Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Ferrer.
The malignant degeneration of a cystic teratoma of the ovary is a rare complication which different authors place at between 0.8 to 4%. Adenocarcinomas represent a relatively rare complication, 8% of secondary cancers, those of thyroid origin being reported in only 5 cases. The aim of this paper is to present the sixth such case of thyroid carcinoma developed in a mature teratoma in the ovary.
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An insulin response to glucose is required to correct hyperglycemia. Two proteins, the glucose transporter GLUT-2 and the glucose-phosphorylating enzyme glucokinase, have been implicated in the control of glucose metabolism in beta cells. To study the role of glucose transporter GLUT-2 in the regulation of insulin secretion and in the development of diabetes mellitus, we have obtained transgenic mice expressing high levels of GLUT-2 antisense RNA in beta cells. Western blot analysis showed an 80% reduction in GLUT-2 protein in the beta cells of these animals. Islets from transgenic mice showed impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In addition, much higher levels of blood glucose were detected in transgenic mice than in controls when glucose tolerance tests were performed. These results suggest that the reduction of GLUT-2 in the pancreas could be a crucial step in the development of diabetes mellitus.
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1. Clinical response to treatment with haloperidol was studied in 20 schizophrenic inpatients with acute exacerbation (DSM-IIIR). 2. Patients were assigned to fixed doses of haloperidol (10, 20 or 30 mg/day) for three weeks. Clinical assessment was made using scales SAPS, SANS, BPRS and Simpson-Angus Scale for rating of extrapyramidal side effects. 3. Sixteen patients showed forty per cent or more decrease in positive symptoms assessed by SAPS, being considered the group of responders. Six out of the twenty patients showed improvement in negative symptoms assessed by SANS (improvement above 30%). 4. Clinical predictors of response were only identified for SAPS. The group of responders showed higher basal scores in total scale and formal thought disorder. 5. Negative symptoms responsive to treatment were affective flattening and alogia. Improvement in negative symptoms was independent from that in positive ones. 6. Socio-demographic predictors of clinical response were not found. No differences in clinical response were found in relation to the dose administered. 7. The results of our study suggest that negative symptomatology improves in a scheduled treatment with haloperidol. Assessment of negative symptoms may be useful in the evaluation of treatment of acute schizophrenia.
Inorganic element content in pleura and lung was studied by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in reference, exposed non-pneumoconiotic, and silicotic populations. Samples of parietal pleura, visceral pleura, and lung in 11 subjects with no measurable exposure to inorganic dust and of visceral pleura and lung samples of 10 exposed non-pneumoconiotic individuals and eight silicotic patients were examined. Constant depositions of silicon and calcium were detected in visceral pleura, parietal pleura, and lung of the reference group and in visceral pleura and lung of the exposed non-pneumoconiotic and silicotic groups. Other elements, such as aluminum and iron, were also detected in the exposed non-pneumoconiotic and silicotic patients and, less frequently, in the reference group. There was no difference in silicon content between parietal and visceral pleura in the reference group. Silicon content in silicotic patients was higher and more irregularly distributed in the pleura (p = 0.005 and p < 0.01, respectively) and in the lung (p = 0.005 and p < 0.01, respectively) than in the reference group. Comparison of the silicon content in pleura between silicotic and exposed non-pneumoconiotic subjects showed a nonsignificant probability of difference (p = 0.052), whereas there were no differences with respect to the silicon content in lung. There were no differences in the pleural and lung silicon content between the exposed non-pneumoconiotic and reference groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Twenty-two schizophrenic inpatients were treated for 3 weeks with three randomly fixed oral doses of haloperidol (10, 20, or 30 mg). Analysis of the results by a nonlinear regression model revealed a curvilinear relationship between haloperidol levels in plasma and clinical response, as assessed on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (pseudo-R2 = 0.85, F = 17.7, p < 0.001, correlation between coefficients ranged from 0.99 to -0.52). This curve defines roughly three drug level ranges (low, < 5.5 ng/ml; optimal, 5.5 to 14.4 ng/ml; and high or toxic, > 14.4 ng/ml), which are significant for clinical practice. Patients with high levels improve to a lesser extent or even worsen in negative symptoms, showing a nonstatistically significant trend to present more extrapyramidal symptoms. Our data thus support the existence of a therapeutic window for haloperidol. Schizophrenic patients with acute exacerbation and drug levels in this range would have a greater probability of global clinical improvement.
Presentation of one case of ureteral tumour with the patho-anatomical label of intrinsic multifocal endometriosis, who underwent surgical treatment. Endometriosis is a clinic-gynaecological problem affecting 10-20% of pre-menopausal women. The urinary tract compromise happens in 1-10% of women with endometriosis. In spite of being an uncommon pathology, early diagnosis is of great importance due to the large number of non-saveable kidneys that it causes (25-43%). In our opinion, in cases with established fibrosis we regard surgery as the choice therapy. A presentation is made of the clinical case, pathological anatomy, treatment and comments on the disease.
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Viable human pancreatic islets isolated from a recent-onset Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patient were used to perform in vitro studies. Pre-proinsulin mRNA and insulin content, as well as insulin response were analysed. Insulin response to glucose and forskolin was completely absent in diabetic islets, as compared to control islets. Insulin content was reduced to only one-third of control values (395.0 +/- 3.5 vs 989.0 +/- 46.3 microU/islet) and 20.7 +/- 3.9% of islets from the diabetic pancreas contained insulin-positive cells in immunofluorescence studies. Northern blot analysis revealed a severe reduction in the content of pre-proinsulin mRNA in diabetic pancreatic tissue. Our results indicate that although markedly decreased, beta cells in human pancreatic islets at the onset of Type 1 diabetes are still present. Nevertheless, pancreatic islet function is disproportionately impaired with a complete absence of an insulin response.
We previously demonstrated that tolerance to carbamazepine's anticonvulsant effects occurs only with contingent presentation of the drug relative to the seizure (i.e., drug administration before but not after the seizure). Moreover, this tolerance can be reversed by altering the contingencies of drug administration (e.g., giving the drug after the seizure has occurred) without discontinuation of drug treatment. These findings imply an associative component to tolerance development in this model. Thus, we evaluated the effects on contingent tolerance development of two agents that have been shown to affect rate of tolerance development and acquisition or retention in other learning paradigms. Rats were electrically kindled in the amygdala until they reliably experienced seizures with each stimulation. In three separate studies, MK-801 (0.3 and 0.15 mg/kg), an NMDA receptor antagonist, and nimodipine (20 mg/kg), an L-type calcium channel blocker, were coadministered with carbamazepine prior to each kindling stimulation to evaluate the rate of tolerance development compared to controls. No effect of either drug was seen on the rate of contingent tolerance development to carbamazepine, suggesting that neither NMDA receptors nor L-type calcium channels are critically involved in this type of tolerance. The contingent tolerance paradigm may, however, prove useful in elucidating novel biochemical mechanisms of associative learning that might ultimately be explored in clinical situations where tolerance is a problem.
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Pancreatic islet GLUT2 mRNA is known to be regulated in vitro and in vivo by glucose. We have investigated several potential mechanisms mediating the response of islet GLUT2 to glucose. GLUT2 mRNA and protein were measured from isolated rat islets cultured for up to 24 h under selected conditions. Glucose at 11 mM stimulated GLUT2 mRNA 10-fold compared with 2 mM glucose, with no additional increase at 16.7 mM glucose, whereas maximal 4-fold induction of the protein was attained with 16 mM glucose. Time course studies showed a 2.5-fold induction of GLUT2 mRNA apparent after only 8 h of culture at 16.7 mM glucose. Glycolysis inhibitor mannoheptulose suppressed the stimulatory effect of 16.7 mM glucose on GLUT2 mRNA and protein. Metabolizable sugars mannose and glyceraldehyde enhanced transporter mRNA levels, in contrast with the lack of stimulation by nonmetabolizable 2-deoxy-D-glucose. Stimulation by different sugars and glycolysis inhibition led to analogous changes of proinsulin mRNA, suggesting that common signaling mechanisms are shared in glucose regulation of proinsulin and GLUT2 gene expression. Preexposure to mannoheptulose, however, failed to suppress glucose-stimulated insulin release. Tunicamycin, a glycoprotein synthesis inhibitor, did not block the effect of 16 mM glucose on GLUT2 mRNA levels. RNA and protein synthesis inhibitors actinomycin and cycloheximide abolished the enhancing effects of high glucose on GLUT2 mRNA. These findings indicate that glucose metabolism, but not glycoprotein synthesis or substrate interaction with the transporter protein, is instrumental in the stimulatory effects of glucose on beta-cell GLUT2 mRNA accumulation. In addition, ongoing RNA and protein synthesis are required for this effect.
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The performance of aeration, photodecomposition and biological degradation processes as methods to reduce molinate contamination levels in effluent water from rice fields was studied. Aeration produced a molinate dissipation of 84%, as against 22% without aeration. Application of UV-light to clean water solutions achieved a molinate photodecomposition of 96% in 24 h. Maximal degradation obtained in algal cultures was 55% in 20 days and 78% in 40 days. In micro-organism cultures, kept in darkness and with a continuous flow of aqueous solution of molinate and inorganic salts, a degradation of 97% was achieved.
Benign lymphocytic angiitis and granulomatosis is a T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder confined to the lung and corresponding to a low-grade angiocentric immunoproliferative lesion. Controversy remains as to whether these lesions are lymphomas. We report such a case in an 8-year-old patient with Burkitt's lymphoma in remission who presented with persistent bronchopneumopathy and bilateral pulmonary infiltrates on tomodensitometry. Surgical resection revealed the histologic changes of benign lymphocytic angiitis and granulomatosis. Immunohistochemistry showed no aberrant pan T-cell marker loss. Genetic analysis of frozen tissue by Southern blot DNA hybridization with probes to T-cell receptor beta- and gamma-chain genes and to the immunoglobulin heavy chain joining region gene (JH) identified no clonal rearrangement. Search for Epstein-Barr virus-DNA sequences by in situ hybridization and Southern blot analysis provided negative results. Our data imply that lowgrade angiocentric immunoproliferative lesions are not exclusively lymphomas but might represent a borderline lymphoproliferative disease (seen in the course of many diseases), perhaps corresponding to host immune response.