Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Rodriguez.
Segmentation of the secondary constriction region (h) of human chromosomes 1, 9 and 16 is demonstrated by a high resolution banding technique. Based on these staining properties, it is suggested that the composition of the h region in human chromosomes is heterochromatic as well as euchromatic.
We address the question of whether an oxygen debt develops during a period of abdominal aortic cross-clamping that may explain observed hemodynamic changes. Group 1 received morphine sulfate (1 mg/kg) during induction of anesthesia. Group 2 received same dose of morphine sulfate. Group 3 received 4 mg/kg of morphine sulfate. We measured the oxygen consumption (VO2) and the carbon dioxide production levels (VCO2), as well as hemodynamic and biochemical parameters. In groups 1 and 3, VO2 and VCO2 decreased 10% to 13% following abdominal aortic cross-clamping compared with values measured before cross-clamping. In group 2, VO2 and VCO2 decreased 3% and 7%, respectively. On unclamping, the greatest increase in VO2 was observed in group 3 (26%), while in groups 1 and 2, VO2 rose 18% and 5%, respectively. In all three groups, metabolic changes were not paralleled by hemodynamic or temperature changes. Results indicate that oxygen debt developed during abdominal aortic cross-clamping, but this has no effect on hemodynamic changes seen after unclamping. Higher dosage of narcotic administered during anesthetic induction did not temper increase in metabolic rate observed after unclamping.
Muscle fiber abnormalities are described in three cases of neonatal maple syrup disease. There were important variations in fiber diameters. Lesions consisted in focal or diffuse destruction of myofibrils. In view of recent biochemical and clinical data, a direct relation between elevated branched-chain amino acid levels and the muscular abnormalities seems improbable.
Chromosome analysis can be performed by culturing cerebrospinal fluid from patients with CNS leukemia. The quality of the metaphase spreads are adequate for banding studies. This approach is useful, especially when the bone marrow is difficult to aspirate or when CNS involvement is the only manifestation of the leukemia.
We conducted a prospective study of 36 eyes undergoing pars plana lensectomy, vitrectomy, and implantation of an intraocular lens. We used a scleral tunnel begun 3 mm posterior to the corneoscleral limbus and entered the anterior chamber through clear cornea. We found that this technique produced minimal postoperative astigmatism. After follow-up periods ranging from three to 15 months, the average change in the flatter meridian was -0.07 diopter and that in the steeper meridian was +0.26 diopter. The mean induced astigmatism was -0.33 diopter. A group of nine eyes undergoing pars plana lensectomy and vitrectomy alone showed no significant changes in the postoperative astigmatism. Statistical comparisons established that there was no significant difference between eyes undergoing intraocular lens implantation in addition to pars plana lensectomy and vitrectomy and those not undergoing intraocular lens implantation.
In the present report we examined the position of the Y chromosome with respect to its size and race to determine their relationship to its peripheral location. Peripheral blood lymphocytes were cultured from 172 normal male individuals (70 Asian Indians; 49 American Blacks; and 53 Caucasians) and 2770 QFQ cells were photographed. The length of the Y chromosome was classified into four groups i.e., small, average, large and very large as described earlier (Verma et al., J. Med. Genet., 15, 227-281, 1978). The average incidence of peripheral location of all races for small, average, large and very large was 3.64, 5.84, 10.51 and 11.17 per cent respectively. For blacks and caucasians, the peripheral location was influenced by its size while the incidence remained the same for Indians for all sizes. Consequently, it is presumed that the position of the Y chromosome in somatic metaphases depends upon race as well as its size. Furthermore, we have provided a method for determining the position of the Y chromosome which should suffice for most situations.
Between 1981 and 1983, 116 patients (109 men and 7 women) underwent reconstructive surgery with musculocutaneous flaps following major surgical excision of a cervicofacial tumor recurring after curative radiotherapy. Mean age of patients was 54 years. The most frequently used flap (110/124) was from the pectoralis major. Advantages of the use of a musculocutaneous flap for repair appear to be: first intention healing in most cases; notable reduction in hospital stay; possibility of wider tumoral excision and also of combining lymph node excision, and improved functional results. Follow-up surveillance has been for a mean of only one year, too short a period for assessing carcinologic results.
A simple high resolution technique for human chromosomes is described for fibroblasts obtained from amniotic fluid cell cultures. The application and clinical significance of this technique in prenatal diagnosis is discussed.
1. Nereis coelomic fluid agglutinates rat, mouse, chicken, guinea pig and rhesus monkey erythrocytes (RBC). 2. Lipid fractions of the particulate matter from coelomic fluid are hemagglutinins exhibiting different activity inhibition profiles with complex polysaccharides. 3. The high mol. wt hemagglutinin from coelomic fluid supernatant is not a protein and is inhibited by bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM), thyroglobulin, transferrin and their asialo derivatives. 4. Coelomic fluid supernatant has a population of low mol. wt protein hemagglutinins inhibited by BSM, fetuin, antiserum to coelomic fluid and some mannan preparations. 5. Hemagglutination by lipids characterized by RBC specificity and specificity for inhibition by carbohydrate is noteworthy and may be significant in studies of cellular interactions and immunity in invertebrates.
Biopsies of muscle and sural nerves, and autopsies of patients affected by the toxic and neuromuscular syndrome produced by ingestion of adulterated rapeseed oil were studied using morphological, histochemical and ultrastructural methods. In muscle, two pathological pictures were distinguished according to their temporal sequence. In the early phase, the neuromuscular syndrome was characterized by myalgia and an inflammatory infiltration of the perimysium, the capsules of muscle spindles and intramuscular nerves. The muscle fibres exhibited small subsarcolemmal zones of fibril disintegration and accumulation of electron-dense material similar to Z bands. Areas of peroxidase activity were found in relation to the surface of many muscle fibres. In late stages there was severe neurogenic atrophy of muscle with intense endomysial fibrosis. Minimal perivascular inflammation by round cells, with no interstitial infiltrates, was finally present. The inflammatory myopathy that initially affected these patients differs from other forms of polymyositis and seems to be related to the inflammation present in other systems. The onset of denervation atrophy is secondary to the involvement of peripheral nerves which is the most salient and distinctive pathological feature of the syndrome. The involvement of peripheral nerves was the most severe pathological feature. Perineuritis and, later, fibrosis of the perineurium were conspicuous and peculiar to this toxic syndrome. Degeneration of myelinated axons was constant in late stages. Distal nerves were more affected than proximal nerves. In the CNS, chromatolysis of anterior horn cells and occasionally of cranial nerve nuclei, pontine nuclei and reticular neurons was found. In the brainstem, astrocytes were hypertrophic with abnormal nuclei and there was microglial proliferation in zones where chromatolysis was found. The possibility that free radicals derived from the adulterated oil and cytotoxic complexes formed by mast-cell granules and eosinophil peroxidases might have been involved in the pathogenesis is discussed. The toxic oil was rich in linoleic acid which, by forming an excess of arachidonic acid, might have played an additional role in the pathogenesis of the lesions.
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The effect of two combinations, reverse sequential and monophasic, with cyproterone-acetate, have been studied in a group of 14 women suffering from idiopathic hirsutism. The results obtained prove that both combinations have ovulation blocking properties, by decreasing the FSH, LH, progesterone and oestrogen levels, but also have favourable effects in the treatment of hirsutism. The reverse sequential combination showed an increase in the prolactin figures, although these figures were within normal limits.
Results of 14 mandibular reconstruction by a composite muscular flap of the pectoralis major and trapezium muscles during widespread glossopelvimandibular excisions are described. The technique employed is outlined, emphasis being placed on the need to observe strict precautions during removal and application of the bone component, to avoid accidental avulsion during reconstruction which could compromise the musculoperiosteal vascularization of the graft. Results are sufficiently encouraging for this type of reconstructive surgery to be proposed in all cases where mandibular repair is necessary after interruption of continuity.
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An experiment was conducted in the highlands (Altiplano) of Bolivia to establish the specific mineral status for growing llamas compared to sheep grazing unfertilized, native pastures. Animal tissues (plasma, liver and bone), forage and soil samples were collected during the wet and dry seasons and analyzed for mineral contents. During the wet season, forages were higher (P less than 0.05) in Ca, K, Fe and protein. Percent borderline to deficient forage concentrations during the wet and dry seasons, respectively, were found as follows: protein (less than 7.0%) 20 and 53; CCa (less than 0.30%) 10 and 40; Cu (less than 5 ppm) 20 and 47; K (less than 0.5%) 10 and 20; Mg (less than 0.08%) 10 and 20; Na (less than 0.1%) 30 and 69; P (less than 0.25%) 100 and 100; Zn (less than 30 ppm) 60 and 80; and Se (less than 0.1 ppm) 90 and 93% of the total forages, respectively. Concentrations of liver Mg, Co, Mn, Mo, Se and Zn, plasma Mg and Cu and rib (percent ash) Ca, Mg and P were all higher (P less than 0.05) during the wet than in the dry season. Compared to llamas, sheep had higher (P les than 0.05) concentrations of plasma Ca, Cu, Fe and Zn, rib (milligram/milliliter) P, Mg and Zn and liver Fe, but lower (P less than 0.05) concentrations of liver Co, Cu, Mn and MO. On the basis of forage and animal tissue analyses, the nutrients protein, P, Ca, Zn, Na and Se would be insufficient for optimum production of grazing livestock in the high plains of Bolivia.
Fifteen patients who developed cancer of the endometrium 10 or more years after pelvic irradiation for carcinoma were selected for study from a group of 64 cases of postirradiation malignant pelvic tumors diagnosed during a 48-year span. The average interval between radiotherapy and diagnosis of the subsequent endometrial cancer was 17.2 years. Irradiation initially had been done for squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix in 13 cases (87%) and for ovarian tumors in two instances. Almost all patients had received megavoltage external radiation combined with radium implants. Two-thirds of the tumors were adenocarcinomas and one-third were carcinosarcomas (either homologous or heterologous). Although the risk of second primary malignant tumors following therapeutic irradiation for pelvic tumors probably is very low, the emergence of new genital tract cancers in long-term survivors must be anticipated, regardless of whether the postirradiation cancers are spontaneous or radiation-induced.