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Biomedical subjects

J Brun

Publications and source records attributed to J Brun.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Effects of a four-day nocturnal melatonin treatment on the 24 h plasma melatonin, cortisol and prolactin profiles in humans.

An oral preparation of melatonin was administered daily at 22.00 h to 6 healthy volunteers during summer on 4 consecutive days (days 1-4). The daily dose was 8 mg of melatonin as a single. Three 24-h melatonin, cortisol and prolactin profiles were determined in plasma by radioimmunological methods: 1) before treatment (day 0); 2) the first day after the 4-day treatment had been stopped (day 5), 3) the third day after withdrawal of this treatment (day 7). For the melatonin rhythm, an advanced phase was observed at day 7 vs day 0, whereas the amplitude and the mesor were not modified, whatever the day. For the prolactin profile, a significant increase as compared with the control day (day 0) was detected only at day 7 between 19.00 and 21.00 h. No modification was recorded for the plasma cortisol secretion. These results suggest that melatonin, when administered at a high dose over a short period, can influence the endocrine rhythms, and especially its own endogenous secretion. This effect must be investigated over several days after the treatment has ended.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

[Neoplastic pulmonary embolism. Apropos of a case diagnosed by transbronchial pulmonary biopsy].

The authors report a case of micro-pulmonary emboli of malignant cells observed in a 58 year old lady who had been submitted to a mastectomy for cancer 18 months before, followed by chemotherapy for six months. The patient entered into the terminal phase of her disease with dyspnoea which became rapidly incapacitating leading to her death ten weeks later, in spite of heparin therapy and chemotherapy. The diagnosis was furnished by a transbronchial biopsy. However, the discovery of a mobile mass in the right ventricle raised the question as to the source of the micro-emboli.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1988

[Hypersensitivity pneumopathies ("bird fancier's lung") in children. Diagnostic value of bronchoalveolar lavage].

A current view of "pigeon fancier's lung" in children is reported through a familial case presenting as a severe denutrition in a 9 year-old boy. Cellular and biochemical analysis of broncho-alveolar lavage fluid is essential to proper diagnosis. Treatment is based upon the eviction of inhaled antigenic organic materials issued from pigeon's droppings, corticosteroid treatment being only additional. Pulmonary fibrosis is a rare but possible complication in the outcome of the disease.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMed1987

Effects on the patterns of melatonin and cortisol in cluster headache of a single administration of lithium at 7.00 p.m. daily over one week: a preliminary report.

Cluster headache represents a primary headache disorder. The major characteristics of cluster headache are the seasonal frequency and the occurrence of symptoms during night time. A significant decrease in nocturnal melatonin levels and an advanced phase associated with a shift in cortisol acrophase has been described. The effect of lithium on nocturnal melatonin and cortisol secretion was examined in the present study. Preliminary results indicate that Lithium delaises rhythms in cluster head-ache.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Urinary melatonin, LH, oestradiol, progesterone excretion during the menstrual cycle or in women taking oral contraceptives.

Nocturnal urinary excretion of melatonin, LH, progesterone and oestradiol was measured by radioimmunoassay in nine normal women during a complete cycle. In addition, these hormonal excretions were studied in two women taking an oral contraceptive. A high within-subject coefficient of variation was observed for melatonin excretion in the two groups. In the nine normal cycling women, melatonin excretion was not decreased at the time of ovulation, but was significantly increased during the luteal phase compared with that of the follicular phase (P less than 0.01). These data are consistent with a positive relationship between melatonin and progesterone during the luteal phase. In the two women under an oral contraceptive, melatonin excretion was found within the same range as for the other nine. The results are discussed in terms of pineal investigation in human.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

[Sarcoidosis associated with significant blood hypereosinophilia. Apropos of a case].

We report the case of a 20-year old girl in whom sarcoidosis (articular, mediastinal, cardiac, lachrymal) and major blood eosinophilia (8,000 eosinophils/mm3) were discovered simultaneously. Clinically, biologically and radiologically, the course of the disease was rapidly favourable without any treatment. After a 13-month follow-up, the patients is now in good health. Since no other cause of blood eosinophilia was found (parasitological and immunological investigations were negative and there were no signs suggesting a myeloproliferative syndrome or a connective tissue disease), we believe that the blood abnormality must have been associated with sarcoidosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Decreased nocturnal plasma melatonin peak in patients with a functional alteration of the retina in relation with uveitis.

A functional alteration of the retina is present in patients suffering from uveitis. Because of the relation between the pineal gland and the retina we documented possible modifications of melatonin secretion in patients with uveitis. Plasma melatonin was assayed in 19 patients and 16 age-matched controls. Blood samples were drawn at the known high and low points of the circadian rhythm of the hormone, i.e. 02.00 and 11.00 h, respectively. We found that the nocturnal peak of plasma melatonin was greatly decreased (45%) in patients with uveitis. These data cannot be related to the impairment of retinal melatonin synthesis alone. The possibility exists that the decline of the nocturnal peak of melatonin we have reported is due to a pineal inflammation in patients with uveitis, as observed in the experimental autoimmune uveitis induced in rats by retinal S-antigen.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

A once-repeated study of nocturnal plasma melatonin patterns and sleep recordings in six normal young men.

The concentration of melatonin was determined, using a sensitive and reliable radioimmunoassay, in plasma samples obtained at 20 min intervals during a 12 hr period (from 20.00 to 8.00) from six normal men. Polygraphic sleep recording was simultaneously performed. Each subject was studied twice at a 1 week interval. For each session, the plasma melatonin profile showed an episodic secretion: a mean frequency of 4.5 peaks and 4.0 troughs per night in the first study and a mean frequency of 4.0 peaks and 3.5 troughs in the second study. The two nocturnal melatonin profiles obtained from each subject were very similar. However, considerable interindividual variation was found (areas under the curve [AUC] from 15.3 to 125 pg X hr/ml). No relationship could be obtained between AUC and body weight. Apparent melatonin half-life calculated from the semilogarithmic plots of the melatonin pattern was 57 +/- 34 min. Chi-square testing revealed that the nocturnal pattern of melatonin levels was not related to sleep stages. Our data do not favor a direct relationship between melatonin secretion and the sleep-waking cycle in humans.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Diurnal variations of plasma melatonin concentrations in pregnant or pseudopregnant mink (Mustela vison) maintained under different photoperiods.

Removal of the superior cervical ganglia suppresses the inhibitory role of short days in prolactin secretion and luteal activity in pregnant or pseudopregnant mink. Alternatively, timed injections of melatonin replicate the inhibitory role of short days in females maintained under long days. To understand if the diurnal variation of melatonin secretion is part of the mechanism by which the mink measure day length, diurnal variations in plasma melatonin concentrations have been measured in intact and ganglionectomized females maintained under long or short days after mating. Melatonin was measured by radioimmunoassay according to Brun et al. [Adv. Biosci. 53:41-45]. In intact females, plasma concentrations ranged from nondetectable levels to 40 pg/ml during the day, increased shortly after the onset of the dark phase, and reached peak values during the middle of the night. The duration of the elevated levels was roughly proportional to the length of the night. No diurnal variations could be detected in ganglionectomized females; melatonin levels never exceeded the day values observed in intact females.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

[Evolution of plasma levels of SHBG (sex-hormone binding globulin) during ovulation induction using gonadotrophins].

The plasma levels of proteins bound to steroids come under the influence of the levels of estrogens. This is why we have studied the changes in plasma SHBG in sterile women who were being treated by gonadotropins (HMG-HCG). The plasma level of SHBG was worked out using Laurell's electroimmunoassay technique with an autoradiographic display using estradiol labeled with I.125. It only takes 48 hours contact with radio films. Out of 12 patients 9 responded to the treatment as demonstrated by the plasma levels of estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P). We have found that in these women there was a rise in plasma SHBG which was significant from the 7th day of the treatment onwards (3.7 +/- 1.7 mg/l as against 5.9 +/- 2.6 mg/l, p less than 0.01) and this reached nearly twice the base level when E2 reached its maximum level (6.4 +/- 2.7 mg/l). When treatment was stopped the plasma level of SHBG dropped to that of the follicular phase, but it was out of step with the plasma E2 levels. The index of free E2 as compared with E2/TEBG showed a close superimposition when compared with the levels of E2 obtained using a radioimmunological method. This fact reinforces the value of plasma E2 as the way of monitoring the effect of induction of ovulation. Our overall conclusion is that a marked and rapid change in the level of plasma E2 directly influences the level of plasma SHBG. The consequences for treatment are that it is important to respect as far as possible the physiological conditions that are present when induction of ovulation is undertaken.

Estradiol↗
PubMed1985

[Pleuropulmonary localizations of non-typhoid Salmonella infections].

Non-typhoid salmonella infections are extremely common, usually taking the form of a benign toxi-infection. In the context of the rare extra-digestive manifestations, the authors report 3 cases of pleuro-pulmonary involvement, in infections due to Salmonella Dublin. In 2 cases, the organism was identified from blood cultures, whilst in the 3rd case it was isolated from pleural fluid. As with other extra-digestive sites, pleuro-pulmonary involvement is favored by underlying pathology, accounting for the grave nature of the problem (amongst the 3 cases, gastrectomy and acute myeloblastic leukemia in one case and obliterative arterial disease in another case). Non-typhoid salmonella infections are sensitive to Sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim which diffuses well in the respiratory system. They are also sensitive to Amoxicillin and to Chloramphenicol.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

A chronobiological study of melatonin, cortisol growth hormone and prolactin secretion in cluster headache.

The temporal organization of plasma melatonin, cortisol, growth hormone (GH) and prolactin secretion was examined in healthy rested controls and in patients suffering from episodic cluster headache. Eleven patients with typical cluster headache (10 men, 1 female) and 8 male controls were studied over a 24-h period: blood was collected at 2-h intervals during the day and at 1-h intervals at night. Plasma melatonin, cortisol, GH and prolactin levels were determined by radioimmunoassay. Most of the cluster headache patients showed a decrease in nocturnal melatonin secretion and the melatonin rhythm was even completely abolished in one patient. Chronobiological analysis of the cluster headache patients' 24-h plasma melatonin profile showed a significant decrease in amplitude and mesor: these were 58.7 pg/ml and 34.4 pg/ml respectively in control subjects, versus 18.7 pg/ml and 17.6 pg/ml for the patients. In addition, patients showed a significant phase-advance in their melatonin rhythm. For cortisol, the rhythm appeared slightly blunted in the cluster headache group and was significantly phase-advanced. The plasma prolactin profile showed no significant alteration, but for plasma GH the nocturnal peak was advanced in some patients; in the absence of sleep recording, however, no conclusion could be drawn. Results from this study suggest a neuroendocrine dysregulation in cluster headache in the endogenous clock which controls the pineal rhythmicity.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

A chronobiological study of melatonin and cortisol secretion in depressed subjects: plasma melatonin, a biochemical marker in major depression.

The temporal organization of plasma melatonin and cortisol secretion was examined in healthy rested controls and in depressed patients: 11 patients suffering from a primary affective disorder (10 female, 1 male) and 8 male controls were studied over a 24-hr period; blood was collected at 2-hr intervals during the day at 1-hr intervals at night. Plasma melatonin and cortisol levels were determined by radioimmunoassay. In addition, melatonin was determined in plasma sampled at 3 AM in older male controls (n = 8) and in females (n = 10) at ovulation. The controls showed low or undetectable (less than 5 pg/ml) diurnal plasma melatonin levels and a very marked nocturnal rhythm (acrophase: 2.27 AM, mesor: 34.4 pg/ml, amplitude: 58.7 pg/ml). For the three control groups, no significant difference was observed in the nocturnal melatonin peak at 3 AM. The depressed patients also showed a significant melatonin rhythm but with lower amplitude (14.5 pg/ml) and mesor (19.1 pg/ml). The latter rhythm was not significantly phase-advanced with respect to the controls (acrophase at 1.18 and 2.34 AM, respectively). In 9 of the 11 patients, nocturnal melatonin secretion was less marked and frequently associated with hypercortisolemia. An additional episodic melatonin secretion was observed in the late afternoon in only two patients. In depressed patients, there was an increase in the mean cortisol secretion level (mesor at 13.6 micrograms/100 ml against 9.1 micrograms/100 ml in the controls), but the amplitude and the acrophase were not significantly modified. These data are discussed in terms of both the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-epiphysis and aminergic abnormalities.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

[Prognostic value, at the onset of an asthma attack, of respiratory, hemodynamic, and acid-base equilibrium parameters].

Sudden death is still a common complication of acute asthma. The authors analysed statistically the prognostic value of the respiratory rate (RR), the heart rate (HR), blood gases, systolic blood pressure (BP syst), and diastolic pressure (BP diast) and the amplitude of the P wave in lead II on the ECG, recorded at the beginning of the asthma attack. This retrospective study concerns two groups of patients distinguished on the basis of the severity of the attack (group I: simple retrospective study concerns two groups of patients distinguished on the basis of the severity of the attack (group I: simple attack; group II; status asthmaticus). A HR greater than 24 per minute, a P wave greater than or equal to 2.5 mm or a PaCO2 greater than or equal to 6.3 kPa (47.25 mmHg) are three highly sensitive and specific criteria of the evolution of the asthma attack towards a more severe form (status asthmaticus). Patients who present one or more of these parameters should be monitored in a respiratory intensive care unit in order to prevent avoidable sudden death.

Acid-Base Equilibrium↗