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Biomedical subjects

H B Nielsen

Publications and source records attributed to H B Nielsen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Patient injuries in response to anaesthetic procedures: cases evaluated by the Danish Patient Insurance Association.

BACKGROUND: In response to medical treatment, side-effects may occur and the patient may be injured. In Denmark, a patient is entitled to raise a claim for financial compensation and the validity of the claim which, based on defined criteria, is decided by the independent Patient Insurance Association (PIA). In this study, we investigated the files of the patients who were given financial compensation because of an injury caused by an anaesthetic procedure. We wanted to find the sort of injuries and the anaesthetic procedures involved and the size of financial compensation. METHODS: A retrospective study of the PIA database from 1996 to 2002 concerning the speciality anaesthesiology. RESULTS: From 1996 to 2002, 18,917 patients made a claim and out of these 916 files were related to anaesthetic procedures, of which 374 cases resulted in financial compensation. In the same period, it is estimated that the total number of anaesthetic procedures was approximately 400,000 per year in Denmark. The primary causes for financial compensation were nerve lesions in response to regional anaesthesia (epidural, spinal, peripheral nerve blockade; n = 132), body positional-related injuries (n = 100), complications due to intravascular catheters or needles (n = 39) and teeth damage during airway handling (n = 31). After anaesthesia, 12 patients' brain functions were impaired probably as a result of prolonged peri-operative hypotension and hypoxaemia. Death occurred in 21 cases. The average financial compensation was 21,500 euros (0.3% of the total amount from all cases) and in 13 cases the injury induced severe patient disability and therefore the compensation was above 1 million DKr. equal to 150,000 euros. CONCLUSION: In the 6-year period 1996-2002, 374 patients were given in total 8.0 million euros in financial compensation for an injury caused by an anaesthetic procedure. Some anaesthetic complications may result in severe disability whereby the financial compensation to the suffering patients is high. In this study, we estimate that approximately approximately 0.2 per thousand of all patients receiving anaesthesia may develop complications that entitle them to financial compensation.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Cryptobaryonic dark matter.

It is proposed that dark matter could consist of compressed collections of atoms (or metallic matter) encapsulated into, for example, 20 cm big pieces of a different phase. The idea is based on the assumption that there exists at least one other phase of the vacuum degenerate with the usual one. Apart from the degeneracy of the phases we only assume standard model physics. The other phase has a Higgs vacuum expectation value appreciably smaller than in the usual electroweak vacuum. The balls making up the dark matter are very difficult to observe directly, but inside dense stars may expand absorbing the star and causing huge explosions (gamma ray bursts). The ratio of dark matter to ordinary matter is expressed as a ratio of nuclear binding energies and predicted to be about 5.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Comparison of two-stage thermophilic (68 degrees C/55 degrees C) anaerobic digestion with one-stage thermophilic (55 degrees C) digestion of cattle manure.

A two-stage 68 degrees C/55 degrees C anaerobic degradation process for treatment of cattle manure was studied. In batch experiments, an increase of the specific methane yield, ranging from 24% to 56%, was obtained when cattle manure and its fractions (fibers and liquid) were pretreated at 68 degrees C for periods of 36, 108, and 168 h, and subsequently digested at 55 degrees C. In a lab-scale experiment, the performance of a two-stage reactor system, consisting of a digester operating at 68 degrees C with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 3 days, connected to a 55 degrees C reactor with 12-day HRT, was compared with a conventional single-stage reactor running at 55 degrees C with 15-days HRT. When an organic loading of 3 g volatile solids (VS) per liter per day was applied, the two-stage setup had a 6% to 8% higher specific methane yield and a 9% more effective VS-removal than the conventional single-stage reactor. The 68 degrees C reactor generated 7% to 9% of the total amount of methane of the two-stage system and maintained a volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration of 4.0 to 4.4 g acetate per liter. Population size and activity of aceticlastic methanogens, syntrophic bacteria, and hydrolytic/fermentative bacteria were significantly lower in the 68 degrees C reactor than in the 55 degrees C reactors. The density levels of methanogens utilizing H2/CO2 or formate were, however, in the same range for all reactors, although the degradation of these substrates was significantly lower in the 68 degrees C reactor than in the 55 degrees C reactors. Temporal temperature gradient electrophoresis profiles (TTGE) of the 68 degrees C reactor demonstrated a stable bacterial community along with a less divergent community of archaeal species.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Bicarbonate attenuates intracellular acidosis.

BACKGROUND: This study was prompted by concern that administration of bicarbonate for correction of lactate acidosis aggravates a low intracellular pH (pHi). In healthy subjects we evaluated skeletal muscle pHi using 31P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy during 5-minute rhythmic handgrip to provoke intracellular acidosis. METHODS: Subjects were randomized to treatment with bicarbonate or saline infused intravenously in a cross-over study design with 1 h between trials. RESULTS: In response to rhythmic handgrip, muscle venous O(2) hemoglobin saturation decreased from 51 +/- 4% to 36 +/- 2% and lactate increased from 1.0 +/- 0.1 to 4.9 +/- 0.5 mmol/l with a reduction in pH from 7.43 +/- 0.01-7.23 +/- 0.01 (P<0.05). pHi decreased from 7.06 +/- 0.02-6.36 +/- 0.08 (P<0.05). Infusion of bicarbonate increased the arterial blood concentration from 26 +/- 1 to 39 +/- 1 mmol/l (P<0.05). The arterial CO(2) partial pressure decreased from 5.6 +/- 0.2 to 5.2 +/- 0.3 kPa during rhythmic handgrip, whereas it increased to 5.9 +/- 0.2 kPa (P<0.05) during infusion of bicarbonate. Bicarbonate treatment also increased pH of arterial and venous blood (7.55 +/- 0.01 vs. 7.44 +/- 0.02 and 7.31 +/- 0.01 vs. 7.23 +/- 0.02, respectively; P<0.05). In the last min of rhythmic handgrip the decrease in pHi was attenuated by the administration of bicarbonate (6.60 +/- 0.11 vs. 6.40 +/- 0.12; P<0.05). CONCLUSION: During exercise-induced metabolic acidosis, intravenous administration of bicarbonate increased the buffering capacity of blood and attenuated the decrease in intracellular muscle pH, although there was a small increase in the arterial carbon dioxide pressure.

Acidosis↗
PubMed2002

Attenuated hepatosplanchnic uptake of lactate during intense exercise in humans.

We evaluated whether the increase in blood lactate with intense exercise is influenced by a low hepatosplanchnic blood flow as assessed by indocyanine green dye elimination and blood sampling from an artery and the hepatic vein in eight men. The hepatosplanchnic blood flow decreased from a resting value of 1.6 +/- 0.1 to 0.7 +/- 0.1 (SE) l/min during exercise. Yet the hepatosplanchnic O2 uptake increased from 67 +/- 3 to 93 +/- 13 ml/min, and the output of glucose increased from 1.1 +/- 0.1 to 2.1 +/- 0.3 mmol/min (P < 0.05). Even at the lowest hepatosplanchnic venous hemoglobin O2 saturation during exercise of 6%, the average concentration of glucose in arterial blood was maintained close to the resting level (5.2 +/- 0.2 vs. 5.5 +/- 0.2 mmol/l), whereas the difference between arterial and hepatic venous blood glucose increased to a maximum of 22 mmol/l. In arterial blood, the concentration of lactate increased from 1.1 +/- 0.2 to 6.0 +/- 1.0 mmol/l, and the hepatosplanchnic uptake of lactate was elevated from 0.4 +/- 0.06 to 1.0 +/- 0.05 mmol/min during exercise (P < 0.05). However, when the hepatosplanchnic venous hemoglobin O2 saturation became low, the arterial and hepatosplanchnic venous blood lactate difference approached zero. Even with a marked reduction in its blood flow, exercise did not challenge the ability of the liver to maintain blood glucose homeostasis. However, it appeared that the contribution of the Cori cycle decreased, and the accumulation of lactate in blood became influenced by the reduced hepatosplanchnic blood flow.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Lorentz invariance and origin of symmetries.

We reconsider the role of Lorentz invariance in the dynamical generation of the observed internal symmetries. We argue that, generally, Lorentz invariance can be imposed only in the sense that all Lorentz noninvariant effects caused by the spontaneous breakdown of Lorentz symmetry are physically unobservable. The application of this principle to the most general relativistically invariant Lagrangian, with arbitrary couplings for all the fields involved, leads to the appearance of a symmetry and, what is more, to the massless vector fields gauging this symmetry in both Abelian and non-Abelian cases. In contrast, purely global symmetries are generated only as accidental consequences of the gauge symmetry.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Circulating immunoreactive proANP1-30 and proANP31-67 responses to acute exercise.

The circulating immunoreactive atrial natriuretic peptide (C-terminal; alpha-ANP) increases during exercise to become suppressed in the first hours of the recovery. The response of the N-terminal ANP fragments to acute exercise is not known while proANP (31-67) appears to be elevated with chronic exercise. We evaluated the plasma concentrations of the N-terminal ANP fragments (1-30) and (31-67) in oarsmen (n=10) before and after two acute exercise bouts separated by 5 h. As control, measurements were made on a day with no exercise (n=12). At rest, the concentrations of proANP(1-30) and proANP(31-67) were 344+/-42 and 810+/-172 pmol x l(-1), respectively. Half an hour after the first exercise bout, proANP(1-30) was elevated (to 404+/-48 pmol x l(-1); P<0.05) and decreased below the pre-exercise level (to 316+/-41 pmol x l(-1); P<0.05) 4 h into the recovery period. Also, 30 min after the second exercise session, the concentration of proANP(1-30) was elevated to 408+/-45 pmol x l(-1) (P<0.05) and the pre-exercise level was re-established on the following morning. Thus, proANP(1-30), rather than proANP(31-67), responded to acute exercise. These results suggest that atrial distension and, therefore, the central blood volume changes markedly in athletes during a day with repeated exercise bouts.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Near-infrared spectroscopy determined brain and muscle oxygenation during exercise with normal and resistive breathing.

To elevate effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) retention by way of an increased respiratory load during submaximal exercise (150 W), the concentration changes of oxy- (DeltaHbO2) and deoxy-haemoglobin (DeltaHb) of active muscles and the brain were determined by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in eight healthy males. During exercise, pulmonary ventilation increased to 33 (28-40) L min-1 (median with range) with no effect of a moderate breathing resistance (reduction of the pneumotach diameter from 30 to 14 and 10 mm). The end-tidal CO2 pressure (PETCO2) increased from 45 (42-48) to 48 (46-58) mmHg with a reduction of only 1% in the arterial haemoglobin O2 saturation (SaO2). During control exercise (normal breathing resistance), muscle and brain DeltaHbO2 were not different from the resting levels, and only the leg muscle DeltaHb increased (4 (-2-10) microM, P < 0.05). Moderate resistive breathing increased DeltaHbO2 of the intercostal and vastus lateralis muscles to 6 +/- (-5-14) and 1 (-7-9) microM(P < 0.05), respectively, while muscle DeltaHb was not affected. Cerebral DeltaHbO2 and DeltaHb became elevated to 6 (1-15) and 1 (-1-6) microM by resistive breathing (P < 0.05). Resistive breathing caused an increased concentration of oxygenated haemoglobin in active muscles and in the brain. The results indicate that CO2 influences blood flow to active skeletal muscle although its effect appears to be smaller than for the brain.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

N-acetylcysteine attenuates oxidative burst by neutrophils in response to ergometer rowing with no effect on pulmonary gas exchange.

This study evaluated whether the reduction of the neutrophil oxidative burst by N-acetylcysteine improves pulmonary gas exchange during a six minute maximal ergometer row. Healthy trained oarsmen were double-blinded randomized to either N-acetylcysteine (6 g daily for three days) or placebo groups. As determined by the relative changes of the zymosan-stimulated luminol-enhanced chemiluminescence response, N-acetylcysteine suppressed the exercise-induced enhanced neutrophil oxidative burst response to rowing (-7 +/- 6% vs. 17 +/- 8%; P < 0.05). This was the case although the concentration of neutrophils remained similarly elevated above the pre-exercise level in both trials (to 5.4+/-0.5 vs. 5.9+/-0.6 x 10(9) cells x l(-1), respectively, P>0.05). In the placebo and N-acetylcysteine groups, pulmonary ventilation increased and the arterial CO2 partial pressure decreased to the same extent during exercise. Also, at the end of exercise the arterial O2 partial pressure (77 1 vs. 78+/-1 mmHg), haemoglobin O2 saturation (92 +/- 1% vs. 93 +/- 1%) and O2 uptake (5.0 +/- 0.2 vs. 4.9 +/- 0.21 x min(-1)) were not significantly affected by N-acetylcysteine. Equally, two hours after exercise, the pulmonary diffusion capacity was reduced by 7 +/- 2% below the pre-exercise with no significant influence of N-acetylcysteine. We conclude that the neutrophil oxidative burst to exercise does not influence pulmonary gas exchange during and after maximal rowing.

Acetylcysteine↗
PubMed2000

Arabidopsis map kinase 4 negatively regulates systemic acquired resistance.

Transposon inactivation of Arabidopsis MAP kinase 4 produced the mpk4 mutant exhibiting constitutive systemic acquired resistance (SAR) including elevated salicylic acid (SA) levels, increased resistance to virulent pathogens, and constitutive pathogenesis-related gene expression shown by Northern and microarray hybridizations. MPK4 kinase activity is required to repress SAR, as an inactive MPK4 form failed to complement mpk4. Analysis of mpk4 expressing the SA hydroxylase NahG and of mpk4/npr1 double mutants indicated that SAR expression in mpk4 is dependent upon elevated SA levels but is independent of NPR1. PDF1.2 and THI2.1 gene induction by jasmonate was blocked in mpk4 expressing NahG, suggesting that MPK4 is required for jasmonic acid-responsive gene expression.

Alleles↗
PubMed2000

Promiscuous and specific phospholipid binding by domains in ZAC, a membrane-associated Arabidopsis protein with an ARF GAP zinc finger and a C2 domain.

Arabidopsis proteins were predicted which share an 80 residue zinc finger domain known from ADP-ribosylation factor GTPase-activating proteins (ARF GAPs). One of these is a 37 kDa protein, designated ZAC, which has a novel domain structure in which the N-terminal ARF GAP domain and a C-terminal C2 domain are separated by a region without homology to other known proteins. Zac promoter/beta-glucuronidase reporter assays revealed highest expression levels in flowering tissue, rosettes and roots. ZAC protein was immuno-detected mainly in association with membranes and fractionated with Golgi and plasma membrane marker proteins. ZAC membrane association was confirmed in assays by a fusion between ZAC and the green fluorescence protein and prompted an analysis of the in vitro phospholipid-binding ability of ZAC. Phospholipid dot-blot and liposome-binding assays indicated that fusion proteins containing the ZAC-C2 domain bind anionic phospholipids non-specifically, with some variance in Ca2+ and salt dependence. Similar assays demonstrated specific affinity of the ZAC N-terminal region (residues 1-174) for phosphatidylinositol 3-monophosphate (PI-3-P). Binding was dependent in part on an intact zinc finger motif, but proteins containing only the zinc finger domain (residues 1-105) did not bind PI-3-P. Recombinant ZAC possessed GTPase-activating activity on Arabidopsis ARF proteins. These data identify a novel PI-3-P-binding protein region and thereby provide evidence that this phosphoinositide is recognized as a signal in plants. A role for ZAC in the regulation of ARF-mediated vesicular transport in plants is discussed.

ADP-Ribosylation Factors↗
PubMed2000

Caleosins: Ca2+-binding proteins associated with lipid bodies.

We have previously identified a rice gene encoding a 27 kDa protein with a single Ca2+-binding EF-hand and a putative membrane anchor. We report here similar genes termed caleosins, CLO, in other plants and fungi; they comprise a multigene family of at least five members in Arabidopsis (AtClo1-5). Northern hybridization demonstrated that AtClo2-4 mRNAs levels were low in various tissues, while AtClo1 mRNA levels were high in developing embryos and mature seeds. Analysis of transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing the GUS reporter under control of the AtClo1 promoter showed strong levels of expression in developing embryos and also in root tip cells. Antibodies raised against AtCLO1 were used to detect caleosin in cellular fractions of Arabidopsis and rapeseed. This indicated that caleosins are a novel class of lipid body proteins, which may also be associated with an ER subdomain.

Abscisic Acid↗
PubMed2000

Well-being and cerebral oxygen saturation during acute heart failure in humans.

Cerebral symptoms and near-infrared spectrophotometry-determined cerebral oxygen saturation (ScO2) were followed in patients treated for normotensive acute congestive heart failure. The reproducibility and normal range for ScO2 were established from 39 resting subjects without cardio-respiratory disease: the ScO2 ranged from 55 to 78% with a coefficient of variation for triple determination of 6%. Patients rated cerebral symptoms on a scale with end-points of 0 (best) and 10 (worst). In eight patients with acute heart failure, arterial oxygen tension increased during decongestive treatment, from 9.1 (4.9-10) to 10.4 kPa (7.3-17); median with range, as did arterial oxygen saturation, from 94 (48-97) to 97% (87-99) (P<0.02), whereas the mean arterial pressure, heart rate and arterial carbon dioxide tension remained unchanged. The cerebral symptom score improved from 8 (3-10) to 1 (1-9) and the ScO2 increased from 34 (20-58) to 50% (19-91) (P<0.02). A ninth patient presented with a silent but massive myocardial infarction: she was cerebrally obtunded with a ScO2 of 18% and soon died. In patients with normotensive acute heart failure and cerebral symptoms, cerebral oxygen saturation is low, and during successful treatment ScO2 increases with the well-being of the patient.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2000

Circulating immunoreactive proANP(1-30) and proANP(31-67) in sedentary subjects and athletes.

BACKGROUND: Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is synthesized and stored in myocytes as prohormone(1-126), which upon release is cleaved into proANP(1-98) and alpha-ANP(99-126). In addition, cleavage of proANP(1-98) produces proANP(1-30), proANP(31-67), and proANP(79-98) fragments. ProANP(1-30) and proANP(31-67) have roles in fluid and electrolyte homeostasis. The aim of the present study was to develop a plasma assay for proANP(1-30) and proANP(31-67) and to compare results in trained athletes and sedentary subjects. METHODS: Two competitive enzyme immunoassays were established with affinity-purified sheep antiserum against synthetic ANP fragments. The immunoreactivity (ir) of proANP(1-30) and proANP(31-67) was measured in 10-microL plasma samples without extraction in a microwell-based assay. Plasma concentrations in sedentary male subjects (n = 22) and male endurance athletes (n = 14) were examined. RESULTS: In the assay for ir-proANP(1-30) and ir-proANP(31-67), the concentrations at 95% B/B(0) were 4.7 and 14.2 pmol/L, respectively. Within-run CVs were 4-6% and 5-6%, and between-run CVs were 9% for both assays. Both assays were linear on dilution (y = 0.9945x - 0. 7291 and y = 1.0001x - 3.428), and the recoveries were 102-112% and 102-106%, respectively. In the sedentary and athletic groups, the ir-proANP(1-30) concentrations were similar: 318 +/- 38 pmol/L and 312 +/- 25 pmol/L (mean +/- SE), respectively, whereas the ir-proANP(31-67) was higher in the rowers (713 +/- 81 pmol/L) than in the sedentary subjects (387 +/- 71 pmol/L; P <0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The proANP fragment assays are precise (CV <10%) and exhibit nearly quantitative recovery (102-112%). Only ir-proANP(31-67) responds to physical training.

Animals↗