Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G Hofmann

Publications and source records attributed to G Hofmann.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

[Differences in auditory frequency discrimination ability in musicians of different specialties].

The frequency discrimination capacity of 63 musicians of different specialties (singers, string players, wood and brass players, pianists and rhythm teachers) was investigated using a binaural frequency discrimination test. Statistically significant differences between the groups of musicians were found. The string players revealed the highest tuning reproducibility. The results show that frequency discrimination capacity is influenced by specific phenomena of the instrumental education.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

[Cardiac surgery in France (supply, service and needs response): a national survey].

This paper describes the results of a national study of the 70 french cardiac surgery units. This study was required by the ministry of health in order to prepare the planning process of cardiac surgery in France. Results concerning the year 1994 show important regional variations of resources among the country. The number of interventions has increased three fold in 15 years (from 13,000 to 38,000 a year). The share of the different indications are constant (coronaropathy: 53%; valvulopathy: 36%; congenital: 8%). Patient flows across french regions represent 15% of the interventions. Regional intervention rates per capita range from 45 to more than 80 for 100,000 inhabitants. French cardiac surgery is, in fact, organized at a multiregional level and the regional intervention rates are not correlated with mortality or demographic rates.

Cardiac Surgical Procedures↗
PubMed1996

Intraoperative monitoring of the potassium-activity and pH- value on the myocardial surface during coronary bypass surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Ischemic periods very often occur a dysfunction of the heart. In this series the intraoperative changes of potassium-activity and pH- value on the heart undergoing cardioplegic induced cardiac arrest were studied. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the system in diagnostic fields of ischemic periods and reperfusion damages were investigated. METHODS: In eight patients (7 male and 1 female pts.) undergoing elective cardiosurgical procedures (aortocoronary bypass grafts) the ion activity of potassium and hydrogen ions were monitored on the heart, intraoperatively. By ion-selective electrodes the superficial cardiac ion activities were evaluated on definitive time periods on the left (LV) and right ventricle (RV). RESULTS: Preliminary results suggest: In the reperfusion-period different pH-values result on the ventricles. In the end of reperfusion the pH-values return to the starting points. Though the evaluated parameters are too alcaline in comparison to physiological intervals. The time course of epicardial potassium-concentrations is not different between the RV and LV. Initially, only low concentrations were found during perfusion and reperfusion, in the last interval of reperfusion period an increase of potassium on both ventricles were evaluated. In the end of the operations the superficial ion concentrations approximate to the values evaluated at the starting points. CONCLUSION: These results suggests, that the dynamics of ion-exchange-processes in the myocardium can be monitored with the help of ion-selective probes. This new technique opens new strategies in the qualitative check-up of myocardial protective procedures during cardioplegic cardiac arrest.

Coronary Artery Bypass↗
PubMed1996

Intensive care management of acute pancreatitis: recognition of patients at high risk of developing severe or fatal complications.

The clinical spectrum of acute pancreatitis ranges from mild, self-limiting disease of fulminant illness that may rapidly lead to multiple organ failure and death. To identify factors associated with a subsequent severe course and/or high mortality we investigated retrospectively 91 patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit (ICU) with acute pancreatitis during a 2 year period. 67% of the attacks were mild (< or = 1 complication). The overall mortality rate was 9%, whereby 3% of patients with alcoholic and 13% with biliary pancreatitis died. 75% of the patients in the group with a fatal outcome were aged over sixty and 30% in the group with a mild course (p < 0.05). Females with pancreatitis of biliary origin had a mild course in 57% and a severe (> or = 2 complications) or fatal outcome in 43%. In males with alcohol abuse we observed a mild form of pancreatitis in 79% and a severe or fatal course in 21%. The delay between onset of abdominal pain and commencement of treatment in hospital was greater than 12 hours in 70% of all patients studied and there was no association with severity and development of subsequent complications. The median of the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation scoring system (APACHE-III) on the day of admission was 19 in patients with mild disease, which was significantly lower than in patients with severe (40) or fatal acute pancreatitis (53) (p < 0.0001). Serial APACHE-III measurements over 5 days after admission provided further differentiation between mild and severe or fatal cases (p < 0.0001), but no significant difference was observed between survivors with severe course and fatal outcome. In addition, RANSON scores were calculated for comparison with APACHE-III at admission and after 48 hours: concerning the recognition between mild and severe/fatal pancreatitis both scoring systems exhibited similar significant differences on day 1 and day 2. The RANSON scoring system provided further a significant differentiation between survivors with a severe course of pancreatitis when compared to deaths on day 2, whereas the APACHE-III scoring system did not. Advanced age, female sex, biliary obstruction and elevated RANSON and APACHE-III scores are risk factors for an increased rate of life-threatening complications in acute pancreatitis. The daily assessment of such scoring systems may allow the recognition of such patients and may be helpful in the routine clinical management and monitoring of acute pancreatitis.

APACHE↗
PubMed1995

[Receptive musical aptitude using a binaural frequency discrimination test].

Musical aptitude is the most important precondition for any applicant taking up studies at a music conservatory. Thus, the applicants are tested and assessed very thoroughly by experienced music teachers. To support these subjective results by objective data a procedure was developed allowing to test both the examinee's frequency and octave discrimination capacity in a simple way. In a 1-Hz cycle the frequencies f1 and f2 are directed mutually to the right and left ear, respectively, at a defined sound level. Then the examinee is asked to syntonize e.g. frequency equality f1 = f2 (or f1 = 2 x f2). It can be shown that there is a direct correlation between the amount of deviation from nominal frequency and subjective assessment of musicality.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Evidence for protein damage at environmental temperatures: seasonal changes in levels of ubiquitin conjugates and hsp70 in the intertidal mussel Mytilus trossulus

We examined the seasonal variation in environmentally induced protein damage in natural populations of the intertidal mussel Mytilus trossulus. In order to compare the state of protein pools during seasonal variations in environmental temperature, we used solid-phase immunochemical analysis to quantify ubiquitin conjugate concentrations and relative levels of the stress protein hsp70. The two biochemical indices were selected for their cellular roles in irreversible and reversible protein denaturation, respectively. Proteins that are ubiquitinated are irreversibly damaged and are degraded by intracellular proteases; stress proteins act as molecular chaperones to re-fold thermally denatured proteins and, thus, indicate degrees of reversible protein damage. Comparisons involved mussels collected in February and August from two study sites: an intertidal site which subjected animals to a wide range of body temperatures (from approximately 10 to 35 C in summer), and a subtidal site where animals remained submerged throughout the tidal cycle. Our results show that quantities of ubiquitin conjugates and hsp70 were greater in gill tissue from summer-collected mussels than in gills of winter-collected specimens. Ubiquitin conjugate and hsp70 levels were also greater in mussels collected from an intertidal location than in mussels from a submerged population. Our results show that the high summer temperatures normally experienced in the field are sufficient to cause increased denaturation of cellular proteins. Despite increases in the concentrations of heat shock proteins in summer-acclimatized mussels, elevated levels of irreversibly denatured, i.e. ubiquitinated, proteins were still observed, which indicates that the heat shock response may not be able to rescue all heat-damaged proteins. The energy costs associated with replacing heat-damaged proteins and with maintaining the concentrations and activities of heat shock proteins may contribute substantially to cellular energy demands. These increased energy demands may have an impact on the ecological energetic relationships of species, e.g. in the allocations of energy for growth and reproduction, and, as a consequence, may contribute to determining their distribution limits.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1995

[Problems in differential diagnosis and therapy of intracardiac space-occupying lesions--myxoma and thrombus].

The total removal of the myxoma under extracorporeal circulation from the origin maintains the optimal surgical treatment. Differentiation between myxoma and thromboses is a problem of preoperative diagnostics. Both tumors show unspecific symptoms. Therefore echocardiography and angiography are required as diagnostic tools. Between 1984 and 1991, 14 patients were cured from intracardiac tumors in the Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery of the University of Leipzig. Problems in the sensitivity and security of the preoperative diagnostics and certain aspects of the surgical treatment will be discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Congenital varicella syndrome: studies of the virus-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune responses.

We describe a three-year-old boy with congenital varicella syndrome. Persistent IgG antibodies to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) were detected in the child's sera for a period of more than three years. Immunological studies performed at three months and at three years of age showed a VZV-specific cellular immune response. The results suggest that intrauterine VZV infections in early pregnancy can induce adequate humoral and cellular immune reactions in the infected foetus.

Abdominal Muscles↗
PubMed1993

Two bioactive pterocarpans from Erythrina burana.

Bioactivity-directed fractionation of the CHCl3 extract of the bark of Erythrina burana afforded phaseollidin [1] and cristacarpin [2]. Both 1 and 2 exhibited moderate but selective activity towards DNA repair-deficient yeast mutants, whereas only 1 was found to be cytotoxic. 13C-nmr spectra of both compounds were assigned.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

MRI of the knee joint with a 3-D gradient echo sequence. Equivalent to diagnostic arthroscopy?

Three-dimensional (3-D) gradient echo sequences offer the advantage of volume imaging within a few minutes scanning time and creating thin contiguous slices. An optimized sequence (FISP 3D 40) was evaluated for its potential to detect lesions of the menisci, cruciate ligaments, and articular cartilage in 80 patients compared to arthroscopy as the standard. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a sensitivity of 97.9%, a specificity of 97.3%, and an accuracy of 97.5% for meniscal lesions, and a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 97.1%, and an accuracy of 97.5% for lesions of the cruciate ligaments. Based upon morphological criteria normal cartilage was identified in 91.5%, but fibrillation of different depths (grades 1-3) was poorly recognized. All full-thickness defects (grade 4) were recognized. Measurement of mean signal intensity (95% confidence intervals) was more useful to discriminate normal from abnormal cartilage (grades 1-3). This method promises the capability to detect early stages of oestoarthritis in future. The present results show MRI of the knee joint with a 3-D fast imaging technique to be a noninvasive alternative to diagnostic arthroscopy.

Adolescent↗