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Biomedical subjects

E Ernst

Publications and source records attributed to E Ernst.

At least 523 records · Page 29Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Pentoxifylline for intermittent claudication. A critical review.

Pentoxifylline was first introduced in Germany twenty years ago. Today it is the best researched oral drug for intermittent claudication. A total of seventeen placebo-controlled trials could be retrieved from the world literature. The majority of these studies show that pentoxifylline will prolong the walking distance in a statistically significant way. Even though these trials are conducted with considerable scientific rigor, important flaws can be identified. Whether the symptomatic improvement is clinically relevant is difficult to say and may depend on the patient's individual situation. These collective data show that pentoxifylline prolongs the walking distance in patients with intermittent claudication.

Blood Viscosity↗
PubMed1994

Fibrinogen: an important risk factor for atherothrombotic diseases.

Epidemiological follow-up studies have suggested that fibrinogen is a major, primary cardiovascular risk factor. Cross-sectional results also show associations between fibrinogen and cardiovascular risk factors or diseases. Clinical cohort studies demonstrate that fibrinogen might also be a secondary risk factor. The determinants of the plasma level of fibrinogen in health and disease are known only incompletely. Our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the atherogenic actions of fibrinogen is similarly fragmentary. These might include blood coagulation, blood rheology, platelet aggregation, direct effects on the vascular wall, and the acute phase response. Thus, many questions are yet to be answered. Nevertheless, the data available at present strongly suggest that fibrinogen represents a major, independent cardiovascular risk factor. Fibrinogen should be considered for screening programmes aimed at identifying individuals at risk.

Arteriosclerosis↗
PubMed1994

[Cryotherapy].

Cryotherapy is defined as cooling of definitive parts of the body by means of ice packs, ice cubes, ice water or ethylchloride sprays. It is used in the treatment of a range of conditions including spasticity and hypertonus of the muscles, soft tissue lesions, arthritises, edema and pain. The known physiological effects and clinical efficacy associated with cooling are considered. Further research i.e. randomized, controlled studies in the field of clinical application is high-lighted.

Cryotherapy↗
PubMed1994

[Iontophoresis: an old therapeutic principle in a new light].

Iontophoresis is defined as the transdermal transport of substances with the aid of electrical currents. It has certain advantages over other forms of drug application and receives presently much scientific interest. This review attempts to outline some basic principles and goes on concentrating on the clinical literature of recent years. In addition to local applications in the skin, systemic effects are in the foreground. Many indications have not yet been tested in controlled trials. Therefore further studies are needed to define the role of iontophoresis as an alternative form of transporting drugs into tissues.

Administration, Cutaneous↗
PubMed1994

[Contact regulation thermography: a useful diagnostic procedure?].

Contact regulation thermography is one of the unconventional medical diagnostic procedures, and is based on the individual adaptive behavior of the subject with respect to temperature. Its proponents believe that a specific medical diagnosis can be established on the basis of varying temperature differences. Studies carried out to date have produced mixed results. The increasing use of this procedure, not only in complementary medicine, makes it necessary to undertake a critical examination of the method. Care-providing physicians should question their patients about other unconventional medical diagnostic procedures to which they have been submitted, and inform them about the dubious nature of non-evaluated methods.

Body Temperature Regulation↗
PubMed1994

Transgenic mice harboring Aujeszky's disease virus gD gene.

Plasmid pMLP10 gp50.5 (gD) (Eloit et al., 1990) provided the sequence to integrate. The construct has been injected into the male pronucleus of one-cell mouse embryos (CBA/C5B1). A total of 1,567 microinjected embryos were transferred into the oviduct of pseudopregnant females (Hogan et al., 1986). PCR revealed that 3 out of 10 mice were born with an integrated construct; among them, 2 mice have integrated the construct in their gonads because 20 out of 107 (18.7%) of their offspring were also transgenic. This low percentage could be explained by germline mosaicism and/or differential mortality between transgenic and non-transgenic embryos.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

[Mechanotherapy].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Combined Modality Therapy↗
PubMed1994

[Scientific activity in the physical medicine and rehabilitation specialty in Germany, Austria and Switzerland].

On the background of similar analyses (American and European), this analysis was aimed at investigating the scientific activity in physical medicine and rehabilitation in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A medline search covering 1 year was performed, all relevant publications were identified and evaluated according to the following criteria: address and speciality of author, subject (diagnostic or therapeutic), journal, and study design. The results show that the majority of publications does not originate from institutions of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Therapeutic subjects dominate with a predominance of exercise therapy. Their study design leaves room for improvement. This investigation might stimulate consequent and rigorous research in our field.

Austria↗
PubMed1994

Reviewer bias: a blinded experimental study.

Peer review is the ordinary method for judging the acceptability of scientific papers for publication. Yet there are few prospective data defining the accuracy or reproducibility of this method. This study was aimed at evaluating interrater consistency in reviewing a single manuscript and at determining whether a referee's likely predisposition (inferred from his or her own published papers in the field) influences his or her attitude toward this manuscript. A computerized search identified 33 first authors of research papers about transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. They were asked to review part of a fictitious scientific paper on the topic; they were not made aware of being tested. Reviewers' ratings were recorded by multiple-choice answers in a structured questionnaire. The answers revealed poor interrater reliability. Furthermore, referees were clearly influenced by their own preconceptions and judged according to their own published experience in that particular medical subject. That is, referees who would be expected to agree with the paper's findings tended to judge is less harshly than did referees who would be expected to disagree. These results suggest significant impact of reviewer bias on referee's judgment and imply that the peer review system in its present form has room for improvements in fairness and consistency.

Humans↗
PubMed1993

Autocatalytic modification of human carbonyl reductase by 2-oxocarboxylic acids.

Carbonyl reductase occurs in multiple molecular forms. Sequence analysis has yielded a carboxyethyllysine residue in one of the enzyme forms, suggesting that pyruvate has been incorporated in a posttranslational enzymatic reaction [Krook, M., Ghosh, D., Strömberg R., Carlquist, M. and Jörnvall, H. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90, 502-506]. Using highly purified carbonyl reductase from human brain we show that pyruvate and other 2-oxocarboxylic acids are bound to the enzyme in an autocatalytic reaction. The resulting enzyme forms were indistinguishable from the native enzyme forms by electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing.

Alcohol Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed1993

A review of the clinical effectiveness of exercise therapy for intermittent claudication.

BACKGROUND: Intermittent claudication is both frequent and disabling. Conservative treatment consists of the elimination of risk factors, particularly smoking, drug treatment, and physical exercises. This review represents an attempt to define how effectively exercise prolongs the walking ability of claudicants. METHODS: A computerized literature search was done to identify all controlled trials on the subject. In addition, other studies were admitted if they were in accordance with certain quality criteria. RESULTS: Without exception, these studies showed that exercise can prolong the pain-free walking distance of claudicants. Even though this message seems uniform and convincing, one should point out that all trials are burdened with methodological flaws. The variability of increase in walking ability demonstrated in these studies is impressive and cannot be fully explained. A multitude of possible mechanisms could be involved in bringing about the clinical effect; at present it is impossible to define their relative importance. CONCLUSIONS: The optimal exercise program should be supervised, performed regularly for at least 2 months, and of high intensity. Appropriate steps to guarantee patients' compliance must be taken. Even though many fundamental questions remain unanswered, it is justified to prescribe exercise therapy for intermittent claudication more generally than is realized in today's practice.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMed1993

[Conservative therapy of backache. Part 5: TENS, acupuncture, biofeedback, traction, cryotherapy, massage and ultrasound].

In addition to the major therapeutic modalities for use in back pain already discussed, a number of other forms of treatment are also available and in common use some of which at least have a solid scientific basis. Recent data suggest that subthreshold TENS is no effective treatment for low back pain. Whether this is also true of higher-dose TENS is not yet clear. Electro-acupuncture, in contrast, does appear to be effective, but not biofeedback or traction. Other commonly employed treatment modalities, such as cryotherapy, heat, massage or ultrasound cannot definitively be assessed at present, since controlled trials have not been carried out.

Acupuncture Points↗