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Biomedical subjects

H Hofmann

Publications and source records attributed to H Hofmann.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

[After vaccination for tick-borne encephalitis must onset of neurologic disorders be expected?].

In Austria at present more than 5 million people are vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), some of whom have received up to 8 vaccinations. Since introduction of the mass vaccination programme an estimated 18 million TBE vaccinations have been given in this country. Hence, the change coincidental occurrence of various illnesses which might be interpreted as possible vaccination complications is inevitable. However, the appearance of true vaccination complications in addition to chance concurrent disease cannot be ruled out a priori. In any given case it is very difficult, indeed virtually impossible, to differentiate between these two possibilities since there is no available test for confirmation or exclusion of vaccine complications. Mainly disturbances of the nervous system have been ascribed to preceding TBE vaccination. From the incidence of such diseases we calculated how often their occurrence should inevitably be expected during a two-month observation period after vaccination; only significantly higher figures can be accepted as representing vaccination complications. Very large controlled field studies would be required to provide unequivocal results. This enormous expense is barely justifiable and the required money could be better spent on other projects in the public health system. All studies to date and theoretical considerations show that the potential risk of TBE vaccination is extremely low. Experts of the Paul Ehrlich Institute (Germany) came to the conclusion that one certain case of neuritis arises after 1 million TBE vaccinations. Virological investigations show that virologically unclarified (and, hence, vaccine-induced) neurological disturbances do not occur more frequently in TBE vaccines than in unvaccinated persons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1995

[Incidence of hepatitis E in Austria].

Sera from 1274 patients were tested for IgG antibodies to hepatitis E using the newly developed Abbott Enzyme immunoassay (EIA). All tested patients had previously proved to be negative for hepatitis A, B, and C. 180 suffered from hepatitis, in the remaining 1094 the hepatitis tests were done for other reasons (presurgical, pregnancy etc.). No clear-cut distinction was found between positive and negative sera in the Abbott ELISA: Therefore the cut-off value was set somewhat higher than as stated by the producer. Thus, 15 (8.3%) of the hepatitis patients and 25 (2.3%) of the remaining patients were positive. Epidemiological data were available from 12 positive patients. Seven had been in countries endemic for hepatitis E, however 5-all Austrian citizens-had never visited such an area. These data can be explained either by unspecific (false) positive tests or by endemic occurrence of hepatitis E in Austria, which, however, seems unlikely.

Austria↗
PubMed1995

[Incidence of hepatitis C virus genotypes in Austria].

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes were tested by the INNO-LIPA technique and the virus load determined by means of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) calibrated with standards using sera from 123 HCV patients. Of these 39 were on renal hemolysis treatment, 19 suffered from hemophilia, 13 were i.v. drug users and the remaining 52 had none of these risk factors (chronic hepatitis group). The most prevalent subtype in Austria was 1b, followed by 3a and 1a. However, genotype 1b infections were found relatively less often in hemophiliac patients and drug addicts than in the other two groups. This indicates that hemophiliacs probably had been infected by an antihemophilic plasma stemming from South American or Asian donors. The highest amounts of virus were found in patients infected with genotype 3a. Determination of the patient's virus load and of the infecting subtype may be helpful in planning interferon alpha therapy.

Austria↗
PubMed1995

Recognition performance of subjects with color-vision deficiencies on a polychromatic sonar screen for ship navigation.

To facilitate differentiation between objects that are approaching, stationary, and moving away, these objects are represented in different colors on the screens of sonar locating devices used in ship navigation. Yellow represents stationary objects, and represents approaching objects, and green represents those objects moving away. A total of 46 subjects with normal color vision and 184 individuals with color-vision deficiencies, among them 29 deuteranopic, 100 deuteranomalous, 21 protanopic and 34 protanomalous individuals, were investigated for their ability to identify different signals. Ten different objects were presented for a period of 64 s each. As a minimal requirement it was established that 50% of the respective experimental group be capable of recognizing the objects within half of this time. Whereas 73.3% of the subjects with normal color vision could meet this requirement, none of the subjects in the different groups with color-vision deficiencies could do so. Only 16.1% of the deuteranopic subjects, 33.1% of the deuteranomalous individuals, 16.2% of the protanopic subjects, and 37.6% of the protanomalous individuals detected all objects within 32 s. No appreciable difference in the ability to recognize signals occurred among the different groups of subjects with color-vision deficiencies.

Color Perception↗
PubMed1995

HEPAXPERT-III: knowledge-based interpretation of serologic tests for hepatitis A, B, C, and D.

1. The HEPAXPERT-III SYSTEM. HEPAXPERT-III--the successor of HEPAXPERT-I[1] and HEPAXPERT-II [2]--is a routinely-used, integrated medical database and knowledge-based system that stores and interprets the results of serologic tests for infection with hepatitis A, B, C, and D viruses. The following tests are included: Anti-HAV, IGM anti-HAV, and HAV in stool; HBsAg, anti-HBs, anti-HBc, IGM anti-HBc, HBeAg, anti-HBe, and anti-HBs titre; Anti-HCV, HCV-immunoblot, and HCV-PCR; Delta-Ag and anti-delta. HEPAXPERT-III provides the following functions: a) screen input of patient's personal data (patient ID, surname, first name, name at birth, date of birth, and sex), administrative data (department requiring the tests and date of specimen sample), and medical data (results of serologic tests); and/or b) automatic transfer of patient's personal, administrative, and medical data by connecting HEPAXPERT-III to a laboratory information system, a hospital information system, or an automated laboratory analyzer; and c) automatic generation of interpretive reports of the obtained serologic findings, including an analysis of possible virus exposition, immunity, disease stage, prognosis, and degree of infectiousness. HEPAXPERT-I and HEPAXPERT-II have been routinely used at the Vienna General Hospital, the teaching hospital of the University of Vienna Medical School. The interpretive reports are well-accepted and lead to several improvements in patient care [3]. HEPAXPERT-III will not only extend the scope of interpretation to hepatitis C and D serologic tests, but will also offer a state-of-the-art graphical user interface. 2. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE. IBM-compatible personal computer (minimum 80386 SX processor), 8 MB RAM (OS/2) and 4 RM RAM (MS-Windows), resp., graphic adapter (minimum 640x480) and printer supported by OS/2 and MS-Windows 3.1, resp., IBM OS/2-2.1 or higher and MS-Windows 3.1 or higher, resp., and for the OS/2 version IBM Database 2 (DB2/2).

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted↗
PubMed1994

Prevalence of hepatitis-C virus RNA in serum and throat washings of children with chronic hepatitis.

Serum samples from 46 children with chronic and probably transfusion acquired hepatitis were tested for the presence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA by a "nested" polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, to judge a possible risk of HCV transmission from these patients. In 73% of the samples, viral RNA was detected, indicating a high virus prevalence in this patient group. High titers of HCV-RNA were observed in some sera as shown by the detection of virus in some samples even at dilutions of 10(-3). Comparison of simultaneously obtained PCR results and ALT values revealed no significant correlation between virus presence in serum and higher ALT levels. It was, however, shown that unusually high ALT values may reflect a high titer of viral RNA in serum. To investigate the prevalence of viral RNA in saliva, which could be a vehicle of virus transmission, 35 throat washing samples from the HCV-infected children were screened by PCR. Using three different sample preparation procedures, 20% of the throat washings were found to be positive for HCV-RNA. This indicates a prevalence of virus in this fluid lower than that reported previously.

Alanine Transaminase↗
PubMed1994

Clinical and immunological investigation of a new combined hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccine.

As with hepatitis B vaccines, the recently developed hepatitis A vaccine is suitable not only for individual protection, but also for public health control measures. For introduction into routine immunisation programmes, however, hepatitis A vaccine should preferably be combined with other already established vaccines. In particular, a combination of hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccines would be appropriate. We investigated a new combined hepatitis A/hepatitis B vaccine comparing its tolerability and immunogenicity with that obtained after separate or mixed simultaneous administration of the two components. Three groups of healthy volunteers, each of approximately 50 persons, were included. All were negative for hepatitis A and hepatitis B markers and had normal liver enzyme values. They received hepatitis A (720 ELISA units) and hepatitis B (20 micrograms) vaccines in the deltoid muscle, combined, mixed or separately, according to a 0, 1, 6-month schedule. Blood samples for determination of antibodies to hepatitis A virus (anti-HAV) and hepatitis B virus (anti-HBs) and of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were drawn at months 0, 1, 2, 6, and 7. Local and systemic reactions were monitored by means of questionnaires. The results of our study demonstrate that the combined hepatitis A and B vaccine is well tolerated and highly immunogenic. The seropositivity and seroprotection rates were 100% for both antigens in all groups. Surprisingly, anti-HAV and anti-HBs antibody titres after the combined and mixed vaccines were significantly higher compared with the respective monovalent vaccines injected separately.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in lesional skin of patients with erythema migrans and acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans by ospA-specific PCR.

The aim of this study was to develop a sensitive and specific PCR for the detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA. The plasmid-located gene coding for the outer surface protein A (OspA [31-kDa protein]) was used as a target. Nucleotide sequence information from different B. burgdorferi ospA genotypes was used to design primers homologous to different genotypes. The sensitivity of the nested PCR differed from 1 fg to 1 pg of borrelial DNA, depending on the strain analyzed. No cross-reactions with DNA from spirochetes other than B. burgdorferi or with human DNA were observed. A total of 22 skin biopsy samples from patients with erythema migrans (EM [n = 10]) or acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA [n = 12]) were examined for the presence of B. burgdorferi by nested PCR. Of 22 biopsies, 80% from EM patients and 92% from ACA patients were positive by PCR amplification. By comparison, 50% of the EM patients had elevated B. burgdorferi-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and/or IgG antibody levels as tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using purified B. burgdorferi flagella as antigen. A total of 33% of ACA patients had elevated IgM titers, and all had high IgG titers in their sera. Only 30% of specimens from patients with EM and none from patients with ACA were positive by culture. All culture-positive specimens were also positive by PCR. Thus, the sensitivities of the PCR were 80 and 92%, respectively, for patients with EM and ACA on the basis of the clinical and histopathological diagnoses of Lyme disease. From these results, we conclude that PCR is a suitable method to detect B. burdorferi sensu lato DNA in skin biopsy samples and could be applied as an additional diagnostic tool.

Acrodermatitis↗
PubMed1994

[Fluconazole sensitivity of Candida strains in vitro in the microdilution test and agar diffusion test].

The comparison of the in vitro-susceptibility of Candida isolates collected from the oral cavity of different groups of patients to fluconazole ist reported. The isolates of HIV-patients treated with fluconazole, HIV-patients and dermatological patients without fluconazole exposure were investigated. The in vitro-susceptibility of these isolates was determined by microdilution test and agar diffusion test. 88.7% of the 194 Candida isolates were susceptible in vitro, 6.7% less sensitive and 4.6% resistant to fluconazole. Comparing the susceptibility within the groups there was a higher number of isolates less sensitive (14.7%) and resistant (11.8%) to fluconazole in the group of HIV-patients treated with fluconazole than in the other 2 groups without treatment. The less sensitive isolates were 4 C. albicans and 6 C. glabrata. The resistant isolates were 2 C. albicans, 2 C. glabrata and 4 C. krusei. In the group of HIV-patients without fluconazole exposure there were only 2.7% of the isolates less sensitive (2 C. glabrata) and 1.4% resistant to fluconazole (1 C. glabrata). In dermatological patients there were 2% of the isolates less sensitive (2 C. glabrata) and no resistant isolate. Resistance both in vivo and in vitro was found in 2 patients.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1993

Insulin receptor binding to erythrocytes in the first half of pregnancy is increased in healthy pregnant women as compared with non-pregnant or gestational diabetic women.

Insulin binding to erythrocytes was measured longitudinally by a competitive radioreceptor assay in 21 healthy pregnant (HP) and 20 well-controlled gestational diabetic women (GD) in 4-week intervals throughout pregnancy and at day 4 post-partum. Maximum insulin binding (maxbdg) at weeks 8-14 was increased (P < 0.001) in HP (median: 6.0%) but not in GD (median: 2.7%) as compared with non-pregnant control subjects (C) (median: 3.6%; previously reported: Clin. Chim. Acta 1992;207:57-71) due to an increased number of high-affinity insulin receptors. Throughout gestation the binding decreased continuously, to reach at term the levels found in C. In GD maxbdg remained close to the level of C throughout pregnancy. Binding differences between HP and GD were independent of the body mass index. Maxbdg did not differ between diet- and insulin-treated patients. It was higher in women whose offspring had low umbilical cord insulin levels (< 10 mu units/ml). The findings suggest that (a) higher insulin binding in HP could contribute to the improved glucose tolerance in early pregnancy and (b) the lack of increase in insulin binding during early pregnancy in gestational diabetes might be one factor leading to the manifestation of the disease in late pregnancy. However, it must be kept in mind that insulin receptors on erythrocytes do not necessarily resemble those on the major target tissues of insulin.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[An increased risk of kinesitherapy in silent myocardial ischemia?].

The effect of three-week standardized physical training on exercise-induced ischaemia was investigated in patients with silent ischaemia after myocardial infarction. 24-hour monitoring and exercise ECGs before and after the period of physical training, were undertaken in 32 men (mean age 53.6 +/- 8.1 years) with angiographically proven coronary heart disease. The protocol of the standardized exercise included bicycle ergometry, gymnastics, breathing and movement exercises, as well as nonstandardized walking or hiking. Following the training period the number of ischaemic episodes fell from 90 to 72 for the group as a whole and that of the asymptomatic episodes from 79 to 64. The number and severity of ventricular arrhythmias were similar during silent and symptomatic ischaemia. There was a significant increase in duration of exercise until reaching the ischaemia threshold (mean exercise duration 4.7 +/- 2.1 vs 5.9 +/- 2.5 min; P = 0.0007). There was no increased risk concerning ventricular arrhythmias.

Cardiac Complexes, Premature↗