 0.05) and healthy controls (P less than 0.025). We conclude that patients with breast cancer vary on a long-term basis in their NK activity and in the phenotype of their PMNC depending on their post-operative adjuvant management.

Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte↗

DC-potential shifts and regional cerebral blood flow reveal frontal cortex involvement in human visuomotor learning.

In the present study, two different physiological parameters were measured to describe brain activity related to visuomotor learning: performance-related DC-potential shifts and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) by Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography). Visuomotor learning was required in a conflicting situation: a visual target moved on a screen and had to be tracked by moving the right hand in an inverted fashion (IT), e.g. movements of the target to the right side required hand movement to the left and vice versa. Compared to a normal, non-inverted control task (T), IT required the development of a novel motor program and the prevention of returning to routine direct pursuit. These additional demands in IT caused a relative hyperperfusion in regions including the middle frontal gyri, frontomedial cortex (including the supplementary motor area, SMA), right basal ganglia (caudate-putamen) and left cerebellum. Correlations of rCBF values between the middle frontal gyrus and basal ganglia may indicate a functional relation between these two brain structures. Visuomotor performance was accompanied by slow negative DC-potential shifts. In frontal and to a lesser degree in central recordings, amplitudes of DC-negativity were larger in IT than they were in T. This additional frontal negativity covaried with the success of learning. Results substantiate, now using a dual approach, previous suggestions that the frontal lobe plays an important role in visuomotor learning.

Adolescent↗