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Biomedical subjects

J Boehmer

Publications and source records attributed to J Boehmer.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Evaluation of a LAM ELISA for diagnosis of paratuberculosis in sheep and goats.

A milk and serum ELISA containing lipoarabinomanan (LAM) antigen was evaluated in sheep and goats versus agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using milk and lymph nodes. Milk and serum samples were obtained from six, two, and four flocks with unknown, negative and positive status of infection, respectively. By comparison of serum ELISA activity and PCR results, the positive and negative predictive values were calculated. Receiver operation characteristic (ROC) analysis was used for calculating the specificity and sensitivity at different cut-offs.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Partners in care: a model of collaboration.

It is estimated that 3 million persons in the United States have congestive heart failure. This diagnosis accounts for more than 5% of total health expenditures. A method to decrease the costs of health care was initiated through the partners-in-care model of collaborative practice. A research study exploring the use of nurse case managers in collaboration with cardiologists and primary care physicians is being conducted with persons older than 65 years. This care encompasses both inpatient and outpatient care. The intervention comprises nurse visits in the hospital and in the home as well as telephone support for 6 months after the index hospitalization. The outcomes of quality of life, functional status, mortality, morbidity, and costs are being examined. Collaborative health care partnerships may be an effective strategy to decrease health care costs and improve quality of life and functional status of older persons with congestive heart failure.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Hemodynamic effects of supplemental oxygen administration in congestive heart failure.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine the hemodynamic effects of oxygen therapy in heart failure. BACKGROUND: High dose oxygen has detrimental hemodynamic effects in normal subjects, yet oxygen is a common therapy for heart failure. Whether oxygen alters hemodynamic variables in heart failure is unknown. METHODS: We studied 10 patients with New York Heart Association functional class III and IV congestive heart failure who inhaled room air and 100% oxygen for 20 min. Variables measured included cardiac output, stroke volume, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, systemic and pulmonary vascular resistance, mean arterial pressure and heart rate. Graded oxygen concentrations were also studied (room air, 24%, 40% and 100% oxygen, respectively; n = 7). In five separate patients, muscle sympathetic nerve activity and ventilation were measured during 100% oxygen. RESULTS: The 100% oxygen reduced cardiac output (from 3.7 +/- 0.3 to 3.1 +/- 0.4 liters/min [mean +/- SE], p < 0.01) and stroke volume (from 46 +/- 4 to 38 +/- 5 ml/beat per min, p < 0.01) and increased pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (from 25 +/- 2 to 29 +/- 3 mm Hg, p < 0.05) and systemic vascular resistance (from 1,628 +/- 154 to 2,203 +/- 199 dynes.s/cm5, p < 0.01). Graded oxygen led to a progressive decline in cardiac output (one-way analysis of variance, p < 0.0001) and stroke volume (p < 0.017) and an increase in systemic vascular resistance (p < 0.005). The 100% oxygen did not alter sympathetic activity or ventilation. CONCLUSIONS: In heart failure, oxygen has a detrimental effect on cardiac output, stroke volume, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure and systemic vascular resistance. These changes are independent of sympathetic activity and ventilation.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Comparison of measured and calculated values for colloid osmotic pressure in hospitalized animals.

A relation exists between colloid osmotic pressure (pi) and serum total protein concentration; equations describing this relation have been used to determine a calculated value for pi. However, the relation between total protein concentration and pi is altered by the method used to measure protein and by changes in the ratio of concentrations of albumin (A) to globulin (G). We developed nomograms for estimating pi from A and G concentrations, using samples obtained from clinically normal animals and compared the accuracy of these nomograms with that of previously described equations relating pi to total protein concentration. For comparison, serum samples from canine (n = 106), equine (n = 79), feline (n = 24), and bovine (n = 27) patients admitted to the University of Georgia Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital were used. Results indicated that nomograms based on protein concentration estimated by a refractometer generally were the least reliable. Although predictive nomograms, using total protein concentration determined by the biuret method, provided better results for serum samples, there was considerable variation between measured and calculated values for pi in all species studied. Calculated values for pi derived from A and G concentrations were most closely related to measured values for pi in dogs, horses, and cats. However, calculated values for pi differed from measured values by as much as 5 mm of Hg for some samples by each of the methods of estimation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Demographic features and prevalence of idiopathic myocarditis in patients undergoing endomyocardial biopsy.

From January 1985 through December 1990, 534 patients underwent endomyocardial biopsy at Johns Hopkins Hospital for suspected myocarditis. One hundred thirty-eight (26%) biopsy specimens were diagnosed histologically by 2 cardiac pathologists as either active (n = 85, 16%) or borderline (n = 53, 10%) myocarditis. Of the 138 patients, 60 were excluded based on either specific concurrent clinical conditions or noncongestive heart failure presentations. Immunohistochemical staining for common leukocyte antigen infiltrating cells performed on the remaining 78 specimens confirmed the presence of focal or multifocal inflammatory infiltrates in 58, of which 49 had histologic evidence of active myocarditis. All 49 patients presented with congestive heart failure and left ventricular ejection fractions of < 40%. Compared with patients with either idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (n = 207) or ischemic cardiomyopathy (n = 44), these patients with myocarditis had a less striking male predominance (58 vs 69 and 83%, respectively) (p = 0.02) and were younger (43 +/- 16 vs 50 +/- 17 and 55 +/- 13 years, respectively, p = 0.005). Racial distributions were similar. A recent history of a discrete flu-like illness was obtained in 52%, two-thirds of which were clustered between the months of December and March. Onset of heart failure peaked between December and April (63% and was low between May through September (22%). A peak in the proportion of patients found to have active myocarditis on biopsy occurred in 1986 (17 vs 7 to 10% in other years).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Left ventricular mass quantitation using single-phase cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to measure left ventricular (LV) mass in animals with superior accuracy. However, its use in cardiac patients has been limited by the long total scan times necessitated by imaging the heart at end-diastole at each of 8 to 10 slice locations. Recent canine studies showed that LV mass may be determined accurately, with considerable timesavings, by use of sequential images throughout the cardiac cycle (single-phase MRI). Twenty normal subjects underwent spin-echo MRI to determine the relationship between LV mass computed from single-phase MRI and results obtained from the more time-consuming end-diastolic MRI (which was used as the reference standard for this study). The left ventricle was spanned with 2 interleaved series of 5 short-axis 1 cm thick slices. 5 images, evenly spaced throughout the cardiac cycle, were obtained at each slice location in all subjects. LV mass ranged from 86 to 198 g. Although end-diastolic LV mass exceeded single-phase results by an average of 5 g (p less than 0.002), there was a close correlation between the 2 (slope = 0.99; r = 0.96). Although LV mass derived from end-diastolic images exceeded single-phase results, this difference is unlikely to be clinically significant and is small compared with the standard error of echocardiographic methods. Furthermore, when the order in which single-phase images were selected was reversed, there was improved agreement with end-diastolic MRI.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Heart↗
PubMed1982

And coffee too.

Two hundred and seventy-two persons aged 11 to 80 were interviewed regarding whether and why they had tried and/or used coffee, tobacco, liquor, and marijuana. The attracting and capturing power of tobacco and marijuana registered as lower than those associated with coffee and liquor. A guilt/shame index was derived from avowed motives. Trying tobacco and liquor was associated with greater guilt/shame than that associated with coffee and marijuana. Most tobacco users offered motives that indicated continued guilt/shame, while the majority of the other users expressed contentment with their habits.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Isolation and electrophoretic analysis of nucleoli, phenol-soluble nuclear proteins, and outer cyst walls from Acanthamoeba castellanii during encystation initiation.

A technique is described for isolating nuceoli from Acanthamoeba castellanii. Nuclei isolated by a modification of the technique of F. J. Chlapowski and R. N. Band (1971) are sonicated in a surcrose-Tris-MgSO4-KC1-Triton X-100 buffer and centrifuged on a linear sucrose gradient extending from 1.3 M to 1.5 M with a 2.6 M cushion, at 41000 rpm for 90 min. The only apparent contaminants in the nucleolar preparation are outer cyst walls. A procedure is described for the isolation of chemically pure outer cyst walls, and a comparison of the proteins with the nucleolar preparation reveals that outer cyst walls represent negligible contaminants. The ultrastructure of these isolated nucleoli examined with transmission electron microscopy is found to be identical with that of nucleoli from whole cells, fixed in an identical manner. The 50 nucleolar proteins separated by SDS gel electrophoresis have been examined throughout the growth cycle of Acanthamoeba and into the strat of induced encystment, at which time 10 protein bands disappear, 11 bands are observed to decrease, and 8 are seen to increase in concentration. Phenol-soluble proteins are extracted from the nucleolus which correspond to 29 of the 50 nucleolar proteins, with 17 of these proteins corresponding to nucleolar proteins that change at the onset of encystment. Thes nucleolar proteins are also compared with those of rat liver nucleoli by gel electrophoresis, resulting in the observation that extremely few protein homologies exist between the two. Numerous quantitative and qualitative changes in the gel pattern of phenol-soluble nuclear proteins during early and late log phase growth and the onset of stationary phase were also observed.

Amoeba↗