Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H Rocha.
In vitro antibiotic susceptibilities were determined for 101 strains of salmonellae. Resistance to chloramphenicol and ampicillin was low. Cefamandole was active against the majority of strains and deserves further evaluation.
Acute uremia was induced in male Swiss albino mice by complete urethral ligation and the animals were sacrificed 2, 4-6, 24, and 48 h after operation. Sham-opeated animals (without the urethral ligation) were similarly treated. The blood urea levels of animals with total urinary tract obstruction went up to 175 mg/100 ml at 4-6 h of urethral ligation and reached an average level of 827 mg/100 ml at 48 h, while the control group exhibited and average blood urea level of 37 mg/100 ml. Lysosomes obtained from livers of uremic mice sacrificed at different time intervals demonstrated a lability of the lysosomal membranes (as determined by the acid phosphatase activity in mU/mg) which was maximal at 4-6 h of urethral ligation, declining towards normal at 24 and 48 h, despite an increase in the animal's blood urea. In vitro studies exposing liver lysosomes to progressively higher urea concentrations (differences of as much as 100,000 times) did not reveal any effect of urea upon the stability of lysosomal membranes. The reason for the lability of lysosomal membranes in the uremic group was not apparent in the present study.
After considering general preliminary immunological aspects, the author discuss the "transfer factor" of Lawrence (TF) which is one of the lymphokines that are produced by the thymus-dependent lymphocytes (LT). This factor whose nature and the probable constituent fractions are also considered, is the initiator of the cellular immunity. In immunodeficiencies, the LT should be stimulated by introducing the TF in the organism (immunotherapy). The possible use of other immunostimulating substances, which could replace the TF (levamisole BCG, thymosine), is also presented. Finally the author emphasize the large perspectives in the use of these factors in Ophthalmology: herpes, uveitis, melanoma, primary retinitis pigmentosa etc.).
Sera from 452 patients and blood donors were tested for antibodies to Tryp-anosoma cruzi. The complement fixation test and a counterelectrophoresis test were used. The results showed that both tests agreed in 92% of the sera. However, the counterelectrophoresis test was not as sensitive as the complement fixation test.
The effect of acute uremia on the liver mitochondrial activity was studied in Swiss albino mice subjected to complete urethral obstruction and sacrificed at different time intervals. The specific respiratory coefficient (measured as microliters of oxygen utilized per milligram of total proteins X 10(-1)) was similar in uremic and sham-operated control groups. The utilization of succinate as substrate was also similar in uremic and controls. There was a tendency for decreasing utilization of alpha-glutarate as substrate by the uremic group, particularly after 48 h of total urinary obstruction. There was no correlation between the retention of urea and the degree of mitochondrial respiratory inhibition.
In a prospective study of renal involvement in 100 consecutively hospitalized patients with hepatosplenic schistosomiasis mansoni, 15 exhibited persistent proteinuria of varying degree, which in 6 instances was accompanied by hypertension. Nine patients had the nephrotic syndrome. The most common glomerular lesion in this group was membrano-proliferative glomerulonephritis. Surgical biospy obtained during splenectomy in 15 patients without clinical evidence of renal involvement showed glomerular lesions in 6 instances. Focal proliferative glomerulonephritis was the most common lesion in this group. The detection of silent glomerular lesions in patients with Schistosoma mansoni infection suggests that the glomerular alterations may precede clinical manifestations of renal disease.
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Nucleic acids and nucleotide solutions have between 190 and 220 nm an hypo-bathochromic effect electrostatistically induced by acylic groups or by effective binding of several substances. In the former case, with DNA or RNA, the effect reverts through gel filtration and dialysis. In the latter case no reversion occurs. This is proposed as a probe for complex formation with the nucleic acid bases. Thermal denaturation of DNA solutions gives to the above mentioned maximum, an hyperchromicity somewhat different from the usually obtained at 260 nm.
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Serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and serum glutamic oxaloacetic and pyruvic transaminase (SGOT, SGPT) levels were determined in 61 patients with leptospirosis and 16 with viral hepatitis during the acute phase of illness. The CPK value was elevated in 29 leptospirosis patients and normal in all 16 hepatitis patients. Conversely, mean SGOT and SGPT levels were lower in leptospirosis patients. The CPK determination is a simple test that may provide diagnostic information in a jaundiced patient, particularly when characteristic manifestations of leptospirosis are absent. The pattern of greatly elevated CPK levels with only modest elevations in transaminase values in an acutely jaundiced patient should strongly suggest a diagnosis of leptospirosis.
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