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Biomedical subjects

E Thomas

Publications and source records attributed to E Thomas.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Epidural analgesia for patients in labour.

Labour pain is very real to expectant mothers. Untreated it can give rise to hypocarbia, hypoxia and fetal acidosis. Pain relief during labour dates back to Queen Victoria who was given chloroform for the birth of Prince Leopold. Since then many techniques and drugs have been used. Epidural analgesia was introduced in 1942 and since then has been regarded as a very effective method for labour pain relief. This article deals with the technique of epidural catheter insertion as well as discussing some of the common complications that can occur and their management.

Analgesia, Epidural↗
PubMed1989

The value of Chiba fine-needle aspiration biopsy in the diagnosis of hepatic malignancy: a comparison with Menghini needle biopsy.

The detection or exclusion of metastatic liver involvement is critical in the management and prognosis of patients with malignant disease. Noninvasive imaging modalities such as computed tomography, ultrasound, and technetium colloid liver scan are highly sensitive but nonspecific. Serum alkaline phosphatase is of similar value. A blind liver biopsy by the Menghini technique is often done to confirm the diagnosis, but its yield is low. We prospectively evaluated 74 patients using blind Menghini needle biopsy and concurrent Chiba fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) techniques. A positive diagnosis of malignancy was made in 30 patients (41%). In only 25 (34%) was the diagnosis made by Menghini biopsy, while Chiba FNAB confirmed the diagnosis in all 30 patients. Thus, concurrent use of both needles increased the diagnostic accuracy by 7%. Seven additional patients, considered to have one or more contraindications for the Menghini biopsy, underwent Chiba FNAB alone; the diagnosis was confirmed in all without complication. We conclude that FNAB alone or in combination with Menghini biopsy is valuable and safe in the diagnosis of metastatic liver disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Mycoplasma pneumoniae associated arthropathy: confirmation of the association by determination of the antipolypeptide IgM response.

The association of Mycoplasma pneumoniae with arthropathy in children and young adults has been established essentially on the basis of complement fixation (CF) serology. Because the CF test may be nonspecific for M. pneumoniae, we have confirmed the association by determination of IgM ELISA and IgM and IgG immunoblotting responses in 2 children. Mycoplasma pneumoniae should be considered in any patient with acute respiratory illness who subsequently develops arthropathy.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMed1989

[Antilithogenic action of dehydroxymaleic, ketomalonic (mesoxalic) and tartronic acids in relation to experimental lithiasis in rats].

The authors study the effects of three acids, one with four carbon atoms, dihydroxymaleic acid, the two others with three carbon considered atoms, ketomalonic acid and tartronic acid. A first study considered the effects of these products on experimental lithiasis induced by oxalic acid, glyoxylic acid and ethylene-glycol. Dihydroxymaleic acid. Monohydrate calcium oxalate stones can be easily induced in the male rat, with in 24 hours, by an intraperitoneal injection of oxalic acid, at the rate of 8 mg per 100 g of body weight. If 25 mg of dihydroxymaleic acid are injected simultaneously via the intraperitoneal route, to a rat weighing 150 g, the lithiasis observed after 24 hours is just as severe. Experimental monohydrate calcium oxalate lithiasis is also induced by intraperitoneal injection of 8 to 9 mg of glyoxylic acid in a 100 mg rat. Dihydroxymaleic acid, injected at the same time as glyoxylic acid, also via the intraperitoneal route, at the rate of 50 mg for a rat weighing 150 g, results in total suppression of the lithiasis. Dihydroxymaleic acid also prevents lithiasis induced by the absorption by the rat, for several weeks, of a 1% ethylene-glycol solution if it is mixed to this solution at the rate of 5 mg per ml. A 12% ethylene-glycol solution given to the rat at the rate of 0.55 ml for 100 g of body weight induces the next day a comatose state and a diffuse parenchymatous monohydrate calcium oxalate lithiasis: coma and lithiasis are prevented by the simultaneous absorption of dihydroxymaleic acid at the rate of 65 to 70 mg. The ketomalonic acid.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1989

[A case of a large pyelic calculus composed only of ammonium urate].

The authors report a case of pure ammonium urate stone. It was a very large lightly radiopaque pelvic stone, which was extracted by pyelotomy and analysed by infra-red spectrography. The clinical history did not reveal a long history of chronic infections. The stone was diagnosed by urography performed after an acute urinary trad infection. Proteus mirabilis was found at one time, but only after the surgical operation. The blood and urinary laboratory check-up was normal. No case of such a large pure ammonium urate stone especially in adults, can be found in the literature. The pathogenesis is not obvious, and could not be explained without an abnormal urinary ammonia production during the development of the stone, but the lack of associated phosphate precipitation cannot be explained.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Electro-conization of the cervix uteri].

After having reported various opposite techniques for the treatment of dysplasia and in situ carcinomas of the uterine cervix, the authors present their experience with 125 cases of conisation, performed between 1984 and 1988. The electroconisation technique, performed in 88 cases, is compared with other conisation techniques: conisation with a cold scalpel, laser conisation. The use of a cold scalpel is simple and effective, but presents the disadvantage of peroperative (22.2% in our series) and secondary (7.4%) haemorrhages requiring preventive overlapping stitches which impede subsequent monitoring. Laser conisation seems long and tedious. On the contrary, electroconisation presents the advantage of being simple and quick, with very few peroperative (6.8%) or secondary (3.4%) haemorrhages, but two minor drawbacks: impeding pathological interpretations (1%), causing secondary stenoses which seem to be related to the height of the cone and not to the type of conisation.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Supracrystallographic resolution of interactions contributing to enzyme catalysis by use of natural structural variants and reactivity-probe kinetics.

1. The influence on the reactivities of the catalytic sites of papain (EC 3.4.22.2) and actinidin (3.4.22.14) of providing for interactions involving the S1-S2 intersubsite regions of the enzymes was evaluated by using as a series of thiol-specific two-hydronic-state reactivity probes: n-propyl 2-pyridyl disulphide (I) (a 'featureless' probe), 2-(acetamido)ethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide (II) (containing a P1-P2 amide bond), 2-(acetoxy)ethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide (III) [the ester analogue of probe (II)] and 2-carboxyethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide N-methylamide (IV) [the retroamide analogue of probe (II)]. Syntheses of compounds (I), (III) and (IV) are reported. 2. The reactivities of the two enzymes towards the four reactivity probes (I)-(IV) and also that of papain towards 2-(N'-acetyl-L-phenylalanylamino)ethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide (VII) (containing both a P1-P2 amide bond and an L-phenylalanyl side chain as an occupant for the S2 subsite), in up to four hydronic (previously called protonic) states, were evaluated by analysis of pH-dependent stopped-flow kinetic data (for the release of pyridine-2-thione) by using an eight-parameter rate equation [described in the Appendix: Brocklehurst & Brocklehurst (1988) Biochem. J. 256, 556-558] to provide pH-independent rate constants and macroscopic pKa values. The analysis reveals the various ways in which the two enzymes respond very differently to the binding of ligands in the S1-S2 intersubsite regions despite the virtually superimposable crystal structures in these regions of the molecules. 3. Particularly striking differences between the behaviour of papain and that of actinidin are that (a) only papain responds to the presence of a P1-P2 amide bond in the probe such that a rate maximum at pH 6-7 is produced in the pH-k profile in place of the rate minimum, (b) only in the papain reactions does the pKa value of the alkaline limb of the pH-k profile change from 9.5 to approx. 8.2 [the value characteristic of a pH-(kcat./Km) profile] when the probe contains a P1-P2 amide bond, (c) only papain reactivity is affected by two positively co-operative hydronic dissociations with pKI congruent to pKII congruent to 4 and (d) modulation of the reactivity of the common -S(-)-ImH+ catalytic-site ion-pair (Cys-25/His-159 in papain and Cys-25/His-162 in actinidin) by hydronic dissociation with pKa approx. 5 is more marked and occurs more generally in reactions of actinidin than is the case for papain reactions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Catalysis↗
PubMed1988

Genetic assessment of the strength of a cancer suppressor gene in hamster cells.

Tetraploid and near-tetraploid chemically transformed derivatives of the pseudodiploid hamster line BHK 21/clone 13 were prepared in four different ways and their ability to be suppressed for anchorage independence by fusion to the anchorage-dependent parental line was tested. In all cases the presence of a single normal genome, thought on genetic grounds to contain a single suppressor gene, was able to prevent the anchorage-independent growth of transformed lines whether they contained one or two complements of pseudodiploid chromosomes. Suppression of the single step in carcinogenesis that is registered by BHK cells as they transform to anchorage independence is thus unusually powerful and apparently independent of chromosome balance and of strict dosage effects.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Pneumobelt use among high quadriplegic population.

This study reviews pneumobelt use in an acute rehabilitation facility. All pneumobelt users between 1976 and 1986 were identified. Their age, sex, diagnosis, and time required to adjust to the pneumobelt were studied, as were patterns of use at discharge. Information was collected about use after discharge and about reported advantages and disadvantages. Twenty-three subjects were identified: 21 had spinal cord injuries (SCI), two had had poliomyelitis. The average pneumobelt fitting was three to six months after injury. Twelve SCI patients attained four or more hours of continuous, generally all-day use; another patient achieved this after discharge. Of the remaining eight SCI subjects, all achieved a minimum of two hours of continuous use. The two poliomyelitis patients also achieved all-day use. The survey revealed a high level of satisfaction and continued pneumobelt use after discharge. Major reported advantages were cosmesis, improved speech, independence and mobility, comfort, safety, and health. The pneumobelt is recommended as a leading choice for interim or permanent ventilation of the high quadriplegic population without severe brainstem involvement.

Activities of Daily Living↗