Biomedical subjects

C Macor

Publications and source records attributed to C Macor.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1983

[Alcoholism and the hospital. The treatment of alcoholism in a general medicine department].

Starting from the premise that a period in a General Hospital is an opportunity to cure the alcoholic, a treatment of alcohol dependence was undertaken during normal working hours based on the principles of social psychiatry and group therapy adapted for use in a General Hospital. The data on 71 alcoholics over a maximum period of eleven months are described. Relapses vary according to groups, which in their turn reflect the different degrees of problem involved. The total percentage of cures was 56%. The results were satisfactory especially when the type of treatment, cost-free and employing little time, is considered. A similar experiment in other hospitals in the area might offer effective cure and prevention of alcoholism in the Region.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Dietary-induced thermogenesis in obesity. Response to mixed and carbohydrate meals.

The possibility that dietary-induced thermogenesis may be decreased in obesity has been proposed in recent years. However, the results of human studies so far obtained are conflicting. The present research was undertaken in order to clarify this question. We studied postprandial thermogenesis induced by ingestion of a mixed meal and of a carbohydrate mixture in 15 normal and 12 obese subjects. Blood glucose and plasma insulin levels were measured at the same time. The data obtained have shown that the mean resting metabolic rate (RMR) expressed as a function of body weight3/4, is almost the same in obese as in normal-weight subjects (0.115 +/- 0.018 vs 0.133 +/- 0.021 kj/min/kg3/4, respectively). Moreover, the increment of mixed-meal induced thermogenesis (MM-IT) was 48 +/- 22% in normal and -0.8 +/- 12% in obese subjects, respectively (p less than 0.01). Carbohydrate induced thermogenesis (CHO-IT) appeared slightly higher in normal-weight than in obese subjects (159 +/- 66 vs 98 +/- 46). After carbohydrate ingestion we observed a higher glycemic and insulinemic response in obesity. These results indicate that thermogenesis induced by ingestion of food is reduced in obese subjects; they are also compatible with the idea that insulin resistance could play a role in this phenomenon.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Increased muscular phospholipase A2 activity in diabetic rats.

Anomalies in prostaglandin (PG) synthesis have been suggested in both experimental and human diabetes mellitus; increased levels of plasma and tissue eicosanoids has been recently reported by several investigators. One step in prostaglandin synthesis is the enzymatic hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids by Phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Nevertheless the alternative pathway involving Phospholipase C must be considered. An evaluation of PLA2 activity is therefore a useful method for studying prostaglandin synthesis in the peripheral target tissues of insulin activity. We studied PLA2 activity in normal and diabetic rat muscle. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats showed significantly higher muscular PLA2 activity when compared with controls (3.04 x 10(-2) +/- 0.50 x 10(-2) versus 1.34 x 10(-2) +/- 0.35 x 10(-2) arachidonic acid pMol.mg protein-1.min-1 (p less than 0.01). This effect was not observed in diabetic animals successfully treated with insulin (1.78 x 10(-2) +/- 0.5 x 10(-2) versus 1.34 x 10(-2) +/- 0.35 x 10(-2) arachidonic acid pMol.mg protein-1.min-1), and a significant correlation was found between blood glucose and muscular PLA2 activity (r = 0.42; p less than 0.05). Our results clearly show that in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats muscular PLA2 activity is significantly higher. The relationship between blood glucose levels and muscular PLA2 activity and the decrease of PLA2 activity after insulin treatment suggest that these changes may be related to a defect in insulin effect.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Postprandial thermogenesis and obesity: effects of glucose and fructose].

In order to check whether reduced postprandial thermogenesis, as found in obese subjects depends on insulin resistance, the study tested whether the thermogenetic response to glucose in a group of obese subjects and a group of normal weight subjects differed from that obtained using an insulin-independent monosaccharide such as fructose. Nine obese subjects and 6 control subjects were included in the study. An oral glucose tolerance and fructose tolerance test (75 g) was performed in all subjects on different days. Energy expenditure was calculated both in basal conditions and during the test (resting metabolic rate: RMR) using indirect calorimetry expressed per kg of lean weight, as assessed using bioimpedance measurement techniques. Blood samples were collected to assay glycemia and insulinemia. Results show that increased RMR induced by glucose was significantly reduced in the group of obese subjects compared to controls. In the same group of obese subjects, RMR was found to be significantly higher following fructose in comparison to the glucose response but did not differ from that in controls. Data confirm the existence of reduced thermogenesis in obese subjects induced by glucose. The fact that this phenomenon was not recorded in the same subjects following the fructose tolerance test, whose metabolism is insulin-independent, supports the hypothesis that reduced glucose-induced thermogenesis in obese subjects may depend on insulin resistance.

Adult↗