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Biomedical subjects

D Schwartz

Publications and source records attributed to D Schwartz.

At least 361 records · Page 20Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Within-subject variability of human semen in regard to sperm count, volume, total number of spermatozoa and length of abstinence.

The within-subject variability of the semen sperm count (n), volume (v) and the total number of spermatozoa (N) was studied on 220 ejaculates from 36 normal subjects after an abstinence of 7 days or less. For each of the three variables, the within-subject standard deviation, sigma, was practically proportional to the mean, mu; the common value of the coefficient of variation sigma/mu for all subjects was very high: 0.39 for n, 0.28 for v and 0.55 for N. The 95% confidence intervals based on a single ejaculate were asymmetrical and very large, the lower and upper limits being respectively 0.5 x n and 2.3 x n; 0.7 x v and 1.8 x v; 0.4 x N and 2.9 x N. The three semen characteristics for a given subject were highly correlated with length of abstinence: for an increase in abstinence of 1 day there were mean increments of 13 x 10(6)/ml for n, 0.4 ml for v, and 87 x 10(6) for N.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Low molecular weight dextran and reexploration in the management of ischemic midgut-volvulus.

Administration of low molecular weight dextran and reexploration in 36-48 hr, is recommended in cases of ischemic midgut volvulus. Five cases are presented utilizing this technique and many centimeters of small bowel were saved that would have been resected at time of the original exploration. One patient died as a result of sepsis due to central intravenous nutrition: the others are alive and well.

Dextrans↗
PubMed1978

Alcohol consumption in pregnant women and the outcome of pregnancy.

A prospective study of more than 9000 women shows that during pregnancy, women consuming alcoholic beverages in excess of 40 cl of wine per day have an increased risk of the following unfavorable pregnancy outcomes: (1) the risk of stillbirth is elevated, especially for death from abruptio placentae: (2) mean birth weight is lower, and the risk of a small-for-date infant is increased; (3) placental weight is also decreased. Although heavier drinkers differ from lighter drinkers in a certain number of variables that are risk factors for the outcome of pregnancy, the increase in risk with increased alcohol consumption remains evident after adjustment for these confounding variables. The increase in risk for heavier drinkers appears to be due to beer consumption, in spite of the lower average amount of ethanol consumed by beer drinkers as compared to wine drinkers.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Blood cells and alcohol consumption with special reference to smoking habits.

In the course of the Paris study on risk factors of cardiovascular disease in a large professional group, 7710 active and apparently healthy men aged between 48 and 54 were examined. This study measured the relationship between clinical abnormalities suggesting alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and the following blood parameters: white (WBC) and red (RBC) blood cell counts, haematocrit (H), and mean corpuscular volume (MCV), the former computed as H/RBC ratio. A subsequent analysis was performed on a random sample of 485 subjects without ALD who were questioned on their daily average alcohol consumption. Each subject was classified as ;smoker' or ;non-smoker' according to his daily tobacco consumption for the last five years. Analysis of the data confirmed that smoking and alcohol were related to the blood parameters; but, according to smoking habit, different relationships between alcohol consumption (or ALD) and MCV, RBC, or WBC counts were found: for smokers, RBC count significantly decreased and MCV increased with alcohol consumption (or ALD); for non-smokers, WBC count significantly increased with alcohol consumption (or ALD). So, it would be of interest to consider the relation between alcohol and tobacco in interpreting possible changes in blood parameters and in formulating hypotheses on the mechanisms of their specific action.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1978

Staff response to suicide of hospitalized psychiatric patients.

The authors cite seven case histories of inpatients who committed suicide over a five-year period and analyze staff reaction and the changes in policy and procedures that followed. They conclude that staff feelings of guilt and failure brought about by inhospital suicides may result in the implementation of procedures designed to decrease risk, but that such procedures would not necessarily have prevented the suicide that led to their introduction. They maintain that staff acceptance of total responsibility for preventing suicide may achieve short-term safety at the expense of increased long-term risk, and that suicides can occur even when all reasonable precautions have been taken.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1978

The visualization of individual collagen molecules and aggregates in collagen solution: the effect of preparation and sampling techniques.

The use of electron microscopic observations to characterize the state of aggregation of collagen molecules in solution has been examined from the point of view that the observed structures must be compatible with the physical chemical properties of the solution. The common procedure of addition of droplets of a collagen solution to a grid followed by negative staining produces aggregates on the grid which could not have represented the aggregation state in solution. Closer representation of fibril diameters can be achieved by freeze cleave-etch methods. The best representation of the state of aggregation in collagen solutions can be achieved by use of a careful drop-washing procedure. This procedure, described in detail, permits correlation between intrinsic viscosity and electron microscopic observations.

Collagen↗
PubMed1977

[Genitourinary infection, smoking and alcohol in the male (author's transl)].

Among 3 000 patients attending a subfertility clinic, the proportion of cases with a history of urethritis was found to be very high among heavy smokers. A similar increase was observed among those whose daily alcohol consumption was equivalent to more than a litre of wine. When standardised for age, both these differences remained highly significant. The alcohol effect remained clear when smoking was taken into account, but that due to tobacco was less apparent when alcohol was taken into consideration: in particular an increase was found to be strong among the heavier drinkers. Although the more frequent occurrence of urethritis could be explained by a difference in sexual behaviour, it is plausible that there may be a biological explanation in terms of an impairement to the subjects' immune responses.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Cardiac arrest in the Emergency Medical Service System: guidelines for resuscitation.

A two-year study of 198 consecutive patients treated for cardiac arrest in the emergency department at Stanford University Medical Center was undertaken. The relatively poor overall survival rate of 3% and the complexity of deciding how to treat cardiac arrest victims suggest the need for guidelines to assist the emergency physician when resuscitating cardiac arrest patients. From the above study and a survey of the literature, the authors formulated the following guidelines of when resuscitation should be discontinued or not attempted: Cases of apnea and pulselessness known to have exceeded 10 minutes, no response after more than 30 minutes of advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), no ventricular EKG activity after more than 10 minutes of ACLS, and preexisting terminal illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

[Incidence and evaluation of the risk of coronary disease. Prospective study in Paris].

The Paris prospective study in an epidemiological study of 7,453 middle-aged men born in France, and initially free from ischaemic heart disease. The current mean follow-up time is 4 years. The mean annual incidence is 5.1 per 1000, which is about one half that found in similar american studies. This incidence is related to the cholesterol level, to the blood pressure, to cigarette consumption when the smoke is inhaled, to diabetes mellitus, and to major abnormalities on the electrocardiogram. These five factors are mutually independant in their prediction of the risk of future illness. A formula has been derived by statistical analysis, and takes these five factors into account: the incidence of illness rises exponentially as a function of this formula. New cases of ischaemic heart disease are distributed, but with a very patchy incidence, in this population, of which only a very small number remain disease-free. A table has been drawn up to show the probability of a middle aged male contracting ischeamic heart disease within 4 years, and takes the 5 factors into account: this probability varies between 0.5 per cent and 34 per cent.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Smoking during pregnancy and placental pathology.

The pathological study of all placentas from women smoking at least five cigarettes daily during pregnancy (248 cases) and of those placentas from a corresponding control group randomised among all the non-smokers (196 cases) has been set up at the maternity hospital of Haguenau (France) since 1974. The systematic histological examination has shown among smokers a higher frequency of abonormal trophoblast and especially of nuclear clumps in the syncytiotrophoblast. On the other hand, according to a standard protocol, the grouping of various abnormalities has shown, among smokers, a higher frequency of "signs of hypoxia". The lack of relationship between these "signs of hypoxia" and the well-known decreased birthweight among smokers suggests that smoking during pregnancy could always go with a decreased birthweight without a corresponding decreased placental weight, and seldom with an intra-uterine hypoxia. These two effects are independent.

Adult↗