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Biomedical subjects

G Hoffman

Publications and source records attributed to G Hoffman.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Grade 4 spondylolisthesis. Two-stage therapeutic approach of anterior vertebrectomy and anterior-posterior fusion.

The authors present the case of a 23-year-old white woman gymnast with a nine-month history of severe low back pain, spasm and radiation of pain into the buttocks. When back pain had first begun, she was diagnosed elsewhere as having spondylolisthesis, grade unknown. She was started on conservative therapy which included bracing, flexion exercise, and anti-inflammatory and analgesic medication. There were periods of improvement followed by periods of relapse until two months prior to being seen by the authors, when back pain and spasm became constant. Physical examination and x-rays now revealed a Grade 4 spondylolisthesis with a spastic scoliosis from T-3 to T-6 (left) of 18 degrees and T-11 to L-2 (right) of 25 degrees. Surgery was decided on and the authors describe the surgical procedure, a combined anterior-posterior two-stage approach of anterior vertebrectomy with anterior fusion, followed by posterior stabilization and fusion. The patient has experienced complete pain relief, a return of good strength and good posture and an overall improvement in function. The authors recommend the two-stage procedure for high grade spondylolisthesis.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Changes in sleep EEG architecture during the treatment of depressed patients with mianserin.

The effect of mianserin on sleep variables was studied in a single-blind non-controlled trial. Ten depressed hospital in-patients received placebo for one week and then mianserin 60 mg at night for four weeks. Acute changes seen on starting mianserin treatment included increases in sleep period time, total sleep time, sleep efficiency index, and stage II sleep, together with reductions in total time awake and latency for rapid eye movement sleep. The changes in sleep efficiency index, total time awake, stage II sleep, and latency for rapid eye movement sleep persisted over the duration of the study. Clinically, treatment with mianserin improved overall sleep pattern and ameliorated their depression.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Effects of zopiclone as compared to flurazepam on sleep in women over 40 years of age.

Zopiclone is a new nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic, the recommended dose of which is 7.5 mg. It was compared to flurazepam 30 mg in a sleep laboratory study. 12 women aged 40-60 years, with subjective sleep disorders for at least 2 months, were treated for 13 nights with each drug in a crossover double-blind design. Each active drug period was preceded by 5 days of placebo washout and followed by 35 days of withdrawal (no treatment). A baseline period of 4 nights (without treatment) was obtained before the study itself. The subjects slept in the sleep laboratory during the baseline period, during the last 3 nights on placebo, during the last 3 nights on active drug, and from the 11th to the 13th night after active drug discontinuation. Polygraphic recordings were obtained during each of these nights. The criteria of Kales and Rechtschaffen were used to score the tracings. Both drugs were shown to be effective when compared to placebo. Comparisons between the two periods with active treatment did not show significant differences for sleep onset latency, total sleep time, sleep efficiency index, stage 0, percent REM, number of REM periods, and REM latency. There was a trend towards an increase with zopiclone of the number of awakenings, percent of stage 3, percent of deep sleep, and an increase with flurazepam of the percent of light sleep. A significant difference was only found for percent of stage 2 (increased with flurazepam).

Azabicyclo Compounds↗
PubMed1982

Neutralization of lymphocyte immortalization by different strains of Epstein-Barr virus with a murine monoclonal antibody.

A murine monoclonal antibody was raised against the B95-8 strain of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which was isolated from a case of mononucleosis after blood transfusion (Hoffman et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77:2979, 1980). We provide evidence that neutralization of immortalization by this monoclonal antibody is virus specific, since its potency was inversely related to the dose of challenge virus. Furthermore, the monoclonal antibody recognized antigens on viruses grown in human as well as in marmoset cells. We show that this monoclonal antibody neutralized three other transforming strains of EBV originating, respectively, from American patients with mononucleosis and fatal polyclonal lymphoma and from an African child with Burkitt lymphoma. However the antibody did not neutralize or detect antigens by immunofluorescence in the W91 strain of EBV. The hybridoma antibody did neutralize other EBV strains derived from the same Burkitt lymphoma cell line (Nyevu), as was the case with the W91 strain. This monoclonal antibody provides clear evidence of antigenic differences on the surface of EBVs and will ultimately prove useful in defining the antigenic site on EBV which elicits neutralizing antibody.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Effects of zopiclone as compared to flurazepam on sleep in women over 40 years of age.

Zopiclone is a new nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic, the recommended dose of which is 7.5 mg. It was compared to flurazepam 30 mg in a sleep laboratory study. 12 women aged 40-60 years, with subjective sleep disorders for at least 2 months, were treated for 13 nights with each drug in a crossover double-blind design. Each active drug period was preceded by 5 days of placebo washout and followed by 35 days of withdrawal (no treatment). A baseline period of 4 nights (without treatment) was obtained before the study itself. The subjects slept in the sleep laboratory during the baseline period, during the last 3 nights on placebo, during the last 3 nights on active drug, and from the 11th to the 13th night after active drug discontinuation. Polygraphic recordings were obtained during each of these nights. The criteria of Kales and Rechtschaffen were used to score the tracings. Both drugs were shown to be effective when compared to placebo. Comparisons between the two periods with active treatment did not show significant differences for sleep onset latency, total sleep time, sleep efficiency index, stage 0, percent REM, number of REM periods, and REM latency. There was a trend towards an increase with zopiclone of the number of awakenings, percent of stage 3, percent of deep sleep, and an increase with flurazepam of the percent of light sleep. A significant difference was only found for percent of stage 2 (increased with flurazepam).

Azabicyclo Compounds↗
PubMed1980

Infectious and noninfectious recombinant clones of the provirus of SNV differ in cellular DNA and are apparently the same in viral DNA.

Ten clones of Charon 4A containing proviruses of spleen necrosis virus, an avian retrovirus, and flanking chicken DNA sequences were isolated and characterized. Some clones gave rise to progeny with viral DNA sequences deleted or duplicated, probably as a result of crossing-over in the 600 bp terminal redundancy in viral DNA. The cellular sequences are different in each clone, indicating that all the proviruses are integrated in different sites in cellular DNA. Six clones are infectious and four are not. All the infectious molecules containing a provirus are of a similar size and are smaller than the noninfectious molecules containing a provirus. The viral DNA is not apparently different in eight clones, but two clones, one infectious and one noninfectious, lack two restriction sites each. Large changes in proviral DNA therefore do not seem responsible for the lack of infectivity of some clones. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that neighboring cellular DNA sequences control proviral expression (infectivity).

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Binding of technetium-99m to plasma proteins: influence on the distribution of Tc-99m phosphate agents.

Plasma protein binding of Tc-99m was assessed in man after injection of various Tc-99m-labeled bone imaging agents. Of the five methods in which plasma proteins were precipitated to determine protein binding no correlation between them could be established. The ammonium sulfate method seemed to correlate well with dialysis filtration. Plasma obtained from patients injected with Tc-99m phosphate compounds was reinjected to rats. The bone uptake in these animals correlated linearly with the unbound activity in the injected plasma. Provided that no protein binding would occur, the bone uptake as well as the urinary excretion proved to be identical for Tc-99m HEDP, MDP, and PPi. Electrophoresis of Tc-99m PPi indicated that the intact complex may be uncharged, whereas at low ligand concentrations uncharged as well as negatively charged Tc-99m species are formed. Better methods are needed, however, to establish the presence of various Tc-99m species and their relative role in the kinetics of these compounds, and plasma protein binding.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Volvulus of the transverse colon.

Volvulus of the transverse colon is a rare condition requiring early diagnosis and treatment. In the absence of ischaemic changes within the redundant bowel, success can be anticipated with conservative fixation procedures. A case is reported which was treated by reduction, decompression and parallel colopexy. Although this disease has been infrequently reported in the past there may well be an increasing incidence with the introduction of high fibre diets and the use of the colonoscope.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Identification of catecholamine and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH)-containing neurons in primary cultures of dispersed cells of the basal hypothalamus.

Primary cultures of dispersed cells were prepared from 3-5 mg pieces of basal hypothalami of 10-12-day-old rats. The tissue included median eminence, arcuate nucleus and variable amounts of adjacent hypothalamus and preoptic area. The dispersion procedure consisted basically of tissue trypsinization and mechanical dissociation of cells. They were cultured in a modified L-15 medium in an air atmosphere. Neurons survived approximately 3 months. On the basis of morphological characteristics, two basic cell types could be distinguished. One was a larger (50 mum diameter) multipolar cell; microspectrofluorometric analysis revealed that a small percentage of these neurons contained a catecholamine. A second type was smaller, fusiform or ovoid and generally bipolar; a significant number of these were immunoreactive for the releasing hormone LHRH.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Unilateral retinitis pigmentosa sine pigmento.

A patient presented with unilateral findings of night blindness shown by impaired rod function and dark adaptation, constricted visual fields with good central acuity, a barely recordable electro-retinographic b-wave, and a unilaterally impaired electro-oculogram. There were none of the pigmentary changes usually associated with retinitis pigmentosa. The unaffected right eye was normal in all respects. Therefore the case is most probably one of unilateral retinitis pigmentosa sine pigmento.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

[Radioimmunological estimation of triiodothyronine in plasma. Diagnostic value in an area with endemic goitre (author's transl)].

In 896 patients from a low-iodine area the results of the radioimmununological triiodothyronine estimations in plasma were compared with the clinical and radioisotope findings of thyroid function. It was superior to the total thyroxine estimation (T4-test) in the differential diagnosis of hyperthyroidism. In euthyroid goitre the mean triiodothyronine concentration was significantly higher than in normal persons whereas the plasma thyroxine levels at the same time were significantly lower. Only in (primary) hypothyroidism is the triiodothyronine estimation diagnostically less important than the T4-test. In summary, the radioimmunochemical method permits a clearly more precise evaluation of thyroid function even in areas of endemic goitre.

Adolescent↗