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Biomedical subjects

D L Berry

Publications and source records attributed to D L Berry.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Clinical trial of indomethacin in Alzheimer's disease.

In a 6-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 100 to 150 mg/d indomethacin appeared to protect mild to moderately impaired Alzheimer's disease patients from the degree of cognitive decline exhibited by a well-matched, placebo-treated group. Over a battery of cognitive tests, indomethacin patients improved 1.3% (+/- 1.8%), whereas placebo patients declined 8.4% (+/- 2.3%)--a significant difference (p < 0.003). Caveats include adverse reactions to indomethacin and the limited scale of the trial.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Return-to-work experiences of people with cancer.

Maintaining employment after a cancer diagnosis and even during therapy is becoming a major challenge for an increasing number of individuals. The purpose of this study was to further understanding of the experience of returning to work after a cancer diagnosis by discovering the nature and processes of the experience's dimensions. This exploratory, longitudinal study systematically analyzed the dimensions of the return-to-work experience that were evident in data from 19 unstructured interviews. Grounded theory methods of study design and constant comparative analysis guided the interviews and data analysis. The core social process suggested by the data is one of mobilizing social support in the work environment. The inceptive theory explains and delineates steps in a process that ultimately facilitates a person's reintegration of normal activities after a cancer diagnosis. The added understanding available in these results can guide nurses to focus not only on related dimensions of the return-to-work experience, such as time off for treatment, but on central concerns, such as the social benefits of returning to work.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

Persons with cancer and their return to the workplace.

Over 5 million persons are living today with a diagnosis of cancer. Maintaining employment after a diagnosis of cancer and even during therapy is a major challenge for an increasing number of individuals. The majority of preretirement persons with cancer who have attempted a return to the workplace have confronted a variety of issues and barriers. Social scientists and legal and health care professionals have attempted to identify particular practices and issues that have affected the return to work experiences of those with a diagnosis of cancer. There has not been a program in nursing research that has systematically tested clinical interventions which effect return-to-work outcomes in persons with cancer. Understanding the return-to-work experience is an essential prerequisite to planning clinical nursing therapeutics and assistance to persons with cancer who consider maintaining their worker role. Environmental and personal factors that influence a successful return to the workplace, plus the human responses manifested in the return experience are reviewed in this article. Clinical implications are drawn for nurses who can facilitate the return-to-work for an individual with cancer through interventions that eliminate or alter barriers to the successful return.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Gallium-67 scans as an adjunct to computed tomography scans for the assessment of a residual mediastinal mass in pediatric patients with Hodgkin's disease. A Pediatric Oncology Group study.

This study determines the utility of gallium-67 (Ga-67) scintigraphs as an adjunct to computed tomography (CT) scans for the assessment of residual mediastinal masses in children and adolescents with advanced-stage Hodgkin's disease. At diagnosis 42 patients with CT scan-documented mediastinal disease had a Ga-67 scan performed. Thirty-four of 42 patients (81%) had gallium-avid mediastinal lesions, whereas in eight (19%), the Ga-67 scan was negative. At the completion of eight cycles of therapy of Mustargen (mechlorethamine), Oncovin (vincristine), procarbazine, prednisone (MOPP) alternating with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine (ABVD), 21 of 34 patients with initially positive Ga-67 scans had them repeated; 18 of 21 converted to negative results, and three remained positive. In 11 of 18 patients, the loss of gallium avidity was consistent with a negative mediastinal CT scan. In seven, although the gallium scan was negative, the CT scan remained positive; all seven patients had a mediastinal biopsy of suspected residual disease and in all seven the biopsy results were negative for Hodgkin's disease. These preliminary results in a small cohort of patients demonstrate that Ga-67 scans may be of benefit in evaluating residual mediastinal masses in patients with Hodgkin's disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Percutaneous retinoid absorption and embryotoxicity.

A single application of 17 micrograms/kg or 8.7 mg/kg all-trans-[10,11-3H2]-retinoic acid dissolved in acetone to shaved dorsal hamster skin resulted in rapid absorption and dose-dependent rates of elimination. An equation describing a two-compartment open model with a very brief lag time and first-order uptake and elimination was used to describe the central plasma compartment kinetics. Unchanged all-trans-retinoic acid represented less than or equal to 4% of the total circulating radio-activity. Peak circulating concentrations of parent all-trans-retinoic acid were less than those observed after an equivalent oral dose, but prolonged absorption from the skin appears to contribute to high total bioavailability of topical retinoid. Topical administration to intact skin of up to three consecutive doses of 10.5 mg/kg/d all-trans-retinoic acid or a single 5 mg/kg dose of etretinate (Ro 10-9359) during a critical stage of embryogenesis in hamsters caused erythema and/or dose-dependent epidermal hyperplasia at the site of application, but failed to induce a significant teratogenic response. Topical application of 0.01-1.0 mg/kg arotinoid Ro 13-6298 resulted in dose-dependent mucocutaneous toxicity and an increase in the numbers of dead embryos and malformed offspring. The marked skin toxicity and attenuated concentrations in maternal blood, compared to the oral route, limit the amounts of retinoid that can reach the hamster embryo. It is thus more important to compare the retinoid systemic values (absorbed dose) than it is to compare the oral or topical (applied) dose, when interpreting the results of conventional teratogenicity bioassays. The data suggest that in the human it is skin toxicity that limits the amounts of retinoid that can be applied and subsequently reach the embryo. In the rodent, overt skin toxicity under continued dosing could increase the amounts of retinoid penetrating the skin and reaching the embryo.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1990

A synthetic peptide representing the thrombin receptor-binding domain enhances wound closure in vivo.

Our studies of alpha-thrombin as a growth factor have led to the development of a synthetic peptide (p508) that in vitro competes with thrombin for binding to high affinity receptors, and enhances mitogenic activity. To determine if this peptide could be used to accelerate wound closure in vivo, full thickness 6 mm dermal biopsy wounds on the dorsal skin of anesthetized rats were treated with p508 peptide, thrombin or PBS as control. At day 7, the p508 treated wound areas were 20% to 50% smaller than either thrombin or PBS treated wound sites. This suggests that p508 enhances aspects of wound healing, and avoids the normal in vivo regulatory mechanisms of intact thrombin.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the rat pancreas produced by short-term dietary administration of soya-derived protein and soybean trypsin inhibitor.

Feeding soy protein concentrate to weanling rats over a one-week period produced a dose-related increase in pancreatic weight due to an increase in acinar cell size. Hyperplastic changes occur simultaneously, as evidenced by an increase in mitotic activity after two days on the test diet. Similar changes were also obtained by feeding soybean Kunitz trypsin inhibitor over the same time period. The results suggest that this approach may be useful as a model to investigate the effect of plant-derived material on the pancreas, in particular proliferative lesions.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

In vitro inhibition of mouse epidermal cell lipoxygenase by flavonoids: structure-activity relationships.

Lipoxygenase was extracted from mouse epidermal cells and partially purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation. Using a biological oxygen monitor for activity measurements and linoleic acid as substrate, the effect of a series of flavonoids on lipoxygenase activity was determined. Flavone itself did not inhibit lipoxygenase, but hydroxylated derivatives retaining the double bond in the 2,3 position and having a hydroxyl group in the 3 position (such as quercetin and 3-hydroxy-flavone) were potent lipoxygenase inhibitors compared to flavonoids without those particular functional groups.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Mutagenicity of nitrofluoranthenes, 3-aminofluoranthene and 1-nitropyrene in Chinese hamster V79 cells.

1-Nitropyrene (1-NO2Py), 3-nitrofluoranthene (3-NO2Ft), 3-aminofluoranthene (3-NH2Ft) and 8-nitrofluoranthene (8-NO2Ft) were tested for mutagenicity in cultured Chinese hamster V79 cells. Mutations at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) gene locus were quantified. 1-NO2Py had marginal direct-acting mutagenicity which was enhanced by a mixture of Aroclor 1254- and 1242-induced liver homogenates (S9) in the treatment medium. 1-NO2Py was more mutagenic with S9 activation than 3-NO2Ft, 3-NH2Ft or 8-NO2Ft. However, 8-NO2Ft, 3-NO2Ft and 3-NH2Ft were more mutagenic than 1-NO2Py when a post-microsomal liver supernatant (S100) was used for metabolic activation. The results of these investigations strongly support activation of some nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to proximate mutagens by a sequence of reductions and possible formation of polycyclic aromatic hydroxylamines.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Injury of arterial endothelial cells in diabetic, sucrose-fed and aged rats.

The toxicity of elevated levels of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL, d less than 1.006 g/ml) was investigated using porcine aortic endothelial cells in vitro. VLDL isolated from normal rat serum and added at elevated levels was as toxic as VLDL isolated from streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat serum. Injury was detected by scanning electron microscopy in 4-day-old primary cultures of endothelial cells after a 1/2-h exposure to diabetic rat serum. Bleb formation and contraction was seen first in isolated cells (1/2 h), followed by cells at the periphery of the monolayer (1 h) and finally in cells throughout the monolayer (4 h). By 10 h few cells remained attached to the dish. A similar sequence of events occurred in 1-day-old cultures after a 3-h lag period. Serum from sucrose-fed as well as aged rats was also found to be toxic to endothelial cells in vitro. Elevated levels of VLDL were responsible for the toxicities of these sera. Scanning electron microscopy of the aortas from diabetic and sucrose-fed rats revealed endothelial desquamation, platelet and leukocyte attachment, fibrin deposition and the presence of microthrombi. The common occurrence of both micro- and macrovascular disease in diabetic, sucrose-fed, and aged rats and the toxicity of their serum in vitro suggest that elevated levels of VLDL may initiate vascular disease in these models.

Aging↗
PubMed1982

Preparation of retinoic acid esters of phorbol derivatives.

The synthesis of 12-O-retinoylphorbol-13-acetate (RPA), an incomplete tumor promoter (second stage promoter) is described. The preparation starts with phorbol-13-acetate-20-tritylether which is acylated by a carbodiimide method to yield its 12-retinoate. The latter is detritylated by acidic methanol to give RPA. Following an analogous procedure, the 4-methyl-ether of RPA is prepared from 4-O-methylphorbol-13-acetate-20-tritylether.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Skin tumor promotion by phorbol esters is a two-stage process.

In the semisynthetic compound phorbol 12-retinoate 13-acetate (PRA), the antipromoting principle of vitamin A acid is combined with the structure of a phorbol ester tumor promoter. In skin of NMRI mice, a single topical application of PRA induces skin inflammation, epidermal proliferation, and sustained hyperplasia to a similar extent and apparently along the same pathway as an equimolar dose of the strong tumor promoter phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). The mitogenic effects of both PRA and PMA are mediated by prostaglandin E synthesis. However, in mouse skin initiated with 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene, PRA does not promote tumor development, even at a high dose. Under continuous PRA treatment, however, one to four applications of PMA (insufficient by itself to promote tumor growth) gave a strong tumor response. Thus, it can be demonstrated that the effects necessary for tumor promotion can be brought about by a single application of PMA and that the subsequent chronic hyperproliferation of epidermis is probably necessary only to make the tumors visible. By using the nonpromoting irritant mitogen PRA, the concept of two-stage tumor promotion can thus be strongly supported. Furthermore, in the NMRI mouse, PRA is a much more potent second-stage promoter than mezerein, recently reported to be an incomplete promoter in the Sencar mouse.

9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene↗